*! \ \ r^ r^ I i of' dUL /^ / / — ^1 A CW^ ,/-. __^ OR. jjAigoARD History ^ OF THE United 5fATE5 9 m '.a^J'WA&J^AYMm'^miii^ '""^i^^vn^^ ff' ■ODORE PERRY AT THE BATTLE ON LAKE ERIE. ©0J5©0_©©©®i fOfuEEN OF Republics A Standard History of the United States Discovery of the American Continent to the Present Time (..ONTAIMNti ACCOUNTS OF THE DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS OF THE NORSEMEN, SPANIARDS, ENGLISH AND FRENCH; THE MOUND BUILDERS; THE AMERICAN INDIANS; THE SETTLEMENT OF THE NEW WORLD; THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS: THE STRUGGLE OF THE REVOLUTION The Establishment of the /\merican f^epublic; THE SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND; THE MEXICAN WAR; THE LONG PERIOD OF PEACE; THE HISTORY OF THE GREAT CIVIL WAR; THE CENTENNIAL OF AMERICAN INDE- PENDENCE, WITH VALUABLE STATISTICS FROM THE LATEST CENSUS; A PORTRAIT GALLERY AND BIOGRAPHIES OF EMINENT AMERICANS; THE CUBAN AND VENEZUELAN QUESTIONS; THE POLITICAL ISSUES AND STRUGGLES, AND ALL IMPORTANT EVENTS DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME A IS\£isriiiicent Qescription of the Columbian Exposition By henry davenport NORTHROP THE WELL-KNOWN HISTORIAN EMBELLISHED WITH NEARLY 50o SUPERB ENGRAVINGS Entered nccordins: to Act of Cotigress, in the year i8< by J. R. JONES, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. All Rights Reserved. PREFACE. THERE is nothing more worthy of a man's study than the history of his countr}'. In our own land, how- ever, the means of pursuing such a study are limited. Our great cities contain large and valuable public libraries, and the collections of our historical societies are rich and very complete ; but these are accessible only to the communities in which they are located, and are practically useless to the majority of the American people. The great works of Bancroft and Hildreth cover but a portion of our historj', and are removed from the reach of the masses by reason of their costliness. Besides these, the larger number of the works treating of American history are compendiums, or outlines intended for the use of schools, and are therefore unsatisfac- tory to the adult reader. The demand for a popular History of the United States which shall fill a place between these greater and smaller works has led the author to the preparation of this volume. He has endeavored to popularize the story of the nation, and at the same time to neglect noth- ing that could in the least contribute to a clear and comprehensive understanding of the subject. He has sought to trace the his- tory of the Republic from the discovery of the American continent to the present day, and has endeavored especially to fix the attention of the reader upon the various influ- ences which have aided in moulding our national character, and have produced our distinctive political and moral national traits He has endeavored to write from ^ broad national standpoint, and to cultivate in the minds of his readers that feeling of national patriotism which must ever be the safeguard of our country. It is a fitting time to consider the story of the past, to learn the lessons which it teaches, and to ponder the warnings which it conveys for the future. Four hundred years ago America was an unknown wilderness. Less than three centuries ago it passed into the hands of England, and was thus secured for the language and the free influences of the- all-conquering Anglo-Saxon race. It was a precious heritage which was thus secured for liberty ; a land stretching from the frozen regions of the north to the sunny skies of the tropics, from the stormy Atlantic to the calm Pacific ; a land embracing every variet)' of climate, and a soil capable of producing almost every product of the earth, from the stunted herbage of the frozen regions to the luxuriant fruits of the tropics. The earth is rich in mineral deposits, from the homely, but invaluable, veins of coal, to beds of the most brilliant and precious mineral -i. It pours out in streams, oil for burning, gas that may be used fresh from the natural springs, salt that requires but the heat of the sun for its perfection, and beds of pure soda that cover the earth like the dust in the high- ways. In short, all that is needed for the pres- ervation and comfort of animal and human life exists in this favored land in the greatest profusion. 2053027 PREFACE. Such is the land designed by God for the home of liberty. The people to whom He has intrusted it have not abused His good- ness. In the short space of two centuries, the American people have grown from a small handful of hardy adventurers to a " mighty continental nation," increasing with a rapidity that is almost marvellous. They have built up their country on a scale of magnificence of which they are justly proud. They have covered it with powerful and free States, and splendid cities, connected by a network of railways, telegraphs, navigable rivers, and canals, which bind all the scat- tered parts into one solid whole. They have made a commerce and a system of manufac- tures before which the fabled wealth of Tyre sinks into insignificance. They have created new light upon, or impart a literature which commands the respect of the world ; they have illustrated their history with deeds of arms not less splendid than their more peaceful achievements, and have given to the world names in every walk of life that will never die. They have shown that liberty and power can go hand in hand; they have made themselves a nation in which God is feared, and of which Christianity is the basis, in which ignorance and vice are des- pised, and in which the great lesson that lib- erty is possible only to an educated and virtuous people is being practically demon- strated. This is a grand history — a record of the highest achievement of humanity — the noblest, most thrilling, and glorious story ever penned on earth. Yet the fact remains that the great mass of the American people are but imperfectly acquainted with it. There is a real need that we should know better than we do what we have done. It is only by a thoughtful study of our past that we can safely provide for the perils of the future. We have triumphed over adversity, and we are now called upon to bear the test of suc- cess. He can be no good citizen who is ignorant of his countrj^'s history. In the preparation of this volume, no authority of importance has been overlooked; the author has carefully searched every source of information open to him ; and has availed himself of ever>' fact that could throw additional interest to, the subject under consideration. In the narration of military events, he has preferred to give each campaign as a whole rather than to mingle several by presenting the events in chronological order. At the same time he has sought to preserve the inter-relation of events in one field of opera- tions to those in the others. The book is offered to the public in the sincere hope that it may induce its readers to take to heart the lessons which our history teaches, and to set a higher value upon the precious heritage of constitutional liberty which our fathers won for us with their blood, and handed down to us in trust for our chil- dren's children. CONTENTS. BOOK I. Discovery of the Western Continent. CHAPTER I. Strange People in a Strange Land. Earliest Inhabitants of the United States— The Mound Builders — Remarkable Works Constructed by Them — Evidences of a Primitive CiviUzation — Indications of the Antiquity of this Period — A Re- markable Cherokee— Who Were the Mound Build- ers — Ancient Phoenicians — False Assumption — The American Indians — Divisions of the Country Among the Tribes— Names and Location of the Various Tribes — Organization and Government of the In- dians — Their Dress, Manners and Customs — Vil- lages — Indian Inventions — The War Dance — Le- gends of the Norsemen Respecting the Discovery of America CHAPTER II. The Voyages of Colitmbus. Maritime Enterprise in the Fifteenth Century — The- ories Respecting the Earth's Surface — Christopher Columbus— His Early Life— His Theory of a WesU em Passage to India — His Struggles to Obtain the Means of Making a Voyage^Is Aided by Ferdi- nand and Isabella of Spain — -His First Voyage — Discovery of America — Reception in Spain — His Second Voyage— Setdement of Hayti— Third Voy- age of Columbus— He Reaches the Mainland— Dis- covery of Gold in Hayti — Troubles in the Colony — Columbus Sent to Spain in Irons — Indignation of the Queen — Last Voyage of Columbus — His Ship- wreck — Returns to Spain — Refusal of Ferdinand to Comply with His Promises — Death of Columbus — Amerigo Vespucci — Origin of the Name America 32 CHAPTER III. Engush and French Discoveries. Discovery of the North American Continent by John Cabot — Voyages of Sebastian Cabot — The English Fail to Follow Up these Discoveries — Efforts of the French to Explore America — Voyage and Diseor- eries of Verrazzani — Cartier Explores the St. Law- rence — Reaches Montreal — Efforts to Found a Col- ony on the St. Lawrence — Failure — Rolwrval's Colony — Trading Voyages — Explorations of Cham- plain — Colonization of Nova Scotia — Founding of Quebec — Discovery of Lake Champlain — .Arrival of the Jesuits in Canada — Death of Champlain ... 43 CHAPTER IV. The Spaniards in America. Settlement of the West Indies — Discovery of the Pa- cific Ocean — Voyage of Magellan — Discovery of Florida — Ponce de I/Con's Search for the Fountaia of Youth — Vasquez de Ayllon Kidnaps a Cargo of Indians — Effort of Pamphilo de Narvaez to Con- quer Florida — A Terrible March — The Voyage on the Gulf of Mexico — Fate of the Fleet — Escape of Cabeza de Vaca and His Comrades — Discovery of New Mexico — Ferdinand de Soto — Obtains Leave to Conquer Florida^Sails from Spain — .\rrival in Cuba — Departure for Florida — Landing at Tampa Bay— Events of the First Year— De Soto Enters Georgia — Descends the Alabama — Battle of Ma- villa — Destruction of Chickasaw — Sufferings of the Spaniards — Discovery of the Mississippi — The Spaniards Cross the Great River — De Soto in Ar- kansas — Reaches the Mississippi Again — Sickness and Death of De Soto — His Burial — Escape of His Followers to Mexico — The Huguenot Colony in Carolina— Its Failure — The French Settle in Florida— Wrath of Philip II.— Melendez Ordered to Exterminate the Huguenots — Foundation of St. Augustine — Massacre of the French at Fort Caro- lina — The Vengeance of De Gourges 50 CHAPTER V. The First English Colony. The English Claim to America — Voyages of Fro- bisher — Exploits of Sir Francis Drake — Sir Humph- rey Gilbert — Intends to found a Colony in America —Is lost at Sea— Sir Walter Rajeigh obtains a Pat- ent of Colonization — Discoveries of .\midas and CONTENTS. Barlow— Raleigh sends out a Colony to Virginia- Settlement on Roanoke Island— Its Failure — Arri- T«l of Crenville— Second Effort of Raleigh to Colo- nize Virginia— Roanoke Island again Settled— The •' City of Raleigh "—Virginia Dare— Fate of the Colony— Death of Raleigh- Other Voyages of the English BOOK II. Settlement of America. CHAPTKR VI. Captain John Smith and Pocahontas. Formation of the London Company — Conditions of its Charter— Departure of the first Colony— Quarrels during the Voyage— Arrival in the Chesapeake- Settlement of Jamestown — Formation of the Gov- ernment — Character of Captain John Smith — Ex- ploration of the James River — Newport and Smith visit Powhatan — Smith Admitted to the Govern- ment — Explores the Chickahominy — Is Captured and Sentenced to Death — Is Saved by Pocahontas — Gains the Friendship of Powhatan for the Colony .—Returns to Jamestown — His Decisive Measures — Return of Newport — Smith Explores the Chesa- peake Bay — The new Emigrants — Smith compels them to Labor — Smith is V^'ounded and compelled to return to England — Disasters to the Colony — Ar- rival of Sir Thomas Gates — Jamestown Abandoned — Arrival of Lord Delaware— The Return to James- town — A Change for the Better — New Settlements — Sir Thomas Gates arrives with Reinforcements — Capture of Pocahontas by Captain Argall — She is Baptized — Marries John Rolfe — Sir Thomas Dale's Administration — Yeardley Governor — The first Leg- islative Assembly — Representative Government es- tablished in America — The Colonists obtain Wives — Changes in the Government 73 CHAPTER VII. Progress of the Virginia Colony. Introduction of Negro Slavery into Virginia — Efforts of the Assembly to Restrict .Slavery — The Indians At- tempt the Destruction of the Colony — Terrible Suf- ferings of the Whites — Aid from England — The Indian War Begun — King James Revokes the Char- ter of the London Company — Charles I. Desires a Monopoly of the Tobacco Trade — Action of the Assembly — Sir William Berkeley's First Adminis- tration — Severe Measures against Dissenters — Close of the Indian War — Death of Opechancanough — Emigration of Royalists to Virginia— Virginia and and the Commonwealth— Treaty with England — The Assembly Asserts its Independence of the Gov- ernor—The Restoration— Berkeley Chosen Gover- nor by the Assembly— His Hypocrisy 89 CHAPTER VIII. Virginia After the Restoration. Characteristics of the Virginians — Causes of the Suc- cess of the Royalists— Growth of the Aristocratic Class — Berkeley decides against the People — The Aristocratic Assembly Claims the Right to sit Per- petually — Deprives the Common People of their Liberties — Revival of the Navigation Act by Charles II. — The King bestows Virginia as a Gift upon his Favorites — Protests of the Assembly — Growing Hos- tility of the Virginians to the Colonial Government — The Indian War — The Governor Refuses to allow- the Colonists to Defend themselves — Nathaniel Ba- con — He Marches against the Indians — Rebellion of the People against Berkeley and the Assembly — The Convention — Repeal of the Obnoxious Laws — Berkeley's Duplicity — The People take up Arms. — Flight of Berkeley — Destruction of Jamestown — - Death of Bacon — Causes of the Failure of the Rebel- lion — Berkeley's Triumph — Execution of the Patriot Leaders — Berkeley's Course Condemned by the King— Death of Berkeley— The Unjust Laws Re- enacted — Lord Culpepper Govemor^His Extor- tions — James II. and Virginia — Effects upon Vir- ginia of the Revolution of 1688 — William and Maiy College Founded 98 CHAPTER IX. The Colonization of Maryland. Extent of the Territory of Virginia — Claybom's Trad- ing-Posts established — Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore — Becomes interested in American coloni- zation — Obtains a Grant of Maryland — Terms of the Charter — A Colony sent out — Arrival in the Chesapeake — St. Maiy's Founded — Charter of the Colony — Friendly Relations established with the Indians — First Legislature of Maryland — Trouble with Clayborne — Rapid Growth of the Colony — Progress of Popular Liberty — Policy respecting the Treatment of the Indians — Clayborne's Rebellion — Law granting Religious toleration enacted— Condi- tion of Maryland under the Commonwealth — The People declared Supreme — Lord Baltimore re- covers his Proprietary Rights — Characteristics of the Colony — Rapid Increase in Population — Charles Calvert, Governor — Death of the s"cond Lord. CONTENTS. BaUimore — Roman Catholics disfranchised — Mar)-- land becomes a Royal Province — Triumph of the Protestants — Annapolis made the Seat of Govern- ment — Restoration of the Proprietary Government — Continued Prosperity of Maryland Ill CHAPTER X. The Pilgrim Fathers. Rise of the Puritans — Their Increase in England — They are Persecuted by the English Church and Government— Conduct of James I. — His Hatred of Puritanism — Puritans take Refuge in Holland — The Congregation of John Robinson — They Escape to Holland — The Pilgrims — their Sojourn at Leyden — They wi.sh to Emigrate to Virginia — Failure of their Negotiations with the London Company— They form a Partnership in England — A Hard Bargain — Departure of the Pilgrims from Holland — Voyage of the "Mayflower" — .-Vrrival in New England — The Agreement on board the " Mayflower" — Car- ver chosen Governor — Settlement of Plymouth — The first Winter in New England — Suff'erings of the Pilgrims — Arrival of new Emigrants — Continued Suffering — Assignment of Lands — Friendly In- tercourse with Indians— Samoset and Squanto— \ibit of Massasoit — A Threat of War — Bradford's Defiance — Weston's Men — A Narrow Escape — The Colonists Purchase the Interests of their English Partners — Lands Assigned in Fee Simple — The Colony Benefited by the Change — Government of Plymouth — Steady Growth of the Colony .... 121 CHAPTER XI. SETTLEME.NT OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND. Settlement of Newr Hampshire— The English Puritans determine to form a new Colony in America — The Plymouth Council — A Colony sent out to .Salem under Endicott — Colonization of Massachusetts Bay begun — .\ Charter obtained — Concessions of the King— Progress of the Salem Colony — The Charter and Government of the Colony removed to New England — .Arrival of Governor Winthrop — Settlementof Boston— Suff'erings ofthS Colonists- Roger WiUiams — His Opinions give off'ence to the Authorities — The Success of the Bay Colony Estab- lished—Growth of Popular Liberty— The Ballot Box — Banishment of Roger Williams — He goes into the Wilderness — Founds Providence — Growth ofWilliams's Colony — C nued Growth ofMassa chusetls— Arrival of Sir Henry Vane— Is elected Governor— Mrs. .Anne Hutchinson — The Amino mian Controversy — Mrs. Hutchinson banished — • Settlement of Rhode Island— Murder of Mrs. Hutchinson 158 CHAPTER XII. Colonization of Connecticut. The Dutch claim the Connecticut Valley— They build a Fort at Hartford — Governor Winslow makes a I.hio Company— The French Extend their Posts into the Ohio Country — Washington's Mission to the French at Fort Duquesne — His Jour- ney — Reception by the French — His Journey Home — A Perilous Undertaking — Organization of the Virginia Forces — Washington Made Second in Command — The French Drive the English fiom the Head of the Ohio— Fort Duquesne Built by Them — Washington Crosses the Mountains — The Fight at Great Meadows — Beginning of the French and In- dian War — Surrender of Fort Necessity to the French — Unjust Treatment of the Colonial Officers — Congress of the Colonies at New York — Frank- lin's Plan of a Union of the Colonies — Its Failure — Reasons of the British Government for Rejecting It — England Assumes the Direction of the War — Ar- rival of General Braddock — Plan of Campaign — Obstinacy of Braddock — He Passes the Mountains — Defeat of Braddock — Heroism of Washington — Retreat of Dunbar beyond the Mountains — Vigor- ous Action of Pennsylvania — Armstrong Defeats the Indians and Burns the Town of Kittanning . . . 274! CHAPTER XXIII. .Sanguniarv Struggles on the Frontier. Expedition against .\cadia — Brutal Treatment of the Acadians — They Are Expelled from their Country — A Sad Story — Fate of the Acadians — Johnson at Lake George — March of Dieskau — Battle of Lake George — Failure of Shirley's Expedition — .Arrival of the Earl of Loudon — Monlciilm in Canada — CONTENTS. Capture of Oswego by the French— Outrages of the Earl of Loudon upon New York and Philadelphia — Expedition against Louisburg — How the Earl of Loudon Beat the French— Capture of Fort William Henry by Montcalm— Massacre of the Prisoners by the Indians — Efforts of Montcalm to Save Them — The Royal Officers Attempt to Cover Their Failures by Outraging the Colonics 298 CHAPTER XXIV. End of the French and Indian War. L Change for the Better — William Pitt Prime Minister — Vigorous Measures Adopted — Recall of the Earl of Ix>udon — Capture of Louisburg — Abercrombie on Lake George — Advances against Ticonderoga — Death of Lord Howe — Failure of the English At- tack upon Ticonderoga — Disgraceful Conduct of Abercrombie — llis Retreat — Capture of Fort Fron- tenac — Advance of General Forbes — Grant's Defeat — TheVirginians Again Save the Regulars— Capture of Fort Dutiuesne — Washington Retires from the Army — Ticonderoga and down Point Occupied by the English — Capture of Fort Niagara — The Expe- dition against Quebec — Failure of the First Opera- tions — Despondency of Wolfe — He Discovers a Landing-place — The Army Scales the Heights of Abraham— Montcalm's Surprise— Battle of the Plains of Abraham — Death of Wolfe — Defeat of the French — Death of Montcalm — Surrender of Quebec — Capture of Montreal — Treaty of Paris — Canada Ceded to England — France Loses all Her American Possessions — The Cherokee War — Hostility of the Indians to the English — Pontiac's War — Death of Ponliac — Bouquet Relieves Fort Duquesne — Results of the War -loa BOOK IV. The American Revolution. CHAPTER XXV. Causes OF THE Struggle for Independence. •njustice of Great Britain towards Her Colonies — The Navigation Acts — Effects of these Laws ujxjn the Colonies — Great Britain Seeks to Destroy the Man- ufactures of America — Writs of Assistance — They Are Opixpsed — Home Manufactures Encouraged by the Americans — Ignorance of Englishmen Concern- ing America — Great Britain Claims the Right to Tax America — Resistance of the Colonist.s— .Samuel Adams — The Parsons' Cause — Patrick Henry England Persists in Her Determination to Tax Amer- ica — Passage of the Stamp Act — Resistance of the Colonists — Meeting of the First Colonial Congress —Its Action — William Pitt — Repeal of the Stamp ' Act — Franklin before the House of Commons — New Taxes Imposed upon America — Increased Re- sistance of the Colonies — Troops Quartered in Bos- ton — The " Massacre " — The Non-Importation As- sociation — Growth of Hostility to England — Burn- ing of the " Gasp6" — The Tax on Tea Retained by the King — Destruction of Tea at Boston — Wrath of the British Government — Boston Harbor Closed —Troops Quartered in Boston— The Colonists Come to the Assistance of Boston — .\ction of the Virginia Assembly — General Gage in Boston — The Regulat- ing Act — Its Failure — Gage Seizes the Massachu- setts Powder — Uprising of the Colony — Meeting of the Continent.il Congress — Its Action — Addresses to the King and People of England — The Earl of Chatham'slndorsement of Congress — The King Re- mains Stubborn 327 CHAPTER XXVI. Progress of the War. Gage fortifies Boston Neck — He Summons the Gen- eral Court — Recalls his Proclamation — The Provin- cial Congress of Massachusetts — It takes Measures for Defence— The Militia Organized— The Minute Men — Friends of America in England — Gage re- solves to seize the Stores at Concord — Midnight March of the British Troops — The Alarm given — Skirmishes at Lexington and Concord — Retreat of the British — A Terrible March — Uprising of New England — Boston Invested — Dunmore seizes the Virginia Powder — Is made to pay for it — Uprising of the Middle and Southern Colonies — The Meck- lenburg Declaration of Independence — Capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point — Meeting of the Sec- ond Cjintinental Congress — Congress resolves to sus- tain Massachusetts — Renewed Efforts for Peace — Congress Assumes the General Government of the Colonies — A Federal Union Organized — Its Charac- ter — A Continental Army formed — George Wash- ington Appointed Commander-in-chief — Genera] Officers Appointed — Condition of the Army before Boston— Inaction of Gage— Battle of Breed's Hill —A Glorious Defence— The Battle Equivalent to a Victory in its Effects upon the Country — .\rrival of Washington at Cambridge — He takes Command of the Army— He Reorganizes the Army— Difficulties of the Undertaking— The Invasion of Canada Re- solved upon — March of Montgomery and Arnold — Rapid Successes of Montgomery — He Captures CONTENTS. Montreal — March of Arnold through the Wilder- ness — Arrival before Quebec- -Forms a Junction with Montgomer)- — The Siege of Quebec — The Ice Forts — Failure of the Attack — Death of Montgom- er)' — Retreat of the Americans from Canada — Lord Dunmore's War in Virginia — Destruction of Nor- folk — The Thirteen United Colonies — Burning of Falmouth — Naval Matters — Action of Great Britain —The War to be carried on — The Hessians . . . 354 CHAPTER XXYII. The Decl.\ration of Independenci-^ The Siege of Boston^Difficulties of the American Army — Activity of the Privateers — Clinton's E.\[>e- tion — Colonel Knox arrives from Ticonderoga with Cannon — Seizure of Dorchester Heights by Wash- ington — The British Evacuate Boston — Royalist Plots in New York^Paper Money Issued by Con- gress — Gates sent to the North — The British Attack Charleston — Battle of Fort Moultrie — The Howes in New York Bay— Change in the Character of the War — Growing Sentiment in Favor of Independence — — V rgiE Proposes the Colonies Assert their Inde- pendence — Action of Congress — The Declaration of Independence — Articles of Confederation Adopted by Congress — Lord Howe's Efforts at Conciliation — Addresses a Letter to Washington — Battle of Long Island — Defeat of the Americans — Retreat from Long Island— Evacuation of New York by the Americans — I^oss of Fort Washington — Washington Retreats through New Jersey— He Crosses the Del- aware — Darkest Period of the War — Washington's Determination to Continue the War — Lord Howe's Proclamation — Its Effect — Congress at Baltimore — Carleton invades New York — Defeats Arnold on Lake Champlain — Carleton Retires into Canada — Battle of Trenton — Happy Eff'ects of the ^■ictory — Congress confers Dictatiorial Powers upon Wash- ington — Commissioners sent to France 377 CHAPTER XXVni. The Year 1777. Howe -Attempts to Crush Washington — Battle 01 Princeton — The British Confined to the Seaboard — Recovery of New Jersey — The American Army in Winter Quarters at Morristown— Effects of the American Successes — Difficulty of Procuring Troops -Washington Refuses to Exchange Prisoners — His Course Approved by Congress — Measures of Con- gress — Naval Affairs — Tryon Bums Danbury — Gal- lantry of Arnold — Troubles in the Northern Depart- ment — Congress Adopts a National Flag — "The Stars and Stripes" — Course of France towards the United States — France Decides to Assist the Amer icans — Lafayette — His Arrival in America — Capture of the British General Prescott — Howe Threatens Philadelphia — Washington Moves Southward — Battle of the Brandy wine — Washington Retreats to the Schuylkill— Wayne's Defeat at Paoli— Philadel- phia Exacuated by the Americans — It Is Occupied by the British— Battle of Germantown--The British Attack the Forts on the Delaware — They Are Aban- doned by the Americans — Burgoyne's Army in Canada — Advance of Burgoyne into New York — Investment of Ticonderoga — It Is Abandoned by the Americans — The Retreat to Fort Edward — Burgoyne Reaches the Hudson — Murder of Miss McCrea — Siege of Fort Schuyler— Battle of Ben- nington — Critical Sittiation of Burgoyne — Gates in Command of the American Army — Battles of Beh- mui' Heights and Stillwater- Surrender ot Bur- goyne's Army — Clinton in the Highlands .... 405 CHAPTER XXIX. Aid From Abroad. Suff'erings of the Army at Valley Forge — .Appeals of Washington to Congress — The British in Philadel- phia — The Conway Cabal — Its Disgraceful Failure — F-ffbrts to Improve the Army — Worthlessness of Continental Bills — General Lee Exchanged — Effect of Burgoyne's Surrender upon England — The King Is Forced to Agree to Measures of Conciliation — .■\ctionof France — Louis XVI. Recognizes the In- dependence of the United States — .Vlliance Between the United States and France — Failure of the Brit- ish Measures of Conciliadon — Clinton Evacuates Philadelphia — Battle of Monmouth — General Lee Dismissed from the .Army — .Attack upon Newport — Its Failure — Withdrawal of the French Fleet to the West Indies — Outrages of the British on Long Island Sound — Massacre of Wyoming — the Winter of 1779-S0 — The Army in Winter Quarters — Robert Morris — Condition of Congress — Georgia Subdued by the Bridsh — Prevost Attempts to Take Charleston — Siege of Savannah — Its Failure — Cap- ture of Stony Point — Capture of Paulus Hook — The Indians Punished— Naval Affairs — Exploits of John Paul Jones — Evacuation of Newport — Settle- ment of Kentucky — Conquest of the Illinois Country bv George Rogers Qarke — Settlement of Tennessee. Jr% CHAPTER XXX. The Close of the War. Severity of the Winter of 1779-80— Suff'erings of the American Army — Clinton .Sails for the Caroli- nas — Colonel Tarleton — Capture of Charleston — Conquest of South Carolina — Gates in Command of the Southern Army — Battle of Camden — i:x])loits CONTEXTS. of Marion and Sumter — Advance of Cornwallis — Battle of King's Mountain— Gates Succeeded by General Greene — Knyphausen's Expeditions into New Jersey— Arrival of the French Fleet and Army- Arnold's Treason— The Plot for the Be- trayal of West Point— Arrest of Major Andr6— Flight of Arnold— Execution of Andre— Mutiny of the Pennsylvania and New Jereey Troops— Meas- ures of Congress — Arnold Captures Richmond, Vir- ginia— BatUe of the Cowpcns— Masterly Retreat of General Greene— Cornwallis Baffled^Battle of Guilford Court House — Cornwallis at Wihninglon —Battle of Hobkirk's Hill— Siege of Ninety-Six- Execution of Colonel Hayne— Battle of Eutaw Springs— Washington Decides to Attack New York —The French Army on the Hudson— Financial Affairs— Resumption of Specie Payments— Message from the Count De Grasse— Cornwallis at York- town — The American Army Moves Southward — Siege of Yorktown — Surrender of Cornwallis — Ef- fect of the News in England — Indian Troubles — Efforts in England for Peace — Negotiations Opened —Treaty of Paris— End of the War— The Army Disbanded — Washington Resigns His Commission 450 BOOK V. From the Close of the Revolution to the Civil War. CHAPTER XXXI. The .\i>oPTioN OF the Constitution — Washington's Administration. Unsettled Condition 01 the Counlr\- — Failure of the .Articles of Confederation — Desire for Reform — Meeting of the Federal Convention at Philadelphia — The Constitution of the United States — Adoption of a Decimal Currency — The Northwest Territory — Washington Elected President — His Journey to New York — Establishment of the New Government — The First Cabinet — Financial Measures — Re- moval of the Capital Agreed Upon — The Govern- ment at Philadelphia— The First Census— The In- dians of the Northwest Conquered — Re-election of Washington — Division of Parties — The French Revolution— The United States Neutral- Citizen Genet — Efiorts to Commit the United States to the French Alliance — Genet's Recall Demanded — The " Whiskey Insurrection" — Jay's Treaty with Eng- land — Opposition to It — Negotiations with Algiers — Political Disputes — Hostility to Washington — His Farewell Address — Its Effect upon the Country — Election of John Adams to the Presidency — Admis- sion cT Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee — Retire- ment of Washington — His AdminisUalion . . . 481 CHAPTER XXXII. The AnMiNisTRATioNS of John Adams and TnoM.is Jefferson. PAG« Inauguration of John Adams — Aggressions of France upon the United States — The American Commis- sioners Insulted by the French Government — The Alien and Sedidon La\vs— The United States Pra- pare for War with France — France Signifies her Willingness to Treat — New Commissioners -Ap- pointed — Settlement of the Dispute — Hostilities at Sea — Capture of the "Insurgente" and "Yen geance" — Death of Washington — Removal of the Capital to ^Vashington City — The Second Census — Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson — The President's Message — His First Measures — .\dmission of Ohio — Louisiana Purchased by the United States — ^Yar with the Barbary Powers — Burning of the " Phila- delphia " — Re-election of Mr. Jefferson — Aaron Burr Kills Alexander Hamilton in a Duel — Burr's Subse- quent Career — Fulton's Steamboat — Outrages of England and France upon American Commerce — American Vessels Searched and American Seamen Impressed by England — Efforts to Settle these Questions — Aflairofthe " Chesapeake" and "Leop- ard" — The Embargo — Results of this Measure — • Los.>es of the Eastern States — Election of James Madison to the Presidency — Repeal of the Embargo. 496 CHAPTER XXXIII. Tke AD.MINISTRAT10N OF James Madison— The Seconi War WITH Engl.\nd. Inauguration of Mr. Madison — Negotiations with Mr. Erskine — Their Failure — Seiziu-e of American Ves- sels in France — Suflerings of American Ship-owners — Great Britain Stations her Ships of Waroff Amer- can Ports — Affair of the " President " and " Little Belt" — Trouble with the Northwestern Indians — Tecumseh — Battle of Tippecanoe — Meeting of the Twelfth Congress — Measures for Defence — Admis- sion of Louisiana into the Union — Death of George Clinton — The British Ultimatum — War Declared Against Great Britain — Opposition to the W'ar — The British Offer of Settlement Rejected— The War for "Free Trade and the Sailors' Rights" — Mr. Madi- son Re-elected — Campaign of 1S12 — Preparation.--- for the Invasion of Canada General Hull Sui- renders Detroit to the Britbh — Loss of the Nortlh western Frontier — Failure of the Attack on Queens- town — Exploits of the Navy— Capture of the " Guer Here" by the " Constitution " — The Privateers — Russia Offers to Mediate between the United States and Eng!and — Financial A flairs — Harrison s Cam paign — Massacre at the River Basin — Defence oi Forts Meigs and Stephenson-Perrj's Victoryon l.ake CONTENTS. XV Erie— Battle of the Thames — Death of Tecumseh— Recovery of the Northwest — Capture of York- British Attack on Sackett's Harbor Repulsed — Removal of General Dearborn — Failure of the Cam- pagn on the Lower Lakes — The Creek War — Jackson's Victories— Naval Affairs- The British Outrages in Chesapeake Bay — Negotiations for Peace —Capture of Fort Erie— Battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane — Siege of Fort Erie — Successes of the Americans — Advance of Prevost — Battle Plattsburgh — Macdonough's Victory on Lake Cha plain — Battle of Bladensburg — Capture of Wash- ington — Destruction of the Public Buildings by the British — Attack on Baltimore— Death of General Ross—" The Star- Spangled Bunner "—The British Attack on the New England Coast — Opposition of New England to the War — The Hartford Cunvei tion — The British in Florida — General lacksc Expels Them — Jackson at New Orleans — Arrival ( the British Expedition ofiF the Coast — Vigorous Measures of Jackson — Battle of New Orleans — Defeat of the British— Naval Affairs— The Treaty of Peace— The Barbary Powers Humbled— The Tariff— The Bank of the United States— Admis- sion of Indiana — James Monroe Elected President . 512 CHAPTER XXXIV. Administrations of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams. Inauguration of Mr. Monroe — His Tour through the Eastern States — Admission of Mississippi into the Union — Troubles with the Indians — General Jack- son's Vigorous Measures against tiie Spaniards in Florida— Purchase of Florida by the United States — Illinois Becomes a State — The First Steamship — Maine Admitted into the Union — The Slavery Question^The Missouri Compromise — Admission of Missouri as a State — The Fourth Census — Re- elecUon of Mr. Monroe— The Tariff— Protective Policy of the Government — Recognition of the Spanish Republics — The Monroe Doctrine — Visit uf Lafayette to the United States — Retirement of Mr Monroe — John Quincy Adams Elected President- - His Inauguration — Rapid Improvement of the Coun- tr>- — Increase of Wealth and Prosperity — Intenial Improvements — The Creek Lands in Georgia Ceded to the United States — Death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams— The Anti- Masons— The Tariff of 1828 — Andrew Jackson Elected President . . . 548 CHAPTER XXXV. Administrations op Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. Character of Andrew Jackson — Indian Policy of this Administration — 1 he President Vetoes the Bill Uj Renew the Charter of the United States Bank— De- bate Between Hayne and Webster — Jackson's Quar- rel with Calhourn — Death of ex- President Monroe —The Cholera— Black Hawk's War— Reelection of President Jackson— The Tariff— Action of South Carolina — The Nullification Ordinance — Firmness of the President — The Matter Settled by Compro- mise—Patriotism of Henry Clay— The Removal oj the Deposits — The Seminole War Begun— Great Fire in New York— Settlement of the French Claims — Arkansas Admitted into the Union — The National Debt Paid — Death of ex- President Madi- son — Martin Van Buren Elected President — Michi- gan Admitted into the Union — The Panic of 1837 — Causes of It — Suspension of Specie Payments- Great Distress throughout the Union — The Sub- Treasury— Repudiation of State Debts — The Can- adian Rebellion— The President's Course— The Seminole War Ended— The Anti-Slavery Party- Resolutions of Congress Respecting Slavery- William Henry Harrison Elected President— The Sixth Census 561 CHAPTER XXXVI. Administrations of William Henry Harrison and John Tvler. An Extra Session of Congress Summoned — Death of President Harrison — John Tyler Becomes President of the United States— Meeting of Congress— The Bankrupt Law — President Tyler Vetoes the Bills to Revive the United States Bank— His Quarrel with his Party— The " Tyler Whigs "—The Tariff of 1S42— The Treaty of Washington— The United States Will Not Tolerate the Exercise of the Right of Search — Dorr's Rebellion — The Mormons — In- vention of the Electric Telegraph — Explosion on the " Princeton " — Efforts to Secure the Annexation of Texas— Early History of Texas— The Texan War of Independence — Battle of San Jacinto— Texan Independence Established — Texas Applies for Admission into the Union — Opposition to the Measure — Significance of the Vote at the Presiden- tial Election— James K. Polk Elected President- Texas .\dmitted into the Union — Iowa and Florida Become States 559 CHAPTER XXXVII. WAk administration op James K. Polk WITH Mexico. The Oregon Question — Position of President Polk Respecting It — The Question Settled — Treaty for Settlement of Claims against Mexico^Mexico Re- sents the Annexation of Texas — General Taylor Ordered to Texas — He Advances to the Rio Graude CONTENTS. —Battles cf Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma— The War wilh Mexico Begun— Invasion of Mexico — Occupation cf Matamoras — Action of the United States Government — Taylor Advances into the Interior— The Storming and Capture of Monterey — The Armistice — Return of Santa Anna to Mexico —President Polk Duped— Santa Anna Seizes the Mexican Government — General Wool Joins General Taylor — Troops Taken from Taylor's Army — Ad- — vance of the Mexicans— Battle of Buena Vista— •Conquest of California by Fremont and Stockton — Occupation of Santa Fe— New Mexico Conquered — Doniphan's March — Occupation of Chihuahua — • Sailing of Scott's Expedition — Reduction of Vera Cruz— Santa Anna Collec's a New Army— Battle cf •of Cerrc Gordo— Occupation of Puebla by Scott — Trouble with Mr. Trist — Vigorous Measures of Santa Anna — Scott Advances upon the City of Mexico — El Pefion Turned — Battles of Contreras and Churubusco — Capture of Molino del Rev — Storming of Chapultepec — Capture of the City of Mexico — Siege of Puebla Raised — Flight of Santa Anna — Treaty of Peace Negotiated — Close of the War — Acquisition of California and New Mexico — Discovery of Gold in California — Rapid Emigration to the Pacific — Death of John Quincy Adams — The Wilmot Proviso — Revival of the Slavery Question v-General Taylor Elected President 593 CHAPTER XXXVIII. Administrations of Zachary Taylor and Millard Fillmore. Character of General Taylor — Department of the Inte- rior—Death of ex-President Polk— The Slavery \gitation — Views of Clay and Webster — California asks admission into the Union — Message of President Taylor— The Omnibus Bill— Efforts of Henry Clay — A Memorable Debale — Webster's " Great Union Speech "—Death of John C. Calhoun— Death of President Taylor — Millard Fillmore becomes Pres- ident — Passage of the Compromise Measures of 1850 — Death of Henry Clay — Dissatisfaction with the Compromise — The Fugitive Slave Law Nul. lified, by the Northern States — The Nashville Con- vention — Organization of Utah Territory — The Seventh Censu;^ — The Expedition of I^pez against Cuba— The Search for Sir John Franklin— The Grinnell Expedition — Dr. Kane's Voyages — Inaug- uration of Cheap Postage — Laying the Corner, ■stone of the new Capitol — Death of Daniel Webster — Arrival of Kossuth — The President Rejects the Tripartite Trea'y — Franklin Pierce elected Pres- ident — Death of William R. King 626 CHAPTER XXXIX. The Administration of Fr.a.n-klin Pierce. TAOK Dispute with Mexico — The Gadsden Purchase — Sur- veys for a Pacific Railway — The Japan Expedition — Treaty with Japan — The Koszta Affair — The " Black Warrior " seized by the Cuban Officials — The "Ostend Conference" — Dismissal of the British Minister — The Kansas-Nebraska Bill — History of the Bill — Its Passage by Congress — History of the Struggle in Kansas — Conflict between the Pro- Slavery and Free Soil Settlers — Lawrence Sacked — Civil War— The Presidential Campaign of 1S56 — James Buchanan elected President of the United States — Rajid Increase of the Republican Party . 639 CHAPTER XL. The Administration of James Buchanan. Inauguration of Mr. Buchanan — The Mormon Re- bellion — The Financial Crisis of 1S57— Laying of the Atlantic Telegraphic Cable — Minnesota admit- ted into the Union— The San Juan Affair — Admis- sion of Oregon into the Union — The Kansas Ques- tion — The Lecompton Constitution — Its Defeat — The Wyandotte Constitution — Admission of Kan.sas into the Union— The John Brown Raid— Prompt Action of the Government — Brown and his Com- panions Surrendejed to the State of ^ irginia — Their Trial and ExecuUon— Presidential Campaign of 1 S60 — Rupture of the Democratic Party — Abra- ham Lincoln elected President of the United States — Secession of South Carolina — Reasons for this Act —Secession of the other Cotton States — Major An- derson Occupies Fort Sumter — ^Trying Position of the General Government — ^Course of Mr. Buchanan — The " Star of the West " fired upon by the South Carolina Batteries — Organization of the Confeder- ate States of America — Jefferson Da%TS elected President of the Southern Republic— The Peace Congress — Its Failure 649 BOOK VI. The Civil War. CHAPTER XLI. The Administration of Abraham Lincoliv. Inatignration of President Lincoln — His History — The Confederate Commissioners at Washington — Attack upon Fort Sumter by the Confederates— The Prej- ident calls for Troops — Res]xinse of the North and West — Secession of the Border States — Opening Events of the War in Virginia— Withdrawal of West Vii^nia — Admitted into the Union as a Separate State — Meeting of Congress — The West Virginia CONTENTS. Campaign- -Battle of BiJl Run — The War in Mis- souri — Kentucky Occupied — The Blockade — Cap- ture of Port Royal— The "Trent" Affair— Insur- rection in East Tennessee — State of Affairs at the Opening of the Year 1S62 — Edwin M. Stanton made Secretary- of War — Capture of Forts Henry and Don- elson — The Confederates fall back from Kentucky^ Battle of Shiloh— Capture of Island No. 10— Evac- uation of Corinth — Capture of Memphis — Bragg's Kentucky Campaign — His Retreat into Tennessee —Battles of luka and Corinth — Battle of Murfrees- boro', or Stone River — Grant's Campaign against Vicksburg — Its Failure — The War beyond the Mis- sissippi — Battle of Pea Ridge — Capture of Roanoke Island— Capture of New Orleans- Surrender of Fort Pulaski — The War in Virginia — Johnston's Retreat from Centreville — Battle between the " Monitor " and " Virginia " — The Move to the Peninsula — ■ Johnston Retreats to the Chickahominy— Battle of Seven Pines — Jackson's Successes in the Valley of Virginia — The Seven Days' Battles before Richmond — Battle of Cedar Moimtain — Defeat of General Pope's Army — Lee Invades Marj-land — Capture of Harper's Ferry — Battles of South Mountain and Antietam — Retreat of Lee into Virginia — McCIellau Removed — Battle of Fredericksburg 666 CHAPTER XLII. The Administration of Abraham Lincoln — the Civil War — Conxluded. rhe Emancipation Proclamation — Battle of Chancel- lorsville — Death of Stonewall Jackson — Invasion of the North by Lee's Army — Battle of Gettysburg- Retreat of Lee into Virginia — Grant's Army crosses the Mississippi — Battle of Champion Hills — Invest- ment of Vicksburg — Surrender of Vicksburg and Port Hudson — Battle of Chickamauga — Rosecrans Ehut up in Chattanooga — Grant in command of the Western Armies — Battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge— Defeat of Bragg's Army— The Cam- paign in East Tennessee — Retreat of Longstreet— Capture of Galveston— Attack on Charleston— Cap- ture of Fort Wagner^Charleston Bombarded — State of Affairs in the Spring of 1S64— The Red River Expedition — Grant made Lieutenant-General — Advance of the Army of the Potomac — Battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor — Sheri- dan's Raid— Death of General J. E. B. Stuart— Bat- tle of New Market — Early sent into the Valley of Virginia — Butler's Army at Bermuda Hundreds — Grant crosses the James River— The Siege of Peters- burg begun — Early's Raid upon Washington — Sheri- dan defeats Early at Winchester and Fisher's Hill — BaiUe of Cedar Creek— The final Defeat of Early's Army — Sherman's Advance to Atlanta — Johnston Removed — Defeat of Hood before Atlanta — Evacu- ation of Atlanta — Hocxi's Invasion of Tennessee — Battle of Franklin — Siege of Nashville — Hood Defeated at Nashville — His Retreat — Sherman's "March to the Sea" — Capture of Savannah — Battle of Mobile Bay— Attack on Fort Fisher— The Confederate Cruisers — Sinking of the "Ala- bama" by the " Kearsarge" — Re-election of Pres ident Lincoln — Admission of Nevada into the Union — The Hampton Roads Peace Conference — Capture of Fort Fisher — Occupation of WUmington — Sher- man advances through South Carolina — Evacuation of Charleston — Battles of Averasboro' and Benton- ville— Sherman at Goldsboro' — Critical Situation of Lee's Army — Attack on Fort Steadman — Sheridan joins Grant — Advance of Grant's Army — Battle of Five Forks — Attack on Petersburg — Evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg — Retreat of Lee's Army — Richmond Occupied — Surrender of General Lee's Army — Rejoicings in the North— Assas- sination of President Lincoln— Death of Booths Execution of the Conspirators — Johnston Sur- renders — Surrender of the other Confederate Forces — Capture of Jefferson Davis — Close of the War ?'► CHAPTER XLHI. The Administration of Andrew Johnson. The New President — Return of the Army to Civil Life— The Public Debt— The Reconstruction Ques- tion — Action of the President — He declares the Southern States Readmitted into the Union — The Fifteenth Amendment — Meeting of Congress — The President's Acts Annulled — Reconstruction Policy of Congress — The Fourteenth Amendment^The Freedman's Bureau and Civil Rights Bill — The Tenure of Office Act — Admission of Nebraska into the Union — The Southern States Organized as Mil- itary Districts — Admission of Southern States into the Union — The Fourteenth Amendment Ratified — President Johnson's Quarrel with Secretary Stanton — Impeachment of the President — His Acquittal — Release of Jefferson Davis — Indian War — The French in Mexico — Fall of the Mexican Empire — Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph — Purchase of Alaska — NaturUzation Treaty with Germany- Treaty with China — Death of General Scott — Death of ex-President Buchanan — General Grant Elected President — The Fifteenth Amendment ygQ CHAPTER XLIV. The Administration of Ulvsses S. Grant. Early Life of President Grant— Completion of the Pacific Railway— Death of ex-lYesidcnt Pierc*— CONTENTS. PAGE The Fifteenth Amendment Ratified— The En- forcement Act— The Test Oath Abolished— The Constitutionality of the Legal-Tender Act Affirmed— The Income Tax Repealed— The Alabama Claims — Treaty of Washington — The Geneva Conference — Award in Favor of the United States— Burning of Chicago — The Civil Disabilities Removed from the South- em People — Re-election of General Grant — Great Fire at Boston — The Modoc War — Murder of General Canby and the Peace Commissioners — Execution of the Modoc Chiefs— The Panic of 1873— Bill for the Re- sumption of Specie Payments — The Centen- nial Exhibition— The Sioux War- Death of General Custer — Presidential Election — The Electoral Commission — Count of the Vote — Hayes Declared Elected Soi CHAPTER XLV. The Administration of Rutherford B. Hayes. Inauguration of President Hayes — Sketch of the New President — Civil Service Reform — Troops in South Carolina — Two Legislatures in Ses- sion — Investigation by President Hayes — Prompt Action — Settlement of the Troubles in South Carolina and Louisiana — General Grant's Tour Around the World— Enthusiastic Reception by the Crowned Heads of Other Nations — Election of General Garfield as Presi- dent 841 CHAPTER XLVI. The Administration of James A. Garfield. General Garfield Declared President — Inaugural Ceremonies — Sketch of the New President — The Star Route Cases — Assassination of Presi- dent Garfield — His Illness — Removal to Long Branch — Death of President Garfield — Inaugu- ration of President Arthur — Indictment of Guiteau for Murder — Trial and Execution of Garfield's Assassin — The Greely Arctic Ex- pedition — Reaching a Point Beyond the Eighty-first Parallel — Lieutenant Lockwood's Heroic Exploit — Celebration of the Landing of William Penn — Great Suspension Bridge between New York and Brooklyn S49 CHAPTER XLVII. The Administration of Grover Cleveland. Mr. Cleveland's Early Life — Governor of New York — Elected President — Inauguration Cere- monies—The New Cabinet— Death of General Grant — Honors to the Illustrious Dead — Death of General George B. McClellan— Pen- sion Granted to the Widow of President Grant — President Cleveland's Message — Bill Regulating the Presidential Succession — Labor Agitations — Riot at Chicago Instigated by "Anarchists " — Statue of Liberty Enlighten- ing the World — President Cleveland's Mar- riage—Nomination of President Cleveland — Nomination of Benjamin Harrison — Harri- son's Election 864 CH.APTER XLVni. The Administration of Benjamin Harrison. Inauguration of President Harrison —President Harrision's Inaugural Address — Celebration of the Centennial Anniversary of Washington's Inauguration — The New Cabinet — Terrible Calamity at Johnstown — .\dmission of New States — President's Message to the Fifty-first Congress — Legislation of the First Session of the Fifty-first Congress— The New Tariff Law — Indian War in the Northwest — Death of Sitting Bull — Restriction of Imigration — Mob Law in New Orleans — Trouble in Chile — Political Conventions of 1S92 — Labor Contest at Homesteed— Defeat of the Silver Bill . . S78 CHAPTER XLIX. Second Administration of Gro%-er Cleveland. Second Inauguration of Presdent Cleveland — The New Cabinet — Extraordinary Session of Congress — Repeal of the Sherman Silver Law —New Tariff Bill— The Bill Passes the House of Representatives — Discussion in the Senate — Over Six Hundred Amendments — Senate Bill Rejected by the House — Afterwards Passed— The President Refuses to Sign the Bill— Bland Seigniorage Bill— Utah Admitted as a State — Congress Investigates the Relations of the United States to Hawaii — Subsequent Events— Bond Issue of 1896 898 CHAPTER L. Cuba and Venezuel.*. Story of Cuban Insurrections— Great Revolution of 184S — Gallant Uprising of the People for Life and Liberty — Long and Bitter Struggle — Political Situation in Cuba — Insurrection of 1895-96 — Boundary Line Dispute between Venezuela and Great Britain — The Monroe Doctrine Asserted 901 EMINENT AMERICANS 917 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION . 949 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Frontispikce. Mounds at Marrietta, Ohio ly A Dead Town of the Moquis Indians 21 Indian Village in Winter 24 Navajo Boy 25 Pueblo Indian at Prayer 26 Civilized Indian Woman 27 Thorvald Wounded by the Red Men 30 Christopher Columbus 33 Columbus W.itching for Land 37 Landing of Columbus 38 Reception of Columbus by Ferdinand and Isabella . 39 Norse Seaking 41 Sebastian Cabot 44 Samuel Champlain 47 Cabot on the Shores of Labrador 4S The Coast of Florida 51 Hernando Cortez 52 Fernando De Soto 55 The Spaniards Descending the Mississippi after the Death of De Soto 59 The Renowned Explorer, Sir Martin Frobisher . . 64 Sir Walter Raleigh 65 Frobisher and His Ships Passing Greenwich .... 66 Queen Elizabeth 67 Murder of White's Assistant 70 Captain John Smith 76 Pocahontas Interceding for the Life of Captain John Smith 78 Pocahontas So Building the First House in Jamestown 82 Types of North American Indians 85 Massacre of Settlers by Indians 90 Flight of the Indians after the Massacre 92 Indian Weapons 94 King Charles II 99 Indians Making a Midnight Attack upon Settlers . . 103 Bacon Demands the Commission of Berkley . ... 105 Cecil, Second Lord Baltimore 113 A Civilized Indian 115 Oliver Cromwell 116 William III 118 Chained Bible, Time of James I 122 The Puritans in Conference with James I The Pilgrims at Plymouth The " Mayflower " at Plymouth Harbor Governor Brewster's Chair Landing of the Pilgrims The First Church in New England The Treaty between Plymouth Colony and Massasoit John Endicott John Winlhrop Roger Williams Seeking Refuge Among the Indians . Landing of Roger Williams at Providence John Hampden A Group of Indians Yale College An American Free School John Eliot Preaching to the Indians Indian Medicine Man Indian Life in Their Native Forests King Philip The Burning of Brookfield by the Indians Mrs. Rowlandson Captured by the Indians Sir Edmund Andros The Charter Oak The Rev. Cotton Mather ■ • . . Execution of the Rev. George Burroughs Nova Zembla — From an Old Print Mock Suns Seen by Early Explorers Henry Hudson Hudson Strait • Mutiny on Hudson's Ship First Settlement of New York Peter Stuyvesant Gustavus Adolphus Queen Anne William Penn William Penn's Treaty with the Indians Penn Treaty Monument The Old Swedes' Church, Built in 1 64 1 Indian Amusements — Canoe Race between Squaws . The Coast of North Carolina A Settler's Cabin Birds'-Eye View of Charleston, South Carolina . . . Scene on a Tributary of the St. John's River .... xix LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. King George 1 239 General Oglethorpe 243 A Southern Plantation 244 John Wesley 245 George Whitefield 246 University and Normal School Buildings at Toronto in 1892 254 Falls of St. Anthony 261 Murder of La Salle 263 View of Montreal from Mount Royal 268 Return of the Daughter of Eunice Williams . ... 272 Cruel Murder of Rasle 274 French Explorers Buying Leaden Plates 279 Scenes in the Allegheny Mountains 28 1 The Half King 2S5 Benjamin Franklin 289 Wills' Creek Meadows 291 Disastrous^efeat of General Braddock 294 Burning of Kittaning by General Armstrong .... 296 Th; Palisades of the Hudson 302 Site of Fort William Henry on Lake George .... 305 Montcalm 306 Arrival of ludian Allies at the French Camp .... 307 William Pitt 310 Washington Planting the Flag on Fort Duquesne . . 315 Niagara Falls 317 General James Wolfe 318 Death of General Wolfe before Quebec 320 King George III 321 Visit of Pontiac and the Indians to Major Gladwin . . 324 Scene near the Source of the Raritan River 329 Samuel Adams 332 Patrick Henry 333 Colonel Barri 335 Hanging a Stamp Act Official in Effigy 337 Stamp Act Official Beaten by the People 339 British Troops in Boston 342 Throwing the Tea Overboard in Boston Harbor . . 347 John H.-incock 349 Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia 351 The Minute Man -355 The Battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775 356 Death of Isaac Davis 35S Capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen 360 Signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration 361 General Israel Putnam 364 General Burgoyne 365 Battle of Hunker Hill 368 Death of Major Pilcairn 370 Bunker Hill Monument 372 General Richard Montgomery 374 General Henry Knox 378 Medal Struck by Congress in Honor of the Recapture of Boston • 380 Continental Bills 3S1 Sergeant Jasper at Fort Moultrie 383 Independence Hall, Philadelphia 3SS House in which the Declaration of Independence was Written, Philadelphia 3S6- Signing the Declaration of Independence 387 Old Bell of Independence Hall 388 Signatures of the Signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence 390 General John Sullivan 393 The Declaration of Independence Read to the Army 396 General Chailes Lee 39S Washington Crossing the Delaware 401 Washington Calls on Colonel Rahl 403 American Marksman in a Tree 406- Washington's Quarters at Morristown 408- General Philip Schuyler 411 Flag and Shield 412 Seal of the United States — Obverse 412 Seal of the United States — Reverse 412 The Marquis de Lafayette 413 Arrest of General Prescott 415 Lafayette and Washington 41 7 General Burgoyne Addressing the Indians 420 Ruins of Fort Ticonderoga 421 Herkimer Mortally Wounded .... 423 General John Stark . . 424 General Horatio Gates 426 An American Rifleman 431 Louis XVI 434 Sir Henry Clinton 435 Indian Scalp Dance 439 General Benjamin Lincoln 441 Gallant Charge of Count Pulaski ■ ■ ■ . 442 General Anthony Wayne 443 Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Lee 444 Paul Jones Seizing the Silver Plate of Lady Selkirk . 445 John Paul Jones 446 Medal Struck in Honor of Paul Jones — Obverse . . 447 Medal Struck in Honor of Paul Jones — Reverse . . 447 Daniel Boone 44S Lord Cornwallis 453 Total Rout of the Loyal Recruits 454 General Francis Marion 455 General Nathaniel Greene . . ■ 457 " Now Put Watts into them, Boys," 45S Benedict Arnold 46c Major Andre 461 Escape of Benedict Arnold 463 General Daniel Morgan 466 Lord Rawden, afterwards Marquis of Hastings . . 468 Scene in the Highlands of the Hudson 471 View of Vorktown 473 Surrender of Lord Cornwallis 474 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Captain Iluddy led from Prison to be Hanged . . Washington's Headquarters at Newburg, New York The Room with Seven Doors and One Window . Oliver Ellsworth Washington's Reception at Trenton Rufus King C. C. Pinckney I he Inauguration of Washington George Washington Indian Child in Cradle Alexander Hamilton Rufus Putman John Jay Fisher Ames Scene in the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky Washington's Home at Mount 'Vernon John Adams John Marshall Washington's Grave, Mount Vernon Thomas Jefferson Aaron Burr Robert R. Livingston Napoleon I Captain (afterward Commodore) Bainbridge and the Dey of Algiers Duel between Burr and Hamilton Fulton's First Steamboat William Pinkney Officers of the " Chesapeake " Surrendering their Swords Tames Madison A Pioneer Hero's Fight with the Savages John Randolph Stephen Van Rensselaer Massacre by Indians at Fort Dearborn Capture of the " Guerriere" by the " Constitution " . Commodore Hull The " Wasp " Boarding the " Frolic " Indians Torturing Prisoners Commodore Perry Perr)''s Victory on Lake Erie Battle of the Thames — Death of Tecumsch .... Captain (^afterward Sir Philip) Broke Fight between the " Chesapeake" and the "Shannon'' Scene of the Battle of Lake Champlain Commodore MacDonough A New England Farm-house Joseph Story The Plain of Chalmette— Scene of the Battle of New Orleans Pakenham Leading the Attack on New Orleans . . . Commodore Decatur Decatur and the Dey of Algiers William C. C. aaibome P.\OB 477 479 •?T9 482 483 4S4 485 4S6 487 4S8 489 490 491 492 495 494 497 49S 500 SOI 5°2 503 504 505 506 507 509 510 513 516 517 519 520 522 523 524 526 527 52S 529 531 533 536 537 539 540 541 543 544 545 546 James Monroe j^g Old Way of Picking Cotton Henry Clay • • ■ ■ 553 Unique Cotton Harvester 555 John Quincy Adams 557 Steamboat Loading with Cotton 558 Statue of Jefferson at Washington 559 Daniel Webster 560 Andrew Jackson 562 Robert V. Hayne A Lumberman's Camp in the Woods of Maine . . John C. Calhourn Edward Livingston The United States Treasury at W'ashington, D. C. Osceola, Chief of the Seminoles Martin Van Buren Canadian Trappers The Smithsonian Institution, W'ashington, D. C. . View of the National Capitol at Washington . . . William Henry Harrison John Tyler 563 564 56s 566 567 566 571 574 575 577 580 581 Fac-Simile, According to Joe Smith, of the Writing on the Original Plates of the " Book Mormon " . . 583 Murder of the Smiths 584 The Mormon Hand-cart Company Crossing the Pla Utah . 5SS 586 S87 588 589 Mormon Tabernacle at Salt Lake Professor Morse A Village in Texas Santa Anna General Houston 590 General Post Office, Washington 591 James K. Polk 594 Columbia River, Oregon 595 Battle of Palo Alto 598 Major Ringgold Mortally Wounded 599 Charge of the Dragoons 600 General Winfield Scott 601 Capture of a Battery at Monterey 603 Lieutenant Grant Going for Ammunition at Mon- terey 604 Mexican Cart and Oxen 607 Battle of Buena Vista 609 General View of the Yosemite Valley 6n The Great Caiion and Lower Falls, Yellowstone . . 613 East Side of Plaza— Sante Fi 614 Bombardment of Vera Cruz 616 Battle of Cerro Gordo 617 Storming of Chapultepec 621 General Scott Entering the City of Mexico 622 A M«xican Cathedral 623 Hydraulic Mining 624 Zachary Taylor 627 The White House, Washington, D. C iai LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Robert Toombs 629 MiUard FiUmore 631 Portraits of Leading Mormons 632 Cuban Fillibusters on the March 633 Sir John F lin 635 Relics of Franklin's Polar Voyage 636 Dr. E. K. Kane and his Companions 637 Franklin Pierce 640 Stephen A Douglas 642 Salmon P. Chase 644 Scene on the Allegheny River 645 Charles Sumner 647 James Buchanan 650 The Mormon Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah .... 651 Mountain Meadow Massacre 652 W.'ishington Irving 655 Edward Everett 65S Bridge Crossing the Susquehanna River at Harris- burg 660 Jefierson Davis 663 Inauguration of Jefferson Davis 664 Abraham Lincoln 666 William H. Seward 667 Ai-rival of President Lincoln at the Capitol 66S Fort Prickens 669 Major Anderson 670 Fort Sumter in 1S61 671 Forts Sumter and Moultrie 672 Fort Moultrie, Charleston Harbor 673 The Confederate Flag 674 The Si.xth Massachusetts Regiment Passing through Baltimore 675 Fortifications in and around Washington 676 Portraits of Prominent Federal Generals 677 Map Showing the Shenandoah Valley 67S The Battle of Manassas, or Bull Run 680 Capitol at Richmond, Virginia 6S1 Portraits of Prominent Federal Generals 6S2 The " Nashville" Destroying a Federal " Merchant- man " 6S4 Lieutenant-General Polk 6S5 John M. Mason 6S6 John Slidell 686 The Arrest of Mason and Slidell on the British Steamer "Trent " 687 Grant's Headquarters near Fort Donelson 688 A View of the Country, Showing Fort Donelson in the Distance 689 Map Showing Pittsburg Landing and Corinth .... 690 Charge of the Federals at Corinth 6gi Iron-clad Gunboat 692 Island No. lo 694 Burning Horses at Shiloh 695 Massacre of the Morrisites 696 Portraits of Prominent Confederate Generals .... 697 General Sherman at the Outbreak of the War . . . . 699 Bumside's Expedition Crossing Hatteras Bar .... 700 Portraits of the Principal Naval Commanders during the War 703 The "Meirimac " Sinking the '-Cumberland" .... 704 Genera] George B. McClellan 706 View of the Chickahominy near Mechanicsville . . . 707 Map of Northern Virginia 70S Lieutenant-General T. J. Jackson 709 Portraits of Prominent Confederate Generals . . . . 711 Portraits of Prominent Federal Generals 714 Major-General Philip Kearney 715 McQellan at the Battle of Antietam 717 View of Antietam Battle Ground 718 Portraits of Some of the Generals of the Army of the Potomac 720 General John Sedgwick 721 General George G. Meade 722 Battle of Gettysburg 724 Positions dining the First Day's Fight at Gettys- burg 727 Positions during the Second and Third Days' Fight at Gettysburg 727 Map Showing Vicksburg and Its Approaches .... 730 Vicksburg, Mississippi 731 Gunboats Running Past Vicksburg at Night .... 732 General John C. Pemberton 733 Grant's Headquarters near Vicksburg 734 Map of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga Cam- paigns • 73S Positions of the Armies at the Battle of Missionary Ridge 736 Grant's Headquarters at Chattanooga 737 Capture of Lookout Mountain 73S Missionary Ridge from the Cemeter\- at Chattanooga 739 The Attack on Fort Sumter by the Monitor Fleet . . 74c Portraits of Prominent Federal Generals 721 Fort De Russy 742 Bailey's Red River Dam 743 Grant 'Writing Dispatches before Crossing the Ripadan 744 General James Longstreet 745 The Place Avhere Sedgw ick was Killed 746 General Fitzhugh Lee 747 Battle of Cold Harbor 74S Battle of Spottsylvania Court-house 74c General J. E. B. Stuart 75c General Winfield S.Hancock 751 Stuart's Cavalry Cutting Telegraph Wires 752 Pontoon Bridge at Deep Bottom 753 General Philip H. Sheridan 754 Portraits of Federal Cavalry Commanders 755 Sheridan's Cavalry Charge at Cedar Creek .... 756 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Country between Chattanooga and Atlanta 757 General Joseph E. Johnston 75S General James B. McPherson 761 General George H. Thomas 762 Portraits of Sherman and some of his Commanders . 763 rhe Countrj' Traversed by Sherman in His March through Georgia 764 MapShomng the City of Mobile and Its Defences . . 765 ^Commodore David G. Farragut 766 Cape Fear River and Approaches to Wilmington, N. C ■ 767 Boat oi the "Deerhound " Rescuing Captain Senimes 76S Sinking of the " Alabama" by the "Kearsarge " . . 769 Raphael Semmes 770 Portraits of Prominent Federal Generals 771 Major-Genera! J. M. Schofield 772 Portraits of Federal Cavalry Commanders 773 Interior of Fort Steadman 774 Positions of the Armies near Petersburg, Va 775 General Robert E. Lee 776 The Last Cavalry Charge of the War 777 General John B. Gordon 7S0 The McLean House 7S1 Surrender of General Lee 7S2 General Lee's Farewell to His Soldiers 7S3 Assassination of President Lincoln 7S5 The Grave of President Lincoln 7S6 Interview between Generals Sherman and Johns- ton 78S Andrew Johnson 791 Ruins of Richmond after the War 792 Fort Warren, Boston Harbor 793 Lincoln Monument in Fairmount Park, Philadel- ptiia 795 Emperor Maximilian 7gS Natives of Alaska Building Houses 799 LHysses S. Grant S02 View on the Greene River at the Crossing of the Union Pacific Railroad, Wyoming 803 President Grant on his way to the Inauguration. . . S04 Humboldt Palisades, Pacific Railway S05 (Theyenne Indians Reconrioitering the First Train on the Pacific Railroad 806 The Geneva Board of Arbitration Settling the Ala- bama Oaims S07 The Burning of Chicago 808 Horace Greeley S09 President Grant Passing Through the Rotunda to take the Oath of Office Sio Mrs. U. S. Grant. . 811 TheLavaBeds— Scene of the Modoc War .... Si 2 jScene in the New York Stock E.\change During the Panic of 1S73 814 Scene on the Colorado River S15 View in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River . S18 Memorial Hall, Fairmount Park, Pliiladelphia . . . S20 View of the Main Building of the International Cen- tennial E.\hibition S22 General J. R. Hawley Sz^ Intersection of Ninth and Chestnut Streets, Philadel phia 826 Obverse of Centennial Medal • • • . . 82; Reverse of Centennial Medal S27 Shoshone Falls, Idaho 828 General George Crook 829 Indians Surprised and Defeated S30 Horseshoe Bend on the Pennsylvania Railroad near Altoona S3I Canyon of the Lodore and Greene Rivers, Wyoming. 832 Samuel J. TiUlen 833 Thomas A. Hendricks 834 Point P'easant, Ohio, the Birthplace of General Grant S35 Samuel J. Randall 836 The New Department of State, Washington, D. C . . 837 George F. Edmunds 838 Thomas F. Bayard 839 Rutherford E. Hayes 842 William A. \\T)eeler 843 Arrival of General Grant at San Francisco in the Steamer '• City of Tokio " 844 William H. English 845 The " Jeannette " Crushed by the Ice 846 The Mirage — A Scene in the Arctic Regions .... 847 James A. Garfield 850 Mrs. Lucretia R. Garfield 85 1 James G. Blaine 852 The Assassination of James A. Garfield S53 Death-bed of J.imes A. Garfield 854 The Catafalque at Cleveland, Ohio • S55 James A. Garfield Lying in State in the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washington 856 Chester A. Arthur 857 John A. Logan S58 John G. Carlisle S59 Sanderson's Hope, Upernavik, Bafiin Bay S60 Arctic Region — Beechey Head 86l Scene in the Arctic Region — .-Vmong the Icebergs . . 862 The Brooklyn Suspension Bridge 863 Grover Cleveland 865 Chief Justice Waite Administering the Oath of Office to President Cleveland 866 Death of General Grant 867 Cottage in which Grant Died at Mount McGregor . . 868 General Grant's Temporary Tomb, Riverside ParV, New York S6g Mrs. Frances Folsom Cleveland S72 Tlie New Post Office Building, Philadelphia .... 873 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE The New City Hall, Philadelphia S74 Steamship Docks on the Delaware River, Phila- delphia S75 Allen G. Thurman S76 hevi P. Morton S77 Benjamin Harrison 879 Bird's-eye View of New York City S80 The Post Office, New York 88 r The Battery and Castle Garden, New York . . 8S2 The Harbor of New York 883 PAGE The Break in vSouth Forks Dam, Johnstown, Pa. 888 William McKinley 885 Charles F. Crisp 886 Sitting Bull in his War Dress 887 Chief American Horse 888 General Nelson A. Miles 889 Captain Wallace Found After the Wounded Knee Fight 890 Scene on the Yellow Stone River 892 U. S. Exhibit Battle Ship " Illinois " . . . . 915 Superb Phototype (Full-page) Engravings Illustrating the Story of the New World. Christopher Columbus. Landing of Columbus. Columbus before Ferdinand and Isabella. De Soto Discovering the Mississippi. General Pepperell at the Siege of Louisburg George Washington. Putnam's Escape at Horseneck. Battle of Bennington. General Harrison and Tecumseh. Commodore Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie. General Scott at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. Bombardment of Island No. 10. Capture of New Orleans. Battle of Gettysburg. Capture of the Works at Petersburg. Columbus Sighting Land. The Landing of Roger Williams. Boston Massacre, 1770. Patrick Henry. Washington Reviewing the Army. Massacre at Fort Mimms. Decatur's Conflict with the "Algeriue" at Tripoli General George G. Meade. U. S. Cruiser ' U. S. Cruiser ' U. S. Cruiser ' U. S. Cruiser ' U. S. Cruiser ' U. S. Cruiser ' U. S. Cruiser ' Baltimore." Petrel." Philadelphia." Newark." York town." San Francisco.' ' Columbia." U. S. Cruiser "Chicago.' Thomas A. Edison. Chauncey M. Depew. Philip D. Armour. Thomas B. Reed. Melville W. Fuller. John Wanamaker. Charles Frederick Crisp. Marshall Field John Sherman. Lew Wallace. Frances E. Willard. William B. Allison. Richard Olney. James Whitcomb Riley. Charles H. Parkhurst. Claus Spreckels. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS Queen of Republics OR Standard History of the United States BOOK I Discovcrv ob bl)c \v csberi) Coi)bii)ci;l! CHAPTER I Strange Pcopl e in a Stranirc Land Karlicst Inhabitants of the rnited States— The Mound Builders— Remarkable Works Constructed by Them— Evidences of a Primitive Civilization — Indications of the Antiquity of this Period — The American Indians — Division of the Country Among the Tribes — Names and Location of the Various Tribes — Organization and Government of the Indians— Their Dress, Manners and Customs— Villages— Indian Inventions— The War Dance — Legends of the Norsemen Respecting the Discovery of America. E do not know who were the inhabitants, or what was the history- of North America previous to its discovery and settlement by the Europeans. That it was at some remote period occupied by a more civilized and powerful race than the Indians, found by the first explorers, is very certain ; but who they were, what was their history, or what the cause of their extinction, are among the profoundest mysteries of the past. Traces as distinct as those which mark the various physical changes which the continent has undergone, exist to show that these primi- tive inhabitants were both numerous and far advanced in civilization ; but this is all that we know concerning them. In various parts of the countrj', and espe- cially in the valley of the Mis.sissippi, large mounds and other structures of earth and stone, but chiefly of cirth, remain t') show the magnitude of the works constructed by these people, to whom the name " Mound Builders" is generally applieti. Some of these earthworks embrace as much as fifteen or sixteen miles of embankment. As no domestic animals existed in this country at that period, these works mu.st have been con.structed by bringing the earth used in them by hand ; a fact which shows th.it the primitive population was a large one. The construction of the works proves that the}- had considerable engineering skill. The square, the circle, the ellipse, and the octagon are all used in these structures, being all combined in a single system of works in some places. The proportions are always perfect. The square is always a true square, and the circle a true circle. Many implements and ornaments of copper, silver, and precious stone.s — such r.s axes, chisels, knives, bracelets, beads, and pieces of thread and cloth, and well-shaped vases of pottery have been found in these mounds, and show 17 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. the exttt.i of the civiUzation of the " Mound Builders " and their knowledge of the arts. In the region of Lake Superior are found old copper mines worked by these ancient people. In one of these mines there was discovered an immense block of copper weighing nearly six tons. It had been left in the process of removal to the top of the mine, nearly thirty feet above, and was sup- i)orted on logs of wood which were partly petrified. The stone and copper tools used by the miners were discovered lying about as they had been left by their owners ages before. At the mouth of this mine are piles of earth thrown out in digging it, and out of Jiese embankments trees are growing which .le nearly four hundred years old. Who were the "Mound Builders"? The following interesting account of the mounds and their builders is from the pen of Mr. J. H. Beadle, who has kindly given us permission to quote from his valuable work, entitled 77/1? Undeveloped West: In his description, Mr. Beadle says : A people for whom we have no name, vaguely included under the general term of Mound Builders, have left evidences of exten- sive works in the vicinity of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and their tributaries. These are of three kinds : mounds, square and circular inclosures, and raised embank- ments of various forms. Of mounds, the following are most important and best known : One at Grave Creek, West Virginia, 70 feet high and 1,000 feet in circumference at the base ; one near Miamisburg, Ohio, 68 feet high and 852 feet in circumference ; the great truncated pyramid at Cahokia, Illinois, 700 feet long, 500 wide, and 90 in height ; the immense square mound, with face of 188 feet, near Marietta, Ohio ; and some hun- dreds of inferior mounds from 60 to 30 feet 'a height, in different States, from Wisconsin to the iTiouth of the Mississippi. Unlike all the mounds in Me.xico and Central and South America, those in our country have no trace of buildings on them. WHiy? Until I visited Arizona I had no answer. There the solution was easy. In those regions stone was abundant and timber was scarce ; here the reverse was the case. Our predecessors built of wood, the others of stone; the works of the latter remain to this day, while wooden buildings would leave no trace after one or two centuries, if indeed they were not burnt by the savages as soon as abandoned. Immense Structures. Of the second class the best known are : the square fortification at Cedar Bank, Scioto River, Ohio, with face of 800 feet, inclosing a mound 245 feet long by 150 broad; the works four miles north of Chilli- cothe, Ohio, a square and a circular fortifica- tion inclosing twenty acres each ; the graded way near Piketon, Ohio ; about a hundred mounds and inclosures in Ross County, Ohio ; the pyramid at Seltzertown, Missis- sippi, 600 feet long and 40 feet high, and a vast number of mounds, inclosures, squares and pyramids on the upper lakes, and scat- tered through the Southern and Western States. Every State in this great region contains these ancient structures. By far the greatest division is in Central and South America ; and here we find our- selves at the point where our ancient civiliza- tion reached its height, among works which are the astonishment of explorers and per- plexity of scholars. Yucatan is a vast field for antiquarian research, dotted from one end to the other with the ruins of cities, temples and palaces. But in the great forest which covers the northern half of Guatemala, the southern half of Yucatan, and parts of other States, covering an area larger than Ohio, is STRANGE PEOPLE IN A STRANGE LAND. 19 |r> ho found the key to our ancient history. Within a few years past cities have been dis- coverfcd which must have contained a popu- lation of a quarter of a million, in an advanced condition of civilization ; and yet, owing to the jealousy of the natives and the indiffer- 2nce of modern scholars, next to nothing is cnown, and few scientific researches have been made upon this intensely interesting subject. In my limited space I confine this inquiry mostlv to the remains in our own couiitr\-. ''■. They were an agricultural people. The baroarous state requires many tiinca as large an area for the same number of people as the civilized state ; and the savage condi- tion a much larger. The State of Ohio will support an agricultural population of many millions; yet it never contained fifty thousand savages. It is easily proven that that portion of the United States east of the Mississippi never contained half a million Indians. It follows, also, that a very large portion of the conntr\' around their works MOUNDS AT M From what we see in the Western and Southern States, the following conclusions are evident : I. The Mound Builders constituted a considerable population, under one govern- ment. No wandering and feeble tribes could aave erected such works ; and the extent of the works, evidently many years in erection, as well as their completeness and scientific exactness, show the controlling energy of one directing central power, which alone can Account for their uniform character. ARIETI > I 1 I must have been cleared of timber and in cultivated fields. 3. They left our country a long time ago. Nature does not give a forest growth at once to abandoned fields ; a preparatory growth of shrubs and softer timber comes first. But forest trees have been found upon the summit of their mounds, which show, by annual rings and other signs, at least six hundred years of growth. There could be no better proof of their great antiquity. Their works are never found upon the 20 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. lowest terrace of the formation on the rivers ; though many signs indicate that they built some as nearly on a level with the streams as possible. Their " covered ways," leading down to water, now terminate on the second terrace above. It is demonstrable that of the various terraces — " second bottoms " — on our streams, the lowest was longest in form- ing. From these and many other signs, it is proved that the last of the Mound Builders left the Ohio \alley at least a thousand years ago. How Long were they Here ? 4. They occupied the country, at least the southern part of it, where their popula- tion was densest, a very long time. This is shown by the extent of their works, the evidences of their working the copper-mines of the Superior region, and many other proofs. The best judges estimate that nearly a thousand years elapsed from the time of their entrance till their departure from the Mississippi valley. 5. At the south they were at peace ; but as they advanced northward, they came more and more into contact with the wild tribes, before whom they finally retired — again towards the south. These facts are clearly proved by the increase of fortifica- tions northward, and broad flat mounds, suitable only for buildings, southward. So much for proof; and, connecting these with other proofs, the latest antiquarians are of the opinion that theToltecs — the civilized race preceding the Aztecs — were our Mound Builders. This opinion is the only reason- able one that can be formed under all the circumstances. When we pass to the more southern ruins the proofs of great antiquity, large population and long occupation are vastly increased. Some of them have been alluded to. The great forest of Guatemala and Yucatan is nearly as large as Ohio and Indiana combined, and could easily have sustained a civilized population of ten mil- lions. The Aztecs, whom the Spaniards found, were the last of at least three civilized races, and much inferior to the Toltecs immediately preceding them. Their history indicates that they were merely one of the original races, who overthrew and mingled with the Toltecs, adopting part of their reli- gion and civilization. The Peruvian Incas, found by Pizarro, seemed to have been the second in the series of races. But civiliza- tion is not spontaneous ; it must have re- quired nearly a thousand years for the first of the three dynasties to have developed art and learning far enough to erect the build- ings we find. To that race before the Incas, the authors of the original civilization, De Bourbourg and others have given the name of Colhuas. What may Reasonably be Conjectured, Thus we have the series : a thousand years since the Mound Builders left our country; a previous thousand jears of set- tlement and occupation, and a thousand years for the precedent civilization to develop. Or, beginning in Mexico, etc. : a thousand years of Spaniard and Aztec ; a previous thousand years for Toltec migration and settlement, and a thousand years before that for the Colhuas to develop, flourish and decline. This carries us back to the time when the same course of events was inaugu- rated on the Eastern Continent. We know that it has required so long to produce all we see in Europe and Asia; all reasoning, by analogy, goes to show that at least as long a time has been required to produce equally great evidences in America. Besides a host of surmises there have been at least nine theories promulgated, and strenuously defended, in regard to the origin of this civilization. STRANGE PEOPLE IN A STRANGE LAND. J. The Jewish theory. Some sixty years since Major Noah maintained that the " Lost Tribes " were the ancestors of the American Indians and the builders of the ruins de- such a people as the Jews could, in a few centuries, lose all trace of their language, religion, laws, form of government, art, science and general knowledge, and sink into A DEAD TOWN OF THE MOQUIS INDI.VNS. scribed ; and a few others held that, if not the Ten Tribes, there was a Jewish Colony. It would certainly be an amazing thing if a tribe of barbarians. But when we add that their bodily shape mu.st have completely changed, their skulls lengthened, the beard DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. dropped from their faces, and their lan- guage undergone a reversion from a deriv- ative to a primitive t>-pe — a thing unknown in any human tongue — the supposition be- comes too monstrous even to be discussed. 2. The Malay theory is that a great Malay Empire, once existing in the island of Malaysia, planted colonies here ; but this is easily disproved. Works of the Phoenicians. 3. The Phoenician theory: that those ancient navigators planted colonies in Amer- ica. If correct, this would be certain of demonstration ; for they were pre-eminently a people of letters and monuments. The Phoenician alphabet is the parent of all the alphabets of Europe except the Turkish. They must have left some trace of their lan- guage But none has been found. Nor can any similarity be traced in the ruins with the works of the Phoenicians. 4. 5,6. The Assyrian, Egyptian and Roman theories fell for the same reasons as the Phoenician. The works of none of these people have any marked resemblance to those found in America. A pyramid or temple here is no more like an Eg)'ptian or Assyrian one than a Chinese pagoda is like an American church. 7. The Northmen in America have been credited with these works. It is barely possible the remains in the United States might be thus accounted for; but how about the far more extensive and elaborate works in Mexico, Central and South America ? The cause ascribed is utterly inadequate for the effect. 8. The Chinese or Tartary theory is, that about the year 1250 Kublai Khan sent Tartar colonies to America; that among them were some Nestorian Christians, which accounts for the crosses found. The time is utterly inadequate. Palenque and Copan were built and abandoned before the year 1250. 9. The Atlantean theory is, b}- far, the most brilliant and fascinating of all proposed, and appeals with subtle power to the imagi- nation. It is propounded by Brasseur de Bourbourg, who maintains that the Island of Atlantis, often mentioned by ancient poets, had a real existence ; that it extended nearly across the Atlantic, and was the cradle of civilization ; that it actually sank in the sea as the Greek poets tell us, and that the West India Islands are the only portions that remain above water. He conjectures that from this common centre civilization spread east and west, and supports this view by numerous traditions from both sides of the Atlantic. Of this theor^'we must regretfully say, " Not proven." A False Assumption. To dispose of so many theories to make way for my own opinion, is scarcely in keeping with the modesty I had proposed to myself; but, in my humble judgment, these theorists all start from one fatal assumption : that this civilizatio7i was necessarily an exotic. W'h)^ not a civilization native to America as well as to any other countrj' ? I would sug- gest that a good basis might be laid by analogy with the course of civilization in Europe. There it began in the South, spread slowly by successive developments towards the North, where it was overwhelmed and driven back, as it were, by an irruption of barbarians; it again revived in the South, and slowly e.xtended to the North, where it is now advanced beyond the original. Similarly here the Colhuas originated civilization in the South ; their successors the Toltecs, carried it towards the North, about the line of Ohio, they encountered the irruption of northern barbarians, and slowly retired towards the South ; there civilization ISTRANGE PEOPLE IN A STRANGE LAND. again revived, and was steadily advancing [ America, the same as in Europe, the towards the North when the Spaniards came and destroyed it. On each continent the full cycle required a period of about three thousand years. On this basis I should place the Moquis and other Pueblo races the last in a series of four, the second the greatest, and a decline thence to the last : Colhaus, Toltecs, Aztecs, Pueblos. In summing up, why are we reduced to the necessity of adopting any hypothesis of an Eastern origin ? Is it unreasonable to believe that self-improve- ment began among savages in America, as it did three thousand years ago among savages in Egy^pt and Greece ? Does sound philos- ophy forbid the theorj' of a spontaneous civilization in America ? We are, perhaps, too much in the habit of thinking that everything really good originated with our branch of the human race. To my mind, the evidences are many — though a profound American arch^ologist might smile at the supposition — that this civilization was sui generis, native and not derived. A Remarkable Indian. We now know that in China a civiliza- tion developed spontaneously, totally unlike and receiving no aid from that of Europe. Two starting points proved, what is there to forbid the idea of a third ? This is as dis- tinct from the European as is the Chinese ; it shows no signs of derivation, and facts indicate clearly that the native mind of Amer- ica is naturally equal to either of the others. Within the memory of man a Cherokee has invented a complete alphabet, one serving the purpose in his language better than ours does in the P2nglish. (Better because each letter represents invariably one and the same sound). This fact is worth a volume of con- jecture. It shows that the human mind was slowly working toward something better in only difference being that, from reasons of race or climate, it there got an earlier start. Outgrowing Barbarism. And as to the northern barbarians who destroyed this civilization, why are we driven to inventing a plausible theory as to how they crossed from Asia ? On the whole, I incline to flank all the difficulties of the main question thus : America, as shown by geo- logy, is the oldest of the continents, and it is quite reasonable, therefore, to suppose was early inhabited. This race had a native genius peculiarly its own, totally unlike that which developed in Asia the Chinese civili- zation, or that in Europe which created that of the Greek and Roman and the later nations. Like them, many hundreds of years passed in barbarism before even a start was apparent. But civilization did begin in Amer- ica, and was reviving from its first overthrow when the whites came. Mexico had advanced through the savage and barbarous to the half-civilized state ; the New England tribes had taken the first steps toward improvement, and the New York Indians had already a political organization, code of laws, national confederacy and sys- tem of representative council and govern- ment. Had the whites discovered America a thousand years later, they might have found on the Atlantic coast a comph^ed native civilization as perfect as that of Ch.i i to-day. The innate power of the Inc.;. i mind among the superior tribes is evidc:/ The inferior ones would have perished as did inferior aboriginal races before Asiatic and European civilization. The foregoing theories, by Mr. Beadle, are doubtless the best solution to this problem. At the time of its discovery by the whites the Indians were the sole human occupants of the continent, which was covered with vast 24 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT, ame of v/oods and plains abounding witi every description. Though nominally divided into tribes and ■" nations," the Indians were really one great family in physical appearance, manners, cus- toms, religion, and in the observance of their social and political systems. The division and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina as far south as Cape Fear, a large part of Kentucky and Tennessee, and nearly all of Ohio, Indi- ana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Min- nesota. This nation was subdivided into the following tribes : the Ottawas, Chippewas INDIAN VILLAGE IN into tribes was the result of their difference in language. Each tribe had a dialect pecu- liar to itself and distinct from those of the others. The tribes were for the most part hostile to and were constantly engaged in war with each other. They were generally divided into eight nations, speaking eight radically distinct languages. These were : I. The Algonquins, who inhabited the ter- ritory now comprised in the six New Eng- land States, the eastern part of New York Sacs and Foxes, Miamis, Potawatomies, Shawnees, Powhatans, Delawares, Mohegans, Narragansetts and Pequods. The Famous " Five Nations." II. Iroquois, who occupied almost all of that part of Canada south of the Ottawa, and between lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron, the greater part of New York, and the country lying along the south shore of Lake Erie, now included in the States of Ohio and Penn- sylvania. This territory, it will be seen, COMMODORE PENNANT. U. S. ADMIRAIi. \ " 7 • > ■ • — <^ -'^m \ f VBirEZDEI.A. urn L4 FLAGS OF ALL NATIONS. ■•►■ STRANGE PEOPLE IN A STRANGE I>AND. bordered on the domains of their powerful and bitter enemies, the Algonquins. The nation was subdivided into the following tribes: the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks, These five were afterwards called by the English the " Five Nations." In 1722 they admitted the Tus- banks of tlie Pearl River. They were almost surrounded by the tribes of the Mobilian language, yet remained until their extinction a separate nation, speaking a distinct lan- guage peculiar to themselves, and worship- ping the sun as their God. They are believed to have been the most civilized of all the caroras into their confederation, and were j savage tribes of North America. afterwards called the " Six Nations." Tribes of the South. III. TJic Cataxvbas, who dwelt along the banks of the Yadkin and Catawba ri\ers, near the line which at present separates the States of North and South Carolina. IV. The Cherokccs, whose lands were bounded on the east by the Broad river of the Carolinas, including all of north- ern Georgia. V. The Uchees, who dwelt south of the Cherokees, along the Savannah, the Oconee, and the head-waters of the Chattahoochee. They spoke a harsh and singular language, and are believed to have been the remnant of a once > powerful nation. VI. The Mobilian Nation, who inhabi- , ted all of Georgia and South Carolina X not mentioned in the above statements, a part of Kentucky, Tennessee and Mis- sissippi and all of Florida and Alabama. Their territory was next in extent to that of the Algonquins, and extended along the Gulf of Mexico from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The nation was divided into three great confederations — the Creeks or Muscogees, the Choctaws and the Chickasaws — and was subdivided into a number of smaller tribes, the principal of which were the Seminoles and Yemassees, who were members of the Creek Confed- eration. VII. The Natchez, who dwelt in a small territory east of the Mississippi, and along the VIII. The Dacotahs or Sioux, whose terri- tory was bounded on the north b/ Lake Winnipeg, on the south by the Arkansas River, on the east by the Mississippi, and on ^ :-^ '■• ^ ""^^ ^i^' NAVAJU liOV. the west by the Rocky Mountains. The nation was divided into the following branches : the Winnebagoes, living between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi ; the Southern Sioux, living between the Arkan- sas and the Platte ; and the Mandans and Crows, who lived north of them. The great plains, the Rocky Mountains and Pacific coast were held by the powerful tribes of the Pawnees, Comanches, Apaches, Utahs, Black Feet, Snakes, Nezperces, Flat- heads, Navajos and California Indians. 26 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. Each tribe was divided into classes or clans, which were distinguished by a mark tattooed on the breast. This mark was called the totem, and was generally the representation of an animal or bird. The Indians believed that all animals had protect- ing spirits, and each class was supposed to be protected by the spirit of the animal it chose for its totem. Over each class was a chief, and the head of the tribe was a chief or sachem, who was usually a man, but some- PL tbi ) IM IAN AT PRA\ER times a woman. The Indians had no writ- ten laws, but the customs and traditions of the tribe took the place of these. The reli- gious belief of the Indians was simple. They adored a Great Spirit — some tribes had many gods — and believed in a future state. The brave were admitted to the happy hunt- ing-grounds of the spirit-world, but cowards were excluded from them. The weapons of a warrior were buried with him that he might use them in his s]iirit home, and pursue the occupations of his earthly life. Their heaven lay far beyond the mountains of the setting sun. It was a land rich in game, and abounding in fertile meadows and sparkling streams. There the warrior, re- leased from the cares and hardships of life, passed the ages of eternity in the chase ; and there parting from friends, suffering, fatigue, hunger and thirst were unknown. The Indian heard voices of spirits in the wind, and saw them in the stars. The shades of his ancestors were constantly hovering o\er him, stimulating him to brave deeds, keep- ing fresh in his mind the duty of avenging them upon the enemies they had left behind, and of proving himself a true warrior. Grotesque Dress of the Savages. The dress of the savages consisted of the skins of animals, which were prepared by smoking them. After the settlement of the colonies they added a blanket to this dress. Their garments were decorated with skins and feathers, and on special occasions they painted their faces with various bright colors. In the warm weather they wore scarcely any clothing. Their houses or wigwams were formed of poles set firmly in the ground and bent toward each other at the top. These were covered with chestnut or birch bark. Some of the tribes had large houses, often thirty feet high and over two hundred feet long, which accommodated a number of families. Some of the Indian villages were laid off regularly and were permanent ; others were broken up with each migration of the tribe. All the Indians, however, pursued a roving life, passing from point to point in search of game and the means of subsist- ence. Some of the tribes lived by hunting only ; others added to this pursuit the culti- vation of maize or Indian corn, beans, hemp, tobacco and pumpkins. The food of the Indians was coarser and less nourishing than that of the Europeans, and they were conse- STRANGE PEOPLE IN A STRANGE LAND. 27 quently inferior to the latter in bodily strength. They surpassed them in endur- ance, however, and could bear tests which the whites could not. They were swift run- ners, and could accomplish long distances in this way. It was a common thing for a good runner to run seventy or eighty miles in a single day. They were thoroughly proficient in the craft of the woodsman. Sounds and sights which had no meaning to the white man were eloquent to them ; and they sur- passed the latter in keenness of hearing and of vision. They communicated with each other by signs or marks on rocks and trees. For money they used wampum beads ; and 1 belts made of this wampum were used to record treaties and other important events. They had no intoxicating drinks before the arrival of the whites ; but used tobacco, which they smoked in pipes made of clay. They were expert marksmen with the bow until they learned the use of firearms from the \\hites, when they lost much of their ancient skill with this weapon. Canoes and Snow-shoes. " The most ingenious inventions of the In- dians," says Colonel Higginson, " were the snow-shoe and the birch canoe. The snow- shoe was made of a maple-wood frame three or four feet long, curved and tapering, and filled in with a network of deer's hide. This network was fastened to the foot by thongs, only a light, elastic moccasin being worn. Thus the foot was supported on the surface of the snow ; and an Indian could travel forty miles a day upon snow-shoes, and could easily overtake the deer and moose whose pointed hoofs cut through the crust. The peculiar pattern varied with almost every tribe, as did also that of the birch canoe. This was made of the bark of the white birch, stretched over a very light frame of white cedar. The whole bark of a birch tree was stripped off and put around the frame without being torn. The edges were sewed with thongs cut from the roots of the cedar, and were then covered with pitch made from the gum of trees. If torn, the canoe could be mended with pieces of bark fastened in the same way. The largest o! these canoes was thirty feet long, and u-oul 1 carry ten or twelve Indians. They were very light and could be paddled with ease They were often very gracefully shaped, and drew very little water. "The Indians had great courage, seif-con- trol, and patience. Th:y were grave and f^^ n' '-i CIVILIZED INDIAN W'OMAN. dignified in their manners on important occa- sions ; in their councils they were courteous to one another, and discussed all important questions at great length. They were often kind and generous, and sometimes even for- giving; but they generally held sternness tc be a virtue, and forgiveness a weakness. They were especially cruel to captives, putting them to death with all manner of tortureS; in which women took an active part It v/as the custom among them for women to do most of the hard work, in ordfei that the s8 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. bodies of the men might be kept supple and active for the pursuits of the chase and war. Great Power of Endurance. " When employed on these pursuits, the rdian men seemed incapable of fatigue; *jut in the camp or in travelling the women carried the burdens ; and when a hunter had carried a slain deer on his shoulders for a longdistance, he would throw it down within sight of the village, that his squaw might go and bring it in. *' i\Iost of the Indian tribes lived in a state "if constant warfare with one another. When there was a quarrel between tribes, and war seemed ready to break out, strange cere- monies were used. Some leading chief would paint his body black from head to Coot, and would hide himself in the woods or V STRANGE PEOPLE IN A STRANGE LAND. Jstant when the last trace left of the red man 1 en America will be his memory. Old Traditions. vVhether any white men ever trod the Jiores of America previous to the coming of Columbus is a disputed question. It would >eem, however, that, several centuries previ- justohis disco\-er}%a Norwegian vessel from Iceland to Greenland was driven out of her course by storms to the coast of Labrador or Newfoundland. Tlie national pride of the Icelanders and the Danes has led them to accept as literal history the traditions of their race concerning this voyage, and they have Riven it a definite date. According to them this voyage took place in A. D. 986, and was followed in lOOi by a voyage of Lief Erick- son, an Icelandic navigator, who is said to have discovered America, reaching Labrador first, and then sailing southward to Newport and New Y rk harbors. This voyage is said to have led the way to the further exploration of the coast as far south as the rapes of Virginia, and to the planting of colonics, which soon perished, in Newfound- land and Nova Scotia. That some Icelandic voyagers visited the American continent pre- vious to the expedition of Columbus is most likely ; but we cannot accept the definite and explicit statements of the writers in ques- tion ; at least in the present state of our knowledge upon this subject. We must con- tent ourselves with the bare fact, without admitting all the details narrated. Among the strange, stirring and wonder- fill stories of early voyages there was none vhich excited such interest as that of Bjarni, a native of Iceland, who had cruised along the coast of an unknown world, and looked upon hills, woods and mountains, of v/hose existence no one had ever dreamed. It naturally occurred to the hardy sailors who discussed the question, tliat they could do what Bjarni had done, and indeed far more, for he had not set foot on the shores he had seen at the west. The oldest son of Eric the Red was Lief— Lief the Lucky, he was afterward called In the year lOOO ne set sail from Herjulfness with a crew of thirty-five men, Bjarni being among them. Heading boldly out to sea, the sailors ploughed through the icy waters until land, supposed to be Newfoundland, was reached. They went ashore and examined it, but there was little to please the eye and they soon left. The next place visited was probably Nova Scotia, as it is now called. It was found to correspond with the account given by Bjarni. Two days further sail, before a favoring wind, carried the explorers so far south that when land was once more descried, it must have been New England. The main facts of the remarkable voyage of Lief the Northman have been proven beyond all dispute, but the accounts themselves arc so confused in minor details that it can never be positively known where it was these navigators first landed. There is good rea- son, however, to believe it was on the coast of Rhode Island, and probably at some point on the Narragansett Bay. A Bold Navigator. The Northmen were astonished and deliglited when they came to explore the woods to find luscious grapes in abundance. To the Northmen, the climate seemed won- derfully mild. Lief gave the country the name of Vinland, and when he sailed north- ward, his vessel was loaded with grapes and valuable timber, asproof of the fertility of the region he had visited. The Northmen were not men to rest con tent with the voyage and discoveries made by Lief. Eric the Red had another son. a brave and skillful navigator named Thorvald, who was eager to visit the new countrr. STRANGE PEOPLE IN A STRANGE LAND. 31 Lief gave him much lielp, and in 1003 lie set sail witli acrevv of thirty men. Good fortune attended them, and they found the rough houses left by Lief still strong and secure. The men spent the winter in hunting and fishing, but, so far as is known, never saw the face of any native of the New World. When spring came, part of the company went on an exploring tour along the coast of Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island. There is good reason to believe they entered the harbor of New York, but not a living person beside themselves was to be seen, and where stands to-day the most populous city in the New World, there was not so much as an j Indian wigwam. The records show that in the spring of 1004 Thorvald entered on a more extended voyage of exploration. He sailed slowly northward along the coast of Cape Cod, and was drivea ashore by a tempest. It took the crew a long time to repair damages, but when everything was ready, they resumed their voyage, keeping close, no doubt, along the south shore of Massachusetts Bay. Being favorably impressed with the appear- ance of a certain spot, they dropped anchor and went ashore. When they had done so, they saw for the first time some of the natives of the new country. Under a couple of rude tents they dis- ' covered nine quietly lolling on the ground ! with no suspicion of the presence of the j strangers who had landed near them. Who would think that the Northmen could offer I harm to vh; poor savages? There was not the slightest excuse for the dreadful cruelty of the white men, and yet, no sooner did they see the natives, than they resolved to kill them all. Creeping silently forward, they made a sudden rush, and with their heavy swords killed all but one. Having completed the massacre, the triumphant Northmen lay down under the trees to sleep; but they had hardly closed their eyes when the woods resounded with shouts and yells, and the natives rushed upon them from every side. The single survivor of the slaughter had made haste to tell what had been done by the visitors, who were now compelled to flee to their ship, fighting as they went. Under the shelter of the vessel, however, they were able to beat back the natives, only one of the Northmen receiving a wound : he was Thorvald, who had been pierced so deeply by an arrow that he was past help. He died and was buried near the shore, the grave covered with stones and a cross placed both at the head and foot. Then the survivors sailed back to Vinland and told their countrymen the sad tidings. The next spring the whole colony returned to Green- land. Thus ends all authentic history of the dis- covery and settlement of America by the Northmen. Having found one of the great continents of the world, it may be said they lost it, and, during nearly five centuries afterward there is no positive proof that it was known to Europeans. CHAPTER II The Vovaores of Columbus Maritime Kcterprise in the Fifteenth Century — Theories Respecting the Earth's Surface — Christopher Columbus — His Earl; Life — His 1 heor)- of a Western Passage to India — His Struggles to Obtain the Means of Making a Voyage — Is Aided by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain — His First Voyage — Discover)- of America — Reception in Spain — His Second Voyage — Settlement of Hayti — Third Voyage of Columbus — He Reaches the Mainland^Discover)' of Gold in Hayti — Troublef in the Colonj- — Columbus Sent to Spain in Irons — Indignation of the Queen- — Last Voyage of CfUimbus — His Ship- wreck — Returns to Spain— Refiisal of Ferdinand to Comply with his Promises — DectL of Columbus — Amerigo Vespucci — Origin of the Name America. HE fifteenth century witnessed a remarkable awakening of human thought and enterprise, one of the most important features of which was the activity in mari- time undertakings which led to the discovery of lands until then unknown to the civilized world. The invention, and the application to navigation, of the mariner's compass, had enabled the seamen of Europe to undertake long and distant voyages. The Portuguese took the lead in the maritime enterprises of this period, the chief object of which was to find a route by water from Europe to the Indies. The equator had been passed ; Bartholomew Diaz had even doubled the Cape of Storms, and had estab- lished the course of the eastern coast of Af- rica ; and it was hoped by some of the most daring thinkers that the ports of India could be reached by sailing around this cape. Others, still bolder, believed that although the earth was a sphere, it was much smaller than it is, and that the central portion of its surface was occupied by a vast ocean which washed the shores of what they regarded as its solitary continent, on either side, and that by sailing due west from Eu- rope, the shores of India, China or Japan 32 could be reached. Among those who held this opinion was Christopher Columbus. He was a native of Genoa, in Italy, was born about the year 1435, and was the son of a weaver of cloth. His ancestors had been sailors, for which calling he at an early age evinced a preference. He received a com- mon school education, and afterwards A^ent to the University of Pavia, where he studied geometry, astronomy, geography and navi- gation. He stayed at Pavia but a short time, only long enough to gain a decided relish fo; mathematical studies. At the early age of fourteen he went on a voyage with a relative, and followed the calling of a sailor until he had completed his thirtieth year. During this period he had married, and by this marriage he had become possessed of the papers of the former hus- band of his wife, who had been a distinguished Portuguese navigator. He had learned but little at school, but he had been a close stu- dent all his life, and had stored his mind with a valuable fund of information. This habit of study he never abandoned, and his e.xtensive knowledge, added to his years o( practical experience, made him one of the most learned navigators of his day. In 1470 being then about thirty years old, Columbus THE VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS. 33 took up his residence in Portugal, which was then the centre of maritime enterprise in Europe. Here his spirit of discovery was quickened, and he became convinced that 'here were continents still unknown. He continued to make voyages to the then known parts of the world, and while on fortified by his experience, induced him to believe that there was land beyond the western seas, which could be reached by sailing in that direction. This land he believed to be the eastern shores of Asia. He was confirmed in his belief by his corres- pondence with the learned Italian Toscanelli, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. shore engaged in the work of making and selling maps and charts. The papers given him by his wife were now of the greatest service to him. He entered eagerly into the speculations of the day concerning the short- est passage to the Indies, and his studies, 3 who sent him a map of his own projection in which the eastern coast of Asia was laid down opposite the western coast of Europe, with only the broad Atlantic between them. Other things also confirmed him in what had now become the profoundest conviction of 34 DISCOVERY OF THE his life. Sailors who had been to the Canary- Islands told him they had seen land far to the westward of those islands. A piece of wood strangely carved had been thrown by the waves upon the Portuguese coast after a long westerly gale, and had been seen by the brother-in-law of Columbus. Seven Years of Disappointment. An old pilot related to him the finding •>f a carved paddle at sea, a thousand miles to the westward of Europe. Pine trees had been cast ashore at Madeira, and at the Azores he learned that the bodies of two men, whose features and dress showed that they belonged to no nation of Europe, had been thrown on the land by the waves. Having settled it in his own mind that there was land to the westward, Columbus was eager to go in search of it. He was not possessed of suffi- cient means to accomplish this at his own expense, and began his efforts to interest some European state in the enterprise. His first application was addressed to his native country, the Republic of Genoa. He met with a refusal, and then turned to Venice, with a like result. His next effort was to enlist the Portuguese king, John H., in his scheme. Here he was subjected to delays and vexations innumerable, and once the Portuguese sovereign attempted to make a dishonorable use of the information given by Columbus in support of his theory. Disgusted with the conduct of this sover- eign, Columbus, after years of waiting, aban- doned the hope of obtaining his assistance, and applied to Henry VII. of England, from whom he received a decided refusal. Quitting Lisbon in 14S4, Columbus went to Spain, intending to lay his plans before Fer- dinand and Isabella, the sovereigns of that country. He could scarcely have chosen a more unpropitious time. The Spanish nation was engaged in the Moorish war, which had WESTERN CONTINENT, exhausted the treasury, and which absorbed the attention of the sovereigns to the exclu sion of every other matter. He spent seven years in endeavoring to interest the govern- ment in his plans. " During this time Columbus appears to have remained in attend- ance on the court, bearing arms occasionally in the campaigns, and experiencing from the sovereigns an unusual degree of deference and personal attention." At last, wearied with the long delay to which he had been subjected, he pressed the court for an answer, and was told by the sovereigns that, " although they were too much occupied at present to embark in his undertaking, yet, at the conclusion of the war, they should find time to treat with him." He accepted this answer as a refusal, and prepared to go to France to ask the assistance of the king of that country, from whom he had received a friendly letter. Travelling on foot, tie stopped at the monas- tery of Santa Maria de Rabida, near Palos, to visit the Prior Juan Perez de Marchena, who had befriended him when he first came to Spain. The prior, learning his intention to quit Spain, persuaded him to remain until one more effort could be made to enlist the government in his plans. Leaving Columbus at the convent, Juan Perez, who had formerly been the queen's confessor, mounted his mule and set off for the Spanish camp before Granada. He was readily granted an inter- view by Queen Isabella, and he urged the suit of Columbus with all the force of elo- quence and reasoning of which he was master. Columbus at the Royal Court. His appeal was supported by several eminent persons whom Columbus, during his residence at the court, had interested in his project, and these represented to the queen the impolicy of allowing Columbus to secure the aid of a foreign power which THE VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS. 35 would reap the benefits of his discoveries, if he were successful. The result was that the sovereigns consented to reopen the negotia- tion, and Columbus was invited to return to the court, and was furnished with a sum of money to enable him to do so. Columbus promptly complied with the royal mandate, and reached the camp in time to witness the surrender of Granada. Amidst the rejoic- ings which attended this event he was admit- ted to an audience with the king and queen, and submitted to them the arguments upon which he based his theory. Isabella was favorably disposed toward the undertaking, but Ferdinand looked coldly upon it. Co- lumbus demanded, as the reward of his suc- cess, the title and authority of admiral and viceroy over all lands discovered by him, with one-tenth of the profits, and that this dignity should be hereditary in his family. The archbishop of Granada advised the king to reject the demands of Columbus, which, he said, " savored of the highest degree of arrogance, and would be unbecoming in their highnesses to grant to a needy foreign ad\enturer." Columbus firmly refused to abate his pretensions, and abruptly left the court, " resolved rather to forego his splendid anti- cipations of discovery, at the very moment when the career so long sought was thrown open to him, than surrender one of the hon- orable distinctions due to his services." His friends, however, remonstrated with the queen, and reminded her that if his claims were high, they were at least contingent on success. By representing to her the certainty of his being employed by some other poten- tate, and his peculiar qualifications for success, and by reminding her of her past generous support of great and daring enterprises, they roused her to listen to the impulses of her own noble heart. " I will assume the under- taking," she exclaimed, " for my own crown of Castile, and am ready to pawn my jewels to defray the expenses of it, if the funds of the treasuiy shall be found inadequate." Louis de Si. Angel, the receiver who had been chiefly instrumental in bringing about this decision of the queen, offered to ad- vance the necessary funds from the reve- nues of Aragon. That kingdom, however, was indemnified against loss, and all the charges and profits of the expedition were reserved exclusively for Castile. A messen- ger was despatched in haste after Columbus. He overtook him a few leagues from Granada, and delivered the royal order to return. Three Ships of Renown. On the seventeenth of April, 1492, a formal agreement was signed between Columbus and the Spanish sovereigns. Fer- dinand and Isabella, " as lords of the ocean- seas, constituted Christopher Columbus their admiral, viceroy and governor-general of all such islands and continents as he should discover in the Western Ocean, with the privilege of nominating three candidates, for the selection of one by the crown, for the government of each of these territories. He was to be vested with the exclusive right of jurisdiction over all commercial trans- actions within his admiralty. He was to be entitled to one-tenth of all the products and profits within the limits of his discoveries, and an additional eighth, provided he should contribute one-eighth part of the expense. By a subsequent ordinance, the official digni- ties above enumerated were settled on him and his heirs forever, with the privilege of prefixing the title of Don to their names, which had not then degenerated into an appellation of mere courtesy." A fleet of three vessels was assembled in the little harbor of Palos in Andalusia. 36 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. Two of these were furnished by the govern- ment, and one by Columbus, aided by his friend, the Prior of La Rabida, and the Pin- zons, " a family in Pales, long distinguished for irs enterprise among the mariners of that active community." The admiral had some difficulty in equipping his vessels, for his voyage -vas regarded by the sailors of the country as rash and perilous in the extreme. At length, however, a sufficient crew was obtained. One hundred and twenty per- sons were enlisted in the expedition. The three vessels were all small. The Santa Maria, the largest, was ninety feet long, was decked all over, had four masts, and carried a crew of sixty-six seamen. The Pinta and Nina were smaller, and were without decks. All the vessels were provisioned for a year. The admiral was instructed to keep clear of the African coast, and other maritime posses- sions of Portugal. The Fleet Sails. At length all things were in readiness, and, Columbus and his whole crew having confessed themselves and received the sacra- ment, the fleet sailed from Palos on the morning of Friday, the third of August, 1492. A month later the Canary Islands were reached. A brief delay was made there to refit, and then the vessels turned their prows to the westward, and sailed out into the unknown seas. As the night came on the sailors, imagining they had seen the land for the last time, gave way to tears. Columbus soothed their fears, and held his course. At length he fell in with the trade- winds, which wafted him steadily towards the west The sailors were greatly alarmed at this, and declared, that if the wind did not change it would be impossible for them to reach home again. The variation of the compass also alarmed them, and their mur- murs increased to almost open mutiny. It required all the firmness of the admiral to restrain them, and to keep them from aban- doning the enterprise and returning to Europe. Ten weeks of anxiety and disappoint- ment had passed since the departure of the fleet from Palos ; but still no land was seen. There were unmistakable signs that land was near, such as the flight of land birds around the ship, the finding of a bush floating on the waters with fresh berries upon it, and the frequent discovery of land weeds upon the- waves. Often the lookout would startle the fleet by the crj.- of land, but as often the sup- posed shore would prove to be only a banlc of clouds low down upon the western horizon. Still the ships held their westward course, and at length the sailors broke into opeit mutiny, and demanded that the fleet should return home. They were even ready to throw the admiral overboard if he refused toi grant their demands. The Torch that Lighted up a New Continent. Columbus alone had been calm and hope- ful throughout the voyage. He was resolved to succeed or perish in the attempt to find the land. The success of the mutiny would have destroyed all his hopes, and as the events of each succeeding day strength- ened him in his conviction that they were rapidly approaching land, he condescended to plead with his men, and obtained from them a promise to obey him for a few days longer. The next night the land breeze, laden with the rich perfumes of tropical flowers, con- vinced the weary crews that the admiral was right, and that the long wished-for shore was indeed near. The ships were ordered to lie to for the night lest they should go ashore in the darkness. No one slept on board that night About ten o'clock, Columbus saw a light moving along the shore, as if it were a THE torch carried in a man's hand. Martin Alonzo Pin/on one of his captain and pointed it out to hini Pm/on conh: i the admiral's 37 VOVAC^ES OF COLU!\IBUS. He called • Orders to land were promptly issued, and the fleet stood m and anchored near the 1 iL 11 boats were manned, and the admiral, clad in rich scarlet, md bearing the royal ban- ner of Spain and accom- ])anied by his captains, each of whom bore a green ban- ner inscribed with a cross, went ashore. As he set foot on the land, Columbus l-cnelt rever- entl)% and kissed the ground, and then rising and drawing his sword, took posses- sion of the island in the name of Fer- dinand and Isabella, king and queen of Spain. The island was one oftheBahama group, and was called b\' the natives COLU.MBUS DlSCOVEKINij L\ Stood with folded arms, and heaving breast, j Guanahani. Columbus named it San Sal- gazing upon the world which his genius vador. He explored the island, and then had discovered, the penitent sailors crowded sailing on discovered Cuba, Hayti, and other about him, and, kissing his garments, im- We.st India islands. He belie\-ed these plored his pardon for their rebellious conduct, islands to lie off the coast of Asia and to 5S DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. form a part of the Indies. For this reason he called the natives Indians, a name which they have since borne. Having built a gar- rison, a small fort in Hayti, Columbus took on board seven of the natives, and laid in a stock of fruits, plants and_ a number of ani- mals as specimens of the products of the country, and set sail on his return to Spain. The voyage was a very tempestuous one. He arrived at Palos on the fifteenth of March, I -"^"'. His arrival was greeted with enthusi- •"''■; From Palos he set out for the court j covered Jamaica, and many of thf. Caribbee Islands. In 1498 Columbus made a third voyage, and in this expedition he discovered the mainland of the American Continent near the mouth of the Orinoco, and explored the coast of the provinces, since called Para and Cumana. He was not aware of the true nat'ire of his discovery, but supposed that the South American coast was a part of a larg*i island belonging to Cathay or Farther India. In tlie meantime, gold had been discov- I -^^^^^-^ LANDING OF of Barcelona. Every step of the journey was a triumphal progress. He was received with the most distinguished honors by the sovereigns, and the whole court joined in a Te Dcuin of thankfulness for the success of his voyage. A second expedition, consisting of seven- teen ships and fifteen hundred men, was now fitted out, and sailed from Cadiz under the command of Columbus on the twenty-fifth of September, 1493. On this voyage he dis- COLUMBUS. ered in Hayti, and crowds of adventurers were drawn hither from Spain. They in- flicted great hardships upon the natives, and when Columbus arrived he found the affairs of the colony in a most deplor- able state. The sovereigns at length sent over a commissioner named Boba- dilla to investigate the affairs of the co-, lony. He was a narrow-minded, incom-' petent man, and instead of investigating the' charges against the admiral, arre<;ted liim. RECEPTION OK COLUMBUS BY FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 40 DISCOVERY OF THE and sent him back to Spain in irons. When the officers of the ship which bore him back home wished to remove his fetters, he refused to allow them to do so, saying, " I will wear them as a memento of the gratitude of princes." The news of this outrage filled the people of Spain with honest indignation. ■" All seemed to feel it as a national dis- honor," says Prescott, " that such indignities should be heaped upon the man, who, what- ever might be his indiscretions, had done so much for Spain, and for the civilized world." The Fetters Stricken Off. Queen Isabella at once ordered his fetters to be struck off, and he was summoned to court, reinstated in all his honors, and treated with the highest consideration. Isabella gained from the king a promise to aid her in doing justice to the admiral, and in punish- ing his enemies ; but Ferdinand, who could never bear to do a generous or noble act, evaded his promise, and the admiral failed to receive his just recompense. Ir 1504 Columbus sailed on his fourth voyage; his object this time being to find a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, by which he might reach India. He explored the Gulf of Honduras, and saw the continent of North America, but was com- pelled by the mutiny of his crew and by severe storms to abandon his attempt and return to the northward. He was ship- wrecked on the coast of Jamaica, where he remained more than a year. Returning to Spain in November, 1505, he found his best friend. Queen Isabella, on her death-bed. The enemies whom his great success had raised i-p for him were numerous and power- ful, while he was now old and broken in health. He vainly sought from Ferdinand a faithful execution of the original compact between them ; but though he received fair words and promises in abundance from the WESTERN CONTINENT, king, Ferdinand steadily refused to comply with the just demands of the admiral. The Great Navigator's Death. At last, worn out with care and disap« pointments, Columbus died at Valladolid.on the twentieth of May, 1506, being about seventy years old. He was buried with great pomp in the Convent of St. Francis, at Valla- dolid. In 1 5 1 3 his remains were removed to the monastery of Las Cuevas, at Seville, and Ferdinand caused this inscription, which cost him nothing and expressed his excuse for his conduct towards the dead man, to be placed upon his tomb : " To Castile and Leon Columbus gave a New World!" In 1536 the body of the great admiral was conveyed with appropriate honors to St. Domingo, Upon the cession of that island to France ifl 1795, the body was removed to Cuba, and buried in the Cathedral of Havana. Notyet have the ashes of the Discoverer of America found their true resting place. That place is under the great dome of the Capitol of the Republic, for whose existence he prepared the way. Though Columbus reached the continent of South America on his third voyage, he was not the first European who beheld the mainland of the western world. In the winter of 1497-98, Amerigo Vespucci, or Americus Vespucius, a Florentme navigator, made a voyage to the West Indies and the South American coast, thus reaching the mainland of the continent nearly a year before Columbus. Returning to Europe he published an account of his discoveries. This was the first account of the new world published in Europe, and some years later a German geographer gave to the continent the name of " Americi Terra," or the land discovered by Americus. From this time the name America was applied to the west- ern continent. THE VOYAGES OF COLUMl^US. 4« Columbus was a man of great and invent- ive genius. The operations of his mind were energetic but irregular; bursting forth at times with that irresistible force which characterizes intellects of such an order. His mind had grasped all kinds of knowl- edge connected with his pursuits; and though his information may appear limited at the present day, and some of his errors palpable, it is because that knowledge, in his peculiar department of science, was but scantily de\eloped in his time. His own discoveries enlightened the ignorance of that age; guided conjecture to certainty; and dispelled numerous errors with which he himself had been obliged to struggle. Character of Columbus. His ambition was lofty and noble. He was full of high thoughts, and anxious to distmguish himself by great achievements. It has been said that a mercenary feeling mingled with his views, and that his stipula- tions with the Spanish court were selfish and avaricious. The charge is inconsiderate and unjust. He aimed at dignity and wealth in the same lofty spirit in which he sought renown ; but they were to arise from the territories he should discover, and be com- mensurate in importance. No condition could be more just. He asked nothing of the sovereigns but a command of the countries he hoped to give them, and a share of the profits to support the dignity of his command. If there should be no country discovered, his stipulated viceroyalty would be of no avail ; and if no revenues should be produced, his labor and peril would produce no gam. If his com- mand and revenues ultimately proved mag- nificent, it was from the magnificence of the regions he had attached to the Castilian crown. What monarch would not rejoice to gain empire on such conditions ? But he did not merely risk a loss of labor and a disappointment of ambition in the enterprise; on his motives being questioned, he voluntarily undertook, and, with the assist- ance of his coadjutors, actually defrayed one-eighth of the whole charge of the first expedition. This shows that his faith in the new enterprise was unbounded, and he was willing to stake everything on its success. A peculiar trait in his rich and varied character was that ardent and enthusiastic imagination which threw a magnificence over OK~E .P V Kl his whole course of thought. Herrera inti- mates that he had a talent for poetry, and some slight traces of it are on record, in the book of prophecies which he presented to the Catholic sovereigns. But his poetical temperament is discernible throughout all his writings, and in all his actions. It spread a golden and glorious world around him, and tinged every thing with its own gorgeous colors. It betrayed him into visionary spec- ulations, which subjected him to the sneers 42 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN COXTIXEXT and cavillings of men of cooler and safer, but more groveiiing minds. Such were the conjectures formed on the coast of Paria about the form of the earth and the situation of the terrestrial paradise ; about the mines of Ophir in Hispaniola, and of the Aurea Chersonesus in Veragua ; and such was the heroic scheme of a crusade for the recovery of the holy sepulchre. It min- gled with his religion, and filled his mind with solemn and visionary meditations on mystic passages of the scriptures, and the shadowy portents of the prophecies. It ex- alted his office in his eyes, and made him conceive himself an agent sent forth upon a sublime and awful mission, subject to im- pulses and supernatural intimations from the deitj' ; such as the voice which he imagined spoke to him in comfort, amidst the troubles of Hispaniola, and in the silence of the night on the disastrous coast of Veragua. A Man in Advance of His Time. He was decidedly a visionary, but a vision- ary of an uncommon and successful kind. The manner in which his ardent, imaginative and mercurial nature were controlled by a powerful judgment, and directed by an acute sagacity, is the most extraordinary feature in his character. Thus governed, his imagina- tion, instead of exhausting itself in idle flights, lent aid to his judgment, and enabled him to form conclusions, at which common minds could never have arrived, nay, which they could not perceive when pointed out. To his intellectual vision it was given to read in the signs of the times, and to trace in the conjectures and reveries of past ages, the indications of an unknown world; as sooth- sayers were said to read predictions in the stars, and to foretell events from the visions of the night. " His soul," obsen-es a Spanish writer, " was superior to the age in which he lived. For him was reserved the great en- terprise of traversing a sea which had given rise to so many fables, and of deciphering the mystery of his time." With all the visionary' fer\-or of his imagi- nation, its fondest dreams fell short of tlie reality. He died in ignorance of the real grandeur of his discover)-. Until his last breath, he entertained the idea that he had merely opened a new way to the old resorts of opulent commerce, and had discovered some of the wild regions of the east. He supposed Hispaniola to be the ancient Ophir, which had been visited by the ships of Solo- mon, and that Cuba and Terra Firma were but remote parts of Asia. What visions of glory would have broken upon his mind, could he have known that he had indeed dis- covered a new continent, equal to the whole of the old world in magnitude, and separated by two vast oceans from all the earth hither- to known by civilized man ! And how would his magnanimous spirit have been consoled amidst the afflictions of age and the cares of penury, the neglect of a fickle public, and the injustice of an ungrateful king, could he have anticipated the splendid empires which were to spread over the beautiful world he had discovered, and the nations, and tongues, and languages which were to fill its lands with his renown, and to revere and bless his name to the latest posterit}- ! It may be questioned whether any old Norse Sea-King, who braved the storms and billows of the North Atlantic, ever exhibited a purpose more resolute, a courage more daring, or a self-sacrifice more complete than characterized Columbus. Our illustration of the royal Norseman shows him to have been a man born to command and achieve ; the hero of 1492 was no less illustrious. CHAPTER III Eno^lish and French Discoveries Discovery of the North American Continent by John Cabot— Voyages of Sebastian Cabot— The English fail to follow up these Discoveries — Efforts of the French to Explore America— Voyage and Discoveries of Verrazzani^Cartier Explores the Sl Lawrence— Reaches Montreal— Efforts to Found a Colony on the St. Lawrence— Failure— Roberval's Colony — Trading Voyages — Explorations of Champlain — Colonization of Nova Scotia — Founding of Quebec — Dis- covery of Lake Champlain — Arrival of the Jesuits in Canada — Death of Champlain. X the meantime the success of ^_^^'j the first voyage of Columbus ^\ % had stimulated other nations io similar exertions. The Eng- j lish court had experienced a feeling of keen regret that the petition of Columbus had been refused, and when John Cabot, a native of Venice, then residing at Bristol, applied for leave to undertake a voy- age of exploration his request was readily granted. On the fifth of March, 1496, a patent or commission was granted to him and his three sons by Henry VII., authorizing either of them, their heirs or their agents, to under- take with a fleet of five ships, at their own expense, a voyage of discovery in the east- ern, western or northern seas. Though they were to make the attempt at their own cost, they were to take possession of the countries they should discover for the king of Eng- land. They were to have the exclusive pri- vilege of trading to these countries, but were bound to return to the port of Bristol, and to pay to the king one-fifth of the profits of their trade. Early jn 1497 Cabot sailed from Bristol, accompanied by his son, Sebastian. The object of his voyage was not only the dis- covery of new lands, but the finding of a northwest passage to Asia. He sailed due west, and on the twent>'-fourth of June, 1497, reached the coast of Labrador. He thus discovered the mainland of the North Amer- ican continent, fully fourteen months before Columbus reached the coast of South America, and nearly a year before Amerigo Vespucci made his discovery. He explored the coast to the southward for over a thou- sand miles, made frequent landings, and took possession of the country in the name of the English king. Returning home, he was received with many marks of honor by Henry VII., and was called the " Great Admiral " by the people. Towards the close of the year 1497, the Cabots undertook a new voyage, and the king, pleased with the success of the first venture, became a partner in the enterprise, and assumed a portion of the expense. The object of this voyage was to trade with the natives, and to ascertain if the country was suited to colonization. The expedition sailed from Bristol in May, 1498, and was com- manded by Sebastian Cabot, who reached the Labrador coast about four hundred miles north of the point discovered by his father. He found the country cold and barren, though it was but the beginning of the sum- mer, and sailed southward. " The coast to 43 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. which he was now borne was unobstructed by frost. He saw there stags larger than those of England, and bears that plunged into the water to take fish with their claws. The fish swarmed innumerably in such shoals they seemed to affect even the speed of his " Continuing his voyage, according to the line of the shore, he found the natives of those regions clad in skins of beasts, but they were not without the facult}' of reason, and in many places were acquainted with the use of copper. In the early part of Hi* . ^.-x^^ v^ SEBASTIAN CABOT. vessels, so that he gave to the country the name of Bacallaos, which still linger, on the east side of Newfoundland, and has passed into the language of the Germans and the Italians, as well as the Portuguese and Spanish, to designate the cod. voyage he had been so far to the north tha in the month of July the light of day was almost continuous ; before he turned home- wards, in the late autumn, he believed be had attained the latitude of the Straits ol Gibraltar and the longitude of Cuba."* On * Hancroft. i II 'W*'^* ^. ...^ii ENGLISH \ND FRENCH Gulf DISCOVERIES. his homeward voyage he noticed th Stream. This was the last voyage from England made by Seliastian Cabot. On the death of Henry VII., he took service with Ferdinand of Spain, and under him and his grandson, Charles V., he made many voyages, and was for nearly sixty years the foremost man in Europe in maritime enterprises. A Renowned Explorer. He explored the eastern coast of South America, and in his efforts to find the north- west passage sailed within twenty degrees of the North Pole, and explored the eastern coast of North America from Hudson's Straits to Albemarle Sound. He was in many things one of the most remarkable men of his day, and besides his own discoveries contributed generously by his advice and encouragement to those of others. " He gave England a continent, and no one knows his burial place." The English made no effort to take advan- tage of the discoveries of the Cabots. They 'sent a few vessels every }'ear to fish on the banks of Newfoundland, but pursued even this industry without vigor. The other nations were more energetic, and showed a keener appreciation of the value of the new lands. The French were especially active in this respect. Their vessels engaged in the fisheries far outnumbered those of the Eng- lish, and many plans were proposed in France for the colonization of those regions. In 1523 Francis I. employed a Florentine named John Verrazzani, an experienced navigator, to undertake the discovery of a northwest passage to India. Verrazzani sailed on the seventeenth of January, 1524, and, after a stormy voyage of fifty days, reached the American coast in the latitude of Wilming- ton, North Carolina. Failing to find a good harbor, he sailed southward for 150 miles, 45 the and then turned northward, examininc^ coast as he proceeded on his journey. An Earthly Paradise. Verrazzani was surprised and delighted by the appearance of the new country and its inhabitants. The latter welcomed with hos- pitality the strangers whom they had not yet learned to fear, and the Europeans, on their part, regarded with wonder the " russet "- colored natives in their dress of skins orna- mented with feathers. Judging from the accounts which they carried to Europe, the voyagers regarded the country as a sort of terrestrial paradise. " Their imagination could not conceive of more delightful fields and forests ; the groves spreading perfumes far from the shore, gave promise of the spices of the East; and the color of the earth argued an abundance of gold." The harbors of New York and Newport were carefully explored, and in the latter the voyagers remained fifteen days. They then proceeded along the New England coast to Nova Scotia, and still farther to the north. They found the natives here less friendly than those farther south. A Portu- guese commander, Caspar Cortereal, had visited their coast a few years before, and had carried away some of their number and sold them into slavery. Returning to France, Verrazzani published an account of his voyage. This narrative forms the earliest original description now in existence of the American coast, and added very much to the knowledge of the Euro- peans concerning this country. France at a subsequent period based, upon Verrazzani's discoveries, her claim to the whole coast of America from Newfoundland to South Car- olina. The French, however, were not des- tined to obtain a foothold in the new world. The struggle in which Francis I. was engaged with the Emperor Charles V. pre- 46 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. vented him from taking advantage of these discoveries, and nothingwas done with regard to them by the French until ten years later, when Chabot, Admiral of France, induced King Francis to make another effort to explore and colonize America. An expedi- tion \vas fitted out, placed under the com- mand of James Cartier, a mariner of St. Malo, and despatched in April, 1534, for the pur- pose of exploring the American coast with a view to colonizing it. A quick voyage of twenty days carried Cartier to Newfound- land. Having passed through the straits of Belleisle, he crossed the gulf and entered a bay which he named Des Chaleurs, from the extreme heats he e.xperienced there. France Sends Out a Colony. He proceeded along the coast as far as the small inlet called Gaspe, where he landed and took formal possession of the country in the name of the king of France. Leaving Gaspe Bay, Cartier discovered the great river of Canada, and sailed up the stream until he could see the land on either side. His explorations consumed the months of May, June and July. Being unprepared to pass the winter in America, the fleet sailed for Europe. The reports of Cartier concerning America aroused the deepest interest in France, and it was determined by the government to pro- ceed at once to the founding of a colony in the new world. A fleet of three well-equipped ships was fitted out, and volunteers from some of the noblest families in France were not lacking. The whole company repaired to the cathedral, where they received the bishop's blessing, and on the nineteenth of May, 1535, the expedition sailed from St. Malo. The voyage was long and stormy, but Newfoundland was reached at length. Passing through the straits of Belleisle, they entered the gulf lying west of Newfoundland on the tenth of August, the festival of St. Lawrence the Martyr, and gave to the gulf the name of that saint, which was subsequently applied to the great river emptying into it A Beautiful Country. The voyagers ascended the stream to the island since called Orleans. There the fleet anchored, while Cartier proceeded farther up the river to the chief Lidian settlement on the island of Hochelega. It was the delightful season of September, and the country was beautiful and inviting. Cartier ascended a hill at the foot of which the Indian settle- ment lay, and gazed with admiration at the magnificent region which spread out before him. He named the hill Mont Real, or Royal Mount, a name which is now borne by the island and by the great city which marks the site of Indian village. The balminess of the autumn induced Cartier to hope that the climate would prove as mild as that of France ; but a rigorous winter, which was rendered horrible by the prevalence of scurvy among the ships' crews, disheartened the whole expedition. The winter was spent at the Isle of Orleans, and in the early spring Cartier erected a cross on the shore, to which was affixed a shield inscribed with the arms of France and a legend declaring Francis I. the true and rightful king of the country. The fleet then sailed for France, and arrived at St. Malo on the sixth of July, 1536. Cartier published a truthful account of his voyage, setting forth the severity of the Canadian climate and the absence of mines of precious metals. His report checked for the time the enthu- siasm with which the French had regarded America, and for four years the plan of col- onizing the new country was laid aside, and all attempts were abandoned until a more favorable opportunity should present itself. Some ardent spirits, however, still believed in the possibility of planting successful col- onies in the new world and bringing that ENGLISH AND FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 47 vast region under the dominion of France. Among these was Francis de la Roque, lord of Rober\aI, a nobleman of Picardy. He was appointed, by King Francis, Viceroy of the territories on or near the gulf and river of St. Lawrence, to which the high-sounding name of Norimbega was given, and was empowered to colonize it. The assistance of Cartier was necessar\' to such an undertak- ing, and he had the additional advantage of possessing the entire confidence of his royal master the king. Roberval was forced to employ him, and Cartier was gi\'en author- ity by the king to search the prisons and take from them such persons as he needed for the expedition. Rober\-al and Cartier, however, failed to agree, and their dissensions defeated the object of the under- taking. Cartier sailed from St. Malo in May, 1541, and ascended the St. Lawrence to a point near the pres- ent city of Quebec, where he built a fort. The winter was passed in idleness and discord, and in the spring of 1542 Cartier abandoned the attempt, and sailed away for France with his ships just as Rob- erval arrived with a large reinforce- ment, prepared to render aid. Roberval was unable to accom- plish more than Cartier. His new subjects had been largely drawn from the prisons, and they gave him con- siderable trouble, if we may judge from the efforts resorted to to keep them quiet. One of them was hanged for theft during the winter, several were put in irons, and a num- ber of men and women were whipped. After remaining in Canada for a year, Roberval became disheartened, and re-embarked his subjects and returned to France. Thus ended the attempt to colonize Canada. Nearly thirty years passed away, during which the French made no effort to secure to themselves the region of the St. Law- rence. Their fishermen, however, continued to frequent the American waters. By the close of the sixteenth century one hundred and fifty vessels were engaged in the fisheries of Newfoundland, and voyages for the pur- pose of trading with the Indians had become common. In i 598 the Marquis de la Roche, ^v^n- £JiONjhT SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. a nobleman of Brittanj-, attempted to plant a colony on the Isle of Sable. The colonists consisted of criminals from the prisons of France, and the effort proved a failure, as might have been expected from the outset In 1600, Chauvin obtained a patent from the crown, conferring upon him a monopoly of the fur trade, and Pontgrave, a merchant of St. Malo, became his partner in the enter- prise. Two successful voyages were made 4rf to Canada, and Cham in intended founding a colony there. His death, in 1602, prevented the execution of this plan. In 1603, a company of merchants of Rouen was organized, and Samuel Champlain, an able and experienced officer of the French DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. to France, and laid before his employers his- report, which is still valuable for its accurate description of the country and the manners of the natives. Soon after Champlain's return to France, a patent was issued to Des Monts, conferring ■■; 1 liim the sole right to colonize the vast region lying between the fortieth and forty-sixth parallels of latitude. i As this territory embraced the St. = Lawrence region, the Rouen com- ] pany were unable for the present to^ I accomplish anything. Des Monts -^ I proceeded with his preparations, i and in March, 1604, an expedition, consisting of two ships, was sent out to Acadie or Nova Scotia. The summer was passed in trading- with the Indians and exploring the coast, and in the autumn the col- onists made a settlement on the island of St. Croix, at the mouth of the ri\'er of the same name. In the spring of 1605, they aban- I doned this settlement and removed [ to Port Royal, now known as An- napolis. Efforts were made to find a more southern location in the latter part of 1605 and 1606, but the ex- < peditions sent out for this purpose were driven back by storms or wrecked among the shoals of Cape Cod, and the colonists decided to remain at Port Ro)-al. Thus the permanency of the colony was estab- lished. Some years later a number of Jesuit missionaries were sent out to Port Royal. These labored dili- gently among the tribes between the Penob- scot and the Kennebec, and not only spread the Christian faith among them, but won for the French the constant affection of the| savages. During all her contests with the English in America, these tribes remained cAliOT ON THE SHORES OF I.AHKADOK and sent to Canada to explore the country. He was in every way qualified for the task committed to him, and after making a thor- ough and systematic examination of the region of the St. Lawrence, and fixing upon Quebec as the proper site for a fort, returned THE VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS. 49 the faithful ana unwavering alh'es of France. In 1613a French colony was planted on the eastern shore of Mount Desert. The settle- ment was named St. Sauveur, and became another centre of missionary enterprise among the savages of Maine. In the meantime the French merchants had succeeded in obtaining a revocation of the impolitic monopoly of Des Monts. A company of merchants of St. Malo and Dieppe was formed, and an expedition was sent out to Canada under Champlain, who " aimed not at the profits of trade, but at the glory of founding a state." On the third of July, 1608, the city of Quebec was begun by the erection of one or two cottages. In 1609, Champlain, with but two Euro- peans, joined a party of Hurons from Mon- treal, and Algonquins from Quebec, in an expedition against the Five Nations. He ascended the Sorel, explored the lake which is now called by his name, and exam- ined a considerable part of northern New York. The religious disputes of France spread to the colony, and Champlain was obliged to use all his energy and authority to overcome the evils which these inflicted upon the infant settleinent. He succeeded in overcoming them, and by his energy and perseverance the fortunes of Quebec were placed beyond the reach of failure. Cham- plain died in 1635, and was buried in " New France," of which he is called " the father." CHAPTER IV The Spaniards in America Settlement of the West Indies— Discover)- of the Pacific Ocean— Voyage of Magellan— Discovery- of Florida— Ponce da Leon's Search for the F-untain of Youth- Vasquez de Ayllon Kidnaps a Cargo of Indians— Effort ol Pamphilc de Narvacz to Conquer I-loricia- A Terrible March— The Voyage on the Gulf of Mexico— Fate of the Fleet— Escape of Cabeza de Vaca and his Comrades— Discovery of New Mexico— Fernando de So'.o- Obtains leave to Conquer Florida —Sails from Spain— Arrival in Cuba— Departure for Florida— Landing at Tampa Bay— Events of the First Year— De Solo enters Georgia— Decends the Alabama— Battle of MaviUa— Destruction of Chickasaw— Sufferings of the Spaniards —Discovery of the Mississippi— The Spaniards Cross the Great River- De Soto in Arkansas— Reaches the Mississippi again— Sickness and Death of De Soto— His Burial— Escape of his Followers to Mexico— The Huguenot Colony in Carolina— Its Failure— The French Settle in Florida— Wrath of Philip II.— Melendez ordered to Exterminate the Huguenots — Foundation of St. Augustine — Massacre of the French at Fort Carolina — The Vengeance of De Gourges, WHILE the French were seek- ing to obtain a footing in the north, the Spaniards were busy in the south. In the first years of the sixteenth century the more important of the West India Islands were subdued and colonized, and from these, expeditions were from time to time sent out to explore the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. The southern part of the peninsula of Yucatan was explored, and a colony was established on the Isthmus of Darien. One of the governors of this colony was Vasco Nunez de Balboa. In 151 3, while searching the Isthmus for gold, he discovered the Pacific Ocean, and took possession of it in the name of the king of Spain. In 1520, a Portuguese navigator named Magellan, employed by the king of Spain, passed through the straits north of Cape Horn, which bear his name, and entered the Western ocean, which he named the Pacific, because it was so calm and free from storms. He died on the voyage, but his ship reached the coast of Asis, and returned thence to Spain hv the Cape of Good Hope, thus JO making the first voyage around the world, and establishing its spherical form beyond dispute. In 15 13, Juan Ponce de Leon, who had been a companion of Columbus on his sec- ond voyage, and had been governor of Porto Rico, fitted out three ships at his own expense to make a voyage of discovery. He had heard the reports which were then com- monly believed by his countrymen, thai somewhere in the new world was a fountain flowing in the midst of a country sparkling with gold and gems, whose waters would give perpetual youtn to the man who should drink of and bathe in them. Ponce de Leon was ar old man, and he longed to taste again the pleasures and the dreams of youth. He gave a willing ear to the stories of this wonderful fountain, and in March, 15 13, set sail from Porto Rico in search of it. He sailed among the Bahamas, but failed to find it, and on Easter Sunday, which the Spaniards call Pascua Florida, land was discovered. It was supposed to be an island, but was in reality the long south- ern peninsula of the United States. Ponce THE SPANIARDS IN AMERICA. 51 de Leon gave it the name of Florida — which it has since borne — partly in honor of the da)', and partly because of the beauty of its flowers and foliage. The weather was very bad, and it was some days before he could go ashore. He landed near the site of St. Augustine, and took possession of the coun- try for Spain on the eighth of April, 1513. He remained many weeks on the coast, exploring it, and sailing soutliward, doubled Cape Florida, and cruised among the Tor- tugas. He failed to _^ _ .__ find the fountain of youth and returned in ^^ despair to Porto Rico. j !^fc Tlie king of Spain f^^ rewarded his discov- ery by appointing him governor of Florida, on condition that he should colonize the country. A k\v 3'ears later he attempted to plant a colony in Florida, but was attacked by the Indians, who were __„ --- — very hostile, and driv- *-.»?err''^iiit'~' ., -1- en to his ships with the loss of a number of his men. Ponce de Leon himself received a painful wound, and returned to Cuba to die. life upon the search foi he found only a grave. Between the years 1518 and 1521, the expeditions of Hernando Cortez against Mexico, and of Francesco Pizarro against Peru, were despatched from Cuba. They resulted in the conquest of those countries and their colonization by Spain. These expe- ditions, however, form no part of this narra- tive, and we cannot dwell upon them. The native population of the West Indies died out rapidly under the cruel rule of the Spaniards, and it soon became necessary to look elsewhere for a supply of laborers for the plantations and the mines. In 1520, Lucas V'asquez de Ayllon, at the head of a company of seven Spaniards, fitted out a fleet of two slave-ships from St. Domingo or His- paniola, for the deliberate purpose of seizing the natives of the mainland and selling them as slaves. Tlie vessels went first to the He had staked his perpetual youth ; THE COAST OF Bahamas, from which they sailed to the North American coast, reaching it at or near St. Helena sound, in the present State of South Carolina. The Indians had not yet learned to fear the whites, and were utterly unsus- picious of the fate which awaited them. They were timid at first, but this feeling was soon overcome by the distribution of presents among them. Their confidence being won, they received the Spaniards with kindness, and at their rcc^uest visited the ships. 3 2 DISCOVERY OF THE When the decks of the vessels were cov- ered with the unsuspecting natives Vasquez made sail, and standing out to sea steered for the West Indies, regardless of the entreaties of the natives who were tlius torn from their friends and relatives on the shore. A retrib- utive justice speedily avenged this crime. A violent storm arose and one of the ships foundered with all on board. A pestilence broke out in the remaining vessel, and swept iNvay many of the captives. Returning to Spain, Vasquez boasted of his infamous deed, and even claimed a reward for it at the hands of the Emperor Charles V., who acknow- ledged his claim, and appointed him governor of Chicora, as South Carolina was called, with authority to conquer that country. Vasquez spent his entire fortune in fitting out an expe- dition, and reached the coast of Chicora in 1525- There he met with nothing but misfortune. His largest ship was stranded in the Com- WESTERN CONTINENT. bahee River, then called by the whites the River Jordan, and so many of his men were killed by the Indians that he was obliged to- abandon the undertaking. He returned to Europe to die of grief and mortification for his failure. " It may be," says Bancroft, " that ships sailing under his authority made the discovery of the Chesapeake and named, it the Bay of St. Mary ; and perhaps even en- tered the Bay of Delaware, which in Spanish, geography was called Saint Christopher's."" Adventurers Seeking Fortune. In 1526, Pamphilo de Narvaez obtained from the Emperor Charles V. authority to- explore and conquer all the country be- tween the Atlantic and the River of Palms. He was very wealthy, and spent his entire estate in preparation for the expedition. There was no lack of volunteers, and many younger sons of nobles joined him, hoping to find fame and fortune in the new world. Among the adventurers was Cabeza de Vaca the historian of the expedition, who held the second place in it as treasurer. Narvaez sailed from the Guadalquivir in June, 1527, touched at St. Domingo, and passed the winter in Cuba. In the spring of 1528, he was driven by a strong south wind to the N American coast, and on the fourteenth of April his fleet cast anchor in Tampa Bay. A week later he landed and took possession of the peninsula of Florida in the name of Spain. The natives showed unmistakable signs of hostility, but they exhibited to the governor samples of gold, which he believed, from their signs, came from the north. In spite of the earnest advice of Cabeza de Vaca, he determined to go in search of the precious metal. He directed his ships to meet him at a harbor with which his pilot pretended to be acquainted, and then, at the head of three hundred men, fortv of whom were mounted. THE SPANIARDS IX AMERICA. 53 «et off into the interior of the country. 1^0 one knew whither he was going, but all be- lieved that each step led them nearer to the land ot gold. The beauty of the forest, the richness of its vegetation, and the size of its gigantic live- oaks, filled them with wonder and admira- tion, and the variety and abundance of the birds and wild beasts of the country excited their surprise; but they found neither the gold nor the splendid cities they had fondly believed they were about to discover. The forest grew denser and more intricate at every step, and the rivers were broad and deep, with swift currents, and could be crossed only by means of rafts, which were con- structed with great difficulty. The march lay through swamps, in which the Indian warriors harassed the strangers painfully, and, their provisions becoming exhausted, they began to suffer with hunger. Late in June they reached Appalachee, which they had supposed was a large and wealthy city. They found it only a hamlet of some forty poor wigwams ; but remained there twenty- five days, searching the neighboring country for gold and silver, and finding none. A Perilous Voyage. It was plain now even to the governor that there was no gold to be found in this region, and every nerve was strained to hasten the march to the harbor where they had ap- pointed to meet the ships. There was but one impulse now in the whole expedition — to escape from the terrible country which was proving so fatal to them. After a painful march they reached a bay which they called the Baia de Caballos, now the harbor of St. Marks. The ships could not be seen, and it was resolved at once to build boats and attempt to reach some of the Spanish pos- sessions by sea. The horses were slain to furnish food, and several hundred bushels of corn were seized Irom the Indians. Subsist- ing upon these supplies, the Spaniards beat tlieir spurs, stirrups, cross-bows, and other implements into saws anda.xes and nails, and in sixteen days built five boats, each more than thirty feet long. Pitch for the calking of the boats was made from the pine trees, and the fibre of the palmetto served as oakum. Ropes were made of twisted horse- hair and palmetto fibres, and the shirts of the men were pieced together for sails. Fifty men had been lost on the march, and on the twenty-second of September the survivors, two hundred and fifty in number, began the'r perilous voyage. The Fleet Scattered by a Storm. They followed the shore, encountering many dangers, and suffering greatly from hunger and thirst. On the thirtieth of October they discovered one of the mouths of the Mississippi, and on the fifth of Novem- ber a storm scattered the little fleet. Cabeza de Vaca's boat was wrecked upon an island which is believed to be that of Galveston. Castillo's boat was driven ashore farther to the east, but he and his crew were saved alive. Of the fate of the other boats noth- ing is known with certainty. Of those who were cast ashore, all but Cabeza de Vaca, Dorantes, Castillo, and Estevanico, a negro, died of exposure and hardship. These four were detained captives among the Indians for nearly six years. At the end of this period, Cabeza induced his companions to join him in an attempt to escape. In September, 1534, they set out, naked, ignorant of the way, and without any means of sustaining life. In this condition these men accomplished the wonderful feat of traversing the continent. The journey occupied upwards of twenty months, and extended from the coast of Texas to the Canadian River, and thence into New 54 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. Mexico, from which they continued their way to the village of San Miguel, in Sonora, near the Pacific Ocean. They reached this ! village in May, 1536, and found themselves again among their countrymen. They were 1 escorted to Compostella by Spanish soldiers, and from that place were forwarded to the City of Mexico by the authorities. Fabuio. s Tales of Gold. The reports of Cabeza and his compan- ions made the Viceroy Mendoza anxious to send out an expedition to explore New Mexico, which was believed to be richer in wealth and splendid cities than Mexico itself. A Franciscan friar boasted that he had vis- ited a region in the interior named Cibola, the Land of Buffaloes, in which were seven splendid cities. He declared that the land ivas rich in silver and gold, and that his In- dian guides had described to him a region still wealthier. The friar's storj? was religi- ously believed, and an expedition set out in 1539, under command of Francisco Vasquez Coronado, the go\-ernor of New Galicia. The expedition explored the region of the Colorado, examined the country now known as New Mexico, and penetrated as far east as the present State of Kansas. Coronado found neither gold nor precious stones, and the only cities he discovered were the towns of the Zuni Indians of New Mexico. He reported to the viceroy on his return to Mexico that the region was not fit to be col- onized, and his description of the country through which he marched is so accurate as to challenge the admiration of every suc- ceeding traveler. Still the Spaniards refused to abandon the belief that fabulous wealth was to be found in the interior of the continent ; and even those who had borne a part in the conquest of Mexico and Peru gave credit to the wild stories that were told concerning the undis- covered regions. Among those who gave such implicit faith to these stories was Fer- nando de Soto, of Xeres, a veteran soldier, who had served with distinction with Pizarro in the conquest of Peru, and had amassed a considerable fortune from the spoils of that province. The fame and wealth acquired by him in this expedition opened the way to other successes in Europe. He was honored with the favor of the Emperor Charles V., and received the hand of a noble lady in marriage. Eager to distinguish himself still further, he determined to attempt the con- quest of Florida. He demanded and re- ceived from the emperor permission to undertake this at his own cost, and was also made governor of Cuba and all the terri- tories he should conquer. As soon as he made known his intentions applications for leave to serv^e in the expedition poured in upon him. Many of the volunteers were of noble birth, and sold their lands and other property to equip themselves for the undertaking. Adventures of De Soto. De Soto selected six hundred well- equipped men from the number who had volunteered, and in 1538 sailed from Spain to Cuba, where he was welcomed with great rejoicings. A vessel was despatched from Cuba to find a harbor in Florida suitable for the landing of the expedition. On its return it brought two Indian captives, who per- ceiving what was wanted of them, told by signs such stories of the wealth of the country as greatly delighted the governor and his companions. Volunteers in Cuba swelled the ranks of the expedition to nearly one thousand men, of whom three hundred were horsemen. In May, 1 539, leaving his wife to govern the island, De Soto sailed with his fleet for Florida, and a fortnight later landed at Espi- THE SPANIARDS IN AMERICA. fitu Santo now Tampa Bay. EvcrythinLj had been pi ovidcd which the foresight of an experienced commander deemed necessary, a;.d De Soto, in order to remove any tempta- tion to retreat, sent his ships back to Cuba. He never dreamed of failure, for he believed th.at at the most the task before him would not be more difficult than those which had been accomplished by Cortcz and Pizarro. After a brief halt at Tampa Bay the march into the interior was begun. It was long and tedious, and was full of danger. The Indians were hostile, and the guides con- stantly led the Spaniards astray, and plunged them into difficult swamps. The guides were instantly given to the bloodhounds, and torn in pieces by the ferocious animals ; but not even this dreadful punishment was sufficient to prevent a renewal of such acts. Before the close of the first season the whole com- pany, save the governor, had become con- vinced that their hope of finding gold \\as vain, and they besought De Soto to return to Cuba. He sternly refused to abandon the effort, and pushed on to the country of the Appalachians, east of the Flint River, and not far from the Bay of Appalachee. The winter was passed in this region, and a scouting partyduring this season discovered Pensacola. In the spring of 1540 the march was resumed. An Indian guide promised to con- duct the Spaniards to a country abounding in gold and governed by a woman, and he described the process of refining gold so ac- curately that De Soto believed his story. It is possible that the Indian may have referred to the gold region of North Carolina. One of the guides told the governor plainly that he knew of no such country as his companion had described, and De Soto had him burned for what he supposed was his falsehood. The Indians, terrified by his fate, from this time invented all manner of fabulous stories to excite the cupidity of the Spaniards. De 55 Soto, with a singular perversity, held to his belief that he would yet realize his hopes, and continued to push on long after his men had become disheartened ; and so great was liis influence over them that in their deepest despondency he managed to inspire them with something of his own courage and hopefulness. FERNANDO DE SOTO. Instead of conciliating the Indians, ihe Spaniards seized their provisions, and pro- voked their hostility in numberless ways They treated their captives with the greatest cruelty. They cut off the hands of the poor Indians, burned them at the stake, or turned them over to the bloodhounds, who tore them in pieces. They were chained together by the neck, and forced to carry the baggage and provisions of the troops. The march was now into the interior of Georgia, as far as the headwaters of the Chattahoochee, from which the Spaniards passed to tlie head- waters of the Coosa. Here they turned to DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. the southwest, and marched through Ala- bama to the junction of the Alabama and Tombigbee Rivers. At this point there was a large and strongly fortified town called Mavilla, or Mobile, a name which has since been given o the river and bay. The town consisted >i" eighty handsome houses, each sufficiently rapacious to contain a thousand men. They were encompassed by a high wall, made of immense trunks of trees, set deep in the ground and close together, strengthened with cross-timbers and interwoven with large vines." It was the middle of October when Mavilla was reached, and the Spaniards tired of living in the open countrj^ so long, wished to occupy the town. The Indians resisted them, and a desperate battle ensued, vvhich was won by the Spanish cavalry. The vic- tory cost the whites dear, however, for the town was burned during the batde, and with it all the baggage of the Spaniards was con- sumed. The Intlians fought with a desperate bravery, and numbers of them were slain and burned to death in the town. The Spaniards had eighteen killed and one hundred and fifty wounded ; twelve horses were killed and seventy-two wounded. De Soto Presses On. Ships had arrived in the meantime, accorc- Ingto appointment, at f ensacola, and by them De Soto received letters from his wife. He would send no news home, however. He had not yet realized the objects of the e.xpe- dition, and he determined to send no news of himself to his countrymen until he had found or conquered some rich country. Turning his back resolutely upon the ships, the gov- ernor resumed his march to the northwest. By the middle of December he reached the northwestern part of the State of Mississippi, and finding a deserted village in the country of the Chickasaws, occupied it as the winter quarters of the expedition. December, 1 540^ the winter was severe, and the ground was covered with snow, but the corn was still standing in the fields, and this furnished the Spaniards with food. Their force was now reduced to five hundred men, and it Avas evi- dent to all, except the governor, that they would never find the cities or the wealth they had set out to seek. Discovery of the Mississippi. With the opening of the spring of 1541 a new disaster befell the Spaniards. De Soto, as had been his custom with the other tribes, demanded of the Chickasaw chief two hun- dred men to carry the baggage of the troops. The demand was refused, and that night the Indians, deceiving the sentinels, set fire to the village. The bewildered Spaniards were aroused from their slumbers to meet a fierce attack of the savages. The latter were re- pulsed after a hard fight, but the whites were left in an almost helpless condition. The little they had saved from the flames at Mavilla was destroyed in the burning village. Armor and weapons were rendered worth- less, and scarcely any clothing was saved. The troops were forced to resort to dresses of skins and the long moss of the country woven into mats. In this condition, they suffered greatly from the cold. To supply the weapons destroyed forges were erected, and the swords were retempered and new lances made. Renewing their march the Spaniards pushed on still farther west, and about the second of May reached the banks of the Mississippi, at a point a short distance below the present cit\' of Memphis. They were the first white men to gaze upon the mighty flood of this noble river, but De Soto had no admiration to e.xpress for it. It was only an obstacle in his westward march, and would require greater efforts for its passage than THE SPANIARDS A IN AMERICA. 57 any stream he had yet encountered, month was passed on the banks of the river in constructing barges large enough to hold three horsemen each. At length they were completed, and the Spaniards were trans- ported in safety to the opposite shore. The natives received them kindly, and presented them with food, and regarding them as the children of their god, the sun, brought to them their sick to be healed, and their blind to be restored to sight. The blunt soldier, cruel as he had been to the savages, shrank from claiming the power of heaven. " Pray only to God, who is in heaven, for whatso- ever ye need," he answered. Exploring the Country. De Soto remained forty days on the west- ern bank of the Mississippi, and during this time an exploring party was sent to examine the country to the north. They reported that this region was thinly inhabited by hunters, who lived by chasing the bison, which abounded in this region. The gover- nor then turned to the west and northwest, and advanced two hundred miles farther into the interior of the continent, probably to the highlands of the White River. Then turning southward, he passed through a succession of Indian tribes who lived by cultivating the soil, and who enjoy- ed a civilization superior to that of their nomadic brethren. The winter was passed near the Hot Springs of Arkansas. The Indians west of the Mississippi were treated with the same cruelties that had marked the conduct of the Spaniards towards the sav- ages cast of that stream. " Any trifling consideration of safety would induce the governor to set fire to a hamlet. He did not delight in cruelty, but the happiness, the life and the rights of the Indians were held of no account." In the spring of 1542, De Soto determined to descend the Washita to its mouth, and endeavor to reach the sea. At last, after a most arduous march, in which he frequently lost his way amid the swamps and bayous of the region, he reached the Mississippi. The chieftain of this region could not tell him the distance to the sea, but informed him that the country along the lower river was a vast and uninhabited swamp. An exploring party was sent to descend the banks of the river, and returned, after penetrating about thirty miles in eight days, to confirm the Indian's report. Reaching the vicinity of Natchez, the governor found the Indians prepared to con- test his occupation of that town. He at- tempted to overawe them by claiming to be the child of the sun, their chief deity. The chieftain answered him scornfully: "You say you are the child of the sun. Dry up the river, and I will believe you. Do you desire to see me ? Visit the town where I dwell. If you come in peace, I will receive you with special good will ; if in war, I will not shrink one foot back." The savages were becoming more dangerous every day, and the Spaniards less able to resist their assaults. Burial of De Soto. De Soto was now conquered. It was at last as plain to him as it had been all along to his followers that the expedition was a failure. He had spent three years in roaming over the continent, and he had found neither the cities nor the wealth he had hoped for. His magnificent anticipations had disappeared; his little army was reduced to a mere hand- ful of the splendid force that had left Cuba; and he was in the midst of a region from which he could see no escape. A deep mel- ancholy took the place of the stern pride that had hithereto marked his demeanor, and his heart was torn by a conflict of DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. emotions. His health gave way rapidly, and 1 he was seized with a violent fever. When informed by his medical attendant th-jt his end was at hand, he expressed his resignation to the will of God, and at the request of his men appointed Louis de Mocoso his successor, and advised him to continue the expedition. He died on the fifth of June, 1542. In order to conceal his death from the savages, who had come to regard him as immortal, his body was wrapped in a mantle, and in the silence of midnight was rowed out into the middle of the Mississippi. There, amid the darkness and the wailing requiems of the priests, the mortal remains of Fernando de Soto were committed to the great river he had dis- covered. Harrassed by the Indians. The Spaniards at once prepared to disre- gard the advice of their dead leader, and resolved to set out across the country for Mexico, believing it less dangerous to go by land than by sea. They roused the whole country against them by their barbarous treatment of the people, and, having pro- ceeded upwards of three hundred miles west of the Mississippi, were driven back to that stream by the savages. It now became necessary to build vessels and descend the river. Seven of these were constructed with great difficulty, and amidst the constant hostility of the Indians. They were frail barks, without decks, and in order to con- struct them the Spaniards were obliged to beat their weapons, and even their stirrups, spurs and bridles into saws, axes and nails. During this period they suffered greatly from the lack of clothing, for it was the winter season. They obtained provisions by plundering the granaries of the neighboring tribes, and thus dooming many of the sav- ages to death by starvation. On the first of July, 1543, they embarked in their vessels, their number being now reduced to about two hundred and fifty, and began the descent of the river. Their progress was harassed at every mile by the Indians, who covered the stream with their canoes and kept up an almost constant assault upon the fleet. On the eighteenth of July, the vessels entered the Gulf of Mexico, and by the tenth of Septem- ber the Mexican coast was reached. The vessels succeeded in gainingthe Spanish set- tlement of Panuco, where the survivors were hospitably received by their countrymen. Ribault's Expedition. The failure of Narvaez and De Soto pre- vented the Spaniards from making any further attempt for many years to colonize the Florida coast. The next effort to found a settlement in that region was by the French. The religious wars which had distracted France for so many years made the great Huguenot leader, Coligny, Admiral of France, anxious to provide in the new world a refuge to which his persecuted brethren of the faith might fly in times of danger, and be free to worship God after the dictates of their own conscience. He succeeded in obtaining^ authority for this undertaking from Charles I X., and in 1 562 an expedition was despatched to America under the command of Jean Ribault, a Protestant. Ribault was instructed to avoid the more rigorous climate of Cana- da, and to select a southern location for the colony. Land was made in May, 1562, in the vicinity of St. Augustine, Florida, and the fleet anchored in Port Royal Harbor. Ribault was delighted with the noble har- bor, which he believed to be the outlet of a large river, and with the beauty and richness of the country. A fort was built on an island in the harbor, and called Carolina^ which name was also applied to the country in honor of Charles IX. of France. A force THE SPANIARDS IN AMERICA. 59 of twenty-five men was left to garrison the fort, and Ribault returned lo France to report his success and bring out reinforcements for the colony. He reached France in the midst of the civil war, which prevented any attention being paid to the colony. The In 1564 there was a lull in the struggle between the contending parties in I'rancc, and Coligny took advantage of it to renew his efforts to colonize America. Three ships were furnished by the king, and were placed in command of Laudonniere.who had accom- garrison of Fort Carolina waited in vain for panied Ribault in the first expedition. Emi- the promised reinforcements and supplies, grants volunteered readily, and the required and at last, becoming disheartened, built a i number was soon completed. In order to brigantine and set sail for their own country. Their provisions soon gave out, and they began to suffer the horrors of famine. When they were nearly exhausted, they were res- cued by an English vessel, which set the most feeble upon the coast of France, but carried the remainder to England. In both countries the colonists spread their accounts of the beauty and fertility of Carolina. obtain reliable information concerning the country, Coligny sent out with the expedi- tion a skillful painter, James le Moyne, called Des Morgues, with orders to make accurate colored sketches of the region. The fleet sailed on the twenty-second of April, 1564, and on the twenty-second of June reached the coast of Florida. Avoiding Port Royal, the site of the first colony, the colonists chose a location in Florida, on the banks of the DISCOVERY OF Tri^ vVESTERN COXTINENT. however, and supplied them with provisions and gave them one of his own ships. They had suffered too much to be content with this, and were resolved to adandon the settle- ment. They were on the point of embark- ing in the ship furnished them by Sir John, when a fleet of several vessels was discovered standing into the river. It was the squadron of Ribault, with reinforcements and all the supplies necessary for founding a permanent settlement. The despair of the colonists was clianged to rejoicing, and all were now will- ing to remain in the colony. St. John's then called the River May. A fort was built, and called, litcc the first, Caro- lina. The colony was begun with prayers and songs of tlianksgiving, but the bulk of the colonists were by no means religious men. Their true character soon began to appear. They wasted the supplies they had brought vvith them, as well as those they succeeded in extorting from the Indians, whom they alienated by their cruelties. Mutinies were frequent. The majority of the men had joined the enterprise in the hope of acquiring sudden wealth, and, finding their hopes vain, resolved to abandon the colony. They com- pelled Laudonniere to sign an order allowing -tliem to embark for New Spain, under the pretext of wishing to avoid a famine, and at once equipped two vessels and began a career of piracy against the Spaniards. Their ves- sels were soon captured, and the pirates were sold as slaves. A few escaped in a boat and took refuge at Fort Carolina. Laudonniere caused them to be hanged ; but their out- rages had already drawn upon the colony the Ijitter hostility of the Spaniards. Beginning of the Slave-Traffic. Famine now began to be felt by the lit- tle settlement, and as month after month passed by the sufferings of the colonists in- creased. The natives, who were at first friendly, had been rendered hostile by the cruel treatment they had received from the Prench, and no provisions could be obtained from them. On the third of August, 1565, Sir John Hawkins, an English commander, arrived with several ships from the West Indies, where he had just sold a cargo of negro slaves whom he had kidnapped in their native Africa. He is said to have been the first Englishman who engaged in this infamous traffic. He proved himself a generous friend to the suffering colonists, Thrilling Events in Florida. When the news of the planting of the French colony in Florida reached Philip II. of Spain, he was greatly incensed. Florida was a part of his dominions, and he not only resented the intrusion of the French, but could not tolerate the idea of allowing a Protestant colony to enjoy its settlement in peace. He determined at once to exterminate the heretics, and for this purpose employed Pedro Melendez de Aviles, an officer who had rendered himself notorious for his cruelty when engaged against the pirates and in the wars of Spanish America. His son and heir having been shipwrecked among the Ber- mudas, Melendez desired to return to America to search for him. Philip, who knew his desperate character, suggested to him the conquest of Florida, and an agreement was entered into between the king and Melendez, by which the latter was to invade and conquer Florida within three years, and establish in that region a colony of not less than five hundred persons, of whom one hundred should be married men, twelve priests of the Catholic Church and four members of the order of the Jesuits. Melendez also agreed to transport to Florida all kinds of domestic animals, and five Hun- dred negro slaves. All this was to be done THE SPANIARDS IN AMERICA. by Melendez at his own cost, and he was secured by the king in the government of the province for life with the privilege of naming his successor, and was granted large estates in the province and a comfortable salary. Though the destruction of the French colony was not named in the agreement, Philip and Melendez understood each other on that point. The cry was at once raised in Spain that the heretics must be extermin- ated, and i\Ielandez had no trouble in obtain- ing recruits. Twenty-five hundred persons gathered under his orders, " soldiers, sailors, priests, Jesuits, married men with their fami- lies, laborers and mechanics, and, with the exception of three hundred soldiers, all at the cost of Melendez." Escape of the French Fleet. The expedition sailed in June, 1565, but the vessels were parted b\- a storm, and Mel- endez reached Porto Rico in August witli but a third of his force. Unwilling to lo^e time, however, he sailed at once to the main- land, and arrived off the coast of Florida on the twentj'-eighth of August. On the second of September, he discovered a fine harbor and river, and selected this place as the site of his colony. He named the river and bay in honor of St. Augustine, on whose festival he had arrived off the Florida coast. Ascer- taining from the Indians the position of the French, he sailed to the northward, and on the fourth of September arrived off Fort Carolina, where a portion of Ribault's fleet lay anchored in the roadstead. The French commander derpanded his name and the object of his visit. He was answered : " I am Melendez of Spain, sent with strict orders from my king to gibbet and behead all the Protestants in these regions. The French- man who is a Catholic I will spare ; every heretic shall d e." The French fleet being unprepared for battle, cut its cables and stood out to sea. Melendez gave chase, but failed to overtake it. Returning to the har- bor of St. Augustine, he went on shore ort the eighth of September, and took possession of the country in the name of Phillip II. of Spain, who was proclaimed monarch of all North America. A solemn mass was said and the foundations of the town of St. Augus- tine were laid. Thus was established the first permanent town within the limits of the United States. This task accomplished, ^Melendez prepared to attack Fort Carolina by land. Ribault had returned with his ships to Fort Carolina after escaping from the Span- iards. A council of war was held, and it was ilebated among the French whether they sliould strengthen their works and await the approach of the enemy, or proceed to St. Augustine and attack them with the fleet. Ribault supposed that Melendez would attack the fort b\' sea, and favored the latter plan, but his officers opposed his design. Disre- garding their advice, Ribault put to sea, but had scarcely cleared the harbor when a violent storm wrecked his entire fleet on the Florida coast. Nearly all the men reached the shore unharmed, about one hundred and fifty miles south of Fort Carolina. Terrible Massacre. The wreck of the French fleet was known to Melendez, and he resolved to strike a blow a once at the fort, which he knew to be in a defenceless state. Leading his men through the forests and swamps, which lay between the two settlements, he surprised and captured the fort on the twenty-first of September. Every soul within the walls including the aged, the women and children, was put to death. A few escaped to the woods before the capture of the fort, among whom were Laudonniere, Challus and Le Moyne. Their condition was pitiable. They 62 DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. could expect no mcrc\- from the Spaniards, and death awaited them in the forest. A few gave themselves up to the Spaniards, and were at once murdered ; the remainder suc- ceeded in gaining the sea-shore, where they Avcre rescued by two French vessels which had remained in the harbor and escaped the storm. These immediately sailed for France. The number of persons massacred by the Spaniards at Fort Carolina amounted to nearly two hundred. When the victims were all dead, mass was said, a cross raised, and a site selected for a church. Then Melendez set out to find the survivors of the shipwrecked fleet. They were discovered in a helpless condition, worn out with fatigue, hunger and thirst. Melendez promised to treat them with kindness if they would sur- render to him, and trusting to his plighted word, they placed themselves in his hands. They were at once seized and bound, and marched towards St. Augustine. As they approached the settlement a signal was given, and the Spaniards fell upon them and mas- sacred all but a few Catholics and some mechanics, who were reserved as slaves. French writers place the number of those who perished in the two massacres at nine hundred. The Spaniards gave a smaller number. On the scene of his barbarity, Melendez set up this inscription : " I do not this as unto Frenchmen, but as unto Lu- therans." In 1566 Melendez attempted to plant a col- ony on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, but the vessel despatched for this purpose met such contrary winds that the crew abandoned the effort to reach the bay, and sailed for Spain. Melendez, the next year, returned to Spain, having spent his fortune in establish- ing the colony of St. Augustine, from which he had derived no benefit. The massacre of the French and the destruction of the colony at Fort Carolina excited not even a remonstrance from the French court, which was blinded to its true interests by its religious bigotry. The Hu- guenots and the better part of the nation felt keenly the wrong the country had suffered, and Dominic de Gourges, a gallant gentle- man of Gascony, determined to avenge it. Selling his ancestral estate, he equipped three vessels, and with one hundred and fifty men sailed for Florida, in August, 1567. He surprised and captured a Spanish fort near the site of Fort Carolina, and took the garri- son prisoners. He spent the winter here, and finding himself too weak to maintain his position, sailed for France in May, 1 56S. Before doing so, however, he hanged his prisoners, and set up over them the inscription : " I do not this as unto Spaniards or mariners, but as unto traitors, robbers and murderers." His expedition was disavowed by the French government, and he was obliged to conceal himself to escape arrest after his return to France. France now abandoned her efforts to col- onize the southern part of North America, and relinquished her pretensions to Florida. Spain, on the other hand, gave more attention to this region, and emigrants from her domin- ions were encouraged to settle, and new colonies were formed within its limits. In the West Indies, and in Mexico, Central and South America, Spain, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, was supreme. CHAPTER V The First English Colony •The English Claim to America — Voyages of Frobisher — Exploits of Sir Francis Drake — Sir Humphrey Gilbert— In tends to Found a Colony in America — Is Lost at Sea — Sir Walter Raleigh Obtains a Patent of Colonization — Dis- coveries of Amidas and Barlow — Raleigh Sends Out a Colony to Virginia— Settlement on Roanoke Island — Its Failure — Arrival of Grenville — Second Effort of Raleigh to Colonize Virginia — Roanoke Island Again Settled — The "Citj of Raleigh" — Virginia Dare — Fate of the Colony — Death of Raleigh — Other Voyages of the English. THOUGH England had made no effort to colonize America during the long period we have been con- sidering, she never abandoned her claims to that region, claims which were based upon the discoveries and explorations of John and Sebastian Cabot. The voy- ages of her fishermen to Newfoundland kept the country fresh in the minds of the sea- faring Englishmen, and from time to time voyages were made to the American coast for the purpose of trading with the savages. Under Elizabeth, who pursued the w-ise pol- icy of fostering her navy, a race of hardy and daring sailors grew up in England, and car- ried the flag of their country into every sea. In this reign Martin Frobisher with two small ships made a voyage to the frozen regions of Labrador in search of the north- west passage. He failed to find it, but pene- trated farther north than any European had yetgone,A. D. 1576. His second voyage was made the next year, and was undertaken in the hope of finding gold, as one of the stones he had brought home on his first cruise had been pronounced by the refiners of London to contain the precious metal. The fleet did not advance as far north as Frobisher had done on his first attempt, as a 63 large mass of yellow earth was found which was believed to contain gold. The ships were loaded with this, and all sail was made for home, only to find on reaching England that their cargo was but a heap of worthless dirt. A third voyage with fifteen ships was attempted in 1578, but no gold was found, and the extreme northern latitudes were ascertained to be too bleak for colonization. Between the years 1577 and 1580 Sir Francis Drake sailed to the Pacific, and by le\'y'ing exactions upon the Spanish settle- ments on the western coast of America acquired an immense treasure. As Bancroft well observes, this part of Drake's career "was but a splendid piracy against a nation with which his sovereign and his country professed to be at peace." Having acquired this enormous wealth Drake applied himself to the more useful task of discovery. Cross- ing the equator he sailed northward, as far as the southern part of Oregon, in the hope of finding a northern passage between the oceans. The cold seemed very great to voy- agers just from the tropics, and he abandoned his attempt and returned southward to a harbor on the coast of Mexico. Here he refitted his ship, and then returned to Eng- land through the seas of Asia, having DISCOVERY OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT. circumnavigated the globe, a feat which had been accomplished only by the ship of Magellan. It w-as not the splendid but demoralizing achievements of Drake which led the way to lieved that a lucrative trade might be opened v/ith the new world by the planting of a col- ony within its limits. He obtained authority from Queen Elizabeth to establish such a colony in the vicinity of the fisheries. THE RhNOWNEU EXFLOKEK, blR MAKTI the establishment of the English power in America. That was the work of the hum- ble fishermen who sailed on their yearly voyages to the banks of Newfoundland. The progress of this valuable industry was closely watched by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who be- In 1578 he sailed to America on a voy age of discovery, and in August of that year landed at St. Johns, Newfoundland and took formal possession of the country for England. He then sailed to the southward, exploring the coast, but lost his largest ship with all THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONY. 65 v*ft board. This made it necessary for him to return home, as the two vessels which re- mained to him were too small to attempt a protracted voyage. One of them, called the " Squirrel," was a mere boat of ten tons. U^nwilling to expose his men to a danger which he would not face, Sir Humphre\- took passage in the " Squirrel " instead of in the larger and safer vessel. Terrific Storm. On the homeward voyage the ships en- countered a terrific storm. In the midst of the gale the people on the " Hind," the larger ship, saw Sir Humphrey sitting at the stern of his little vessel, which was laboring pain- fully in the heavy seas. He was calmly reading a book, perhaps that sublime;!; of books, from which he had drawn the j.'ire principles that guided his whole life. As the " Hind " passed him he called out to those on board of her, " We are as near to heaven by sea as by land." That night the lights of the " Squirrel " suddenly disap- peared, and the good Sir Humphrey was seen no more. The " Hind " continued her voyage, and reached Falmouth in safety. Sir Walter Raleigh, Gilbert's half brother, had been interested in this expedition, but its ill success did not dishearten him. He was one of the noblest spirits of his age, and has laid the world under heavy obligations to him by his many noble ser\'ices in the cause of humanity. He had served in the army of the Huguenots of France under Coligni, and had heard from the voyagers sent out by that leader of the richness and beauty of Carolina. Undaunted by the sad fite of Sir Hum- phrey Gilbert, Raleigh determined to plant a colony in the region from which the Huguenots had been driven. He had no difficulty in obtaining from the queen a pat- ent as liberal as that which had been % For five years at least the afiairs of the colonists were to be conducted in a joint stock. The right to impose future legislation upon the province was reser\'ed by the king. The Settlers Oppressed. Such was the form of government first pre- scribed for Virginia by England, in which, as Bancroft truly says, there was " not an ele- ment of popular liberty." "To the emi- grants themselves it conceded not one elect- ive franchise, not one of the rights of self- government. They were to be subjected to the ordinances of a commercial corporation, of which they could not be members; to the dominion of a domestic council, in ap- pointing which they had no voice ; to the control of a superior council in England, which had no sympathy with their rights ; and finally, to the arbitrary legislation of the sovereign." Under this charter the London Company prepared to send out a colony to Virginia. It was to be a commercial settlement, and the emigrants were composed altogether of men. One hundred and five persons, exclu- sive of the crews of the vessels, joined the expedition. Of these not twenty were farm- ers or mechanics. The remainder were " gentlemen," or men who had ruined them- selves at home by idleness and dissipation. A fleet of three small ships, under command of Captain Newport, was assembled, and on the nineteenth of December, 1606, sailed for America. The emigrants sailed without having per- fected any organization. The king had fool- ishly placed the names of those who were to CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS. 75 named the James, in honor of the English king. The country was explored with energy, and though one small tribe of Indians was found to be hostile, a treaty of peace and friendship was made with another at Hamp- ton. The fleet ascended the river and ex- plored it for fifty miles. A pleasant penin- sula, on the left bank of the stream was selected as the site of the colony, and on the thirteenth of May, 1607, the settlement was definitely begun, and was named Jamestown, in honor of the king. constitute the government in a sealed box, which the adventurers were ordered not to open until they had selected a site for their settlement and were ready to form a govern- ment. This was most unfortunate, for during the long voyage dissensions arose, and there was no one in the expedition who could control the unruly spirits. These quarrels grew more intense with the lapse of time, and when the shores of Virginia were reached the seeds of many of the evils from which the colony afterwards suffered severely had been thoroughly sown. There were among the number several who were well qualified to direct the affairs of the expedition, but they were w^ithout the proper authority to do so, and there was no such thing as voluntary submission to be seen among the adventurers. The merits of the deser\-ing merely excited the jealousy of their companions, and the great master spirit of the enterprise found from the first his disinterested efforts for the good of the expedition met by a jealous opposition. Point Comfort Named. Newport was not acquainted with the direct route, and made the old passage by way of the Canaries and the West Indies. He thus consumed the whole of the winter, and while searching for the island of Roanoke, the scene of Raleigh's colony, his fleet was driven northward by a severe storm, and forced to take refuge in the Chesapeake Bay on the twenty-sixth of April, 1607. He named the headlands of this bay Cape Henry and Cape Charles, in honor of the two sons of James I., and because of the comfortable anchorage which he obtained in the splendid roadstead which enters the bay opposite its mouth, he gave to the northern point the name of Point Comfort, which it has since borne. Passing this, a noble river was dis- covered coming from the westward, and was Smith's Daring Deeds. The leading spirit of the enterprise was John Smith, one of the truest heroes of his- tory, who has been deservedly called " the father of Virginia." He was still a young man, being but thirty years of age, but he was old in experience and knightly deeds. While yet a youth he had served in Holland in the ranks of the army of freedom, and had travelled through France, Egypt and Italy. Burning to distinguish himself, he had re- paired to Hungar)-, and had won a brilliant reputation by his exploits in the ranks of the Christian army engaged in the defence of that country against the Mohammedans. He repeatedly defeated the chosen champions of the Turks in single combat, but being at length captured was sent to Constantinople and sold as a slave. The wife of his master, pitying his misfortunes, sent him to a rela- tive in the Crimea, with a request to treat him with kindness, but contrary to her wishes he was subjected to the greatest harshness. Rendered desperate by this experience, he rose against his task-master, slew him, and seizing his horse escaped to the border of the Russian territory, where he was kindly received. He wandered across the country to Transylvania, and rejoined his old com- panions in arms. Then, filled with a longing 76 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. to see his "own sweet countn-" once more, he returned to England. He arrived just as the plans for the colonization of Virginia were being matured. He readily engaged in the expedition organized by the London Company, and exerted himself in a marked degree to make it a success. He was in all respects the most capable man in the whole colony, for his natural abilities were fully equal to his experience. He had studied human nature under man\- forms in CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. many lands, and in adversity and danger had karned patience and fortitude. His calm, cool tourage,his resolute will, and his intuitive per- ception of the necessities of a new settlement, were destined to make him the main stay of the colony of Virginia, but as yet these high quali- ties had only excited the malicious envj^ of his associates, and the efforts he had made to heal the dissensions which had broken out during the voyage had made him many enemies. When the box containing the names of those who were to constitute the colonial government was opened, it was found that the king had appointed John Smith one of the council. Smith was at this time in con- finement, having been arrested on the voy- age upon the frivolous charges of sedition and treason against the crown, and his enemies, notwithstanding the royal appointment, ex- cluded him from the council. Edward Wingfield, " a grovelling merchant of the west of England," was chosen president of the council and governor of the colony. The ser\'ices of Smith could not be dispensed with, however, and he was released from his confinement, and sent with Newport and twent)' others to explore the river. They ascended the James to the falls, where the city of Richmond now stands, and visited Powhatan, the principal chief of the Indian nation holding the country into which they had come. He was then dwelling at his favorite seat on the left bank of the river, a few miles below the falls. Powhatan received them kindly, and silenced the remonstrances of his people by saying : " They hurt you not; they only want a little land." The chief was a man of powerful sta- ' ture, " tall, sour and athletic." He was sixty years of age, and had under him a population of six or eight thousand souls, two thousand being warriors. Having carefully obsen'ed the river. Smith and Newport returned to Jamestown. Their presence there was needed, for Wingfield had proved himself utterly unfit to govern the colony. He would not allow the colonists to build either houses for them- selves or a fortification for the common de- fence against the savages. While they were in this helpless condition, they were suddenly CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS. attacked by a force of four hundred Indians, and were saved from destruction only by tlie fire of the shipping, which filled the savages with terror and put them to flight. It is believed that the cause of Wingfield's singular conduct was his jealousy of Smith whose talents he feared would attract the support of the settlers. Tried and Acquitted. The fort was now built without delay, cannon were mounted, and the men trained in the exercise of arms. When the ships were in readiness to sail to England, it was intimated to Smith that he would consult his own interests by returning in them, but he refused to do so, and boldly demanded a trial upon the charges which had been pre- ferred against him. The council did not dare to refuse him this trial, and the result was his triumphant acquittal. More than this, he succeeded so well in exposing the malice of his enemies that the president, as the originator of the charges against him, was compelled to pay him two hundred pounds damages, which sum Smith gener- ously applied to the needs of the colony. His seat in the council could no longer be denied him, and he took his place at the board to the great gain of the colony. Newport sailed for England about the middle of June, leaving the settlement in a most pitiable condition. The provisions sent out from England had been spoiled on the voyage, and the colonists were too indo- lent to cultivate the land, or to seek to obtain supplies from the Indians. Sickness broke out among them, owing to the malarious character of their location, and by the begin- ning of the winter more than half theirnum- ber had died. Among these was Bartholo- mew Gosnold, the originator of the London Company, who had come out to Virginia to risk his life in the effort to settle the country. 77 He was a man of rare merits, and, together with Mr. Hunt, " the preacher," who was also one of the projectors of the company, had contributed successfully to the preserva- tion of harmony in the colony. In the midst of these sufferings it was found that Wingfield was preparing to load the pinnac< with the remainder of the stores and escape to the West Indies. He was deposed by the council, who appointed John Ratcliffe in his place. The new president was not much betterthan his predecessor. He was incapable ofdischarg- ing the duties of his office, and was perfectly satisfied that Smith should direct the affairs of the settlement for him. From this time Smith was the actual head of the govern- ment. Food was the prime necessity of the colony, and as it was now too late to raise it, Smith exerted himself to obtain it from the Indians. He purchased a supply, and towards the close of the autumn the wild fowl which frequent the region furnished an additional means of subsistence. Danger of Famine. The danger of a famine thus removed. Smith proceeded to explore the country. In one of these expeditions he ascended the Chickahominy as far as he could penetrate in his boat, and then leaving it in charge of two men, struck into the interior with an Indian guide. His men disobeyed his in- structions, and were surprised and put to death by the Indians. Smith himself was taken prisoner, and deeply impressed his captors by his cool courage and self-posses- sion. Instead of begging for his life, he set to work to convince them of his superiority over them, and succeeded so well that they regarded him with a sort of awe. He aston- ished them by showing them his pocket com- pass and explaining to them its uses, and excited their admiration by writing a letter POCAHONTAS INTERCEDIN'"^ FOR THE LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS to his friends at Jamestown informing them of his situation, and of tlie danger to wliicli they were exposed from a contemplated attack o( tlie Indians. One of the savages bore the letter to its destination. 79 A Grand Reception. Smith had been captured by Opechan- canough.a powerful chieftain of the Pamun- key Indians : but as the curiosity of the neighboring tribes was greatly aroused by his presence, he was led in triumph from the Chickahominy to the villages on the Rappa- hannock and the Potomac, and then taken through other towns to the residence of Opechancanough, on the Pamunkey. Here the medicine men of the tribe held a three days' incantation over him to ascertain his character and design. All this while his de- meanor was calm and fearless, as if he enter- tained no apprehension for his safety. He was regarded by the savages as a superior being, and was treated with kindness, though kept a close prisoner. His fate was referred to Powhatan for de- cision, as the other tribes feared to bring the blood of such an extraordinary being upon their heads. Powhatan was then residing at Werowocomoco, which lay on the north side of Fork River, in what is now Gloucester County, Virginia. He received the captive in great state, surrounded by his warriors. " He; wore," says Smith, " such a grave and majestical countenance as drove me into admiration to see." Brought into the presence of Powhatan, Smith was received with a shout from the assembled warriors. A handsome young squaw brought him water to wash his hands, and another gave him a bunch of feathers to dry them. Food was then set before him, and while he applied himself to the repast a consultation was held by the savages as to his fate. Smith watched the proceedings closely, and was aware from the gestures of the council thai nls death had been determined upon. Two great stones were then brought into the assembly and laid before the king. The captive was seized and dragged to the stones, forced down, and his head laid upon them. Two brawny savages stood by to beat out his brains v ith their clubs. During these proceedings Pocahontas, a child often or twelve years, " dearly loved daughter " of Powhatan, touched with pity for the unfortu- nate stranger, had been earnestly pleading with her father to spare his life. Failing in this, she sprang forward at the moment the executioners were about to despatch their victim, and throwing herself by his side, clasped her arms about his neck and laid her head upon his to protect him from the im- pending stroke. This remarkable action in a child so young moved the savages with profound astonishment. They regarded it as a manifestation of the will of Heaven in favor of the captive, and it was determined to spare his life and seek his friendship. The Captive Released. Smith was released from his bonds, and was given to Pocahontas to make beads and bells for her, and to weave for her ornaments of copper. The friendship which the inno- cent child of the forest conceived for him grew stronger every day, and ceased only with her life. Powhatan took him into his favor, and endeavored to induce him to abandon the English and cast his lot with him. He even sought to obtain his aid in an attack upon the colony. Smith declined these offers, and by his decision of character succeeded in averting the hostility of the savages from his friends at Jamestown, and in winning their good-will for the English. In a short while the Indians allowed him to return to Jamestown, upon his promise to send to King Powhatan two cannon and a 8o SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. grindstone. Upon arriving at Jamestown he showed the Indians who had accompanied him two of the largest cannon, and aslced them to lift them. This was impossible; nor could they succeed any better with the grindstone. Smith then discharged the cannon in their presence, which so frightened them that they refused to have anything to do with them. Having evaded his promise in this manner, Smith bestowed more suit- ■ible presents upon his guides, and sent them POCAHONTAS. home with gifts for Powhatan and Poca- hontas. The savage king was doubtless ftrell satisfied to let the " great guns " alone &fter hearing the report of his messengers concerning them, and was greatly pleased with the gifts sent him. Pocahontas Brings Food. Smith found the colony at Jamestown re- duced to forty men and affairs in great con- fusion. His companions had believed that he had fallen a victim to the hostility of the Indians, and he was greeted with delight, as the need of his firm hand had been sadly felt. He found that a party of malcontents were preparing to run away from the colony with the pinnace, and he at once rallied his supporters and trained the guns of the fort upon the little vessel, and avowed his de- termination to fire upon the mutineers if they sought to depart. His firmness put an end to this danger^ and the friendly relations which he had managed to establish with the Indians now enabled him to buy from the savages the food necessary to sustain the colonists through the winter. In many ways his captivity proved a great blessing to the settlement. He had not only e.xplored the country between the James and Potomac, and gained considerable knowledge of the language and customs of the natives, but had disposed the Indian tribes subject to Powhatan to regard the colony with friendship at the most criti- cal period of its existence. Had the savages been hostile during this winter the James- town colony must have perished of starva- tion; but now, every few days throughout this season, Pocahontas came to the fort ac- companied by a number of her countrymen bearing baskets of corn for the whites. Exploring Chesapeake Bay. In the spring of 1608, Newport arrived from England, bringing with him a reinforce- ment of one hundred and twenty emigrants. The newcomers were joyfully welcomed by the colonists but they proved of no real ad- vantage to the settlement. They were either idlers or goldsmiths who had come out to America in the hope of finding gold. The refiners of the party believed they had founa the precious metal in a heap of glittering earth, of which there was an abundance near Jamestown, and in spite of the remonstrances of Smith, would do nothing but dig gold. Newport, who shared the delusion, loaded CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS. his ships with the worthless earth and sailed for England after a sojourn in the colony of fourteen weeks. While these fruitless labors were in pro- gress, Smith, thoroughly disgusted with the folly of the emigrants, undertook the explora- tion of the Chesapeake Bay. He spent the summer of 1608 in visiting the shores of the bay and ascending its tributaries in an open boat, accompanied by a few men. He ex- plored the Chesapeake to the Susquehanna, ascended the Potomac to the falls, and explored the Patapsco. This voyage em- braced a total distance of nearly three thou- sand miles, and resulted not only in the gain- ing of accurate information respecting the country bordering the Chesapeake, but also in establishing friendly relations with the tribes along its shores, and preparing the way for future friendly intercourse with them. The energetic explorer prepared a map of the Chesapeake and its tributaries, and sent it to his employers in England, by v.-hom it was published. It is yet in existence, and its accuracy and minuteness have often elic- ited the praise of subsequent topographers. Idlers Must Not Eat. Smith returned to Jamestown on the seventh of September, and three days later was made president of the council. The good effects of his administration were soon felt. In the autumn, however, another rein- forcement of idle and useless men arrived. Smith, indignant at the continual arrival of such worthless persons, wrote to the com- pany: " When you send again,! entreat you rather send but thirty carpenters, husband- men, gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, ma- sons, and diggers up of trees' roots, well pro- vided, than a thousand cf such as we have." Upon the return of the fleet to England the governor e.xerted his authority to compel the idlers ^d go to work. It was ordered that si.K hours in each day should be spent in useful labor by each person, and that " he who would not work might not eat." In a short while the settlement began to assume the appearance of a regular habitation ; but still so little land had been cultivated — onl) about thirty or forty acres in all — that during the winter of i6o8-'g, the settlers were com- pelled to depend upon the Indians for food. Yet the prudent management of Smith kept the colony in good health. Infamous Lav^s. In the spring of 1609, great changes were made in the London Company, and a more earnest interest was manifested in the colony by all classes of the English people. Sub- scriptions were made to the stock of the company by many noblemen as well as mer- chants, and a new charter was obtained. By this charter the stockholders had the power to appoint the supreme council in England, and to this council were confided the powers of legislation and government, which were relinquished by the king. The council ap- pointed the governor of the colony, who was to rule the settlement with absolute au- thority according to the instructions of the council. He was made master of the lives and liberties of the settlers by being author- ized to declare martial law whenever in his judgment the necessity for that measure should arise, and was made the sole execu- tive officer in its administration. Thus the emigrants were deprived of every civil right, and were placed at the mercy of a governor appointed by a corpo- ration whose only object was to make money. The company, however, defeated this object by the manner in which it se- lected emigrants. Instead of sending out honest and industrious laborers who were capable of building up a state, they sent only idlers and vagabonds, men who were S2 neither willing nor fit to work. The com- mon stock feature was maintained, and thus tlie greatest obstacle to industry that could be devised was placed in the way of the success of the colony. Still there were rnp.nv who were willinij to seek the new SETTLExMENT OF AMERICA. a nobleman, whose character commanded the confidence of his countrymen, was made governor of the colony for life. As he was not able to sail with the expedition, he dele- gated his authority during his absence to Newport, who was admiral of the fleet, Sir HOLbC IN JAMESTOWN world even under these conditions, and many others whose friends desired to get them out of the country. The company was soon able to equip a fleet of nine vessels containing more than five hundred emigrants, and a stock of do- mestic animals and fowls was included in the outfit of tlie expedition. Lord Delaware, Thomas Gates, and Sit George Somers, who Were to govern the col- onv until his arrival. Tiie fleet sailed in the ^pi ing of 1609, but when off tlie American coast \\ \ i overtaken by a se- \ t re storm, and two ves- sels — on one of which the admiral and the c -immissioners had sailed — \\cre wrecked on one of the Bermuda islands. Seven ships reached \ irginia, and brought tile worst lot of emi- gi -ints that had yet been sent ort to the colony. Smith was still acting picsident, and as the commissioners had not ai rived, was determined to hold his position until lelieved by his lawful successors. The new emigrants at first refused to recognize his author- it\ , but he compelled them to submit, and in order to lessen the evil of their presence, divided them into bodies sufficiently numer- ous for safety, and sent them to make settle- ments in other parts of Virginia. These settlements proved so many failures, and, unfortunately for the colony. Smith was so severely wounded by an accidental explosion of gunpowder, in the autumn of 1609, that CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS. 83 he was obliged to relinquish the government and return to England for surgical treatment. He delegated his authority to George Percy, and sailed for England, never to return to Virginia again. It was to him alone that the success of the colony was due, but he received in return nothing but ingratitude. Pocahontas Saves the Colony. The departure of Smith was followed by the most disastrous consequences. There was no longer an acknowledged government ^n Virginia, and the settlers gave themselves up to the most reckless idleness. Their pro- visions were quickly consumed, and the In- dians refused to furnish them with anymore. The friendship of the savages had been due to their personal regard for Smith, who had compelled the colonists to respect their rights and to refrain from maltreating them. Now that Smith was no longer at the head of affairs, the Indians regarded the settlers with the contempt they fully merited, and hostili- ties soon began. Stragglers from the town were cut off, and parties who went out to seek food among the savages were deliber- ately murdered. On one occasion a plan was laid to surprise the town and massacre the colonists. The danger was averted by Pocahontas, who stole from her father's camp, through night and storm, to give warning to the settlers. Fail- ing in this effort the Indians resolved to starve the colony, and soon the whites began to experience the sufferings of a famine. Thirty of them seized one of the ships, escaped to sea, and began a course of piracy. In six months the four hundred and ninety persons left by Smith in the colony at his departure had dwindled down to sixty ; and this wretched remnant would have perished speedily had not aid reached them. On the twenty-fourth of May, 1610, Sir Thomas Gates and the members of the expe- dition who had been wrecked on the Ber- mudas reached Jamestown after a stay of nine months on those islands, during which time they had built two vessels from the wreck of their ship and the wood found on the island. In these they managed to reach Virginia, expecting to find the colony in a prosperous condition. They found instead the sixty men already mentioned, so feeble and full of despair as to be helpless. In the general despondency it was determined to abandon the colony, sail to Newfoundland, and join the fishing vessels which came an- nually from England to that island. A Welcome Arrival. Some of the emigrants wished to burn the town, but this was prevented by the resolute conduct of Sir Thomas Gates. On the seventh of June the settlers embarked, and that night dropped down the James with the tide. The next morning they were aston- ished to meet a fleet of vessels entering the river. It was Lord Delaware, who had arrived with fresh emigrants and supplies. The fugitives hailed the arrival of the gover- nor with delight, and put about and ascended the stream with him. A fair wind enabled them to reach Jamestown the same night. On the tenth of June, 1610, the founda- tions of the colony were solemnly relaid with prayer and supplication to Almighty God for success in the effort to establish a state. The authority of Lord Delaware silenced all dissensions, and his equitable but firm administration soon placed the settle- ment on a more successful basis than it had yet occupied. The labors of each day were opened with prayer in the little church, after which, from six in the morning till ten, and from two in the afternoon until four, all engaged in the tasks demanded of them. The good effects of the new system were soon manifest in the increased comfort and 84 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. prosperity of the colony. In about a year the health of Lord Delaware gave way, and he delegated his authority to George Percy, whom Smith had chosen as his successor, and returned to England. Fortunately for the colony, the company, before the arrival of Lord Delaware in Eng- land, had sent out Sir Thomas Dale with supplies. He reached Jamestown in May, 161I; and finding Lord Delaware gone, assumed the government. He brought with him a code of laws, prepared and sent out by Sir Thomas Smith, the treasurer of the com- pany, without the order or sanction of the council, and which established martial law as the rule of the colony. Though he ruled with such a stern hand, Dale rendered good service to Virginia by recommending to the company to maintain the settlement at all hazards as certain of yielding them a rich reward in the end. The New Settlers. This energetic appeal so greatly encour- aged the council, which had been consider- ably disheartened by Lord Delaware's return, that in the summer of 161 1 Sir Thomas Gates was sent out to Virginia with six ships and three hundred emigrants. He carried also a stock of cattle and abundant supplies. The emigrants sent out with him were of a better character and more industrious than any that had yet left England for Virginia. Gates assumed the government, and matters began to prosper again. The colony now numbered seven hundred persons, and was deemed so prosperous that Dale, with the approval of the governor, led a number of the men to the vicinity of the falls of the James, and there established another settle- • ment, which was called Henrico, in honor o{ the Prince of Wales. Among the changes for the better was the assignment to each settler of a few acres of land for his own cultivation. This " incipient establishment of private property" produced the happiest results, and from this time there was no scarcity of provisions in the colony, which became so powerful and prosperous as to be no longer exposed to the mercy ol the savages. The Indians themselves were quick to notice this change, and some of the neighboring tribes by formal treaty acknowl- edged themselves subjects of King James. The whites, however, did not always respect the rights of the Indians. Late in 161 3, Pocahontas was betrayed into the hands of a foraging party under Captain Argall. Argall kept her a prisoner, and demanded of Powhatan a ransom. For three months Powhatan did not deign to re- ply to this demand, but prepared for war. In the meantime Pocahontas was instructed in the faith of the Christians, and at length openly embraced it, and was baptized. Her conversion was hastened by a powerful senti- ment, which had taken possession of her heart. She had always regarded the English as superior to her own race, and now her affections were won by a young Englishman of good character, named John Rolfe. Marriage of Pocahontas. Rolfe, with the approval of the governor, asked her hand of her father in marriage. Powhatan consented to the union, but re- fused to be present at the marriage, as he was too shrewd to place his person in the hands of the English. He sent his brother Opachisco and two of his sons to witness the marriage, which was solemnized in the little church at Jamestown, in the presence of Sir Thomas Dale, the acting governor. The marriage conciliated Powhatan and his tribe, who continued their peaceful relations with the colony. King James, however, was greatly displeased at what he deemed the presumption of a subject in wedding a 66 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. princess. Pocahontas was .soon after taken to England by her husband, and was re- ceived there with great attention and kind- ness. She remained in England for a little more than a year, and then prepared to re- turn to her own country. As she was about to sail, she died, at the age of twenty-two, A. D. 1616. She left a son, who subse- quently became a man of distinction in Virginia, and the ancestor of some of the proudest families of the Old Dominion. Earliest Land Laws of Virginia. In the meantime the settlements of the French on the coast of Maine had attracted the attention and e.xcited the jealousy of the English. In 161 3, Captain Samuel Argall, who was cruising on the banks of Newfound- land to protect the English fishermen, dis- covered the French settlement of Saint Sauveur on the island of Mount Desert, and captured it. He treated the colonists with inexcusable harshness, and compelled them to leave the country. In the same year he destroyed the fortifications which Des Monts had erected on the isle of St. Croi.x and burned the deserted settlement of Port Royal. At Jamestown and the other settlements ^.hat had been formed in Virginia private in- dustry was fast placing the colony on an assured basis of success. " The condition of private property in lands, among the colon- ists, depended, in some measure, on the cir- cumstances under which they had emigrated. Some had been sent and maintained at the exclusive cost of the company, and were its servants. One month of their time and three acres of land were set apart for them, besides a small allowance of two bushels of corn from the public store ; the rest of their labor belonged to their employers. This number had gradually decreased ; and in 16 1 7 there were of them all, men, women and children, but fifty-four. Others, especi- ally the favorite settlement near the mouth of the Appomattox, were tenants, paying two and a half bushels of corn as a yearly tribute to the store, and giving to the public service one month's labor, which was to be required neither at seed time nor harvest. He who came himself, or had sent others at his own expense, had been entitled to a hundred acres of land for each person : now that the colony was well established, the bounty on emigration was fixed at fifty acres, of which the actual occupation and culture gave a further right to as many more, to be assigned at leisure. Besides this, lands were granted as rewards of merit ; yet not more than two thousand acres could be so appro- priated to one person. A payment to the company's treasury of twelve pounds and ten shillings likewise obtained a title to any hundred acres of land not yet granted or possessed, with a reserved claim to as much more. Such were the earliest land laws of Virginia : though imperfect and unequal, they gave the cultivator the means of becom- ing a proprietor of the soil. These valuable changes were established by Sir Thomas Dale/'* Tobacco Becomes the Currency. The survivors of Raleigh's colony at Roanoke had introduced into England the use of tobacco which they had 'earned from the Indians, and there was now a steady de- mand for that article from the mother country. Encouraged by this demand, and stimulated by the acquisition of property of their own, the Virginia colonists devoted themselves with ardor to the culture of tobacco, and soon all the available land about the settlements, and even the streets and public squares of Jamestown, were * History of the United Slates. By Geo. Bancroft, vol. i., p. 150. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH AND POCAHONTAS. 87 yearly once, whereat were to be present the governor and consell with two burgesses from each plantation, freely to be elected by the inhabitantes thereof, this assemblie to have power to make and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders shoulde by them be thought good and profitable for their subsistence." planted with it Tobacco soon became the currency of the colony, and great attention was given to it, even to the exclusion of other agricultural interests. A New Governor. In 1616, Sir Thomas Dale, who had been governor of the colony for two jears, dele- gated his authority to George Yeardley, and sailed for England. Under Yeardley's ad- mirable administration the colony continued to increase in prosperity. A faction of the settlers, however, succeeded in removing him from his position, and replaced him with Argall, who was a selfish and brutal t^^rant. He held office for two years, and goverjied according to the most rigid forms of martial law. He swindled the company, and ex- torted their hard earnings from the settlers, who were driven to desperation by his brutal- ities. In their distress they appealed to the company for redress, and, as Argall had robbed the corporation also, their prayer was heard. Argall was removed from office, and the bloody code of Sir Thomas Smith was abolished. Sir George Yeardley was appointed governor, Lord Delaware having died, and reached Jamestown in April, 1619. He was greatly beloved by the Virginians, and his arrival was looked upon as the be- ginning of new life for the province, as indeed it was. Among the changes which Yeardley was empowered by the company to inaugurate was one which exercised the greatest influ- ince upon the subsequent history of Vir- ginia. After years of blundering and arbi- trary rule, the London Company had become convinced that the best way to promote the Arelfare of Virginia was to give the settlers a ' for them blinded the planters to the evil they were fastening upon the colony. The first importation was followed by others, the infamous business being principally in the hands of the Dutch at this period. Still the blacks increased very slowly. The legis- lature from the first discouraged the traffic oy a heavy tax upon female slaves. Sir Francis Wyatt, the first governor ap- pointed under the new constitution, reached Virginia in 162 1, and the new laws were soon in successftil operation. Soon after his arrival a terrible misfortune befell the colony, and almosr caused its destruction. For some time there had been bad blood between the whites and the Indians. Powhatan, the friend of the English, was dead, and Opechan- canough, the veteran chief, who, since the death of Powhatan, had become the leader of the nation, was bitteily hostile to the English, and not without reason. The savages origi- nally held the best lands in the colony, but the whites, when these lands were wanted, took possession of them without regard to the rights of their dusky owners. The Indians, unable to contend with the whites in open conflict, saw themselves driven steadily away from their accustomed homes, and menaced with total destruction by the superior race. Opechancanough, though outwardly friendly to the colonists, now secreth' resolved upon their destruction, and sought to accomplish this by treachery. There were about five thousand Indians, of whom fifteen hundred were warriors, within sixty miles of Jamestown, and the whites in the same region numbered in all about four thousand. These were scattered in fancied safety along both sides of the James and for some distance into the interior. A plot was organized by the Indian leader for the extermination of every settler in the colony. At noon on a designated day every settlement was to be surprised and all the inhabitants murdered. The savages in the meantime kept up their pretence o friendship. Opechancanough declared with fervor, " Sooner shall the sky fall than my friendship for the English should cease." So unsuspicious were the English that to the very last moment they received the savagfs amongst them without fear of harm, and in LEKS BV INDIANS. PROGRESS OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. 91 many places the latter were then in the houses of the people they meant to destroy. On the twenty-second of March, 1622, a geneial attack was made by the savages upon all the settlements of the colony. On the previous night the plot had been revealed to a converted Indian named Chauco, who at once hastened to Jamestown and gave warn- ing of the danger. The alarm spread rapidly to the nearest settlements, but those at a dis- tance could not be reached in time to avert their fate. Those settlements which had been warned were able to offer a successful resistance to their assailants, and some of those which were surprised beat off the Indians ; but the number of victims, men women and children, who fell this day amounted to three hundred and forty-seven. All these were slain, and their fate would have been shared by the whole colony but for the warning of the friendly Indian. Terrible Destruction. The effect upon the colony was appalling. ,The distant plantations had been destroyed by the savages, and out of eighty settlements eight alone survived. These, and especially Jamestown, were crowded beyond their ca- pacity with fugitives who had fled to them for shelter. Sickness soon began to prevail, the public works were discontinued, and pri- vate industry was greatly diminished. A gloom rested over the entire colony, and the population fell off At the end of two years after the massacre, the number of inhabitants had been reduced to two thousand. Much sympathy was manifested for the suffering colonists by the people of England. The city of London sent them liberal assistance, and private individuals subscribed to their need. King James was aroused into an affectation of generous sympathy, and sent over to the colony a supply of muskets which had been condemned as worthless in England. The whites recovered from their gloorn, and on their part began to form plans for the extermination of their foes. During the next ten years expeditions were sent against the Indians at frequent intervals. The object kept sternly in view was to either destroy the savages altogether, or force them back from the seaboard into the interior. As late as 1630 it was ordered by the general assem- bly that no peace should be made with the Indians. Virginia's Charter Revoked. An important change now occurred in the fortunes of the colony. The London Com- pany was bankrupt, and its stockholders having abandoned all hope of gain from the colony, held on to their shares merely as a means of exercising political power. The company was divided between two parties. One of these favored the direct rule of the colony by the sovereign, the other maintained the independent government of the province by its own legislature under the constitution granted to it. The debates between these factions greatlyannoyed the king, who could never tolerate the expression of an independ- ent opinion by any of his subjects. He endeavored in various ways to silence these disputes, and to regain the powers he had relinquished to the company, but the latter firmly refused to surrender their charter, and the colonists, who feared that the king might seek to impose his own arbitrary will upon them in the place of their constitution and the laws of England, sustained the company in its refusal. In spite of this opposition, however, James carried his point. The charter of the com- pany was revoked, and Virginia was made a royal province. The company appealed to the courts, but these being under the influ- ence of the crown sustained the king. Their decision was rendered in June, 1624. James SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. did not interfere with any of the liberties or privileges of Virginia, however. Sir Francis Wyatt was retained in his office of governor, 1i.- r-yfj^^A^^^t^ and the colony was left under the laws and in possession of the privileges secured to it in 162 1. James announced his intention to prepare a code of laws for the government of Virginia, but fortunately for that province he died before he could execute his design. Charles I. succeeded his father on the Eng- lish throne on the twenty-seventh of March, 1625. He was favorably disposed toward the colony, for he did not suppose the principles of civil liberty had taken so deep a root in it, and, moreover, he wished to secure for the ciown the monopoly (. f the tobacco trade. He carried his con- descension to the ex- I tent of recognizing 1 the house of burgesses Ts a legislative body Tnd requesting it tc p iss a bill restricting the sales of tobacco to the crown. The house answered him respect- fully, but firmly, that to grant his majesty's request would be to injure the trade of the colony. Defeated in this effort to secure this monopoly the king continued throughout his reign to seek to get the I tobacco trade into his hands. He declared London to be the sole market for the sale of tobacco, and endeav- ored in many ways, and in vain, to regulate the trade. 'iT "^-^ — ■ INDIANS \11IK niE MASbACKL PROGRESS OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY. 93 In the meantime Sir Francis Wyatt retired from the government of the colony, and Sir George Yeardley was appointed his successor in 1626. The latter died the next year, and Francis West was elected governor by the council until the pleasure of the king should be known. Upon the receipt in England of the news of Yeardley's death, Charles appointed Sir John Har\-ey governor of Virginia. At the same time he granted to the council in Virginia authority to fill all vacancies occurring in their body. Previous to the arrival of Harvey, West was succeeded by another governor, named Pott, elected by the council. An Unpopular Governor. Harvey reached \'irginia late in the autumn of 1629, and remained in office until 1639. He was greatly disliked, and his failure to enforce the claims of Virginia against the colony of Maryland, which was planted in 1634 upon territory embraced within the original grant to Virginia, made him still more unpopular. In 1635 he was removed from office by the council, and an appeal was made to the king by both Harvey and the council. Harvey returned to England to manage his case, and John West was appointed governor until the decision of the case by the king. Harvey succeeded in defeating his opponents, who were not even allowed a hearing in England, and returned to Virginia in January, 1636, and resumed his place as governor. The complaints against him were so numerous, that in 1639 he was removed by the king, who appointed Sir Francis Wyatt his successor. In 1641 Wyatt was succeeded by Sir William Berkeley, who reached Jamestown in 1642. In the spring of this year, an effort was made to revive the London Company, but Virginia, which was now a royal province, opposed the measure, and urged the king to allow her to remain in the e.vercise of the self-government which had contributed in so marked a degree to her prosperity. The king, impressed with the force of the arguments by which this appeal was sustained, declared his intention to make no change in the colonial government. The Puritans Banished. Berkeley, during his first administration, proved in the main a good governor, and the colony continued to improve. The courts of justice were brought as near as possible to the English standard, and the titles to lands were arranged upon a more satisfactory basis than had hitherto been found possible. Taxes were assessed accord- ing to the wealth of the settlers, and a treaty was arranged with Maryland by which the vexed questions between the two colonies were satisfactorily adjusted. The Virginians, accustomed to freedom, were in all things, save their acknowledgment of the king's supremacy, a practically independent nation, so little were they interfered with by the sovereign. The colony was devoted to the established church of England, and even at this early day there were severe laws for the enforcement of conformity to its rules, and for the punishment of dissenters. When Puritan ministers came from New England into the colony in 1643, they were banished by the colonial government, not- withstanding they had been in\ited into Virginia by the Puritan settlements in that province. The majority of the Virginians, with the governor at their head, were royal- ists and staunch friends of the king. The Puritans living in the colony were regarded with suspicion, and when they re- fused to conform to the established church, it was ordered that they should be banished. Many of them passed over into Maryland and settled there. With the exception of 94 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. this harmless bigotry, the colony took no share in the great quarrel which was rending the mother country in twain. It was rather a gainer by it, as the troubles which encom- passed Charles I. compelled him to cease his efforts to interfere with the trade of the olanters. The chief trouble of this period was with the Indians. There had been no peace with them since the massacre of 1622, but fre- quent expeditions had been sent against them. In 1644, the savages, led by their veteran chieftain Opechancanough, resolved to make one more effort to exterminate the whites, forgetting that in the twenty years that elapsed their enemies had grown stronger, while they had grown weaker. On the eighteenth of April the frontier set- tlements were at- tacked, and three hun- dred of the settlers were put to death. The whites at once inaugurated vigorous measures for their defence, and a sharp warfare was waged upon the savages until October, 1646. It was brought to a close by the capture of Opechancanough, who was so decrepit that he was unable to walk, and was carried iboutin thearms of his ooople. His flesh was (.maciated, the sinews ■jO relaxed, and his Lvelids so heavy that whenever he desired to see they were lifted bv his attendants. Yet still the vigor of his »i,tellect remained to him, and he was to the last both feared by his enemies and loved by his people. Berkeley, having taken him pris- oner, exposed him to the rude gaze of the colonists, an indignity which stung the proud monarch of the forest to the heart. On one PROGRESS OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY 95 occasion, hearing that the governor was approaching, he caused his e}-ehds to be raised, and fixing upon his captor a look of stern rebuke, said to him, " If Sir William Berkeley had become my prisoner, I should not thus meanly have exposed him as a show to my people." A Cowardly Assassination. A few da}'s later, Opechancanough was basely assassinated by one of the colonists charged with the duty of guarding him. Thus perished one of the greatest of the native chieftains of America. In October, 1646, Necotowance, the successor of Opechancan- ough, entered into a treaty with the colony, by which he and his people relinquished to the English the lands that had been the heritage of their fathers, and withdrew into the interior. Their power was completely broken, and submission was all that was left to them. Virginia was now on the high road to prosperity. The population at the close of the year 1648 numbered twenty thousand, and was increasing rapidly. A fair trade had been built up with other countries, and at Christmas of this year " there were trading in Virginia ten ships from London, two from Bristol, twelve Hollanders, and seven from New England." The quarrels of the mother country had not affected the colony, though a thrill of horror and indignation ran through all Virginia when the news was received of the execution of Charles I. Upon the fall of that monarch a large number of the royalist party in England, un- willing to submit to or make any compromise with the Parliament, fled to Virginia, and were received there with sympathizing hospi- tality by the government and people. Many of them made the colony their permanent home, and thus began the pleasant relations between Virginia and England, which ha\e in numerous cases remained unbroken. The \'irginians regarded Charles II., then an exile at Breda, as their rightful sovereign, and it was seriously proposed to him to come over to America and be king of Virginia. Charles' interests obliged him to remain in Europe, but he continued to regard himself as king of Virginia. From this circum- stance Virginia came to be called "The Old Dominion." Arrival of a Fleet. The Parliament, however, did not long suffer the colony to maintain this attitude. Having triumphed over all its enemies in Europe it prepared to enforce its authority in America. In 1650 an ordinance was passed forbidding all intercourse with the colonies that had adhered to the Stuarts, except by the especial permission of Parlia- ment or the Council of State. In the spring of 1652 more energetic measures were put in force, and a fleet was dispatched to America to compel the submission of the colonies. The fleet arrived off Jamestown. No resist- ance was attempted, for the commissioners appointed by the commonwealth were in- structed to grant terms honorable to both parties. The Virginians were prepared to resist any attempt to force them into submis- sion, but they were disarmed by the liberal spirit with which the commonwealth met them, and a treaty was concluded between England and Virginia, as equal treating with equal. It was stipulated : " First. — That this should be considered a voluntary act, not forced or constrained by a conquest upon the country ; and that the colony should have and enjoy such freedoms and privileges as belong to the freeborn people of England. " Secondly. — That the grand assembly, as formerly, should convene and transact the affairs of Virginia, doing nothing contrary' to 96 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. the government of the commonwealth or laws of England. " Thirdly.— That there should be a full and total remission of all acts, words, or writ- ings against the Parliament. Demand for a New Charter. " Fourthly. — That Virginia should have her ancient bounds and limits, granted by the charters of the former kings, and that a new charter was to be sought from Parliament to that effect, against such as had trespassed against their ancient rights. " Fifthly. — That all patents of land under the seal of the colony, granted by the gover- nor, should remain in full force. " Sixthly. — That the privilege of fifty acres of land for every person emigrating to the colony should remain in full force. " Seventhly. — That the people of Virginia have free trade, as the people of England enjoy, with all places and nations, according to the laws of the commonwealth ; and that Virginiashould enjoyequal privileges, inevery respect, with any other colony in America. " Eighthly. — That Virginia should be free from all ta.xes, customs, and impositions what- soever; and that none should be imposed upon them without the consent of their grand assembly ; and no forts or castles be erected, or garrison maintained, without their consent. " Ninthly. — That no charge should be re- quired from the country on account of the expense incurred in the present fleet. " Tenthly. — That this agreement should be tendered to all persons, and that such as should refuse to subscribe to it should have a year's time to remove themselves and effects from Virginia, and in the meantime enjoy equal justice." " These terms," says Bancroft, " so favor- able to liberty, and almost conceding inde- pendence, were faithfully observed until the restoration. Historians have, indeed, drawn gloomy pictures of the discontent which per- vaded the colony, and have represented the discontent as heightened by commercial op- pression. The statement is a fiction. The colony of Virginia enjoyed liberties as large as the favored New England ; dis- played an equal degree of fondness for pop- ular sovereignty, and fearlessly exercised political independence." " Old Ironsides." Richard Bennett, one of the commission- ers, wa? chosen governor in the place of Berkeley. Until now it had been customary for the governor and council to sit in the assembly, and take part in the debates. Ob- jection was now made to their presence, and the matter was compromised by obliging them to take the oath required of the bur- gesses. During the protectorate Cromwell wisely let the colony alone. He appointed none of the governors, and never interfered with the management of its affairs. In 1658, Samuel Mathews being governor, the assem- bly, on the first of April, passed alaw exclud- ing the governor and council from their sessions, and thus secured to themselves a free and uninterrupted discussion of their measures. The governor and council in re- turn declared the assembly dissolved, but that body vindicated its authority and inde- pendence by removing the governor and council and compelled them to submit They were then re-elected to their respective positions. Thus did the spirit of popular liberty establish all its claims. Upon the death of Oliver Cromwell, the burgesses met in secret session and decided to recognize Richard Cromwell as protector. " It was a more interesting question whether the change of protector in England would endanger liberty in Virginia. The letter from the council had left the government to be administered according to former usage PROGRESS OF THE VIRGINIA COLONY 97 The assembly declared itself satisfied with I the language. But that there might be no reason to question the existing usage, the governor was summoned to come to the house, where he appeared in person, deliber- ately acknowledged the supreme power of electing officers to be, by the present laws, resident in the assembly, and pledged himself to join in addressing the new protector for special confirmation of all existing privileges. The reason for this extraordinary proceeding is assigned, 'that what was their privilege now, might be the privilege of their pos- terity.' The frame of the Virginia govern- ment was deemed worthy of being transmit- ted to remote generations." * Governor Mathews died in March, 1660, about the time of the resignation of Richard Cromwell in England. Both the mother country and the colony were thus left without a government. In this emergency the gen- eral assembly of Virginia resolved " that the supreme government of this country shall be resident in the assembly, and all writs shall issue in its name, until there shall arrive from England a commission, which the assem- bly itself shall adjudge to be lawful." The assembly had no thought of asserting its independence of England, but as it cher- ished the earnest hope that the king would be restored to his rights, it proceeded to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Governor Mathews by electing Sir William Berkeley, the devoted partisan of the Stuarts, governor of Virginia. Berkeley accepted the office, acknowledged the validity of the acts of the assembly, and expressed his con- viction that he could in no event dissolve that body. " I am," said he, " but the ser- vant of the assembly." We shall see in the course of this narrative how he regarded this promise in the light of subsequent events. * History of the United States. By Geo. Bancroft, voL CHAPTER VIII Vireinia After the Restoration Characteristics of the Virginians — Causes of the Success of the Royalists — Growth of the Aristocratic Class — ^Berkeley De cides Against the People — The Aristocratic iVssembly Claims the Right to Sit Perpetually — Deprives the Common People of Their Liberties — Revival of the NaWgation Act by Charles II. — The King Bestov^s Virginia as a Gift Upon His Favorites — Protests of the Assembly — Growing Hostility of the Virginians to the Colonial Government — The Indian War ^The Governor Refuses to Allow the Colonists to Defend Themselves — Nathaniel Bacon — He Slarches Against the Indians — Rebellion of the People Against Berkeley and the Assembly — The Convention — Repeal of the Obnoxious Laws — Berkele)-'E Duplicity — The People Take Up Arms — Flight of Berkeley — Destruction of Jamestoim — Death of Bacon — Causes of the Failure of the Rebellion — Berkeley's Triumph — Execution of the Patriot Leaders — Berkeley's Course Condemned by the King — Death of Berkeley — The Unjust Laws Re-enacted — Lord Culpepper Govemor — His Extortions — ^James II. and Virginia — Effects Upon Virginia of the Revolution of l6S8 — William and Mary College Founded. ON the eighth of May, 1660, Charles II. was proclaimed king in Eng- land, and on the twenty-ninth made his entry into London. The rebellion and the commonwealth had pro- duced but little effect upon Virginia. The restoration was productive of the most mo- mentous consequences in the colony. During the long period of the commonwealth Vir- ginia had been practically independent. The people had acquired political rights, and had exercised them with prudence. The colony had prospered in a marked degree under the blessings of popular gov- ernment, and the rights of the people were jealously guarded by their legislators. " No trace of established privilege appeared in its code or its government : in its forms and in its legislation Virginia was a representative democracy; so jealous of a landed aris- tocracy that it insisted on universality of suf- frage ; so hostile to the influence of com- mercial wealth, that it would not tolerate the ' mercenary ' ministers of the law ; so con- siderate for religious freedom, that each parish was left to take care of Itself. Every ofiicer was, directly or indirectly, chosen by the people."* The restoration was to change all this. The society of Virginia was oeculiar. The colony had been settled by adventurers un- der circumstances which compelled equality among all classes of its people. Thus there had grown up a strong population born to the enjoyment of this equalit}% and devoted to its maintenance. They constituted the bulk of the inhabitants. By degrees there had sprung up a colonial aristocracy com- posed of the large landholders. These were persons of culture, many of whom had been men of position and education in England. The laws favored the accumulation of large estates, and the possession of them awakened feelings of family pride. The large emigration of men of rank and culture at the overthrow of Charles I. greatly increased this class. The existence of an established church gave it another element of strength, since the interests of the state church and the aristocracy are always identi- cal. Education was almost entirely confined to the landholding class, and with this never- ■o//'s History of the United States, vol. ii., p. VIRGINIA AFTER THE RESTORATION. 99 failing weapon in their grasp they soon ob- tained the direction of the affairs of the colony, and retained it. Unfortunately for Virginia, the mass of the people had no means of acquiring knowledge. There were no common schools in the colony. In 167 1 , Sir William Berkeley wrote : " Every man instructs his children according to his ability." He added: "I thank God there are no free schools nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years ; for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. God keep us from both ! " Thus were the common people doomed to hopeless ignorance, and left helpless and at the mercy of the smaller but educated class. There was no printing press in Virginia, and the colony remained without one until nearly a centur)' after New England had enjoyed its benefits. An Element of Weakness. Bitterly did the people of Virginia atone for their neglect of their best interests. They had shown at the first the power of creating free institutions ; but these institutions cannot be preser\-ed among an ignorant people. Freedom and intelligence go hand in hand. The institution of negro slavery was another element of weakness and degradation. Labor was debased in the eyes of the whites by being made the task of a slave, when it should have been the glory of a freeman. The in- stitution served to confirm the power of the landed aristocracy, while it sank the common people deeper into ignorance. Thus when Sir William Berkeley entered upon his second term of office, at the period of the restoration, there were two elements, by nature hostile to each other, contending for the control of the colony — a people eager for the enjoyment of popular liberty, but sinking deeper into ignorance and helpless- ness, and a rising aristocracy, composed of men of wealth and education, and united by a common interest. Unhappily for the people, the governor was a natural aristocrat. In spite of his professions of loyalty to the assembly, he regarded the people with con- tempt, and could never tolerate the exercise of the least of their rights. In the midst of the rejoicings in Virginia which hailed the return of Charles II. to the KING CHARLES 11. throne of his fathers, Berkeley took a decisive stand, and boldly declared that he was governor of Virginia, not by the election of the assembly, but by virtue of his commission from the king. At the same time he issued writs for the election of a new assembly in the name of King Charles. Popular sover- eignty was struck dead in Virginia. The new assembly met in March, 1661. It was lOo SETTLEMENT composed exclusively of landholdeis. Until now the assembly had been elected for but a single year, and its members were chosen by the people. This first aristocratic assembly, true to its instincts, at a blow deprived the people of the right of choosing their repre- sentatives, by assuming to itself the power to sit perpetually. Sustained by the governor, the burgesses were enabled to continue their usurpation for fourteen years, and only yielded to an in- surrection. The salaries of the members were paid by tiieir respective counties, and the house, in 1662. passed a law regulating the pay and allowances of its members. The compensation was fixed at two hundred and fifty pounds of tobacco per day, or about nine dollars-^-a rate deemed enormous in these days of abundant wealth, and utterly unsuited to the period of poverty and struggle we are considering. In order to perpetuate its power, the assembly repealed the laws giving the right of suffrage to every citizen, and confined it to freeholders and house- keepers. Laws Against the Quakers. Nor did the assembly neglect to provide for the church. Conformity was required by severe laws. Every inhabitant of the colony was compelled to attend its services and to contribute a fixed sum to its support. The assessment of parish taxes was intrusted to twelve vestrymen in each parish, who had power to fill all vacancies in their number. They thus became practically a close corpo- ration, responsible to no one for their acts. Rigorous laws were directed against the Quakers. They were forbidden to hold their own religious assemblies, and their absence from church was punished by a heavy fine. In September, 1663, the house expelled one of its members " because he was well affected to the Quakers." OF AMERICA.. •' The organization of the judiciary plac^'l thai department of the government almost beyond the control of the people. The gov- ernor and council were the highest ordinary tribunal, and these were all appointed, directly or indirectly, by the crown. Besides this, there were in each county eight unpaid justices of the peace, commissioned by the governor during his pleasure. These justices held monthly courts in their respective coun- ties. Thus the administration of justice in the counties was in the hands of persons holding their offices at the good will of the governor; while the governor himself and his executive council constituted the general court, and had cognizance of all sorts of causes. Religious Liberty Destroyed. " Was an appeal made to chancery it was but for another hearing before the same men ; and it was only for a few years longer that appeals were permitted from the general court to the assembly. The place of sheriff in each county was conferred on one of the justices for that county, and so devolved to everycommissioner in course. * * =»= But the county courts, thus independent of the people, possessed and exercised the arbitrary power of levying county taxes, which, in their amount, usually exceeded the public levy. This system proceeded so far that the commissioners, of themselves, levied taxes to meet their own expenses. In like manner, the self-perpetuating vestries made out their lists of tithablcs, and assessed taxes without regard to the consent of the parish. These private levies were unequal and oppressive, were seldom — it is said, never — brought to audit, and were, in some cases, managed by men who combined to defraud the public." * These were the effects upon Virginia of the restoration of Charles II. to the throne *History the United States. By George Bancroft, vol. ii., pp., 204« VIRGINIA AFTER THE RESTORATION. of England. The guarantee which a frequent renewal of the assembly secured to the rights cf the people was removed by the peifpetu- ation of that body. The right of suffrage — the sole protection of the liberties of a free people — was taken from a majority of the ^habitants of the province. Religious lib- erty, which it was fondly believed had been established, was struck down at a single blow. A system of arbitrary taxation by irresponsible magistrates was set up in the place of the carefully scrutinized levies of the representatives of the people. Education was discouraged and the press regarded with hostility. Ignorance, with all its accompany- ing evils, was fastened upon the colony. Ten years sufficed to accomplish these changes; but it took more than a centurj'- for the people of Virginia to recover their lost rights. An Infamous Law. Charles II. remembered the loyalty of Virginia only in his adversity. One of his first acts was to revive in a more odious form the navigation act, which had originated in the Long Parliament as a measure for compelling the submission of the colonies to the authority of the commonwealth. In 1660, a new and enlarged navigation act was passed by Parlia- ment. It forbade foreign vessels to trade with the colonies, and required colonists to ship certain " enumerated articles, such as sugar, tobacco, cotton, wool, ginger or dyewoods " produced in the colony, to England alone. This act bore very hard upon Virginia, as it gave to the English merchants the monop- oly of her tobacco trade. The merchants were thus enabled to regulate the price of the commodity, and to supply the wants of the colonists in return upon their own terms. Efforts were made to evade this iniquitous law, but it remained fastened upon the colo- nies, and was the first of a long series of out- rages. Charles was not satisfied with crippling the industry of the colony that had remained faithful to him in his adversity. In order to please his worthless favorites at home he consented to plunder the Virginians of their property. In 1649, a patent was granted to a company of cavaliers for the region lying be- tween the Rappahannock and the Potomac, and known in Virginia as the Northern Neck. It was intended to make this region a refuge for their partisans, but the design was never carried out. Other settlers located them- selves there, and in 1669 it contained a num- ber of thriving plantations. In the latter year Lord Culpepper, one of the most avaricious men in England, obtained from the king a pat- ent for the Northern Neck, having previously acquired all the shares of the company to whom the grant of 1649 had been made. This patent was in direct violation of the rights of the actual settlers, and boie very hard upon them. But it was as nothing com- pared with the next gift of the king. Id 1673, he bestowed, as a free gift, upon Lord Culpepper and the Earl of Arlington, " all the dominion of land and water called Virginia," for a term of thirty-one years. Firm Remonstrance. Even the aristocratic assembly was startled by this summary disposal of the colony and commissioners were sent to England to re- monstrate with the king. "We are unwill- ing," the assembly declared, " and conceive that we ought not to submit to those to whom his majesty, upon misinformation, hath granted the dominion over us, who do most contentedly pay to his majesty more than we have ourcelves for our labor. Whilst we labor for the advantage of the crown, and do wish we could be more advantageous to the king and nation, we humbly request not to be subjected to our fellow-subjects, but, for the future, to be secured from our fears of- 102 SETTLEMENT being enslaved." The commissioners were granted no satisfaction in England, and the efforts of the colony to obtain jastice at the hands of the king failed. General Discontent. Virginia at this time was a sparsely settled province. Jamestown was the only town deserving the name within the limits of the colony. The inhabitants were scattered over the country, separated from each other. They dwelt on their farms and plantations, coming together rarely except on Sundays, on court-days, and at elections. This soli- tary life taught them independence and self- reliance. They were proud of their personal liberty, and so long as this was not taken from them they were willing to submit to almost any form of government that might be imposed upon them. The truth is that until the restoration the Virginians were not accustomed to being governed much. The measures of the royalist governor and assem- bly greatly curtailed the freedom which the people had enjoyed under their former governments, and the imposition of new bur- dens upon them aroused a general discon- tent. Men began to come together to discuss their wrongs, and the hostility to the aristo- cratic party and the governor increased rapidly, so rapidly, indeed, that the people were ripe for insurrection in 1674, and would have risen in revolt had not some of the cooler heads induced them to try more peaceful measures of redress. Still the taxes were continued at such a rate that the col- onists were driven to desperation. They complained, with justice, that they were de- prived of all the fruits of their labors by the iniquitous levies made upon them, and their complaints, instead of producing a change for the better, merely brought an increase of their burdens. At length their patience was OF AMERICA. exhausted, and they only lacked an excuse for taking up arms. The opportunity soon came. In the meantime the governor and the assembly, with characteristic contempt for the commons, went on e.xtorting money from the people by unjust taxes principally for their own benefit, and put in successive operation the measures we have already described for strengthening their own power and reducing the people to subjection to them. Six Chiefs Murdered. The people of Maryland had become in- volved in a war with the Susquehannah Indians and their confederates, and the struggle was so serious that the savages ex- tended their depredations to the Potomac, and even to the limits of Virginia. To guard against this danger the border militia were set to watch the line of the river, and in 1675 a body of them, under Colonel John Wash- ington, crossed over into Maryland to help the people of that colony. This John Washington had emigrated from the north of England about eighteen years before, and had settled in Westmoreland County. He became the great-grandfather of George Washington. The war was conducted with great fury on both sides. Six of the chiefs of the Susquehannah tribe at length came into the camp of the Virginians to treat for peace, and were treacherously murdered. This barbarous act aroused the indignation of Governor Berkeley. " If they had killed my father and my mother, and all my friends," said he, " yet if they had come to treat of peace, they ought to have gone in peace." The massacre was bloodily avenged by the Indians. The Susquehannahs im- mediately crossed the Potomac and waged a relentless warfare along the borders of Vir- ginia until they had slain ten whites for each one of their chiefs, a sacrifice required of I mi ^adLl 103 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. them by the customs of their tribe, in order that the spirits of their braves might rest in peace. The people appealed to the governor for protection, but Berkeley refused to grant them aid. It is said that he was too deeply interested in the fur trade to be willing to offend the Indians by aiding his people. The colonists then demanded permission to defend themselves, to invade the Indian country, and drive the savages farther into the interior. This was also refused, and during all this time the frontier was suffering fearfully from the outrages of Berkeley's In- dian friends. A Patriotic Leader. At last the patience of the people was e.x- hausted. A leader was at hand in the person of Nathaniel Bacon. He was a young planter of the county of Henrico, a native of England, and a lawyer by profession. He was ardent in temper, eloquent and per- suasive in speech, winning in manner, a true patriot, and possessed of the firmness and decision necessary in a leader of a popular movement. He had been reared in England amid the struggles which ushered in the es- tablishment of the commonwealth, and had learned the lesson of freedom too well to forget it in a home where every incident of his daily life required the exercise of the best qualities of his nature. His love of repub- licanism had gained him the dislike of Governor Berkeley, who hated any man that dared to criticise his tyranny. The same principles which made him obnoxious to the governor won him the affectionate confidence of the people of Virginia, who were quick to recognize their true friend. When volunteers began to offer them- selves for the war against the Indians they petitioned the governor to commission Bacon their commander-in-chief This Berkeley refused, declaring that he would not counte- nance such presumption on the part of the " common people." In the meantime the murders continued, and Bacon, who shared the indignation of the people, determined that if another man was slain he would march the militia against the Indians without a commission. Almost immediately several of his own men were murdered on his own plantation near the falls of the James. He at once gave the signal. Five hundred men were soon under arms, and Bacon was made their leader. About the twentieth of April, 1676, he set out on his march against the savages, whom he chastised and drove back into the interior. The people were in arms, and they were not disposed to lay down their weapons until their grievances were redressed. The quarrel was not with the Indians, but with the government. As soon as Bacon had begun his march into the Indian country, Berkeley denounced him as a traitor, and his followers as rebels, and ordered them to disperse. He was obeyed by some who feared the loss of their property, but the populous counties bordering the bay answered him by joining the insurrection. The Assembly Dissolved. The people of the colony with one voice demanded the dissolution of the assembly, which had unlawfully maintained its exist- ence for fourteen years. Opposed by the entire people the governor was compelled to yield. The assembly had fairly earned the universal hatred with which it was regarded by its selfishness and its hostility to popular liberty. It was dissolved, and writs were issued for a new election. Among the new members elected was Bacon, who was re- turned from the county of Henrico. The new assembly was naturally favorable to the rights of the people, and it at once proceeded to rectify many of the abuses VIRGINIA AFTER THE RESTORATION. I OS which had produced the insurrection. Taxes were adjusted more equitably; the right of sutfi iji- was rcstoied to the pcoplt. , the ni u > ' ' fb 1 1 f 1 It m which it vestries was broken by hmiting their term of office to three years, and giving the election of th^se officnK to tht, fieemen of tlic parish, 1 j;mi I n > -.t\ vT^nif In Mi ul past was believed the governor was deeply inter- ested, was suspended ; many of the evils con- nected with the expenditure of the public funds were corrected ; the power of the parish offences; and Bacon, amid the rejoicings of the people, was elected commander of the army destined to act against the Indians. io6 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. These measures were utterly distasteful to the haught}' old governor. He refused to give them his sanction, or to sign the com- mission ordered for Bacon by the assembly. Fearful of treachery Bacon withdrew from the capital. The people quickly rallied to his support, and in a few days he entered Jamestown at the head of five hundred men. Berkeley, who was as courageous as he was obstinate, met him, and baring his breast said, haughtily, " A fair mark ; shoot ! " Bacon answered him calmly, " I will not hurt a hair of your head, or of any man's ; we are come for the commission to save our lives from the Indians." The governor was at length obliged to yield. The commission was issued, the acts of the assembly were ratified, and Berkeley joined the assembly and council in sending to England an in- dorsement of the loyalt}% patriotism, and energy of Bacon. This consent was given on the twenty-fourth of June, or, according to the new style of calculation, on the fourth of July, 1676, just one hundred years before the Declaration of Independence. Hunted Like a Wolf. Bacon at once marched against the In- dians, and in a brilliant and successful cam- paign broke their power, and gave peace and security to the frontier. In the midst of these honorable labors he was again assailed by Berkeley, who Lad only consented to the reconciliation to gain time. The governor withdrew from Jamestown to Gloucester, which was the most populous and the most loyal county of Virginia, He summoned a convention of the inhabitants, and renewed his efforts against Bacon. The people of Gloucester, justly regarding Bacon as the defender of the colony, opposed the gov- ernor's proposals, but he persisted in spite of their advice, and again proclaimed Bacon a traitor. This inexcusable pursuit of a man who had rendered nothing but good service to the colony aroused the indignation of the troops. " It vexes me to the heart," said Bacon, " that while I am hunting the wolves and tigers that destroy our lambs I should myself be pursued as a savage. Shall per- sons wholly devoted to their king and country — men hazarding their lives against the public enemy — deserve the appellation of rebels and traitors ? The whole country is witness to our peaceable behavior. But those in authority, how have they obtained their estates ? Have they not devoured the common treasury ? What arts, what sciences, what schools of learning, have they pro- moted ? I appeal to the king and Parlia- ment, where the cause of the people will be heard impartially." Bacon appealed to the people of Virginia to unite for the defence of their liberties against the tyranny of the governor. They responded to this call with enthusiasm, and a convention of the most eminent men in the colony assembled at Middle Plantations, now Williamsburg, on the third of August, 1676. It was resolved by the convention to sustain Bacon with the whole power of the colony in the campaign against the Indians. If the governor persisted in his attempt to hunt him as a traitor, the members of the convention pledged themselves to defend Bacon with arms, even against the royal troops, until an appeal could be made to the king in person. The people of Virginia were fully resolved to protect themselves against the tyranny of Berkeley, and Bacon, strengthened by their indorsement of his course, finished his cam- paign against the Indians. Governor Berke- ley withdrew across the bay to the eastern shore, and there collected a force of sailors belonging to some English vessels and a band of worthless Indians. With this force, " men of a base and cowardly disposition, VIRGINIA AFTER THE RESTORATION. 107 allured by the passion for plunder," he pre- pared to return to Jamestown. The people decided to regard the retreat of the governor as an abdication on his part of his office. The ten years for which he had been appointed had expired, and the colonial records afforded a precedent for his removal. Bacon and four others, who had been members of the council, issued writs for the election of a representative conven- tion to which the management of the affairs of the colony was to be committed. With the exception of a few royalists the whole people of Virginia indorsed the move- ment ; the women were enthusiastic, and urged their husbands to risk everything, even life, in defence of their liberties. Early in September Sir William Berkeley reached Jamestown with the rabble which he called his army. He took possession of the town without resistance, and was joined by a number of royalists. He offered freedom to the slaves of the Virginians who were opposed to him on the condition of their joining his ranks. Bacon and his party were again pro- claimed traitors and rebels. The People Fly to Arms. The people at once flew to arms, and Bacon soon found himself at the head of the little army that had been so successful against the Indians. Without delay they marched to Jamestown. The resistance attempted by Berkeley's cowardly followers was feeble, and the whole force, including their leader, retreated to their ships, and dropped down the river by night. The next morning the army of the people entered Jamestown. It was rumored that a party of royalists was marching from the northern counties to the support of Berkeley, and a council was held ^to decide upon the fate of the capital. It was agreed that it should be burned to pre- vent it from being used as a stronghold for their enemies. The torch was applied ; Drummond and Lawrence, leaders of the popular party, set fire to their dwellings with their own hands ; and in a few hours only a heap of smouldering ruins marked the site of the first capital of Virginia. Its destruction left the colony without a single town within its limits. From the ruins of Jamestown Bacon marched promptly to meet the royalist force advancing from the Rappahannock region. The latter in a body joined the army of the people, and even the county of Gloucester, the stronghold of royalty, gave its adhesion to the patriotic movement. With the excep- tion of the eastern shore the entire colony was united in support of the cause of popular liberty. Untimely Death of Bacon. Unhappily, at this critical juncture, Bacon was seized with a fatal fever, of which he died on the first of October, 1676. His followers grieved for him with passionate sorrow, and with good cause. It has been the good fortune of Virginia to give many great names to the cause of liberty, but in all the immortal roll there are none who sur- passed Nathaniel Bacon in pure and disin- terested patriotism. Others were permitted to accomplish more, but none cherished loftier aims or desired more earnestly the good of their fellow-citizens. The death of Bacon left the popular party without a head ; and now began to be seen for the first time in Virginia the evils which the neglect of education must produce in a community. The Virginians were not lack- ing in courage, determination, or devotion to their liberties, and their cause was one cal- culated to succeed without leaders. In an educated community there would have been no lack of union or perseverance because of the death of one man, and the people would loS SETTLICMENT OF AMERICA. have found the means to continue their struggle until successful. In the uneducated Virginian community of 1676 the presence of a bold, capable, and resolute leader was a necessity, and his sudden removal left the popular party helpless. The grand struggle degenerated into a series of petty insurrec- lons ; the royalists took heart, and Robert Beverley, their most competent leader, was able to destroy in detail the resistance of the patriots and to restore the supremacy of Berkeley. A Woman's Self-Sacrifice. The governor now proceeded to take a summary vengeance upon the patriots, and more than twenty of the best men of the colony gave their lives on the scaffold for ihe liberties of their country. The first of these martyrs for freedom — the first Ameri- can to die for the right of the people to govern themselves — was Thomas Hansford, a Vir- ginian born, and a noble specimen of the chivalrous sons of the Old Dominion. The wife of Edmund jChcesman, upon the capture of her husband, flung herself at the governor's feet, and declaring that her ex- hortations had induced her husband to join Bacon, begged to be allowed to die in his place. The brutal Berkeley repelled the heroic woman with a gross insult. When Drummond was taken and brought before him the governor received him with mock courtesy. " I am more glad to see you," he said, "than any man in Virginia; you shall be hanged in half an hour." The royalist assembly, horrified at the cruelty of the gov- •■rnor, appealed to him to " spill no more blood." The property of the victims was confiscated, and their helpless families were turned out upon the charities of the people for whom the martyrs had died. Not con- tent with these cruelties Berkeley attempted to silence the people, and prevent them from either censuring him or vindicating the memory of their dead heroes. Whoever should speak ill of Berkeley or his friends was to be whipped. At last the end came, and Berkeley re- turned to England. His departure was celebrated with rejoicings throughout the colony; bells were rung, guns were fired, and bonfires blazed. Berkeley hoped to be able to justify his conduct in England, but upon his arrival in that country he found his course sternly condemned by the voice of public opinion. Even Charles II. censured him with all the energy that soulless monarch was master of " The old fool," said the king, "has taken away more lives in that- naked land than I for the murder of my father." His disappointment and mortifica- tion were too much for the proud man, and he died soon after his arrival in England. Revival of Abuses. The failure of Bacon's rebellion brought many serious misfortunes to Virginia. The insurrection was made the excuse by the king for refusing a liberal charter, and the colony was made dependent for its rights and privileges entirely upon the royal will. The assembly was composed almost ex- clusively of royalists, and at once proceeded to undo the work of the popular party. All the laws of Bacon's assembly were repealed; the right of suffrage was restricted to free- holders, and the iniquitous taxes were re- imposed. All the abuses that had led to the rebellion were revived. In 1677 Lord Culpepper, one of the favor- ites to whom Charles II. had granted Vir- ginia, was appointed governor of the colony for life. The new governor regarded his office as a sinecure, and while receiving its emoluments desired to remain in England to enjoy them. In 16S0, however, the king compelh d him to rciiair to his eovernment VIRGINIA AFTER THE RESTORATION. 109. in person. He brought with him authority I from the sovereign to settle all past griev- ances, but he used this power for his own profit. He extorted money from all parties, and when he had acquired a considerable sum returned to England, having spent less than a year in Virginia. He left the colony in the greatest distress. The Virginians, robbed of the profits of their labors for the enrichment of their rulers, were reduced to despair. Riots took place in various places, - and the whole colony was on the verge of insurrection. A Plunderer. Rumors of these disturbances having reached England the king ordered Culpepper to return and reduce the colony to obedience. He did so, and caused several influential men to be hanged as traitors, and used the power intrusted to him to wrest from the council the last remnant of its authority to control his outrages upon the people. This accom- plished, he proceeded to force the settlers of the Northern Neck to surrender their planta- 1 tions to him, or pay him the sums he de- manded for the privilege of retaining them. He found his residence among a people he had come to plunder very disagreeable, and in the course of a few months returned to England amid the bitter curses of the Vir- ginians. The council reported the distress of the province to the king, and appealed to him to recall the grant to Culpepper and Arlington. Arlington surrendered his rights to Culpepper, whose patent was rendered void by a process of law, and in July, 1684, Virginia became once more a royal province. Lord Howard, of Effingham, was appointed to succeed Culpepper, but he was a poorer and more grasping man than his predecessor, and the change afforded no relief to Virginia. In 1685 James II. came to the throne of England, and in the same year occurred the insurrection in England known as Mon- mouth's rebellion. A number of prisoners were taken in this struggle by the royal forces, and many of these were sent out to the colonies of Virginia and Maryland to be sold as servants for a term of ten years. Many of them were men of education and family. The general assembly of Virgin!;; refused to sanction this infamous measure, and, in spite of the prohibition of King James, passed a law declaring all such per- sons free. Indeed at this time the practice of selling white servants in America had be- come so profitable that quite a thriving business was carried on between the west of England and Virginia and Maryland. Not only persons condemned for crime, but innocent people were kidnapped and sold in the colonies for a term of years for money. " At Bristol," says Bancroft, " the mayor and justices would intimidate small rogues and pilferers, who, under the terror of being hanged, prayed for transportation as the only avenue to safety, and were then divided among the members of the court. The trade was exceedingly profitable — far more so than the slave trade — and had been conducted for years." Uprising for Freedom. One of the last acts of Charles II. with reference to Virginia was to forbid the set- ting up of a printing press within the limits of the colony; James II. continued this pro- hibition. Effingham endeavored to take from the colony the few privileges left to it. The result was that the party of freedom increased rapidly. Many of the aristocratic party seeing that the king and the governor menaced every right and privilege they pos- sessed went over to the popular side. The assembly began to assert the popular demand for self-government, and became so unman- ageable that in November, 16S6, it was dis- solved by royal proclamation. A new assembly was convened, which met in April, 1688, a few months before the British revolution. The governor and coun- cil found this body more indisposed to submit to the aggressions of the crown than its pre- decessor had been. The people sustained their delegates, and a new insurrection was areatened. Eiifingham was in the midst of a hostile population, without troops to enforce his will, and was obliged to conduct himself with moderation. The royal authority was never stronger in Virginia than during this reign, but it was found impossible to establish it upon the ruins of the liberties of the colony. The result of all the long years of oppression we have been considering was simply to confirm the Virginians in their -attachment to their liberties, and in their determination to rhaintain them at any cost. Virginia remained to the end an aristocratic colony, but it was none the less " a land of liberty." Founding a College. I The revolution of 1688 in England did not change affairs in Virginia materially as regarded the forms of the colonial govern- ment. The liberties of the colony were established by law too securely to be any longer at the mercy of an individual, but the power of the governor was still very great. Every department of the colonial administra- tion, the finances, and even the management of the church, was made subject to his con- trol. He had the power to dissolve the assembly at pleasure, and was sure to exer- cise it if that body manifested too great a spirit of independence. He also appointed he clerk of the assembly, who was for this SETTLExMEN'T OE AMERICA. reason a check upon its freedom of debate. The only means of resistance to the meas- ures of the government which the assembly retained was to refuse to vote supplies in e.Kcess of the permanent revenue. This right was sometimes exercised, and the governor was prevented from carrying out unpopular measures by the lack of the necessary funds. Soon after the accession of William and Mary to the throne an effort was made to establish a college in Virginia, although the printing press was still forbidden. Donations were made by a number of persons in England, and the king bestowed several liberal grants upon the proposed institution. The measure was carried through to success by the energy of the Rev. James Blair, who was sent out by the Bishop of London as commissary, " to supply the office and juris- diction of the bishop in the outplaces of the diocese." The college was established in 1691, and was named William and Mary, in honor of the king and queen. Mr. Blair was its first president, and held that office for fifty years. The ministry did not approve the action of the king in granting even the very moderate endowments which he bestowed upon the college. They regarded Virginia merely as a place in which to raise tobacco for the English market, and cared nothing for the interests of the people. They treated the colony with injustice and neglect in every- thing. The planters could sell their tobacco only to an English purchaser, who regulated the price to suit himself, and supplied the planters in return with the wares they needed at his own prices. CHAPTER IX The Colonization of Maryland item of the Territory^ of Virginia — Claybome's Trading Posts Establisiied — Sir George Calvert, Lord Baltimore- -Be^ conies Interested in American Colo[iization — Obtains a Grant of Marj-land — Terms of the Charter — A Colony Sent Out — Arrival in the Chesapeake — St. Mary's Founded — Character of the Colony — Friendly Relations Established with the Indians — First Legislature of Maryland — Trouble with Claybome — Rapid Growth of tlie Colony — Progress ot Popular Liberty — Policy Respecting the Treatment of the Indians — Claybome's Rebellion — Law Granting Religious Toleration Enacted — Condition of Maryland Under the Commonwealth — The People Declared Supreme— Lord Baltimore Recovers His Proprietary Rights — Characteristics of the Colony — Rapid Increase in Population — Charles Calvert, Governor — Death of the Second Lord Baltimore — Roman Catholics Disfranchised — Maryland Becomes a Royal Province — Triumph of the Protestants — Annapolis Made the Seat of Government — Restoration of the Proprietary Government — Continued Prosperity of Mar)-land. THE second charter of Virginia j granted to that province the country j north of the Potomac as far as the | headwaters of the Chesapeake Bay. This grant included the territory of the present State of Maryland. The discoveries of Captain John Smith had brought the region along the head of the bay into notice, and other explorers had confirmed his state- ments as to its value. A very profitable trade was established with the Indians of this section, and, in order to develop its advantages, William Clayborne, a man of great resolution and of no fnean abilities, a surveyor by profession, was employed by the Governor of Virginia to explore the region of the upper Chesapeake. His report was so favorable that a company was formed in England for the purpose of trading with the Indians. Under authority from this company, Clayborne obtained a license from the colonial government of Virginia, and established two trading stations on the bay ; one on Kent Island, opposite the present city of Annapolis, and one at the mouth of the Susquehanna. These posts were established in the spring of 163 1. In the meantime efforts were being made in England to secure the settlement of the same region. Sir George Calvert, a man ot noble character, liberal educati'-fourth of February, 1634. The ships anchored off Old Point Comfort, and were visited by Sir John Harvey, Governor of Vir- ginia, who had been commanded by the king to welcome the new colony with kindness. Resting in Hampton roads for a few days the emigrants ascended the bay and entered the stately Potomac. Deeming it unsafe to plant his first settle- ment high up the river, Calvert chose a site on a small tributary of the Potomac, not far from its mouth. This stream, now known as the St. Mary's, he named the St. George's. An Indian village, called Yoacomoco, was selected as the site of the colony. The place was being deserted bj the natives, who had suffered severeTy from the superior power of the Susequehannahs, and were removing farther into the interior for greater security. They readily sold their town and the surround- ing lands to the English, and made with them a treaty of peace and friendship ; and on the twenty- seventh of March, 1634, the col- onists landed and laid the founda- tions of the town of St. Mary's. A few days later. Sir John Harvey arrived from Virginia on a friendly visit. His orders from the king were to treat the settlers with friendship, and to aid them as far as lay in his power. About the same time the native chiefs came in to visit the colony, and were so well received that they established friendly CECIL, .'SECOND LORD E.ALTIMORE. work at once and with energy to cultivate their land, the first year's harvest gave them an abundance of supplies. The proprietor sent out from England such things as were necessary to the success and comfort of the colony, treating the new settlement with a wise liberalitv. Thus were H4 the foundations of Maryland laid amid peace and prosperity. The colony was successful from the first. Roman Catholic settlers fol- lowed the first emigrants in considerable numbers, and even Protestants sought the shores of Maryland, which the liberality of Lord Baltimore had made a refuge to them from the persecutions of their own brethren. New settlements were formed, and within six months the colony " had advanced more than Virginia had done in as many years." Piracy and Murder. In February, 1635, the first legislative assembly of Maryland met. Legislation had become necessary by this time. Clay- borne, who had established trading posts in the upper Chesapeake, had met the first set- tlers under Leonard Calvert at their anchor- age at Old Point Comfort, and had endeav- ored to dissuade them from settling along the bay by exaggerating the dangers to be apprehended from the hostility of the Li- dians. Failing in this effort, he became the evil genius of Maryland, as the grant to Lord Baltimore made void his license to trade with the Indians along the bay. He re- fused to acknowledge the authority of the proprietor of Marj-land, and attempted to retain his trading post by firce of arms. Within a year or two after the settlement of the colony, a bloody skirmish occurred in one of the rivers of the eastern shore, in which Clayborne's men were defeated. In 1638, Leonard Calvert took forcible posses- sion of Kent Island, and hanged one or two of Clayborne's people on a charge of piracy and murder. Clayborne was in England at the time prosecuting his claims before the king. Governor Harvey of Virginia had given the weight of his influence in this contest to the cause of Lord Baltimore, but the people of Virginia, who resented the grant of Maryland as an invasion of their SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. rights, sympathized with Clayborne, and caused Harvey to be impeached and sent to England for trial. The English courts de- cided that Clayborne's license was not valid against the charter granted to Lord Balti- more, and Harvey was sent back to Virginia as governor in April, 1639. In the meantime the colony continued to grow and prosper. The assembly, while acknowledging the allegiance of the people of Maryland to the king, and making ample provisions for the rights of Lord Baltimore as proprietor, took care to secure the liberties of the people, and claimed for itself the exercise in the province of all the powers belonging to the British House of ' Commons. Representative government was definitely established, and the colonists were secured in all the liberties granted to the people of England by the common law of that country. Tobacco became, as in Vir- ginia, the staple of the colony. Maryland Contented. In 1642, in gratitude for the great ex- pense which Lord Baltimore had volun- tarily incurred for them, the people of Maryland granted him " such a subsidy as the young and poor estate of the colony could bear." As far as the people themselves were concerned, the condition of Maryland was one of marked happiness and content- ment. Harmony prevailed between all classes of the people and the government ; the settlers were blessed with complete toler- ation in religion ; emigration was rapidly increasing, and the commerce of the colony was growing in extent and value. Maryland had its troubles, however. The Indians, alarmed by its rapid growth, began in 1642 a series of aggressions which led to a frontier war. This struggle continued for some time, but was productive of no decisive results, and in 1644 peace was restored. The THE COLONIZATION OF MARYLAND. Indians promised submission, and the whites, on their part, agreed to treat them with friendship and justice. Laws were enacted compelling the settlers to refrain from in- justice toward the savages, and humanity to the red man was made the policy of he colony. The kidnapping of an Indian was punish- able with death, and the sale of arms to the savages was constituted a felony. Efforts were also made to convert the natives to Christianity. Four missions were established among them by the priests of the Catholic church, and the effects of their devoted la- bors were soon manifest. A chief, named Tayac, and his wife were baptized, he tak- ing the name of Charles and she that of Mary. About one hundred and thirty other converts were afterwards added to the Chris- tian fold among the Indians, and many of these sent their children to receive instruction at the hands of the priests. Though the ef- fort to Christianize the savages failed, as it has ever done, the good effects of these en- deavors were not lost, as the friendship for the whites aroused by them continued to influence these tribes in their policy toward the colony, Clayborne's Rebellion. Clayborne, who had certainly cause for thinking himself wronged in being deprived of his property without just compensation, returned to Maryland to revenge himself upon the colonists. The civil war in Eng- land furnished him with an admirable oppor- tunity for his attempt. He was able to se- cure a number of followers in Maryland, and in 1644 began an insurrection. The next year the governor was driven out of the col- ony and obliged to take refuge in Virginia, and Clayborne was triumphant. For more than a year the rebels held possession of the government, and this whole time was a period of disorder and misrule, during which the greater part of the colonial records were lost or stolen. At the end of this time, the better classes of the people of Mar>-land drove out the rebels, and recalled the pro- prietary government. A general amnesty was proclaimed to all offenders, and peace was restored to the colony. The year 1649 was marked in England by the execution of Charles I., and the complete yl'^ N4 r * /. A CIVILIZED INDIAN. establishment of the authority of the Parlia- ment. It seemed to the people of Maryland that this triumph of the popular party was to usher in a new war upon the Roman Catholic faith, which was professed by a large major- ity of the colonists. Dreading a war of religion as the greatest of evils, they deter- mined to secure the colony from it, by pla- cing the freedom of conscience within their limits upon as secure a basis as possible. In doing this they gave expression to the popular will, and aimed to secure their future welfare. On the twenty-first of April, 1 649, the. assembly of Maryland adopted the followinif SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. act: "And, whereas, the enforcing of con- science in matters of reh'gion hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous consequence in those commonwealths where it has been practiced, and for the more quiet and peace- Christ, shall be anyways troubled, molested,, or discountenanced for his or her religion, or in the free exercise thereof, or be compelled to the belief or practice of any other religion ag-ainst their consent." OLIVER CROMWELL. ' able government of this province, and the better to preserve mutual love and amity among the inhabitants, no person within this province, professing to believe in Jesus This statute, noble as it was, applied only to Christians. It was provided that " What- soever person shall blaspheme God, or shall deny or reproach the Holy Trinity, or any THE COLONIZATION OF MARYLAND. ■of the three persons thereof, shall be pun- ished with death." Marj-Iand had taken a great stride in advance in making her soil a sanctuary for Christians of all beliefs, but she had not yet accorded to her people a tolera- tion equal to that of Rhode Island, which colony, in 1647, granted liberty to all opinions, infidel as well as Christian. Cromwell's Blunt Order. During the existence of the common- wealth, the colony was troubled with an unsettled government. It submitted to the authority of Cromwell, and the Puritans, regardless of the example of their brethren of the Catholic faith, attempted by an act of assembly, in 1654, to disfranchise the whole Roman Catholic population on the ground of their religious belief Cromwell disap- proved this action, and bluntly ordered his commissioners " not to busy themselves about religion, but to settle the civil govern- ment." In 1660, without waiting to hear the issue of matters in England, the assembly repudiated the authority of both the com- monwealth and the proprietor, and asserted the sovereignty of the people as the supreme authority in Maryland. Upon the restoration of Charles II., Lord Baltimore made his peace with the king for having yielded to the power of Cromwell, and received back all the rights he had enjoyed in Maryland. He at once proceeded to re-establish his authority in the province, but being a man of humanity and of liberal views, he made a generous use of his power. A general pardon was grantee' ^o all offenders against him, his rule \v, jnce nore submitted to, and for thirty years the colony was at peace. " Like Virginia, Maryland was a colony of planters ; its staple was tobacco, and its prosperity was equally checked by the pressure of the navigation acts. Like Virginia, it possessed no considerable village ; its inhabitants were scattered among the woods and along the rivers ; each plantation was a little world within itself, and legislation vainly attempted the creation of towns by statute. Like Virginia, its laborers were in part indentured servants, whose term of service was limited bypersevering legiskition; in part negro slaves, who were employed in the colony from an early period, and whose importation was favored both by English cupidity and provincial statutes." " As in Virginia, the appointing power to nearly every office in the counties as well as in the province was not with the people ; and the judiciary was placed beyond their control. As in Virginia, the party of the proprietary, which possessed the government, was animated by a jealous regard for preroga- tive, and by the royalist principles, which derive the sanction of authority from the will of Heaven. As in Virginia, the taxes levied by the county officers were not conceded by the direrl vote of the people, and were, therefore, burdensome alike from their excessive amount and the manner of their levy. But though the administration of Maryland did not favor the increasing spirit of popular liberty, it was marked by con- ciliation and humanity. To foster industry, to promote union, to cherish religious peace, ****** these were the honest pur- poses of Lord Baltimore during his long supremacy." * Arrival of Immigrants. Yet the colony continued to prosper. Emigrants came to it from almost every country of western Europe, and even from Sweden and Finland. The only persons who had cause for complaint in Maryland were the Quakers, who were treated with * History of the United States. By George Bancroft, P- 2jS- Ii8 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. considerable harshness for their refusal to perform military dut}- ; but no effort was made to interfere with the exercise of their religion. In 1662, Charles Calvert, the son and heir of Lord Baltimore, came to reside in the thousand dollars. By numerous acts of compromise between Lord Baltimore and the assembly the question of taxation was ad- justed upon a satisfactory basis. The people assumed the expense of the provincial gov- ernment, and agreed to the imposition of ar WILLIAM III colony. Money was coined at a colonial mint, a tonnage duty was imposed upon all vessels trading with the colony, and a state hou.se was built in 1674, at a cost of forty thousand pounds of tobacco, or about five export duty of two shillings per hogsheaa upon all the tobacco sent out of the colony. One-half of this duty was appropriated to the support of the government, and the re- mainder was assigned unconditionally to the THE COLONIZATION OF MARYLAND rati- [I9 uses of Lord Baltimore, as " an act of _ tude " for his care of the colony. On the thirtieth of November, 1675, Cecil Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, died. He had been for fourteen years the earnest and devoted friend, as well as the generous lord of the province, and had lived long enough to enjoy the gratitude with which the colony sought to repay his judicious care. His memory is perpetuated by the chief city of Maryland, which bears his name, and which is already the largest city on the Atlantic coast, south of the Susequehanna, and the seventh in population in the United States. Charles Calvert, who had been for fourteen years governor of Maryland, succeeded to his father's titles and possessions, and in 1676 returned to England. Previous to his de- parture from Maryland he gave his sanction to the colonial code of laws, which had been thoroughly revised. One of these- laws pro- hibited the "importation of convicted per- sons" into the colony without regard to the will of the king or Parliament of England. Roman Catholics Disfranchised. Notwithstanding the mild and equitable government of the third Lord Baltimore, the spirit of popular liberty was becoming too strong in the colony for the rule of the proprietor to be cheerfully acquiesced in much longer. The rebellion of Bacon in Virginia affected the Maryland colony pro- foundly, and when Lord Baltimore returned to the province in 168 1, he found a large part of the people hostile to him. An at- tempt at insurrection was suppressed, but the seeds of trouble were too deeply sown not to spring up again. The increase of the population had left the Roman Catholics in a small minority, so ihat Maryland was now to all intents and purposes a Protestant colony. During the latter part of the reign of Charles II. the Protestants, regardless of the wise policy of toleration which had hitherto marked the history of the province, endeavored to secure the establishment by law of the Church of England in Maryland. Lord Baltimore steadfastly resisted this unwise course, and maintained the freedom of conscience as the right of the people. He thus added to the existing opposition to his proprietary rule the hostility of the Protestant bigots. A little later, the English ministry struck the first blow at his proprietary rights and at the religious freedom of Maryland by ordering that all the offices of the colonial govern- ment should be bestowed upon Protestants alone. " Roman Catholics were disfranchised in the province which they had planted." An Insurrection. Lord Baltimore hoped that the succession of James II., a Catholic sovereign, would restore him the rights of which he had been deprived in his province ; but he was soon undeceived, for the king, who intended to bring all the American colonies directly under the control of the crown, would make no exception in favor of Maryland, and measures were put in force for the abolition of the proprietary government. The revolu- tion which placed William and Mary on the throne prevented the execution of these plans. The troubles of Lord Baltimore were in- creased by the failure of the deputy-governor, whom he had left in Maryland, to acknowl- edge William and Mary promptly. In August, 1689, occurred an insurrection led by " The association in arms for the defence of the Protestant religion." The deputy- governor was driven from office, the pro- prietary government was overturned, and William and Mary were proclaimed sov- ereigns of Maryland. The party in power appealed to the king to annul the proprietary SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. charter, and governed the colony by means of a convention until the royal pleasure should be known. Lord Baltimore endeav- ored to defend his rights in spite of his struggles, William III., in June, 1691, annulled the charter of Maryland, and by the exercise of his own power constituted that colony a royal province. I In 1692, the king appointed .Sir Lionel Copley Governor of Maryland. Upon his arrival in the colony he dissolved the con- vention and assumed the government. He at once summoned an assembly, which, recognizing William and Mary as the lawful sovereigns of Maryland, established the Church of England as the religion of the colony, and imposed taxes for its support. The capital was removed from St. !\Iary's to Annapolis, both because the old seat of gov- ernment had become inconvenient and because it was desired to remove the govern- ment to the centre ot Protestant influence. The disfranchisement of the Catholics ad- vanced step by step. At first the dissenters from' the established church were granted toleration and protection, but in 1704 the triumph of bigotry was complete. All the dissenting bodies were tolerated, but Roman Catholics were forbidden the exercise of their faith. Mass was not allowed to be said in public, nor was any bishop or clergyman of the Roman Catholic church to be permitted to seek to make converts for his faith. Other severe measures were enacted, and in the land which Catholics had settled, the members of that communion alone were de- nied the rights which in the day of their power they had offered to others. Nor di' newal of the danger of famine. When the labors of the harvest were over Governor Bradford sent out men to collect game, in order that the people might enjoy a thanks- giving feast. On the appointed day the people " met together and thanked God with all their hearts for the good world and the good things in it." Thus was established the custom of an annual thanksgiving to God for the blessings of the year, which though at first a celebration peculiar to New England has at length become a national festival. Each Settler a Land Owner. The colonists themselves were satisfied with the progress they had made, but their merchant partners in England were greatly displeased with the smallness of the profits they had received from their investments, and in many ways made the colony feel their dissatisfaction. Robinson and his congrega- tion at Leyden were anxious to join their friends in America, but the merchant partners refused to send them across the Atlantic, and not content with this endeavored to force upon the Plymouth people a pastor friendly to the Church of England. They soon got rid of this individual, however, whose con- duct quickly enabled them to expel him from Plymouth as an evil liver. The merchants also sent a vessel to New England to oppose the colonists in the fur trade ; and demanded exorbitant prices for the goods they sold the settlers, charging them the enormous profit of seventy per cent. It was not possible, however, to destroy the results of the industry and self-denial of the Pilgrims. Seeing that their association with their English partners would continue to operate merely as a drag upon the advance ;iderable sacrifice, to purchase the entire interest of their partners. The stock and the land of the colony were then divided equitably among the settlers, and the share of each man became his own private prop- erty. Each settler was thus made the owner of a piece of land which it was to his in- terest to improve to the highest degree pos- sible. Freed from the burdens under which it had labored for so long, the colony began to increase in prosperity and in population. The government of the Pilgrims was sim- ple, but effective. They had no charter, and were from the first driven upon their own resources. They had a governor who was chosen by the votes of all the settlers. In 1624 a council of five was given him, and in 1633 this number was increased to seven. The council assisted the governor in the ex- ercise of his duties, and imposed a check upon his authority, as in its meetings he had merely a double vote. The whole number of male settlers for eighteen years constituted the legislative body. They met at stated times, and enacted such laws as were neces- sary for the welfare of the colony. The people were frequently convened by the gov- ernor, in the earlier years of the settlement, to aid him with their advice upon difficult questions brought before them. When the colony increased in population, and a number of towns were included within its limits, each town sent representatives to a general court at Plymouth. If the colony grew slowly, it grew steadily, and at length the Pilgrims had their reward in seeing their little settlement expand into a flourishing province, in which the principles of civil freedom were cherished, religion honored, and industry and economy made the basis of the wealth of the little state. CHAPTER XI Settlement of Massachusetts and Rhode Island gettlement of New Hampshire— The English Puritans Determine to Form a New Colony in America— The Plymoutfc Council— A Colony Sent Out to Salem under Endicott— Colonization of Massachusetts Bay Begun— A Charter Obtained —Concessions of tlie King— Progress of the Salem Colony— The Charter and Government of the Colony Removed to New England— Arrival of Governor Winlhrop— Settlement of Boston— Sufferings of the Colonists— Roger Williams —His Opinions Give Offence to the Authorities— The Success of the Bay Colony Established— Growth of Popular Liberty— The Ballot Box— Banishment of Roger Williams— He Goes into the Wilderness— Founds Providence- Growth of Williams' Colony— Continued Growth ofMassachusetts— Arrival of Sir Henry Vane— Is Elected Governor Mrs. Anne Hutchinson — The Antinomian Controversy — Mrs. Hutchinson Banished — Settlement of Rhode Island — Murder of Mrs. Hutchinson. THE success of the Pilgrims in es- tablishing the Plymouth colony aroused a feeling of deep interest in England, and some of those who had watched the effort were encouraged to attempt ventures of their own. Sir Ferdi- nand Gorges, who had taken a deep interest in the schemes to settle the new world, and John Mason, the secretary of the council of Plymouth, obtained a patent for the region called Laconia, which comprised the whole country between the sea, the St. Lawrence, the Merrimac and the Kennebec, and now embraced partly in Maine and partly in New Hampshire. A company of English mer- chants was formed, and in 1623 permanent colonies were established at Portsmouth, Dover and one or two other places near the mouth cf the Piscataqtia. These were small, feeble settlements, and were more trading- posts than towns. For many years their growth was slow, and it was not until other parts of New England were well peopled and advanced far beyond their early trials that they began to show signs of prosperity. In 1653, thirty years after its settlement, Portsmouth con- tained only "between fifty and si.xty families." The settlers of these towns were not all 13S Puritans, and their colonies had not the re- ligious character of those of the rest of New England. In 1641, they were annexed at their own request to the province of Massa- chusetts, the general court having agreed not to require the freemen and deputies to be church members. In the meantime the news of the successful planting of Plymouth was producing other and more important results in England. The persecutions of the Non-conformists, which marked the entire reign of James I., were continued through that of his son and successor, Charles I. The Puritans, sorely distressed by the tyranny to which they were subjected, listened with eagerness to the ac- counts of America which were sent over by the members of the Plymouth colony, and published from time to time in England. The descriptions of the Pilgrims were not exaggerated. They did not promise either fame or sudden wealth to settlers in their province, but clearly set forth the cares and labors which were to be the price of success in America. They dwelt with especial emphasis, how- ever, upon that which was in their eyes the chief reward of all their toil and suffering — the ability to exercise their religion without SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND. 139 restraint. Their brethren in England heard their accounts with a longing to be with them to enjoy the freedom with which they were blessed, and it was not long before a number of English Non-conformists began to concert measures for making New Eng- land a place of refuge for the persecuted members of their faith. The leading spirit in these enterprises was the Rev. !Mr. White, a minister of Dorsetshire, a Puritan, but not a Separatist. Re- garding the vicinity of the present town of Salem as the most suitable place for colonization, he exerted himself with energy to se- cure it for his brethren. In the meantime the Plymouth Company had ceased to exist, and its place had been taken by the council of Plymouth. That body cared for New England only as a source of profit, and sold the ter- ritory of that region to a number of purchasers, assigning the same district to different people, and thus paving the way for vexa- tious litigation. In 1628, it sold to a company of gentlemen of Dorchester, which White's energy had succeeded in bringing into existence, a district extending from three miles south of Massachusetts Bay to three miles north of the Merrimac River. As was usual in all grants of the day, the Pacific was made the western boundary of this region. This company was at once prepared to send out a colony, and in the early summer of that year one hundred persons under John Endicott, as governor, were despatched to New England. Endicott took his family with him, and in September, 1628, reached New England, and established the settlement of Salem, the site of which was already occ-- pied by a few men whom White had place there to hold it. Endicott, who was a mail JOHN ENDICOTT. of undaunted courage and acknowledged in- tegrity of character, soon established his authority over the few settlements that had sprung up along the shores of the bay. At this time the site of Charlestown was occupied by an Englishman named Thomas Walford, a blacksmith, who had fortified his cabin with a palisade. The only dweller on the [40 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. tri-mountain peninsula of Shawmut was the Rev. William Blackstone, a clergyman of the Church of England; the island now known as East Boston was occupied by Samuel Maverick. At Nantasket and a few places farther south some Englishmen had located tliemselves, and lived by fishing and trading lii skins : and on the site of Quincy was the wreck of a colony which had nearly perished in consequence of its evils ways. These, with the settlement at Salem, constituted the colony of Massachusetts Bay. Arrivals at Salem. Soon after the departure of Endicott's colony from England, the company, acting upon the advice of their counsel, obtained from the king a confiaiation of their grant. In March, 1629, the king granted to the colony of Massachusetts Bay a charter uiuier which it conducted its affairs for more t 'lan fifty years. By the terms of this charter t ae governor was to be elected by the free- men for the term of one year, provision was made for the assembling at stated times of a 1,'encral court, which was to have the power to make ail the needed laws for the colony, and it was not necessary that these laws should receive the royal signature in order to be \alid. This was conceding practical inde- pendence to the colony. In the spring of 1629, a second company of emigrants sailed from England for Massa- chusetts. They were, like the first, all Puri- tans, and took with them, as their minister, the Rev. Francis Higginson, formerly of Jesus College, Cambridge, a man of learn- ing and deep piety. The colonists were •nstructed to do no violence to the Indians. " If any of the salvages," so read the com- pany's orders, " pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, endeavor to purchase their tytle, that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion." Six shipwrights were sent over for the use of the colony, an experienced engineer to lay out a fortified town, and a master gun- ner, who was to teach the men of the colony the use of arms and military exercises. Cattle and horses and goats were sent out also. The voyage was prosperous, and the new settlers reached Salem about the last of June. They found the settlement in a feeble con- dition, and greatly in need of their assistance. The old and the new colonists numbered about three hundred. The majority of these remained at Salem, and the rest were sent by Endicott to establish a colony at Charles- town, in order to secure that place from occupation by the partisans of Sir Ferdi- nand Gorges, who claimed the region. The emigrants were scrupulous to acquire from the Indians the right to the lands they occu- pied. The twelfth of July was observed as a day of fasting and prayer "for the choice of a pastor and teacher at Salem." No one advanced any claim founded on his ordination in England ; personal fitness was the only qualification recognized by the Puritans. Samuel Skelton was chosen oastor, and Francis Higginson teacher. The Brownes Cast Out. Three or four of the gravest members of the church laid their hands upon the heads of these men, with prayer, and solemn- ly appointed them to their respective offices. "Thus the church, like that of Plymouth, was self-constituted, on the principle of the independence of each religious community. It did not ask the assent of the king, or recognize him as its head; its officers were set apart and ordained among themselves; it used no liturgy ; it rejected unnecessary ceremonies, and reduced the simplicity of Calvin to a still plainer standard. The motives which controlled its decisions were SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND. 141 so deeply seated that its practices were repeated spontaneously by Puritan New England." An opposition to the organiza- tion of the church was attempted by a party led by John and Samuel Browne, men of ability ; but this was treated as a mutiny and put down, and the Brownes were sent back to England. The charter of Massachusetts, though it made liberal concessions to the colony, contained no provision for the rights of the people, who were left at the mercy of the company. For the proper government of the colony, it was necessary to re- move the charter to Massachusetts, and such a removal was advisable on another ground. The charter contained no guar- antee for the reglious freedom of the co- lony, and the king might at any moment seek to interfere with this, the most pre- cious right of the Puritans. The only way to escape the evils which the com- pany had reason to dread was for the governing council to change its place of meeting from England to Massachu- setts, which the provisions of the charter gave it authority to do. An Independent Colony. On the twenty-sixth of August, 1629, John Winthrop, Isaac Johnson, Thomas Dudley, Richard Saltonstall and eight others, men of fortune and education, met at Cambridge and bound them- selves by a solemn agreement to settle in New England if the whole government of the colony, together with the patent, should be legally transferred to that region before the end of September. On the twenty- ninth of the month, the court took the de- cisive step and ordered that " the govern- ment and patent should be settled iii New England." This was a bold step, but its legality was not contested by any one, and it made the government of the colony independ- ent of control by any power in England. The officers of the colony were to be a governor and eighteen assistants. On the twentieth of October, a meeting of the court was held to choose them, and John Winthrop was elected governor for one year. It was a fortunate selection, for Winthrop proved himself for many years the very mainstay of the colony, sustaining his companions by his. calm courage, and setting them a noble ex- JOHN WINTHROP. ample in his patience, his quiet heroism and his devotion to the welfare of others. He seemed to find his greatest pleasure in doing good, and his liberality acted as a check upon the bigotry of his associates and kept them in paths of greater moderation. Efforts were made to send over new settlers to Massachusetts, and about a thousand emigrants, with cattle, horses and go. its, were transported thither in the season of 1630.. 142 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. Early in April, Governor Winthrop and about seven hundred emigrants sailed from England in a fleet of eleven ships. Many of them were " men of high endowments and large fortune; scholars, well versed in the learning of the times ; clergymen who ranked among the best educated and most pious in the realm." Death Among the Settlers. They reached Salem on the twelfth of June, after a vo}-age of sixty-one days, and were gladly welcomed by the settlers, whom they found In great distress from sickness and a scarcity of provisions. About eighty had died during the winter, and many were sick. There was scarcely a fortnight's sup- ply of food in the settlement, and it was nec- essary to send one of the ships back to Eng- land at once for a supply of provisions. Salem did not please the new-comers, and settlements were made at Lynn, Charles- town, Newtown, Dorchester, Roxbury, Mai- den and Watertown. The governor and a large part of the emigrants settled first at Charlestown.but at length, in order to obtain better water, crossed over and occupied the little tri-mountain peninsula of Shawmut. To this settlement was gi\en the name of Boston, in honor of the town in Lincolnshire in England, which had been the home of the Rev. John Wilson, who became the pastor of the first church of Boston. The location was central to the whole province, and Bos- ton became the seat of government. When the year for which the first colonial officers had been chosen expired a new election was held, and Governor Winthrop and all the old officials were re-elected. Terrible Sufferings. ■ The colonists now began to feci the effects of their new life. The change of climate was very trying to them, and many of them fell victims to its rigors, and to the hardships of their position. A large number ofthem had been brought up in ease and refinement, and were unaccustomed to privation or exposure. They sank beneath the severe trials to which they were subjected. By December, 1630, at least two hundred had died. Among these were the Lady Arbella Johnson and her husband, among the most liberal and de- voted supporters of the colony, and a son oi Governor Winthrop, who left a widow and children in England. Others became dis- heartened, and more than a hundred returned to England, where they endeavored to ex- cuse their desertion of their companions by grossly exaggerated accounts of the hard- ships of the colony. Patient Endurance. Yet among the colonists themselves there was no repining. They exhibited in their deep distress a fortitude and heroism worthy of thefr lofty character. " Honor is due," says Bancroft, " not less to those who per- ished than to those who survived ; to the martyrs the hour of death was the hour of triumph ; such as is never witnessed in more tranquil seasons. ***** Even children caught the spirit of the place ; awaited the impending change in the tranquil confidence of faith, and went to the grave full of immor- tality. The survivors bore all things meekly, ' remembering the end of their coming hither.'" Winthrop wrote to his wife, who had been detained in England by sickness : " We enjoy here God and Jesus Christ, and is not this enough.? I thank God I like so well to be here, as I do not repent my com- ing. I would not have altered my course though I had foreseen all these afflictions. I never had more content of mind." Another danger which threatened the colony arose from the scarcity of provisions, but this was removed on the fifth of February, i63iiby the timely arrival of the "Lyon" from England, laden with provisions. This i relief was greeted v.-ith public thanksgivings SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND. ■43 in all the settlements. The " Lyon," how- ever, brought only twenty passengers, and in 163 1 only ninety persons came out from England. The number of arrivals in 1632 as only two hundred and fifty. Thus the ■ lony grew very slowly. By the close of AC latter year the total population of Massa- :husetts was only a little over one thousand souls. Sketch of Roger 'Williams. Among the passengers of the "Lyon" was a young minister, described in the old records as " lovely in his carriage, godly and zealous, having precious gifts," Roger Williams by name. He had been a favorite pupil of the great Sir Edward Coke, and had learned from him precious lessons of liberty and toleration. He had been carefully edu- cated at Pembroke College, in the University of Cambridge, and had entered the ministry. His opposition to the laws requiring con- formity to the established church had drawn upon him the wrath of Archbishop Laud, and he had been driven out of England. The great doctrine which he had em- braced as the result of his studies and ex- perience was the freedom of conscience from secular control. " The civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control opinion; should punish guilt, but never violate inward freedom." He would place all forms of religion upon an equality, and would refuse to the government the power to com- pel conformity to, or attendance upon, any of them, leaving such matters to the con- science of the individual. He also favored the abolition of tithes, and the enforced con- tribution to the support of the church. Such views were far in advance of the age, and when Williams landed in Boston he found himself unable to join the church in that place, because of its adoption of prin- ciples the opposite of his own. Upon his arrival the church had intended engaging him to fill Mr. Wilson's place, while that minister returned to England to bring over his wife, but upon learning his views the idea was abandoned. A little later the church in Salem, which had been deprived of its teacher by the death of the Rev. Francis Higginson, called Williams to be his successor. Williams accepted the call ; but Governor Winthrop and the assistants warned the people of Salem to beware how they placed in so important a position a man already at such variance with the established order of things. The warning had the de- sired effect upon the people of Salem, who withdrew their invitation. Williams then went to Plymouth, where he lived for two years in peace. An Oath of Fidelity. But though unwilling to accord to Williams the liberty he desired, the colonial govern- ment was careful to take every precaution against the anticipated efforts of the Church of England to extend its authoritj' over ]\Iassachusetts. A general court held in May, 163 1, ordered an oath of fidelity to be tendered to the freemen of the colony, which bound them " to be obedient and conform- able to the laws and constitutions of this commonwealth, to advance its peace, and not to suffer any attempt at making any change or alteration of the government con- trary to its laws." The same general court took a still more decided stand by the adoption of a law which limited the citizen- ship of the colony to " such as are members of some of the churches within the limits of the same." This was practically making the state a theocracy. Yet the people were not prepared to sur- render their political rights, even when alarmed by the danger which seemed to 144 SETTLEMENT threaten their religious establishment. Until now the assistants could hold office for life and they also possessed the power of elect- ing the governor. They were thus inde- pendent of the people. The right of the freemen to choose their magistrates was now distinctly asserted, and in May, 1632, was conceded. The governor and assistants were to be elected annually, and by the votes of the freemen; none but church members being entitled to the privileges of freemen. Another important change was brought about at the same time by the hostility of the people to levying of taxes by the board of assistants. Each town was ordered to send two of its best men to represent it at a general court " to concert a plan for a public treasurj'." Friendly Mohegan Chief. The colonists had faithfully obeyed their instructions to treat the Indians with fair- ness, and to seek to cultivate their friend- ship. Many of the native tribes sought their alliance, and the sachem of the Mohegans came from the banks of the Connecticut to make a treaty with the colony, and to urge the English to settle in his countrjr, which he described as exceedingly fertile and inviting. In the autumn of 1632 a pleasant intercourse was opened with the Plymouth colony ; and in the same year a trade in corn was begun with Virginia, and commercial relations were established with the Dutch, who had settled along the Hudson River. The colony of Massachusetts Bay was slowly entering upon a more prosperous period. Emigrants now began to come over in greater numbers, and among them were John Haynes, " the acute and subtile Cotton," and Thomas Hooker, who have been called the "Light of the Western Churches." The freemen by the middle of the year 1634. numbered between three and four hundred, OF AMERICA. and these were bent upon establishing theit political power in the state. Great advances were made in the direction of representative government, and the ballot-box was intro- duced in elections, which had been formerly conducted by an erection of hands. As a guard against arbitrary taxation by magis- trates it was enacted that none but the properly chosen representatives of the people might dispose of lands, or raise money. A Long Controversy. In the spring of 1635 the people went a step further, and demanded a written con- stitution for the purpose of still more per- fectly securing their liberties. This demand opened a controversy which continued for ten years. The general court was com- posed of assistants and deputies. The first were elected by the people of the whole colony ; the latter by the towns. The two bodies acted together in meetings of the assembly, but the assistants claimed the exclusive privilege of meeting and exercising a separate negative upon the proceedings of the court. This claim was energetically denied by the deputies, who were sustained by the body of the people; while the magistrates and the ministers upheld the pretensions of the assistants. In 1644 the matter was compromised by the division of the general court into two branches, each of which was given a negative upon the proceedings of the other. All parties were agreed, however, in the work of connecting the religion and the government of the colony so closely that they should mutually sustain each other against the attacks of the Church of England. While these measures were in course of adjustment other matters were engaging the attention of the colony. After Roger Will- iams had been a little more than two years ; in Plymouth, he was called again to Salem, / *~'^ ll \ Swr 1 w ^^. M^ , \l \ ~ - ^51^5=?^^ J wM^ ™ ^h -" :j ^i->-:> 1 ROGER WILLIAMS SEEKING REFUGE AMONG THE INDIANS. 146 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. and accepted the invitation. This gave offence to many persons, and in January, 1634, complaints were made against Williams because of a paper he had written while at Plymouth, denying that the king had any power to grant lands in America to his sub- jects, since the lands were the property of the Indians. In this Williams was wrong, as the settlers in New England had been care- ful to obtain the consent of the nativ-es to their occupation of the lands they had pos- sessed. He made a proper explanation of his paper, when he understood the true state of the case, and consented that it should be burned. Williams will not Retract. Still the jealousy and dislike of the Puri- tans was aroused by the radical opposition of Williams to their system, although he conducted himself with a forbearance and amiablencss that should have won him the love of those with whom he was thrown. Williams strongly condemned the law enforc- ing the attendance of the people upon reli- gious services, declaring that a man had a right to stay away if he wished to do so. He also censured the practice of selecting the colonial officials exclusively from the mem- bers of the church, and said that a physician or a pilot might with equal propriety be chosen because of his piet)-, his skill in theology, or his standing in the church. These and other similar views were drawn from him in a series of controversies, held with him by a committee of ministers, for the purpose of inducing him to retract his radical sentiments. He remained firm in them, however, and his opponents declared that his principles were calculated not only to destroy religion, but also to subvert all forms of civil government. It was resolved to banish him from the colony, and as the people of Salem \varmly supported Williams, they were admonished by the court, and a tract of land, which was rightfully theirs, was withheld from them as a punishment. Williams and the church at Salem appealed to the people against the in- justice of the magistrates, and asked the other churches of the colony to " admonish the magistrates of their injustice." This was regarded as treason by the colonial govern- ment, and at the next general court Salem was disfranchised until the town should make ample apology for its offence. Will- iams was summoned before the general court in October, 1635, and maintained his opinions with firmness, though with mod- eration. He was sentenced to banishment from the colony, not, as it was declared, because of his religious views, but because the magistrates averred his principles, if carried out, would destroy all civil govern- ment. A Fugitive in the Wilderness. The season was so far advanced that it would have been barbarous to drive any one out of the colony at that time, and Williams obtained leave to remain in the province until the spring, when he intended forming a settlement on Narragansett Bay. The affection of his people at Salem, which had seemed to grow cold when the town began to feel the weight of the punishment inflicted by the general court, now revived, and they thronged to his house in great numbers to hear him, and his opinions spread rapidly. The magistrates were alarmed, and it was resolved to send him at once to England in a ship that was just about to sail from Boston. He was ordered to come to Boston and embark there, but refused to obey the summons. A boat's crew was then sent to arrest him and bring him to Boston by force ; but when the officers reached Salem he had disappeared. SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND. 147 and would render any niisundorstandins^ be- tween t!ie Plymouth and Bay colonies on his account impossible " I took his prudent motion," says Williams, " as a voice from God." Providence Founded. Being joined by five companions, Williams embarked in a canoe in June, 1635, and pass- ing over to the west arm of Narragansett Bay, landed at an attractive spot, where he found a spring of pure water. He chose the place as the site of a new settlement, and in gratitude for his deliverance from the many Three days before their arrival Roger Williams had left Salem, a wanderer for con- science sake. It was the depth of winter, the snow lay thickly over the countr)-, and the weather was cold and inclement. For fourteen weeks, he says, he " was sorely tost in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or bed did mean." Banished from the set- tlements of his own race the e.xile went out into the wilderness, and sought the country of the Indians, whose friendship he had won during his stay in the colony. He had ac- quired their language during his residence at Plymouth, and could speak it fluently. He went from lodge to lodge, kindly ^\el corned by the sav- ages, and lodging sometimes in a hol- low tree, until he reached Mount Hope, the residence of Mas- sasoit, who was his friend. Canonicus,the great chieftain of the Narragansetts, loved him with a strong af- fection, which ceased only with his life , and in the country of these friendly chiefs Williams passed the winter in peace and safety. He never ceased to be grateful for their aid in his distress, and during his whole life he was the especial friend and champion of the Indians in New England. It was the intention of W'illiams to settle at Seekonk, on the Pawtucket River; but that place was found to be within the limits of the Plymouth colony. Governor Winslo w wrote to Williams advising him to remove to the region of Narragansett Bay, which was beyond the jurisdiction of the English, KuVIUENCE. dangers through which he had passed, named it Providence. He sought to purchase enough land for a settlement, but Canonicus refused to sell the land, and gave it to his friend " to enjoy forever." This grant was made to Williams alone, and constituted him absolute owner of the lands included in it. He might have sold them to settlers on terms advantageous to himself; but he declined to do so. In the next two years he was joined by a number of his old followers from Massachu- I4S SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. setts, and by others who fled to h's asylum. He gave a share of land to all who came to settle, and admitted them to an equality with himself in the political administration of the colony. The government was administered by the whole people. The voice of the majority decided all public measures ; but in matters of conscience every man was left an- swerable to God alone. All forms of relig- ious belief were tolerated and protected. Even infidelity was safe here from punish- ment by the civil or ecclesiastical power. Praiseworthy Charity, Williams was anxious to establish friendly relations with the Massachusetts colony • for though he felt keenly the injustice of his per- secutors, he cherished no bitterness or resent- ment towards them. He condemned only what he considered the delusions of the magistrates of Massachusetts, but never at- tacked his persecutors. "1 did ever from my soul," he wrote with simple magnanimity, " honor and love them, even when their judg- ment led them to afflict me." Winslow, touched with his true Christian forbearance, came from Plymouth to visit him, and left with his wilt some money for their support; and some of the leaders of the Bay colony began to bear tardy witness to his virtues. The settlement at Providence continued to grow slowly, and was blessed with peace and an increasing prosperity. Massachusetts in the meantime continued to receive numerous additions to her popula- tion by emigration from England. In the autumn of 1635, twelve families left Boston, and journeying into the interior, founded the town of Concord. They had a hard struggle to establish their little settlement, but per- severed, and at length their labors were crowned with success. Three thousand people came over to Massachusetts this year. Among them were Hugh Peters, a man of great eloquence and ability and a devoted republican, who had been pastor to a church of exiles at Rotterdam, and Henry Vane the younger, "a man of the purest mind; a statesman ot spotless integrity ; whose name the progress of intelligence and liberty will erase from the rubic of fanatics and traitors, and insert high among the aspirants after truth and the martyrs for liberty." * In the iollowing spring (1636) Vane was elected governor of the colony. The people were dazzled by his high birth and pleasing qualities, and committed an error in choos- ing him, for neither his age nor his experi- ence fitted him for the distinguished position conferred upon him. The arrival of Vane seemed to promise an emigration of a num- ber of the English nobility, and an effort was made by several of them in England to pro- cure the division of the general court into two branches, and the establishment of an hereditary nobility in the colony which should possess a right to seats in the upper branch of the court. The magistrates of the colony were anxious to conciliate these val- uable friends, but they firmly refused to establish hereditary nobility in their new state. Trouble in the Church. Religious discussions formed a large part of the life of the colony. Meetings were held by the men, and passages of Scripture were discussed, and the sermons of the min- isters made the subject of searching criticism. The women might attend these meetings, but were not allowed to take part in the discus- sions. Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, a woman of talent and eloquence, claimed for her sex the right to participate equally with the men in these meetings ; but as this was not possible, she began to hold meetings for the benefit of the women at her own house. At these. Bancroft. SETTLEMENT OF MASSACHUSETTS AND RHODE ISLAND. 149 religious doctrines were discussed and advo- cated, which were at variance with the prin- ciples of the magistrates. Mrs. Hutchinson and her followers held that the authority of private judgment was superior to that of the church, and con- demned the efforts of the colony to enforce conformity to the established system as viola- tive of the inherent rights of Christians. She was encouraged by John Wheelwright, a silenced minister, who had married her sister, and by Governor Vane, and her opinions were adopted by a large number of the people, and by members of the general court and some of the magistrates. The ministers saw their authority menaced by the new belief, and made common cause against Mrs. Hutchinson and her protector. Governor Vane. The colony was divided into two parties, and the religious question became a matter of great political import- ance. Under the established s\-stem the ministers formed almost a distinct estate of the government, and political privileges were entirely dependent upon theological conformity. Feeling sure that they would not receive justice at the hands of their opponents, the friends of Mrs. Hutchinson declared their intention to appeal to the king. This aroused a storm of indignation in the colony, and " it was accounted perjury and treason to speak of appeals to the king." This threat changed the whole character of the question, and was fatal to the party which made it. The Puritans had come to Massachusetts to escape the interference of the crown with their religious belief, and to appeal to the king in this case would be simply to place the liber- ties of the colony at his mercy. When the elections were held, in the spring of 1637, Governor Winthrop and the old magistrates we."e chosen by a large majority. Vane soon after returned to England. The church party being now in power resolved to silence Mrs. Hutchinson. She was admonished to cease her teachings, and upon her refusal to obey this order, she and her followers were exiled from the colony. Wheelwright and a number of his friends went to New Hampshire, and founded the town of E.Kcter, at the head of tide-water on the Piscataqua. Mrs. Hutchinson and the majority of her followers removed, in the spring of 1638, to the southward, intending to settle on Long Island or on the Delaware. Roger Williams induced them to remain near his plantation, and obtained for them from Miantonomoh, the chief of the Narra- gansett tribe, the gift of the beautiful island in the lower part of Narragansett Bay, which they called the island of Rhodes, or Rhode Island. Sad Fate of Mrs. Hutchinson. The number of settlers was scarcely more than twenty, but they proceeded to form a government upon a plan agreeable to the principles they professed. It was a pure democracy, founded upon the universal consent of the people, who signed a social compact pledging themselves to obey the laws made by the majority, and to respect the rights of conscience. William Codding- ton, who had been a magistrate in the Bay colony, was elected judge or ruler, and three elders were chosen as his assistants. The settlement grew rapidly, and by 1641 the population had become so numerous as tc require a written constitution. Mrs. Hutchinson remained in Rhode Island for several years ; but fearing that the hostility of the magistrates of Massa- chusetts would reach her even there, removed beyond New Haven into the territory of the Dutch, where, in 1643, she and all her family who were with her, except one child, who was taken prisoner, were murdered by the Indians. CHAPTER XII Colonization of Connecticut tfce Dutch aaim the Connecticut Valley— They Build a Fort at Hartford— Governor Winslow Makes a Lodgment k Connecticut for the English— Withdrawal of the Dutch— The First EtTorts of the English to Settle Connecticut— Emi- gration of Hooker and His Congregation— They Settle at Hartford— Winthrop Builds a Fort at Saybrooke— Hostility ol the Indians \isit ol Roger Williams to Miantonomoh— A Brave Deed— The Pequod War— Capture of the Indian Fort— Destraction of the Pequod Tribe— Effect of This War Upon the Other Tribes— Connecticut Adopts a Constitu- tion-Its Peculiar Features— Settlement of New Haven. THE fertile region of the Connecticut had attracted the attention of the English at an early day ; but before they could make any effort to occupy it the Dutch sent an exploring party from Manhattan Island, in 1614, and exam- ined the river and the country through which it flowed. They built and fortified a trading-post on the site of the present city of Hartford, but soon excited the ill-will of the Indi?ns by their cruel treatment of them. The Dutch found themselves unable to occupy the country, and, being unwilling to lose it, endeavored, but without success, to induce the Pilgrims to remove from Plymouth to the Connecticut, and settle in that region under their protection. In 1630 the council of Plymouth granted the Connecticut region to the Earl of War- wick, who, in 163 1, assigned his claim to Lords Say and Brooke, John Hampden, and others. As soon as this grant was known to the Dutch they sent a party to the site of Hartford and re-established their trading- post, and began a profitable trade with the Indians. They mounted two cannon on their fort for the purpose of preventing the English from ascending the river. Towards the latter part of th'j year 1633, Governor VVinslow, of Plymouth, in order to secure a foothold for the English in this valuable region, sent Captain William Holmes to the ISO Connecticut with a sloop and a number of. men to make a settlement. Upon ascending the river to the site of Hartford, Holmes found his progress barred by the Dutch fort, the commander of which threatened to fire upon him if he attempted to continue his voyage. Undaunted by this threat, Holmes passed by the fort without harm, and ascended the stream to Windsor, where he erected a fortified post. In 1634, the Dutch made an unsuccessful attempt to drive him away. Failing in this, and seeing that it was the deliberate purpose of the English to occupy the Connecticut valley, the Dutch relinquished all claim to that region, and a boundary line was arranged between their possessions and those of the English, cor- responding very nearly to that between the states of Connecticut and New York. In 163 j, the Pilgrims determined to make settlements in this inviting region, and late in the fall of that year a coitipany of sixty persons, men, women and children, set out from Plymouth by land, sending a sloop laden with provisions and their household goods around by sea, with orders to join them upon the Connecticut River. They began their journey too late in the season, and their sufferings were very great in con- sequence. Upon reaching the river they found the ground covered with snow, and their sloop was delayed by storms and ice.. COLONIZATION OF CONNECTICUT. Their cattle died from cold and exposure, and but for a little corn which they obtained from the Indians, and such acorns as they could gather, the whole company must have starved to death. Many of them abandoned their new home and returned by land to the settlements on the coast. The Puritans were resolved to continue the effort to settle Connecticut, and in the spring of 1636 se\-eral com- panies emigrated to that re- gion. The principal part\ set out in June, led by th. Rev. Thomas Hooker. It comprised about one hundred persons, and consisted prin- cipally of Hooker's congrega- tion, who followed their pastoi with enthusiasm. Theydio\L before them a consideiabk number of cattle, which fui- nished them with milk on th. march. The emigrants were largely made up of persons of refine- ment and culture, and com- prised many of the oldest and most valued citizens of the Bay colony. They were at- tracted to the valley of the Connecticut by the superior advantages which it offered for the prosecution of the fur trade, and by the great fertil- ity of its soil. They had no guide but a compass, and their route lay through an unbroken wilderness. The journey was reached by the first of July. The greater number remained there; some went higher up the river and founded Springfield, and the rest went to Wethersfield, where there was already a sn:all settlement. In the same year the younger John Win- throp arrived from England, with orders from Lords Say and Brooke to establish a fort at the mouth of the Connecticut River. Thi.' JOH> he accomplished, naming the new settlement long and fatiguing. The emigrants accom- Saybrooke, in honor of the proprietors, plished scarcely more than ten miles a day. The settlements in Connecticut grew rapidly, carrying their sick on litters, and making the excellent soil and pleasant climate attract- ihe forests ring with their holy hymns. At ing many emigrants to them, lengththesiteof Hartford, whe:e it was pro- The existence of these settlements was posed to establish the settlement, was precarious, however. The region in which IS2 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. they had been planted was the country of the Pequod-J, who inhabited it in large numbers. They were the most powerful and warlike tribe in New England, and could bring nearly two thousand warriors into the field. They occupied the southwestern part of Connect- icut, and their territory extended almost to the Hudson on the west, where it joined that of the Mohegans. On the east their territory bordered that of the Narragansetts. Both of these tribes were the enemies of thePequods and the friends of the English. This friend- ship was resented by the Pequods, who were already jealous of the English because of their occupation of the lands along the Connecticut. The tribe bore a bad name, and had already manifested their hostility by murdering, a few years before, a Virginia trader named Stone, together with the crew of his vessel, who (vere engaged in a trading expedition on the Connecticut River. Blood Shed on Both Sides. Somewhat later Captain Oldham and his crew, while e.xploring the river, were also murdered by Indians living on Block Island. The Pequods justified the murder of Stone by alleging that he had attacked them. Wishing to make a treaty with the English, they sent their chiefs to Boston for that pur- pose, and promised — as the magistrates understood them — to deliver up the two men who had killed Stone. Captain John Endicott was sent with a vessel, in 1636, to punish the '^lock Island Indians for the murder of Old- ham, and was ordered to call on his return at the Pequod town, and demand the surrender of the murderers of Stone. The Pequods declined to surrender these men, but offered to ransom them. This was in accordance with their customs. But Endicott refused to accept any compensation for the crime that had been committed, and to punish the Indians destroyed their corn and burned two vof their villages. This made open hostilities inevitable. The Pequods began to hang around the Connecticut settlements and cut off" stragglers from them. By the close of the winter more than thirty persons had fallen victims to their vengeance. A Dangerous Mission. The setdements in the Connecticut valley were now greatly alarmed. They could not muster over two hundred fighting men, and the Indians in their immediate vicinity could bring into the field at least seven hundred warriors. War was certain, and it was not known at what moment the savages would attack the settlements in overwhelming force. Connecticut called upon Massachu- setts for aid, but only twenty men under Captain Underbill, were sent to their aid. The energies and attention of the Bay colony were engrossed by the Hutchinson quarrel. The Pequods, notwithstanding their im- mense numerical superiority, were unwilling to make war upon the English without the support of another tribe. They accordingly sent envoys to Miantonomoh, the chief of the Narragansetts, to endeavor to engage that tribe in the effort against the whites. Such a union would have menaced all New England, and as soon as the news of the negotiation reached Boston the government of the Bay colony prepared to prevent the alliance. Governor Vane at once wrote to Roger Williams, the friend of Miantonomoh, urging him to seek that chieftain and prevent him from joining the Pequods. It was a dangerous mission, and certainly a great service for the magistrates of Massa- chusetts to ask of the man whom they had driven into exile. They did not ask in vain, however. All of Williams' generous nature was aroused by the danger which threatened his brethren, and he embarked in a frail COLONIZATION OF CONNECTICUT. 153 canoe, and braving the danger of a severe gale, souglit the quarters of Aliantonomoh. He found the Pequod chiefs already there, and the Narragansetts wavering. Knowing the errand on which he had come, the hostile chieftains were ready at any moment to des- patch him, and had Miantonomoh shown the least fa- vor to the project, Williams would have paid for his boldness with his life. He spent three days and nights in the company of the savages, and suc- ceeded in inducing Miantonomoh not only to refuse to join the war against the English, but to promise the colo- nists his assistance against the Pe- quods. In the meantime he sent a messenger to Bos- ton to inform the governor of the de- signs of the In- dians. The Pequods, left to continue the _ struggle alone, flat- "^ ^.^t^ tered themselves that their superi- ority in numbers would give them the vic- tory, and continued their aggressions upon the Connecticut settlements to such an extent that in May, 1637, the general court of that province resolved to begin the war at once. A force of eighty men, including those sent from Massachusetts, was assembled at Hart- ford, and the command was conferred oy A GROUP OF INDIANS. Hooker upon Captain John Mason, The night previous to their departure was spent in prayer, and on the twentieth of May the little force embarked in boats and descended 154 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. the river to the sound, and passed around to Narragansett Bay, intending to approach the Pequod town from that quarter. As the boats sailed by the mouth of the Thames, the savages supposed the English were abandoning the Connecticut valley. The day after the arrival of the English in Narragansett Bay was the Sabbath, and was scrupulously observed. On the following day they repaired to the quarters of Canonicus, the old chief and principal ruler of the Narragansett tribe, and asked his assistance against the Pequods. Mian- tonomoh, the nephew and prospective suc- cessor of Canonicus, hesitated to join in the doubtful enterprise, but two hundred w-ar- riors agreed to accompany the English, who could not, however, count upon the fidelity of these reinforcements. Seventy Mohe- gans, under Uncas, their chief, also joined Mason. With this force the English com- mander marched across the country toward the Pequod towns on the Thames, and halted on the night of the twent\--fifth of May within hearing of them. A Sudden Attack. In the meantime the Pequods, convinced that the English had fled from the Connecti- cut region, and never dreading an attack in their fort, which they considered impreg- nable, had given themselves up to rejoicing. The night, passed by the English in waiting the signal for the attack, was spent by the Pequods in revelry and songs, which could be plainly heard in the English camp. Two hours before dawn, on the morning of the twenty-sixth of May, the order was given to the little band under Mason to advance. They knew they would have to decide the battle by their own efforts, and were by no means certain that their Indian allies would not turn against them. The Pequods were posted in two strong forts made of palisades driven into the ground and strengthened with rush-work, an excel- lent defence against a foe of their own race, but worthless when assailed by Europeans. The principal fort stood on the summit of a considerable hill, and was regarded by Sassa- cus, the Pequod chief, as impregnable. The tramp of the advancing force aroused a dog, whose fierce bark awoke the Indian sentinel. The keen eye of the savage detected the enemy in the gloom of the morning, and he rushed into the fort, shouting, " The English ! The English ! " The next moment the English were through the palisades. On all sides they beheld the Indians pouring out of their lodges to take part in the hand-to-hand fight. The odds were too great. " We must burn them," cried Mason, and, suiting the action to the word, he applied a torch to a wigwam constructed of dry reeds. The flames sprang up instantly, and spread with the rapidity of lightning. The Indians vainly endeavored to extinguish the fire, and the English, with- drawing to a greater distance, began to pick off the savages, who were doubly exposed by the light of the blazing fort. Wherever a Pequod appeared, he was shot down. The Narragansetts and Mohegans now joined in the conflict, and the victory was complete. More than six hundred Pequods, men, women and children, perished, the majority of them in the flames. The English lost only two men ; and the battle was over in an hour. Indians in a Raga. As the sun rose, a body of three hundred Pequod warriors were seen advancing from their second fort. They came expecting to rejoice with their comrades in the destruc- tion of the English. When they beheld the ruined fort and the remains of its defenders, they screamed, stamped on the ground and tore their hair with rage and despair. Mason held them in check with twenty men, while COLONIZATION OF CONNECTICUT. 155 the rest of the English embarked in their boats, which had come round from Narra- gansett Bay, and hastened home to protect the settlements against a sudden attack. Mason, with the party mentioned, marched across the country to the fort at Saybrooke, where he was received with the honors due to his successful exploit. In a few days a body of one hundred men arrived from Massachusetts, under Captain Stoughton, and the cam- paign against the Pe- quods was resumed. Their pride was crushed, and they made but a feeble resistance. They fled to the west, closely pursued by the English, who destroyed their cornfields, burned their villages and put their women and children to death without mercy. They made a last des- perate effort at resist- ance in the fastnesses of a swamp, but were de- feated with great slaugh- ter. Sassacus, their chief, with a few of his men took refuge with the Mohawks, where he was soon after put to death by one of his own people. The remainder of the tribe, about two hundred in number, surrendered to the English, and were reduced to slavery. Some were given to their enemies, the Narragansetts and Mo- hegans ; others were sent to the West Indies and sold as slaves. The Pequod nation was utterly destroyed. The thoroughness and rcmorselessness of the work struck terror to the neighboring tribes. If the Pequods, the most powerful iUE- of all their race, had been exterminated by a mere handful of Englishmen, what could they expect in a contest with them but a similar fate ? For forty years the horror of this dreadful deed remained fresh in the savage mind, and protected the young settlements more effectually than the most vigilant watchfulness on the part of the whites could have done. Relieved from the fear of the Indians, the people of Connecticut prepared to establish a civil government for the colony, and in Jan- uary, 1639, a constitution was adopted. It was more liberal, and therefor? more lasting, than that framed by any of the other colo- nies. It provided for the government of the colony by a governor, a legislature and the usual magistrates of an English province, who were to be chosen annually by ballot. Every settler who should take the oath of iS6 allegiance to the commonwealth was to have the right of suffrage. The members of tiie legislature were apportioned among the towns according to the population. The colony was held to be supreme within its own limits, and no recognition was made of the sovereignty of the king or Parliament. When Connecticut took her place among the states of the American Union, at the opening of the war of the Revolution, her constitution needed no change to adapt her to her new position. It remained in force for one hun- dred and fifty years. The Celebrated John Davenport. In the year of the Pequod war (1637), John Davenport, a celebrated clergyman of London, and Theophilus Eaton, a merchant of wealth, and a number of their associates, who had been exiled from England for their religious opinions, reached Boston. They were warmly welcomed, and were urged to stay in the Bay colony, but the theological disputes were so high there that they pre- ferred to go into the wilderness and found a settlement where they could be at peace. Eaton with a few men was sent to explore SETTLEMENr OF AMERICA. the region west of the Connecticut, which had been discovered b)- the pursuers of the Pequods. He examined the coast of Long Island Sound, and spent the winter at a place which he selected as a settlement. In April, 1638, Davenport and the rest of the company sailed from Boston and established a settle- ment on the spot chosen by Eaton. The settlers obtained a title to their lands from the natives, and agreed in return to protect them against the Mohawks. They named their settlement New Haven. In 1639 a form of government was adopted, and Eaton was elected governor. He was annually chosen to this position until his death, twenty years later. The colonists pledged themselves " to be governed in all things by the rules which the Scriptures held forth to them." The right of suffrage was restricted to church members. " Thus New Haven made the Bible its statute book, and the elect its freemen." In the next ten years settlements spread along the sound and ex- tended to the opposite shores of Long Island. The colony was distinct from and independ- ent of the Connecticut colony, with which friendly relations were soon established. CHAPTER XIII The Union of the New England Col Feeling of the Colonies Towards England — Hostility of the English Government to New England — Efforts to Intrc duce Episcopacy — Massachusetts Threatens Resistance — The Revolution in England — Establishment of Free Schools in New England— Harvard College— The Printing Press— The Long Parliament Friendly to New England— The United Colonies of New England — Rhode Island Obtains a Charter — Maine Annexed to Massachusetts — The Quakers are Persecuted — Efforts to Christianize the Indians — John Eliot, the Apostle to the Indians. THE sentiments with which the people of the New England colonies regarded the mother country may- be briefly stated. They were proud of the name of Englishmen, and took a deep interest in the welfare of their old home. They regarded the British constitution as the supreme law of theirnew states, and claimed to be true and loyal subjects of the King of England. Nevertheless, they looked upon the success of their colonies as their own work, accomplished by their own patience and heroism, and they were fully aware that they owed nothing to the mother country. They had been driven forth from her shores by persecution, and left in neglect to struggle up to the successful position they now occu- pied. They owed nothing to England ; in their deepest distress they had never asked aid of her, and they were willing to undergo any hardship rather than do so. They had made laws and established institutions under which they had surmounted their early trials, and they regarded their paramount allegiance as due to their respective provinces. They acknowledged the right of no power beyond the Atlantic to interfere with or change their work. They would acknowledge their alle- giance to the king as long as he respected the system they had built up at such great cost, and without assistance from him, but would resist any effort from him, or any one else, to interfere with it. They had made New Eng- land what she was, and they meant to retain the possession and control of their new home at any cost. They had made themselves a free people, and they meant to preserve their liberties as a precious heritage for their children. This was the general sentiment of New England. There were some discontented persons, however, in the midst of these deter- mined people. They had found the stern discipline of the Massachusetts colony too oppressive, and some had been severely pun- ished by the fiery Endicott. Upon returning to England they endeavored to induce the king to exert his power and remedy what they termed the distraction and disorder of the province of Massachusetts. Their com- plaints were echoed by a strong party in England. Burdett wrote to Archbishop Laud that " The colonists aimed not at a new dis- cipline, but at sovereignty ; that it was accounted treason in their general court to speak of appeals to the king;" in which assertion he was right. The English archbishop began to regard the departure of so many " faithful and free born Englishmen and good Christians '' tc join a new communion as a serious matter and impediments were thrown in the way of emigration. In February, 1634, a requisi- tion was addressed to the colony of Massa- chusetts ordering the colonial officials to produce the patent of the company in i'S7 1 58 SETTLEMENT England. The colony took no notice of this demand. A little later the king appointed the Archbishop of Canterbury and some others a special commission, with full power over the American colonies. They were authorized to make such changes in church and state as they deemed necessary; to enforce them with heavy penalties ; and even to revoke all charters that contained privi- leges inconsistent with the royal prerogative. Massachusetts Indignant. The news of the appointment of this com mission reached Boston in September, 1634, and it was also rumored that a governor- general for the colonies had been appointed and had sailed from England. All Massa- chusetts burned with indignation, and the -colony resolved to resist the attempt upon its liberties. It was very poor, but in a short space of time the large sum of six hundred pounds was raised for the public defence, and fortifications were begun and pushed forward with energy. In January, 1635, the ministers were assembled at Boston and their opinion was asked upon the question whether the colony should receive a governor-general. They answered boldly : " We ought to defend our lawful possessions if we are able ; if not, to avoid and protract." In April, 1638, the privy council demanded the surrender of the charter of Massachu- setts, threatening in case of refusal that the king would take the management of the colony into his own hands. The colonial authorities were firmly resolved to give the king no pretext for interference with their affairs, and instead of complying with the order of the privy council, they addressed a remonstrance to that body against the surrender required of them, thus seeking to gain time. They were fully determined not to give up their charter ; but before their remonstrance could reach Eng- OF AMERICA. land the troubles which encompassed Charles at home made it impossible for him to carry out his designs against Massachusetts. The breaking out of the civil war in Eng- land put a stop to the emigration to New England. At the opening of the year 1 640 the population of New England numbered twenty thousand. Some fifty towns and between thirty and forty churches had been built, and the most desponding could no longer doubt the ultimate success and prosperity of the country. The wretched cabins of the firsi settlers were rapidly giving way to fair and comfortable houses, and the coloni.sts were beginning to gather about them many of the comforts and much of the refinement they had been accustomed to in England. The Puritans. Nor were the Puritans mindful of material success only. Many of them were persons of education, and they were anxious that their children should have the opportunity of enjoying the blessings of knowledge in their new homes. In 1636 the general court made provision for the establishment at New- town of a high school. The name of the town was changed to Cambridge as a token that the people meant that it should yet be the seat of a university. In 1637 the school was formally opened. The next year the Rev. John Harvard, of Charlestown, bequeathed to the infant insti- tution his library and the half of his fortune, and in gratitude for this assistance the school took the name of "Harvard College." In 1647 the general court ordered that in every town or district of fifty families there should be a common school ; and that in every town or district of one hundred families there should be a grammar school, conducted by teachers competent to prepare young men for college. This system rapidly found its way into the other New England colonies, with the excep' tion of Rhode Island. THE UNION OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. IS9 Thus was founded the American system of common schools. Until now education had been the task of the church, or had been confided to private individuals; but now, for the first time in the history of the world, the state took the task of educating its young citizens into its own hands, and established the schools in which it was to be conducted. Henceforth knowledge was to be restricted to no favored class ; education was made free more for posterity than this, they would still deserve to be held in grateful remembrance as the founders of our public schools. Gen- erations yet unborn shall rise up to call them blessed, and to acknowledge the truth of their conviction that ignorant men cannot make good citizens. In 1639 a printing press, presented to the colony by some friends in Holland, was set up in Massachusetts. Stephen Daye was the to every child, and every parent being taxed for the support of the public schools was made to feel interested in their proper con- duct. From the little beginning thus made a vast and noble system has been developed, the beneficial results of which must be felt to the latest period of our national existence. Had the fathers of New England done nothing printer, and in that year printed an almanac calculated for New England, and in 1640 a metrical version of the Psalms, made " by Thomas Welde and John Eliot, ministers of Roxbury, assisted by Richard Mather, min- ister of Dorchester." It was the first book printed in the English language in America, and continued to be used for a long time in the worship of the New England churches. (6o SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. Many of the settlers went back to England at the outset of the civil war to take part in the struggle, among whom were Governor Henry Vane and Hugh Peters, and very few emigrants arrived in New England during the existence of tlie commonwealth. Yet the colonies continued to prosper. Ship- building, which had been introduced by the first settlers of Salem, was carried on with activity, and vessels of four hundred tons were constructed. A little later the manu- facture of woollen and linen cloth was begun by order of the general court. The colonial churches were invited to send their representatives to the assembly of divines at Westminster, but they wisely neglected to do so, judging it better to remain in their obscurity than to give the English people a pretext for future interference by joining in their affairs. Religious Liberty. The Long Parliament was friendly to New England, and granted to the colonies an exemption from all duties upon their com- merce " until the House of Commons should take order to the contrary." Massachusetts took advantage of the security afforded by the friendship of the Long Parliament to establish a written constitution, or " body of liberties," which placed the rights and privi- leges of her people upon a more stable basis. It contained some of the severest laws of the Mosaic code, such as those against witch- craft, blasphemy, and sins against nature, but secured the freedom of the citizen, the right of representative government, and the indepen- dence of the state and the municipality. The rights ofproperty, the freedom of inheritance, and the independence of each church from control by the others were also placed beyond dispute. " This constitution," says Bancroft, " for its liberality and comprehensiveness, may vie with any similar record from the days of Magna Charta." m April, 1642, the towns on the Piscata- qua, now embraced within the limits of the state of New Hampshire, were annexed at their own request to Massachusetts. As the people of this region were not Puritans, and many of them were attached to the forms and faith of the Church of England, the gen- eral court in September adopted a measure providing that neither the freemen nor the deputies of New Hampshire should be required to be church members. This act of justice removed all danger of political dis- cord. In the same year Massachusetts made a less creditable and an unsuccessful effort to annex Rhode Island to her dominions. The United Colonies. Though relieved of the interference of the mother country, the dangers of New Eng- land were not j'et at an end. The Indians were still powerful upon their narrow border, the French were beginning to threaten them from the direction of Canada, and the Dutch from the Hudson. The colonies had so many interests in common that it was of vital im- portance that they should act in concert for their defence. Aftei- several ineffectual attempts, a league was formed in 1643 between the colonies of Massachusetts, Ply- mouth, Connecticut, and New Haven, under the title of " The United Colonies of New Engla)id." Each colony was to retain its freedom in the management of its own affairs ; the authority of the union, which was intrusted to a commission of two members from each province, being limited to objects which concerned the general welfare of the colonies. Provision was made for the pres- ervation of the purity of the gospel, the com- missioners were required to be church mem- bers, and the expenses of the confederacy were to be assessed upon the colonies according to population. This union lasted for forty years. THE UNION OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. i6i The colony of Rhode Island desired to be admitted into the union, but its petition was refused, as it would not acknowledge the jurisdiction of Plymouth. The people of the two settlements on Narragansett Bay, dread- ing an attempt to absorb them into some of the other colonies, now determined to apply to t^arliament for an independent charter. Roger Williams was despatched to England for that purpose in 1643, and reached that country soon after the death of Hampden. The fame of his labors among the Indians secured for him a cordial welcome. The Charter Confirnr. ^d Assisted by Sir Henry Vane, a charter was obtained in March, 1 644, organizing the settlements on Narragansett Bay as an inde- pendent colony under the name of "The Providence Plantations," " with full power and authority to rule themselves." The ex- ecutive council of state in England, in 165 1, made some grants to Coddington which would have dismembered the little state, and Williams was obliged to make a second voy- age to England to have these grants vacated. He succeeded in his efforts, and the charter was confirmed. He received in this, as in his former mission, the cordial co-operation of Sir Henry Vane, whose name should be ever dear to the people of Rhode Island, since but for him her territory would have been divided among the neighboring col- onies. In the interval between his first and second voyages Roger Williams became a Baptist, and founded the first church of that denomination in America. The country between tlie Piscataqua and ihe Kennebec was assigned to Sir Ferdinand Gorges, wlio, in 1639, was confirmed in his possession by a formal charter from Charles I., who called the territory the Province of Maine. In 1640, Gorges sent his son Thomas to IMaine as his representative. II Thomas Gorges took up his residence at the settlement of Agamenticus, now the town of York, and in 1642 changed the name of the lace to Gorgeana. Maine Comes Into the Union. Since the settlement of the colony the French had claimed the region between the St. Croix and the Penobscot, which they had settled under the name of Acadia, as has been stated elsewhere. After the death of Sir Ferdinand Gorges Maine was divided among his heirs. These cut it up into four weak communities, whose helplessness laid them open to the encroachments of the French in Canada. Apprehensive of the: results of this, Massachusetts, to whom many of the inhabitants of the province had appealed to take such a course, in 1651 claimed the province of Maine as a part of the territory which had been granted to the colony by the original charter of Massa- chusetts. Commissioners were sent to establish the authority of the Bay colony over the prov- ince, but the magistrates of Maine resisted them, and appealed to the English govern- ment for protection. The people of Maine were the adherents of the king and the estab- lished church, and England was now ruled by the Puritans ; consequently Massachusetts won her cause, and Maine was declared a part of that province. Massachusetts made a generous use of her power, and allowed the towns of Maine very much the same govern- ment and privileges they now enjoy, and in religious matters treated them with the same leniency she had shown to New Hampshire. In 1646, a dispute in the Bay colony in- duced one of the panties to it to apjy.^al to Parliament to sustain his claims, and an order was sent out to Boston in his behalf" couched in terms which involved the right of Parlia- ment to reverse the decisions and control the ^^ . ' ■^-^k:?^^:::,^!^. ^^7 ,v X> 162 JOHN ELIOT PREACHING TO THE INDIANS. THE UNION OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. iG3 government of Massachusetts." In plainer terms. Parliament claimed the right to revoke the charter of the colony, as the king had done at the outset of the civil war. The danger was great, and Massachusetts met it with firmness. The general court met on the fourth of November, and sat with closed doors to discuss the claim of the English government. It was resolved " that Massa- chusetts owed to England the same allegi- ance as the free Hanse towns had rendered to the empire ; as Normandy, when its dukes were kings of England, paid to the monarchs of France." Parliament Must Keep Hands Off. The court also refused to accept a new charter from Parliament, as that action might imply a surrender of the original instrument, or to allow Parliament to control in any way the independence of the colony. Great as this claim was, it was admitted by the Eng- lish Parliament, in which the rights of the colony were stoutly maintained by Sir Henry Vane and others ; and in reply to a respectful address of the general court setting forth the views of that body, a committee of Parlia- ment declared : " We encourage no appeals from your justice. We leave you with all the freedom and latitude that may, in any respect, be duly claimed by you." Later on, upon the establishment of the common- wealth, Parliament invited the people of Massachusetts to receive a new patent from that body ; but the colonial authorities wisely declined to do this, or to allow the home government any hold upon the administra- tion of the affairs of the province. In 165 1. Cromwell, who had subdued Ireland, offered that island to the Puritans of New England as a new home; but they declined to leave America. Cromwell proved himself in many ways a judicious friend of New England, and the people of that country treasured his memory with the gratitude and respect it so richly deserved. Though sc successful in asserting her own liberties, Massachusetts had not yet learned the lesson of religious tolerance. When the Baptists began to appear in the colony, severe measures were inaugurated to crush them, and one of their number — Holmes — a resident of Lynn, was whipped unmercifully. Still greater were the severities practised towards the Quakers. This sect had grown out of the Protestant Reformation, and con- stituted at this day the most advanced thiiikers upon religious matters to be found in England. They claimed a perfect freedom in matters of faith and worship, and regarded all laws for enforcing religious systems as works of the devil. They were persons of pure lives, and even their most inveterate enemies could not charge them with wrong- doing. Previous to their appearance in Massachusetts exaggerated reports reached the colony concerning them. Tliey were represented as making war upon all forms of religion and government. Intolerance Toward Quakers. The first of this creed who came to New England were Mary Fisher and Ann Austin, who reached Boston in July, 1656. In the absence of a special law against Quakers, they were arrested under the provisions of the general statute against heresy; their trunks were searched and their books burned by the hangman. Their persons were e.xam- ined for marks of witchcraft, but nothing could be found against them, and after being kept close prisoners for five weeks, they were sent back to England. . During the year eight others were also sent back to England. Laws which were a dis- grace to an enlightened community were now passed prohibiting the Quakers from entering the colony. Such as came -R-ere 1 64 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. imprisoned, cruelly whipped, and sent away. In 1657 a woman was whipped with twenty stripes for this offence. In 165S a law was enacted that if any Quaker should return after being banished, his or her offence should be punished with death. It was hoped that this barbarous measure would rid the colony of their presence ; but they came in still greater numbers, to reprove the magis- trates for their persecuting spirit, and to call \ ^\'¥^> ^ INDIAN MEUICINE-MAN. them to repentance. In 1659 Marmaduke Stephenson, William Robinson, Mary Dyar and William Leddro were hanged on Boston Common for returning to the colony after being banished. These cruelties were regarded with great discontent by the people of the colony, whose humanity was shocked by the barbarity of the magistrates. Their opposition grew stronger every day, .-^nd at last it became evi- dent to the magistrates themselves that their severities were of no avail. When William Leddro was being sentenced to death, the magistrates were startled by the entrance into the court-room of Wenlock Christison, a Quaker who had been banished and forbid- den to return on pain of death. Christison was arrested, but the complaints of the people became so loud that the magistrates- were obliged to pause in their bloody work. Christison and twenty-seven of his com- panions were released from custody, the persecution of the Quakers was discon- tinued, and the general court, in obedi- ence to the will of the people, repealed the barbarous laws against that sect. The Apostle to the Indians. In pleasing contrast with these sever- ities were the efforts of the Puritans to spread a knowledge of the gospel among the savages. Chief among those engaged in the good work was John Eliot, the min- ister of Roxbury, whose labors won him the name of " the apostle Eliot." He went among the red men in the forests, and ac- quired a knowledge of their language that he might preach to them in their own tongue. When he had become suffi- ciently proficient in it, he translated the Bible into the Indian language. This translation was printed at Cambridge, and a part of the type was set by an Indian compositor. He spent many }-ears in the preparation of his Bible, and made a good use of it during his life; but it is now valu- able only as a literary curiosity and as the evidence of the devotion of the translator to his noble work. The destruction of the race for which it was intended has made it a sealed book. Eliot gathered his savage converts into a settlement at Natick, and taught the men the art of agriculture and the women to spin and to weave cloth. He had to encounter the THE UNIOM OF THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES. opposition of the chiefs »rd medicine men or priests, who resented his efforts to win iheir people from the worship and habits of their ancestors, b>^t he persevered. He ivas greatly beloved by his disciples, and continued his J=ibors among them far into old age, and to a limited extent to the day of his death, which took place when he had attained the ripe age of eighty -six years. " My memory, my utter- ance fails me," he said near the close of his life ; " but I thank God my charity holds out still." When Walton, a brother minister, visited him on his death-bed, he greeted him with the words ; " Brother, you are welcome ; but retire to your study and pray that I may be gone." His last words on earth wera the triumphal shout with which he catered upon his reward : " Welcome joy ! " Many of the Quakers, after the persecu- tion against them was over, joined Eliot in his labors. He had other fellow-workers. The two Mayhews, father and son, Cotton, and Brainerd thought it a privilege to labor for the souls of the poor savages. Native preachers were ordained, and at last there were thirty churches of " praying Indians " under such preachers. CHAPTER XIV New Eno^land after the Restoration ftfriTal of the News of the Restoration of Charles II. — The Regicides in New England — They are Protected — RevivaJ of the Navigation Acts — Effect of this Measure upon the New England Colonies — Massachusetts Delays the Proclama tion of the King — Connecticut Obtains a Charter — Union of New Haven with the Connecticut Colony — Rhode Island Given a New Charter — Massachusetts Settles her Difficulties with the Crown — Changes in the Government — High- handed Acts of the Royal Commissioners — Troubles with the Indians — Injustice of the Whites — King Philip's War — A Forest Hero — An Incident in the Attack upon Hadley — Sufferings of the Colonies — Destruction of the Narragansetts — Death of Philip^Close of the War — England Asserts her Right to Tax the Colonies — Massachusetts buys Gorges' claims to Maine — New Hampshire Made a Separate Province — James II. Revokes the Charter of Massachusetts — Dudley and Randolph in New England — Andros Appointed Governor-General — His TjTanny — He Demands the Charter of Con- necticut — It is Carried Away and Hidden — The Charter Oak — Fall of James II. — ^The People of Massachusetts take up Arms — Andros Arrested — Effects of the Revolution upon New England. THE news of the restoration of Charles II. to the English throne was brought to Boston by Etdward Whalley and William Goffe, two of the j'udges of Charles I. They came to seek refuge from the vengeance of the king, having offended him beyond forgiveness by their share in the death of his father. They remained about a year in Massachusetts, protected by the people, and preaching to them. A few months after their arrival, warrants for their arrest and transportation to England for trial arrived from the king, and to escape this danger they took refuge in New Haven. The royal officers instituted a diligent search for them, and they were obliged to change their place of concealment frequently. Great rewards were offered for their betrayal, and even the Indians were urged to search the woods for their hiding-places. The peo- ple whom they trusted protected them, and aided them to escape the royal officers until the vigor of the search was exhausted. They then conducted them to a secure refuge in the vicinity of Hadlej', where they remained in seclusion and peace until the close of their lives. i66 News was constantly arriving in the colo- nies of the execution of the men who had been the friends of America in the Parlia- ment, and a general sadness was cast over the settlements by the tidings of the death of Hugh Peters and the noble Sir Henr}' Vane. From the first the people of New England saw plainly that they had little reason to expect justice at the hands of the royal gov- ernment, and there was little rej'oicing in that region at the return of the king to " his own again." One of Charles's first acts was to revive in a more odious form the navigation act of the Long Parliament. We have spoken of the effect of this measure upon the colonies of Virginia and Marv'land. This act closed the harbors of America against the vessels of every European nation save England, and forbade the exportation of certain American productions to any country but England ot her possessions. This was a very serious blow to New England, and was intended as such. The colonies of that region had already built up a growing commerce, and this, together with their activity in ship- building, excited the envy and the hostility of the British merchants, who hoped, by NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE RESTORATION. 167 inducing the king to place these restrictions upon the colonies, to compel the Americans to depend upon them for trie supply of all their wants. loiter on, America was forbidden not only to manufacture any articles which might compete with EngMsh manufactures in foreign markets, but to sup-'ply her own wants with her own manufactures. At the same time Parliament endeavored to destroy the trade that had grown up between New England and the southern colonies by imposing upon the articles exported from one colony to another a duty equal to that imposed upon the consumption of these articles in England. Foul Injustice. Thus did Great Britain lay the foundation of that system of commercial inj ustice toward her colonies which eventually deprived her of them, and which her greatest writer on political economy declared to be " a manifest violation of the rights of mankind." The policy thus established in the reign of Charles II. was never departed from. Each succeed- ing administration remained true to the prin- ciples of the navigation act, and consistently declined to admit the claim of the colonies to just and honorable treatment at the hands of the mother country, Charles II. was promptly proclaimed in the colonies of Plymouth, Connecticut, New Haven and Rhode Island, and those provinces were administered in his name. Massachu- setts, distrusting his purposes towards her, held back, and waited until he should show his intentions more plainly. Connecticut had purchased the claims of the assigns of the Earl of Warwick to the region occupied by her, and had bought the territory of the Mohegans from Uncas, their sachem. The colony sent the younger Win- throp to England in 1661 to obtain a charter from the king. The noble character of Gov- ernor Winthrop was well known in England, and impressed even the profligate Charles. His reception was cordial and his mission entirely .successful. In 1662, the king granted to the colony a charter incorporating Hart- ford and New Haven in one province under the name of Connecticut, and extending its limits from Long Island Sound westward ta the Pacific Ocean, thus bestowing upon the colony those rich western lands which were subsequently made the basis of the magnifi- cent school fund of Connecticut. The charter was substantially the same in its provisions as the constitution adopted by the Hartford colony. By it the king conferred upon the colonists the right to elect their owa officers and to make and administer their own laws without interference from England in any event whatever. Connecticut was made independent in all but name, and the charter continued in force as the constitution of the state after the period of independence until Good Fortune of Connecticut. The colony of New Haven was much opposed to the union with Connecticut, and it required all Governor Winthrop's efforts to induce the people of that colony to accept it. The matter was adjusted in 1665, when the union was finally accomplished. The labors of Governor Winthrop were rewarded by his annual election as governor of Con- necticut for fourteen years. Connecticut was a fortunate colony. Its government was ably and honestly administered ; no persecutions marred its peace, and its course was uniformly prosperous and happy. It was always one of the most peaceful and orderly colonies oi Now England, and for a century its popula- tion doubled once in twenty years, notwith- standing frequent emigrations of its people to other parts of the country. The colony at an early day matie a liberal provision for 1 68 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. education, and in 1700 Yale College was founded. It was originally located at Say- brookc, but in 17 18 was removed to New Haven. Rhode Island was equally fortunate. Through its resident agent at London, John Clarke, it made application to the king for a new charter, and after some delay, caused by the difficulty of arranging satisfactorily the limits of the province, a charter was granted in 1663, formerly establishing the colony of " Rhode Island and Providence Plantations " This charter continued to be the sole constitution of Rhode Island until the year 1842. By its provisions the govern- ment of the colony was to consist of a gov- ernor, deputy-governor, ten assistants, and representatives from the towns. Equal Rights to All. The laws were to be agreeable to those of England, but no oath of allegiance was required of the colony, and in matters of religion the charter declared that " no person within the said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be anywise molested, punished, dis- quieted, or called in any question for any difference in opinion in matters of religion ; every person may at all times freely and fully enjoy his own judgment and conscience in matters of religious concernments." Free- dom of conscience was not restricted to Christians ; it was extended by the charter to infidels and pagans as well. This charter made the little colony secure against the attempts of Massachusetts to absorb her, and its reception by the people was joyful and enthusiastic. At this period the population of Rhode Island was about twenty-five hundred. It increased rapidly and steadily; the excellent harbors of the province encouraged com- merce, and the little state soon began to rival her larger associates in prosperity. Massachusetts was from the first regarded with disfavor by the ro\al government. It delayed its acknowledgment of Charles II. for over a year, and the king was not pro- claimed at Boston until the seventh of August, 1661. Even then the general court forbade all manifestations of juy. These signs of the independent spirit of the people had been observed in England, and the col- ony had been watched by the government with anything but favor. The enemies of the young state hurried their complaints be- fore the king, and Massachusets at length found it to her interest to send commission- ers to London, as, indeed, the express orders of the king required her to do. Among the agents sent over were John Norton and Simon Bradstreet, men of ability and mod- eration, who commanded the confidence of all classes of the colonists. Their instruc- tions were to assure the king of the loyalty of Massachusetts, to engage his favor for the colony ; but to agree to " nothing preju- dicial to their present standing according to their patent, and to endeavor the establish- ment of the rights and privileges thea enjoyed." Two Parties in Massachusetts. The commissioners reached London in January, 1662, and were graciously received oy the king, who confirmed the charter, and granted a complete amnesty for all past offences against his majesty. He required, however, that all laws derogatory to his authority should be repealed ; that the col- onists should take the oath of allegiance to him ; that justice should be administered in his name: that the right of suffrage should be thrown open to all freeholders of com- petent estates ; and that all who wished to do so should be free to use " the book of com- mon prayer, and perform their devotion in the manner established in England." NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE RESTORATION. 169 Tliese were better terms than the commis- sioners had reason to expect, and were not in themselves objectionable, as Massachu- setts was growing beyond its early preju- dices ; but the acceptance of them would have implied an acknowledgment by the colony of the king's right to change its fun- damental law, and to interfere with its affairs at pleasure. Massachusetts was at once divided into two parties, the larger of which maintained the independence of the colony of royal control; the smaller party supported the claims of the king. Under other circum- stances no opposition would have been made to the toleration of the practices of the Church of England in the colony; but now that it seemed that episcopacy was to be in- troduced as the ally of the royal power, the people of Massachusetts resolved to prevent it from obtaining a foothold in their midsL The general court resolved to maintain their political independence, and their religious establishment as well. As a measure of pre- caution, the charter was secretly intrusted for safe-keeping to a committee of four, ap- pointed by the general court ; and it was ordered that only small bodies of officers and men should be allowed to land from ships, and should be required to yield a strict obedience to the laws of the province while on shore. Contempt for Puritan Customs. These last measures were adopted because of the appointment by the king of commis- sioners to regulate the affairs of New Eng- land. The commissioners reached Boston in July, 1664, escorted by the fleet sent out from England for the reduction of New Amsterdam. They were ordered to investi- gate the manner in which the charters of the New England colonies had been exercised, and had " full authority to provide for the peace of the country, according to the royal instructions, and their own discretion" — a. power which Massachusetts was justified in regarding as dangerous to her liberties. The People Redress their 'Wrongs. The commissioners cared very little foi the prejudices of the people of Massachu* setts, and from the first proceeded to outrag€ their feelings. They introduced the services of the Church of England into Boston to the great disgust of the people. The Puritans had alwaj's observed the old Jewish custom of beginning their Sabbath at sunset. The commissioners contemptuously disregarded this custom, and spent Saturday evening in merry-making. They soon gave cause for more serious alarm by exercising the powers with which they had been intrusted, and pro- ceeding to redress the grievances of the people. All persons who had complaints against Massachusetts were called upon to lay them before the commissioners, and Rhode Island and the Narragansett chiefs promptly availed themselves of the invita- tion. The general court now cut the matter short by a decisive step, and sternly ordered the commissioners to discontinue their pro- ceedings, as contrary to the charter. The commissioners obeyed theorder, and though the firmness of the colony aroused the indig- nation of the king, he was not able to shake the determination of a free people. Nor was this the only opposition shown by New England to the injustice of the mother countr>'. The navigation acts were generally disregarded; they could not be enforced; and Boston and the other New England ports continued to enjoy their grow- ing commerce as freely as before the passage of these infamous acts. Vessels from all the other colonies, and from France, Spain, Hol- land and Italy, as well as from England, were to be seen at all seasons in the port of Boston. SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. Massachusetts owned the greater number of vessels built and operated in America, and was the principal carrier for the other colonies. Its ships sailed to the most dis- tant lands beyond the sea, and the commerce of the colony was rapidly becoming a source of great wealth. So marked indeed was the prosperity of New England, that upon the receipt of the news of the great fire in Lon- don the colonists were able to send large sums to the assistance of the sufferers. The 14,000; Massachusetts, about 22,000; Maine, about 4,000 ; New Hampshire, about 4,000 ; Rhode Island, about 4,000. The settlements lay principally along the coast, from New Haven to the northeastern border of Maine. Little progress had been made towards pene trating the interior. Haverhill, Deerfield, Northfielc and Westfield were towns on the remote frontier. This rapid growth alarmed the Indians, who had already begun to regard the whites THEIR NATIVE FORESTS. people of New England were industrious and frugal. Villages multiplied rapidly, and wherever a village sprang up a common school accompanied it. The villages began to assume a more tasteful and pleasing ap- pearance, and men gave more care to the adornment and beautifying of their homes. The population of New England in 1675 has been estimated at about 55,000 souls, divided among the colonies as follows : Pl\-inouth, about 7,000; Connecticut, about as enemies bent on their destruction. Though there had been peace for forty years in New- England, the savages saw that the policy pursued by the settlers was meant to force them back from the lands of their fathers. The whites had gradually absorbed the best lands in New England, and the red men had been as gradually crowded down upon the narrow necks and bays of the southern shores of the Plymouth and Rhode Island colonics. This had been done in pursuance NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE RESTORATION. 171 of a settled policy, as the savages could be more carefully watched, and more easily managed in these localities than if left to roam at will over the country. The Indians on their part sullenly resented the course of the whites, and they had cause for complaint. They were ignorant of the art of cultivating the soil, and unwilling to practice it, and in their restricted limits it was difficult for them to obtain the means of supporting life. The game had been almost entirely driven from the forests, and the savages were forced to depend upon fish for their food ; and these were obtained in scanty and uncertain quan- tities. Thus the very success of New Eng- land was about to bring upon it the most serious misfortunes it had yet sustained. The Chief Entrapped. Massasoit, who had been the early friend of the English, left two sons at his death, Wamsuttaand Metacom, who had long been reckoned among the friends of the Plymouth colony. They were frequent visitors at Plymouth, and had received from the English the names of Alexander and Philip. At the death of Massasoit, Wamsutta, or Alexander, became chief of the Wampanoags. He and his brother Philip were men of more than ordinary abilities, and felt deeply the wrongs which were beginning to fall thickly upon their race. Uncas, the chief of the Mohe- gans, the determined enemy of Wamsutta, e.xerted himself, with success, to fill the minds of the English with suspicions of the intentions of the Wampanoag chieftain, and it was resolved to arrest him and bring him to Plymouth. Winslow was sent at the head of an armed force, and succeeded in surprising the chief in his hunting-lodge, together with eighty of his followers. The proud spirit of Wamsutta ch.ifcd with such fury at the indignity thus ■Jut upon him that he was seized with a dan- gerous fever, and the English were obliged to permit him to return home. " He died on his way," says Elliott. " He was carried home on the shoulders of men, and borne to his silent grave near Mount Hope, in the evening of the day, and in the prime of his life, between lines of sad, quick-minded Indians, who well believed him the victim of injustice and ingratitude ; for his father had been the ally, not the subject, of England, and so was he, and the like indignity had net before been put upon any sachem." By the death of his brother, Metacom, or Philip, became chief of the Wampanoags. He kept his own council, but the whites soon had cause to believe that he meditated a des- perate vengeance upon them for the death of Wamsutta and the wrongs of his race. To make the sense of injury deeper in his mind, the Plymouth authorities treated him with great harshness and compelled him to give- up his arms. A " praying Indian " who lived among his people informed the colonists that the chief meditated harm against them,, and his dead body was soon after found. Three of Philip's men were suspected of the murder. They were arrested, tried at Ply- mouth, and found guilty by a jury composed of whites and Indians, and were put to death. This was early in 1675. Cry for Revenge. The execution of these men awoke a wild thirst for revenge among the tribe to which :hey belonged, and the young warriors clam- ored loudly for war against the English. Philip, whose vigorous mind enabled him to judge more clearly of the issue of such a struggle, entered into the contest with reluct- ance, for he saw that it must end in the destruction of his race. He was powerless to resist the universal sentiment of his people, and like a true hero resolved to make the best of the situation in which he was placed, 172 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. and to share the fate of his nation. The Indians were tolerably well provided with fire-arms, for, in spite of the severe punish- ments denounced against the sale of weapons io the savages, the colonists had not been proof against the temptations of gain held out to them by this traffic. Their chief dependence, however, was upon their primitive weapons. The English, on the other hand, were well armed, and were provided with forts and towns which fur- nished them with secure places of refuge. KING PHILIP, They might have averted the war by concil- iating the savages, but they persisted in their unjust treatment of them, regarding them as "bloody heathen," who it was their duty to drive back into the wilderness. Philip was able to bring seven hundred desperate warriors into the field. They had no hope of success, and they fought only for vengeance. They knew every nook and hiding-place of the forest, and in these nat- ural defences could hope to continue the struggle as long as the leaves remamed on the trees to conceal their lurking-places from the white man's search. War Breaks Out. Immediately after the execution of the three Indians at Plymouth, Philip's men had begun to rob exposed houses and carrj' off cattle, but the war did not actually begin until the twenty-fourth of June, 1675, the day of fasting and prayer appointed by the gov- ernment as a preparation for the struggle. On that day the people of Swanzey, in Ply- mouth colony, while returning home from church, were attacked by the Wampanoags, and eight or nine were killed. Philip burst into tears when the news of this attack was brought to him, but he threw himself with energy into the hopeless struggle, now that it had come. Reinforcements were sent from Massachu- setts to the aid of the Plymouth colony, and on the twenty-ninth of June the united forces made an attack upon the Wampanoags, killed six or seven of their men and drove them to a swamp in which they took refuge. The English surrounded this swamp, determined to starve the Indians into submission, but Philip and his warriors escaped and took refuge among the Nipmucks, a small tribe occupying what is now Worcester county, Massachusetts. The English then aiarched into the territory of the Narragaiwetts and compelled them to agree to remain neutral, and to deliver up the fugitive Indians who should take refuge among them. This accomplished, the colonists hoped they had put an end to the war. Philip succeeded in inducing the Nipmucks to join him in the struggle, and his warriors began to hang around the English settle- ments. The whites were murdered wherever they ventured to expose themselves, and a feeling of general terror spread through the NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE RESTORATION. 173 % bl colonies. No one knew the extent of the hostility of the savage tribes, or how many allies Philip had gained ; nor was it certain when or where the next great blow of the savages would be struck. Strange Stories. Some of the colonists began to give way ;o superstitious fears. It was asserted that an Indian bow, a sign of impending evil, had been seen clearly defined against the heavens, and "^ that at the eclipse which occurred at this time the moon bore the figure 1 an Indian scalp on it face. The northern hea\ tii glowed with auroial liglit ofunusual brilliancy, ti l[ of phantom horsemen w ere heard to dash through the air; the sighing of them I wind was like the ^ 1 of whistling bullet the howling of the was fiercer and more stant than usual. The^e things, the superstitious declared, were \sarnmg', that the colonies were about to be seveiely pun ished for their sins, am >hich they named pi t swearing, the neglect ot bringing up their children in more rigid observances, the licensing of ale houses, and the wearing of long hair by the men, and of gay apparel by the women. The more extreme even declared that they were about to be "judged " for not exterminating the Quakers. In the meantime, Philip, with a party of Nipmucks and his own people, carried the 1\ ' , ^ ^ i^,i^-^ C^^ MKS. KOWLANDSON CAPTURED BY THE INDIANS. 175 1/6 sentenced to death, answered proudly : " I like it well ; I shall die before I speak any- thing unworthy of myself." In the spring of 1676, Philip, who had been to the west to endeavor to induce the Mohawks to join the war against the Eng- lish, returned to place himself at the head of his countrymen in New England. The work of murdering and burning was resumed with renewed fury. The Indians seem.ed to be everywhere and innumerable, and the whites could find safety only in their forts. The surviving Narragansetts scourged the Rhode Island and Plymouth colonies with fire and axe, and even the aged Roger Williams was obliged to take up arms for the defence of his home. Lancaster, Medford, Weymouth, Groton, Springfield, Sudbury and Marl- borough, in Massachusetts, and Providence and Warwick, in Rhode Island, were de- stroyed either wholly or in part, and numer- ous other settlements were attacked and made to suffer more or less severely. Mother and Child Woanded. Among the prisoners carried away by the savages was Mrs. Rowlandson, wife of the resident minister, and her little girl six years old. A single bullet fired during the attack wounded both mother and child. With that devotion which is part of the nature of a mother, she carried and nursed the little one for nine days, when it died in her arms. The parent endured many hardships, and was a captive among the Indians for three months, when she was ransomed for twenty pounds. As the season advanced the cause of the Indians became more hopeless, and they began to quarrel among themselves. In June the Nipmucks submitted, and the tribes on the Connecticut refused to shelter Philip any longer. He then appealed to the Mohawks to take up the hatchet, but seeing that his cause was hopeless, they refused to join SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. him. In proud despair Philip went back to Mount Hope to die. One of his people urged him to make peace with the whites, and was struck dead by the chief for daring to mention such a humiliation. "I Am Ready to Die!" It became known that Philip had returned to his old home, and Captain Church marched against him, dispersed his followers, and took the chiefs wife and little son pris- oners. Philip, who had borne the reverses and the reproaches of his nation with the firmness of a hero, was conquered by this misfortune. " My heart breaks," he cried, despairingly, " I am ready to die ! " He was soon attacked by Church in his place of concealment, and in attempting to escape was shot by an Indian who was serving in the ranks of his enemies. Philip's little son was sold as a slave in Bermuda, and the grandson of Massasoit, who had welcomed and befriended the English, was condemned to pass his days in bondage in a foreign clime. The death of Philip was soon followed by the close of hostilities. The power of the Indians was completely broken. Of the Narragansetts scarcely one hundred men were left alive, and the other tribes had suf- fered severely. The Mohegans had remained faithful to the English, and Connecticut had been happily spared the sufferings experi- enced by the other colonies, which were very severe. Twelve or thirteen towns were destroyed, and many others were seriously crippled. Six hundred houses were burned, and the pecuniary losses amounted to the then enormous sum of half a million of dollars. Over six hundred men, chiefly young men, fell in the war, and there was scarcely a family which did not mourn some loved one who had given his life for the country. NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE RESTORATION. lf» all their distress the colonies received no aid from England. The mother country left them to fight out their struggle of life and death alone. The English people and government were indifferent to their fate. One generous Non-conformist church in Dublin sent a contribution of five hundred pounds to the sufferers. This relief was gratefully acknowledged; but to the credit of New England it should be remembered that her colonies never asked assistance from England. The king was very careful, however, to exact every penny he could wring from the colonies, and towards the close of the Indian war established a royal custom-house at Boston for the collection of duties. Duties were imposed upon the com- merce of the colonies, and the royal govern- ment endeavored to enforce their payment by threatening to refuse the New England ships the protection which enabled them to escape the outrages of the African pirates of the Mediterranean. The province of Maine had been restored by Charles II. to the heirs of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, and in 1677 Massachusetts pur- chased their claims for the sum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds, and thus confirmed her possession of the region between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec. The region between the Kennebec and the Penobscot was held by the Duke of York, and that from the Penobscot to the St. Croi.x was occupied by the French. In July, 1679, King Charles detached New Hampshire from Massachusetts, and organ- ized it as a royal province; the first ever erected in New England. The province at once asserted its rights, and a controversy was begun with the crown, which was con- tinued for several years. The people resisted the effort to force upon them the observances of the English church, and the collection of taxes assessed by the royal officials, and ^77 Cranfield, the royal governor, finding it impossible to continue his arbitrary rule, wrote to the British government, " I shall esteem it the greatest happiness in the world to remove from these unreasonable people. They cavil at the royal commission, and nol at my person. No one will be accepted by them who puts the king's commands :a' execution." Conflict With the King. In the last years of his reign Charles II. made a determined effort to destroy the charter of Massachusett.s. Commissioners were sent by the colony to England to endeavor to defend its rights, but the royal government was resolved upon its course, and the people of Massachusetts were equally determined not to consent to the surrender of their liberties. At length, in 1684, the general court having in the name of the people distinctly refused to make a surrender of the charter to the king, the English courts declared the charter forfeited. A copy of the judgment was sent to Boston, and was received there on the second of July, 1685. The colony was full of appre- hension. The charter under which it had grown and prospered, and which secured its liberties to it without the interference of the crown, had been stricken down by the sub- servient courts of the mother country, and there was now no defence between the liber- ties of Massachusetts and the arbitrary will of the king, who had given the colony good cause to fear his hostility. James II. came to the English throne in 1685. He was even more hostile to New England than his brother Charles. He was a bigoted Roman CathoHc, and was resolved to introduce that faith, not only into Eng- land, but also into the colonies. He attempted to accomplish this by proclaiming an indul- gence or toleration of all creeds. .A.s he 178 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. dared not proceed openly to violate his cor- onation oath, he hoped by this underhanded scheme to place his own religion upon such a footing in England that he would soon be in a position to compel its adoption by his subjects. He had greatly mistaken the temper of both England and America. Joseph Dudley, who had been sent to England as one of the agents of Massachu- V, ^ SIR EDMUND ANDROS. •etts in the last controversy between the colony and King Charles, now found it to his interest to become as ardent a defender as he had formerly been an opponent of the royal prerogative, and James finding him a willing abettor of his designs, appointed him president of Massachusetts until a royal governor should arrive, for the king was resolved to take away the charters of all th^ colonies and make them royal provinces. At the same time, being determined to curtail the liberty of the press, the king appointed Edward Randolph its censor. Dudley- was regarded by the people as the betrayer of the liberties of his country, and both he and Randolph were cordially despised by them. The king in appointing Dudley made no provision for an assembly or general court, as he meant to govern the colonies without reference to the people. He regarded the American pro- vinces as so many possessions of the crown, possessed of no rights, and entitled to no privi- leges save what he chose to allow them. In pursuance of this plan, Sir Edmund Andros, whom the king had appointed governor of New York, was made governor-gen- eral of all New England. He reached Boston in December, i6S6. Dudley was made chief justice, and Randolph colonial secretary. The governor-general was empowered by the king to appoint his own council, impose such taxes as he should think . ■' fit, command the militia of the colonies, enforce the naviga- tion acts, prohibit printing, and establish episcopacy in New England ; and in order to enable him to enforce his will, two companies of soldiers were sent over with him and quartered in Boston. Thus were the liberties of New England placed at the mercy of a tyrant, and thus was inaugu- rated a despotism the most galling that was ever imposed upon men of English descent. NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE RESTORATION. 179 Andros promptly put in force a series of the most arbitrary measures. The public schools, which had been fostered with such care by the colonial governments, were allowed to fall into decay. The support which had been granted to the churches was withdrawn. The people were forbidden to assemble for the discussion of any public matter, though they were allowed the poor privilege of electing their town officers. The form of oath in use in New England was an appeal to Heaven with uplifted hand. The governor now ordered the substitution of a form which required the person to place his hand on the Bible. This was particularly repugnant to the Puritans, who regarded it as a " Popish practice." Probate fees were increased twenty-fold. The holders of lands were told that their titles were invalid because obtained under a charter which had been declared forfeited. Tyrannical Proceedings. No person was allowed to leave the colony without a pass signed by the governor. The Puritan magistrates and ministers were refused authority to unite persons in mar- riage. The clergyman of the Church of England, stationed at Boston, was the only person in New England who could perform a legal marriage. Episcopacy was formally established, and the people were required to build a church for its uses. At the com- mand of the king, a tax of a penny in the pound, and a poll-tax of twenty pence, was imposed upon every person in the colony. Some of the towns had the boldness to refuse to pay this tax, and John Wise, the minister of Ipswich, advised his fellow- tuwnsmen to resist it. He and a number of others were arrested and fined. When they pleaded their privileges under the laws of England, they were told by one of the coun- cil: "You have no privilege left you but not to be sold as slaves." " Do you think," asked one ot the judges, " that the laws of England follow you to the ends of the earth ? " The iniquitous exactions of Andros and his associates threatened the country with ruin. When the magistrates mentioned this, they were told, " It is not for his majesty's interest you should thrive." " The governor invaded liberty and property after such a manner," wrote Increase Mather, " as no man could say anything was his own." The Old " Charter Oak." The other colonies came in for their share of bad treatment. Soon after he reached Boston, Andros demanded of the authorities of Rhode Island the surrender of their char- ter. Governor Clarke declined to comply with this demand, and Andros went to Providence, broke the seal of the colony, and declared its government dissolved. He appointed a com- mission irresponsible to the people for the government of Rhode Island, and then had the effrontery to declare that the people of that colony were satisfied with what he had done. In October, Andros went to Connecticut with an armed guard to take possession of the government of that colony. He reached Hartford on the thirty-first of the month, and found the legislature in session, and de- manded ot that body the surrender of the charter. The discussion was prolonged until evening, and then candles were brought, and the charter was placed on the table. Sud- denly the lights were extinguished, and when they were relighted the charter could not be found. It had been secured by Joseph Wadsworth of Hartford, and carried to the southern part of the city, where it was con- cealed in a hollow oak tree, which was after- wards known as the " Charter Oak." Andros, furious at the disappearance of the charter, was not to be balked of his purpose i8o SETTLEMENT of seizing the colonial government, and taking the record book of the assembly, he wrote the word "Finis" at the end of the last day's proceedings. He then declared the colonial government at an end, and proceeded to administer the affairs of the province in the spirit in which he had governed Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The people of New England had borne these outrages with a patience which no one had expected of them. They were a law- abiding people, and wished to exhaust all legal means of redress before proceeding to extreme measures for their protection ; but THE CHARTER OAK. the party in favor of driving Andros and his fellow-plunderers out of the country was rapidly growing stronger, and it was not certain how much longer the policy of for- bearance would be continued. Increase Mather was appointed to go to England and endeavor to procure a redress of the grievances of the colonies. It was a danger- ous mission, for the king was in full sympa- thy with the men whom he had placed over the liberties of New England. It was also difficult to leave America without the knowl- edge of Andros and his colleagues, but Mather succeeded in escaping their vigilance, and was on his way to the old world when OF AMERICA. relief arrived from a most unexpected quarter. The efforts of James to bring about the re-establishment of the Roman Catholic religion in England roused the whole Eng- lish nation against him. and in 1689 the nation invited William, Prince of Orange^ the husband of James' eldest daughter. Mary, to come over to England and assume the throne. James, left without any adher- ents, fled to France, and William and Mary were securely seated upon the throne. The news of the landing of William in England and the flight of King James reached Boston on the fourth of April, 1689. The messenger was at once imprisoned by Andros, but his tidings soon became known to the citizens. On the morning of the eight- eenth the people of Boston took up arms, and having secured the person of the com- mander of the royal frigate in the harbor, seized the royalist sheriff Sent to England for Trial. The militia were assembled, and Andros and his companions were obliged to take refuge in the fort. Simon Bradstreet, the governor who had held office at the time of the abrogation of the charter, was called upon by the people to resume his post, and the old magistrates were reinstated and organized as a council of safety. Andros and his creatures attempted to escape to the frigate, but were prevented and were com- pelled to surrender. The next day rein- forcements came pouring into Boston from the other settlements, and the fort was taken and the frigate mastered. Town meetings were now held throughout the colony, and it was voted to resume the former charter. The people were almost unanimous in favor of this course, but the counsels of a nrore timid minority prevailed, and the council, which had appointed itself to the control o\ NEW ENGLAND AFTER THE RESTORATIOX. iSi affairs, decided to solicit a new charter from William and Mar\'. A general court was con\-ened on the twenty-second of May. The people of the colony were anxious that Andres, Dudley and Randolph should receive prompt punishment for their offences, but ;he authorities wisely determined to send ihem to England for trial. Plymouth, upon receipt of the news from Boston, seized the agent of Andros, impris- oned him, and re-established the government which Andros had overthrown, under the constitution signed on board the " May- flower." There were none of the old Pil- grim fathers living to witness this event, but their children were none the less determined to maintain unimpaired the liberties they had inherited from them. The Charter Safe. Rhode Island promptly resumed her charter and reinstated the officers whom Andros had displaced. Connecticut, upon hearing of the downfall of the governor- general, brought out her charter from its hiding place, and restored the old officers to their positions. Thus the work of James II. was over- thrown, and the destinies of New England were once more in the hands of her own people. The generation that had settled New England had nearly all been gathered to their rest, and their children were in some respects different from the fathers. They had learned lessons of toleration, and had acquired many of the refining graces that the elder Puritans regarded as mere vanity. They retained, however, the earnest and lofty virtues which had made the first gen- eration superior to hardships and trials of all kinds, and which had enabled them in the face of every discouragement to lay the foundations of the great commonwealths which to-day cherish their memories as their most precious legacies. The fathers of New England richly merited the honor which succeeding generations have delighted to bestow upon their memories. However they may have erred, they were men who earnestly sought to do right in all things, and who did their duty fearlessly according to the light before them. In the first generation we have noticed an extraordinary degree of influence exerted by the ministers. This was due to no desire of the Puritans to connect church and state, but was owing to the fact that the ministers represented the best educated and most in- tellectual class of that day, and the people regarded them as the best qualified guides in the community. As New England ad- vanced in prosperity her schools and col- leges were able to turn out numbers of edu- cated men, who embraced the other learned professions, and divided the influence with the ministers. New England always chose its leaders from among its most intelligent men, and its people alwaj-s yielded a willing homage to the claims of intellect At the downfall of Andros there were about two hundred thousand white inhabi- tants in the English colonies of North America. Of these, Massachusetts, includ- ing Plymouth and Maine, had about forty- four thousand; New Hampshire and Rhode Island about six thousand each ; Connecticut about twenty thousand; making the total population of New England about seventy- si.x thousand. CHAPTER XV Witchcraft in Massachusetts Result* of the /"ailure of Massachusetts to Resume her Charter— The New Charter— Loss of the Liberties of the Colon) — Unioa of Plymouth with Massachusetts Bay— Behef in Witchcraft— The History of Witchcraft in Massachusetts— The Case of the Goodwin Children— Cotton Mather Espouses the Cause of the Witches— Samuel Parris— He Origi- nates the Salem Delusion— A Strange Histor)-- A Special Court Appointed for the Trial of the Witches— The Victims —Execution of the Rev. George Burroughs — Cotton Mather's Part in the Tragedies — The General Co^rt takes Action in Behalf of the People — End of the Persecution — Failure of Cotton Mather's Attempt to Save his Credit. THE decision of the magistrates of Massachusetts to disregard the wishes of a majority of the people of the colony, who desired an imme- diate restoration of the government under the old charter, and to wait for a new charter from William and Mary, gave great offence to the popular party. Had the wish of this party been complied with, Massachusetts might have recovered every liberty and priv- ilege of which she had been deprived by King James. Increase Mather distinctly declares that " had they at that time entered upon the full exercise of their charter government, as their undoubted right, wise men in England were of opinion that they might have gone on without disturbance." The self-constituted government hesitated, however, and the op- portunity was lost. When the convention of the people met, in May, 1689, they refused to acknowledge the council that had taken charge of affairs upon the downfall of Andros, and demanded that the governor, deputy governor and assist- ants elected in 1686 should be restored to office. The council refused to comply with this demand, and the matter was referred to the people, who sustained their representa- tives. A compromise was effected, and the council agreed to permit the officers of 1686 to resume their places until instructions could be received from England. Agents were 182 sent to England to solicit a restoration of the charter, and their appeal was supported by the English Presbyterians with great unani- mity. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury urged the king " not to take away from the people of New England any of the privileges which Charles I. had granted them," In spite of the pressure exerted upon him in behalf of the colony, King William granted to Massachusetts a charter which placed the liberties of the province so entirely at the mercy of the crown that the colonial agent refused to accept it. There was no help for it, however, and the charter became the fundamental law of Massachusetts. Under the old charter the governor of Mas- sachusetts had been elected annually by the votes of the freemen ; he was now to be appointed by the king and to serve during the royal pleasure. He was given power to summon the general court, and to adjourn or dissolve that body. The election of magistrates of all kinds, which had been confided to the people by the old charter, was taken from them, and henceforth these officials were to be appointed by the governor with the consent of th< council. The old charter had made the decision of the colonial courts final ; the new permitted appeals from these tribunals to the privy council in England. The old charter had given to the general court fulJ WITCHCRAFT IN MASSACHUSETTS. 183 powers of legislation; the new confeired upon the governor the right to veto any of its measures, and reserved to the crown the power of cancelHng any act of colonial legislation within three years after its pass- age. The council was at first appointed oy the king, but was subsequently elected by the joint ballot of the two branches of the gen- eral court. To compensate the people for the loss of their political power the king- greatly enlarged the limits of the colony. Massachusetts and Ply- mouth were united in one province, the name of the former being given to the whole. The Eli- zabeth Islands were also added to the province, and its northern bound- ary was extended to the St. Lawrence. Toleration was granted to every religious sect except the Roman Catholics. New Hampshire was separ- ated from the jurisdic- tion of IMassachusetts and made a separate province ; but Maine and the vast wilderness beyond it were confirmed io the Bay colony. The charter bore tlie date of October 7, 1691. Upon the nomination of Increase Mather, one of the colonial agents. Sir William Phipps, a native of New England, a well-meaning but incompetent man, who was in religious matters strongly inclined to superstition, was appointed governor of Massachusetts, Will- iam Stoughton, " a man of cold affections, proud, self-willed, and covetous of distinction" — a man universally hated by the people- was appointed deputy governor to please Cotton Mather. The members of the council THE REV. CO'lTON MATHER. were chosen entirely for their devotion "tt the interests of the churches." While these matters were in progress of settlement, there occurred in Massachusetts one of the most singular delusions recorded 1 84 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. in history', and which was in some respects the last expiring eiTort of ecclesiastical am- bition to control the politicil affairs of the colony. The clergy had always sought in New England, as in other lands, to fight their political enemies with spiritual weapons. They now carried this to an extreme which taught the people of New England a lesson that was not soon forgotten. Witches and Witchcraft. The belief in witchcraft has not been con- fined to any single nation, and at this time was common to America and Europe. " The people did not rally to the error; they accepted the superstition only because it had not yet been disengaged from religion." It was believed that as Christians were united with God by a solemn covenant, so were witches leagued with the devil by a tie which, once formed, they could not dissolve. Those who thus placed themselves in the arch- fiend's power were used by him as instru- ments to torment their fellow-men. They were given power to annoy them by pinch- ing them, thrusting invisible pins into them, pulling their hair, afflicting them with disease, killing their cattle and chickens with myste- rious ailments, upsetting their wagons and carts; and by practising upon them many other puerile and ludicrous tricks. The witches generally exerted their arts upon those whom they hated, but it was a matter of doubt how many persons were included in their dislikes. One of the most popular superstitions was that of the •'Witches' sacrament," a gathering at which the devil, in the form of " a small black man," presided, and required his followers to renounce their Christian baptism and to sign their names in his book. They were then re-baptised by the devil, and the meet- ing was closed with horrid rites which varied in different narratives according to the im- agination of the relators. The belief in the existence of witchcraft was held by some of the leading minds of this period. Sir Matthew Hale, Lord Chief Justice of England, was firmly convinced of the truth of the doctrine, and it was advo cated by many of the clergy of England. In New England the clergy held it to be heresy to deny the existence of witches, which, they claimed was clearly taught in the Scriptures. It was evidently to their interest to maintain this belief, as it made them the chief authorities in such cases, and furnished them with a powerful weapon against their adversaries. Devils and Wizards. By the early settlers of New England the Indians were supposed to be worshipers of the devil, and their medicine-men to be wizards. Governor Hutchinson, in his " History of Massachusetts," thus sums up the cases of supposed witchcraft that had occurred in the colony previous to the time or which we are now writing : " The first suspicion of witchcraft among the English was about the year 1645, at Springfield, upon Connecticut River ; several persons were supposed to be under an evil hand, and among the rest two of the min- ister's children. Great pains were taken to prove the facts upon several of the persons charged with the crime, but either the nature of the evidence was not satisfactory, or the fraud was suspected, and so no person was convicted until the year 1650, when a poor wretch, Mary Oliver, probably weary of her life from the general reputation of being a witch, after long examination, was brought to confession of her guilt, but I do not find that she was executed. " Whilst this inquiry was making, Mar- garet Jones was executed at Charlestown ; and Mr. Hale mentions a woman at Dor- chester, a.id anotlier at Cambridge about the WITCHCR.'^FT IN MASSACHUSETTS. 185 same time, who all at their death asserted their innocence. Soon after, Hugh Parsons was tried at Springfield, and escaped death. In 1655 Mrs. Hibbins, the assistant's widow, was hanged at Boston. " In 1662, at Hartford, in Connecticut, one Ann Cole, a young woman who lived next door to a Dutch family, and no doubt had learned something of the language, was supposed to be possessed with demons, who sometimes spoke Dutch and sometimes English, and sometimes a language which nobody understood, and who held a con- ference with one another. Several ministers who were present took down the conference in writing and the names of several per- sons, mentioned in the course of the con- ference, as actors or bearing parts in it , par- ticularly a woman, then in prison upon suspicion of witchcraft, one Greensmith, who upon examination, confessed and appeared to be surprised at the discovery. She owned that she and the others named had been familiar with a demon, who had carnal knowledge of her, and although she had not made a formal covenant, yet she had promised to be ready at his call, and was to have had a high frolic at Christmas, when the agreement was to have been signed. Upon this confession she was executed, and two more of the company were condemned. In 1669 Susanna Martin, of Salisbury, was bound over to the court upon suspicion of witchcraft, but escaped at that time. A Fortunate Escape. "In 1671 Elizabeth Knap, another vcn- triloqua, alarmed the people of Groton in much the same manner as Ann Cole had done those of Hartford ; but her demon was not so cunning, for, instead of confining him- self to old women, he railed at the good minister of the town and other people of good character, and the people could not then be prevailed on to believe him, but believed the girl when she confessed that she had been deluded, and that the devil had tormented her in the shape of good persons ; so she escaped the punishment due to her fraud and imposture. " In 1673 Eunice Cole, of Hampton, was tried, and the jury found her not legally guilty, but that there were strong grounds to suspect her of familiarity with the devil. An Invisible Hand. " In 1679 William Morse's house, at New- bury, was troubled with the throwing of bricks, stones, etc., and a boy of the family was supposed to be bewitched, who accused, one of the neighbors; and in 1682 the house of George Walton, a Quaker, at Portsmouth, and another at Salmon Falls (in New Hamp- shire), were attacked after the same manner. " In 1683 the demons removed to Con- necticut River again, where one Desborough's house was molested by an invisible hand, and a fire kindled, nobody knew how, which burnt up a great part of his estate; and in \tZ\ Philip Smith, a judge of the court, a military officer and a representative of the town of Hadley, upon the same river (a hypochondriac person), fancied himself under an evil hand, and suspected a woman, one of his neighbors, and languished and pined away, and was generally supposed to be be- witched to death. While he lay ill, a num- ber of brisk lads tried an experiment upon the old woman. Having dragged her out of her house, they hung her up until she was near dead, let her down, rolled her some time in the snow, and at last buried her in it and left her there, but it happened that she survived and the melancholy man died." These cases, which were not generally regarded in the enlightened spirit of the writer we have quoted, served to confirm the common belief in witchcraft. Incnase Mather published a wafcty, thus adding to the population of that town. Minuits was recalled in 1632 and left the province in a prosperous condition. During the last year of his government New Amsterdam sent over g6o,000 worth of furs to Holland. The Renowned Van Twiller. Minuits was succeeded by Wouter Van Twiller, a clerk in the company's warehouse at Amsterdam, who owed his appointment to his being the husband of the niece of Killian Van Rensselaer, thcpatroon of Alba- ny. Irving has thus sketched this redoubt- able governor : " He was exactly five feet six inches in height, and six feet five inches in circumference. His head was a perfect sphere, and of such stupendous dimensions that dame Nature, with ail her sex's ingenu- ity, would have been puzzled to construct a neck capable of supporting it ; wherefore she wisely declined the attempt, and settled it firmly on top of his back-bone just between the shoulders. His body was oblong and particularly capacious at bottom, which was wisely ordered by Providence, seeing that he was a man of sedentary habits and very averse to the idle labor of walking. "A Beer Barrel on Skids.*' " His legs were very short, but sturdy in proportion to the weight they had to sustain ; so that, when erect, he had not a little the appearance of a beer barrel on skids. His face — that infallible index of the mind — pre- sented a vast expanse, unfurrowed by any of those lines and angles which disfigure the human countenance with what is termed expression. Two small gray eyes twinkled feebly in the midst, like two stars of lesser magnitude in a hazy firmament ; and his full- fed cheeks, which seemed to have taken toll of everything that went into his mouth, were curiously mottled and streaked with dusky red, like a Spitzenberg apple. His habits were as regular as his person. He daily took his four stated meals, appropriating exactly an hour to each ; he smoked and doubted eight hours, and he slept the remaining twelve of the four-and-twenty." Van Twiller ruled the province seven years, and, in spite of his stupidity, it prospered. In 1633, Adam Roelantsen, the first school- master, arrived — for the fruitful Walloons had opened the way by this time for his labors — and in the same year a wooden church was built in the present Bridge Street, and placed in charge of the famous Dominie Everardus Bogardus. In i635,the fort, which marked the site of the present Bowling Green.and which had been begun in 1614, was finished, and in the same year the first English settlers at New Amsterdam came into the town. The English in New England also began to give the Dutch trouble during this admin- THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. istration, and even sent a ship into " Hud- son's Riv-er " to trade with the Indians. In- fluenced by De Vrics, the commander of the fort, the governor sent an expedition up the river after the audacious English vessel, seized her, brought her back to New York, and sent her to sea with a warning not to repeat her attempt. The disputes between the Enghsh and the Dutch about the Con- necticut settlements also began to make trouble for New Amsterdam. Van Twiller possessed no influence in the colony, was laughed at and snubbed on every side, and was at length recalled by the company in 1638. The only memorial of Van Twiller left to us is the Isle of Nuts, which lies in the bay between New York and Brooklyn, and which he purchased as his private domain. It is still called the " Governor's Island." Van Twiller was succeeded by William Kieft, a man of greater abilities, but unscru- pulous and avaricious. He had become a bankrupt in Holland, and hoped to find in America the means of restoring his fortunes. His administration of the province was full of troubles, the greater part of which were due to his recklessness and rapacity. Mohawk Braves. The colonists were forbidden to sell fire- arms to the Indians, but some of the traders along the Hudson had violated this order, and it was estimated that the Mohawks had at least four hundred warriors armed with muskets. They were willing to pay large prices for the guns, as these weapons enabled them to meet on equal terms their enemies, the Canada Indians, who had been armed by the French. During Van Twiller's admin- istration the colony had been on good terms with the Mohegans and other tribes of the Algonquin race, who were generally known as the river Indians. Kieft, soon after his arrival, demanded of them the payment of a tribute, which he pretended he had been ordered by the company to levy upon them. They refused his demand with contempt, and from this time the friendship which they had entertained for the Dutch began to disappear. A year or two later the Raritans, a tribe living on the river of that name, were accused of stealing some hogs from the colony. The animals had been taken by some Dutch traders ; but Kieft, instead of investigating the matter, sent a party of soldiers among the Raritans and destroyed their corn and killed several of their number. The savages determined upon revenge, and with their usual unreasoning fury attacked the settle- ment which De Vries — who was always a friend of the Indians — had founded on Staten Island, and killed four men. The people of the colony now urged the governor to con- ciliate the savages by kind treatment, but he refused to do so. An Avenger of Blood. Another cause of trouble soon arose. Twenty years before a Dutch trader had killed an Indian chief in the presence of d little nephew of the warrior. That child, now grown to manhood, came into the colony in 1 64 1, and avenged his uncle by killing an innocent settler. Kieft ordered the Indians to surrender the young man that he might be punished for his crime ; but the savages refused to give him up, but offered to ransom him. Kieft refused their proposition, and the matter remained an open source of trouble. With the hope of finding a remedy for the Indian difficulty, the people obtained from the governor, in 1642, permission to hold ;i meeting of the heads of families at New Amsterdam. These appointed twelve of thei: numberto investigate the affairs of the colony. This was the first representative assembly of New Netherland, and its career was short. 202 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. Venturing to pass beyond the Indian ques- tion, and to criticise the administration of the governor in other matters, it was dissolved. Near the end of the year 1642 the Mohawks sent a band of warriors armed with muskets to demand tribute of the river tribes. These, too weak to contend with their enemies, fled to the Dutch for protection. Kieft was at this time angry with the Indians for refusing to surrender to him one of their number who had killed a Dutchman who had made him drunk and then ill-treated him, and he resolved to take a signal vengeance upon them, and exterminate them. De Vries, to 'vhom he communicated his plan, remon- strated with him in the hope of inducing him to abandon it. "If j'ou murder these poo/ creatures who have put themselves und«;i- your protection, you will involve the whole colony in ruin, and their blood, and the blood of your own people, will be required at your hands," said De Vries. Nothing, however, could move the governor from his purpose. Attack Upon the Savages. The Indians who had sought the protec- tion of the Dutch were encamped with the Hackensack tribe just above Hoboken. On the night of the twenty -fifth of February, the garrison of the fort at New Amsterdam, rein- forced by the crews of some Dutch privateers in the river, crossed the Hudson and attacked the unsuspecting savages. Nearly a hundred were killed, and when the morning came many of the poor wretches were seen crowd- ing along the shore of the river in the vain attempt to cross over to their supposed friends at New Amsterdam. They were forced into the stream and drowned. A company of Indians, trusting to the friendship of the Dutch, had encamped on Manhattan Island, near the fort. They were put to death almost to a man. The massacre was regarded by the colo- nists with horror and detestation, and they took no part in the joy with which the gov- ernor greeted the troops on their return from their bloody work. He was not allowed to rejoice long, however. When it became known among the Algonquins that their brethren had been murdered, not by the Mo- hawks, but by the Dutch, every tribe took up the hatchet to avenge them, and a general warfare began along the entire line of the Dutch settlements. Several villages were destroyed, and a number of settlers were mur- dered or carried into captivity. The colony was threatened with ruin, and Kieft was obliged to open negotiations for peace. It was in this war that Mrs. Anne Hutchinson and her family, who had taken refuge in the territory of the Dutch, were murdered by the savages. Treaty of Peace Negotiated. On the fifth of March, 1643, a conference was held at Rockaway, between sixteen Indian chiefs and De Vries and two other envoys from the colony. One of the principal sachems arose, holding in his hands a bundle of small sticks. "When you first arrived on our shores," said the Indian, addressing the whites, " you were destitute of food. We gave you our beans and our corn , we fed you with oysters and fish ; and now, for our recom- pense, you murder our people." He then laid down one of the little sticks and pro- ceeded : " The traders whom your first ships left on our shores to traffic till their return, were cherished by us as the apple of our eye We gave them our daughters for their wives Among those whom you have murderec were children of j'our own blood." " I know all," said De Vries, interrupting his recital of wrongs. He then invited the chiefs to go with him to the fort. They accompanied him to New Amsterdam, where THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 203 presents were exchanged and a treaty of peace negotiated. The younger warriors were not satisfied. Kieft's presents were niggardly. They were not regarded by the savages as a sufilkient compensation for the wrongs they had suffered, and the war was renewed. The leader of the Dutch in this cam- paign ivas Captain John Underhill, who had served in the Pequod war in New England, and had removed to New Amsterdam in conse- quence of ha\ ing been made to do penance in public at Boston in 1640. The war con- tinued for two years, and though the col- ony suffered severely, the Dutch were able to inflict such heavy losses upon the sav- ages that the latter were at length as anxious for peace as the whites. Sixteen hundred of the In- dians had fallen, but the colony had been brought to the verge of ruin, and the popu- lation of New Ams- terdam was reduced to one hundred souls. On the thirtieth of August, 1645, the chiefs of the Algonquins and a deputation from their old enemies, the Mohawks, who came as mediators, met the whites on the spot now known as the Battery, and concluded a peace. The close of the war was hailed with re- ioici gs throughout the colony. Kieft was regarded with universal hatred as the author of the terrible sufferings of the struggle, and his barbarous conduct was censured and disavowed by the company, and he was recalled. Hated throughout the colony, ha at Icneth determined to return to Euroofe PETER STUVVESANT. Freighting a vessel with his ill-gotten gains, he sailed from Manhattan in 1647. As he neared the shores of the old world his ship was wrecked on the coast of Wales, and all on board perished. Kieft, in the vain hope of conciliating the people, appointed, immediately after the 204 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. close of the war, a new municipal council of eight members. The first act of this council was to demand of the States General of Hol- land the removal of Kieft. Their demand was complied with, as we have seen, and in 1647 Peter Stuyvesant was made governor of New Netherlands, and reached New Am- sterdam in the same year. " Vain as a Peacock.' Stuyvesant was essentially a strong man. A soldier by education and of long experi- ence, he was accustomed to regard rigid •discipline as the one thing needful in every relation of life, and he was not slow to intro- duce that system into his government of New Amsterdam. He had served gallantly in the wars against the Portuguese, and had lost a leg in one of his numerous encounters with them. He was as vain as a peacock, as fond of display as a child, and thoroughly imbued with the most aristocratic ideas — qualities not exactly the best for a governor of New Amsterdam. Yet he was, with all his faults, an honest man, he had deeply at heart the interests of the colony, and his ad- ministration was mainly a prosperous one. He energetically opposed from the first all manifestations in favor of popular govern- ment. His will was to be the law of the province. " If any one," said he, " during my administration shall appeal, I will make him a foot shorter, and send the pieces to Holland, and let him appeal in that way." He went to work with vigor to reform mat- ters in the colony, extending his efforts to even the morals and domestic affairs of the people. He soon brought about a reign of material prosperity greater than had ever been known before, and e.xerted himself to check the encroachments of the English on the east, and the Swedes on the south. He inaugurated a policy of kindness and justice toward the Indians, and soon changed their enmity to sincere friendship. One thing, however, he dared not do — he could not levy taxes upon the people without their consent, for fear of offending the States Gen- eral of Holland. This forced him to appoint a council of nine prominent citizens, and, although he endeavored to hedge round their powers by numerous conditions, the nine ever afterwards served as a salutary check upon the action of the governor. Opposition to Stuyvesant. The English in Connecticut made great efforts to extend their territories westward at the expense of New Netherland, and gave Stuyvesant no little annoyance by their aggressions. During his administration the colony received large accessions of English emigrants from New England, who came to New Netherland " to enjoy that liberty de- nied to them by their own countrymen." They settled in New Amsterdam, on Long Island, and in Westchester County. Being admitted to an equality with the Dutch set- tlers, they exercised considerable influence in the affairs of the colony, and towards the close of his administration gave the governor considerable trouble by their opposition to his despotic acts. Stuyvesant entered into an arrangement with Connecticut for the proper adjustment of the boundaries of the two colonies, and left the English in posses- sion of half of Long Island. Upon his removal from his place as gover- nor of New Amsterdam Peter Minuits offered his services to Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, who was anxious to found in America a colony which might prove a place of refuge for the persecuted Protestants of Europe. The offer was accepted by the king, and the shores of the Delaware were chosen as the site of the new settlement. Near the close of 1637 a little company of Swedes and Fins embarked in two vessels THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. 205 under the direction of Minuits.and saikd f( America. The Delaware was reached carl in 1638, and the new-comers purchased from the natives the country on the west side of the river from Cape Henlopen to Trenton. A fort was built within the limits of the present state of Delaware, on the site of the present city of Wilmington, and named Fort Christiana, in honor of the youthful queen of Sweden, the daughter of Gustavus. Swedish Immigrants. Kieft, the Dutch governor of New Nether- land, protested against this occupation of the country by the Swedes, as Holland claimed the region along the Delaware. Sweden was too formidable a power for her colony to be attacked, however, and Kieft contented him- self with his protest. Fresh emigrants came out from Scandinavia, and New Sweden grew rapidly. The Dutch Fort Nassau was re- newed, but the Swedes succeeded in main- taining their ascendency along the Delaware in spite of it. Their plantations were extended along the river, and the smallest of the American commonwealths was per- manently settled by Europeans. When Stuyvesant w^as made governor of New Netherland the Dutch West India Com- pany resolved to enforce their claim to Delaware, and in 165 1 built Fort Casimir on the site of Newcastle. The Swedes regarded this as an encroachment upon their domain, and in 1654 captured the Fort. Upon the receipt of this news the Dutch Company indignantly ordered Stuyvesant " to drive the Swedes from the river, or compel their submission." In September, 1655, Stuyve- sant, with a force of six hundred men, sailed from Manhattan into the Delaware. The Swedish forts were compelled to surrender one after another, and the colonists were forced to submit to the establishment of the rule of the Dutch. They were allowed to retain their possessions, and on the whole were treated well. Many of them, however, were dissatisfied with their new rulers, and in the ne.xt few years emigrated to Maryland and Virginia. The territory now included in the state of New Jersey was also claimed by the Dutch. They built Fort Nassau on the Delaware tc, establish this claim, but the Swedes were tnt first to settle the country. Soon after, estab- lishing themselves in Delaware, they crossed over to the eastern side of the river, and built a line of trading-posts extending from Cape May to Burlington. GUST.WUS ADOLPHUS. New Amsterdam continued to prosper,, and was even at this early day rapidly becom- ing an important commercial town. Stuy- vesant's arbitrary temper was held in check to a considerable extent by the more liberal policy of the company, who sincerely desired the prosperity of the colony. " Let every peaceful citizen," wrote the directors, " enjoy freedom of conscience ; this maxim has made our city the asylum for fugitives from every^ land; tread in its steps, and you shall be blessed." The infant metropolis from the 2o6 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. first acquired a cosmopolitan character. It contained settlers from every nation of Europe, and even from Africa ; for the Dutch at an early day introduced negro slavery into the colony. The people of New Netherland had no political rights, and the West India Com- pany, with every disposition to treat the colony with fairness, did not mean to allow the settlers to have any voice in govern- ing themselves. Town meetings were posi- tively forbidden, and every care was taken to discourage any manifestation of public spirit. Nevertheless the colonists were beginning to feel the promptings of the spirit of democ- racy, and the English settlers who had come into the province were by no means content to remain without the privileges of freemen. A series of disputes at once arose with the fiery old governor, who entertained the most profound contempt for the people, and laughed in scorn at the assertion of their ability to govern themselves. Rights of the People Disregarded. The discontents went on increasing, how- •ever, and at length the people appointed a convention of two delegates from each settle- ment for the purpose of deliberating on the affairs of the colony. Stuyvesant was bit- terly opposed to this assembly, but deemed it best not to .seek to prevent its meeting, as ■such a step would have brought about a collision with the people. The convention addressed the governor as follows ; " The States General of the United Provinces are our liege lords ; we submit to the laws of the United Provinces ; and our rights and priv- ileges ought to be in harmony with those of the fatherland, for we are a member of the state, and not a subjugated people. We, who have come together from various parts of the world, and are a blended community of various lineage; we, who have, at our own expense, exchanged our native lands for the protection of the United Provinces; we, who have transformed the wilderness into fruitful farms, demand that no new laws shall be enacted but with the consent of the people; that none shall be appointed to office but with the approbation of the people; that obscure and obsolete laws shall never be revived." This was too much for the governor. He attempted to reason with the deputies, who had the temerity to demand the right of self-government, and finding them firm, dis- solved the convention with the haughty declaration : " We derive our authority from God and the West India Company, not from the pleasure of a few ignorant subjects." The West India Company entirely approved the course of the governor. " We approve the taxes you propose," they wrote to Stuy- vesant ; " have no regard to the consent of the people. Let them indulge no longer the visionary dream that taxes can be imposed only with their consent." Neither the company nor the governor could understand that this persistent disre- gard of the rights of the people was aliena- ting all classes of the colonists and making them long for the conquest of New Nether- land by the English as the only means of obtaining the privileges of the freemen of the English colo'',:es. Large Land Grant. Nor was this an idle hope. For a long time past the English government had seri- ously entertained the idea of driving out the Dutch, and adding New Netherland to its American possessions. The English claim extended to the entire Atlantic coast as far south as Florida, and the Dutch were regarded as intruders. Cromwell and his son had each contemplated making such an effort, and at the return of Charles II. to the THK SKTTLKMRXT OF NKW Yv)RK. 207 throne the plan was more seriously discussed, and at len;^tli put in operation. Charles, although at peace with Holland, and in spite of the charter which he had granted to Connecti- cut, bestowed upon his brother, the Duke of Vork, afterwards James II., the entire region between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers. This was in February, 1664. A squadron was at once fitted out for the pur- pose of seizing the Dutch colony, and was placed in command of Richard Nicolls, an officer of the Duke of York's household. The fleet touched at Boston to land the com- missioners sent out by Charles to the New England colonies and to receive reinforce- ments. Governor Winthrop, of Connecticut also embarked on board of it. The first intimation Stu_\-vesant had of the intended robbery was the appearance of the fleet within the Narrows on the twenty- eighth of August, 1664. The next day Nicolls demanded the surrender of the town and fort of New Amsterdam. Stuyvesant, who had made preparations for defending the place, endeavored to resist the demand, but the citizens refused to sustain him and he was obliged to submit. On the eighth of September he embarked his troops for Hol- land and put to sea. The English at once took possession of the fort and town, and their vessels ascending the Hudson, received the submission of the other Dutch forts and settlements along the river. A few weeks later the Dutch and the Swedes along the Delaware submitted to the English, and the entire province was in their hands. The name of New Amsterdam was changed to New York, which name was also bestowed upon the province, and Fort Orange was called Albany, all in honor of the new pro- prietor. Nicolls was appointed go\ernor. The Engl '^h set themselves to work to conciliate the Dutch residents, a task not very difficult, as the English .settlers in the province had already prejjared the way for the change, and the treatment the colony had received from the West India Comjjany had prevented the formation of any decided attachment to the rule of Holland. The English system of government was intro- duced, the towns were allowed to elect their own magistrates, and the desires of the people for representative government seemed about to be gratified. A Strong Alliance. The Mohawks had been the friends of tht Dutch, and they now readily entered into an alliance with the English as their successors. This alliance remained unbroken all through the colonial period, and during the war ot the Revolution ; and in the first-named perioa proved of the greatest advantage to the colonies, as the Mohawks, whose hatred o(' the French was deep and unrelenting, prove. ' a formidable obstacle in the way of invadinj parties from Canada. Immediately upon becoming master of th province, the Duke of York proceeded U divide it. He sold to Lord Berkeley and .Sir George Cartaret, both of whom were already proprietaries of Carolina, the country between the Hudson and the Delaware. This purchase was named New Jersey, in honor of the island of Jersey, of which Cartaret was governor, and corresponded in size very nearly to the present state of that name. The new proprietors made liberal offers tc induce emigrants to settle in their territory and among other things offered them land.= free of rent for five years. They granted tc the province a political establishment con sisting of a governor, a council, and assembly of representatives of the people, wiio were given the power to make the laws necessary for their government. The proprietors reserved the right to appoint the governor and judicial ofiicers. 208 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. and to veto the proceedings of tlie assembly. Negro slavery was also introduced. These offers drew a large number of settlers to New Jersey, and many families came over from Long Island to the new province. The principal settlement was named Elizabeth- town, in honor of Cartaret's wife. The colony prospered ; no trouble was experi- enced from the neighboring Lidians, whose power had been thoroughly broken by the Dutch, and everything went on happily until the year 1670, when the proprietaries demanded the rents due for the lands held by the settlers. The demand was refused. Many of the colonists had lived in the province under the rule of the Dutch, and had bought their lands from the Lidians, and they claimed that the grant of the province to Cartaret could not invalidate these pur- chases, as the king had no claim to the lands which he so lavishly bestowed upon his favorites. Others refused to pay rent because they had made their plantations without any assistance from the proprietaries and did not acknowledge any debt to them. The representative of the proprietaries was obliged to fly for safety, and went to England for assistance in enforcing his demands. Insult Added to Injury. The Duke of York heard the complaints of the proprietaries, but the only attention he paid to them was to appoint Sir Edmund Andros, who subsequently became infamous for his tyranny in New England, governor of New Jersey. This was a flagrant violation of the rights of Cartaret and Berkeley, and an act thoroughly characteristic of the last of the Stuarts. Berkeley in disgust sold his half of the province, known as West Jersey, to an English Quaker named Edward Byllinge, who subsequently made over his claim to William Penn, who made an ar- rangement with Cartaret to divide the Jer- seys. Cartaret retained East Jersey, and the line of division was drawn from the north- west corner of the province to the sea at Little Egg Harbor. This purchase became the cause of considerable litigation in after years, and West Jersey was claimed by Penn- sylvania until the ne.xt century, when, as we shall see, the dispute was settled. Scotch Covenanters. New Jersey received a considerable acces- sion to her population in consequence of the re-establishment of episcopacy in Scotland. The Cameronians or Covenanters refused ta submit to the authority of the church, and thus became the objects of a cruel persecu- tion. As so many of their faith had done before them, they sought refuge from their persecutors in America, and in 1683 and the following years large numbers of them came over and settled in East Jersey. This portion of the state was the cradle of Presbyter- ianism in America. Li the meantime matters in New York had not been conducted to the satisfaction of the people. The promises made to the colonists by the English authorities were not kept. The province was treated as the absolute property of the Duke of York, and the governor and his council were consti- tuted the highest authority for both the making and execution of the laws. Repre- sentative government was denied them, arbi- trary taxes were imposed by Governor Nicolls, and the titles to the lands held by the settlers, not even excepting the Dutch patents, were declared invalid, in order that by issuing new title-deeds Nicolls might gain enormous fees. Lovelace, the successor of Nicolls, carried his tyranny to a still greater extent. His system of government is thus summed up : " The method for keeping the, people in order is severity, and laying such taxes as may give them liberty for no THE SETTLKMENT OF NEW YORK. 209 thought but how to discharge them." When the people of a number of the towns ventured to remonstrate with the governor, he ordered their petition for the redress of their grievances to be publicly burned before the town house in New York. The settle- ments in Delaware were treated with equal injustice. Peace Between England and Holland. In 1673, war having broken out between Holland and England, a Dutch squadron entered the harbor of New York. The peo- ple, thoroughly cured of their partiality for English rule by the injustice they had suf- fered, made no resistance and surrendered the town. Its name was changed to New Orange, and the authority of the Dutch was again extended over the province, and also over Long Island, New Jersey and Delaware. The Mohawks sent a deputation of their chiefs to congratulate the Dutch upon the recovery of their colony. The ne.xt year, however, peace was made between England and Holland, and the Dutch surrendered their conquests in America. New York passed once more into the hands of the Duke of York, and East Jersey into those of Car- taret. In the same year the Duke of York ap- pointed Sir Edmund Andros governor of New York. The eastern settlements of Long Island were anxious to adhere to Con- necticut, but the governor compelled them on pain of being declared rebels to acknowl- edge themselves a part of New York. The claim of the duke extended within the limits of Connecticut as far as the river of that name, and in the summer of 1675 Andros sailed with several armed sloops for that col- ony to establish his authority as far as the river. The government of Connecticut, warned of his purpose, determined to resist him, and Captain Bull, the commander of the j '4 fort at Saybrookc, was ordered to pay no at- tention to his claim. Andros, arriving off Saybrooke, hoisted the royal standard and demanded the surrender of the fort. A Connecticut Captain. Bull instantly ran up the English colors, and refused to comply with the demand. Andros, who was a coward at heart, quailed before the firmness of the Connecticut cap- tain, and abandoned his undertaking and sailed for Long Island. Thus ended the at- tempt of the Duke of York to dismember Connecticut. Andros returned to New York to disgust the people of that province with his tyranny. When James II. became king he com- pelled the proprietaries of New Jersey to surrender their claim to the jurisdiction of that province to him, and annexed it to New York. In 1683 the grievances of the people of New York had become so unendurable that James, then Duke of York, deemed it best to conciliate them, and allowed the free- holders to send representatives to an assem- bly. This assembly met in October, 1683, and its fir.st act was to demand the rights of Englishmen. " Supreme legislative power," they declared. " shall forever be and reside in the governor, council and people, met in gen- eral assembly. Every freeholder and freeman shall vote for representation without restraint No freeman shall suffer but by the judgment of his peers; and all trials shall be by a jury of twelve men. No tax shall be assessed, on any pretence whatever, but by the consent of the assembly. No seaman or soldier shall be quartered on the inhabitants against their will. No martial law shall exist. No person professing faith in God by Jesus Christ shall at any time be any ways disquieted or ques- tioned for any difference of opinion." These privileges were conceded by the Duke of York, who solemnly promised not to change SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. them except for the dvantage of the colony ; but he had scarcely become king when he overturned the liberties he had conceded and made New York a royal province, dependent entirely upon his unrestrained will for its privileges. Leisler Holds the Fort. The people of New York were Protestants, many of whom had had cause to dread the restoration of the Roman Catholic religion in England. When James gave evidence of his intention to compel the acceptance of that faith by all his subjects, the colonies included, they were greatly discontented. Their fears were increased by the appointment by the king of a Roman Catholic as collector of cus- toms at New York. Nicholson, the royal governor, was also exceedingly unpopular. As soon as the news of the overthrow of James II. in England reached New York, Jacob Leisler, the senior captain of the mili- tary companies, was requested by his men to take possession of the fort and assume the management of affairs until the government should be settled by the orders of King William. Leisler was a prominent merchant and was very popular with the common people, but he was opposed by the great land- holders, who were principally Dutch, and by the party devoted to the Church of England. He found himself at the head of about five hundred armed men, and taking possession of the fort avowed his intention to hold it until the will of King William should be known. He was sustained by a large ma- jority of the people of New York, but the aristocratic party, and the churchmen, who hated him, as he was a Presbyterian, de- nounced him as a rebel, and sustained the council of Nicholson, the last governor appointed by King James, which withdrew to Albany in August, 1689. Leisler appointed his son-in-law, Mil- bourne, his secretary. Later in the year the people of Albany, being in danger of an attack from the French from Canada, asked aid from New York. Leisler sent Milbourne with a body of troops to their assistance, but the old council refused to acknowledge his authority, or to allow him to assume the command of the fort, and he went back with his men to New York, leaving the people of Albany to depend upon their own exertions for the defeat of the French. In their neces- sity they asked for and received aid from Connecticut. Blood Runs High. In December letters from the English government were received, addressed to Nicholson, or, in his absence, to " such as, for the time being, take care for preserving the peace and administering the law " in New York. A commission for Nicholson accompanied these documents ; but he was on his way to England, and Leisler, who was temporarily in authority in New York, regarded his position as confirmed by the letters from England, and caused himself to be proclaimed governor. He ordered the members of the old council at Albany to be arrested, and summoned an assembly to pro- vide for the wants of the colony. Upon first taking charge of affairs Leisler had addressed a letter to King William set- ting forth his reasons for his action, and ask- ing the king to make known his royal pleasure concerning the colony. No answer was sent by the king to this communication, but on the thirtieth of January, 1691, a ship suddenly arrived in the harbor having on board a com- pany of English soldiers, commanded by a Captain Ingoldsby, who had been sent by Colonel Henry Sloughter, whom King Wil- liam had appointed governor of New York. The aristocratic party at once rallied around Ingoldsby as their leader, and that officer demanded of Leisler the surrender of the THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. fort. Leisler insisted that he should produce his authority for such a demand, and, as none could be shown, refused to give up the fort, but offered Ingoldsby every assistance for himself and his men, and avowed his intention to submit to Sloughter upon his arrival. In the time which elapsed between the arrivals of Ingoldsby and the new gov- ernor party spirit ran so high that a collision occurred between the soldiers and the people, in which one man was wounded. Charged with Treason. Sloughter reached New York on the nine- teenth of March, 1691. Leisler at once sent messengers to receive his orders, but the mes- sengers were detained. The ne.xt morning Leisler addressed a letter to Sloughter, ask- ing to whom he should deliver up the fort. Sloughter returned no answer to this letter, but ordered Ingoldsby to " arrest Leisler and the persons called his council." Leisler, Milbourne, and six others were arrested and immediately arraigned before a tribunal composed of their inveterate enemies, on a charge of treason. This was a frivolous pretence, for it was well known that Leisler, who was an enthusiastic admirer of King William, had never dreamed of denying his authority ; but it was as good a charge as any other, as the fate of the prisoners was decided from the first. The prisoners denied the authority of the court, and refusing to plead before it, appealed to the king. The presiding officer of the court was the chief justice of New York, the infamous Joseph Dudley, who had been driven out of New England by the people whose liberties he had outraged. The prisoners, in spite of their appeal, were condenmed to death. Sloughter was unwilling to disregard their appeal as entirely as the court had done, and wished to leave the matter to the king; but the enemies of Leisler were resolved upon his death. Taking advantage of the known weakness of the governor, they made him drunk at a dinner party, and in this state induced him to sign the death warrant ofthe prisoners. The next morning at daybreak (May i6th) Leisler and Milbourne were hur- ried from their weeping families to the gal- lows, to be executed for treason. Judicial Murder. In spite of a pouring rain, the people who had gotten news of the tragedy crowded around the place of execution to cheer their martyrs in their last moments. " Weep not for us, who are departing to our God," said Leisler to the multitude. Milbourne saw standing among the crowd one of the men who had been prominent in their con- demnation, and cried out to him : " Robert Livingston, I will implead thee for this at the bar of God." Then turning to the peo- ple, he said : " I die for the king and queen, and for the Protestant religion, in which I was born and bred. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." The judicial murder was then completed, and New York's first martyrs laid down their lives in behalf of the rights ofthe people. The popular party was now more than ever embittered against the aristocratic class, and the principles which Leisler and Milbourne upheld were more than ever insisted upon. Their friends, " who were distinguished always by their zeal for popular power, for toleration, for opposition to the doctrine of legitimacy," continued the struggle, and at length succeeded in making their principles the law of the colony. The royalist assembly, while denying to the people an equality with themselves in political matters, were yet indisposed to sur- render to the crown the independence ofthe colony, and, with their successors, insisted upon the right of self-government, and the SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. regulation of taxation by the assembly, with such firmness that in 1705 Queen Anne yielded so far as to permit the assembly to appoint " its own treasurer to take charge of extraordinary supplies." arts to prevent this act of justice. As for Governor Sloughter, who was at the best but a poor weak adventurer, he died of the effects of his dissipation six months after the execu- tion of his victims. QUEEN The memory of Leisler and Milbourne was vindicated after their death. The son of the former made the appeal to the king which had been denied his father, and Parliament at length reversed the attainder under the charge of treason, and restored their estates to their families. Dudley exerted all his ANNE. In 1692 Benjamin Fletcher was appointed to succeed Sloughter. He was an officer of the royal army, and was as passionate and avaricious as he was incompetent in other respects. He was a firm ally of the aristo- cratic party, and a bitter foe to popular lib- erty. In 1693, in order to assist New York THE SETTLEMENT OF NEW YORK. against the attacks of the French in Canada, all the colonies were required to contribute their quota of troops to her defence. An effort was also made to place the militia of New Jersey and Connecticut under the orders of the governor of New York. The authorities of Connecticut, however, were resolved not to relinquish the control of their militia, which would have been to sacrifice their rights secured by the charter. In order to enforce his authority, Gov- ernor Fletcher repaired to Hartford, where the assembly of Connecticut was in session. At the time of his arrival a company of militia was engaged in training in the town. Governor Fletcher rode up to this force ; but its commander, Captain Wadsworth, paid no attention to him, and did not even acknowl- edge his presence. Fletcher, who had boasted that he would not stir from the colony until he was obeyed, ordered his secretary to read his commission in the hearing of the troops. " Silence ! " " Music ! Music ! " As the secretary commenced to read, Wadsworth ordered the drums to be beaten, and the secretary's voice was drowned. "Silence!" cried Fletcher; "begin again )vith the commission." " Music ! music ! " ordered Wadsworth, the same man who had hid the charter from Governor Andros. The drummers began again, and the governor, in a rage, ordered them to cease their music. Wadsworth sharply commanded the bewil- dered musicians to go on with their drum- ming, and then turning upon Fletcher, said to him fiercely : " If I am interrupted again, I will make daylight shine through you." The voice and manner of the man con- vinced the governor that he was in earnest, and he went back to New York, satisfied of the impossibility of bringing the Connecticut militia under his orders. New York was the most northern colony in which the authority of the Church of England was established. A number of its people were members of that communion, and in the colonial government the influence of that church was predominant. The vast majority of the people, however, were hostile to it, and it was not until 1695 that Governor Fletcher was able to obtain for it anything like favor from the assembly. The repre- sentatives of the people were fearful that if It obtained a firm footing among them, the British government might bestow upon it a power which would be dangerous to the other denominations. Naturally it enjoyed the favor of the home government, and engrossed all the provision made by England for religious matters in the colony. Struggle for Liberty. Lord Cornbury, the royal governor, at- tempted in 1705 to silence a Presbyterian minister for preaching without a license from the governor ; but a jury, composed of Episcopalians, acquitted the prisoner. The same governor connived at the seizure by the Episcopalians of a church in Jamaica, which had been built by the whole town ; but the colonial court restored it to its rightful owners. The spirit of popular lib- erty and toleration was growing rapidly in New York, and its colonial history is the story of a constant struggle between the people and the royal governors for the asser- tion and maintenance of their rights. Nearly all the governors regarded their position as but a means of enriching themselves, and systematically defrauded both the king and the colony. By 1732 the population of New York City numbered a little less than nine thousand souls. In that year a case of the deepest interest occurred in that city. John Peter Zenger had established a newspaper called 214 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. the Weekly Journal, which ventured to cen- sure the arbitrary action of the governor and assembly in levying illegal taxes upon the colony. This was a bold step, for until now no newspaper had dared to criticise the action of the government. Cosby, the gov- ernor of New York, resolving to make an example of the offender, arrested Zenger on the charge of libel and caused his paper to be publicly burned. Zenger employed two lawyers to defend him, and these increased the anger of the government by denying the competency of the court, inasmuch as the appointment of the chief justice, Delancy, had been made by Cosby without the con- sent of the council, and was therefore illegal. The court at once struck their names from its list of attorneys, and this arbitrary action so intimidated the remaining members of Ihe bar that Zenger found it impossible to iprocure counsel. Famous " Quaker Lawyer. In this helpless condition he was put on were as averse to the acceptance of them as were the people of North Carolina, for they perceived that such a system as that devised by the proprietaries could not be put it SETTLEMENT OF THE CAROLINAS. 23j •operation in America. Immediately upon their arrival they proceeded to establish a form of government suited to their needs. It consisted of a governor, a council com- posed of five members appointed by the proprietaries and five by the assembly, and an assembly of twenty delegates chosen by the people. Thus was representative gov- ernment established as the basis of the political life of the province, and throughout all her subsequent history it was cherished by South Caro- lina as her most precious posses- sion. The colon}' grew rapidly in population ; the delightful cli- mate, the ricli soil and the li beral offers of lands by the proprietaries at tracting settk in considerabl numbers. In 1 67 I Sir John Ye.i- mans brought over African slaves from Bar- badoes, thus in- troducing negro slavery into the colony at the very outset of its existence. This species of labor being found well suited to the necessi- ties of the province, was generally adopted in the remaining years of the century, and became the basis of the industry of South Carolina, which was from the first a purely agricultural state. The negroes multiplied rapidly by natural increase and by fresh importations; "so rapidly," says Bancroft, " that in a few years, we are told, the blacks were to the whites in the proportion of twenty-two to twelve, a proportion that had no parallel north of the West Indies." The white population also increased rapidly. The dissenters, as all the Protestant sects who differed from the Church of England were called, came over to the colony in large numbers, hoping to find there the toleration they were denied at home. They consisted of Dutch and German Protestants, and Presbyterians from the north of Ireland and from Scotland. The last were generally Lili CAROLINA. people of culture and gave to the colony many clergymen, physicians, lawyers and schoolmasters. Churchmen from England also emigrated in considerable numbers, as the" Grand Model " established their church as the orthodox faith of the province. Dutch emigrants came also from New York to escape the outrages of the English governors of that province. Last of all were the Huguenots, who were induced to settle in South Carolina by Charles II., who was sincerely anxious to give them 234 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. a refuge from their persecutions in Europe, and who wished them to establish in Carolina the culture of the vine, the olive and the silk-worm. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove thousands of the Huguenots from France. Large numbers of them joined their brethren in South Carolina. They were ahiiost invariably persons of education and refinement. In France they had consti- tuted the most useful and intelligent part of the population. They had almost monopo- lized the mechanical skill and mercantile enterprise of their native land, and their loss was severely felt by it for many genera- tions. In South Carolina they soon became suffi- ciently numerous to constitute an important part of the population, and their influence was felt in a marked degree and for the good of the colony. They brought with them the virtues which had won them the respect and confidence of the people of Europe, and the industry which could not fail to place them among the most prosperous citizens of the new state. They mingled freely and inter- married with the other classes of the people of the province, and thus became the ances- tors of a splendid race who did honor to their country and upheld her cause with their valor in her hour of trial in the next century. A Settlement Ruined. The early years of South Carolina were marked by a constant struggle between the colonists and the proprietaries. The latter vainly attempted to introduce the " Grand Model " as the law of the province, and the former steadily resisted it. A little later the proprietaries offered to make some modifica- tions in their constitutions, but these conces- sions were rejected also. The governor, Sir John Yeamans, regarded his office solely as a means of repairing his fortunes at the expense of both proprietaries and colonists, and was dismissed by his employers. Westj who was a man of ability and liberality, was appointed his successor, and under him the colony prospered, but as he was too friendly to the people, he was removed also. In 1684 a small colony under Lord Card- ross, a Presbyterian, settled at Port Royal. These settlers had fled to America to escape persecution in England, but their effort to find an abiding place in the new world was not des- tined to be successful. Lord Cardross return- ed to Europe in a year or two, and in i6S6the Spaniards from St. Augustine, who claimed the region as a dependency of their own, invaded the little settlement and laid it waste. Of the ten families which had con- stituted the colony, some returned to Scot- land, while the remainder disappeared among the colonists in the vicinity of the Coopei and Ashley rivers. Stubborn Resistance. In 1685, the proprietaries ordered the colo- nial authorities to enforce the navigation acts in the ports of the province. A rigid execu- tion of this order would have been as fatal to the feeble commerce of South Carolina as to that of the settlements in the northern part of the province, and it was resisted by the colonists as a violation of their natural rights and of the promises made to them at the time of their emigration. In order to establish their authority more firmly the proprietaries appointed James Colleton governor, with the rank of landgrave. He was brother of one of the proprietaries, and it was supposed that this fact and his aristocratic rank would give him a mor-al power which his predecessors had not pos- sessed. The new governor attempted to enforce the constitutions, but was met with a determined resistance, and when he under- took to collect the rents claimed by the 436 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. proprietaries, and the taxes he had been ordered to !ev>', the assembly seized the records of the province, imprisoned the colonial secretary', and defied the governor to execute his orders. In 1690, they went -till further, and having proclaimed Wil- lain and Mary, disfranchised Colleton and banished him from South Carolina. Disputes now ran high in the colony, chiefly in regard to rents and land tenures. The " cavaliers and ill-livers," as the party devoted to the interests of the pro- prietaries was termed, endeavored to compel the remainder of the settlers — the Presbyterians, Quakers and Huguenots, the last of whom had recently been ad- mitted to all the privileges of citizenship— to submit to their high-handed measures. They hoped among other things to secure the supremacy of the Church of England in the colony, notwithstanding the fact that a majority of the people were dissenters. The troubles went on increasing, and at length the proprietors, in the hope of putting an •end to them, consented to abandon their ■effort to force upon the Carolinas the legisla- don of Shaftesbury and Locke. In April, 1693, they abolished the fundamental consti- tutions by a formal vote, and decided to allow the government of the province to be conducted according to the terms of the charter. A Wise Governor. Thomas Smith was appointed governor, but in spite of his many virtues he was unac- ceptable to the people, and the proprietaries determined to send out to Carolina one of their own number with full powers to inves- tigate and remedy the grievances of the colony. Ji)hn Archdale, "an honest member of the Society of Friends," was chosen, and at once repaired to Carolina. He was a man of great moderation, and was well suited to the task before him. He succeeded in har« monizing the hostile factions which divided the province, and in the formation of the council selected two men of the moderate party to one high churchman, an arrange- ment which fairly represented the actual state of parties, and gave satisfaction to the mas of the people. He remitted the quit-i ents foi three and four years, and arranged the price of lands and the system of conveyances upon an equitable basis, and gave the colonists the privilege of paying their dues to the propri- etaries either in money or in produce. Hr. established peaceful relations with tht- Indians, and put an end to the infamous practice of kidnapping them, which had prevailed since the establishment of tht colony. The savages in the Cape Fea' region had suffered especially from this, and now showed their gratitude by treating with kindness the sailors who were cast away on their coast. Friendly relations were also begun with the Spaniards at St. Augustine. Several Yemmassee Indians, who had been con- verted by the missionaries, having been captured and exposed for sale in Carolina, were ransomed by Archdale, who sentthem to the governor of St. Augustine. The Spaniards, gratefully acknowledged this kindness, and returned it by forwarding to South Carolina the crew of an English vessel which had gone ashore on the coast of Florida. The colonial government was organized by Arch- dale, on a plan similar to that of Marj'land. The council was appointed by the proprie- taries, and the assembly elected by the peo- ple; and the militia were charged with the defence of the colony. Archdale's adminis- tration was so satisfactory to all parties that upon his withdrawal from the province the assembly declared that he had, " by his wis- dom, patience and labor, laid a firm founda- tion for a most glorious superstructure." SETTLEMENT OF THE CAROLINAS. 237 Archdale went back to Eni;l?ind in 1697, and the proprietaries, failing to profit by the lesson of his success, attempted to introduce a measure which would give the political power of the colony exclusively into the hands of the landowners. This measure was resolutely rejected by the colonial assembly. The majority of the people of the colony were, as has been stated, dissenters, Presby- terians, Quakers and Huguenots. They had consented, in order to pacify the high church party, that one minister of the Church of England should be maintained at the pub- lic expense, but the churchmen were re- eolved to force their system upon them. The Assembly's Intolerance. In 1704 the churchmen had a majority of one in the assembly ; the governor was favor- able to them, and the council was no longer arranged upon the just plan of Archdale. The assembly, in violation of the plainest principles of justice, disfranchised the dis- senters, and established the Church of Eng- land as the religion of the colony. This action was approved by the council and gov- ernor, and was sustained by the proprietaries in spite of the earnest opposition of Arch- dale The disfranchised people appealed for justice to the queen and the House of Lords. The committee of the lords declared that the proprietaries had forfeited their charter, and advised its recall, and the house pronounced the intolerant acts null and void, which de- cision was proclaimed by the queen in June, 1706. In November of the same year the colonial legislature repealed its acts, and restored to the dissenters their political .-ights.but the laws establishing the Church of England as the religion of the province remained unrepealed until the Revolution. The disputes in the colony went on, but in spite of them South Carolina continued to prosper, and its population increased rapidly. During Archdalc's residence in the colony the captain of a ship from Madagascar gave him some rice, which he distributed among the planters for the purpose of ascertaining whether it could be cultivated in the mari- time regions of the province, wiiich were unsuited to the culture of wheat. The experi- ment was entirely successful, and the colony at once embarked in the culture of rice, which has ever since been one of its principal indus- tries. Carolina rice soon took rank as the best grown in any country. The fur trade was also carried on with great activity, and the manufacture of tar and the export of lum- ber also became prominent sources of wealth. It was believed that the colony could suc- cessfully manufacture a large part of the woollen fabrics necessary to the supply of its wants, and the attempt was made. It was struck down by the British government in pursuance of its plan to compel the colonies to depend upon England for all their supplies. Parliament forbade the several colonies to export woollen goods to any other province or to any foreign port. They were to ship their products to England alone, and to receive their supplies from her only. Eng- lish merchants were to be privileged to set a price to suit their own interests upon the products of the colonies and also upon the articles of European manufacture sold them in return. The effect of this iniquitous law upon Carolina was to drive her back into agricultural pursuits, and thus to increase the demand for slaves, which was promptly sup- plied by British traders. A Reckless Adventurer. In 1702, England was at war with Franci and Spain, and James Moore was governoi of Carolina. He was a needy adventurer, who endeavored to fill his purse by kidnap ping Indians and selling them as slaves. This being too slow a process, he determined to 238 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. plunder the Spanish settlementof St. Augus- tine. He attacked that place with a force of whites and Indians. The town was readily taken, but he could make no impression upon the citadel, and despatched a vessel to Jamaica for cannon to reduce the fort. The 'garrison in the meantime sent an Indian runner to Mobile with news of their situa- tion, and word was sent from Mobile to Havana. In a short while two Spanish ships of war arrived at St. Augustine to the relief of the garrison, and Moore was obliged to raise the siege. He abandoned his stores and retreated overland to Charleston. The only result of his expedition was the accumula- tion of a debt which the colony was obliged to carry for many years. Brutal Butchery. Moore's next eftbrt was directed against the Appalachee Indians of Florida. These had been converted to the Roman Catholic faith by the Spanish missionaries, and had begun to adopt habits of civilization ; they lived in villages, and supported themselves by cultivating the soil. They were also very friendly to the French, who had settled Louisiana. Moore professed to be very ap- prehensive of the effects of the Spanish and French influence upon the Appalachees, and declared his intention to cripple them before they could do any harm to the English set- tlements. His real motive was the hope of plunder. The only crime of the poor sav- ages was their adoption of the Roman faith. In 1705, with a force of about fifty white men and one thousand Seminole warriors, Moore invaded the settlements of the Appa- 'achees, destroyed them, killed many of the natives, and made prisoners of large num- bers, who were removed to the region of the Altamaha. The churches were plundered and destroyed, and the country of the Appa- lachees was given to the Seminoles as a reward for their services. They at once occupied it, and thus became a barrier be- tween their English friends and the Spanish settlements. In 1706, the Spaniards and French sent a combined fleet to Charleston to avenge the attacks upon St. Augustine and the Appa- lachees. The attack of the fleet was repulsed by the people, who were led by William Rhet and Sir Nathaniel Johnson, and the assailants were forced to withdraw with the loss of one ship belonging to the French and upwards of three hundred men. North Carolina continued to prosper. Her people were happy and contented under theit simple system of government, which was described by Spotswood as " scarce any gov- ernment at all." In 1704, the proprietaries attempted to establish the Church of England in this part of their province, the people of which were nearly all Presbyterians, Quakers and Lutherans. It was ordered that all who refused to submit to the laws for the estab- lishment and support of the English church should be disfranchised. Open Rebellion. The people opposed a general and deter- mined resistance to this measure, and at the end of a year there was but one clergj^man of the English church within the limits of the colony. The resistance finally culmin- ated in open rebellion. The colony was divided into two parties, one of which sus- tained the authority of the proprietors, the other the rights of the people. Each party had its governor and assembly, and for six years the colony remained in a state of anarchy. The Quakers were the leading spirits of the popular party and maintained their rights with a steadfastness characteristic of their race. Thus far North Carolina had escaped a war with the Indians. TheTuscaroras, who SETTLEMENT OF THE CAROLINAS. occupied the central and northwestern por- tions of the present state, had emigrated at some remote period from the north, and they now viewed with jealousy and distrust the encroachments of the whites upon their lands. About 1 7 1 1 the proprietaries assigned large tracts in the country of this tribe to a company of Germans from the region of the Neckar and the Rhine, who had fled to America to escape religious persecution. A company of these exiles had come out under the direction of De Graiifenreid, and in Sep- tember, 171 1, De Graffenreid accompanied Lawson, the surveyor-general of the prov- ince, in an expedition up the Neuse for the purpose of locating these lands and of ascertaining how far the river was navigable. They were captured by a party of sixty Indians and hurried to a distant village of the Tuscaroras. Lawson was regarded with bitter hostility by the Indians, who looked upon him as responsible above all others for the loss of their lands, as he had been com- pelled by his duties to locate the grants < ' the proprietaries, and he was put to deatli ■with cruel torments. Condemned to Death. De GraiTeureid was also condemned to die, but he told the savages that he had been but a short time in the country, and that he was the " chief of a different tribe from the English," and promised that he would take no more of their land. The Indians kept him a prisoner for five weeks, and then permitted him to return to his friends. During this time the Tuscaroras and Corees, whom they had drawn into an alliance with them, attacked the settlements of the whites on the Roanoke and Pamlico Sound, and for three days spread death and devastation all along the frontier of the col- ony. A large number of the unoffending settlers were slain and many homesteads were destroyed. The people of North Carolina appealed to Virginia and South Carolina for assistance. South Carolina sent a small body of troops and a force of friendly Indians ; and Gov- ernor Spots\vood, of Virginia, unable to send assistance, engaged one tribe of the Tusca- roras in a treaty of peace. The people of North Carolina, divided by their internal dissensions, took scarcely any part in the struggle. The South Carolina forces attacked mt:)^' Kv, ^ '%WJ \r'«A(e> KING GEUKGE I. the Tuscaroras in their fort and compelled them to make peace. The troops, however, on their return home, violated the treaty by seizing some of the Indians for the purpose of selling them as slaves. The war broke out again and was prosecuted with vigor for about a year, and resulted in the expulsion of the Tuscaroras from North Carolina. The Yemmassees had for some time been hostile to the Spaniards, as they resented the efforts of the priests to convert them 240 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA, to Christianity. They had acted as the allies of the English in the war with the Tuscaroras, but after the close of that struggle the unscrupulous traders, who re- garded them as "a tame and peaceable people," had treated them so badly, and plundered them so systematically, that they were driven into hostility to the English. They thereupon renewed their friendship with the Spaniards, and induced the Cataw- bas, the Creeks and Cherokees, who had also been friendly to the English, to join them against their former allies. Indian Depredations. In 1715 the savages, suddenly, and with- out warning, attacked the settlements on the frontier. The alarm was sent to Port Royal and Charleston, and the assailed people fled towards the settlements along the coast. The Indians continued their depredations, and the colony prepared as rapidly as pos- sible to resist them. Aid was sent from North Carolina, whose government had now been placed on a more stable footing. Gov- ernor Craven took the field without delay, v/ith such troops as he could raise, and a long ard bloody struggle ensued. The power c' the savages was broken, however. The Yemmassees were compelled to take refuge in Florida, where they were provided for by the Spaniards, and the other tribes were driven farther westward. The contests between the proprietaries and the colonists now came to an end. The proprietaries had made no effort to help the colonists during their struggle with the In- dians, and the latter determined to have no- more to do with their former lords. The dispute was carried before Parliament, which body declared that the proprietaries had for- feited their charter. In 1720 King George I. appointed Francis Nicholson provisional governor of Carolina. In 1729 the contro- versy was ended by the purchase of the pro- prietaries' interests by the crown for the sum of one hundred and ten thousand dollars. Carolina thus became a royal province, and was divided by the king into two separate states, known respectively as North and. South Carolina, to each of which a royal governor was appointed. CHAPTER XIX Settlement of Georgria General James Edward Oglethorpe— His EflForts to Reform rrisoii Discipline of England-Proposes to Found a Colony in America for the Poor and for Prisoners for Debt— A Charter Obtained from the King— Coloniza- tion of Georgia— Savannah Settled— First Years of the Colony— Labors of Oglethorpe— Arrival of New Emigrants— Augusta Founded— The MoraWan Settlements— The Wesleys in America— George Whitefield —War Between England and Spain— Oglethorpe Invades Florida— Failure of the Attack upon St. Augus- tine—The Spaniards Invade Georgia— Oglethorpe's Stratagem— Its Success— Battle of" Bloody Marsh "— Close of the War— Charges Against Oglethorpe— Hi's Vindication— His Return to Europe— Changes in the Colonial Government- Introduction of Slavery into Georgia— Prosperity of the Colony. THE severe laws in force in England in the last century against debtors aroused the opposition of many philanthropists, who strove to pro- cure their abolition or amelioration. Among these was General James Edward Oglethorpe, an officer of the English army and a member of Parliament. He was a man of fortune, and of generous nature, and devoted himself with energy to reform not only the laws against debtors but the entire prison disci- pline of England. There were at this time upwards of four thousand men in prison for debt. Their condition was most pitiful. They had no hope of relief save through the mercy of the creditors who had consigned them to their prisons, and were treated with a severity due only to criminals. It seemed an outrage to the generous Oglethorpe to visit such heavy punishments upon persons whose only crimes were their misfortunes, and he endeavored to have the laws authorizing imprisonment for debt re- pealed, and failing in this conceived the plan of establishing in America a place of refuge to which the poor and unfortunate might resort, and earn a support by their own industry, lie succeeded in interesting others in his benevolent scheme, and in 1732 a petition, signed by a number of men of rank 16 and influence, was presented to George II., praying him to grant to the petitioners a tract of unoccupied land in America for the purpose of founding such an asylum as that proposed by Oglethorpe. The king re- sponded favorably to this appeal, and granted to Oglethorpe and twenty other persons the region between the Savannah and the Alta- maha rivers. This region was to be held " in trust for the poor," for a period of twenty-one years, by the trustees named in the charter, and was to constitute a home for unfortunate debtors and Protestants from the continent of Europe, who might wish to seek safety there from persecution. The territory thus assigned formed a part of South Carolina, but was formally separated from it and named Georgia, in honor of the king. The " free exercise of religion " was secured to all sects "except Papists." No grant of land to any single settler was to exceed five hun- dred acres, a condition which it was hoped would prevent the rich from securing the best lands, and give to the poor an oppor- tunity to become landowners. It was be- lieved that the climate and soil of the new province were specially adapted to the rais- ing of silk-worms and the cultivation of the vine. 241 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. The scheme of Oglethorpe enlisted the sympathies of all classes of the English peo- ple. Liberal donations were made in its be- half, and its benevolent projector exerted himself with energy to secure a colony with which to lay the the foundations of the new state. It was determined to take none but the poorest and most helpless, and Ogle- thorpe himself decided to accompany them and give his personal care to the planting of the colon}'. Settlement of Savannah. One hundred and fifty persons, comprising thirt)'-five families, were embarked, and they sailed from England in November, 1732. They reached Charleston in fifty-seven days, and were formally welcomed by the assembly of South Carolina and presented with a sup- ply of cattle and rice. From Charleston the company sailed to Port Royal, while Ogle- thorpe hastened to explore the Savannah and select a cite for the settlement. He chose a location at Yamacraw Bluff, on the right bank of the river, about twenty miles from its mouth. He purchased the lands from the Yamacraw Indians, and the foundations of a town were laid. The place was named Savannah, from the river on which it stood. Oglethorpe has- tened forward the clearing of the land and the building of houses, but for nearly a year contented himself with a tent which was erected under four wide-spreading pines. " The streets were laid out with the greatest regularity ; in each quarter a public square was reserved ; the houses were planned and constructed on one model — each a frame of sawed timber, twent)'-four feet by sixteen, floored with rough deals, the sides with feathered-edge boards, unplained, and the roof shingled." A garden was laid off by the river-side, to be the nursery of European fruits and other productions. Friendly relations were cultivated with the Indians. The chief of the Yamacraws came in bringing a buffalo skin, on the inner side of which was painted the head and feathers of an eagle. " Here is a little present," said Tomo-chichi, as the chief was named. " The feathers of the eagle are soft and signify love ; the buffalo skin is warm, and is the emblem of protection ; therefore love and protect our little families." The Muscogees, Creeks, Cherokees and Oconees also sent their chiefs to Savannah to make an alliance with the English. The savages were well pleased with the noble and commanding appearance of Oglethorpe and his frank and kind manner of dealing with them, and trusted implicitly in the promises he made them. The distant Choctaws also sent messengers to open friendly relations with the new settlers, and a profitable trade was established with the tribes as far west as the Mississippi. Grand Old German Hymns. Thus far the colony of Georgia was a success, and the friends of the movement in England were not slow to make public the accounts which came to them of its delightful climate and fertile soil, and all who were oppressed or in need were invited to seek the protection and advantages which the new land offered. The fame of the colony attracted the attention of a number of German Prot- estants in and around Salzburg, who were undergoing a severe persecution for the sake of their religion. Their sufferings enlisted the sympathy of the people of England, and the " Society for the Propagation of the Go.spel " invited them to emigrate to Georgia and secured for them the means of doing so. The Germans readily accepted the offer, and rejoiced greatly that they were thus afforded an opportunit}' of spreading the gospel among the Indians. Nearly one hundred persons SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA. 243 set out from Salzburg, taking with them their wives and httle ones in wagons, and joumeyes across the count)' to Frankfort- on-the-Main. They carried with them their Bibles and books of devotion, and as they journeyed lightened their fatigues with those grand old German hymns which they were to make as precious in the new world as they were to the people of God in the old. From Frank- fort they proceeded to the Rhine and floated down that stream to Rotterdam, where, being joined by two clergymen — Bolzius and Gronau — they sailed to England. They were warmly received by a com- mittee of the trustees of the colon}- and forwarded to Georgia. A stormy passage of fifty-seven days brought them to Charleston, in March, 1734, where they were met by Ogle- thorpe, who led them to their destina- tion. They were assigned a location on the Savannah, a short distance above the town of Savannah, where they began without delay to lay off a town, which they named Ebenezer, in gratitude to •God for his guidance of them into a land of plenty and of rest from persecution. Others of their countrymen joined them from time to time, and their settlement grew rapidly and became noted as one of the most orderly, thrifty and moral communities in the new world. In 1734 the town of Augusta was laid out at the head of boat navigation on the Sa- vannah, and soon became an important trad- ing-post. Emigrants came over from England in large numbers, and Oglethorpe had the satisfaction of seeing his colony fairly started upon the road to prosperity. He was justly proud of the success of the colony, for it was mainly due to his disinterested efforts. ■Governor Johnson, of South Carolina, who had watched the labors of Oglethorpe with the deepest interest, wrote : " His under- taking will succeed, for he nobly devotes all his powers to serve the poor and rescue them from their wrechedness." The pastor of Ebenezer bore equally emphatic testimony to his devotion. " He has taken care of us to the best of his ability," said the pastor. " God has so blessed his presence and his regulations in the land that others would not in many years have accomplished what he has broutrht about in one." GENERAL OGLETHORPE. In April, 1734, Oglethorpe, whose pres- ence was required in Europe, sailed from Savannah, taking with him several Indians, and enough of the raw silk which had been produced in the colony to make a dress for the queen. Georgia was left to manage its own affairs during the absence of its founder. As the colonists regarded the use of ardent spirits as the sure cause of the debt and misery from which they had fled, they 244 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. prohibited their introduction into the colony ; but it was found impossible to enforce this law. The importation of negro slaves was also forbidden. The colony was a refuge for the distressed and oppressed of all nations, and it seemed a violation of the spirit in which it was founded to hold men in bond- age. " Slavery," said Oglethorpe, " is against the gospel as well as the fundamental law of England. We refused, as trustees, to make a law permitting such a horrid crime." with the intention of becoming missionaries of the gospel among the savage tribes, and under their leader, Spangenberg, formed a new settlement on the Ogeechee, south of the Savannah. They claimed and received a grant of fifty acres of land for each of their number, in accordance with a law which had been passed for the encourage- ment of emigration. In the same year a company of Scotch Highlanders, under their minister, John McLeod, arrived and founded \ s L lUE The visit of Oglethorpe to England was productive of great benefit to Georgia. Par- liament was induced to grant it assistance, and the king became deeply interested in the province which had been called by his name. Emigrants from England continued to seek its hospitable shores, and the trustees induced a band of Moravians, or United Brethren, to emigrate to the colony. They came in 1735, the town of Darien, on the Altamaha. In 1736 Oglethorpe himself returned, bringing with him three hundred emigrants. Among the new-comers were two broth- ers, men of eminent piety, who were destined to exercise a powerful influence upon the world. They were John and Charles Wes- ley, sons of a clergyman of the Church of England, and themselves ministers of that SETTLEMi:XT OF GEORGIA. 245 communion. Charles Wesley had been selected by Oglethorpe as his secretar\', and John Wesley came with the hope of becom- ing the means of converting the Indians to Christianity. He did not succeed in realiz- ing his noble ambition, but we cannot doubt that his experience in America formed a very important part of the training by which God was pre- paring him for the great work he meant to intrust to him at a later day. The preaching of Wesley had a marked effect upon the col- ony. Crowds flocked to hear him, neglect- ing their usual amuse- ments in their eager- ness to listen to him. His austerity of life, however, involved him in troubles with the people, and his popularity at length disappeared. His brother Charles was too tenderly moulded for so rough a life as that of the infant col- ony, and his health sank under it. The brothers remained in Georgia only two years, and then went i^ack to their labors in Europe, never to return to America. Soon after the departure of the Wesleys came to the colony George Whitefield, their friend and associate, the " golden-mouthed " preacher of the century. In his own land he had beguii to preach the message of his Mas- ter when but a mere youth, and had pro- claimed it to the inmates of the prisons and to the poor in the fields, and now he had come to bring the gospel to the people of the new world. He visited the Lutherans at JOHN WESLEY. Ebcnezer, and was deeply impressed with thv care with which they protected the orphan and helpless children of their community.' He determined to establish an institution similar to the orphan house at Halle, ia 246 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. Germany, and by his personal exertions suc- ceeded in raising in England and America the funds necessary for the success of his enterprise. He thereupon established near Savannah th* first orphan asylum in America. He GEORGE WHITEFIELD. watched it with unceasing care during his life, but after his death it languished and was at length discontinued. Whitefield did not confine his labors to Georgia. He visited every colony in America, and finally died and was buried in New England. The memory of his wonderful eloquence is still retained in this country by the children of those who listened to him. Immediately upon his return to Georgia,. Oglethorpe proceeded to visit the Lutheran settlement at Ebenezer, to encourage the people and lay out their town. The Germans repaid nis care by their industry, and in a few years their total annual product of raw silk amounted to ten thousand pounds. The culture of indigo was also carried on by them with marked success. Oglethorpe, having visited the Scotch set- tlement at Darien, now resolved to come to a definite understanding with the Spaniards at St. Augustine respect- ing the southern border of Georgia, and to sus- tain the pretensions of Great Britain to the country as far south as the St. John's. Proceed- ing with a detachment of Highlanders to Cumber- land Island, he marked out the location for a fort, to be called St. Andrew's, and on the southern end of Amelia Island, at the mouth of the St. John's, built Fort St. George. The Spaniards on their part claimed the whole coast as far north as St. Helena's Sound, and Oglethorpe, a little later, decided to abandon Fort St. George, but strengthened Fort St. SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA. 247 Andrew, as it defended the entrance to the St. J\lar>''s, which stream was finally settled upon as the boundary between Georgia and Florida. Oglethorpe was commissioned a brigadier-general by the king, and was charged with the defence of Georgia and South Carolina. He repaired to England and raised a regiment of troops, with which he returned to Georgia in 1738. Spain and England were rapidly drifting into war. The system of restrictions by which the European governments sought to retain the exclusive possession of the com- merce of their respective colonies was always a fruitful source of trouble. It now operated to bring England and Spain to open hostili- ties. The Spanish colonies were forbidden b\^ law to trade with any port but that of Cadiz. The merchants of this place, being given a monopoly of the colonial commerce, were enabled to fix their prices without fear of competition, and thus earned large fortunes. Grasping Smugglers. The trade of the Spanish-American col- onies, however, was too tempting not to pro- duce rivals to the merchants of Cadiz. The English, who had watched its growth with eager eyes, determined to gain a share of it. By the terms of a treaty between the two nations, an English vessel was allowed to visit Portobello, in the West Indies, once a year, and dispose of its cargo. This vessel was followed by smaller ones, which in the night replaced with their cargoes the bales of goods that had been discharged during the day. An active smuggling trade sprang up between the English and Spanish-American ports, and English vessels repeatedly sought these ports, under the pretence of distress, and sold their goods. These enterprises were carried to such an extent that the Spanish merchants were unable to compete with the English smugglers in the colonial markets, and the tonnage of the port of Cadiz fell from fifteen thousand to two thou- sand tons. The Spaniards visited with severe punish- ments all who were detected in engaging in this illicit traffic. Some of the offenders were imprisoned, and others were deprived of their cars. The English people resented the pun- ishment of these traders as an infringement of the freedom of trade, and regarded the smugglers who had suffered at the hands of Spanish justice as martyrs. The popular sentiment was therefore in favor of a war with Spain, and the English government, which had all along connived at this illicit trade, which was rapidly crippling a rival power, shared the national feeling. Grievances of the Settlers. The English colonists, who had watched the growth of the trouble between the two European countries, had grievances of their own. South Carolina was a sufferer by the loss of numerous runaway negro slaves, who escaped to the Spaniards at St. Augustine. The return of these fugitives was demanded, and was refused, not because the Spaniards were opposed to slavery, but because they were always ready to injure the English col- onies by any means in their power. More- over, the Spanish authorities of Florida had ordered the English to withdraw from Georgia, and it was not certain that they would refrain from seeking to enforce this order. Oglethorpe had become convinced that war was inevitable, and in order to be prepared for it had visited Europe and raised a regiment of si.x hundred men, as has been related. War was declared against Spain by Eng- land in October, 1739. Admiral Vernon was sent against Portobello with his fleet, and captured that town and its fortifications, and gained some other successes over the 248 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. Spaniards in Central America. In 1740, the American colonies were ordered by the British government to contribute each its quota to a grand expedition against the Spanish possessions in the West Indies. Each colony made its contribution promptly, and Pennsylvania, in the place of troops, voted a sum of money. Fleet of a Hundred Vessels. The expedition reached Jamaica in Janu- ary, 1 741, but instead of proceeding at once to attack Havana, which was only three days distant, and the conquest of which would have made England supreme in the West Indies, the fleet was detained for over a month at Jamaica by the dissensions be- tween Wentworth, the incompetent com- mander of the land forces, and Vernon, the admiral of the fleet. The expedition num- bered over one hundred vessels, of which twenty-nine were ships of the line, and was manned with fifteen thousand sailors and twelve thousand troops, and supplied with every requisite for a successful siege. Havana might have been taken, and England have gained a hold upon the southern waters of America which could never have been ■wrested from her. Instead of undertaking this important measure, the expedition attacked Cartha- gena, the strongest fortress in Spanish America. The Spaniards defended it with obstinancy and held the English in check until the besieging force, decimated by the ravages of the climate, was compelled to withdraw. The war continued through the next year, but England gained no advan- tage in the West Indies which could at all compensate her for her losses in the struggle. In the autumn of 1739, upon the breaking out of the war, Oglethorpe was ordered to invade Florida, and attack St. Augustine. He hastened to Charleston and urged upon the authorities of South Carolina, which formed a part of his military command, the necessity of acting with promptness and de- cision. He was granted supplies and a force of four hundred men, which, added to his own regiment, gave him a force of one thousand white troops. He was also fur- nished with a body of Indian warriors by the friendly tribes, and with his little army in- vaded Florida in the spring of 174 1, and laid siege to St. Augustine. He found the gar- rison more numerous and the fortifications stronger than he had been led to believe. The Indians soon became disheartened and began to desert, and the troops from South Carolina, " enfeebled by the heat, dispirited by sickness and fatigued by frujtless efforts, marched awa)' in large bodies." Spanish Settlers Protected. The small naval force also became dissat- isfied, and Oglethorpe, left with only his own regiment, was obliged to withdraw into Georgia after a siege of five weeks. During this campaign Oglethorpe made a few pris- oners, whom he treated with kindness. He prevented the Indians from maltreating the Spanish settlers, and, throughout the inva- sion, " endured more fatigues than any of his soldiers; and in spite of ill-health, he was at the head in every important action." The invasion of Florida was a misfortune for Georgia in every way. Not only were some of the inhabitants lost to the colony by death, and the industry of the province greatly interfered with by the calling off of the troops from their ordinary avocations, but a serious misfortune was sustained in the withdrawal of the Moravians from the prov- ince. Uncompromisingly opposed to war, they withdrew from Georgia in a body and settled in Pcnnsyhania, where they founded the towns of Bethlehem and Nazareth. SETTLEMENT OF GEORGIA. 249 In the last year of the war, 1742, the Spaniards resolved to avenge the attack upon Florida by driving the English out of Georgia. A strong fleet with a considerable land force was sent from Cuba to St. Augus- tine, from which it proceeded to the mouth of the St. Mary's. Oglethorpe had con- structed a strong work called Fort William, on the southern end of Cumberland Island, for the defence of this river. With no aid from Carolina, and with less than a thousand men, Oglethorpe was left to defend this position as well as he could. He posted his main force at Frederica, a small village on St. Simon's Island. The Spanish fleet attacked Fort William in June and succeeded in passing it and entering the harbor of St. Simon's. The troops were landed and ar- rangements were made for a combined attack upon Frederica. Entrapped and Defeated. Oglethorpe now resolved to anticipate the attack of the enemy by a night assault upon their position, but as his forces were approach- ing the Spanish camp, under cover of dark- ness, one of his soldiers, a Frenchman, betrayed the movement by firing his gun, and escaping into the enemy's lines, where he gave the alarm. Oglethorpe, by a happy stratagem, now induced the enemy to with- draw, and drew upon the deserter the pun- ishment he merited. He bribed a Spanish prisoner to carry a letter to the deserter, in which he addressed the Frenchman as a spy of the English, and urged him to use every effort to detain the Spaniards before Fred- erica for several days longer, until a fleet of six English ships of war, which had sailed from Charleston, could reach and destroy St. Augustine. The letter was delivered by the released prisoner to the Spanish com- mander, as 0,:;lethorpe had known would be the case, and the deserter was placed in con- finement. Fortunately, at this moment, some vessels from South Carolina, laden with supplies for Oglethorpe, appeared in the offing. These the Spanish commander was confident were the ships on their way to attack St. Augus- tine. He determined to strike a vigorous blow at Frederica before sailing to the relief of his countrymen in Florida. On his march towards the English position he was ambus- caded and defeated, with great loss, at a place since called " Bloody Marsh." The next night he embarked his forces and sailed for St. Augustine to defend it from the attack which had no existence save in the fertile brain of Oglethorpe, whose stratagem was thus entirely successful. On their withdrawal the Spaniards renewed their attempt to cap- ture Fort W'illiam, but without success. The firmness and vigor of Oglethorpe had saved Georgia and Carolina from the ruin which the Spaniards, who had no intention of occupying the country, had designed for them. Oglethorpe Acquitted. Yet the founder and brave defender ol Georgia was not to escape the experience of those who seek with disinterested zeal to serve their fellow-men. The disaffected settlers sent an agent to England to lodge complaints against him with the government. In July, 1743, having made sure of the tran- quility and safety of the colony, Oglethorpe sailed for England to meet his accuser, and upon arriving in his native country demanded an investigation of his conduct in the land for which he had sacrificed so much. The result of the inquiry was the trium- phant acquittal of Oglethorpe and the pun- ishment of his accuser for making false charges. Oglethorpe was promoted to the grade of major-general in the English army. He did not return to Georgia again, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that during 250 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. his ten years of sacrifice and toil in America he had successfully laid the foundations of a vigorous state and had placed it far beyond the possibility of failure, and that his name was honored and loved by the people for whom he had given his best efforts without any personal reward. He died at the age of ninety years. After the departure of Ogle- thorpe many improvements were made in the government of Georgia, which was changed from a military rule to a civil establishment. The forms and customs of the English law were introduced and the usual magistrates appointed. Human Cargoes from Africa. Slavery had been forbidden by the trus- tees, but the majority of the people were dissatisfied with this prohibition. The Ger- mans and the Scotch were opposed to the introduction of slave labor, but the greater number of the English, many of whom had been reduced to poverty by their idleness and wastefulness, were of the opinion that the agricultural wealth of the colony could not be properly developed by white labor alone. " They were unwilling to labor, but were clamorous for privileges to which they had no right." They declared that the use of strong liquors was rendered absolutely necessary by the climate and demanded the repeal of the laws against their introduction. Negro slaves were hired from the Carolina planters at first for a few years, and finally for a term of one hundred years, which was a practical establishment of slavery in the colony. Within seven years after Oglethorpe's departure slave-ships from Africa brought their cargoes direct to Savannah and sold them there. The scruples of the Germans were at length overcome, and they were induced to believe that negroes might be led into the Christian fold by their proper treat- ment by Christian masters, and that in this way their change of country might result in benefit to them. " If you take slaves in faith," wrote their friends from Germany, " and with the intent of conducting them to Christ, the action will not be a sin, but may prove a benediction." Even the pious White- field took this view of the subject and urged the trustees to grant permission to the colo- nists to hold slaves, as indispensable to the prosperity of Georgia. The trustees were so strongly urged to this step by all classes of the colony, and so overrun with complaints, that the twenty-one years of their guardianship having expired, they were glad to surrender their trust, which they did in 1752, and Georgia became a royal province. Privileges similar to those granted the other colonies were allowed it. The king appointed the governor and some of the other higher officials, and the assembly dis- charged the duties, and enjoyed the rights appertaining to similar bodies in the other provinces. Georgia was always a favored colony. Among the most important privileges be- stowed upon it was the right to import and hold negro slaves, which was conferred upon it by Parliament after a careful examination into the matter. After this the colony grew rapidly, and cotton and rice were largely- cultivated. In 1752, at the time of the re- linquishment of the colony to the crown, Georgia contained a population less than twenty-five hundred whites and about four hundred negroes. In 1775, at the outbreak of the Revolution, the popu- lation numbered about seventy-five thousand souls, and its exports were valued at over , half a million of dollars. CHAPTER XX The French in the Valley of the Mississippi Origin of the Hostility of the Iroquois to the French— Settlement of Canada— Plans of the French Respecting thelndiaM — The Jesuits — Their Work in America — Suceess of their Missions — The Early Missionaries— Foundation of a College at Quebec— Efforts of the Jesuits to Convert the Iroquois— Father Jogues— Death of Ahasistari— Father Alloiiez— The Missions on the Upper Lakes— Father Marquette— His Exploration of the Upper Mississippi— Death of Marquette— La Salle — Efforts of France to Secure the Valley of the Mississippi— La Salle Descends the Mississippi to its Mouth — His Effort to Coloni^e the Lower Mississippi — The First Colony in Texas — Its Failure — Death of La Salle — Lemoine d'lbberville- Settlement of Louisiana— Colony of Biloxi— Settlement of Mobile— Crozat's Monopoly— FoundiHg of New Orleans — Detroit Founded — Slow Growth of the French Colonies — Occupation of the Ohio Valley by the French — Wars with the Indians — Extermination of the Natchez Tribe — War with the Chickasaws. WE have already spoken of the explorations of Samuel Cham- plain in Canada and in the northern part of New York. It is necessary now, in order to obtain a proper comprehension of the period at which we have arrived, to go back to the time of his discoveries and trace the efforts of France to extend her dominion over the great valley of the Mississippi. We have seen Cham- .plain in one of his last expeditions accom- ^.anying a war party of the Hurons and AI- gonqums against their inveterate enemies, the Iroquois or Five Nations. By his aid the former were enabled to defeat the Iro- quois, and that great confederacy thus be- came the bitter and uncompromising enemies of the French nation. They cherished this hostility to the latest period of the dominion of France in Canada, and no effort of the French governors was ever able to over- come it. The efforts of Champlain established the settlement of Canada upon a sure basis of success, and after his death settlers came over to Canada from France in considerable numbers. Quebec bccamean important place, and other settlements were founded. It was apparent from the first that the French colo- nies must occupy a very different footing from those of England. The soil and the climate were both unfavorable to agriculture, and the French settlements were of necessity organized chiefly as trading-posts. The trade in furs was immensely valuable, and the French sought to secure the exclusive possession of it. To this end it was indis- pensable to secure the friendship of the In- dians, especially of those tribes inhabiting the country to the north and west of the great lakes. In 1634, three years before the death of Champlain, Louis XIII. granted a charter to a company of French nobles and mer- chants, bestowing upon them the entire region embraced in the valley of the St. Lawrence, then known as New France. Richelieu and Champlain, who were mem- bers of this company, were wise enough to- understand that their countrymen were not suited to the task of colonization, and that if France was to found an empire in the new world, it must be by civilizing and Chris tianizing the Indians and bringing them under the rule of her king, and not by seek- ing to people Canada with Frenchmen. From this time it became the policy of France to bring the savages under her sway. The efforts of the settlers in Canada were mainly devoted to trading with the Indians, 2SI , SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. and no attempt was made to found an agri- cultural state. Champlain had conceived a sincere desire ("or the conversion of the savages to Chris- tianity, and had employed several priests of the order of St. Francis as his companions, and these had gained sufficient success among the savages to gi\'e ground for the hope that the red men might yet be brought into the fold of Christ. Father Le Caron, one of this order, had penetrated far up the St. Law- rence, had explored the southern coast of Lake Ontario, and had even entered Lake Huron. He brought back tidings of thou- sands of tlie sons of the forest living in darkness and superstition, ignorant of the gospel, and dying " in the bondage of their sins." In France a sudden enthusiasm was awakened in behalf of the savages, and at court zeal for the conversion of the Indians became the sure road to distinction. Much of this was the result of genuine disinterested regard for the welfare of the red men, but much also was due to the conviction that by such a course the power of France would be most surely established in Canada. Work of the Jesuits. The missions were placed entirely in the hands of the Jesuits, an order well suited to the task demanded of it. It had been estab- lished by its founder for the express design of defeating the influences and the work of the Reformation, and its members were chosen with especial regard to their iitness for the duties required of them. They were to meet and refute the arguments by which the Reformers justified their withdrawal from the Roman church, to beat back the advanc- ing wave of Protestantism, and bring all Christendom once more in humble submis- sion to the feet of the Roman pontiff. The Reformers had made a most successful use of education in winning men from Rome; the Jesuits would take their own weapons against the Protestants. They would no longer command absolute and unquestioning submission to their church; but would edu- cate the people to accept the faith of Rome as the result of study and investigation ; and in order that study and investigation should lead to this desired result, the control of these processes should be placed exclusively in the hands of the members of the Jesuit order, who should direct them as they deemed best. Such a task required a band of de- voted men, carefully trained for their special work ; and such an order the Jesuits became. Surrendering his conscience and will to the direction of his superiors, and sinking his personality in that of his order, the Jesuit became a mere intellectual machine in the hands of his superior. A Solemn Oath. Bound by a most solemn oath to obey without inquiry or hesitation the commands of the Pope, or the superiors of the order, the Jesuit holds himself in readiness to execute instantly, and to the best of his ability, any task imposed upon him. Neither fatigue, danger, hunger nor suffering was to stand in his way of perfect and unhesitating obedi- ence. No distance was to be considered an obstacle, and no lack of ordinary facilities of travel was to prevent him from attempting to reach the fields in which he was ordered to labor. The merit of obedience in his eyes atoned for ever}'- other short-coming ; devo- tion to the church, the glory of making proselytes, made even suffering pleasure and death a triumph, if met in the discharge of duty. Such an order was in every way qualified for the work of Christianizing the savages, and America offered the noblest field to which its energies had yet been invited. There, cut off from the ambitious schemes THE FRENXH IN THE VALLEY OF THE ^^SSISSH'PI and corrupt influences which had enlisted their powers in Europe, the Jesuits could '■S3 achieve and did achieve their noblest and most useful triumphs. There, their influ- ence was for good alone, and their labors stand in striking contrast with those which won for the order the universal execration of Europe. Not only did they win the honor of gaining many converts to the Christian faith, but they were the means of extending the dominion of their country far beyond the boundaries of Canada, and of bringing the great valley of the Mississippi under the authority of France. Marriage of W^hites and Indians. By the year 1536 there were thirteen Jesuit missionaries in Canada laboring among the Indians. Not content with re- maining around the posts, they pushed out beyond the frontier settlements into the boundless forest, making new converts and important discoveries. Each convert was regarded as a subject of France, and the equal of the whites, and the kindliest rela- tions were established between the French and the natives. Many of the traders took them Indian wives, and from these marriages sprang the class of half-breeds afterwards so numerous in Canada. The limits of Canada were too narrow for the ambition of the Jesuits ; they burned to carry Christianity to the tribes in the more distant regions beyond the lakes. In the autumn of 1634 Fathers Brabeuf and Daniel accompanied a party of Hurons, who had come to Quebec on a trading expedition, to their home on the shores of the lake which bears their name. It was a long and difficult journey of nine hundred miles, and it taxed the endurance of the missionaries to the ut- most, but they persevered, and finally gained a resting-place at the Huron villages on Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe There they erected a rude chapel in a little grove, and celebrated the mysteries of their religion in the midst of the wondering red men, who looked on with awe and not without interest. New Missions. Si.x missions were soon established among the Indian villages in this part of the lake, and converts began to reward the labors of the devoted priests. Father Brabeuf had not an idle moment. The first four hours of the day were passed in prayer and in the flagel- lation of his body ; he wore a shirt of hair, and his fasts were frequent and severe. The remainder of the day was given to catechis- ing and teaching the Indians. As he passed along the streets of the village he would ring his little bell, and in this way summon the warriors to converse with him upon the mysteries of the Christian faith. He spent fifteen years in his labors among the Indians, and hundreds of converts were by means of him gained to Christ among the dusky chil- dren of the forest. The great Huron chief, Ahasistari, was among the converts of Father Brabeuf, " Before you came to this country," he said to the missionary, " when I have incurred the greatest perils and have alone escaped, I have said to myself, ' Some powerful Spirit has the guardianship of my days.'" That Spirit he now declared was Jesus Christ, and as he had before adored him in ignorance, he now became his acknowledged servant. Being satisfied of his sincerity. Father Brabeuf baptized him, and the chief, in the enthusi- asm of his new belief, exclaimed, " Let us strive to make the whole world embrace the faith in Jesus." The report of the successful efforts of the missionaries gave great satisfaction in France, and the king and queen and the nobles made liberal donations in support 01 the missions and for the assistance of the converts. A 254 LM\Llsn\ \NL NUKMAL sLllOOI lUlIDINC.^ AT lUKOMO IN li>j2. THE FRENCH IN THE VA college for the education of missionaries was founded at Quebec in 1635. This was the first institution of learning established in America, and preceded the founding of Har- vard College by two years. Madame de la Peltrie, a wealthy young widow of Alcncon, with the aid of three nuns, established in 1639 the Ursuline Convent for the education of Indian girls. The three nuns came out from France to take charge of it, and were received with enthusiasm, especially by the Indians. Montreal being regarded as a more suit- able place, the institution was removed to that island and permanently established there. The Powerful Mohawks. The labors of the missiouv^ries had thus far been confined to the Huron and Algon- quin tribes, whom they found very willing to listen to them, and among whom they counted their converts by thousands. They had encountered but little hostility from them, and the dangers of the enterprise were merely those inseparable from the unsettled condition of the country. They were anxious to extend their efforts to the fiercer and more pow-erful Iroquois, as the conver- sion of the tribes of this confederacy would not only swell the number of their converts, but would extend the influence of France to the very borders of the English settlements on the Atlantic coast. The Iroquois, or Five Nations, consisted, as has been said, of the Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida and Mohawk tribes. They occupied almost all that part of Canada south of the Ottawa, and between Lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron, the greater part of New York and the country lying along the south shore of Lake Erie, now included in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania. They were generally called by the English the Mohawks. They were the most intelligent, LLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 255 as well as the most powerful, of the tribes with whom the French missionaries came in contact. Their traditions related that their confed- eracy had been formed in accordance with the instructions of Hiawatha, the greatest and wisest of their chiefs, who had been blessed by the Great Spirit with more than human beauty and wisdom and courage. He had made his people great, united and prosperous ; had then taken a solemn leave of them, and had sailed out into the distant sunset in a snow-white canoe, amid the sweetest music from the spirit land. They were regarded with dread by the sur- rounding tribes, many of which were tribu- tary to them. Their influence extended eastward as far as New England, and west- ward as far as the countries of the Illinois and the Miamis. They regarded the Hurons as their hereditary enemies, and the French, as allies of the Hurons, now shared this hos- tility. The savages long remembered, and never forgave, the alliance of Champlain with the Hurons and Algonquins, to w-hich reference has been made. Enmity of the Red Men. The Jesuit missionaries vainly endeavored to add the tribes of the Five Nations to their converts. The latter, regarding the French as enemies, could never be made to look upon the missionaries of that race as friends, and considered the efforts of the good fathers in their behalf as a species of incantation designed for their destruction. They closed the region south of Lake Ontario to the French traders and priests and kept a vigilant watch over the passes of the St. Lawrence for the purpose of breaking up the trade of the French at Montreal with the tribes on the lakes. The only route by which the lakes could be reached in safety was by the Ottawa and 2S6 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. through the wilderness beyond. Yet occa- sionally a trading party would slip through the blockade established by the Iroquois, and, descending the lakes and the St. Law- rence, reach Montreal and Quebec in safety. These expeditions constituted the only means by which the Jesuit missionaries in the remote regions could communicate with their principal establishment at Montreal. In the summer of 1642, Father Jogues, who had labored with great success in the country now embraced in the state of Michi- gan, left the Sault Sainte Marie under the escort of the great Huron war chief Ahasis- tari and a number of his braves, and, descend- ing the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, reached Montreal and Quebec in safety. On the first of August he set out on his return, ac- companied by a larger fleet of Huron canoes. Before the mouth of the Ottawa was reached the party was attacked by a band of Mo- hawks, and the canoes were so much dam- aged that the occupants were forced to make for the opposite shore. The greater number escaped, but a few, among whom were Father Jogues and Father Goupil, a fellow-priest, were taken prisoners. Died at the Stake. Ahasistari had succeeded in reaching a place of safety, and from his concealment saw the missionaries prisoners in the hands of their enemies. He knew the fate that awaited them, and resolved to share it with them. Father Jogues might have escaped, but as there were among the prisoners several con- verts who had not yet received baptism, he decided to remain with them in the hope of being able to administer the sacred rite to them before their execution. Ahasistari strode through the midst of the astonished Mohawks to the side of the priest. " My brother," said the chief, " I made oath to thee that I would share thy fortune, whether death or life ; here am I to keep my vow." He received absolution from the hands of his teacher, and died at the stake with the firm- ness of a Christian and a hero. Jogues and Goupil were carried to the Mohawk, and in each village through which they were led were compelled to run the gauntlet. On an ear of corn which was thrown to them for food a few drops of the dew had remained, and with these Father Jogues baptized two of his converts. Peace with the Five Nations. Goupil was not so fortunate. He was seen in the act of making the sign of the cross over an Indian child, and was struck dead by a blow from the toma- hawk of the child's father, who sup- posed he was working a spell for the little one's harm. Father Jogues had expected the same fate, but he was spared, and even allowed to erect a large cross near the village at which he was detained, and to worship before it at pleasure. He escaped at length and reached Albany, where he was kindly received by the Dutch, who enabled him to return to France, from which country he sailed again for Canada. He went boldly into the Mohawk country and began again the efforts which he had made during his captivity to convert his enemies to the true faith, but his labors were soon cut short by his murder by a Mohawk warrior. Other missionaries sought the country of these tribes, but only to meet torture and death at their hands. In 1645, the French, who desired to secure their possessions, made a treaty of peace with the Five Nations. The latter professed to forget and bury the wrongs of the past, and agreed to be the true friends of the French. The Algonquins joined in the peace, but neither tribe was sincere in its professions of friendship. THE FRENCH IN THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSH'PL ;57 The Abenakis of Maine, who had heard of the good deeds of the Jesuit fathers, sent messengers to Montreal asking that mission- aries might be sent to dwell among them. Their appeal was favorably considered, and Father Dreuilettes made his way across the wilderness to the head of the Kennebec, and descended that stream to a point within a few miles of its mouth, where he established his mission. Large numbers of the savages came to him for religious instruction, and he found them ready to embrace the truths he taught them. He entered heartily into all the modes of Indian life, hunting and fishing with them, and winning their confidence and affection. After remaining with them about a year he returned to Quebec, escorted by a band of his converts. He gave such favora- ble accounts of the disposition of the Maine Indians that a permanent mission was estab- lished among them. Uncivilized Wild Men. By the close of the year 1646 the French had established a line of missions extending across the continent from Lake Superior to Nova Scotia, and between si.xty and seventy missionaries were actively engaged in in- structing and preaching to the savages. How far the labors of these devoted men were actually successful will never be known, as their work was of a character which can- not be submitted to any human test. They did not succeed, however, in changing either the character or the habits of their converts. They were still wild men, who scorned to engage in the labor of cultivating their lands, and lived by hunting and fishing. They learned to engage in the religious services of the missionaries, to chant matins and ves- pers, but they made no approach to civiliza- tion. When, in after years, the zeal of the whites for their conversion became less act- ive, and the missionaries less numerous, they fell back into their old ways. 17 In 1648 the peace between the Mohawks and the Hurons was broken, and the war blazed up again fiercer than ever. Bands of Mohawk warriors invaded the territory of the Hurons, and both the savage and the missionary fell victims to their fury. On the morning of the fourth of July the village of St. Joseph, on Lake Simcoe, was attacked by a war party of the Mohawks. Pierced With Arrows. The Huron braves were absent on a hunt- ing expedition, and only the old men and the women and children of the tribe were left in the village. This was the village founded by the missionaries Brabeuf and Daniel, the hitter of whom, now an old man, was still dwelling with his converts. At the opening of the attack the good priest has- tened to baptize such as he could, and to give absolution to all whom he could reach. Then, as the Mohawks forced the stockade which protected the village and swarmed in among the wigwams, he advanced calmly from the chapel to meet them, and fell pierced with numerous arrows. During the ne.xt year the Jesuit missions in Upper Canada were broken up. At the capture of the village Father Brabeuf and his companion, Gabriel Lallemand, were made prisoners, and were subsequently put to death with the crudest tortures. They bore their sufferings with a firmness which astonished their persecutors. The Hurons were scattered and their country was added to the dominion of the Five Nations. Many of the captive Hurons were adopted into the conquering tribes. A large number of these had embraced Christianity — so many, indeed, that the Jesuits, who had been in nowise discouraged by the terrible scenes which had marked the war, began to cherish the hope that the presence of these converts would induce the Iroquois to receive a missionary 258 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. among them. It was decided to make the attempt among the Onondagas, and Oswego, which was their principal village, was chosen as the site of the missiou. Useless Efforts. The Iroquois made no effort to disturb the missionaries, and priests were sent among the other tribes of the confederacy. Encour- aged by this reception, the French undertook to secure a firm footing in this inviting region by establishing a colony at the mouth of the Oswego, and fifty persons were des- patched to that point to begin a settlement there. This aroused the alarm of the Indians, who compelled the colonists to withdraw and forced the missionaries to de- part with them. This was the last effort of the French to obtain possession of New York. The Five Nations were not to be reconciled with them on any terms, and their hostility made it useless to attempt the col- onization of that fertile region. Defeated in their hope of obtaining a footing in the country of the Five Nations, the Jesuit fathers turned their attention more energetically to the vast region beyond the lakes. In 1654 two young fur-traders had penetrated into the country beyond Lake Superior, and after an absence of two years had returned to Quebec, bringing with them accounts of the powerful and numerous tribes occupying that region. They brought with them a number of Indians, who urged the French to open commercial relations with and send missionaries among these tribes. Their request was promptly granted, and missionaries were soon on the ground. One of these, the aged Father Mesnard, while journeying through the forests, wan- dered off from his attendants and was never seen again. His cassock and breviary were f v.nd by the Sioux, and were long retained Ly them as a protection against evil. In 1665 Father Claude Alloiiez ascended the Ottawa and crossed the wilderness to the Sault Ste-Marie, on a mission to the tribes of the far west. In October he reached the principal town of the Chippewas at the head of Lake Superior. He found the tribe in great excitement ; the young warriors were eager to engage in a war against the formid- able Sioux, and the old men were seeking to restrain them. A grand council was in progress, which was attended by the chiefs of ten or twelve of the neighboring tribes for the purpose of preserving peace if possible. Father Alloiiez was admitted to this assembly and exhorted the warriors to abandon their hostile intentions, and urged them to join the French in an alliance against the Five Nations. His appeal was successful ; the war against the Sioux was abandoned, and the savages came in from all parts of the surrounding country to listen to the words of the mis- sionary. A chapel was built on the shore of the lake and the mission of the Holy Spirit was founded. The fame of the missionary spread far to the west and north, and the tribes dwelling north of Lake Superior, the Pottawatomies from Lake Michigan, who worshiped the sun, and the Sioux and the Illinois from the distant prairies of the west, came to the mission to hear the teachings of the missionary. They told him of their country, an unbroken expanse of level land, without trees, but covered with long rich grass, upon which grazed innumerable herds of buffalo and deer ; of the rice which grew wild in their distant homes ; of the rich yield of maize which their fields produced ; of the copper mines of which they but dimly comprehended the value; and of the great river which flowed through their country from the far north to the unknown regions of the south, and which Alloiiez understood them to call the " Messipi." THE FRENCH IN THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSHTL After remaining at his mission for two years, AUoiiez returned to Quebec to ask for other laborers in the great field around him, and to urge the French to establish per- manent settlements of emigrants or traders in the Lake Superior country. He remained at Quebec two days, was given an assistant, and at once returned to his post, where he continued his labors for many years. " Dur- ing his long sojourn he lighted the torch of faith for more than twenty dilTerent nations." In 1668 the French West India Company, under whose auspices the settlement of Canada had been conducted, relinquished their monopoly of the fur trade, and a great improvement in the condition and prospects of Canada ensued. In the same year Fathers Claude Dablon and James Marquette esttib- lished the mission ofSte-Marie at the rapids through which the waters of Lake Superior rush into those of Huron. " For the suc- ceeding years," says Bancroft, " the illus- trious triumvirate, Alloiiez, Dablon and Marquette, were employed in confirming the influence of France in the vast regions that extend from Green Bay to the head of Lake Superior, mingling happiness with suffering, and winning enduring glory by their fearless perseverance." Wonderful Scene. In 1669, Father Alloiiez went to establish " mission at Green Bay, and Father Mar- quette took his place at the mission of the Holy Spirit. Marquette had heard so much of the Mississippi that he resolved to under- take the discovery of the upper waters of that stream. He employed a young Illinois warrior as his companion, and from him learned the dialect of that tribe. In 1673, accompanied by a fellow-priest named Joliet, five French boatmen, and some Indian guides and interpreters, bearing their canoes on their backs, Marquette set out from his mission, and crossing the narrow portage which divides the Fox River from the Wisconsin, reached the headwaters of tlie latter stream. There the guides left them, wond.'ring at their rashness in seeking to venture into a region which the simple imagination of the savages filled with vague terroro. The adventurers floated down the Wisconsin, and in seven days entered the Mississippi, " with a joy that could not be expressed." Raising the sai)s of their canoes they glided down the mighty father of waters, gazing with wonder upon the magnificent forests which lined its shores, and which swarmed with game, and admiring the boundless prairie* which stretched away from either bank to th" horizon. The Pipe of Peace. One hundred and eighty miles below th» mouth of the Wisconsin the voyagers for the first time discovered signs of human beings. They landed, and found an Indian village s few miles distant from the river. They wera kindly received by the inhabitants, who spoke the language of the Indians who had come with Marquette, and a week w^as passed at this hospitable village. The villagers told the travellers that the lower river extended far to the south, where the heat was deadly, and that in those latitudes the stream abounded with monsters which destroyed both men and canoes. At the departure of the whites the chief of the tribe hung around Marquette's neck the peace-pipe, and ex- plained to him that it would prove a safe- guard to him among the tribes into whost territory his journey would lead him. Continuing their voyage the explorer? reached the mouth of the Missouri, and noticed the strong, muddy stream which it poured into the Mississippi. "When I return," said Marquette, " I will ascend that river and pass beyond its headwaters, and 26o SETTLEMElSii OF AMERICA. proclaim the gospel." One hundred and twenty miles farther south they passed the mouth of the Ohio, of which river they had heard from the Illinois at the village they had visited. As they proceeded farther south the heat became more intense, for it was the month of July. They met with Indians, whose hostility was disarmed by the peace- pipe which Marquette bore. Some of these Indians were armed with axes of European manufacture, which they had obtained either trom the Spaniards in the far south, or from the English in Virginia. The voyage was continued to the mouth of the Arkansas. Marquette was now satisfied that the great river flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, and as he was fearful of falling into the hands of the Spaniards in that region, he decided to bring his voyage to an end, and return to the lakes. The Dying Missionary. The task of ascending the river was accom- plished with great difficulty, and at length the mouth of the Illinois was reached. As they supposed this stream would lead them to the lakes the voyagers ascended it to its headwaters, and then crossed the country to the site of Chicago, from which they con- tinued the voyage by way of Lake Michigan to Green Bay. Marquette despatched Joliet to Quebec to report the results of the voyage, but himself remained at Green Bay. It was his purpose to preach the gospel among the Illinois, who had begged him during his voyage to come back to them. He was detained at Green Bay for some time by feeble health, but in 1675 went back to the Illinois, and began his labors among them. Feeling that his end was near he undertook to return to the mis- sion of St. Mary's, but fell ill on the way. He gave absolution to all his companions, and retired to pray. An hour afterwards, uneasy at his absence, his people went to seek him, and found him kneeling, but pray- ing no longer, for his spirit had gone to receive its reward. He was buried on the banks of the river that bears his name, and his memory was long cherished with affec- tion by the Indians. The work of e.xploration which Marquette^ had begun was taken up by a bolder and firmer hand. Robert Cavalier de la Salle, a man of good family, had been educated for the service of ttie Jesuits, but had abandoned his design of entering that order after com- pleting his education. In 1667 he had emi- grated to Canada to seek his fortune, and had established himself as a fur-trader on Lake Ontario. Encouraged by the governor of Canada he had explored Lake Ontario, and had ascended to Lake Erie. When the French governor a few years later built Fort Frontenac to guard the outlet of Lake Ontario, La Salle was granted an extensive domain, including Fort Frontenac, now the town of Kingston, on condition that he would maintain the fort. He thus obtained the monopoly of the fur-trade with the Five Nations. Here he was residing at the time of the death of Marquette. On the Road to Fortune. The news of Marquette's discoveries filled him with the deepest interest, and he was eager to continue the exploration of the river at the point at which Marquette had discontinued it, and to trace it to its mouth. He was already on the road to fortune, but the prospect of winning greater fame was too tempting to be resisted, and, leaving his pos- sessions on Lake Ontario, he sailed for France and laid before Colbert, the minister, the schemes he had for the exploration and colonization of the valley of the Mississippi. He obtained a grant of valuable pri\ileges and received permission to attempt the task THE FRENCH IN THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPL 261 of adding that vast region to the dominions of France. He returned to Fort Frontenac in the autumn of 1678, bringing with him as his lieutenant an Italian veteran named Tonti .and a number of mechanics and seamen, to- gether with the materials for rigging a ship. Before the winter had set in he ascended Lake Ontario to the Niagara River, where he built a trading-post. Then passing around the falls he constructed a vessel of sixty tons at the foot of Lake Erie. Tonti and Father Hennepin, a Franciscan, _ went among the Senecas during the construction of the ship and estab- lished friendly relations with them, and La Salle exerted himself to pro- cure furs with which to freight his vessel. The vessel completed, he as- cended Lake Erie, passed through the straits into Lakes Huron and Michi- gan, and entered Green Bay. Then loading his vessel with a cargo of valuable furs, he sent her to the Niagara, with orders to return with supplies as soon as pos- sible. During her absence La Salle and his com- panions ascended Lake Michigan in canoes as far as the mouth of the St. Joseph's, where they built a fort. Then crossing over to the valley of the Illinois, he built a fort on a bluff near the site of Peoria, and awaited the re- turn of the " Griffin." The vessel had been wrecked on the voyage to Niagara, and when it became evident that she would not return, La Salle named his fort Crevecoeur (" Heart- break.") Supplies were necessary to the exploration of the Mississippi, and La Salle being deter- mined to obtain them, took with him three companions and crossed the wilderness to Fort Frontenac, %vhich he reached in the spring of 1680. During his absence, Father Hennepin, by his orders, explored the Upper Mississippi as far as the falls, which he named in honor of St. Anthony, the patron saint of the expedition. In the summer of 16S0 La Salle returned to the Illinois, but various causes intervening to delay him, he was not able to undertake his exploration of the Mississippi until 1682. In that year he built a barge on the upper Illinois, and embarking with his companions, floated down that stream to the Mississippi, which he descended to the Gulf of Mexico. He named the country along the banks of the river Louis- iana, in honor of Louis XIV., King of France. Then ascending the Mississippi, he returned SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. by the Lakes to Quebec, and in 1683 sailed for France to enlist the government and peo- ple in his project for colonizing the country along the lower Mississippi. An Unfortunate Wreck. His design was encouraged by the king, and emigrants were readily found. In 1684, he sailed from France with four ships and two hundred and eighty per- sons to plant a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. Unhappily the command- er of the fleet was not in sympathy with La Salle, and being jealous of his authority, man- ifested a degree of stubbornness which was fatal to the expedition. One hundred of the colonists were soldiers ; of the rest, some were volunteers, some mechanics, some women, and some priests. After a long voy- age they entered the Gulf of Mexico in Jan- uary, 1685. They sailed past the mouth of the Mississippi, and when La Salle perceived his error, Beaujeu, the commander of the fleet, refused to return, but continued his western course until the bay of Matagorda was reached. There La Salle, weary of his disputes with Beaujeu, resolved to land, hoping that he might yet find the mouth of the Mississippi. A careless pilot, in attempt- ing to get the store-ship into the harbor, wrecked her, and all the supplies which Louis XIV. had provided with a lavish hand were lost. The colony, which was named Fort St. Louis, was from the first doomed to misfor- tune, and in a little more than two years was reduced by disease and suffering to thirty- six persons. In January, 16S7, La Salle, leaving twenty men at Fort St. Louis, set out with si.xteen men to march across the conti- nent to Canada to obtain aid for the settle- ment. His remarkable courage and deter- mination would doubtless have accomplished this feat, but on the way he was murdered by two of his men, who regarded him as the author of their sufferings. Of the rest of his companions, five who kept together reached a small French post near the mouth of the Arkansas, after a journey of six months. The twenty men left at Fort St. Louis were never heard of again. The effort to colonize Texas completely failed, and all that was accomplished by La Salle's enterprise was the establishment of the claim of France to this region. Searching for La Salle. To La Salle is due the credit of having been the first to comprehend the importance of securing to France the great region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and it was through his efforts that the atten- tion of France was seriously directed to its colonization. His remarkable qualities must always command the admiration and his sad fate elicit the sympathy of all generous hearts. While La Salle was vainly striving to ac- complish some good result with the Texas colony, his friend and lieutenant, Tonti, in obedience to his instructions, started from the Illinois and descended the Mississippi almost to its mouth, hoping to meet him. At length, despairing of seeing him, Tonti engraved a cross and the arms of France upon a tree on the banks of the river, and returned to the Illinois. In 1699, twelve years after the death of La Salle, another and this time a successful effort was made to secure Louisiana to France. Lemoine d'lbberville, a native of Canada and a man of ability and courage, resolved to plant a colony near the mouth of the Missis- sippi. With four vessels and two hundred' emigrants, some of whom were women and children, he sailed from Canada for the mouth of the Mississippi. He landed at the mouth of the river Pascagoula, and with two barges 264 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. manned by forty-eight men searched the coast for the mouth of the Mississippi. He found it and ascended as high as the mouth of the Red River. Here he was met by the Indians, who, to his astonishment, gave him a letter which had been placed in their charge fourteen years before. It was from Tonti, and was addressed to La Salle. He had given it to the Indians, and had charged them to deliver it to the first Frenchman they met. Shiftless Colonists. D'Ibberville returned to the gulf by way of Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, which he named after two of the ministers of Louis XIV. Deeming the shores of the Mississippi too marshy for colonization, D'Ibberville formed a settlement at Biloxi, at the mouth of the Pascagoula, within the limits of the present state of Mississippi, and soon afterwards sailed for France to obtain rein- forcements and supplies, leaving one of his brothers, Sauville by name, as governor, and the other, Bienville, to explore the Missis- sippi and the country along its banks. Early in 1700 D'Ibberville returned from France, and about the same time Tonti, La Salle's former lieutenant, now an aged man, arrived from the country of the Illinois. Acting upon Tonti's advice, D'Ibberville ascended the Mississippi for four hundred miles, and on the site of the present city of Natchez built a fort which he named Rosalie, in honor of the Duchess of Pontchartrain. Neither the settlement at Biloxi nor Rosalie prospered, however. The colonists were a shiftless set, and instead of seeking to culti- vate the soil and establish homes for them- iselves, went farther west to seek for gold. In 1702 D'Ibberville removed the colony from Biloxi to Mobile, which was founded in that year, and became the capital of Louis- iana and the centre of the French influence in the south. This settlement languished, however, and in ten years only two hundred emigrants were added to its population. It was forced to depend upon the French colonies in the West Indies for subsistenct. New Orleans Founded. In 17 14 the French government, becoming convinced that it was necessary to make a more vigorous effort to colonize Louisiana if it meant to hold that country, granted a monopoly of trade to Arthur Crozat, who agreed to send over every year two ships laden with emigrants "and supplies, and also a cargo of African slaves. The king, on his part, agreed to furnish the sum of ten thou- sand dollars annually for the protection of the colony. In the same year a trading- house was established at Natchitoches on the Red River, and another on the Alabama, near the present site of Montgomery. Fort Rosalie was made the centre of an important trade, and matters becran to wear a new aspect in Louisiana. In 1718 Bienville, who had become satis- fied of the propriety of removing the seat of government from Mobile to the more produc- tive region of the lower Mississippi, put the convicts to work to clear up the thicket of cane which covered the site on which he meant to locate his new city, and upon the ground thus prepared erected a few huts, the germ of the great city oi New Orleans. It grew more rapidly than any of the settlements in Louisiana. In 1722 it contained about one hundred log huts, and a population of seven hundred. In 1723 the seat of govern- ment was removed from Mobile to New Orleans; and 1727 the construction of the levee was begun. While these efforts were in progress in the lower Mississippi, the French were even more active in the west. Detroit was founded in 1 70 1, and the villages of Kaskaskin and r THE FRENCH IN IHE VALLICV OF THE MISSISSIPP 265 Cabokia were formed around the stations of the missionaries on the east bank of the Mis- sissippi, above the mouth of the Ohio. The French population in America grew very slowly, however. In 1690 the population of Canada was only twelve hundred ; that, of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, less than one thou- sand ; and that of Louisiana less than five hundred. France had formed a deliberate and mag- nificent plan with respect to her American possessions. She meant to build up a mighty empire in the valley of the Mississippi, extending from the great lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, and touching Canada. Her efforts to accomplish this were lavish and persistent, but the unhealthiness of the climate, and the almost constant wars with the Natchez and Chickasaw Indians disheartened the settlers, and the French population grew so slowly that it could not accomplish the destinj- idemanded of it by the government at home. 'As late as 1740 Louisiana contained only about five thousand whites and less than two thousand five hundred negroes. The slow increase of the population made it necessary to hold the country by a series of military posts. By the year 1750 more than sixty of these posts had been built between Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico, by way of Green Bay, the Illinois, the Wabash, and the Maumee rivers, and along the Mississippi to New Orleans. French Claims in America. The most important of these forts were held by garrisons of regular troops, who were relieved once in six years. They accomplished this in the face of the constant hostility of their old enemies, the tribes of the Five Nations, and the Natchez and Chicka.saws. In 1748 the French extended their claim to the country south of Lake Erie, as far east as the mountains, which the)- explored, and took formal possession of by burying at the most important points leaden plates engraved with the arms of France. According to the ideas of the times, their claim was a valid one. In the meantime the settlements of Louis- iana had been obliged to struggle against the constant hostility of the Natchez Indians, who occupied the country around the present city which bears their name. They were not very numerous, but were more intelligent and civilized than the tribes among whom they dwelt. They worshiped the sun, from which deity their principal chief claimed to be descended. They watched the growing power of the French with alarm, and at length resolved to put a stop to the progress of the whites by a general massacre. Seven Hundred Murders. On the twenty-eighth of November, 1729, they fell upon the settlement at Fort Rosalie and massacred the garrison and settlers, seven hundred in number. They were nol long permitted to exult over their success. When the news of the massacre reached New Orleans, Bienville resolved to retaliate severely upon the aggressors. He applied to the Choctaws, the hereditary enemies of the Natchez, for assistance, and was furnished by them with sixteen hundred warriors. With these and his own troops Bienville besieged the Natchez in their fort; but they escaped under the cover of the night and fled west of the Mississippi. They were followed by the French and forced to surrender, after which they were taken to New Or- leans and sent to St. Domingo, where they were sold as slaves. The Great Sun was among the captives, and the tribe of the Natchez was completely destroyed. It was well known to the French that the Chickasaws,a powerful tribe dwelling between the territory of the Natchez and the Ohio oi» 266 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. the north, and as far as the country of the Cherokees on the east, had incited the Natchez against them. Bienville therefore resolved to turn his arms against them. They had also given great trouble to the French by attacking and plundering their trading-boats descending the Mississippi from the posts on the Illinois. Bienville con- certed measures for a combined attack upon the Chickasaws with D'Artaguette, governor of the Illinois country, and two expeditions were despatched against the Indians. Bienville, with a strong force of French troops and twelve hundred Choctaw warriors, sailed in boats from New Orleans to Mobile and ascended the Tombigbee five hundred miles, to the place now known as Cotton Gin point. He landed here and marched twenty-five miles overland to the principal fort of the Chickasaws, which he at once attacked. He was repulsed with the loss of one hundred men, and was so discouraged that he returned to New Orleans. D'Arta- guette entered the Chickasaw country with fifty Frenchmen and one thousand Indians. He was defeated and taken prisoner, and was burned at the stake in May, 1735. In 1740 another effort was made by the French to crush the Chickasaws, but was equally un- successful. CHAPTER XXI. Conflicts Between the Enoflish and French. Reladons Between the English and the Five Nations— The Hostility of the Latter to the French— King William's Wai — Destruction of Dover — The Jesuit Missionaries Incite the Indians to Attack the English — Expedition Against Que. bee — Attack on Dustin's Farm — Peace of Ryswick — Hostility of the English to Roman Catholics — Queen Anne's War— Burning of Deerfield— Eunice Williams— Cruelties to the French— Effort of New England to Conquer Acadia — Capture of Port Roval — Failure of the Expedition Against Quebec — King George's War — Expedition Against Louis- burg — Its Composition — Arrival of the Fleet at Cape Breton — Good Conduct of the Provincials — Capture of Louis- bui^ — Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle — Unjust Treatment of the Colonies by England — Sentiment of the Americans Towards England. THE territon^ of the Five Nations lay between the English and French colonies. The friendship which these tribes had borne to the Dutch was transferred to the English upon the con- quest of New Netherlands by the latter, and they remained the faithful and devoted allies of Great Britain until after the Revolution. Though they remained at peace with the French for some years after the treaty, which has been mentioned in the preceding chap- ter, they regarded a renewal of hostilities with them as certain, and were on the whole anxious to resume the struggle at the earliest moment. James II., eager to establish the Roman Catholic religion in America, instructed the governor of New York to cultivate friendly relations with the French, and to exert all his influence to induce the Five Nations to receive Jesuit missionaries. The governor, however, saw that the French were rapidly monopolizing the fur trade, and he encour- aged the Five Nations to regard them with suspicion and dislike. The French by their own bad treatment of the Mohawks put an end to the hope of a lasting peace with them. Upon the escape of James II. to France, Louis XIV. warmly espoused the cause of the dethroned king, which he declared was the cause of legitimate monarchy as opposed to the right of the people to self-government ; and the war which was thus begun in Europe spread to the possessions of the rival powers in America. The objects of the two parties in America were very different. That of the people of New England, who were princi- pally interested in the struggle, was to secure their northern frontier against invasion from Canada, and to get possession of the fisheries. The French, on the other hand, wished to obtain entire control of the valley of the Mississippi, which would make them sole masters of the fur trade, and to extend their power over the valley of the St. Lawrence, and thus obtain control of the fisheries also. To accomplish their first object the friend- ship of the Indian tribes in the valley of the Mississippi was indispensable, and they exerted every means of which they were possessed to gain it. They renewed their efforts to win over the Five Nations, but without success. The war between these tribes and the French was soon renewed, as has been related, and on the twenty-fifth of August, 1689, a band of fifteen hundred Mo-< hawk warriors surprised and captured Mon- treal, and put two hundred of the inhabitants to death with horrible cruelty. An equal number of whites were made prisoners. 267 268 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. In the same year Count Frontenac was appointed governor of Canada for the second time. He came resolved to break the power of the English, and reached Canada just in time to hear of the capture of Montreal. He at once set to work to incite the Indians to a series of incursions against the English set- tlements which should thoroughly establish his influence over the savage warriors, who would obey none but a successful chief, and at the same time strike terror to the enemies of France. VIEW Ot iMo.NlKEAL FROM MOUNT ROYAL. The first blow was struck at Dover, in New Hampshire. The commander of the garrison at this place was Major Richard Waldron. Thirteen years before, during King Philip's war, two hundred eastern Indians came to Dover to treat of peace. Waldron treacherously seized them and sent them to Boston, where some of them were hanged, and the remainder sold into slavery. The savages had neither forgotten nor for- given the wrongs of their brothers, and now they resolved to meet the whites with their own weapons of deceit and treachery. On the evening of the twenty-seventh of June, 1689, two Indian squaws came to Dover and asked for a night's lodging. Waldron, now an old man of eight}', was unsuspicious of harm. Their request was granted and the squaws were lodged in his house. In the dead of the night the women arose, unbarred the gates and admitted the warriors, who had lain in ambush near the town. Waldron's house was first entered, the first duty of the savages being to discharge their debt of vengeance by a cold-blooded murder. ^^ The brave old man '^ seized his sword and ^ defended himself un- Jl til he was felled to the -i floor by a blow which stunned him. He was — r then seated in a chair iiid placed on a table, :id the savages sa- .,,.j:; V, ^Lited him with jeers. " Who will judge In- dians now?" they asked. "Who will hang our brothers? Will the pale-face Waldron give us life for life?" As they spoke they gashed him across the breast with their knives, inflicting wounds equal in number to their friends whom he had be- trayed. The old man bore his tortures firmly until he died ; the Indians then set fire to the house and burned the rest of the settlement. Nearly half the inhabitants were murdered and the remainder were carried into captivity. The other frontier towns suffered severely from Maine to New York. A band of French and Indians, in February, 1690, toiled across the wilderness from Montreal to central New York on snow-shoes and CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH. 269 surprised Schenectady. The place was burned, the majoiit\- of the settlers were killed, and many women and children were carried into captivity. A few escaped through the snow to Albany. Deerfield and Haverhill in Massachusetts, Salmon Falls in New Hampshire, and Casco in Maine met a similar fate. The French had resolved to make the war one of extermination, and neither they nor their savage allies showed any mercy to the English in their hour of triumph. FaiUir? to Capture Montreal. The savage? were incited to their bloody task by the Jesuit missionaries. The first race of missionaries, whose good deeds we have chronicled in the last chapter, had died out, and their successors could conceive of no higher standard of duty than the exter- mination of the English heretics. They roused the fury of their dusky converts against the English as the enemies of the Roman religion, and then confessing and absolving the savage warriors, sent them forth to murder and destroy, with the solemn assurance that such acts on their part would win them the favor of their Father in Heaven. When peace was made two Jesuit priests, Thury and Bigot, induced the Eastern Indians to break the treaty and renew the war, and even took pride in acknowledging themselves the instigators of the atrocities of the savages. These things were well under- stood among the English, and they came to regard the Jesuit missionaries as the enemies of mankind. In May, 1690, a congress of delegates from Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York was held at New York for the purpose of concerting a plan for an invasion of Can- ada. It was resolved to send an army against Montreal by way of Lake Champlain, while Massachusetts should despatch a fleet to attack Quebec. The first expedition, com- posed of the troops of New York and Con- necticut, advanced to Lake Champlain, attended by a strong force of Mohawk allies. Frontenac promptly assembled his French and Indians for the defence of Montreal, and succeeded in inflicting a sharp defeat upon the Mohawks, under Colonel Philip Schuyler, who led the advance of the English army. The Mohawks were unable to regain their lost ground and the provincial troops were delayed by the dissensions of their leaders until the provisions ran short and the small- pox broke out among the men. It then became necessary to abandon the attempt. Death and Desolation. In the meantime Massachusetts equipped a fleet of thirty-two vessels and two thou- sand men and despatched it to the St. Law- rence under the command of the governor. Sir William Phipps, whose incompetency produced the failure of the expedition. Frontenac was promptly informed of the departure of the fleet by an Indian runner from the Piscataqua, who reached Montreal in twelve days. Frontenac at once set out for Quebec and arrived there three days in advance of the English fleet, which was obliged to feel its way cautiously up the St. Lawrence. W'henthe hostile vessels arrived off the city, Quebec was prepared to offer a determined resistance. After a few harmless demonstrations, Sir William Phipps withdrew and returned to Boston, to the great disap- pointment of the colony. A large debt had been incurred in this enterprise and a num- ber of valuable lives had been lost, but noth- ing had been gained. The Eastern Indians continued their ag- gressions, but were severely punished by Captain Samuel Church, who had serveii with distinction in King Philip's war. On one occasion he was so exasperated by the 2/0 SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. cruelties of the savages that he put a number of his prisoners, including some women and children, to death. The savages mercilessly avenged the murder of their friends and car- ried death and desolation along the borders of New England. Nearly every settlement in Maine was destroyed by them or aban- doned by the inhabitants, who fled to the other colonies for protection. The Indians prowled around the frontier posts. They had been well armed by the French, and shot down the men without mercy. The women and children were generally spared and carried to Canada, where they were sold to the French as slaves. In 1693 peace was made with the Abenakis, or Eastern Indians, but within a year the Jesuits had succeeded in inducing the savages to resume hostilities. A Daring Escape. A party of Indians attacked the house ofa farmer named Dustin, residing near Haver- hill. He was at work in the field when the shouts of the savages warned him of the danger of his wife and children. Throwing himself on his horse, he hastened to their rescue, and on the way met his children fly- ing for safety pursued by the savages. He threw himself in front of the little ones, and by a few well-aimed shots kept the pursuers back until the children reached a place of safety. Hannah Dustin, her youngest child — only a few days old — her nurse, and a boy from Worcester, unable to fly, were made prisoners by the Indians. The little one was killed, and the two women and the boy were carried away by the savages to their village, situated on an island in the Merrimac, just above Concord. Hannah Dustin resolved to escape, and communicated her plan to her companions. jlEach secured a tomahawk, and at night be- ' gan the destruction of their captors, twelve in number. Ten Indians were killed and one squaw was wounded. The twelfth, a child, was purposely spared. Then collecting the gun and tomahawk of the murderer of her infant, and a bag full of scalps, the heroic women secured a canoe, and embarking in it , with her companions, floated down the Mer- rimac and soon reached Haverhill, whert they were received with astonishment anc delight by their friends. This struggle, which is known in Ameri- can history as " King William's War," was brought to a close in September, 1697, by the Peace of Ryswick. It had lasted seven years, and had caused severe suiTering to the northern colonies, without yielding them any compensating advantages. The Five Nations were also severe suffer- ers. Failing to win them from their alliance with the English, Frontenac several times invaded their country with an army of French troops and Indians, and ravaged it with great cruelty. Frontenac led these expeditions in person, though he was seventy-four years old. The people of New York, regarding the Jesuits as the true authors of the miseries endured by the English and their allies, en- acted a law in 1700, that every Romish priest who voluntarily came into the province should be hanged. Butchery at Deerfield. Five years after the Peace of Ryswick, the War of the Spanish Succession, or, as it is known in American history, " Queen Anne's War," began in Europe. It soon extended to America, and embroiled the English and French in this country. The English settle- ments on the western frontier of New Eng- land were almost annihilated by the Indians, and the French were unusually active. The people of Deerfield were warned by the friendly Mohawks that the French and' Indians were meditating an attack upon their CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH settlements and through the winter of 1 703-4 271 a vigilant watch was kept by night and day. The winter was very severe ; the snow lay four feet deep, and the clear, cold atmosphere made it almost' as hard as ice. Profiting by this, a war party of about two hundred French and one hundred and fort>^-two In- dians, under the command of Hertel de Rou- ville, set out from Canada, and by the aid of snow-shoes crossed the country on the snow and reached the vicinity of Deerfield on the last night of February, 1704. Towards day- break on the first of March the sentinels, supposing that all was safe, left their posts at Deerfield, and the enemy at once silently mounted on the snow-drifts to the top of the palisades and entered the enclosure, which had an area of twenty acres. A general massacre followed. The town was destroyed, forty persons were killed, and one hundred and twelve were carried away into Canada. Fate of Eunice Williams. Among the captives were the minister Williams, his wife Eunice, and their five chil- dren. The sufferings of the prisoners on the march to Canada were fearful. Two men starved to death. The infant, whose cries disturbed the captors, was tossed out into the snow to die; and the mother who faltered from fatigue or anguish was despatched by a blow from the tomahawk. Eunice Williams had brought her Bible along with her, and in the brief intervals afforded by the halts of the savages for rest, drew from its sacred pages the consolations she so sorely needed. Her strength soon failed, as she had but recently recovered from her confinement. Her hus- band sought to cheer her by pointing her to " the hou.se not made with hands," and she assured him that she was satisfied to endure i.ny suffering, counting it gain for Christ's *sake. Perceiving that her end was near, she commended her children to God and to their father's care, and was immediately killed by the savages, as she could go no farther. The Williams family were taken to Can- ada, and a few years later were ransomed, with the exception of the youngest daughter, with whom the savages refu.sed to part. She was adopted into a village of Christian In- dians near Montreal, and became a convert to the Roman Catholic faith, and subse- quently married a Mohawk chief Years afterwards she appeared at Deerfield clad in the dress of her tribe. She had come to visit her relatives; but no entreaties could induce her to remain with them, and she went back to her adopted people and to her children. Slaughter of the Helpless. The war was conducted with brutal ferocity by the French. Hertel de Rouville gained eternal infamy by his butcheries of helpless women and children. Vaudreuil, the gov- ernor of Canada, urged on his forces to deeds of fresh atrocity, but at length the savages became disgusted with their bloody work, and refused to murder any more English. The French succeeded, however, in inducing some of them to continue their assistance, and in 1708 Haverhill was surprised by the French and Indians under Rouville, and its inhabitants massacred with the most fiendish cruelty. None of them escaped death or captivity. Filled with horror and indignation, Colonel Peter Schuyler, of New York, wrote to the Marquis de Vaudreuil : " I hold It my duty towards God and my neighbor, to prevent, if possible, these barbarous and heathen cruel- tics. My heart swells with indignation when I think that a war between Christian princes, bound to the exactest laws of honor and gen- erosity, which their noble ancestors have illustrated by brilliant examples, is degene- rating into a savage and boundless butchery. SETTLEMENT OF AMERICA. These are not the methods for terminating the war." " Such fruitless cruelties," says Bancroft, " inspired our fathers with a deep hatred of the French missionaries ; they compelled the employment of a large part of the inhabitants as soldiers, so that there was one year during this war when even a fifth part of all who were capable of bearing arms were in active service. They gave birth also to a willing- ness to exterminate the natives. The Indians RETURN OF THE DAUGHTER OF EUNICE WILLIAMS vanished when their homes were invaded ; they could not be reduced by usual methods of warfare ; hence a bounty was offered for every Indian scalp ; to regular forces under pay the grant was ten pounds — to volunteers in actual service, twice that sum ; but if men would, of themselves, without pay, make up parties and patrol the forests in search of Indians, as of old the woods were scoured for wild beasts, the chase was invigorated by the promised ' encourgement of fifty pounds per scalp. ' " In 1707 Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island made a combined attempt to conquer Acadia. A fleet was despatched against Port Royal, but without success. In 1 7 10 a second expedition was sent from Boston against Port Royal, aided this time by an English fleet. Port Royal was taken, the French were driven out of the greater part of Acadia, and that province was an- nexed to the English do- minions and called Nova Scotia. The name of Port Ro\al was changed to An- mpolis, in honor of the (Jueen of England. Encouraged by this suc- cess, the English Govern- ment the next year at- tempted the conquest of Lanida by two expeditions, one b\- land and the other b\ sea. A powerful fleet ind a strong army was des- patched from England to (.0 operate with the colo- nists The effort was un- successful. The fleet, which was badly handled by the admiral in attempting to ascend the St. Lawrence, was wrecked with the loss of eight vessels and eight hundred and eighty-four men, and was obliged to return to Boston. The failure of the fleet to accomplish anything compelled the abandonment of the land expedition against Montreal. In 171 3 the war was brought to an end by the treaty of Utrecht, by which Acadia was ceded permanently to Great Britain and became a province of thr English crown. The third Indian war broke out in 1722 CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND FRENCH. 273 in the northern colonies, and spread from the disputed border on the east to Maine and New Hampshire, where the scenes which we have so often described were enacted over again. The crack of the rifle, the war-whoop of the Indian, the crash of the tomahawk, and the smoke of the cabin played their dreadful part, as the}- had done so many times before, and have done so often since. Father Sebastien Rasle had dwelt among Indians for nearly forty years, living so thor- oughly their life, while he preached and ministered to them, that his influence was un- bounded. He possessed great learning, and, being a French Jesuit, sympathized so strongly with the views of the governor of Canada that he was worth a whole regiment of troops. The Indian settlement at Norridgewock, where it may be said this French chief was sole ruler, was highly prosperous. Two attempts were made to break it by capturing Rasle, but he escaped each time. Peace at Last. In August, 1724, however, it was attacked by a force of two hundred men, when most of the warriors were gone from home. Those who escaped fled to the woods, and Father Rasle was killed while trying to divert attention from the flying fugitives. When the assailants departed and the Indians re- turned, they found the dead body of Rasle, scalped, hacked and mutilated. They gave it tender burial under the altar of the pil- laged chapel, and uttered many a wild vow of vengeance on those who had robbed them of their beloved leader. In the hope of checking the shocking brutalities, the provinces sent representatives to Governor Vaudreuil at Montreal. He treated them with much courtesy, but it took a long time to bring him to terms. He finally promised to advise the Indians to t8 stop hostilities. The eastern tribe learned shortly after that preparations were on foot to press them more than ever, and they con- sented to make peace, which, with now and then a slight interruption, continuetl down to the French and Indian war. In 1744 the disputes in Europe concerning the succession of the Austrian throne cul- minated in a war, which is known in Euro- pean history as the War of the Austrian Succession, and in America as King George's war. As usual, England and France were arrayed on opposite sides, and their colonies in America soon became involved in hostili- ties. The French were the first to receive information from Europe of the existence of war, and began the struggle by attacking and capturing the English fort at Canso and carrying the garrison prisoners to Louisburg. Louisburg, the principal port of the island of Cape Breton, was at this time the strongest fortress in America, and from its secure har- bor the French were constantly despatching privateers against the merchant vessels and fishermen of New England. These depre- dations caused such serious loss to the eastern colonies that at length Governor Shirley proposed to the general court of Massachusetts to undertake the capture of Louisburg as the only means of putting a stop to them, and this measure was laid by the general court before the other colonies. Another Appeal to Arms. It was understood that no aid was to be expected from the mother country, which was too busily engaged in conducting the war in Europe, and that the colonies would be obliged to depend entirely upon their own resources for their success. Neverthe- less, the measure was popular, and the enthu- siasm of the colonists was aroused to the highest point. Nearly all the northern col- onies had suffered severely at the hands of ,^a --" BrKYING LEADEN PLATES. from taxation was extended by the company to all who would settle in their domain. A number of Indian traders had located themselves west of the Alleghanies, and in order to supply these with the articles Alleghanies began, and by means of it the traders could easily transport their goods to the Indian country west of the mountains and return with the furs their traffic enabled them to collect. 28o THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. Being anxious to explore the country west of the mountains, the company employed Christopher Gist, one of the most experi- enced Indian traders, and instructed him " to examine the western country as far as the falls of the Ohio, to look for a large tract of good level land to mark the passes in the mountains, to trace the courses of the rivers, to count the falls, to observe the strength and numbers of the Indian nations." A Land of Beauty, Gist set out on his perilous mission on the last day of October, 1750, and crossing the mountains reached the Delaware towns on the Alleghany River, from which he passed down to Logstown, a short distance below the head of the Ohio. " You are come to settle the Indians' lands ; you shall never go home safe," said the jealous people ; but in spite of their threats they suffered him to proceed without molestation. He traversed the country to the Muskingum and the Scioto, and then crossing the Ohio explored the Kentucky to its source, and returned to Wills' Creek in safety. He reported that the region he had traversed merited all the praise that had been bestowed upon it ; that it pos- sessed a pleasant and healthy climate, and was a land of great beauty. The soil was fertile and the streams abundant and excel- lent. The land was covered with a rich growth of the most valuable and beautiful trees, and abounded in small level districts and meadows covered with long grass and white clover, on which the elk, the deer, and the buffalo grazed in herds. Wild turkeys and other game abounded, and the country offered every attraction to settlers who were willing to improve it. Gist also reported that the agents of the French were actively engaged in seeking to induce the western tribes to make war upon the English and pre\-ent them from obtain- ing a footing west of the mountains. The purposes of the English were well known to the French, who viewed them with alarm, as the successful occupation of the Ohio valle)- by the English would cut off" the communi- cation established by the French between Canada and the Mississippi. This the French were resolved to prevent at any cost. The Indians regarded both of the white nations as intruders in their country. They were willing to trade with both, but were averse to giving up their lands to either. " If the French," said they, " take possession of the north side of the Ohio, and the English of the south, where is the Indian's land ? " A Line of Forts. The possession of the Ohio valley was thus of the highest importance to the French. Their fortified post of Fort Front- enac gave them the command of Lake On- tario, which they further secured by con- structing armed vessels for the navigation of the lake. They retained their hold upon Lake Erie by strengthening Fort Niagara, which La Salle had built at the foot of that lake. They entered into treaties with the Shawnees,the Delawares and other powerful tribes between the lake and the Ohio, and steadily pushed their way eastward towards the mountains. They began their advance into the valley of the Ohio by building a fort at Presque Isle, now the city of Erie, in Pennsylvania, another on French Creek, on the site of the present town of Waterford, and a third on the site of the present town of Franklin, at the confluence of French Creek with the Alleghany. These rapid ad\'ances eastward alarmed the English government, which instructed the governor of Virginia to address a remon- strance to the French authorities and to warn them of the consequences which must result from their intrusion into the territor\- jT ;LNL in mi AlLl fc.N\ MoLMMNs 282 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. of the English. To do this it was necessary for the governor to despatch his communica- tion to the nearest French post by the hands of some messenger of sufficient resolution to overcome .the natural dangers of such an undertaking, and of sufficient intelligence to gain information respecting the designs and strength of the French ; and Governor Din- widdie was somewhat at loss to find such a person. Fortunately the man needed was at hand, and the attention of the governor being called to him, his excellency decided to intrust him with the delicate and danger- ous mission. The Coming Hero. The person selected for this task was a young man in the twenty-second year of his age, George Washington by name. He was a native of Westmoreland County, Virginia, where he was born on the twenty-second of February, 1732. He was a great-grandson of the Colonel John Washington, whom we have noticed as the leader of an expedition against the Indians in the time of Sir William Berkeley. His father, Augustine Washington, was a wealthy planter, but his death, when George was eleven years old, deprived his son of his care, and also of the means of acquiring an education. He soon acquired all the learning that it was possible to gain at a country school, from which he passed to an academy of somewhat higher grade, where he devoted himself principally to the study of mathematics. His half- brother, Lawrence, who was fourteen years older than himself, had received a careful education and directed the studies of his younger brother, to whom he was devotedly attached. Though deprived of the care of his father at such an early age, it was the good fortune of George Washington to possess in his mother a guide well qualified to fill the place of both parents to her fatherless child- ren. She was a woman of rare good sense, of great decision of character, and one whose life was guided by the most earnest Chris- tian principle. Her tenderness and sweet womanly qualities won the devoted love of her children, and her firmness enforced their obedience. From her George inherited a quick and ardent temper, and from her he ' learned the lesson of self-control which en- abled him to go\'ern it. Washington's Bc\vhood. As a boy, Washington was noted for his truthfulness, his courage and his generosity. He was both liked and respected by his schoolmates, and such was their confidence in his fairness and good judgment that he was usually chosen the arbiter of their boy- ish disputes. He joined heartily in their sports and was noted for his skill in athletic exercises. He was a fearless rider and a tjood hunter, and by his fondness for manly sports developed his naturally vigorous body to a high degree of strength. He was cheer- ful and genial in temper, though reserved and grave m manner. He early acquired habits of industry and order, and there are still existing many evidences of the careful and systematic manner in which he discharged every duty assigned him at this early age. At the age of fourteen it was decided that he should enter the navy, and his brother Lawrence, who had served with credit in that branch of the royal service, had no difficulty in obtaining for him a midshipman's war- rant. The ship he was to join lay in the Po- tomac, and his trunk was sent on board; but at the last moment his mother, dreading the effect of the temptations of a seaman's life upon a boy so young, appealed to him by his affection for her to remain with her Washington was sorely disappointed, but he yielded cheerfully to his mother's wish. OUTBREAK 01- The marriage of his brother Lawrence gave to the young man a second home at Mount Vernon, where he passed a large part of his time. Here he was brought into con- stant contact with the most cultivated and refined society of Virginia, an association which had a happy influence upon the forma- tion of his character. There also he formed the acquaintance and won the friendship of Lord Fairfax, the grandson of Lord Culpep- per, and the inheritor of Culpepper's vast estates in Virginia, which comprised about one-seventh of the area of the state of Vir- ginia as it existed prior to the separation of West Virginia in 1861. Lord Fairfax con- ceived a great fondness for the young man, and took a deep interest in his future welfare. Industry and Diligence. Washington, upon leaving school, had chosen the profession of a surveyor as his future avocation, and soon after his first meeting with Lord Fairfax was employed by that nobleman to survey the lands belonging to him, many of which had been occupied by settlers without right or title. It was an arduous and responsible task, and Washing- ton, who was just entering his seventeenth year, seemed almost too young for it; but " Lord Thomas " had satisfied himself of his young friend's capability for it, and the result justified the opinion he had formed. His work was done with care and accuracy, and his measurements were so exact that they are still relied upon. His life as a surveyor was in many respects a hard one, but he enjoyed it. It gave new vigor to his naturally robust constitution and his splendid figure, and while yet a youth he acquired the appearance and habits of mature manhood. He al.so learned forest life in all its various phases, and by his constant intercourse with the hunters and Indians, gained a knowledge of the character HOSTILITIES. 283 and habits of these wild men which in after \'ears was of infinite value to him. During his surveying expeditions Wash- ington was a frequent visitor at Greenwaj- Court, the seat of Lord Fairfax, where, in addition to the other attractions, there was a well-selected library, of which the young man regularly availed him.self His readin,; was of a serious and useful nature ; " Addi son's Spectator " and the " History of Eng- land " were among his favorite works. Though the heir to a considerable estate, Washington supported himself during this period by his earnings as a surveyor. " His father had bequeathed to the eldest son, Lawrence, the estate afterwards called Mount Vernon. To Augustine, the second son, he had given the old homstead in Westmoreland County. And George, at the age of twenty- one years, was to inherit the house and lands in Suffolk County. As yet, however, he derived no benefit from this landed property. But his industry and diligence in his labor- ious occupation supplied him with abundant pecuniary means. His habits of life were simple and economical ; he indulged in no gay and expensive pleasures." Military Education. In 175 1, in order to prepare for any emergency to which the hostility of the French and Indians might give rise, the col- ony of Virginia was divided into military districts, each of which was placed in charge of an adjutant and inspector, with the rank of major, whose duty it was to keep the militia in readiness for instant service. Washington had at an early day evinced a great fondness for military exercises, and as a boy had often drilled his school-fellows in the simplest manceuvres of the troops. As he advanced towards manhood, hi-; brother Lawrence, Adjutant Muse, of Wt- moreland, and Jacob Vanbraam, a fencii master, and others, had given him numerou THE FRENCH AND Though but nine 2S4 lessons in the art of war teen years old, he was regarded by his acquaintance as one of the best-informed persons upon military matters in the colony, and at the general desire of those who knew him he was commissioned a major in the colonial forces, and placed in command of one of the military districts. He discharged his duties with ability and zeal, and gave such satisfaction that when Governor Din- widdle, in 1752, divided the province into four military districts, Major Washington was placed in command of the northern dis- trict. " The counties comprehended in this di\-ision he promptly and statedly traversed, and he soon effected the thorough discipline of their militia for warlike operations." He was discharging the duties of this position when selected by the governor of Virginia to bear his message to the commander of the French forces on the Ohio. Governor Dinwiddle intrusted to his young envoy a letter addressed to the commander of the French forces on the Ohio, in which he demanded of him his reasons for invading the territory of England while Great Britain and France were at peace with each other. Washington was instructed to observe care- fully the numbers and positions of the French, the strength of their forts, the na- ture of their communications with Canada and with their various posts, and to endeavor to ascertain the real designs of the French in occupying the Ohio valley, and tlie proba- bilities of their being vigorously supported from Canada. Perilous Journey. " Ye're a braw lad," said the governor, as he delivered his instructions to the young major, " and gin you play your cards weel, my boy, ye shall hae nac cause to rue your bargain." Washington received his instructions on the thirtieth of October, 1753, and on the INDIAN WAR. same day set out for Winchester, then & frontier post, from which he proceeded to Wills' Creek, where he was to cross the mountains. Having secured the services of Christopher Gist as guide, and of two inter- preters and four others, Washington set out on his journey about the middle of Novem-, ber. They crossed the mountains and jour- neyed through an unbroken country, with no paths save the Indian trails to serve as guides, across rugged ravines, over steep hills, and across streams swollen with the recent rains, until in nine days they reached the point where the Alleghany and Monon- gahela unite and form the Ohio. Washing- ton carefully examined the place and was greatly impressed with the advantages offered for the location of a fort by the point of land at the junction of the two rivers. The judg- ment expressed by him at the time was sub- sequently confirmed by the choice of this spot by. the French for one of their most important posts — Fort Duquesne. Interview With " Half-King." Washington had been ordered by the gov- ernor to proceed direct to Logstown, where he was to hold an interview with the Dela- ware chief known as the Half King, to acquaint the Indians with the nature of his mission and ascertain their disposition to- wards the English. While he was at this place he met several French deserters from the posts on the lower Ohio, who told him the location, number and strength of the French posts between Quebec and New Orleans by way of the Wabash and the Maumee, and informed him of the intention of the French to occupy the Ohio from its head to its mouth with a similar chain of forts. The Half King confirmed the story of the^ deserters. He had heard that the French were coming with a strong force to drive the OUTBRKAK OF HOSTILITIES. 285 English out of the land. A " grand talk " was held with the chiefs in council by Wash- ington, and they answered him, by the Half King, that what he had said was true ; they were brothers, and would guard him on his way to the nearest French post. They wished neither the English nor the French to settle in their country ; but as the French were the first intruders, they were willing to aid the English in their efforts to expel them. They agreed to break off friendly relations with the French ; but Washington, who knew the Indian character well, was not altogether satisfied with their promises. On the thirtieth of November he set out from Logstown with his companions, at- tended by the Half King and three other Indians, and on the fourth arrived at the French post at Venango. The officer in command of this fort had no authority to receive his letter and referred him to the Chevalier St. Pierre, the commander of the next post. They treated the English with courtesy and invited Washington to sup with them. When the wine was passed around they drank deeplj- and soon lost their discretion. Loud Boasting. The sober and vigilant Washington noted their words with great attention and recorded them in his diary. " They told me," he writes, " that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, and, by G — d, they would do it; for, that although they were sensible the English could raise two men for their one, they knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of theirs. They pretend to have an undoubted right to the river, from a discovery made by one La Salle sixty years ago; and the rise of this expedition is to prevent our settling on the river or waters of it, as they heard of some families moving out in order thereto." The French officers then informed Washington of their strength south of the lakes, and of the number and location of their posts between Montreal and Venango. The French exerted every stratagem to detach the Indians from Washington's party and they met with enough success to justifv- Washington's distrust of them. All had come to deliver up the French speech-belts, or, in other words, to break off friendly rela- tions with the French. The Delaware chiefs wavered and failed to fulfill their promise ; THE H.VLF KING. " but the Half King clung to Washington like a brother, and delivered up his belt as he had promised." The party left Venango on the se\enth of December, and reached Fort Le Boeuf, the next post, on the eleventh. It was a strong work, defended by cannon, and near by Washington saw a number of canoes and boats, and the materials for building others, sure indications that an expedition down the river was about to be attempted. He ob- tained an interview with St. Pierre, the com- mander, an officer of experience and integri- ty, greatly beloved as well as feared by the Indians. He received the young envoy with 286 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. courtesy, but refused to discuss questions of right with him. " I am here," he said, " by the orders of my general, to which I shall conform with exactness and resolu- tion." On the fourteenth, St. Pierre delivered to Washington his answer to the letter of Gov- ernor Dinwiddle, and next day the party set out on its return. They descended French Creek in canoes, at no little risk, as the stream was full of ice. At Venango, which was reached on the twenty-second, they found their horses, which were so feeble that it was doubtful whether they would be able to make the journey home. " I put myself in an Indian walking-dress," says Washington, " and continued with them three days, until I found there was no possi- bility of their getting home in any reason- able time. The horses became less able to travel every day ; the cold increased very fast, and the roads were becoming much worse by a deep snow continually freezing ; therefore, as I was uneasy to get back to make report of my proceedings to his honor the governor, I determined to pro.'^ecute my journey the nearest way through the woods on foot." A Shot that Missed. Taking Gist as his only companion, and directing their way by the compass, Wash- ington set out on the twenty-sixth, by the nearest way across the country, for the head of the Ohio. The next day an Indian who had lain in wait for them fired at Washington at a distance of only fifteen steps, but missed him, and was made a prisoner by him. Gist was anxious to kill the savage on the spot, but Washington would not allow this, and they kept the fellow until dark, and then released him. They travelled all night and all the ne.xt day in order to make sure of escaping from the enemies they felt certain their freed captive would set upon their trail. At dark on the twenty-eighth they reached the Alleghany, and spent the night on the banks of that stream. The next morning they set to work with one poor hatchet to construct a raft, on which to pass the river, which was full of floating ice. They com- pleted their raft about sunset and launched it upon the stream. It was caught in the floating ice, and Washington was hurled off into the water and nearly drowned. Unable to reach the opposite shore, they made for an island in mid-stream and passed the night there. The cold was intense, and Gist had all his fingers and several of his toes frozen. The next morning the river was a solid mass of ice, hard enough to bear their weight. They at once crossed to the opposite bank and continued their journey, and on the sixteenth of January, 1754, were at Williams- burg, where Washington delivered to the governor of Virginia the reply of the French commander, and reported the results of his journey. Eager for New Territory. The French commander returned a cour- teous but evasive answer to Governor Din- widdle's communication, and referred him for a definite settlement of the matter to the Marquis Duquesne, the governor of Canada. It was clear from the tone of his letter that he meant to hold on to the territory he had occupied, and the governor of Virginia was satisfied from Major Washington's report of his observations that St. Pierre was about to extend the line of French posts down the Ohio. The authorities of Virginia resolved to anticipate him, and in the spring of 1754 the Ohio Company sent a force of about forty men to build a fort at the head of the Ohio, on the site to which Washington had called attention. In the meantime, measures were set on foot in Virginia for the protection of the OUTBREAK OF frontiers. A regiment of troops was ordered to be raised, and it was the general wish that Major Washington should be appointed to the command. He declined the commission when tendered him, on the ground of his youth and inexperience, and was made lieu- tenant-colonel, the command of the regiment being conferred upon Colonel Joshua Fry. Washington was ordered to repair to the west to take charge of the defence of the frontiers, and in April, 1754, reached Wills' Creek with three companies of his regiment. Washington Pushes Forward. Just at this moment news arrived that the party sent to build a fort at the head of the Ohio had been driven away by the French. A force of one thousand men, with artillery, under Captain Coutrecceur, had descended the Alleghany and had surrounded the Eng- lish. One hour was given them to surren- der, and being utterly unable to offer any resistance, they capitulated upon condition of being allowed to retire to Virginia. Imme- diately upon the withdrawal of the English, the French forces occupied the unfinished work, completed it, and named it Fort Du- quesne. This was a more important act than either party believed it at the time. It was the beginning of the iinal struggle by which the power of France in America was broken. In the history of Europe this struggle is known as the " Seven Years' War;" in our own history as the " French and Indian War." Hostilities were now inevitable, and Wash- ington, who was on his march to the Ohio when the news of the aggression of the French was received, resolved to push f^r- | , ward without delay. Colonel Fry had fallen sick, and the direction of affairs on the bor- der had passed entirely into the hands of the young lieutenant-colonel. He intended to proceed to the junction of Red Stone Creek HOSTILITIES. 287 and the Monongahela, the site occupied by the present town of Brownsville, to erect a fort there and hold it until he could be rein- forced. His force was poorly provided with clothing and tents, and was deficient in mill tary supplies of all kinds. The country to be traversed was a wild, unbroken region, without roads or bridges, and through it the artillery and wagons were to be transported. The little force moved slowly and with diffi- culty, and Washington pushed on in ad- vance with a small detachment, intending to secure the position on the Monongahela and await the arrival of the main body, when the whole force could descend the river in flat- boats to Fort Duquesne. On the twentieth of May he reached the Youghiogheny and there received a message from his ally, the Half King, telling him that the French were in heavy force at Fort Duquesne. This report was confirmed at the Little Meadows by the traders, and by another message from the Half King on the twenty-fifth of May, warning Washington that a force of French and Indians had left Fort Duquesne on a secret expedition. Washington was sure that this expedition was destined to attack him, and advanced to the Great iMeadows and took position there. The First Blood Shed. On the morning of the twenty-seventh Gist arrived and reported that he had seen the trail of the French within five miles of the Great Meadows. In the evening of the same day a runner came in from the Half King, and with a message that the French were close at hand. Taking with him forty men, Washington set off for the Half King's camp, and by a difficult night march through a tangled forest, in the midst of a driving rain, reached it about daylight. The runners of the Half King found the French encamped in a deep glen not far distant, and it was THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. decided to attack them at once. The Half King and his warriors placed themselves under Washington's orders, and the march was resumed towards the French camp. The French were surprised, and an action of about a quarter of an hour ensued. The French lost ten men killed, among whom was their commander, Jumonville, and twenty-one prisoners. This was the first blood shed on the American continent in the long struggle which won America for the free institutions of the Anglo-Saxon race. Washington was very anxious to follow up the advantage he had gained, and had already appealed to the governors of Mary- land and Pennsylvania for assistance, but no aid reached him. Unable to advance in the face of the rapidly increasing forces of the French, he threw up a stockade fort at Great Meadows, which he named Fort Necessity, from the fact that the provisions of the troops were so nearly exhausted that the danger of a famine was imminent. A Dutchman's Blunder. On the third of July six hundred French and one hundred Indians suddenly appeared before the fort and occupied the hills sur- rounding it. The attacking party were able to shelter themselves behind trees and could command the fort from their safe position, while the English were greatly exposed, and it was evident to the most inexperienced that the fort was untenable. Nevertheless, the work was held for nine hours under a heavy fire, and amid the discomforts of a severe rain-storm. At length De Villiers, the French commander, fearing that his am- munition would be exhausted, proposed a parley and offered terms to Washington. The English had lost thirty killed, and the French but three. The terms of capitulation proposed by De Villiers were interpreted to Washington, who did not understand French, and in consequence of the interpretation, which was made by " a Dutchman little acquainted with the English tongue," Wash- ington and his officers " were betrayed into a pledge which they would never have con- sented to give, and an act of moral suicide which they could never have deliberately committed. '• They understood from Vanbraam's inter- pretation, that no fort was to be built beyond the mountains on lands belonging to the King of France ; but the terms of the articles are, ' neither in this place or beyond the mountains.'" The Virginians were allowed to march out of the fort with the honors of war, retaining their arms and all their stores, but leaving their artillery. This they did on the next morning, July fourth, 1754. The march across the mountains was rendered painful by the lack of provisions, and after much suffering the troops arrived at Fort Cumberland in Maryland. Although the expedition had been unsuccessful, the conn duct of Washington had been marked by so much prudence and good judgment that he received the thanks of the general assembly of Virginia. Washington's Cutting Reply. Governor Dinwiddle had already thrown many obstacles in the way of the defence of the colony, and he now refused to reward the provincial officers with the promotions they had so well earned. In order to avoid this he dissolved the Virginia regiment, and re- organized it into independent companies, no officer of which was to have a higher rank than that of captain. It was also ordered that officers holding commissions from the king should take precedence of those holding commissions from the colonial gov- ernment. ^ Washington, feeling that he could no longer remain in the service with self-respect, OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES. 289 resigned his commission and withdrew to Mount Vernon. Soon afterwards Governor Sharpe, of Maryland, having been appointed by the king commander in-chief of the forces of the southern colonies, proposed to Wash- ington, through a friend, to return to the army and accept the rank of colonel, but with the actual authority of captain. Washington declined the offer with characteristic dignity. " If you think me," he wrote, " capable of holding a commission that has neither rank nor emolument anne.xed to it, you must maintain a very contemptible opinion of my weakness, and believe me more empty than the commission itself." In the meantime, although peace still remained nominally unbroken between Eng- land and France, each nation was perfectly convinced of the certainty of a conflict in America, and each began to prepare for it. France sent large reinforcements to Canada, and the English went on rapidly with their plans for the conquest of that country. The British government was very an.xious that the colonies should bear the brunt of the struggle, though it was fully determined to send a royal army to their assistance, and urged upon them to unite in some plan for Aeir common defence. Alliance with the Six Nations. For the purpose of carrying out the wishes of the home government, a convention of delegates from seven of the colonies assem- bled at Albany, New York, on the nineteenth of June, 1754. " The Virginia government was represented by the presiding officer, Delan- cey, the lieutenant-governor of New York ; " but New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York and Mary- land were represented by their own delegates. The first object of this convention was to secure the friendship of the powerful con- federacy of the Six Nations, on the northern 19 border, and this was successfully accom- plished. The leading man of this convention was Benjamin Franklin. He was a native of Bos- ton, and the son of a tallow chandler. While still a youth he had removed to Philadelphia, and by the force of his own genius had risen from poverty and obscurity to great prom- inence among the public men of Pennsylva- nia, and the literary and scientific men of his day. BF,NJ.\MIN Fk.VNKLIN. He had chosen the avocation of a printer ; and by his industry, energy and integrity haiS accumulated property enough to make him independent. He was among the most active men in America in promoting the advance- ment of literary, scientific and benevolent institutions, and had already won a world- wide reputation by his discoveries in science, and especially by his investigations in elec- tricity and lightning. He was not inexperi- enced in public affairs. He had ser\ed as 290 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. clerk to the general assembly of Pennsylva- nia, as postmaster of Philadelphia, as a mem- ber of theprovincial assembly of Pennsylvania, and in 1753 had been appointed by the king postmaster-general of the American colonies. In each of these positions he had served with distinction, and now, at the ripe age of forty- eight, he had come to take part in the most [important convention ever held in America. Franklin had long been of the opinion that the true interests of the colonies required their union in all measures relating to their common welfare. Believing that the force of circumstances would soon drive them into such a union, he sought to accomplish that end through the medium of this convention. Accordingly he presented to the convention a plan for the union of all the American colonies, which union he intended should be perpetual. Proposed Confederacy. He proposed that while each colony should retain the separate and independent control of its own affairs, all should unite in a per- petual union for the management of their general affairs. This confederacy was to be controlled by a general government, to consist of a governor-general and a council. The seat of the federal government was to be Philadelphia.which city he regarded as central to all the colonies. The governor-general was to be appointed and paid by the king, and was to have thepower of vetoing all laws which should seem to him objectionable. The members of the council were to be elected triennially by the colonial legisla- tures, and were to be apportioned among the colonies according to their respective popula- tion. " The governor-general was to nominate military officers, subject to the advice of the council, which, in turn, was to nominate all civil officers. No money was to be issued but by their joint order. Each colony was to retain its domestic constitution ; the federal government was to regulate all rela- tions of peace or war with the Indians, affairs of trade, and purchases of lands not within the bounds of particular colonies ; to estab- lish, organize and temporarily to govern new settlements ; to raise soldiers, and equip ves- sels of force on the seas, rivers or lakes; to make laws, and levy just and equal taxes. The grand council were to meet once a year to choose their own speaker, and neither to be dissolved nor prorogued, nor continue sitting longer than six weeks at any one time, but by their own consent." The Union Opposed. This plan met with considerable opposi- tion, was thoroughly discussed, and was finally adopted by the convention. It was not altogether acceptable to the colonies, each of which dreaded that the establishment of a central government would result in the destruction of the liberties of the individual provinces. Connecticut promptly rejected it. New York received it with coldness, and Massachusetts showed a more active opposi- tion to it. Upon its reception in England it was at once thrown aside by the royal gov- ernment. The Union proposed by the plan was too perfect and would make America practically independent of Great Britain, and so the board of trade did not even bring it before the notice of the king. Franklin regarded the failure of his plan of union with great regret. In after years he wrote : " The colonies so united would have been sufficiently strong to defend themselves. There would then have been no need of troops from England ; of course the subse- quent pretext for taxing America, and the bloody contest it occasioned, would have been avoided. But such mistakes are not new ; history is full of the errors of statea and princes." OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES. 291 The plan for the union of the colonies having failed, the British government re- solved to take into its own hands the task of carrying on the war, with such assistance as the colonies might be willing to afford. A million of pounds was voted for the defence of the British possessions in America, and four strong fleets were sent to sea, together with numerous privateers, which nearly de- stroyed the French We-^t Indian trade. In 1755, Major General Edward Braddock was ap- pointed comman- der-in-chief of the English forces in America. He had served under the Duke of Cumber- land, in his expe- dition into Scot- land against the Pretender Charles Edward, in 1746, and was regarded as one of the most promising officers in his majesty's service. Braddock sailed from Cork, in Ireland, early in January-, 1755, and on the twentieth of February arrived at Alexandria, in Virginia. He was soon followed by two regiments of infantr\', consisting of five hundred men each, the largest force of regulars Great Britain had ever assembled in America. A conference of the colonial governors with the new commander-in-chief was held at Alexandria, and a plan of campaign was decided upon. Four expeditions were to be despatched against the French. The first, under Braddock in person, was to advance upon Fort Duquesne; the second, under Governor Shirley of Massachusetts, was to attempt the capture of Fort Niagara ; the third, under William John, the Indian agent among the Mohawks, and a man of great influence over them, was to be directed against Crown Point ; and the fourth was to capture the French posts near the head of the Bay of Fundy, and expel the French from Acadia. WILLS CREEK NARROWS, MD. It was now evident that the war was about to commence in good earnest, and the colo- nies exerted themselves to support the efforts of the mother country to the extent of their ability. General Braddock was thoroughly pro- ficient in the theory of his profession, but his experience of actual warfare had been limited to a single campaign, and that a brief one. He possessed the entire confidence of his superiors in England, and his faith in 292 himself was boundless. He believed that the regulars of the British army were capable of accomplishing any task assigned them, and entertained a thorough contempt for the pro- vincial troops that were to form a part of his command. Soon after his arrival in Virginia he offered Washington a position on his staff as aid-de-camp, with the rank of colonel, which was promptly accepted. Had General Braddock been a different man the presence of Washington in his mili tary family might have been of the greatest service to him, for the experience of the young colonel would have made him an in- valuable counselor. Braddock was in a strange country, and was charged with the conduct of a campaign in which the ordinary rules of warfare as practiced in Europe could not be adhered to. He knew nothing of the difficulties of marching his army through a tangled wilderness and over a mountain range of the first magnitude. Unfortunately for him, he was not aware of his ignorance, and would neither ask for nor listen to advice or information upon the subject. Franklin's Opinion of Braddock. " He was, I think, a brave man," says Franklin, " and might probably have made a figure as a good ofincer in some European war. But he had too much self-confidence, too high an opinion of the validity of regular troops, and too mean a one of both Ameri- cans and Indians." During one of his inter- views with him Franklin undertook to im- press upon him the necessity of guarding against the danger of Indian ambuscades. " He smiled at my ignorance," says Frank- lin, " and replied : ' These savages may in- deed be a formidable enemy to your raw American militia; but upon the king's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make any impres- sion.' " THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. The army assembled at Wills' Creek, to which place General Braddock repaired in his coach. The bad roads had put him in a passion, and had broken his coach, and he was in no mood upon his arrival to pursue a sensible course. He was advised to employ Indians as scouts on the march, or to use them to protect a force of Pennsylvanians who were making a road over the mountains for the passage of the army, but he refused to do either. Washington urged him to aban- don his wagon-train, to use pack-horses in place of these vehicles, and to move with as little baggage as possible. Braddock ridiculed this suggestion. Neither he nor any of his officers would consent to be separated from their cumbrous baggage, or to dispense with any of the lu.xuries they had been used to. Famous " Captain Jack." A month was lost at Wills' Creek, and in June the army began its march. It was greatly impeded by the difficulty of drag- ging the wagons and artillery over roads filled with the stumps of trees and with rocks. Such little progress was made that Braddock, greatly disheartened, privately asked Washington to advise him what to do. As it was known that the garrison at Fort Duquesne was small, Washington advised him to hasten forward with a division of the army, in light marching order, and seize the fort before reinforcements could arrive from Canada. Braddock accordingly detached a division of twelve hundred men and ten pieces of cannon, with a train of pack-horses to carry the baggage, and pushed on in advance with them, leaving Colonel Dunbar to bring up the main division as promptly as possible. A famous hunter and Indian fighter named Captain Jack, who was regarded as the most experienced man in savage warfare in the OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES. colonies, now offered his services and those of his men to Braddock to act as scouts. Braddock received him with frigid courtesy, and refused his offer, saying that he " had experienced troops upon whom he could rely for all purposes." Braddock's Blunder. Instead of pushing on with energy with his advance division, Braddock moved very slowly, gaining but a little more than three miles a day. " They halt," wrote Washing- ton, " to level every mole hill and to erect a bridge over every brook." On the eighth of July the army reached the east bank of the Monongahela, about fifteen miles above Fort Duquesne, having taken about double the necessary time in the march from Wills' Creek. On the same day Washington, who had been ill for some days, and was still un- well, rejoined Braddock. Early on the morning of the ninth of July the march was resumed. The Monongahela was forded a short distance below the mouth of the Youghiogheny, and the advance con- tinued along the southern bank of that river. About noon the Monongahela was forded again, and the army was planted upon the strip of land between the rivers which form the Ohio. Washington was well convinced that the French and Indians were informed of the movements of the army and would seek to interfere with it before its arrival before the f )rt, which was only ten miles distant, and uiged Braddock to throw in advance the Virginia Rangers, three hundred strong, as they were experienced Indian fighters. Braddock angrily rebuked his aide, and as if to make the rebuke more pointed, ordered the Virginia troops and other provincials to take position in the rear of the regulars. The general was fully convinced of the ability of his trained troops to take care of them- selves. Thev made a gallant show as they 293 I marched along with their gay uniforms, I their burnished arms and flying colors, and their drums beating a lively march. Wash- ington could not repress his admiration at the brilliant sight, nor his anxiety for the result. In the meantime the French at Fort Du- quesne had been informed by their scouts of Braddock's movements, and had resolved to ambuscade him on his march. Early on the morning of the ninth a force of about two hundred and thirty French and Canadians and six hundred and thirty-seven Indians, under De Beaujeu, the commandant at Fort Duquesne, was despatched with orders to occupy a designated spot and attack the enemy upon their approach. Before reach- ing it, about two o'clock in the afternoon, they encountered the advanced force of the English army, under Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Gage, and at once attacked them with spirit. Galling Fire. The English army at this moment was moving along a narrow road, about twelve feet in width, with scarcely a scout thrown out in advance or upon the flanks. The engineer who was locating the road was the first to discover the enemy, and called out : " French and Indians ! " Instantly a heavy fire was opened upon Gage's force, and his indecision allowed the French and Indians to seize a commanding ridge, from which they maintained their attack with spirit. There, concealed among the trees, they were almost invisible to the English, who were fully exposed to their fire, as they occupied a broad ravine, covered with low shrubs, im- mediately below the eminence held by the French. The regulars were quickly thrown into confusicn by the heavy fire and the fierce yells of the Indians, who could nowhere b^ 294 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. seen, and their losses were so severe and sudden that they became panic-stricken. They were ordered to charge up the hill and drive the French from their cover, but re- fused to move, and in their terror fired at random into the woods. In the meantime the Indians were rapidly spreading along the sides of the ravine and continuing their fire from their cover among the trees with fear- ful accuracy. that not one of his commands was obeyed, and his defeat was complete. The only semblance of resistance main- tained by the English was by the Virginia Rangers, whom Braddock had insulted at the beginning of the day's march. Immedi- ately upon the commencement of the battle, they had adopted the tactics of the Indians, and had thrown themselves behind trees, from which shelter they were rapidly picking DISASTROUS DEFEAT OF GENERAL BRADDOCK. The advance of the English was driven back, and it crowded upon the second divi- sion in utter disorder. A reinforcement of eight hundred men, under Colonel Burton, arrived at this moment, but only to add to the confusion. The French pushed their lines forward now and increased the disorder of the English, who had by this time lost nearly all their officers. Braddock now came up and gallantly exerted himself to restore order, but " the king's regulars and discip- lined troops " were so utterly demoralized off the Indians. Washington entreated Braddock to allow the regulars to follow the example of the Virginians, but he refused, and stubbornly endeavored to form them in platoons under the fatal fire that was being poured upon them by their hidden assailants. Thus through his obstinacy many useful lives were needlessly thrown away before he would admit his defeat. The officers did not share the panic of the men, but behaved with the greatest gallantry. They were the especial marks of the Indian OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES. 295 sharpshooters, and many of them were killed or wounded. Two of Braddock's aides were seriously wounded, and their duties devolved upon Washington in addition to his own. He passed repeatedly over the field, carrying the orders of the commander and encourag- ing the men. When sent to bring up the artillerj', he found it surrounded by Indians, its commander, Sir Peter Halket, killed, and the men standing helpless from fear. Spring- ing from his horse, he appealed to the men to save the guns, pointed a field-piece and discharged it at the savages, and entreated the gunners to rally. He could accomplish nothing by either his words or example. The men deserted the guns and fled. In a letter to his brother, Washington wrote : " I had four bullets through my coat, two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, though death was levelling my companions on every side around me.'" * Braddock had five horses shot under him, and at length himself received a mortal wound. As he fell, Captain Stewart, of the Virginia troops, caught him in his arms. He was borne from the field, though he begged to be left to die on the scene of his defeat. His fall was fortunate for the army, which it saved from destruction. A Fatal Rout. The order was given to fall back, and the "regulars fled like sheep before the hounds." The French and Indians pressed forward in pursuit, and all would have been lost had not the Virginia Rangers themselves been in the rear, and covered the flight of the regu- lars with a determination which checked the pursuers. The artillery, wagons, and all the camp train was abandoned, and the savages, stopping to plunder these, allowed the fugi- tives to recross the river in safety. Having seen the general as comfortable as circumstances would permit, Washington rode all that night and the next day to Dun- bar's camp to procure wagons for the wounded and soldiers to guard them. With these he hastened back to the fugi- tives. The Engl sh General's Death. Braddock, unable to ride or to endure the jolting of a wagon, was carried in a litter as far as the Great Meadows. He seemed to be heart-broken and rarely spoke. Occa- sionally he would say, as if speaking to him- self, with a deep sigh, " Who would have thought it?" It is said that he warmly thanked Captain Stewart for his care and kindness, and apologized to Washington for the manner in which he had received his advice. He had no wish to live, and he died at Fort Necessity on the night of the thir- teenth of July. He was buried the next morning before daybreak as secretly as pos- sible for fear that the savages might find and violate his grave. Close by the national road, about a mile west of Fort Necessity, a pile of stones still marks his resting- place. The losses of the English in the battle were terrible. Out of eighty-six officers, twenty-six were killed and thirt>'-six wounded. Upward of seven hundred of the regulars were killed and wounded. The Virginia Rangers had suffered terrible losses, for they had not only borne the brunt of the battle, but had lost many of their number by the random fire of the frightened regulars. Dunbar, who succeeded Braddock in the com- mand, still had fifteen hundred effective men * Washington attributed his wonderful escape from even a wound to the overruling providence of God. The Indians , regarded the matter in the same light. About fifteen years after the battle, while examining some lands near the mou'h of the Great Kanawha River, Washington was visited by an old chief. The chief told h.m '• he was present at the 296 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. left to him ; but he was too badly frightened to iittempt to retrieve the disaster, which a com- petent officer might have done with such a force. He broke up his camp, destroyed his stores, and retreated beyond the mountains. Disregarding the entreaties of the colonists not to leave the frontiers exposed to the savages, he continued his retreat to Phila- delphia, and went into winter quarters there, to get ready for future operations. ---m^^^J^ OF KITTANNING BV GENERAL ARMSTRONG The effect of these reverses upon the colonists was most marked. When they understood that Braddock's splendid force of disciplined regulars had been routed by a mere handful of French and Indians, their respect for the invincibility of British troops was destroyed ; and their confidence in their own prowess was greatly increased by the proud reflection that the only thing that had been done to save the army of Braddock from total destruction had been accomp- lished by the provincials. Washington's conduct was a subject of praise in all the colonies and brought his name conspicuously before the whole people of America. In a sermon preached a few months after Brad- dock's defeat, the Rev. Samuel Davies, a learned clergyman, spoke of him as " that heroic youth, Colonel Wash- ington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved in so signal a man- ner for some important service his country." The retreat of Dunbar left the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania at the mercy of the savages, who maintained a desultory but destructive warfare along the entire bor- der The defence of this ex- posed region was intrusted to Colonel Washington ; but he hid so few men as to make his undertaking a hopeless one The frontier settlements of Virginia were destroyed; the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah was ravaged with merciless fury, and the more protected regions were kept in a state of constant uneasiness and alarm. Governor Dinwiddle was repeatedly appealed to to furnish more men, but refused, and endea- vored to excuse his delinquency by saying : " We dare not part with any of our white men to any distance, as we must have a watchful eye over our negro slaves." battle, and among the Indian allies of the French ; that he singled him out and repeaiedly tired his rifle at him ; that he also ordered his young warriors to make him their only mark ; but that on finding all their bullets turned aside by some invisible and inscrutable interposition, he was convinced that the hero at whom he had so often and so truly aimed must be, for some wise purpose, speci.illy protected by the Great Spirit. He now came, therefore, to testify his veneration." ^/^ A OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES. 297 Pennsylvania met the troubles with greater ( vigor and resolution. About thirty miles above Fort Duquesne, on the Alleghany River, was the Indian village of Kittanning, the home of a noted chief named Captain Jacobs. Together with the Delaware chief Shingis, he had, at the instigation of the French, kept up a continual warfare upon the frontier settlements. A military force for the defence of the frontier was raised by the ■colony and placed under the command of Benjamin Franklin as colonel. He soon resigned, and was succeeded by Colonel John Armstrong, a man better suited to the posi- tion, and who subsequently became a major general in the war of the Revolution. Armstrong resolved to destroy Kittanning and the tribe inhabiting it as the best means of putting a stop to their outrages, and called for volunteers for the enterprise. Three hundred men responded. Toward the last of September, 1756, they crossed the moun- tains on horseback, and in a few days reached the vicinity of Kittanning. Dismounting and leaving their horses in charge of a guard, they silently surrounded the village. The Indians spent the night in carousing within hearing of the whites, and retired to rest at a very late hour. Just before daybreak the whites attacked the village and set it on fire. It was completely destroyed, and Jacobs and all but a handful of his men were slain. The few survivors fled farther west, and the Pennsylvania frontier was re- lieved of the sufferings it had so long endured. CHAPTER XXIII Sanguinary Struggles on the Frontier Expedition Against Acadia — Brutal Treatment of the Acadians — They Are Expelled from Their Country — A Sad Story — Fate of the Acadians — Johnson at Lake Geoi^e — -March of Dieskau — Battle of Lake George — Failure of Shirley's Expedition — Arrival of the Earl of Loudon — Montcalm in Canada — Capture of Oswego by the French— Outrages of the Earl of Loudon Upon New York and Philadelphia — Expedition Against Louisburg — How the Earl of Loudon Beat the French — Capture of Fort William Henry by Montcalm — Massacre of the Prisoners by the Indians — Efforts of Montcalm to Save Them — The Royal OfEcers Attempt to Cover Their Failures by Outraging the Colonies. WHILE the events we have re- lated were transpiring in the Ohio valley other expeditions were despatched against the French. One of these was directed against that part of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, which still remained in the hands of the French. It lay at the head of the Bay of Fundy, and was defended by two French forts. This region was the oldest French colony in North America, having been settled sixteen years before the landing of the Pilgrims, but was regarded by the English as within their jurisdiction. In May, 1755, an expedition of three thou- sand New England troops was despatched from Boston, under Colonel John Winslow, to attack these forts and establish the Eng- lish authority over the French settlements. Upon reaching the Bay of Fundy Winslow was joined by three hundred English regulars under Colonel Monckton, who assumed the I command. The forts were taken with com- | paratively little effort, and the authority of 1 England was extended over the whole of Nova Scotia. The Acadians agreed to acknowledge the authority of their new masters, and to observe a strict neutrality between France and England in the war; and the English on their part promised not to require of them the usual oaths of allegi- I ance, to excuse them from bearing arms ' 298 against France, and to protect them in the exercise of the Catholic religion. The Acadians numbered about seventeen thousand souls. They were a simple and harmless people, and were enjoying in a marked degree the blessings of industry and thrift. They had begun their settlements by depending upon the fur trade and the fish- eries for their support, but had abandoned these pursuits for that of agriculture, which was already yielding them rich rewards for their skill and labor. They were proud of their farms, and took but little interest in public affairs, scarcely knowing what was transpiring in the world around them. It is hard to imagine a more peaceful or a happier community than this one at the time they passed under the baleful rule of England. Crime was unknown among them, and they seldom carried their disputes before the Eng- lish magistrates, but settled them by the arbitration of their old men. They en- couraged early marriages as the best means of preserving the morality of their people ; and when a young man married, his neigh- bors turned out in force and built him a house, and for the first year of his marriage aided him to establish himself firmly, while the bride's relatives helped her to furnish the home thus prepared. Thus the people were taught to regard and practice neighborly kindness as ose of the SANGUINARY STRUGGLES ON THE FRONTIER. 299 cardinal Christian virtues. They were de- voted Catholics, and practiced their religion without bigotry. They were attached to the rule of France by language and religion, and would have been glad to see her authoritj' re-established over them ; but they submitted peacefully to the rule of the English and faithfully observed the terms of their sur- render. Unfortunately for the Acadians their pos- sessions soon began to excite the envy of the English. Lawrence, the governor of Nova Scotia, expressed this feeling in his letter to Lord Halifax, the English premier. " They possess the best and largest tract of land in this province," he wrote ; " if they refuse the oaths, it would be much better that they were away." The English authorities had prepared a cunningly devised scheme for dis- possessing these simplepeople of their homes, and they now proceeded to put it in execu- tion. The usual oaths of allegiance had not been tendered to the Acadians upon their surrender, as it was known that as French- men and Catholics they could not take them, as they required them to bear arms against their own brethren in Canada, and to make war upon their religion. Cruel Treatment. It was resolved now to offer the oaths to them, and thus either drive them into rebel- lion or force them to abandon their homes. When this intention was known, the priests urged them to refuse the oaths. " Better surrender your meadows to the sea," they declared, " and your houses to the flames, than, at the peril of your souls, take the oath of allegiance to the British government." As for the Acadians themselves, " they, from their very simplicity and anxious sincerity, were uncertain in their resolves ; now gath- ering courage to flee beyond the isthmus, for ether homes in New P" ranee, and now yearn- ing for their own houses and fields, their herds and pastures." The officers sent by the English authori- ties to enforce their demands conducted themselves with a haughtiness and cruelty which added greatly to the sorrows of the Acadians. Their titles to their lands were declared null and void, and all their papers and title-deeds were taken from them. Their property was taken for the public service without compensation, and if they failed to furnish wood at the times required, the Eng- lish soldiers " might take their houses for fuel." Their guns were seized, and they were deprived of their boats on the pretext that they might be used to communicate with the French in Canada. At last, wearied out with these oppressions, the Acadians offered to swear allegiance to Great Britain. This, however, formed no part of the plan of their persecutors, and they were answered that by a British statute persons who had been once offered the oaths, and who had refused them, could not be permitted to take them, but must be treated as Popish recu- sants. This brought matters to a crisis, and the English now resolved to strike the decisive blow. A proclamation was issued, requiring " the old men, and young men, as well as all lads over ten years of age," to assemble on the fifth of September, 1755, at a certain hour, at designated places in their respective districts, to hear the " wishes of the king." In the greater number of places the order was obeyed. What happened at the village of Grand Pre, the principal settlement, will show the course pursued by the English in all the districts. Four hundred and eighteen of the men of the place assembled. They were unarmed, and were marched into the church, which was securely guarded. Winslow, the New England commander, then addressed them as follows : " You are 300 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. convened together to manifest to you his majesty's final resolution to the French in- habitants of this his province. Your lands and tenements, cattle of all kinds, and live stock of all sorts, are forfeited to the crDwn, and }-ou yourselves are to be removed from this his pro\ince. I am, through his majes- ty's goodness, directed to allow you liberty to carry ofir your money and household goods, as many as j-ou can, without discom- moding the vessels you go in." He then declared them, together with their wives and children, a total of nineteen hundred and twenty-three souls, the king's prisoners. English Barbarity. The announcement took the unfortunate men by surprise, and filled them with the deepest indignation ; but they were unarmed and unable to resist. They were held close prisoners in the church, and their homes, which they had left in the morning full of hope, were to see them no more. They were kept without food for themselves or their children that day, and were poorly fed during the remainder of their captivity. They were held in confinement until the tenth of September, when it was announced that the vessels were in readiness to carry them away. They were not to be allowed to join their brethren in Canada lest they should ser\-eas a reinforcement to the French in that province, but were to be scattered as paupers through the English colonies, among people of another race and a different faith. On the morning of the tenth the captives were drawn up six deep. The English, in- tending to make their trial as bitter and as painful as possible, had resolved upon the barbarous measure of separating the families of their victims. The young men and boys were driven at the point of the bayonet from the church to the ship and compelled to embark. They passed amid the rows of their mothers and sisters, who, kneeling, prayed Heaven to bless and keep them. Then the fathers and husbands were forced by the bayonet on board of another ship, and as the vessels were now full, the women and child- ren were left behind until more ships could come for them. They were kept for weeks near the sea, suffering greatly from lack of proper shelter and food, and it was December before the last of them were removed. Those who tried to escape were ruthlessly shot down by the sentinels. " Our soldiers hate them," wrote an English officer, " and if they can but find a pretext to kill them, they will." In some of the settlements the designs of the English were suspected and the procla- mation was not heeded. Some of the people fled to Canada ; others sought shelter with the Indians, who receiv-ed them with kind- ness ; others still fled to the woods, hoping to hide there till the storm was over. The English at once proceeded to lay waste their homes ; the country was made desolate in order that the fugitives might be compelled through starvation to surrender themselves. Families Scattered. Seven thousand Acadians were torn from their homes and scattered among the Eng- lish colonies on the Atlantic coast, from New Hampshire to Georgia. Families were ut- terly broken up, never to be reunited. The colonial newspapers for many years were filled with mournful advertisements, inquir- ing for a lost husband or wife; parents sought their missing children, and children their parents in this way. But of all these inquiries few were answered. The exiles were doomed to a parting worse than death, and their captors had done their work so well that human ingenuity could not undo it. Some of those who had been carried to Georgia attempted to return to their homes. SANGUINARY STRUGGLES ON THE FRONTIER. 30 « They escaped to sea in boats, and coasted from point to point northward until they reached New England, when they were sternly ordered back. Their homes were their own no longer. More than three thousand Acadians fled to Canada, and of these about fifteen hundred settled south of the Ristigouche. Upon the surrender of Canada they were again sub- jected to the persecutions of the English. "Once those who dwelt in Pennsylvania presented a humble petition to the Earl of Loudon, then the British commander-in- chief in America, and the cold-hearted peer, offended that the prayer was made in French, seized their five principal men, who in their own land had been persons of dignity and substance, and shipped them to England. with the request that they might be kept from ever again becoming troublesome by being consigned to service as common sailors on board ships of war. Unparalleled Oppression. " No doubt existed of the king's approba- tian. The lords of trade, more merciless than the savages and than the wilderness in winter, wished very much that every one of the Acadians should be driven out ; and when it seemed that the work was done, congratulated the king that 'the zealous endeavors of Lawrence had been crowned with an entire success.' I know not if the annals of the human race keep the record of sorrows so wantonly inflicted, so bitter and so perennial, as fell upon the French inhab- itants of Acadia. 'We have been true,' they said of themselves, ' to our religion, and true to ourselves ; yet nature appears to con- sider us only as the objects of public ven- geance.' The hand of the English official seemed under a spell with regard to them ; and was never uplifted but to curse them." * * Bancroft's History of the United Staler, vol. iv., p. 206. While these sorrows were being heaped upon the helpless Acadians by England, the provincial forces were serving the cause else- where with more credit to their manhood. As has been stated, the expedition against the French fort at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, had been intrusted to Gcn.ral William Johnson. His army consisted prin- cipally of troops from Massachusetts and Connecticut. They were joined at Albany by a regiment from New Hampshire. The- troops rendezvoused at the head of boat navigation, on the Hudson, in July, 1755, under the command of General Lyman. They numbered about si.x thousand men. A fort was built and named by the troops, in honor of their commander. Fort Lyman. Johnson'3 Expedition. In August Johnson arrived with the stores and artillery, and assumed the command of the expedition. He ungenerously changed the name of the fort to Fort Edward. Leav- ing a strong force to garrison it, he moved with five thousand men to the head of Lake George, from which he intended to descend the lake in boats. The French had been informed of John- son's movements by their scouts. Baron Dieskau, the governor of Canada, placed the entire arms-bearing population of the Mon- treal district in the field and resolved to prevent Johnson from reaching Crown Point by attacking hun in his own country. With a force of two hundred French regulars and about one thousand two hundred Indians, he .set out across the country to attack Fort Edward. Upon arriving in the vicinity of the fort the Indians learned that it was de- fended by artillery, of which they were greatly afraid, and refused to attack it. Dies- kau was, therefore, compelled to change his plan, and resolved to strike a blow at John- son's camp, which he was informed was without cannon. 302 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. In the meantime the scouts of the English had detected the movement against Fort Edward. Ignorant of the change in Dies- kau's plans Johnson sent a force of one thousand men, under Colonel Ephraim Will- iams of Massachusetts, and two hundred Mohawks, under their famous chief Hen- drick, to the relief of the ft.>rt. Their march was reported to the French, who placed themselves in ambush along the road they were pursuing, and attacked them as soon as they had fairly entered the defile. The Eng- lish were at once thrown into confusion. Hendrick was shot down at the first fire, and ■Williams fell a few moments later. The English and Mohawks then began a rapid retreat to their camp, closely pursued by their assailants. The sound of the firing was soon heard in Johnson's camp, and as it drew nearer it became apparent that the detachment was retreating. The troops were gotten under arms, and the trees in front of the camp were hurriedly felled to form a rude breastwork. A few cannon had just arrived from the Hudson, and these were placed to command the road by which the French were ap- proaching. These arrangements were just completed when the fugitives of Williams' command appeared in full retreat, with the French and Indians but a few hundred yards behind them. Dieskau urged his men for- ward with the greatest energy, intending to force his way into the English camp along with the fugitives. The artillery was care- fully trained upon the road by which he was advancing, and the moment the fugitives were past the guns they opened with a ter- rific fire of grape, which caused the Canadians and Indians to break in confusion, and take to the woods for shelter. Stolen Honors. The regulars held their ground, and main- tained a determined contest of five hours, in which they were nearly all slain. The In- dians and Canadians did little execution, as they stood in dread of the artillery. At length Dieskau, seeing that his effort had failed, drew off his men, and retreated. He was pursued for some distance by the Eng- lish. Towards evening he was suddenly at- tacked by the New Hampshire regiment, which was marching from Fort Edward to Johnson's assistance. The French were seized with a panic at this new attack, and abandoning their brave commander fled for their lives. Dieskau, who had been severely wounded several times, was taken prisoner. He was kindly treated, and was subsequently sent to England, where he died. ' General Johnson was slightly wounded at the commencement of the battle, and with- SANGUINARY STRUGGLKS ON THE FRONTIER. 303 drew from the field, leaving the command to General Lyman, to whom the victory was really due. Notwithstanding this Johnson did not even mention Lyman's name in his report of the battle, but claimed all the honor for himself. He was rewarded by the king with a baronetcy, and the gift of twenty-five thousand dollars. General Lyman was not even thanked for his services. Great Military Preparations. Johnson made no ctTort to improve his victoiy. The expedition against Crown Point, which might now have been under- taken with a better prospect of success, was abandoned, and Johnson contented himself with building a useless log fort at the head of Lake George, which he named Fort Will- iam Henry. Late in the fall he placed a garrison in this fort, and then returned to Albany, where he disbanded his army. The expedition under Governor Shirley, against Fort Niagara, was equally unsuccess- ful. By the month of August Shirley had advanced no farther than Oswego. Here he received the news of Braddock's defeat, which so disheartened him that, after building and garrisoning two forts at Oswego, he returned to Albany. By the death of Braddock Shir- ley succeeded to the chief command of all the royal forces in America. In December, 1755, Shirley held a con- ference with the colonial governors, at New York, to decide upon the campaign for the next year. It was agreed that three expedi- tions should be undertaken in 1756: one against Niagara ; a second against Fort Du- quesne, and a third against Crown Point. In the meantime Lord Loudon was appointed by the king commander-in-chief of the forces in America. He sent over General Aber- crombie as his lieutenant. Abercrombie ar- rived in June with several regiments of British regulars. He relieved General Shir- ley from command, but nothing was to be done until the arrival of the commander-in- chief, who did not reach America until July. Lord Loudon was a more pompous and a slower man than Braddock, and more incom- petent. A force of seven thousand men was assembled at Albany for the expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and Loudon at once repaired thither, and as- sumed the command. The colonists were confident that something of importance would now be accomplished ; but they were destined to disappointment. The com- mander-in-chief and his subordinates spent their time in settling the relative rank of the royal and provincial officers. Notwithstanding the fact that all that had been accomplished during the war had been gained by the colonial forces, there was an iniquitous regulation which gave the pre- cedence to the lowest officer holding a royal commission over one holding a higher rank from any of the colonies. This led to many disputes, and the colonists saw themselves robbed of the honors they had so fairly won. This was only one of the many wrongs by which Great Britain succeeded in alienating the people of America from their attachment to her. Successes of Montcalm. In the meantime Dieskau had been suc- ceeded as governor of Canada by the Marquis de Montcalm, the ablest of the rulers of New France. He was a man of genuine ability and of indomitable energy. He reached Quebec in 1756, and at once set out for Ticonderoga, which he placed in a state of defence. Perceiving the exposed condition of the English forts at Oswego he resolved to capture them. Collecting a force of five thousand Frenchmen, Canadians and Indians, he crossed the lake from Frontenac, and reached Oswego on the fifth of August. 304 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. He soon drove the English out of Fort Oswego ; but Fort Ontario, the second work, opposed a more vigorous resistance to him. The garrison held out until their com- mander. Colonel Mercer, was killed, and they had lost all hope of receiving aid from Albany, when they capitulated. An immense amount of military stores, one hundred and thirty-five pieces of cannon, and all the boats and vessels Shirley had prepared for the ex- pedition against Niagara fell into the hands of Montcalm. The Iroquois had viewed the erection of the forts at Oswego by the Eng- lish with great jealousy, and in order to con- ciliate them Montcalm wisely destroyed the works, and withdrew into Canada. Master of Twenty Legions. Loudon had detached a force under Colonel Webb to the assistance of the Oswego forts, but it was sent so late that it was met on the way by the news of the cap- ture of the forts. Colonel Webb, in dismay, fell back rapidly, and obstructed the road to Albany. Having failed to accomplish anything against the enemy Lord Loudon now under- took to subjugate the colonics of New York and Pennsylvania. He was firmly convinced that the colonists needed to be taught sub- mission to the will of the royal commander, and as he had been made a sort of viceroy of all the colonies, he thought the present a fitting occasion to teach them this lesson. He demanded of the cities of Albany, New York and Philadelphia free quarters for his troops during the winter. The mayor of New York refused the demand " as contrary to the laws of England and the liberties of America." " G — d d — n my blood," said the viceroy to the mayor ; " if you do not billet my officers upon free quarters this day, I'll order here all the troops in North America under my command, and billet them myself upon the city." There was no reasoning with " the master of twenty legions," and the magistrates were obliged to get up a subscription for the free support, during the winter, of an army that had passed a whole campaign without com- ing in sight of the enemy. In Philadelphia the matter was settled very much in the same way. Albany was also obliged to sub- mit, but the magistrates took occasion to tell the royal officers that they did not want their services, as they could defend their frontiers themselves. " The frontier was left open to the French ; this quartering troops in the principal towns, at the expense of the inhabitants, by the illegal authority of a military chief, was the great result of the campaign " It was becoming clear to the colonists that their safety from the depreda- tions of the French and savages was not to- be gained by the royal troops, but by their own efforts. Mock Battles and Sieges. A congress of governors was held at Boston in January, 1757, and it was resolved that there should be but one expedition this year, and that this should be sent under the Earl of Loudon against Louisburg. The frontier posts, especially Forts Edward and William Henry, were to be defended, and Washington, with the Virginia troops, was to- guard the border of that colony against the- expeditions of the French from Fort Du- quesne. The last was a difficult and almost impossible duty, for the French from Fort Duquesne could choose their point of attack anywhere on the long and exposed frontier, while the force under Washington was utterly inadequate to the task of watching the entire line. Leaving Bouquet to guard the frontier of Carolina against the Cherokees, and Webb to> SANGUINARY STRUGGLES ON THE FRONTIER 305 hold the country between Lake George and the Hudson, Lord Loudon, on the twentieth of June, 1757, sailed from New York with six thousand regulars to attack Louisburg. He proceeded to Halifax, where he was joined by a fleet of eleven ships of war and four thousand troops, bringing his whole force to ten thousand regulars and six- teen ships of the line and a number of frigates. The campaign of this redoubtable warrior is thus des- cribed by Bancroft: •' He landed (at Ha- lifax), levelled the uneven ground for a parade, planted a vegetable garden as a precaution against the scurvy, exercised the men in mock battles and sieges and storm- ings of fortresses, and when August came, and the spirit of the army was broken, and Hay, a major-general, ex- pressed contempt so loudly as to be arrested, the troops were embarked, as if for Louisburg. But ere the ships sailed, the reconnoitring vessels came with the news that the French at Cape Breton had one more ship than the English, and ihe plan of campaign was changed. Part of the soldiers landed again at Halifax, and the Earl of Loudon., leaving his garden to the weeds, and his place of arms to briars, sailed for New York. 20 ■cry As The Marquis of Montcalm was a different man from the Earl of Loudon, a man he was superior to him in every way ; as a commander he was active, quick and resolute ; while Loudon was incompetent, slow and pompous. Montcalm had stationed himself at Ticonderoga, in order to be able to watch the English, and he resolved to take advantage of Lord Loudon's absence to attack Fort William Henry, at the head of ?_j SITE OF FOKT WlLLl.AM HF.NKV ON LAKE GEORGI Lake George. In the first place, previous to starting on this enterprise, he made his court to thf Oneidas, the Senecas and other sav- age tribes, and gained them over to his interests. These native warriors crossed the waters of Lake Champlain in two hundred canoes with pennons flying, and all the pomp I of savage warfare. Assemblintr beneath the 3o6 THE FRENXH AND INDIAN WAR. battlements of Ticonderoga, in the midst of woods and mountains, they sang the war- song, danced the war-dance, and listened to the eloquence of their orators. On the sec- ond of August Montcalm appeared before the fort with a force of about six thousand French and Canadians and seventeen hun- dred Indians, and laid siege to it. The MONTCALM. garrison consisted of about three thousand men, under Colonel Monroe, a gallant offi- cer. Montcalm summoned him to surrender the fort, but Monroe returned an indignant refusal to this demand, and sent to General Webbe, at Fort Edward, fifteen miles dis- tant, to ask for assistance. Webbe might CT;ily have saved the fort, as he had four thousand men under his command, but he made no effort to do so. Colonel Putnam, afterwards famous in the Revolution, eagerly sought and at last re- ceived permission to march with his regi- ment to Monroe's assistance, but he had proceeded only a few miles when Webbe commanded him to return to Fort Edward. In the place of assistance, the timid Webbe then sent to Mon- roe a letter greatly exaggerating the force of the French and ad- vising him to surrender. This letter was intercepted by Mont- calm, who was on the point of raising the siege, and he for- warded it to Monroe, with a renewed demand for his sur- render. The brave veteran held out, however, until nearly all his guns were disabled and his am- munition nearly exhausted. He then hung out a flag of truce, and IMontcalm, who was too true a rero not to appreciate valor in a iiie, granted him liberal terms. The garrison were allowed to march out with the honors of war upon giving their parole not to serve against France for eight- een months. They were to re- tain their private property and were to liberate all their pris- oners. On the ninth of August the fort was surrendered to the French. Montcalm had kept the savages from liquor, in order to be able to restrain them in the hour of \ictory. They now sought and obtained rum from the English, and spent the night in dancing and singing. The next mornmg, as the English marched out of their camp, the Indians fell upon them and began to plunder them. From robbery the 308 excited savages soon passed to murder, and many of the English were killed and others made prisoners. The French officers threw themselves into the melee and exerted themselves gallantly to control the Indians. Many of them were wounded in these efforts. Montcalm in an agony implored the Indians to respect the treaty. " Kill me," he cried, as he struggled to restrain the savages, "but spare the English, who are under my protec- tion." He called to the English soldiers to defend themselves. The retreat to Fort Edward became a disorderly fight. Only about six hundred men reached there in a body. More than four hundred had sought shelter in the French camp, and were sent by Montcalm to their friends under the pro- tection of a strong escort. He also sent one of his officers to ransom those who had been taken prisoners by the Indians. The vast stores accumulated at Fort William Henry were carried away by the French, and the work itself demolished. Triumph of the iTench. The loss of Fort William Henry greatly frightened General Webbe at Fort Edward. In spite of his force of six thousand men, and the withdrawal of the French to Lake Cham- plain, he seriously contemplated a retreat to beyond Albany. Lord Loudon, who had arrived at New York, was equally impressed with the danger, and proposed to take posi- tion with his army on Long Island, for the defence of the continent. The campaign was over, and the French were everywhere triumphant. With the ex- ception of Acadia, they held all the country they had occupied at the beginning of the war. The English had lost the forts at Oswego and William Henry, and immense quantities of supplies. They had been en- tirely expelled from the valleys of the Ohio and the St. Lawrence, and the hostile parties THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. of the Indians were enabled to extend their ravages far into the interior of the colonies. America was thoroughly disgusted with the incompetency and cowardice of the royal commanders. The old spell of British invin- cibility was broken, and the colonists were rapidly losing their respect for the troops sent over from England to protect them. Men were coming to the conclusion that their connection with Great Britain was sim- ply a curse to the colonies. They regarded the conduct of the war thus far by the royal officials as simply " a mi.xture of ignorance and cowardice," and were satisfied that they were amply able to defend themselves against the French and Indians without any assist- ance whatever from England. Attempts to Force Submission. The royal officials sought to cover their failures by complaints against the Ameri- cans. The hearty disgust and contempt with which the colonists regarded their pusillanimous conduct was reported by them to the home goverment as evidence of a mutinous spirit on the part of the Americans. Throughout the colonies they pursued one uniform system of seeking to force the prov- inces into submission to their own illegal acts, and to compel them to an acknowledg- ment of the arbitrary power of the crown, "Everywhere," says Bancroft, "tba royal officers actively asserted the authojity of the king and the British nation over America. Did the increase of population lead the leg- islature to enlarge the representative body? The right to do so was denied, and represen- tation was held to be a privilege conceded by the king as a boon, and limited by his will. Did the British commander believe that the French colonies through the neutral islands derived provisions from the continent ? By his own authority he proclaimed an embargo in every American port." CHAPTER XXIV End of the French and Indian War A Cliangefor the Better — William Pitt, Prime Minister — Vigorous Measures Adopted — Recall of the Eail of Loudon-" Capture of I.ouisburg — Abercrombie on Lake George — Advances Against Ticonderoga — Death of Lord Howe — Failure of the EngIi^h Attack Upon Ticonderoga — Disgraceful Conduct of Abercrombie — His Retreat — Capture of Fort Frontenac — Advance of General Forbes — Grant's Defeat — The Virginians Again Save the Regulars — Capture of Fort Duquesne — Washington Retires from the Army — Ticonderoga and Crown Point Occupied by the English — Capture of Fort Niagara — ^The Expedition Against Quebec— Failure of the First Operations — Despondency of Wolfe— He Discovers a Landing Place — The Army Scales the Heights of Abraham — Montcalm's Surprise — Battle of the Plains of Abraham — Death of Wolfe — Defeat of the French— Death of Montcalm — Surrender of Quebec — Capture of Montreal — Treaty of Paris — Canada Ceded to England — France Loses All Her American Possessions — The Cherokee War — Hostility of the Indians to the English — Pontiac's War — Death of Pontiac — Bouquet Relieves Fort Duquesne— Results of the War. THE gross mismanagement of affairs in America aroused a storm of in- dignation in England, and King George was obliged to yield to the popular sentiment and change his ministers. At the head of the new ministry he placed William Pitt, the leader of the popular party, who was destined to become one of the greatest of English statesmen. His great talents had raised him from the insignificant position of ensign in the guards to the lead- ership of the government of Great Britain, and were now to be the means of retrieving the disasters of his country and regaining for her her lost power and prestige. A truly great man, Pitt knew how to ad- mire and sympathize with merit in others, and was not biinded by the glitter of rank, nor hampered by an aristocratic faith in the divinitj' of royalty. He appreciated and sympathized with the Americans more per- fectly than any of his predecessors in office, and began his career with the wise determi- nation to encourage and develop their patri- otism by a generous and systematic assist- ance of their efforts. He caused the government of Great Britain to assume tiie expenses of the war, and announced that the sums expended by the colonies for the public defence, since the commencement of hostili- ties, would be refunded, and that henceforth the British government would provide the funds for the prosecution of the war. The colonies were each required to furnish troops, but Pitt " stipulated that the colonial troops raised for this purpose should be sup- plied with arms, ammunition, tents and provi- sions in the same manner as the regular troops and at the king's expense ; so that the only charge to the colonies would be that of levy- ing, clothing, and paj'ing the men. The governors were also authorized to issue com- missions to provincial officers, from colonels downwards, and these officers were to hold rank in the united army according to their commissions. Had this liberal and just sys- tem been adopted at the outset, it would have put a verj' different face upon the affairs of the colonies."* These energetic and just measures were promptly responded to by the colonies, which placed a force of twenty- eight thousand men in the field. To these Pitt added twenty-two thousand British reg- ulars, making a total of fifty thousand men. ' Sparks' IVritings of IVashi n, vol. ii., p. 289 — Xttte. 3IO THE FRE^XH AND INDIAN WAR. the largest army that had ever been assem- bled in America, and exceeding in number the entire male population of Canada. The Earl of Loudon was recalled, and in- stead of a single supreme command three separate expeditions were organized under different officers. An expedition against WILLIAM PITT. Louisburg was placed under the orders of Lord Jeffrey Amherst, an able and upright soldier, assisted by Brigadier General James Wolfe; who, though only thirty-one years old, had spent eighteen years in the army, and had served at Dettingcn, Fontenoy and Laffeldt. He was considered one of the ablest commanders in the English service, and was universally beloved. To General Forbes the task of conquering the Ohio val- ley was assigned ; and the expedition against Ticonderoga and Crown Point was intrusted to General Abercrombie. Pitt had little faith in Abercrombie, who had been Lord Loudon's most trusted lieutenant; but retained him to please Lord Bute, and associated with him, as his second in command, the young and gifted Lord George Howe, in the hope that Howe's genius would redeem Abercrombie's fa u 1 1 s , and lead him to victory. The expedition against Louisburg consisted of a fleet of twenty ships of the line and eighteen frigates, under Admiral Boscawen, and an army of fourteen thousand men, under General Am- herst. The fleet reached Cabarus Bay on the se- cond of June, 1758. The fortifications of Louis- burg were somewhat di- lapidated, but were held by a garrison of thirty- two hundred men, com- manded by Chevalier Drucour, an ofificer of experience and determination. These frigates were sunk across the mouth of the harbor to close it against the English, and within the basin lay five ships of the line, one fifty-gun ship and two frigates, which took part in the defence of the place. END OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 311 The surf was so heavy that Amherst was unable to land his troops until the eighth. The first division was led by Wolfe, under the cover of the fire of the fleet. He forbade a gun to be fired from his command, and, upon nearing the shore, leaped into the water, followed by his men, and in the face of a sharp resistance, drove the French from their outposts into the town. The place was now regularly invested, and, after a bombard- ment of fifty days, during which the shipping in the harbor was destroyed, the town and fortifications were surrendered to the English on the twenty-seventh of Jul}'. With Louis- burg the French gave up the islands of Cape Breton and Prince Edward. Five thousand prisoners and an immense quantity of mili- tary supplies were secured by the English. Halifax being already the chief naval sta- tion of the English in these waters, Louis- burg was abandoned. Amherst, Wolfe and Boscawen were honored by the English gov- ernment for their victory. The season was too far advanced after the capture of Louis- burg to admit of the commencement of operations against Quebec, and Amherst was suddenly called away from the coast to take charge of the army on Lake George. Down Lake George. Abercrombie had assembled a force of seven thousand English regulars and nine thousand Americans at the head of Lake George. Among the American troops were Stark and Putnam, afterwards famous in the war for independence, the former serving as a captain in the New Hampshire regiment, the latter as a major of Connecticut troops, Abercrombie was commander-in-chief, but the troops had little confidence in him. They were devoted to Lord Howe, who was the real leader of the expedition. On the fifth of July the army broke up its camp, and embarking in ten hundred and thirty-five boats, with the artillery on rafts, descended the lake to its lower end, from which they were to advance overland upon Fort Carillon, which the French had erected on the pro- montory of Ticonderoga. The next morning Lord Howe pushed forward with the ad- vanced guard, and encountered a scouting party of the French. A sharp conflict en- sued. The French were easily driven back, but Lord Howe was killed almost at the first fire. His death cast a gloom over the army, which promised ill for the success of the undertaking. Gallant Attack. Abercrombie continued to advance, and on the morning of the ninth sent Clerk, his chief engineer, to reconnoitre the French position at Ticonderoga. Clerk reported that the French works were feeble, and im- perfectly armed. Stark, of New Hampshire, and some of the English officers saw that they were both strong and well provided with artillerj'. They so reported to Aber- crombie, but he accepted the statement of his engineer, and, without waiting for his artil- lery, ordered an assault upon the French lines that very day. The Marquis of Montcalm was command- ing in person at Ticonderoga, and had dis- posed his small force of thirty-si.x hundred and fifty men in a line of breastworks thrown up about half a mile beyond the fort, and extending across the promontory on which that work stood. The death of Lord Howe had deprived the English of their only leader capable of contending against this accom- plished commander, and the incompetency of Abercrombie was to render easy what might have been, under other circumstances, a most difficult undertaking. Abercrombie could have brought up his artillery by the next day, but he was un- willing to wait for it, as he anticipated an 312 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. easy victory. He stationed himself in a place of safety about two miles from the field, and ordered his troops to assail the French in- trenchnients with the bayonet. The attack was made in gallant style, and was continued with energy during the afternoon. The English performed prodigies of valor, but ■were not able to overcome the strength of the French works, or the activity with which the defenders maintained their position. Un- like the English commander, Montcalm was everywhere along his line, cheering his men with his presence and example, and distribut- ing refreshments to them with his own hands. Without a commander who dared place himself under fire, with no one on the spot to direct their movements, the valor of the English was thrown away. A volley from an advanced party of their own men com- pleted their confusion, and they broke help- lessly and fell back in disorder towards Lake George. Abercrombie made no effort to rally them ; he was too badly frightened for that; and led the army towards the landing- place, on Lake George, with such haste that but for the energetic action of Colonel Brad- street the troops would have rushed pell-mell into the boats, without any semblance of order, and with a still greater loss of life. The English Retreat. The English lost nearly two thousand men in the attack upon the French works, but they still had left a force of more than lour times the strength of the French, and their artillery had not been engaged. With this force they might have taken Ticonderoga, but Abercrombie was too much terrified to attempt anything of the kind. On the morn- ing of the ninth he embarked his troops and Jiastcned to the head of Lake George. Montcalm was astounded at his retreat, but as he had too small a force, and his men were exhausted, he made no effort at pur- suit. Arrived at the head of Lake George, the frightened Abercrombie sent the artillery and ammunition back to Albany for safety, and occupied his army with the erection of Fort George, near the ruins of Fort William Henry. The news of this disaster caused General Amherst to hasten with four regi • ments and a battalion from Louisburg to Lake George. He reached the camp of Abercrombie on the fifth of October. In November orders arrived from England ap- pointing Amherst commander-in-chief of the royal forces in America, and recalling Aber- crombie, who returned to England to attempt to excuse his cowardice by villifying Amer- ica and the Americans. He could not de- ceive Pitt, however, whose indignation at his pusillanimous conduct was only restrained by the influence of Lord Bute in the royal councils. Sudden Flight. After Abercrombie's retreat, Colonel Brad- street, of New York, at his earnest solicita- tion, obtained leave from the council of war to undertake an expedition against Fort Frontenac, which, being situated at the foot of Lake Ontario, commanded both the lake and the St. Lawrence. Its possession was of the highest importance to the French, as it was their main depot for the supply of the posts on the upper lakes and the Ohio with military stores. Collecting a force of twenty- seven hundred men, all Americans, consist- ing chiefly of troops from New York and Massachusetts, Bradstreet hastened to Os- wego before his movements were known to the enemy. From Oswego he crossed the lake in open boats, and landed on the Can- ada side within a mile of Fort Frontenac. His sudden arrival struck terror to the garrison, and the greater part secured their safety by an instantaneous flight. The next day the fort surrendered. The victors cap- END OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 313 tured with it a vast quantity of military stores destined for the forts in the interior, and a fleet of nine armed vessels, with which the French controlled the lake. Two of the vessels were laden with a part of the stores and sent to Oswego, and the remainder of the vessels and stores, together with the fort, were destroyed. The English then re- crossed the lake to Oswego. The capture of Fort Frontenac was an event of great im- portance, as it led, as we shall see further on. to the abandonment by the French of their posts in the valley of the Ohio. For the reduction of Fort Duquesne a force of seven thousand men was assembled under General Forbes. Of these, fi\e thou- sand were from PennsyKania and Virginia, the troops from the latter colony being under the command of Colonel Washington. The Penns\ivania troops assembled at Raystown, on the Juniata, and the Virginians at Fort Cumberland. Washington urged upon Forbes the advantages of adopting the old road cut by Braddock's army in his advance to the Ohio, but Forbes, at the suggestion of some land-speculators, decided to construct a new and a better road farther to the north. As regarded the future settlement of the west this was an excellent plan, but as far as it concerned the immediate object of the campaign it was a mistake, as it in\'olved a large e.xpenditure of labor and a great waste of time. While this road was being constructed General Bouquet, with the advanced guard, crossed Laurel Hill and established a post at Loyal Hanna. The new road progressed very slowly, only forty-five miles being con- structed in six weeks. Bouquet had with him a force of about two thousand men, chiefly Highlanders and Virginians. Learn- ing from his scouts that Fort Duquesne was held by a garrison of only eight hundred men, of whom three hundred were Indians, Bouquet, without orders from General l'"orbes, resolved to attempt the capture of the fort by a sudden blow. He detached a force of eight hundred Highlanders and a company of Virginians, under Major Grant, to reconnoitre Fort Duquesne. The French were fully informed of all of Grant's movements, but they allowed him to approach unmolested, intending to disarm his vigilance and then attack him. Grant affected the usual contempt for the provincial troops, and upon arriving before the fort, placed Major Lewis with the Vir- ginians to guard the baggage, and sent his regulars forward to reconnoitre and make a sketch of the work. He was greatly en- couraged by the fact that the French allowed him to approach without firing a gun at him, and in his self-complacency marched right into an ambuscade which the enemy had prepared for him. The Regulars' Narrow Escape. The French commander had posted the Indians along the sides of the defile by which Grant was advancing, and at a given signal the garrison made a sudden sally from the fort against the Highlanders, while the In- dians opened a heavy fire upon them from their place of concealment. The regulars were quickly thrown into confusion, and their officers were found incapable of con- ducting such a mode of warfare. Attracted by the firing. Major Lewis, with a company of Virginians, hastened to the scene of the encounter, and by engaging the enemy hand- to-hand enabled the regulars to save them- selves from a general massacre. The de- tachment was routed with heavy loss, and both Grant and Lewis were taken prisoners. The fugitives retreated to the point where the baggage had been left. It was guarded by Captain Bullit, whom Lewis had left there with one company of Virginians. 314 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. By the gallant and skillful resistance of this little force the French and Indians were checked, and finally driven back in confusion. The English then continued their retreat with all speed to Loyal Hanna. Again the provincials had saved the regulars from total destruction. General Forbes had the mag- nanimity to acknowledge and compliment the Virginians for their services, and Cap- tain Bullit was promoted to the rank of major. General Forbes was greatly disheartened by the news of Grant's disaster. A council of war was called to deliberate upon the future operations of the army, and decided that as it was now November, and they were still fifty miles from Fort Duquesne, with an unbroken forest between them and the fort, nothing more could be accomplished until the spring. The enterprise was on the point of being abandoned when fortunately three prisoners were brought in, from whom Wash- ington drew the information that the garri- son of Fort Duquesne was reduced to a very small force, that the Indians had all deserted the French, and that the expected reinforce- ments and supplies from Canada had not arrived. It was evident that a well-executed effort would result in the capture of the fort. The Fort Abandoned. This information decided General Forbes to continue the expedition. A force of twenty-five hundred picked troops was placed under Washington's command, and he was ordered to push forward as rapidly as possible, and prepare the road for the ad- vance of the main army. Washington was ably seconded in his movements by the en- ergetic Armstrong, and the march was pressed with such vigor that in ten days the army arrived in the vicinity of Fort Duquesne. The French now saw that the fall of the fort was inevitable. They had but five hun- dred men, and Bradstreet's capture of Fort Frontenac had cut them off from the rein- forcements and supplies they had expected from Canada. Unwilling to stand a siege, the result of which was certain, they aban- doned the fort on the night of the twenty- fourth of November, and embarking in flat boats, floated down the Ohio to join their countrymen in the valley of the Mississippi. On the morning of the twenty-fifth, Wash- ington, with his gallant band, entered the fort and planted the British flag on the ram- parts just abandoned by the French. At the universal desire of the army, Forbes named the place Fort Pitt, which has since been changed to Pittsburgh. The splendid city which occupies the site is the proudest monument that has been built to the memory of the " Great Commoner." Two regiments, composed of Pennsyl- vanians, Virginians and Marylanders, under Mercer, were left to garrison Fort Pitt, which was restored to its former strength. General Forbes then returned east of the mountains, and Washington resigned his commission and retired to private life. The object of the campaign was accomplished, and he could now enjoy the rest to which five years of constant service had entitled him. The capture of Fort Duquesne was the most important event of the war. It put an end to the French occupation of the valley of the Ohio and settled the claim of Great Britain to that valuable region. The Indians, having no longer the support and encour- agement which they had derived from the French at this post, ceased their hostile efforts, and during the remainder of the war the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania were at peace. The capture of the fort was| followed by a large emigration west of the mountains, which, beginning the next spring. IINGTOX PIAXTIXG TME FLAG ON FORT DUQUESNE. 315 3i6 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. soon placed a large and energetic population of Englishmen and their families in the val- ley of the Ohio. The Indians, disheartened by the defeat of the French, began to form treaties of peace or neutrality with the Eng- '^lish. Washington's Valor. Washington's services in this campaign were acknowledged with pride throughout the colonies, but the British government took no notice of them. Not even Pitt, with all his appreciation of America, thought it worth while to offer him any promotion or reward, as had been done in the case of other meritorious provincial commanders. Soon after his withdrawal from the army he took his seat in the house of burgesses, to which he had been elected. That body ordered its speaker to publicly thank Colonel Washington in the name of the house and of the people of Virginia for his services to his country. The speaker discharged this duty with ease and dignity, but when Washington attempted to reply he blushed and stam- mered and was unable to speak a word. The speaker relieved his confusion by coming to his assistance with the kind remark : " Sit down, Mr. Washington ; your modest}' equals your valor, and that surpasses the power of any language I possess." The English cau.se was now more success- ful than it had ever been, and Canada was exhausted by the efforts she had put forth for her defence. This was clear to Mont- calm, who had no hope of holding New France against the attacks of Great Britain, and it was also clear to the far-seeing mind of Pitt. The British minister, therefore, re- solved that the next campaign should be decisive of the war. He promptly reim- bursed the colonies for the expenses incurred by them during the past year, and found no difficulty in enlisting them heartily in his schemes. Three expeditions were ordered for the year 1759. Amherst was to advance by way of Lake Champlain, and after capturing Ticonderoga and Crown Point, was to lay siege to Montreal ; Wolfe was to ascend the St. Lawrence and attack Quebec, and was to be joined by Amherst if the latter should be successful in his efforts against Montreal; and General Prideaux was to proceed by way of Oswego to capture Fort Niagara, and then descend Lake Ontario and join Amherst at Montreal. Amherst moved promptly against Ticon- deroga, which post was abandoned by the French upon his approach. Crown Point fell into his hands in the same manner, but here the advance of the English was stayed. No boats had been provided to transport the army down Lake Champlain, and Amherst was forced to halt until these could be pro- cured. He was thus able to invest Mon- treal, or to co-operate with Wolfe in the movement against Quebec. The American Gibraltar. General Prideaux began his march to Os- wego about the same time, and proceeding from Oswego, laid siege to Fort Niagara. He was killed by the bursting of a gun soon after the commencement of the siege, and the command devolved upon Sir William Johnson, who pressed the attack with vigor. On the twenty-third of July, 1758, the fort capitulated ; but Johnson was obliged to abandon the attempt to descend the St. Law- rence to Wolfe's assistance from a lack of boats and provisions. The expedition against Quebec assembled in June, 1758, at Louisburg, under the com- mand of General Wolfe. It consisted of eight thousand troops and a fleet of twenty- two ships of the line, besides frigates and' some smaller vessels. On the twenty-sixth of June the Isle of Orleans was reached, and END OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 317 the troops were imme- diately landed. A short distance up the river Quebec rose defiantly, its seemingly impregna- ble citadel of St. Louis crowning the lofty hills that rose from the river's brink. For the defence of the place Montcalm had six greatly reduced bat- talions of regulars and a force of Canadian militia. A few Indians remained faithful to him; but the majority of the tribes, doubtful of the issue of the contest, preferred to remain neutral. The French commander, see- ing the inferiority of his force to that of the Eng- lish, put his trust chiefly in the natural strength of his position, which he believed would enable him to hold it even with his small force. The situation of Que- bec was peculiar. It lay on a peninsula, between the river St. Charles on the north and the St. Lawrence on the south and east. On these sides it was perfectly protected by the river, leaving the west side alone exposed. The lower town was situated on the beach, stood on the cliffs two hundred feet above the water, and above this still rose the castle of St. Louis. Above the city the high pro- montory on which the upper town was built while the upper stretched away for several miles in an elevated plain, and from the river to this plain the rocks rose almost perpendicularly. Every landing-place was carefully guard- ed, and the whole rantrc of cliffs seemed 3i« bristling with cannon. The French com- mander did not believe it possible for an army to scale these cliffs. Montcalm located his camp below the city, between the St. Charles and the Montmorenci rivers, and covered the ri\-er front of his position with many floating batteries and ships of war, which presented a formidable appearance. THE FRP:XCH and INDIAN WAR. GENERAL JAMES WOLFE. The naval superiority of the English at once gave them the command of the river. The French were driven from Point Levi, opposite the city, and upon it Wolfe erected batteries, from which he bombarded the lower town and soon laid it in ashes. The upper town and the citadel were beyond the range of his guns, and could not be injured by this fire. Wolfe now decided to storm the French camp on the opposite side of the St. Law- rence, and in the month of July attacked them from the direction of the Montmorenci, but owing to the haste of the first division, which advanced to the assault before it could be properly supported by the second, the attack was repulsed with a loss of five hun- dred men. This repulse greatly dis- heartened the English commander, whose sensitive spirit suffered keenly under the dread that his enterprise was doomed to failure. He obtained news of the capture of Fort Niagara and the occupation of Ticonder- oga and Crown Point, and eagerly watched for the approach of the promised assistance from Amherst. It never came, and Wolfe saw that he must take Quebec by his own efforts or not at all. He attempted several diversions above the city in tlie hope of drawing Montcalm from his intrenchments into the open field, but the latter merely sent De Bougainville with fifteen hundred men to watch the shore above Quebec and prevent a landing. Wolfe fell into a fever, caused by his anxiety, and his despatches to his government created the gravest uneasiness in England for the suc- cess of his enterprise. Though ill, W^olfe examined the river with eagle eyes to detect some place at which a landing could be attempted. His energy was rewarded by his discovery of the cove which now bears his name. From the shore at the head of this cove a steep and difficult pathway, along which two men could scarcely march abreast, wound up to the summit of the heights and was guarded by a small force of Canadians. Wolfe at once resolved to effect a landing here and ascend END OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 319 the heights by this path. The greatest secrecy was necessary to the success of the undertaking, and in order to deceive the French as to his real design, Captain Cook, afterwards famous as a great navigator, was sent to take soundings and place buoys opposite Montcalm's camp, as if that were to be the real point of attack. The morning of the thirteenth of September was chosen for the movement, and the day and night of the twelfth were spent in preparations for it. "To Conquer or Die." At one o'clock on the morning of the thir- teenth a force of about five thousand men under Wolfe, with Monckton and Murray, set off in boats from the fleet, which had ascended the river several days before, and dropped down to the point designated for the land- ing. Each officer was thoroughly informed of the duties required of him, and each shared the resolution of the gallant young commander, to conquer or die. As the boats floated down the stream, in the clear, cool starlight, Wolfe spoke to his officers of the poet Gray, and of his " Elegy in a Country Churchyard." " I would prefer," said he, " being the author of that poem to the glory of beating the French to-morrow." Then in a musing voice he repeated the lines : "The boast of heraldy, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inexorable hour; The paths of glory lead but to the grave." In a short while the landing-place was reached, .and the fleet, following silently, took position to cover the landing if neces- sary. Wolfe and his immediate command leaped ashore and secured the pathway. The light infantry, who were carried by the tide a little below the path, clambered up the side of the heights, sustaining themselves by clinging to the roots and shrubs which lined the precipitous face of the hill. They reached the summit and drove off the picket- guard after a slight skirmish. The rest of the troops ascended in safety by the path" way, and a battery of two guns was aban- doned on the left to Colonel Howe. Having gained the heights, Wolfe moved forward rapidly to clear the forest, and by daybreak his army was drawn up on the Heights of Abraham, in the rear of the city^ Montcalm was speedily informed of the presence of the English. " It can be but a small party come to burn 3, few houses and retire," he answered incredulously. A brief examination satisfied him of his danger, and he exclaimed in amazement : " Then they have at last got to the weak side of this miserable garrison. We must give battle and crush them before mid-day." He at once despatched a messenger for De Bou- gainville, who was fifteen miles up the river, and marched from his camp opposite the city to the Heights of Abraham to drive the English from them. The opposing forces were about equal in numbers, though the English troops were superior to their adver- saries in steadiness and determination. Death of a Hero. The battle began about ten o'clock and was stubbornly contested. It was at length decided in favor of the English. Wolfe, though wounded several times, continued to direct his army until, as he was leading them to the final charge, he received a musket ball in the breast. He tottered and called to an officer near him : " Support me ; let not my brave fellows see me drop." He was borne tenderly to the rear, and water was brought him to quench his thirst. At this moment the officer upon whom he was leaning cried out : " They run ! they run ! " " Wiio run ? " asked the dying hero, eagerly. " The French," said 320 THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. the officer, "give way everywhere." " What?" said Wolfe, summoning up his remaining strength, " do they run already ? Go, one of you, to Colonel Burton; bid him march Webb's regiment with all speed to Charles River to cut off the fugitives." Then, a smile of contentment overspreading his pale features, he murmured : " Now, God be praised, I die happy,"' and expired. He had De Bougainville arrived with his division, but Townshend declined to renew the en- gagement. Montcalm had borne himself heroically during the battle, and had done all that a brave and skillful commander could do to win the victory. As he was endeavoring to rally his troops at their final repulse, he was wounded for the second time, and was car- DEATH OF GENERAL WOLFE BEFORE QUEBEC. done his whole duty, and with his life had purchased an empire for his country. Monckton, the second in rank, having been wounded, the command devolved upon General Townshend, a brave officer, but incapable of following up such a success with vigor. He recalled the troops from the pursuit and contented himself with the pos- session of the battle-field. At this moment ried into the city. The surgeon informed him that his wound was mortal. " So much the better," he answered cheerfully ; " I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec " De Ramsay, the commandant of the po-t asked his advice about the defence of the city. " To your keeping," answered Mont- calm, " I commend the honor of France. I will neither give orders nor interfere any END OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 321 further. I have business of greater moment to attend to. My time is short. I shall pass the night with God, and prepare myself for death." He then wrote a letter to the English com- mander, commending the French prisoners to his generosit}-, and at five o'clock on the morn- ing of the fourteenth his spirit passed awa)-. Suc- ceeding generations have Daid to his memory the honors it deserves, and on the spot where the fate of Quebec was de- cided the people of Ca- nada have erected, to commemorate the hero- ism of the conqueror and the conquered, a noble monument inscribed with the names of Wolfe and M0NTC.A.LM. The French lost fi\-e hundred killed and one thousand prisoners,while the loss of the English was six hundred in killed and wounded. Five days afterward, on the eight- eenth of September, the city and garrison of Que- bec surrendered to Gen- eral Townshend. The capture of this great stronghold was hailed with rejoicings in both America and England. Congratulations were showered upon Pitt, who modestly put them aside with the reverent remark : " I will aim to serve my country ; but the more a man is versed in business, the more he finds the hand of Providence everywhere." In April, 1 760, De Levi, the French com- mander at Montreal, attacked Quebec with a force often thousand men, hoping to reduce it before the arrival of reinforcements from England. Murray, the English commander, marched out with tlu\;e thousand men to KING GEORGE III. attack him, and in a severe battle on the twenty-si.xth of April was defeated and driven back to the city with a loss of one thousand men. The French then laid siege to Quebec, but on the ninth of May an THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. English fleet arrived to its relief, and De Levi was obliged to withdraw to Montreal. In September, INIontreal itself was invested by a powerful force under General Amherst. Seeing that there was no hope of resistance, the French commander surrendered the town ecUd th^t merchandise imported into the colony in which he was stationed had not paid the duty required by law, might apply to the colonial courts for a search warrant, or " writ of assistance," and enter a store or private dwelling and search for the goods he suspected of being unlawfully imported. These writs were first used in Massachu- setts in 1 76 1, and aroused a storm of indig- nation from the people, who felt that their most sacred rights were being violated by them. They were resisted, and the case was carried before the courts in orderto test their validity. James Otis, the attorney for the crown, resigned his office rather than argue SCENE NEAR THE SUUKCE OE THE KAKITAN KIVEl- 330 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. in behalf of them, and with great eloquence pleaded the cause of the people. His speech created a profound impression throughout the colonies, and aroused a determination in the hearts of his fellow-citizens to oppose the other enactments of Parliament which they felt to be unjust. This trial was fatal to the writs, which ■ ere scarcely ever used after- wards. " Then and there," says John Adams, "was the first opposition to arbi- trary acts of Great Britain. Then and there American Independence was born." Taxing the Colonies. The spirit of opposition soon manifested itself in the New England colonies. The manufactures, trade and fisheries of that sec- tion were almost ruined, and the people had no choice but to defend themselves. Asso- ciations were formed in all the colonies pledging themselves not to purchase of Eng- lish manufacturers anything but the absolute necessities of life. Families began to make their own linen and woolen cloths, and to preserve sheep for their wool. Homespun garments became the dress of the patriot party, and foreign cloths were almost driven out of use. It was resolved to encourage home manufactures in every possible way and associations were formed for this pur- pose. These measures became very pop- ular, and were adopted by the other colonies in rapid succession. England was blind to these signs of alien- ation and danger, and such of her public men as saw them regarded them as of no importance. It was resolved to go still further, and levy direct taxes upon the col- onies. In 1763 such a proposition was brought forward by the ministers. It was claimed by them that as the debt of England had been largely increased by the French war, which had been fought in their defence, it was but right that they should help to de- fray the expense by paying a tax to the English government. In the meantime the colonies had warmly discussed the intentions of Great Britain re- specting them, and all strenuously denied the right of the mother country to tax them without granting them some form of repre- sentation in her government. They claimed the right to have a voice in the disposal ot their property, and they regarded the design of Parliament as but a new proof of the indis- position of the mother country to treat them with justice. The feeling of the Americans towards England at this period has been aptly de- scribed as " distrust and suspicion, strangely mixed up with filial reverence — an instinctive sense of injury, instantly met by the in- stinctive suggestion that there must be some constitutional reason for doing it, or it would not be done." In spite of the injuries they had received at her hands, the Americans were warmly attached to England. They gloried in her triumphs, were proud to trace their descent from her, and claimed a share in her great history and grand achievements. Had England been wise she might have strength- ened this attachment to such an extent that the ties which bound the two countries could never have been sundered. But England was not only careless of the rights of Amer- icans, she was grossly ignorant of their country and of their character. Ignorant Rulers. " Few Englishmen had accurate ideas of the nature, the extent, or even the position of the colonies. And when the Duke of Newcastle hurried to the king with the in- formation that Cape Breton was an island, he did what perhaps half his colleagues in the ministry, and more than half his colleagues in Parliament, would have done in his place. They knew that the colonies were of vast CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDEXCE. 33« extent ; that they lay far away beyond tht sea ; that they produced many things wliicl Englishmen wanted to buy, and consumed many things which Englishmen wanted to sell ; that English soldiers had met Eng- land's hereditary enemies, the French, in their forests ; that English sailors had beaten French sailors on their coasts. But they did not know that the most flourishing of these colonies had been planted by men who, prizing freedom above all other blessings, had planted them in order to secure for themselves and their children a home in which they could w-orship God according to their own idea of worship, and put forth the strength of their minds and of their bodies, according to their own conception of what was best for them here and hereafter."* The few Americans who visited Great Britain found themselves looked upon as aliens and inferiors ; their affection for the land of their fathers was met with contempt, and they were ridiculed as barbarians. The English colonial officials made this feeling apparent to those Americans who remained at home. Everywhere the colonists saw themselves treated with injustice. The hard- earned glories of their troops in the colonial wars were denied them and claimed for the English regulars, and there was scarcely a provincial who had borne arms but had some petty insult or injurj-, at the hands of the royal authorities, to complain of Looking back over their history, the Americans could not remember a time when they had not been treated with injustice by Great Britain. They owed that country nothing for the planting of the colonies ; that was the work of their ancestors, who had been forced to fly from England to escape wrong and injur>'. They had been left to *Histarical Vinv of the A W. Greene, p. IS- conquer their early difliculties without aid, and with scanty sympathy from England, who had taken no notice of them until tiiey were sufficiently prosperous to be profitabir to her. Injustice of the Mother Country, Then she had rarely laid her hand upoB them but to wrong them. She had pur- sued such a uniformly unjust policy toward.* them that their affection for her was rapidly giving way to a general desire to separate from her. They owed her nothing ; they were resolved to maintain their liberties against her. Some of the leading men of the colony had already begun to dream of the future greatness of America, and had become convinced that the true interests of their countrj' required a separation from England. In spite of this feeling England persisted in her course of folly. In March, 1764, the House of Commons resolved, " that Parlia- ment had a right to tax America." The next month (April) witnessed the enforce- ment of this claim in the passage of an act of Parliament levying duties upon certain articles imported into America. By the same act iron and lumber w^ere added to the " enumerated articles " which could be ex- ported only to England. The preamble to this measure declared that its purpose waste raise " a revenue for the expenses of defend- ing, protecting and securing his majesty's dominions in America." The colonists protested against this act as a violation of their liberties, and declared that they had borne their full share of the expense of the wars for their defence, that they were now able to protect themselves without assistance from the king, and added the significant warning that " ta.Kation with- out representation was tyranny." No one yet thought of armed resistance ; the colo- nists were resolved to exhaust everj' peaceful 33^ THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. means of redress before proceeding to extreme measures. As j-et the desire for separation was confined to a few far-seeing men. Prominent among these was Samuel Adams, of Boston, a man in whom the loftiest virtues of the old Puritans were min- S.ANrUEL .ADAMS. gled with the graces o'' more modern times. Modest and unassuming- in manner, a man of incorruptible integrity and sincere piety, he was insensible to fear in the discharge of his dut>-. lie was a deep student of constitu- tional law, and was gifted with an eloquence which could mo\-e multitudes. His clear vision had already discerned the dangers which threatened his country, and had dis- covered the only path by which she could emerge from them in safety. His plan was simple: resistance, peaceable at first; forci- ble if necessary. Under his guidance the people of Boston met and protested against the new plan of taxation, and instructed their repre- sentatives in the general court to oppose it. " We claim British rights, not by charter only," said the Boston resolves; "we are born to them. If we are taxed without our con- sent, our property is taken without our consent, and then we are no more free- men, but f.'.avcs." The gen- eral court of Massachusetts declared " that the imposi- tion of duties and taxes by the Parliament of Great Britain upon a people not repres'";i^ed in the House oi Commons is absolutely irreconcilable with their rights." A committee Was appointed to correspond with the other colonies, with a view to bringing about a concerted action for the redress of griev- ances. In Virginia, New York, Connecticut and the Carolinas equally vigorous measures were taken. In Virginia the fir,st indication of the in- tention of the people to resist the arbitrary measures of the crown was given in a matter insignificant in itself, but clearly involving the great principle at issue. In that colony tobacco was the lawful currency, and the CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 333 failure of a crop, or a rise in the price of to- bacco, made such payments often very bur- densome. In the winter of 1763 the legisla- ture passed a law authorizing the people of the colony to pay their taxes and other public dues in money, at the rate of twopence a pound for the tobacco due. The clergymen of the established church had each a salary fi.xedby law at a certain number of pounds of tobacco, and as this measure involved them in a loss they refused to acquiesce in it and induced Sherlock, the bishop of London, to persuade the king to refuse the law his signature. " The rights of the clergy and the authority of the king must stand or fall together," was the sound argument of the bishop. Failing of the royal signature the law was inoperative. The matter was soon brought to an issue in Virginia. The Rev. Mr. Maury, one of the clerg\'men affected by the law, brought a 'suit to recover damages, or the difference between twopence per pound and the current market price of tobacco, which was much higher. This was popularly known as the " Parsons' Cause." It was a clearly joined issue between the right of the people to make their own laws on the one side, and the king's prerogative on the other. The Man for the Hour. The " parsons " secured the best talent in the colony for the prosecution of their claims ; the cause of the " people " was confided to a young man of twenty-seven, whose youth was supplemented by the additional disad- vantages of being poor and unknown. He was Patrick Henry, the son of a plain far- mer, and a native of the county of Hanover. He had received but little education, as his father's straitened circumstances had com pelled him to put his son to the task of earning his bread at the early age of fifteen years. He entered a country store, and the ne.\t year went into business with his elder brother, William, who, being too indolent to attend to business, left the store to the man- agement or rather the mismanagement of Patrick. The young man was brimming over with good nature, and could never find it in hi-. heart to refuse any one credit, and was t )>- kind-hearted to press unwilling debtors to payment. He let the store " manage itself," and amused himself by studying the charac- ter of his customers, and with his flute and violin. He was also a L;rcat reader, and read e\ery work he could buy or borrow. The store survived about a year, and the next two or mree years were passed by Patrick in settling its affairs. At the age of eighteen he married, and began life as a farmer. He soon grew tired of this pursuit, and selling his farm once more engaged in mercantile life. It was not suited to him, nor he to it. He passed his days in reading, this time giving his attention to works of history and philosophy. Livy was his favorite, and he read it through at least once a year for many years. 334 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. His second mercantile enterprise ended in bankruptcy in a few years, and in extreme want he determined to tr>' the law. He ob- tained a license to practice after a six weeks' course of study, and entered upon his new career utterly ignorant of its duties. It is said that he could not then draw up the simplest legal paper without assistance. He was then twenty-four years old, but it \vas not until he had reached the age of twenty- seven that he obtained a case worthy of his powers for he had genius, and it only re- quired the proper circumstances to draw it out. He had passed days in communion with nature in his frequent hunting and fish- ing excursions, and had drunk deeply of the wisdom she imparts to her votaries. He had studied men with the eye of a master, and he had at last fallen into the position from which he could rise to his true place among the leading spirits of the age. In the case with which he was now intrusted, a decision of the court on a demurrer, in favor of the claims of the clergj^ had left nothing unde- termined but the amount of damages in the cause which was pending. Argument for Damages. " The array before Mr. Henry's eyes," says his biographer, William Wirt, " was now most fearful. On the bench sat more than twenty clergymen, the most learned men in the colony, and the most capable, as well as the severest critics before whom it was possible for him to nave made his debut. The court house was crowded with an over- whelming multitude, and surrounded with an immense and anxious throng, who, not finding room to enter, were endeavoring to listen without, in the deepest attention. But there was something still more awfully dis- concerting than all this for in the chair of the presiding magistrate sat no other person than his own father. Mr. Lyons opened the cause very briefly : in the way of argument he did nothing more than explain to the jury that the decision upon the demurrer had put the act of 1750 entirely out of the way, and left the law of 1748 as the only standard of their damages ; he then concluded with a highly wrought eulogium on the benevo- lence of the clergy." When it came Patrick Henn,''s turn to speak, he rose awkwardly, amid a profound silence. No one had ever heard him speak, and all were anxious to see how he would acquit himself. He clutched nervously at his papers, and faltered out his opening sen- tences with a degree of confusion which threatened every moment to put an end to his effort. The people watched their cham- pion in sorrow and indignation ; the clergy exchanged glances of triumph, and eyed the speaker with contempt; while his father, overcome with shame, seemed ready to drop from his chair. But suddenly there came a change over the }-oung advocate. Warming with his subject, he threw off his embarrass- ment and awkwardness, and stood erect and confident. His look of timidity gave place to one of command; his countenance glowed with the fire of genius, and startled the gazers by the aspect of majesty which it assumed for the first time. " He Has Spoken Treason." His tones grew clear and bold, his action graceful and commanding, and the astounded jury and audience were given a display of eloquence such as was without a parallel in the history of the colony. Henry knew that the case was against him, but he pleaded the natural right of Virginia to make her own laws independently of the king and Parlia- ment. He proved the justness of the law ; he drew a striking picture of the character of a good king, who should be the father ol his oeople,bi't wb^ "^ecomes their tyrant and CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR IXDEPENDENCE oppressor, and forfeits his claim to obedience when he annuls just and good laws. The opposing counsel cried out at this bold declaration, " He has spoken treason," but was silenced by the excited throng. " They say," says Mr. Wirt, " that the people, whose countenances had fallen as he arose, had heard but a very few sentences be.ore they began to look up ; then to look at each other in sur- prise, as if doubting the evidence of their own senses ; then, at- tracted by some ges- ture, struck by some majestic attitude, fas- cinated by the spell of his eye, the charm of his emphasis, and the varied and com- manding expression of his countenance, they could look away no more. In less than twenty minutes they might be seen in every part of the house, on every bench, in ever}- window, stooping for- ward from their stands, in death-like silence; their features fixed in amazement and awe, all their senses listening and riveted upon the speaker, as if to catch the last strain of some heavenly visitant. " The mockery of the clergy was soon turned into alarm, their triumph into con- fusion and despair, and at one burst of his rapid and overwhelming invective, they fled 335 from the bench in precipitation and terror. .\s for the falher, such was his surprise, such his amazement, such his rapture, that, forget- ting where he was, and the character which he was filling, tears of ecstacy streamed down his cheeks without the power or inclination to repress them." COLONEL B.\RRE. The jury brought in a verdict oi one penny damages for the " parsons," anr« the court overruled the motion of their counse! for a new trial. Henry from that moment took his place among the leaders of the patriot party in Virginia. He had struck a 336 chord which responded in every American heart ; he had denied the right of the king to make laws for the colonies. The remonstrance of Massachusetts was followed by similar appeals from Connecti- cut, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia. The petition of New York was couched in such strong terms that no member of Par- liament could be found bold enough to pre- sent it. These remonstrances were unheeded by Parliament, which pronounced them " ab- surd " and " insolent." That body persisted in its determination to tax the colonies, and Grenville, the prime minister, warned the Americans that in a contest with Great Britain they could expect nothing but defeat. He announced the intention of the English government to levy the taxes, and graciously added that if the colonies preferred any spe- cial form of ta.xation, their wishes would be met as far as possible. In March, 1765, the measure known as the " Stamp Act " passed the House of Commons by a vote of five to one, and was adopted almost unanimously by the House of Lords. An Insane King. It met with a warm opposition i 1 the Commons from the friends of America, pro- minent among whom was Colonel Barre, who had served with Wolfe in America, and had learned to appreciate the American character. The measure received the royal signature at once. The poor king would have signed anything he was bidden — he was insane. The act imposed a duty on all paper, vellum and paichment used in the colonies, and required that all writings of a legal or business nature should be made on " stamped paper ; " otherwise they were de- clared null and void. In order to enforce the " Stamp Act," Parliament, two niontlis later, passed " the Quartering Act." It authorized the minis- THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. ters to send as many troops as they should see fit to America, to enforce submission to the acts of Parliament. Wherever these troops should be stationed, it should be the duty of the people, at their own expense, to furnish them with quarters, fuel, bedding, cider or rum, candles, soap "and other necessaries." Exciting Scene. The news of the passage of these acts pro- duced the most intense excitement in Amer- ica. The general assembly of Virginia was in session when the news was received in May. The ro\^alist leaders were amazed at the folly of the ministry, but deemed it best to take no action in the matter. Patrick Henry, now a member of the assembly, rose in his place and oHcred a series of resolu- tions, declaring that the people of Virginia were bound to pay only such ta.xes as should be levied by their own assembly, and that all who maintained the contrary should be regarded as enemies of the liberties of the colony. These resolutions provoked an exciting debate, in which Henry, in a magnificent oration, exposed the tyranny of the British government, and stirred the hearts of the burgesses with a determination to resist. " Caesar had his Brutus," exclaimed the ora- tor in one of his loftiest flights, " Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third — ." The assembly was in an uproar. " Treason ! treason 1 " shouted the speaker. A few joined in the cry, but the majority waited in breathless suspense the comple- tion of the sentence of Henry, who, fi.xing- his eye upon the speaker, added in a tone which was peculiar to himself, " may profit by their example. If that be treason, make the most of it." The resolutions were adopted by a large majority. The next da\', during Henry's absence, the timid assembly rescinded some of the CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPEXDEXCE. 337 resolves and modified the others. The assembly, for thus daring to exercise its right of expressing its opinion, was at once dis- solved by the governor, but too late to pre- vent its action from producing its effect. Copies of the resolutions of Henry were foiwirdcd to Phih(klt)hii where thc\ weie piinttd ui 1 Li It the colonies to send delegates to a congress to be held at New York in October. In the meantime associations were organized in a!l the colonies as far south as Maryland, called " Sons of Liberty," for the purpose of st )pping the use of stamps The people were re>(hed to take the matter ni their s 1 li in i> HANGING A They aroused the drooping spirits of the people, and it was resolved everywhere that the stamps should not be used in America. The general court of Massachusetts or- dered that the courts should not require the use of stamps in conducting their business ; and in June, before the Virginia resolutions rcachf"! Bo'-ton, issued a circular inviting all In Boston the mob attacked the house of Oliver, the secretary of the colony, who had been appointed to distribute the stamps, and conii)ellcd him to resign. They also attacked the houses of some of the most prominent supporters of the ministry, but the patriots sincerely deplored and condemned these violent proceedings. At Wethersfield, 338 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Connecticut, five hundred farmers seized Jared Ingersol, the stamp officer for that colony, compelled him to resign, and then to remove his hat and give " three cheers for liberty, property, and no stamps." Similar scenes ■were enacted in the other colonies. Rights and Grievances. On the seventh of October, 1765, the Ftrsl Colonial Congress met at New York. It was composed of delegates from the col- onies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- necticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, South Carolina, New York and New Jersey. New Hampshire, though not represented by a delegate, gave her support to its measures, and Georgia formally signified her accept- ance of the work of this body. Timothy Ruggles, of Massachusetts, was chosen president. The session extended over three weeks, and resulted in the adoption of a " Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonies ; " a petition to the king ; and a memorial to both Houses of Par- liament. In the Declaration of Rights the Congress took the ground that it was a violation of their rights to tax them without granting them a representation in the Parliament of Great Britain, and that as such representa- tion was impossible because of the distance between the two countries, no taxes could be legally imposed upon the colonies but by their own assemblies. The measures of the Congress were, as soon as possible, indorsed by all the colonial assemblies, and thus the colonies were drawn into that union which, in their own language, became " a bundle of I sticks, which could neither be bent nor broken." At length the first of November arrived, the day on which the Stamp Act was to go into operation. Not a man could be found to execute the law, all the stamp officers hav- ing resigned through fear of popular vio- lence. Governor Colden, of New York, de- clared he was resolved to have the stamps distributed, but the people of the city warned him that he would do so at his peril, and burned him in effigy. Colden became alarmed at these demonstrations, and on the fifth of November delivered the stamps to the mayor and council of New York. A Day of Mourning. In all the colonies the first of November was observed as a day of mourning. Bells were tolled, flags hung at half-mast, and business suspended. The merchants of New York, Boston and Philadelphia united in an agreement to import no more goods from England, to countermand the orders already sent out, and to receive no goods on commission until the Stamp Act should be repealed. Their action was promptly sustained by the people, who pledged themselves to buy no articles of English manufacture, and to encourage home productions. Circulars were sent throughout the colonies urging the people to unite in such action, and were heartily responded to. Business went on without the use of stamps, and the courts ignored them in their proceedings. The news of these proceedings should have warned the English ministers of their folly; it only made them more determined to persist in it. They resolved not to repeal the Stamp Act. To comply with the request of the colonists, now that they had resisted the law, would, they declared, be simply a surrender to rebellion. " Sooner than make our colonies our allies," said one of their number, " I would wish to see them re- turned to their primitive deserts." The friends of America, led by the aged and infirm William Pitt, made a determined ef- fort to procure the repeal of the Stamp Act, CAUSES OF TME SlRUcUi and they were now supported by all the in- fluence of the English merchants, who fouiul their trade rapidly falling off in consequence of the non-intercourse resolves adopted by the Americans. Swathed in flannels, Pitt proceeded to the House of Commons, and in a speech of great vigor urged the House to repeal the obnox- ious and unconstitutional measure. In reply to Grenville, the prime minister, who accused liim of exciting sedition in America, he said, "Sir, I have been chargedwith giving birth to sedition in America. Sorry I am to have the liberty of speech in th.is House imputed as a crime. But the imputa- tion will not deter me ; it is a liberty I mean to e.xercise. The gentleman tells us that America is obstinate ; that America is almost in rebellion I rejoice that America has resisted." The House started at these words, but Pitt con tinued firmly, " If they ha submitted, they would ha\ l voluntarily become slaves They have been driven to madness by injustice. My opinion is that the Stamp Act should be repealed, abso- lutely, totally, immediately." Edmund Burke, then a rising young man, eloquently sustained the ajijjcal of the great commoner. The Commons had already begun to waver, but before yielding entirely liicy wished to ascertain from competent witnesses the exact temper and disposition of the Americans. For this purpose, Benjamin Franklin, who was residing in London at the time as the agent of several of the colo- nies was summoned before the bar of the I'UR INUEPENHENCE 339 House to give the desired information. He appeared, in answer to the summons, on the thirteenth of February, 1766. He was questioned b\- Lord Gren\ille and Charles Townshend, and by several friends of the ministry, and delivered his answers with firmness and clearness. He told them that the colonists could not ifdv for the stamps, as there was not encuigh gold and s:l\-er in the colonies for tiiat purpose; that they had incurred more than their share of the ex- pense of the last war, for which Great Britain had in no way reimbursed them ; that they were still burdened with heavy debts contracted in consequence of this war ; that they were well disposed towards Great Britain before 1763, and considered Parlia- ment as "the great bulwark and security of tiieir liberties and privileges; but that now their temper was much altered, and their 340 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. respect for it lessened ; and if the act is not repealed, the consequence would be a total loss of the respect and affection they bore to this country, and of all the commerce that depended on that respect and affection." Franklin Startles Parliament. He starded the House b>- declaring that in a few years America would be amply able to supply herself with all the necessities of life then furnished her by Great Britain. " I do not know," said he, "a single article im- ported into the northern colonies but what they can either do without or make them- selves. The people will spin and work for themselves, in their own houses. In three years there may be wool and manufactures enough." " If the legislature," he was asked, " should think fit to ascertain its right to lay taxes, by any act laying a small tax, contrary to their opinion, would they sub- mit to pay the tax ? " "An internal ta.x," he replied, " how small soever, laid by the legislature here, on the people there, will never be submitted to. They will oppose it to the last. The people will pay no internal ta.x by Parliament." '.' May they not," asked a friend of Grenville, " by the same interpretation of their common rights, as Englishmen, as declared by Magna Charta and the Petition of Right, object to the Par- liament's right of external taxation ? " * "They never have hitherto," answered Franklin, promptly. " Many arguments have been lately used here to show them that there is no difference, and that if you have no right to tix them internally, you have none to tax them externally, or make any other law to bind them. At pres- ent they do not reason so ; but in time they may be convinced by these arguments." * The levyinjj; of duties by Parli.iment on merchandise imported into tlie colomes. Franklin's testimony was conclusive. The Stamp Act was repealed on the eighteenth of March, 1766, not because it was acknowl- edged by England as a measure of injustice, but because it could not be enforced without a collision with the colonies, which the mini istry were not as yet prepared for. The people of London greeted the repeal with great joy. Bonfires were lighted, bells were rung, the city was illuminated, and the ship- ping in the Thames was decorated with flags. The news was sent by special mes- sengers to the nearest ports, in order that it might reach America with as little delay as possible. Rejoicings in America. In America the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act was received with the greatest joy. The bells were rung in the principal cities, the imprisoned debtors were released from captivity, the associations for non- intercourse with England were dissolved, and everywhere Pitt was hailed as the cham- pion of the liberties of America. New York, Virginia and Maryland each voted a statue to him. The rejoicings of the Americans were premature. Parliament in repealing the Stamp Act solemnly asserted, by a bill for that purpose, its right and power to " bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever." Eng- land was only baffled for the moment; she had not relinquished her designs upon the liberties of America. The repeal of the Stamp Act brought with it the fall of Grenville's ministry. Another was appointed under the leadership of the Marquis of Rockingham ; but it was short- lived and soon gave wa\-. The king then summoned William Pitt, who had in the meantime been created Earl of Chatham, to form an independent ministry, late in 1766. This act was regarded with great hope in CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 34T America, as Pitt was universally considered the colonists' best friend. These hopes were doomed to disappointment. In Januarj', 1767, Charles Townshend, the chancellor of the exchequer in Pitt's cabinet, taking ad- vantage of the absence of the prime minister, declared in the House of Commons that it was his intention, at all risks, to derive a revenue from America by laying taxes upon her, and that he knew how to raise this reve- nue from her. Pitt Withdraws from the Cabinet. Having thus thrown down the gauntlet to his official chief, it became evident that either the Earl of Chatham must relinquish the premiership, or Townshend must leave the cabinet. Chatham was anxious to dis- miss him from the chancellorship, but as it was known that Townshend was acting in accordance with the sympathies and wishes of the king, no one was willing to risk his prospects by accepting the chancellorship in Townshend's place ; and Chatham, unable to fill his place, was obliged to retain him. In utter disgust Chatham withdrew from active participation in the affairs of the cabinet, and Townshend remained supreme director of the colonial policy of England. In May, Townshend revealed his plan for raising a revenue in America. It was to levy a duty, to be collected in the colonies, on certain articles of commerce, such as wine, oil, paints, glass, paper, and lead colors, and especially upon tea, which last commodity he declared the Americans obtained cheaper from the Dutch smugglers than the English themselves. He was told that if he would withdraw the army from America there would be no neces- sity for taxing the colonies. He replied, " I will hear nothing on the subject ; it is abso- lutely necessary to keep an army there." In June, 1767, an act was passed by Parlia- ment levying upon the colonies the duties proposed by Townshend ; and a board of commissioners of the customs for America was established, with its headquarters at Boston. Soon after their appointment the " Romney " frigate entered Boston Harbor., and the new commissioners, confident in her protection, treated the people of Boston with unbearable haughtiness. Her officers fre- quently stopped the New England vessels as they entered the harbor, and impressed seamen from their decks. The colonies were moved with the pro- foundest indignation upon the receipt of the news of the imposition of the new taxes. The colonial newspapers, which now numbered twenty-five, were filled with appeals to the people to stand up for their liberties. The old associations for non-importation of Eng- lish goods were revived, and on ever>^ hand the declaration was unanimous that the Americans would neither eat, drink, nor wear anything imported from England. The gen- eral court of Massachusetts issued a circular letter to the other colonial assemblies in- viting them to unite with her in measures for obtaining redress. The Colonies Strike Back. The English ministers were greatly in- censed at the new resistance of the colonists, and in June, 1768, ordered the general court of Massachusetts to rescind its circular let- ter. Their demand was refused, and the general court, led by James Otis and Samuel Adams, e.Kpressed its conviction that Parlia- ment would better serve the cause of peace by repealing its obnoxious laws. The circu- lar had been favorably received by the other colonies, and Massachusetts was constantly receiving from them encouragement to persist in her resistance to the tyranny of the minis- try. As a punishment for the refusal of the general court to rescind its circular, that body ij BRITISH TROOPS IN BOSTON. CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. i43 was dissolved by the royal governor of Mas- sachusetts. Some of the other colonial as- semblies that had shown sympathy with Massachusetts were also dissolved by their respective governors. Opposition in Boston. A very bitter feeling existed between the people and the royal officials, and, to make matters worse, at this crisis the revenue offi- cers at Boston seized a schooner belonging to John Hancock, one of the patriot leaders, on the pretext that her owner had made a false entry of her cargo, which consisted of wine. The schooner was towed under the guns of the " Romney " frigate, and a crowd collected in Boston and attacked the houses of the commissioners of customs, who were forced to fly to the fort on Castle Island for safety. The report of this outbreak was trans- mitted to England as proof that Massachu- setts was almost in a state of insurrection, and it was resolved by the ministry to send troops to overawe " the insolent town of Boston," and to hold Massachusetts as a conquered country. A regiment of regulars under General Gage reached Boston in Sep- tember, 1768, but the assembly refused to provide quarters or food, or the other neces- saries which were demanded by their com- mander in accordance with the " Quartering Act." General Gage was obliged to encamp a part of his men on Boston Common, while he lodged the rest temporarily in Faneuil Hall. With considerable difficulty he hired several houses in Boston and quartered his troops in them. The assembly of New York also refused to provide food or quarters for the royal troops, and was dissolved by the governor of the province. The wrath of the English <;fficials was concentrated upon Boston, which was held as though it were a conquered city. Senti- nels were placed at the street corners, and the citizens were challenged by them as they went about their daily duties. The ill-feeling between the citizens and the troops gave rise to several encounters between them. On the evening of the second of March, 1770, a sentinel was attacked by the mob. A de- tachment of troops was sent to his aid, and was stoned by the mob. At length a soldier fired his musket at the crowd and his com- rades poured in a volley, killing three and wounding five citizens. The city was thrown into an uproar, the alarm bells were rung, and crowds poured into the streets. The danger of a general collision was very great, but the people were persuaded to disperse upon the promise of Hutchinson, the gov- ernor, that justice should be done. This outbreak was known at the time as " the Boston Massacre." The Soldiers Driven Out. The next morning a meeting of the citi- zens was lield at Faneuil Hall. Resolutions were passed, demanding the removal of the troops from the city to the fort on Castle Island, and the arraignment before the civil courts of Captain Preston, the officer who ordered the troops to fire. The soldiers were removed from the town as the only means of preserving the peace, and Captain Preston and si.x of his men were arraigned for mur- der. John Adams and Josiah Quincy, two leaders of the patriot party, undertook the defence of the accused officer and his men in order to make sure that they should have a fair trial. They were acquitted of murder but two of the soldiers were convicted of manslaughter. The calmness and delibera- tion with which this trial was conducted had a happy effect in England, and exhibited the fairness and moderation of the colonists in the most favorable light. The British merchants now began to feel the effect of the non-importation associations 344 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. of the Americans, and their trade suffered even more than it had done in the times of the Stamp Act, in consequence of the cessa- tion of orders for goods from the colonies. They now began to sustain the demand of the colonists for the repeal of the unjust taxes. Lord North, who was now prime minister, was willing to grant their demand, and to remove all the taxes except the duty on tea, which he retained at the express command of the king, who had now recov- ered his reason, and was the real director of the policy of his government. George III. held on with the most stubborn tenacity to the assertion of his right to tax the colonies, and insisted " that there should be alwaj's one tax, at least, to keep up the right of tax- ing." This concession was made in May, 1770, and for nearly a year there was a lull in the excitement. The matter was not settled, however, for the Americans had not resisted the amount iif the tax, but the impo- sition of any tax at all. They were contend- ing for a principle, not for the saving of a few dollars. Depredations and Quarrels. The bad feeling which was rapidly grow- ing up between the colonists and the mother country was greatly increased by the injus- tice and annoyance heaped upon the colonists by the royal officials. Almost every colony had to complain of these outrages, and the king's officers seemed to think they could not do their cause better service than by exasperating the Americans. In New York the people had erected a liberty pole in the fields, now the City Hall Park. One night in Januarj', 1770, a party of soldiers from the fort cut down the pole. This act was bitterly resented by the citizens, and fre- quent quarrels occurred between them and the troops, though there was no actual bloodshed. Early in 1772 the armed schooner " Gaspe " was stationed in Narragansett Bay to enforce the revenue laws. Her com- mander, Lieutenant Dudingston, undertook to execute his orders in the most insulting and arbitrary manner. Market boats and other vessels passing the " Gaspe " were compelled to lower their colors to her, and armed parties from the schooner were sent ashore on the neighboring islands, and car- ried off such provisions as they desired. Complaint was made by the citizens of Provi- dence to the governor of Rhode Island, who referred the matter to the chief justice, Hop- kins, for his opinion. The chief justice de- clared " that any person who should come into the colony and exercise any authority by force of arms, without showing his com- mission to the governor, and, if a custom- house officer, without being sworn into his office, was guilty of a trespass, if not piracy." It was clear from the opinion of the chief justice that Dudingston was exceeding his authority, and the governor sent a sheriff on board the " Gaspe " to ascertain by what orders the lieutenant acted. Dudingston referred the matter to the admiral at Boston, who replied : " The lieutenant, sir, has done his duty. I shall give the king's officers directions that they send every man taken in molesting them to me. As sure as the peo- ple of Newport attempt to rescue any vessel and any of them are taken, I will hang them as pirates." The Schooner Captured. The insolence of the admiral caused even more indignation than the outrages of Dud- ing.ston, and the citizens of Rhode Island resolved to take the matter into their own hands at the earliest opportunity. On the ninth of June, 1772, the Providence packet, a swift sailer, was passing up the bay when she was hailed by the " Gaspe." She paid n ^ CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDEN'CE. 343 no attention to the hail, and bcin.; of lic;ht draught, stood in near the shore. The " Gaspe ' gave chase, and, attempting to follow her, ran aground on Namquit, a short distance below Pautuxet. Th«" tide failing soon, left her fast. The news of her disaster tvas conveyed to Providence by the packet, and a plan was at once matured for her destruction. On the following night a party of men in si.K or seven boats, led by John Brown, a leading merchant of Providence, Captain Abraham Whipple, of Providence, Simeon Potter, of Bristol, and others, left Providence and dropped down towards the position of the " Gaspe." They were disco\ered as they approached, and were hailed by Dud- ingston. O le of the party in the boats fired and Dudingston fell wounded. The schooner was then boarded without opposition, her crew were set ashore, and the " Gaspe " was set on fire and burned to the water's edge. A large reward was offered for the perpetrat- ors of this bold act. All were known in Providence, but in spite of this, the royal officials were not able to secure the appre- hension of any of them The secret was faithfully kept. Objections Are Useless. The non-importation associations had, upon the repeal of the duties we have men- tioned, limited their opposition to the use of tea, and the East India Company in England found itself burdened with an enormous stock of tea, which it could not dispose of as usual in consequence of the cessation of sales in America. The company therefore proposed to pay all the duties on the tea in England and ship it to America at its own risk, hoping that the fact of there being no duty to pay in America would induce the colonists to purchase it. This plan met the determined opposition of the king, who would not consent to re- linquish the assertion of his right to tax the Americans. Lord North could not under- stand th.'=' it was not the amount of the tax, but the principle involved in it, that was o[)posed by the Americans, and he proposed that the East India Company should pay ihrce-foiirths oi t\\Q duty in E'lgland, leaving the other fourth — about three pence on a pound — to be collected in America. His lordship was told plainly that the Americans would not purchase the tea on these condi- tions, but he answered: " It is to no pur- pose the making objections, for the king will have it so. The king means to try the question with the Americans." Trouble About Tea. There were men in America who fully understood that the king meant " to try the question with the Americans," and were will- ing the trial should come. Samuel Adams was satisfied as to what would be the result, and was diligently working to prepare the people for it. He had the satisfaction of seeing public opinion in America daily assume a more enlightened and determined condition. A convention of all the colonies for taking action for a common resistance seemed to him a necessity, and he sent forth circulars to the various provinces urging them to assert their rights upon every pos- sible occasion, and to combine for mutual support and protection. The news of the agreement between the East India Company and the government for the exportation of tea increased the de- termination of the colonists to resist the tax. It was also resolved that the tea should neither be landed nor sold. A meeting was held in Pliiladelphia and resolutions were passed requesting those to whom the tea was consigned " to resign their appoint- ments." It was also resolved that whosoever should " aid or abet in unloading, receiving, 3;'^ THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. or vending the tea" should be regarded " as an enemy to his country." Meetings of a similar nature were held in New York and Charleston, and similar resolutions were adopted. A fast-sailing vessel reached Boston about the first of November, 1773, with the news that several ships laden with tea had sailed from England to America. On the third of November a meeting was held at Faneuil Hall, and, on motion of Samuel Adams, it was unanimously resolved to send the tea back upon its arrival. A man in the crowd cried out : " The only way to get rid of it is to throw it overboard." The meeting in- vited the consignees of the tea to resign their appointments. Two of these men were sons of Governor Hutchinson, who was intensely hated by the people of Massachusetts be- cause of his double-faced policy, which had been detected and exposed by Dr. Franklin. Until this discovery Hutchinson had induced the people of Massachusetts to believe that he was their best friend, when in reality he had suggested to the British government nearly all the unjust measures that had been directed against that colony. An Ominous Silence. The first of the tea ships reached Boston on the twenty-fifth of November, 1773. A meeting of the citizens was held at Faneuil Hall, and it was ordered that the vessel should be moored to the wharf, and a guard of twenty-five citizens was placed over her to see that no tea was removed. The owner of the vessel agreed to send the cargo back if the governor would give his permit for the vessel to leave Boston. This the governor withheld, and in the meantime two other ships arrived with cargoes of tea and were ordered to anchor beside the first The com- mittee appointed by the meeting of citizens waited on the consignees, but obtained no satisfaction from them. The law required that the tea must be landed within twenty days after its arrival, or be seized for non-payment of duties. The consignees and the governor had determined to wait until the expiration of this time, when the royal authorities would seize the tea and remove it beyond the reach of the citizens. The duties could then be paid and the tea landed an. sold. Their intentions were fully understood by the patriots. When the committee made its report to the meet- ing of citizens, it was received in a dead silence, and the meeting adjourned without taking any action upon it. This ominous silence alarmed the consignees. Hutchin- son's two sons fled to the fort and placed themselves under the protection of the troops, while the governor quietly left the city. Tea Thrown Overboard. On the sixteenth of December another meeting was held. The next day the time allowed by law would expire, and the tea would be placed under the protection of the fort and the armed ships in the harbor. The owner h:,d gone to see the governor, at Milton, to obtain a pass for his vessels, with- out which they could not leave the harbor. This the governor refused, on the ground that he had not a proper clearance. He re- turned to Boston late in the evening and re- ported the result o.' his mission to the meet- ing. Then Samuel Adams arose and gave the signal for the action that had been de- termined upon by saying : " This meeting can do nothing more to save the country." Instantly a shout rang through the room, and a band of forty or fifty men "dressed like Mohawk Indians," with their faces blackened to prevent recognition, hastened from the meeting to the wharf where the ships were moored. A guard was posted to prevent the intrusion of spies, and the ships CAUSES or' THE STRUGCiLl'. FOR INDEPENDEXXE. 347 were at once seized. Three hundred and forty-two chests of tea were broken open and their contents poured into the water. The affair was witnessed in silence by a large crowd on the shore. When the destruction of the tea was completed, the " Indians " and ,ttie crowd dispersed to their homes. Paul jKevere was despatched by the patriot lead- ers to carry the news to New York and Vhiiadelphia. compel the Americans to submit to the au- thority of Great Britain. Boston, in particu- lar, was to be made a terrible example to the rest of the colonies. A bill was introduced into Parliament, and passed by a majority of four to one, closing the port of Boston to all commerce, and transferring the seat of gov- ernment to Salem. The British ministry boasted that with ten thousand regulars they ci'uld " niarcli thr.ur.rh the continent," and THKOWIXG THE TEA OVER At New York and Philadelphia the people would not allow the tea to be landed, and at Charleston it was stored in damp cellars, where the whole cargo was soon ruined. At Annapolis a ship and its cargo were burned ; the owner of the vessel himself setting fire to the ship. The British government was greatly in- censed at the refusal of the colonists to allow the tea to be landed, and determined to BOARD IN BO-STON HARBOR. they were resolved to bring America to hei knees and make her confess her fault in dust and humiliation. In addition to the Boston Port Bill, Parlia- ment passed other measures of equal severity. By one of these the royal officers were ordered to quarter the troops sent out from England on all the colonies at the people's expense ; another provided that if any officer, in the execution of the Quartering Act, should 348 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. commit an act of violence, he should be sent to England for trial. The deliberate pur- pose of this last act was to encourage the military and other officials to acts ofviolence and oppression by shielding them from pun- ishment in America. The liberties of the American people were thus placed at the mercy of every petty official bearing a royal commission. Another law, known as the " Quebec Act," granted unusual concessions to the Roman Catholics of Canada, in order to attach them to the royal cause in the event of a collision between England and her colo- Help for the Patriots. Boston was largely dependent upon her •commerce, and the closing of her harbor entirely destroyed her trade and brought great loss and suffering to her people. The outrage to which she was thus subjected was resented by the whole country, and evidences of sympathy poured in upon her from every quarter. Salem refused to allow the estab- lishment of the seat of government within her limits, and ciTered the use of her port to the merchants of Boston free of charge. Marblehead made a similar offer. Large numbers of the people of Boston were thrown out of emploj-ment by the closing of Boston harbor, and their families, left help- less, suffered considerably. The various colonies came forward promptly to their relief. The neighboring towns sent in provisions and other neces- ■saries of life, and money was subscribed in other parts of the country. South Carolina sent to Boston two hundred barrels of rice, and promised eight hundred more when they were wanted. North Carolina sent a contri- bution of two thousand pounds in money, and money and provisions were sent from Virginia and Maryland. In the former colo- ny, the farmers beyond the Blue Ridge raised a contribution of one hundred and thiity seven barrels of flour and sent it to Boston. Even the city of London sent one hundred and fifty thousand dollars to the relief of Boston. Cheered by these evidences of sym- pathy, Boston resolved to hold out to the end. One of the first and most determined of the colonies in expressing her sympathy for Massachusetts was Virginia. Upon the re- ceipt of the news of the closing of the port of Boston, the assembly of this colony passed resolutions of sympathy with Ma.ssachusetts, and appointed the first of June, the day designated for the enforcement of the Port Bill, as a day of fasting and prayer. For this bold action the governor dissolved (ho assembl)'. General Gage Appointed Governor. It met the next day — May 25th — in spite of Governor Dunmore's prohibition, in the coffee-room of the Raleigh Tavern, and de- clared that an attack on Massachusetts was an attack on every other colony and ought to be opposed by the united wisdom of all. The assembly urged that a general congress of all the colonies should be held to take united action for the redress of grievances, and a committee was appointed to corres- pond with the other colonies for the purpose of bringing about this congress. The first of June was rigidly observed in Virginia as a fast day. George Mason charged his family to be careful to attend church on that day clad in mourning. In the meantime Hutchinson had been replaced as governor of Massachusetts by General Gage, the commander-in-chief of the British army in Ncrth America. He landed in Boston on the seventeenth of May, 1774, and was well received by the people. | He was a man of mild character and great' good-nature, and utterly unfit for the task of CAUSES OF THE STRUGG coercing a free people. The determined at- titude of the patriots bewildered him. He brought with him instructions for " the seiz- ure and condign punishment of Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Joseph Warren and other leading patriots, but he stood in such dread of them that he never so much as attempted their arrest." He was greatly per- plexed to know how to manage the people of Boston. It was clear to him that they intended to resist the injustice of the mother countr)-, but they kept so carefully within the law that he could not take hold of their acts. They held meetings and discussed their grievances, but vio- lated no law, and dis- countenanced violence of all kinds. He was authorized by the British government to fire upon the colonists whenever he should see fit; but their prudent and peace- ful course gave him no opportunity for so doing. The government at length undertook to put a stop to the town meet- ings of the Americans by forbidding them to hold such meetings after a cer- tain day. They evaded this law by convoking the meetings before the designated day, and " keeping them alive" by adjourning them from time to time. Fancuil Hall and the Old South Church were the favorite places of meeting, but many of these assemblies were held under the Liberty Tree. LE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 349 In the meantime the recommendation of Virginia for a general congress was accepted by the other colonies, and measures were set on foot to bring it about. The need of such an assembly, which should represent the whole country, was becoming more and more apparent every day. In the various colonies delegates were chosen, and it was agreed, at the instance of the legis- lature of Massachusetts, that the congress should meet in Philadelphia on the fifth of September, 1774. Martin, the royalist governor of Georgia, prevented that colony 350 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. from choosing delegates to the congress, and General Gage attempted a similar inter- ference with the general court of Massachu- setts. Samuel Adams, as usual, had antici- pated him, however. On the seventeenth of June, having privately ascertained the senti- ments of the members, he locked the door of the room in which the meeting of the assembly was held, and so kept out the governor's secretary, who came to dissolve the session, and who knocked in vain for admission. Thus, safe from executive inter- ference, the general court proceeded to ap- point ils delegates to the congress and to make provision for their support. This ac- complished, the doors were opened and the members submitted to the dissolution pro- nounced by Governor Gage. Organized Opposition. The act of Parliament by which the British government undertook to prohibit the town meetings of Massachusetts was known as the " Regulation Act." It was introduced into Parliament by Lord North in April, and re- ceived the royal assent in May, 1754. It was an infamous measure. It annulled the charter of the colony, and " without previous notice to Massachusetts, and without a hear- ing, it arbitrarily took awsy rights and lib- erties which the people had enjoyed from the foundation of the colony, except in the evil days of James II." All the power of the colony was concentrated in the hands of the royal governor bv conferring upon him the appointment of all the courts of justice and every official connected with them. The courts were all to be remodelled in the in- terest of the king, and Gage at once set to work to appoint the new judges. The whole colony united in a determined resistance to them. In many of the towns the citizens would not allow the new courts to be opened, and in Boston no man could be found to serve as a juror in the courts ap- pointed for that city. A meeting of the citi- zens of Boston was held at Faneuil Plall on the twenty-sixth of August, 1774, and was attended by delegates from the counties of Worcester, Middlesex and Essex. It adopted a series of resolutions denying the authority of Parliament to change any of the laws of the province, and declared that the new govern- ment set up by Gage under the Regulating Act was unconstitutional, and that the new officers, should they attempt to act, would become the enemies of the province although they bore the commission of the king. The People Aroused. In order to provide for the safety of the colony a provincial congress with large ex- ecutive powers was advised by the conven- tion. Gage found himself unable to enforce the new laws. " The chief justice and his colleagues, repairing in a body to the gov- ernor, represented the impossibility of exer- cising their office in Boston or in any other part of the province; the army was too small for their protection; and besides, none would act as jurors. Thus the authority of the new government, as established by act of Parliament, perished in the presence of the governor, the judges and the army."* Thus defeated, Gage began to increase the number of troops at Boston. On the first of September Gage sent a de- tachment to Quarry Hill, near Charlestown, and seized the public magazine in which the province of Massachusetts kept its powder for its militia, and brought it to Boston. The news of this seizure roused the people of the surrounding counties to a high state of in- dignation. A body of several thousand of the best citizens of Middlesex, " leaving their guns in the rear," marched to Cambridge to CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. protest against tlie outrage. They com- pelled Dan-^Dith, a county judge and a mem- ber of Gage's council ; Phipps, the high sheriff; and Oliver, the lieutenant-governor, to resign their places. They attempted no violence, and inasmuch as Gage had acted within the letter of the law in removing the powder, dispersed quietly, satisfied for the time with their protest. Their demonstra- tion thoroughly alarmed Gage, who kept the troops in Boston under arms all night, posted cannon to command the approaches to the town, and doubled all the guards. At the same time he wrote to England for reinforce- ments. The news of the seiz- ure of the Massachusetts powder spread rapidly through the province and into the adjoining colo- nies. The seizure was made on Thursday morn- ing, an^ by Saturday morning twenty thou- sand men were under arms and advancing upon Boston. They were stopped by expresses from the patriots at Boston, but their prompt action showed the spirit of the province. When the news reached Israel Putnam, in his home in Connecticut, the old hero at once called on the militia to go with him to the aid of Boston, where the report said the people had been fired on by the royal troops and shipping. His call was answered by thousands, but later advices from Boston put a stop to the march. "But for counter intelligence," wrote Put- nam to the patriots at Boston, " we should have had forty thousand men, well equipped and ready to mnrch this morning. Send a 351 corn- written express to the foreman of tl; mittee when you have occasion of our martial assistance ; we shall attend your summons, and shall glory in having a share in the honor of ridding our country of the yoke of tyranny which our forefathers have not borne, neither will we. And we much desire you to keep a strict guard over the remainder of your powder, for that must be the great means, under God, of the salvation of our country." The excitement was not without its good results, however. It led every man to ex- CARPENTERS HALL, PHILADELPHL\. amine the condition of his means of resist- ance, and to suppl}' his deficiencies in arms and equipments. The royal authority was at an end outside of Boston, and active roy- alists found it best to seek safety within that city. The general congress, or, as it is better known, the Old Continental Congress, met in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia, on the fifth of September, 1774. It numbered fifty- five members, consisting of delegates from every colony save Georgia, whose governor had prevented the election of delegates. 352 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Among the members were many of the most eminent men in the land. From Virginia came George Washington, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee; from Maisachu- setts, Samuel Adams and John Adams ; from New York, Philip Livingston, John Jay and Wilham Livingston; from Rhode Island, the venerable Stephen Hopkins ; from Con- necticut, Roger Sherman ; from South Caro- lina, Edward and John Rutledge and Chris- topher Gadsden ; and from New Jersey, the Rev. John Witherspoon, the president of Princeton College. The members of this illustrious body were not strangers to each other, though the majority of them met now for the first time. They had corresponded with each other and had discussed their wrongs so thoroughly that each was well acquainted with the sentiments of his col- leagues, and all were bound together by a common sympathy. Prayer and Patriotism. The congress was organized by the elec- tion of Peyton Randoljih, of Virginia, as speaker. Charles Thomson, of Pennsylva- nia, an Irishman by birth, and the principal of the Quaker High School in Philadelphia, was then chosen secretary. It was proposed to open the sessions with prayer. Some of the members thought this might be inexpe- dient, as all the delegates might not be able to join in the same form of worship. Up rose Samuel Adams, in whose great soul there was not a grain of sham. He was a strict Congregationalist. " I am no bigot," he said. " I can hear a prayer from a man ^f piety and virtue, whatever may be his cloth, provided he is at the same time a friend to his country." On his motion, the Rev. Mr. Duche, an Episcopal clergyman of Philadelphia, was invited to act as chaplain. 'Mr. Duche accepted the invitation. When the congre-;s a-^sembled the ne,xt morning, all was anxiety and apprehension. for the rumor of the attack upon Boston, which had reached Putnam and aroused Connecticut, had gotten as far as Philadel- phia. The chaplain opened the session by reading the thirty-fifth Psalm, which seemed, as John Adams said, ordained by Heaven to be read that morning, and then broke forth into an extempore prayer of great fervor and eloquence. A Recital of Wrongs. At the close of the prayer a deep silence prevailed in the hall. It was broken by Patrick Henry, who rose to open the day's proceedings. He began slowly and hesi- tatingly at first, " as if borne down by the weight of his subject," but as he proceeded he rose grandly to the duty of the occasion, and in a speech of masterly eloquence he re- cited the wrongs of the American colonies at the hands of Great Britain, and declared that all government in America was dissolved, and urged upon the congress the necessity, of forming a new government for the colo- nies. Towards the close of his speech he struck a chord which answered in every heart. " British oppression," he exclaimed, " has effaced the boundaries of the several colonics ; the distinctions between Virgin- ians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Vir- ginian, but an American." The deputies were astonished at his eloquence, as well as at the magnitude of the interests with which they were intrusted. The congress continued its sessions for seven weeks. It had no authority to bind the colonies to any course; its powers were merely advisory, and it did not transcend its authority. It drew up a Declaration oi Rights, in which it defined the latural rights of man to be the enjoyment of life, liberty and property. It claimed for the Ameri- cans, as British subjects, the right to partici- CAUSES OF THE STRUGGLE I'OR IXDEPI-.NDICNCE 353 pate in the making of their laws, and the le\\ind On— The Hessians. WHlLf, the Continental Congress was in session, matters were in a most serious state in Massachusetts. General Gage, alarmed by the threatening aspect of the Americans, began to fortify Boston Neck, the narrow peninsula which united the city with the mainland. A regiment was stationed at these works to prevent communication between the citizens and the people in the country. Tiie news of this action spread rapidly. At Portsmouth, New Hampshire, ?. company of volunteers seized the fort and carried off one hundred and fifty barrels of powder and .several cannon. At Newport forty-four cannon were seized by the people and sent to Providence for safe-keeping. In the midst of this e.xcitement, Gage, thinking such a step might conciliate the people, summoned the general court to meet at Salem ; but, alarmed at the growing spirit of liberty, countermanded the order. The members of the general court met, however, at Salem, on the fifth of October, 1774, but finding no one to organize them adjourned to Concord, where they resolved themselves into a provincial congress, of which John Hancock was elected president. This con- gress existed as the government of the people, and was independent of the authority of the king. They protested their loyalty to King_ George and their desire for peace, and endea- vored to induce Gage to desist from fortify- ing Boston Neck. Gage refused to comply with their demand, and warned them to desist from their unlawful course. The provincial congress paid no attention to his warning, but proceeded to call out the militia to the number of twelve thousand. They were allowed to remain at their homes, but were required to be ready for service at a minute's warning. Hence they were known as "Minute Men." Two committees of safety were appointed : one to call out the minute men when theii services were needed ; the other to supply 354 PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 355 them with provisions and ammunition. Two general officers, Artemas Ward and Seth Pomeroy, were appointed. The other New England colonies were invited to increase the number of minute men to twenty thousand. The sum of twenty thousand pounds was voted for the military service, and Massa- chusetts prepared for the worst. In every colony military preparations were set on foot, and the whole of America began to prepare for the coming storm which all thinking men now saw was close at hand. The papers drawn up by the Continental Congress had been widely circulated in Eng- l?nd, and had aroused a great deal of s\-m- pathy for America, and it was hoped by many that the new Parliament, which met in Janu- ary, 1775, would see the necessity of doing justice to the colonies. The cause of America was eloquently pleaded by the Earl of Chat- ham and others, but the King and the Minis- ters were resolved to compel the submission of the Americans, and the majority in Parlia- ment sustained them. A measure known as the " New England Restraining Bill " was introduced by Lord North, which deprived the people of New England of the privilege of fishing on the banks of Newfoundland. The Colonies Act Promptly. In March news arrived that all the colonies had endorsed the action of the Continental Congress and had pledged themselves to support it. To punish them the provisions of the Restraining Bill were extended to every colony save New York, Delaware and North Carolina. These colonies were exempted in the hope of inducing them to desert the American cause. The measure failed of its object, and the three favored colonies re- mained firm in the support of the Congress. General Gage now resolved to take a decisive step. He learned that the patriots had established a depot of provisions and military stores at Concord, eighteen miles from Boston, and resolved to seize these supplies at once. The military force under his com- mand at Boston numbered three thousand men, and he felt himself strong enough not only to seize these stores, but also to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were lodging at Lexington. Accordingly, on the night of the eighteenth of April, 1775, he THE MINUTE MAN. detached a force of eight hundred men under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, and shortly before midnight had them conveyed across Charles River to Cambridge, from which place they began their march to Concord. Gage had conducted the whole movement with the greatest secrecy, but his preparations had been detected by the patriot leaders in B(jston, and Hanrock and Adam? had been warned 356 THE AMERICAiN REVOLUTION. of their danger. The British had hardly embarked in their boats when two lanterns were displayed from the tower of the Old North Church. Paul Revere, the chosen messenger, who had been awaiting this signal, at once set off from Charlestown and rode in haste to Lex- ington to warn the patriots of the approach of the British troops. At the same time not gone far when they heard in advance of them the firing of alarm guns and the tolling of bells. The British oiificers were astonished at the rapidity with which their movement had been discovered; but they could not doubt the meaning of these signals. The country was being aroused, and their situa- tion was becoming serious. Lieutenant- Colonel Smith sent a messenger to General %' i^ THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON, APRIL William Dawes left Boston by the road over the Neck, and rode at full speed towards Lexington, arousing the country as he went along with his stirring tidings. Other mes- sengers were sent forward by these men, and tiic alarm spread rapidly through thecountry. From Cambridge the British pushed for ward rapidly towards Lexington. They had alarm 9. 1775- Gage for reinforcements, and ordered Major Pitcairn to push forward with a part of the force and seize the two bridges at Concord. Pitcairn obeyed his orders promptly, and arrested every one whom he met or over- took save a countryman, who escaped and reached Lexington in time to srive the PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 357 Pitcairn's division reached Lexinj^ton at daN-break on the nineteenth of April. The>- found seventy or eighty minute men, and several other persons, assembled on the common. They were ignorant of the inten- tions of the British, and supposed they merely wished to arrest Adams and Hancock, who had left the village upon the first alarm. " Disperse, ye Rebels !" As he saw the group Pitcairn ordered his men to halt and load their muskets, and called out to the Americans : " Disperse, ye villains, ye rebels, disperse ; lay down your arms ; why don't }ou lay down your arms and dis- perse ?" The Americans stood motionless and silent, " witnesses against agression ; too few to resist ; too brave to fly." Pitcairn, seeing that his order was not obeyed, dis- charged his pistol and ordered his men to fire. A few straggling shots followed this order, and then the regulars poured a close heavy volley into the Americans, killing seven and wounding nine of them. Parker, the commander of the minute men, seeing that the affair was to be a massacre instead of a battle, ordered his men to disperse. The British then gave three cheers for their vic- tory. In a little while Colonel Smith arrived with the remainder of his command, and the whole party then pushed on towards Con- cord. The alarm had already reached Concord, and in a little while news was received of the massacre at Lexington. The minute men jiromptly assembled on the common, near the church, and awaited the approach of the enemy. The minute men from Lin- coln came in at an early hour, and a few from Acton. About seven o'clock the British were seen advancing in two divisions, and as it was evident that they were about four times as numerous as the Americans, the latter retreated to the summit of a hill on the opposite side of the Concord River, and there awaited the arrival of reinforcements, which were coming in from the surrounding countr}\ The British occupied the town, and post- ing a force of one hundred men to hold the North Bridge, began their search for arms and stores. The greater part of these had been secreted, but the soldiers found a few that could not be removed, and gave the rest of their time to plundering the houses of the town. " This slight waste of stores," says Bancroft, " was all the advantage for which Gage precipitated a civil war." Arrival of the Minute Men. Between nine and ten o'clock the Ameri- can force had increased by the arrival of the minute men from Acton, Bedford, Westford, Carlisle, Littleton and Chelmsford, to about four hundred and fifty. Below them, in full view, were the regulars plundering their homes, and from the town rose the smoke of the fires the soldiers had kindled for the destruction of the few stores they had man aged to secure. Not knowing whether they meant to burn the town or not, the officers of the minute men resolved to advance and enter Concord. Barret, the commanding officer, cautioned the men not to fire unless attacked. As their approach was discovered the British began to take up the planks of the North Bridge, and to prevent this the Americans quickened their pace. The regu- lars then fired a volley, which killed two of the minute men. The fire was returned, and two of the soldiers were killed and several woLMided. These volleys were followed by some desultory skirmishing, and about noon Colonel Smith drew off his men and began to retreat by the way he had come. One of those killed at the bridge was Isaac Davis, the captain of the minute men of Acton. He had bidden his young wife a 358 touching good-bye, as he ran to lead his men to the fight. A little later his dead body was brought to her door. With the retreat of the British from Con- cord the real work of tlie day began. The [Country was thoroughly aroused, and men 'came pouring in from every direction, eager to get a shot at the regulars. The road by which the ro\-al forces were retreating was narrow and crooked, and led through forests THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. the strife as the regulars entered its limits. Far and wide the alarm was spreading through the country, and the people were getting under arms. By noon a messenger rode furiously into the distant town of Wor- cester and shouted the alarm. Instantly the minute men of the town got under arms, and after joining their minister in prayer, on the common, took up the march for Cambridge. The whole province was rising, and the >--i^%^c DEATH OF ISAAC DAVIS. and thickets, and was bordered by the stone walls which enclosed the farms. At every step the militia and minute men hung upon the enemy, and kept up an irregular but 'fatal fire upon them from behind trees, fences and houses. Flanking parties were thrown out to clear the way, but without success. The number of the Americans increased at every step Each town took up enemies of the fugitive regulars were increasing every moment. Smith hurried his command through Lex- ington at a rapid rate, and a short distance beyond the town met Lord Percy advancing to his assistance with twelve hundred infantry and two pieces of artillery. Percy formed his men into a square, enclosing the fugitives, who dropped helplessly on the PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 359 ground, " their tongues hanging out of their mouths Hke those of dogs after a chase,'' and with his cannon kept the Americans at ba)-. He could not think of holding his position, however, and after a halt of half an hour resumed the retreat, first setting fire to some houses in Lexington. The fighting now became more energetic than ever. From either side, from in front and the rear, the Americans kept up a constant fire upon the British, who revenged them- selves by murdering some helpless people along the road and burning houses. Below West Cambridge the British broke into a run, and at length, about sunset, succeeded in escaping across Charlestown Neck, where they were safe under the fire of their ship- ping. Had the militia from Marblehead and Salem, who were on the march, been more alert, the entire British force would have been captured, as they were in no condition to resist a determined attack in front. The loss of the Americans during the day was forty-nine killed, thirty-four wounded and five missing. The British lost in killed, wounded and missing two hundred and seventy-three men, or more than fell in Wolfe's army in the battle of the Heights of Abraham. Many of the officers, including Colonel Smith, were wounded. The News Spreads Like Wiidfire. The nev.s of the conflicts at Lexington and Concord spread rapidly through New Eng- land, and was sent by express messengers to New York and the colonies farther south. In New England it produced a general upris- ing of the people, and in ten days Boston was blockaded by an irregular army of twenty thousand provincial troops, whose encamp- ments extended from Roxbury to the Mystic River, above Charlestown, a distance of ten miles. John Stark, who had served with gallantry in the old French war, was on his way to Boston in ten minutes after he was informed of the fighting. Israel Putnam, a veteran soldier, and as true a hero as ever lived, was ploughing in his field when the courier rode by with tlie tidings of the battle. He left his plough, sprang on his horse, and after rousing his neighbors rode from his home, in Connecti- cut, to Cambridge, without even stopping to change his clothes. The Massachusetts Con- gress took energetic measures for the sup- port of the army before Boston, and in a few '^qys this force began to assume a more regu- lar character. Arms and Ammunition Seized. Matters had also reached a crisis in Vir- ginia. On the night of the twentieth of April Lord Dunmore seized the powder in the magazine at Williamsburg, and sent it, under guard of a party of marines, on board an armed schooner in the James river. The inhabitants, on the morning of the twenty- first, took arms to compel the restoration of the powder, but were persuaded to refrain from violence. In a few days- the news from Le.Kington and Concord was received, and it was the general belief that Dunmore's course was only a part of a general plan to disarm the colonies. On the second of May Patrick Henr>' summoned the independent companies ot Hanover to meet him at a certain place, and led them towards Williamsburg, determined to compel the governor to restore the powder or pay its full value in money. On the march they were met by a messenger from Dunmore, who paid them the full value of the powder in money. This money was soon after for- warded to Congress. The companies then disbanded and returned home. Dunmore, thoroughly frightened, fled with his family on board a manof-war, and declared " Pat- rick Henry and his associates to be in rebel- 36o THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. lion." Afraid to meet the Virginians in an open fight, he threatened to arm their slaves against them, and inaugurated a general massacre. The middle and southern colonies were prompt to follow the example of New Eng- land. The people of New York seized the provisions intended for the king's troops at Boston, shut up the custom-house, and for- bade any vessels to leave the harbor for ports or colonies acknowledging the authority of Great Britain. The arms and ammunition belonging to the city were seized by the CAPTURE OI TI( INDl I nPA h\ volunteers, and measures were set on foot for a general resistance to the authority of the king. New Jersey was equally determined, and in Pennsylvania enthusiastic meetings of citizens resolved "to associate for the pur- pose of defending, with arms, their lives, their property, and liberty." Military companies were formed and trained in the exercise of arms. The people of Mary- land compelled their royalist governor to surrender to them all the arms and ammuni- tion of the province. The militia officers of South Carolina at once resigned their com- missions from the governor, and regiments of militia for the defence of the colony were raised and drilled. At Charleston the royal arsenal was seized, and its contents distributed among the people. Georgia also placed her- self in the ranks of her patriot sisters, and seizing the ammunition and arms within her limits prepared for resistance. North Carolina took a more decisive stand than any of the colonies. The spirit of resist- ance ran high within her borders. A con- vention of the people of Mecklenburg county was held at Charlotte on the twenty-ninth of May, and adopted a series of resolu- tions declaring themselves inde- pendent of the control of Great Britain, and re- nouncing all alle- giance to her. This w as the f a m o u s 'Mecklenburg De- claration of Inde- pendence." The uhole country, ft )in New Hamp- shire to Georgia, was united in its determination to resist the injustice of Great Britain with arms. Massachusetts had struck the first blow, but every colony was now prepared and determined to bear its part in the great struggle for freedom. The Massachusetts Committee of Safety were anxious to secure the important posts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Champlain. The possession of these posts would n^)t only enable the Americans to command the entrance to Canada, but would give them the large quantities of military supplies stored in these forts. The project PUTNAM'S ESCAPE AT HORSE NECK PROGRt:SS OF THE was entered into with great energy by Bene- dict Arnold, then commanding a company before Boston, and by Ethan Allen, of Ver- mont. Allen was the leader of the Green Mountain Boys, a military organization in Vermont, which had been formed to resist the authority of New York, which claimed Vermont as a part of its territory. The people of Vermont, however, preferred the authority of New Hampshire to that of New York. The dispute had become quite animated when the outbreak of the Revolution drew the attention of all parties to more stirring events. Arnold, upon hearing that Allen was preparing to seize the forts, set out at once for Vermont, and over- took the Green Mountain Bo\-s near the head of Lake Champlain. Pro- ducing a colonel's commission he ordered Allen to surrender the com- mand to him, but the latter refused, and was sustained by his men, and Arnold at length agreed to serve as a volunteer. Securing a few boats Allen cros- sed the lake with his little force, about two hundred and seventy in number, and at daybreak, on the U morning of May lo, surprised Fort ^^^'^-^^ Ticonderoga, and made prisoners of the garrison before they were fairly awake. Not a blow was struck. The astounded commander of the fort asked Allen by whose authority he acted. " In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," was the instant reply, delivered in stentorian tones. The commandant instantly submitted. On the twelfth of May Seth Warner, Allen's lieutenant, surprised Crown Point, and secured the fort. Arnold secured a number of boats and, descending the lake, captured WAR. 361 s, in the " Sorel." Sixty priij-.iers m in this expedition, and besides St. John' were tak' two of the most important military posts in America the patriots secureil two hundred cannon, and a large supply of ammuni- tion. On the tenth of Ma>-, the day of the cap- ture of Ticonderoga, the second Continental '<^7^ SIGNERS OF THE MECKLEXHUNd DECLAR.VTION. Congress met at Philadelphia. This time they assembled in the State House, a place more suited to the dignity of such a body , and calculated to give more publicity to their proceedings. No change was at first made in the ofificers of the preceding session, bui in a few days Peyton Randolph resigned his position to return home to attend the Vir- ginia legislature, which had been summoned THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. by the governor. Thomas Jefferson was appointed to fill his position as a delegate. John Hancock of Massachusetts, who had been .specially exempted by the king from all offers of amnesty, was chosen president of the Congress. Three new members of note now entered the Congress. They were Ben- jamin Franklin, a delegate from Pennsyl- vania, and George Clinton and Robert R. Li\-ingston, delegates from New York. Franklin had just returned from England, where he had resided for several years as the agent for some of the colonies. He had been in constant official contact with the lead- ing men of Great Britain and was thoroughly informed as to the policy of the British gov- ernment respecting America. He was, there- fore, a most valuable acquisition to the Con- gress. Justice Demanded of Great Britain. The circumstances under which this Con- gress assembled were very different from those which had attended the meeting of its predecessor. Then there was hope that the remonstrances of the colonies would open the ej-es of the British government to the folly of its course ; but those remonstances had been received with fresh outrages, their petitions had " been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne," and the British 3rmy had begun the war at Lexington and Concord. Massachusetts, driven beyond the point of forbearance, had taken up arms, and had besieged the royal troops in Boston. A state of war actually existed and Congress must either sustain Massachusetts, and so involve every colony in the struggle, or leave her to meet the power of Great Britain unaided. The whole country was in favor of stand- ing by Massachusetts, and the delegates in Congress reflected its Leling. It was, there- fore, resolved by Congress to place all the colonies in a state of defence, and to prepare for a vigorous prosecution of the war should it be found impossible to avert it. At the same time, as a last means of preserving peace, a new petition was addressed to the king stating the grievances of the colonieSj and asking for justice at his majesty's hands. Addresses were also issued to the people of Great Britain, Ireland and Jamaica. To the people of Great Britain they declared, after relating their wrongs, and their failure to- obtain redress : " We are reduced to the alternati\'e of choosing an unconditional sub- mission to the tryanny of irritated ministers^ or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and we find nothing so dreadful as- voluntary slavery." In the petition to the king Congress denied that it was the inten- tion of the colonies to cast off their allegi- ance ; but asserted their intention to main tain their rights. When this petition was- presented to the king in September, he refused to take any notice of it. The Federal Union. In view of the altered position of affairs- Massachusetts consulted the Congress as to the propriety of establishing a regular sys- tem of government, and was advised to make such regulations for that purpose as were necessary, and to continue them as a. temporary expedient until it should be known whether the king would allow the colony to resume the government guaran- teed to it by its charter. In order to avoid the trouble which would ensue from an inter- ruption of the regular postal communication between the colonics. Congress assumed the power of organizing a general system of mails for the whole country, and appointed Dr. Franklin postmaster-general. From these acts Congress advanced to- others siill more important. A " l-'ederal PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 36J Union " of the colonies was organized, in which each colony retained the exclusive control of its internal affairs, but delegated to Congress authority to direct all matters pertaining to the general welfare of the col- onies, such as the power to declare war, make peace, and negotiate treaties of alliance and friendship with foreign countries. In the exercise of these powers Congress assumed the general government of America. A day of fasting and prayer to God, for his assist- ance in the struggle for freedom, was enjoined upon all the colonies. All persons were for- bidden to furnish provisions under any cir- cumstances. Who shall Command the Army ? Measures were adopted for the organiza- tion and enlistment of an army, and for the purpose of erecting fortifications at suitable points, and procuring arms and ammunition. In order to raise the funds needed for carry- ing out these objects " Bills of Credit," to the amount of two millions of dollars, were issued, and for their redemption Congress pledged the faith of the " United Colonies." The provincial congress of Massachusetts requested the Congress at Philadelphia to adopt the New England forces before Boston as the "Continental Army," and this request wasatonce complied with. As General Ward, the commander of these troops, held his commission from Massachusetts, it was necessary for Congress to appoint a com- mander-in-chief commissioned by itself With respect to this appointment the mem- bers were divided. Some thought that as the troops were all New England men, the commander should be chosen from the same section. Others favored the appointment of a commander who would inspire the confi- dence of, and be acceptable to, the entire country. The name of General Ward was suggested by the first party ; but a majorit)^ of the delegates favored the appointment of Colonel Washington, who was a member of Congress, and chairman of the committee on military affairs, in which capacity he had proposed the plan for the organization of the army, and had suggested the most important measures for defence. He had profoundly impressed the delegates with his great and commanding character, his military ability, and his wisdom as a statesman. Washington Appointed. Patrick Henry, on his return home from the first Congress, had been asked who was the greatest man in that body. His reply expressed the views of li.s colleagues respect- ing Washington. " If you speak of elo- quence," he said, " Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, is, by far, the greatest orator ; but if you speak of solid information and sound judgment Colonel Washington is unques- tionably the greatest man on that floor." Dr. Warren wrote from Massachusetts to Samuel Adams, in Congress, about this time, that the appointment of Colonel Washing- ton as commander-in-chief would give great satisfaction to many leading men in Massa- chusetts. John Adams was anxious for the appointment, and having satisfied himself of the wishes of the greater part of the delegates, ventured openly to allude to Washington as the proper person for the position, and spoke of him as a gentleman whose " skill and experience as an officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and excellent universal character, would command the approbation of all America, and unite the cordial exer- tions of the colonies better than an\' otiier person in the Union." On the 14th of June M. Johnson, of Maryland, formally nominated Washington to the office of commander-in-chief, and he was unanimously cliosen by ballot. The next day his election was communicated to 'M THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. hiai by the President of Congress. Washing- ton rose in his place, thanked the House for the unexpected honor conferred upon him, assured them of his devotion to the cause, and announced his acceptance of the great trust confided to liini. He declared his iiitention to refuse the pay affixed to tlie office, which had been placed at five hundred dollars a month, and added : " I will keep an exact account of my expenses. These. I doubt not, thev will discharge, and that i-iall Gates. GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM. I desire." Congress, on its part, pledged its hearty support to the new commander, and resolved "to maintain and assist, and adhere to him with th.ir lives and fortunes in the defence of American liberty." Washington lost no time in proceeding to assume the command conferred upon him. After a few days spent in preparation in Philadelphia he left that city on the twenty- first of June for the headquarters of the army, accompanied by Generals Lee and Schuj-ler. A few days after the election of the com- mander-in-chief Congress appointed four major-generals, one adjutant-general, with the rank of brigadier, and eight brigadier- generals for the subordinate commands in the American army. Major-Generals. The major-generals were Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler and Israel Put- nam. The adjutant-general was Horatio The brigadiers were Setli Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Woos- tcr, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan and Nathaniel Greene. In the meantime the blockade of Boston had been continued by the provincial army under General Ward. These forces numbered about fifteen thousand men, and had come from their respective towns in independent companies, and were without any regular or- ganization. They had no uniform, but the majority wore their ordinary home-spun working clothes ; they were deficient in arms ; a few had nniskets, but the majority had rifles and fowling-pieces. The artillery consisted of nine pieces of cannon, and was commanded by Colonel Gridley, who had directed the artil- lery at the siege of Louisburg. The Massa- chusetts troops were commanded by Gen- eral Ward ; those from New Hampshire by Colonel Stark ; the Connecticut troops by Putnam ; and the regiment from Rhode Island by Nathaniel Greene, a young black- smith. Save for the solemnity of the cause, and the earnestness and determination which animated the whole force, there was little to save this quaint assemblage from the ridicule which the royal officers heaped upon it. It PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 365 did to ordinary view seem the height of folly to oppose such an ill-provided and unorganized mass to the splendidly equipped veterans who served King George. Yet this force " with calico frocks and fowling-pieces" hemmed in within the nar- row limits of Boston the splendid army of ten thousand men, commanded by such generals as Howe, Burgoyne and Sir Henry Clinton, which Gage had concen- trated in Boston. Bur- goyne could not repress his astonish- ment upon reaching Boston. "What!" he exclaimed, "ten thou- sand peasants keep five thousand .king's troops shut up! Well, let us get in and we'll soon find elbow room." Inspite of his immense superiority', however, Gage did not venture to attack the Ameri- can lines. He con- tented himself with issuing a proclama- tion declaring the province under mar- tial law, and offering a free pardon to all rebels who should return to their allegi- ance, with the exception of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. These rebels were cut off from all hope of the king's mercy, and were given to understand that they could e.xpect nothing but the most sum- mary punishment. General Gage now determined to extend his lines and to occupy Dorchester Heights, overlooking South Boston, and Bunker Hill, an eminence rising beyond Charlestown, on the north of Boston. The execution of this design was fixed for the eighteenth of June, GENERAL BURGOYN and in tlie meantime Gage's intention became known in the American camp. To prevent it, it was resolved, at the instance of the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, to seize and fortify these eminences, beginning with Bunker Hill. The more prudent opposed 366 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. this undertaking as too rash; it uas certain to bring on a general engagement of the opposing forces, and the Americans were too poorly provided with arms and ammunition to hope for success. Others insisted that no time should be lost in securing the Heights. A Daring Enterprise. Putnam was confident they could be held with proper intrenchments, and that thus pro- tected the troops could be relied upon to hold their position. The great scarcity of ammunition rendered the undertaking one of peculiar daring and it was necessary to select for the command an officer whose firm- ness and discretion could be depended upon. The choice fell upon Colonel William Pres- cott, of Massachusetts, and a brigade was placed under his orders. Soon after the sunset on the sixteenth of June a force of about eleven hundred men, armed principally with fowling-pieces, and carrying their scanty stock of powder and ball in their old-fashioned powder horns and pouches, assembled on Cambridge Com- mon. Langdon, the President of Harvard College, one of the chaplains of the army, offered up an impressive prayer, and then the order was given to march, and the col- umn moved off in the darkness. No one knew the object of the expedition, but the [)resence of several wagons loaded with Intrenching tools, made it evident that the movement was one of importance. Charles- town Neck was strongly guarded, but the detachment passed it in safety and reached the summ-t of Bunker Hill without being observed. The Committee of Safety had suggested that Bunker Hill should be secured, but Prescott's orders from General Ward were to fortify Breed's Hill, a lower eminence but nearer to Boston, and commanding the har- bor more oerfectiy. It was a more exposed position than the other, but Prescott decided to obey his orders. Colonel Gridley, who was an experienced engineer, marked out a redoubt about eight rods square, and in the clear June starlight the men set to work with a will to construct the fortification before the morning should reveal them to the British. It was midnight when the men began their labors. A strong guaid was thrown out along the shore of the harbor to prevent a surprise, and the men could distinctly hear the call of the senti- nels on the men-of-war in the harbor. During the night Putnam came over to the hill to encourage the Connecticut troops. Heavy Guns Open Fire. The early morning light revealed to the astonished royalists the half-finished redoubt on Breed's Hill and the Americans still bus- ily at work upon it. The sloop-of-war " Lively," lying off the present navy yard, without waiting for orders, opened a steady fire upon the redoubt, and her example was soon followed by the other war vessels and the floating batteries in the harbor. A battery of heavy guns was posted on Copp's Hill in Boston, and opened on the redoubt. This fire was well calculated to demoralizt a raw force such as that within the redoubt, but it produced no effect upon the Ameri- cans, who went on with their task quietly and with energy. Gridley soon withdrew from the hill, and Prescott, thus deserted, and witliout an engineer, prepared to extend his line to the best of his abilit)^ He pro- longed it from the east side of the redoubt northward for about twenty rods towards the bottom of the hill ; but the men were pre- vented from completing it by the heavy fire of the B itish artillery. One man ventured beyond the redoubt early in the day, and was killed by a shell. Prescott ordered him to be instantly buried, lest the sight of his PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 1^7 body might dishearten the men. To inspire the troops with confidence, Prescott sprang upon the parapet and walked slowly up and down the work examining it and issuing his orders. Boston Aroused by the Cannonading. In the meantime the firing had aroused the people of Boston, who crowded the house-tops, and every available point from which a view of the action could be obtained. General Gage reconnoitred the American position from Boston, through his glass, and observed Prescott, who was standing on the redoubt inspecting the work. " Who is that ■officer in command?" he asked of Councillor Willard,who was by his side. "Will he fight?" Willard had recognized Prescott, who was his ibrother-in-law, and replied : " He is an old soldier, and will fight to the last drop of his blood." Gage thereupon determined to dis- lodge the Americans from their position without loss of time, and summoned a coun- cil of his officers at his headquarters, in which it was decided to cross Charles River, ■effect a landing at Moulton's Point, and attack the works in front. Generals Clinton and Grant advocated an attack from the -direction of Charlestown Neck, which would iiave resulted in the capture of the whole American force ; but Gage refused to place his attacking column between the American -army at Cambridge and the detachment on ■the hill. The bustle in Boston as the British pre- pared for the attack could be distinctly seen ■by the Americans, and urgent messages were sent to General Ward for reinforcements and pro"isions. Putnam hurried to Ward's head- quarters to urge this demand; but Ward, who was greatly oppressed by the scarcity -of powder in the camp, hesitated to weaken .he main body, and it was not until eleven -o'clock on the morning of the seventeenth of June that he gave orders for the regi- ments of Stark and Reed to advance to Pre- scott's assistance. The arrival of these troops greatly cheered the little band under Prescott, who had been working all night, and were greatly in need of food. In the meantime Prescott had posted the Connecticut troops behind a rustic breast- work which he had constructed on the north of the redoubt. A stone fence ran down the side of the hill towards a swamp in this direction. Behind this the Ameri- cans placed a post and rail fence which they had torn up, and filled the interval between them with new-mown hay, thus forming a rude shelter. A part of the reinforcements joined Knowlton at this breastwork, and the remainder halted on Bunker Hill to enable Putnam to hold that point, the posses- sion of which he considered essential to the .safety of the force on Breed's Hill. About two o'clock General Warren arrived. He held the commission of a major-general, and both Prescott and Putnam offered to relin- quish the command to him, but he refused it, saying he had come to serve as a volun- teer, and took his place in the ranks at the redoubt. Reinforcements for the British. At noon twenty-eight barges filled with regulars, under the command of Generals Howe and Pigott, left Boston, and crossing the harbor, landed at Moulton's Point, under the cover of a heavy fire from the shipping. General Howe now discovered that the American position was stronger than he had supposed, and sent over to General Gage for reinforcements. While awaiting their arrival he refreshed his men with provisions and grog. His reinforcements having arrived, General Howe found himself at the head of over two thousand veteran troops splendidly equipped in every respect. Opposed to him 368 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. were about fifteen hundred imperfectly armed Americans. Gage had threatened that if Charlestown Heights were occupied by the provincials he would burn the town of Charlestown. He now proceeded to execute his barbarous threat, and fired the town by mear^ of shells from the battery on Copp's Hill hoping that the flames and smoke to storm the redoubt, while the other was led by General Howe in person against the rail fence, for the purpose of turning the American left flank and cutting off the retreat of the force in the redoubt. Prescott passed along his line as he saw the advance of the enemy, and encouraged his men with his cheering words. " The red coats," he would screen the approach of his attacking party under General Howe. A change of wind prevented this, however, and carried the smoke in the opposite direction. About half-past two o'clock on the after- noon of the seventeenth of June General Howe gave the order to advance. One division, under General Pigott, was ordered w^^tej^^' said, " will never reach the redoubt if yoc will but withhold your fire till I give the order, and be careful not to .shoot over their heads." Putnam had come down to the rail fence to encourage the men posted there, and as he saw the advance of the enemy, called out to the troops : " Wait till you sec the white of their eyes ; aioi PROGRESS OF THE WAR. at their waistband ; pick off the handsome coats." The British advanced in splendid style up the side of the hill, firing rapidly as they moved on. The Americans awaited their advance in a deep silence. As Pigott's division came within forty yards of the redoubt, the defenders levelled their guns and took a steady aim. A minute or two later Prescott jave the command, "Fire!" A sheet of flame broke from the rampart and tore great gaps in the English line, which reeled and staggered back down the hill. The officers exerted themselves gallantly to rally the men, and once more the line advanced. This rime the Americans suffered them to come nearer, and again drove them back with a fatal fire before which whole ranks went dov/n. They broke in such confusion that Pigott himself ordered a retreat. The division under General Howe was equally unfortu- nate. It v.'as suffered to advance within thirty yards of the rail fence, and was then driven back by a fire which broke it in con- fusion. The British retired to the shore from which they had started. The Whole Line Driven Back. Greatly astonished, but not disheartened by his repulse. General Howe reformed his line, and after an interval of fifteen minutes moved off again against the works, his plan being the same as that of the first assault. This time the Americans reserved their fire as before, and once more sent the whole British line reeling and broken down the hill. Officers on the English side who had been in many engagements subsequently declared that they had never seen such firing in any battle in which they had been engaged. A deafen- ing cheer from the patriot line greeted the repulse of the enemy. " If we can drive them back once more," cried Prescott, " they can- not rally again." A shout from the redoubt 24 309 red answered him. " We are ready for the coats again ! " General Clinton had witnessed the repulse of the regulars from his position on Copp's Hill, and was filled with astonishment and indignation at the sight. Without waiting for orders he crossed over to Charlestown with reinforcements, and offered his services i to General Howe as a volunteer. Many of the English officers were opposed to another attack ; but as it was learned that the ammu- nition of the Americans was very low, Howe resolved to storm the works with the bayonet, and this time to break through the open space between the redoubt and the rail fence breastwork. His men were ordered to lay aside their knapsacks, and many of them threw off their coats also. A raking fire of artillery drove the Americans from the breastwork extending from the redoubt into that work for shelter, and the order was given to the regulars to advance with fixed bayonets. Hand-to-hand Struggle. The Americans were nearly out of ammu- nition, and in the whole command there were not fifty men with bayonets to their guns. They met the advance of the enemy with a sharp fire, but their powder having given out, were not able to check them. Pressing on the British assailed the redoubt on three sides with the bayonet. A desperate hand- to-hand struggle followed ; the Americans fighting with clubbed guns and with stones. It was impossible to hold the work, how- e\cr, and Prescott gave the order to retreat. The men fell back in good order. The aged General Pomeroy, who was serving as a volunteer in the ranks, clubbed his gun and retreated with his face to the regulars, keep- ing them at bay by his detcrmineil action. The detachment at the rail fence, under Knowlton, Stark and Reed, held their posi- tion until their comrades had withdrawn 370 DEATH OF MAJOR ITI CAIRN. PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 371 from the redoubt, and then retreated in good order down the hill, thus preventing the enemy from cutting off the retreat of Pres- cott's party. One of the last to leave the redoubt was General Warren, who had borne himself with great gallantry in the engagement. He had scarcely left the trenches when he fell .shot through the head, thus consecrating the spot with his blood, and leaving to his country a noble memory which she has ever held in grateful honor. Putman had gone to the rear before the final attack of the enemy to collect men for a reinforcement. On his return he met the retreating provincials passing over Bunker Hill. Without orders from any one, he rallied such as would obey him, and for the first time during the day assumed the com- mand. With these forces, and a detachment which arrived too late to take part in the battle, he withdrew to Prospect Hill, where he began to fortify his position. The British made no effort to pursue him, but contented themselves with occupying Breed's and Bun- ker Hills. Heavy Losses on Both Sides. In this battle the Americans lost four hundred and fifty men, killed, wounded and prisoners. The British, out of a force of less than three thousand, lost one thousand and fifty-four, including eighty-three officers, thirteen of whom were killed. Among the killed was Major Pitcairn, who had ordered his men to fire on the patriots at Lexington. The victory was dearly bought by the British. In its moral effects the battle was worth as much to the Americans as a success. It taught them that undisciplined provincials could hold their ground against the king's regulars, and inspired them with a confidence in their own ability to maintain the struggle. They had held their ground against twice their number, and were driven from it only when their ammunition failed. General Gage was deeply impressed with this lesson, and made no attempt to assume the offensive When the news of the battle reached Eng- land the ministers were greatly dissatisfied w^ith their victory. Gage was recalled, and 1 General Howe was appointed his successor. Preparations for the Conflict. Washington, who had started on his jour- ney to New England before the arrival of the news of the battle, was met on the way by the courier who bore the tidings to Congress. He hastened his journey, and reached Cam- bridge on the second of July. The next day he formally assumed the command of the army. He was received with enthusiasm which was most gratifying to him, and at once set to work to place the army in a proper condition for the service required of it. He was fully aware of the magnitude of the task he had undertaken, and his letters written at the time indicate a deep reliance upon God for assistance in discharging it. The army numbered about fourteen thous- and men, and was without organization, with- out uniforms, poorly armed, and imperfectly clothed. It must be disciplined, supplied with arms and clothing, and with ammuni- tion. At the same time the enemy in Bos- ton must be watched and kept in check. To make the army effective its force must be raised to twenty or twenty-five thousand men, and the petty jealousies which divided it must be removed. It was resolved to maintain the present position of the army before Boston, and to capture or drive out the British force in ■ that city. Washington established his head- quarters at Cambridge, which was his centre, and was under the immediate command of General Putnam. The right wing, under General Ward h<-Ul Ro.Kburv, and the left, 37^ THE AMERICAN REVOLailON. under General Charles Lee, was at Prospect Hill. About this time the army was joined by a force of riflemen from Virginia, Mary- land, and Pennsylvania, under Daniel Mor- gan, who was destined to achieve distinction during the war. He was rough and unedu- cated, but was one of the truest sons of America. He was never found wanting in iny position in which he was placed, and was a man upon whose devotion and integ- BUNKER HILL MONUMENT. rity absolute reliance could be placed by his commanders. The winter was passed in the organization of the army. The want of ammunition pre- vented Washington from assuming the offen- sive, though he greatly desired to do so. It was necessary to observe the greatest care to prevent this state of affairs from becoming known to the Britisli, and at the same time every effort was made to supply the defi- ciency. These efforts were partially success- ful. It was proposed to attack Canada soon after the capture of the forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. This proposal met with little favor in Congress until it was known that the British were assembling a force of regulars and enlisting the Indians in Canada for the invasion of New York. Then, as a measure of self-defence, the proposed invasion cf that country was sanctioned, and prepara- tions for it were actively begun. Two expe- ditions were deter- mined upon ; one by way of Lake Champlain, the other across the wilderness, by way of the Kennebec and Chaudiere Riv- ers. The first was intrusted to Gener- al Philip Schuyler, who had been ap- pointed by Wash- ington to the com- mand in New York, and the latterto Col- onel Arnold, who was in the camp at Cambridge, eager for some opportu- nity to distinguish himself. A force of New York and New England troops was assembled on Lake Champlain under Schuyler, who was ably seconded by Brigadier General Richard Montgomerj^ who had served under Wolfe in the old French war. Schuyler moved down the lake t) the Isle aux Noix, in the Sorel River, and occu- pied that island. In September he made an attempt to capture St. John's, but finding it much stronger than he had supposed, re- sumed his former position. Falling seriously ill soon after, he was obliged to withdraw to PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 3? 5 Albany, and relinquished the command to Montgomery. Reaching Albany, he suc- ceeded in securing supplies, ammunition and reinforcements, and sent them to Mont- gomery. An Important Success. Tliat energetic officer at once assumed the ofiensive, and captured St. John's, on the Sorel River, on the third of November, after a spirited resistance, and in spite of the efforts of Sir Guy Carleton to relieve it. On the thirteenth of November Montgomery arrived before Montreal, which surrendered upon his first summons. This capture enabled the American commander to supply his men ■with woolen clothes, of which they were very much in need. Although it was the begin- ning of the winter, and his force was reduced to three hundred men, poorly clad and lack- ing almost every kind of supplies, Montgom- ery set out without delay to join Arnold before Quebec. Arnold had left the camp at Cambridge in September with a force ofeleven hundred men, including three companies of riflemen under Morgan. He was to ascend the Kennebec and march across the wilderness to Quebec, where he was to unite his force with the army from New York. The march across the unbroken wilderness of Maine and Canada is one of the most memorable in history. It consumed two months of time, and was marked by intense suffering and unceasing and severe labor. The troops had to cut their way through an unbroken wilderness^ .'brd icy streams, climb mountains and brave the rigors of the Canadian winter. Their provisions gave out, and thry were reduced to the nece,ssity of eating their dogs and chewing their moccasins. At length, on the ninth of November, Arnold, with about six hundred and fifty ■effective men, reached the St. Lawrence, at Point Levi. Could he have crossed over to Quebec at once, that city must have fallen into his hands ; but he was unable to do so, as he had no boats ; and in a few days Sir Guy Carleton arrived from Montreal, which he had abandoned to Montgomery, and put the city in a state of defence. Eluding the two armed vessels which held the river, Arnold crossed his command to the opposite side of the St. Lawrence, and climbing the cliffs by the path which Wolfe had ascended, occupied the Heights of Abra- ham, and endeavored to draw the garrison out of their works to meet him. They declined his challenge, and finding it impos- sible to besiege the city without artillerj^ he moved to a point twenty miles up the river, where he met Montgomery, from whom he obtained clothing for his men, who had lost nearly all their clothes in their march through the wilderness, A Difficult March. Montgomery now assumed the command of the united forces, which numbered less than a thousand men, and on the fifth of December laid siege to Quebec. Having no materials for the proper construction of a battery, a novel expedient was adopted. Gabions were filled with ice and snow, over which water was poured. The cold soon froze this to a solid mass ; but, as the ice was brittle, it afforded no protection against the fire of the enemy's guns. The Americans soon found their artillery too light to make any impression upon the walls of the city, and, as a last resort, it was determined to attempt the capture of the place by an assault, which was ordered for the thirty-first of December. The attack was made with spirit, but was unsuccessful. Montgomery was shot down while leading the attack on the lower town, and his column was driven back. Arnold was severely 3/4 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. wounded in the assault upon the upper town, and the command passed to Morcjan, the next in rank. Morgan succeeded in carry- ing the two batteries which defended the entrance to Quebec, and in forcing his way into the town ; but, being overpowered by numbers, was compelled to surrender. He and his men were treated with especial kind- ness by Sir Guy Carleton in recognition of their bravery. The attack having proved a failure, Arnold, whose force had been reduced GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY. to nve hundred men, fell back to a position about three miles above Quebec, and held it all winter, hoping to receive such reinforce- ments as would enable him to take Quebec, In April, 1776, GL^neral Wooster joined Arnold with reinforcements, and, assuming the command, made another unsuccessful effort to capture Quebec. Wooster was soon recalled, and was succeeded by General Thomas. Sir Guy Carleton, governor of Canada, was heavily reinforced, and Thomas was obliged to abandon the attempt on Quebec and retreat. His movement was so hasty that he left his baggage, artillery and sick in Carleton's hands. The British com- mander, with a humanity rare among his countrymen during this struggle, treated the sick prisoners with great kindness. Thomas fell back as far as the Sorel, where he died of the small-pox, which was making great ravages among the troops. Sir Guy Carle- ton continued to advance, and defeated a portion of the army under General Thomp- son at Three Rivers. Thompson and a number of his officers and men were made prisoners. The remainder secured their retreat and joined General Sullivan on the Sorel. The wreck of the army now fell back from Canada to Crown Point in a most miserable and dis- heartened condition. Thus ended the inva- sion of Canada, the most disastrous e.\pedi- tion attempted by the Americans during the vv^ar; yet still one the failures of which were greatly offset by the heroic daring of the troops engaged. Carleton was able to occupy the entrances to Canada with a strong force^ and to make any future attempt at invasion impossible. Norfolk Bombarded. While these events were transpiring in Canada, Virginia was also the scene of war. Towards the close of the year 1775 Lord Dunmore, the royalist governor of Virginia, who had taken refuge on board a man-of- war, issued a proclamation offering freedom to the negro slaves and indentured white ser- vants of the patriots who would join him in the servile war he meant to inaugurate. With a force collected in this manner, he landed at Norfolk and took possession of the town. Fugitive slaves joined him in con- siderable numbers, and it seemed likely that he would be able to carry out his threat and PROGRESS OF Till-: WAR. 373 scourge Virginia and North Carolina with a warfare of massacre and servile violence. Several regiments were raised in Virginia to drive him out of the province. The second of these, under Colonel Woodford, seized the narrow peninsula which connects Norfolk with the mainland, and on the ninth of December was attacked by Dunmore's forces, which were summarily defeated. In revenge. Dunmore returned in Januarj^ 1776, and bombarded and burned Norfolk, then the largest and richest town and the principal shipping port of Virginia. On the fifth of September, 1775, the Con- tinental Congress resumed its sessions. Delegates from Georgia appeared and were admitted to seats in the Congress, and the colonies assumed the style of the Thirteen Utiited Colonies. Matters were not very encouraging when Congress met. The army was in need of everything that could con- tribute to its efficienc}', and the New England coast was harassed with the armed vessels of Great Britain, which laid its towns under exaction, or subjected them to bombard- ment, and committed other gross outrages upon the inhabitants. On the eighteenth of October the town of Falmouth, now Port- land, in Maine, was burned by Lieutenant Mowatt of the British navy. The olher towns, warned by the fate of Falmouth, pro- ceeded to fortify themselves, and escaped with nothing worse than an occasional engagement with some royal cruiser. Naval matters very largely occupied the attention of the whole country at this period. The only way in which the needed supplies could be obtained was by purchase abroad or the capture of the enemy's ships. Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina promptly estab- lished naval boards for the purpose of fitting cut cruisers for this service ; and among the first acts of Washington, after assuming the command of the army, was to send out armed vessels to the St. Lawrence and the New England waters to seize the supply ships of the English on their way to Canada and Boston. A number of vessels were captured by these cruisers, and a considera- ble quantity of arms, ammunition and other stores thus accumulated. Securing War Supplies. Congress appointed a secret committee to import powder from the West Indies, and to erect mills in the interior for its manufac- ture ; and foundries for casting cannon. Licenses were issued to privateers, and a naval committee was appointed to superin- tend the formation of a marine force for the defence of the harbors, and was charged with the building of thirteen frigates. In Decem- ber a secret committee was appointed to open and conduct a correspondence with foreign nations, or with friends of the cause in Europe. Parliament, in the meantime, had not been idle, but had enacted stringent measures for the prosecution of the war and the punish- ment of the colonists. The measures adopted by the British government were cruel and barbarous. The Americans were to be treated as criminals and as deserving of death. They were made subject to the pains and penalties of treason if captured, and could in no case expect the treatment of prisoners of war. The crews of all vessels captured in trading to the colonies were con- demned beforehand to serve in the marine corps of the ro)'al navy. It was decided to increase the British army in America to forty thousand men. . Twenty-five thousand of these troops were to be raised, and the effort to enlist men was begun in England, but without success. Recruits could not be found in sufficient numbers to repay the effort. The ministry could not hope for better success in Ireland, as they had been 3/6 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. warned by General Howe that the Irish were strong sympathizers with the Americans and could not be relied upon to fight against them. In this emergency the government resolved to employ German troops for the subjuga- tion of America, and negotiations were opened with Brunswick and Hesse Cassel, two petty German States. The result was that Great Britain hired seventeen thousand troops from these .states for the conquest of the English-speaking people of America. These mercenaries were generally known as Hes- sians, and became the objects of the bitter hatred of the Americans — a hatred which they fully earned by their subsequent cruel- ties towards the colonists. These measures were not adopted by the British government without opposition. There was a determined minority in B^ng- land, consisting of such men as Burke, Barre and the Duke of Grafton, who manfully sought to obtain justice for the colonies up to the last moment at which a settlement was possible. The corporation of London and the mercantile interests of the country generally were opposed to the measures of the government, and sought to procure a just and peaceful settlement ; but all ef- forts were in vain. The king and the ministry were resolved upon the subjuga- tion of America ; nothing else would satisfy them. CHAPTER XXVII. The Declaration of Independence ■The Siege of Boston— Difficulties of the American Army— Activity of the Privateers — Clinton's Expedition— Colonel Knox Arrives from Ticonderoga with Cannon— Seizure of Dorchester Heights by Washington— The Bri'.ish Evacuate Boston— Royalist Plots in New York— Paper Money Issued by Congress— Gates Sent to the North— The British Attack Charleston — Battle of Fort Moidtrie — The Howes in New York Bay — Change in the Character of the War Growing Sentiment in Favor of Independence — Virginia Proposes that the Colonies Assert their Independence — Action of Congress — The Declaration of Independence— Articles of Confederation Adopted by Congress — Lord Howe's Efforts at Conciliation — Addresses a Letter to Washington — Battle of Long Island — Defeat of the Americans — Retreat from Long Island — Evacuation of New York by the Americans — Less of Fort Washington — Washington Retreats Through New Jersey — He Crosses the Delaware — Darkest Period of tlie War— Washington's Determination to Continue the War — Lord Howe's Proclamation — Its Effect — Congress at Baltimore— Carleton Invades New York — Defeats Arnold on Lake Champlain — Carleton Retires into Canada — Battle of Trenton — Happy Effects of the Victory — Congress Confers Dictatorial Powers u\Km Washington — Commissioners Sent to France. THE winter of 1775-76 was passed by the army before Boston in inaction. There was not ammunition enough in the camp to enable Washington to attack Boston, and the British were well content to remain within their lines without seeking to raise the siege. Washington exerted himself to the utmost to obtain ar:il- lery and powder. Henry Knox, a bookseller of Boston, who had entered the military ser- vice of the colonies, had attracted the attention of the commander-in-chief by his skill in the use of artillery and in planning the works erected for the delence of the camp. Knox now proposed to go to Ticonderoga and bring away from that place and from Crown Point all the artillery and powder that could be spared, and his plan was at once approved j by Washington, who urged Congress to com- | mission him a colonel of artillery. At the same time he wrote to Schuyler, the commander in New York, to give Knox every assistance in his power in his effort to bring the artillery from Lake Champlain to Boston. Great difficulties were experienced during the winter in inducing the troops to renew their enlistments. It required all the ingenu- ity and tact of which Washington was master to remove the prejudices and jealousies which had grown up in the camp since the com- mencement of the blockade of Boston, and which threatened to disband the army. He succeeded in a greater degree than he had expected. At the opening of the year 1776 he had about ten thousand men in camp, many of whom were raw troops newly enlisted and without arms. Still they were a more harmonious and contented force than the first army. Towards the close of 1775 the priva- teers made extensive captures from the British. Captain Manly, of the schooner " Lee," captured a British brig off Cape Ann, laden with arms, artillery and military stores for the British army at Boston. These were sent at once to Washington, and proved of the greatest service. Among the captures was an immense mortar, which Putnam named the " Congress," and placed in position at Lechmere Point, on the north of Boston. Matters were gloomy indeed. The people were very anxious that Boston should be attacked, but such a course was impossible. As late as the tenth of February, 1776, Washington wrote : " Without men, without 377 Tin: AMERICAN REVOLUTION. arms, without ammunition, little is to be done." To increase the discouragement of the patriots news came of the defeat of the attempt to conquer Canada. The British were collecting a fleet for a demonstration against some point on the .\tlantic coast, and as it was not certain where the blow would fall, a feeling of general uneasiness prevailed along the entire seaboard. This expedition sailed from Boston, under Sir Henry Clinton, about the first of Febru- ar\-, Washington, who had for some time GENEIUVL HENRY KNOX. suspected that it was designed to capture New York, had already sent General Charles Lee to raise troops to occupy that important city and hold it against the British. Lee executed his task with energy, and on the fourth of February entered New York and encamped in the suburbs, in what is now the City Hall Park. Governor Tryon, who had taken refuge on board a man-of-war, threatened to bombard the city if the Ameri- can forces should enter it; but Lee informed him that the first shot fired at New York would be the signal for the execution of the leading friends of the royal cause in that cit>\ This decisive answer induced Tryon to delay his barbarous purpose. That afternoon Sir Henry Clinton, with his fleet, entered the harbor. Finding that he had come too late to secure the city, Clinton declared that he had merely called at the harbor to pay a visit to his friend Tryon, and in a few days he sailed away for North Carolina, where the royalist Governor Martin, who, like Tryon, had taken refuge on board a man-of-war, had been endeavoring to stir up an insurrection of the Tories, as the royalists were called. The command of this movement was to be assumed by Clinton. Martin also expected a fleet under Sir Peter Parker from Ireland. Decisive Defeat of the Tories. To gain time, and stir up the Tories to prompt action, he commissioned two retired officers of the British army, Scotchmen, named McDonald and McLeod, who had recently settled in North Carolina, to raise troops among the friends of the king in the interior. They succeeded in raising about fifteen hundred men, and set off for the coast to join Martin. The patriots at once rallied in considerable forco to oppose their march, and intercepted them at Moore's Creek Bridge, near Wilmington. On the twenty- fifth of February a sharp engagement was fought here, which resulted in the defeat of the Tories. McLeod was killed and McDonald was taken prisoner. Eighteen hundred stand of arms, one hundred and fifty swords, two medicine-chests, and the sum of fifteen thousand pounds sterling in gold fell into the hands of the victors, and went far toward supplying their deficiencies. The contem- plated rising of the Tories was put down in the interior counties, and Martin find- ing his hopes of raising troops in North Carolina destroyed, withdrew with Clinton THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 379 ,o the Cape Fear to await the arrival of the fleet of Sir Peter Parker. In the meantime a Union flag had been provided for the army before Boston, and was formally displayed for the first time in the American camp on the first of January, 1776. It retained the English cross in the upper left-hand corner, in token of the rela- tions still existing between the colonies and England, and bore on its broad field thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, represent- ing the thirteen colonies united for the defence of their liberties. Towards the close of February the stock of powder was consider- ably increased, and a little later Colonel Knox arrived from Ticonderoga with the cannon and ammunition from that post. He had transported them on sledges across the long stretch of country between Lake Champlain and Boston, and had overcome difficulties in the accomplishment of this task which seemed at first insurmountable. The arrival of these guns gave Washington a fair supply of heavy ordnance and put an end to the long delay which had prevailed in the American camp. The regular army had been increased to fourteen thousand men, and had been reinforced by six thousand militia from Massachusetts. Ready for Decisive Action. All now was bustle and activity. The newly arrived cannon were mouuted to com- mand the city, and Washington was at length able to attempt the long desired demonstra- tion against the enemy in Boston. As early as December, 1775, Congress had urged him to undertake the capture of Boston, and had authorized him to destroy the city if he could expel the British in no other way, and John Hancock, who was a large property-owner, regardless of the fate of his possessions, had written to him : " Do it, and may God crown your attempt with success." All through the winter Washington had been held back from such an attempt by the advice of his council of war, which hesitated to assume the offensive with an insufficient supply of ammunition and artillery. Putnam had suc- ceeded in fortifying the neighboring heights on the mainland, but had been obliged to do much of this work at night to avoid the fire of the enemy's shipping. The last obstacle to decisive action was now removed. Washington resolved to seize the eminence on the south of Boston, known as Dorchester Heights. It commanded the town from that quarter and also the shipping in the harbor. Its possession by the Americans would force Sir William Howe either to evacuate the city or risk a general engagement for its recover)'. Heavy Fire of Shot and Shell. On the evening of the second of March a heavy fire was opened upon the British lines by the American batteries and also upon Boston. A number of houses were set on fire, and the attention of the British was fully occupied in extinguishing the flames. The' bombardment was renewed the next night. At dark on the evening of the fourth of March the Americans renewed their fire with redoubled vigor, and were replied to with spirit by the British, and during the whole night the roar of cannon went on, covering the movements of the Americans from ob- servation by the enemy. The force assigned for the seizure of Dorchester Heights was placed under the command of General Thomas, and in case the movement should be discovered, and the enemy should seek to dis- lodge this detachment from the Heights, General Putnam was ordered to cross Charles River with a column of four thousand picked troops and attack the city from that quarter. Under the cover of the heavy cannonade the column of General Thomas passed the 3 So THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. narrow isthmus in safety, and reached the Heights by eight o'clock undiscovered by the enemy. They at once set to work, though the ground was frozen to a depth of more than eighteen inches, and by morning had thrown up a series of earthworks which entirely commanded both the cit)- and the harbor. General Howe was greatly aston- ished as he examined these works through his glass when the mists of the morning cleared away. " The rebels," he said, " have done more work in a night than n:;y whole army would have done in a month." The British MEDAL STRUCK BY CONGRESS IN HONOR OF THE RECAPTURE OF BUST admiral declared that his ships could not remain in the harbor, as the possession of the Heights by the Americans placed the fleet entirely at their mercy. It was evident to all the British commanders that the Heights must be recovered or the city abandoned and General Howe determined to storm the American works that night, and made prep- arations for an attack. This movement was prevented by a severe storm, which put a stop to the cooperation of the fleet, and when the storm had died away the works had been so greatly strengthened as to render an assault hopeless. A council of war was held, and it was resolved to abandon the town. As such a step required some time, Howe secured the safety of his army by declaring that he would burn the town if his troops were fired on during their embarkation. A deputation of the citizens proceeded to the American camp and informed General Washington of Howe's determination, and in order to save the city from further suffering the British were allowed to depart in peace. They consumed eleven days in their embarkation. They embarked about fifteen hundred Tories with them, and after plundering a num- ber of stores and private houses, and robbing the inhabitants of a consid- erable supply of pro- visions, they embarked on the seventeenth of March, and dropping down the bay anchored at Nantasket Roads. They had scarcely left the city when the Ameri- can army, under Wash- ington, marched in and occupied the place. The long siege often months was at an end, and Bos- ton was again free. The patriot army was received with enthusiasm, and matters soon began to resume their accustomed condition. By the capture of Boston the Americans obtained possession of two hundred and fifty pieces of artillery, four mortars, and a con- siderable quantity of ammunition, pro\-isions and clothing, which the British could not carry away. After the departure of the British fleet from Nantasket Roads several transports with troops, not aware of the. evacuation, entered the harbor, and were captured. Several storeships, laden with military supplies of all kinds, also arrived THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 381 from England, and were captured in the same way. These captures were of the highest importance to the patriots. Their supply of ammunition was in this way increased more than sevenfold. The capture of Boston was justly esteemed the most important success of the war. It freed New England from the presence of the English, and enabled her to contribute men and money to the defence of the middle colonies. On motion of John Adams, Con- \ gress adopted a unanimous vote of thanks to I defence. He soon discovered that the Tories in the city were in constant communication with Governor Tryon and the British ships in the harbor. Severe measures were at once adopted to stop this intercourse. A con- spiracy for the recovery of the city by Tryon was discovered, and his agents were found tampering with the American soldiers. One Thomas Hickey, a deserter from the British army, was hanged " for mutiny, sedition and treachery," and this vigorous measure at once put a stop to the plots of the Tories. CONTINENTAL BILLS. Washington and the army, and ordered a gold medal to be struck in commemoration of the deliverance of Boston. The British fleet remained in Nantaskct roads for several days after the evacuation of .Boston, and then bore away for Halifax. Washington was fearful that its destination was New York, and leaving General Ward with five regiments to hold Boston, hastened southward with the main body of the army. I He reached New York on the thirteenth of of April, and set to work with vigor to put the city and its approaches in a state of ' Congress, in February, 1776, found itself obliged to issue four millions of dollars of additional paper money in order to meet the expenses of the war, which were heavier than had been supposed. For the proper manage- ment of the finances, an auditor-general and assistants were appointed to act under the financial committee of Congress, and it was not long before this branch of the public service assumed the form of a treasury department. In April a war office was established by Congress under the super- vision of a committee of its members. John 382 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Adams was made chairman of this committee, and resigned his post of chief-justice of Massachusetts to accept it. The retreat of Sulh'van from Canada now became known, and the conduct of that officer was approved by Congress, which passed a vote of thanks to him. At the same time it appointed Major-General Horatio Gates to the command of the army in his place. Gates was an Englishman by birth, and liad joined the colonial movement in the hope of winning honors and fame by his sen-ices. He had served in the British army during the colonial period, but had failed to receive the rewards he deemed himself entitled to, and had resigned his commission in disgust, and had come to America to reside a few years before the rupture with England. His experience and skill made him a valuable acquisition to the American army, but his ambition and jealousy were destined to cause it considerable trouble. Gates at once claimed that his command embraced not only the troops on Lake Champlain, but also the w hole northern army under Schuyler. The matter was referred to Congress, and it was decided that Gates was independent of the control of Schuyler only while in Canada. Elsewhere he was subject to Schuyler's com- mand. Expedition Against Charleston. In the meantime Congress had sent Gen- eral Charles Lee to the south to take com- mand of the troops assembling to oppose Sir Henry Clinton, who was waiting off the mouth of the Cape Fear river for the arrival of the fleet of Sir Peter Parker from Ireland. This fleet joined Clinton in May, and a little later Congress learned by means of inter- cepted letters that Charleston, in South Carolina, was the object of attack. The command of the strong military force which the fleet briiught was to he held by Sir 1 lenry Clinton, to whom the general direction of the expedition was intrusted. Lee hastened at once to Charleston. He found there a force of about six thousand men, from the Carolinas and Virginia ; but the city was not defended by a single fortifi- cation. Had Clinton assailed it at once, it must have fallen into his hands, as he arrived in the harbor on the fourth of June, the very day that Lee reached the city ; but he delayed his attack until he could fortify his own position, and so gave Lee time to erect works for the defence of the city. Fort Moultrie Bombarded. The key to the American position was Fort Moultrie, a small work built of palmetto logs, and situated on the southwest point of Sullivan's Island. It was commanded by Colonel William Moultrie, whose name it bore. In front of it lay the British fleet under Sir Peter Parker. Sir Henry Clinton had taken position with two thousand men on Long Island, which was separated from Sul- livan's Island by only a narrow creek, and was building batteries to cover his passage of the creek. His plan was to allow the fleet to breach the walls of Fort Moultrie and then to cross his troops to Sullivan's Island under the cover of his batteries, and carrj' the fort by storm. Lee, who was ignorant of the capacity of the soft, spongy palmetto wood for resisting the force of cannon shot, regarded the eflbit to hold Fort Moultrie as madness. He stationed a force under Colonel Thomp- son on Sullivan's Island opposite Clinton to dispute his passage of the creek, and took position on the mainland with the rest of his force where he could support either Moultrie or Thompson, as might be necessary. On the twenty-eighth of June the enemy's fleet opened fire on Fort Moultrie, which replied with s[)irit, and for ten hours the can- nnn-ule w.t; "i.iintained with great vigor by THE DECLARATION OF I ooth sides. The enemy's balls buried them selves in the soft, spongy wood of the pal metto logs, and thus did little injury to tin lort ; but the well-directed fire of the Amcri can guns inflicted great damage upon the fleet The British were finallj compelled to withdraw with heavy loss, and abandoned and set fire to one of th:ir ships During the engagement the flag of the fort \\a-. shot away, and fell out- side of the walls. Ser- geant Jasper, of the South Carolina forces, at once sprang over the wall and amidst a heavy fire secured the flag, tied it to a pole, and set it up again on the ramparts. This done, he rejoined his comrades at the gun-, A few days later Go\- ernor Rutledge pre- sented Jasper with his own sword and offered him a lieutenant's com- mission. Jasper accepted the sword, but declined the commission on the ground that he could neither read nor write Clinton made repeated efforts to cross the creek and storm the fort during the battle, but was as often driven back by the batteries under Thompson. fleet having withdrawn, he men, and soon after sailed for New York to join the troops assembling near that «ity. INDEPENDENCE. 383 Washington was correct in supposing that New York was the true destination of Sir William Howe after leaving the Nantasket Roads. That commander sailed first to Hali- ( V; ^ '^^r^^'/ \ ^^ ^ SERGEANT JASPER AT FORT MOULTRI At length, embarked fax, where he landed the civilians and other useless incumbrances he had been obliged to carry away from Boston. Then, refitting his command, he awaited the arrival of his brother. Admiral Lord Howe, who was on 3S4 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. his way from England with reinforcements. In the latter part of June he sailed from Halifax for New York, and arrived within Sandy Hook on the twenty-eighth of June, the very day «f the attack on Fort Moultrie, He landed his forces on Staten Island, where he was received with enthusiasm by the Tories. A little later he was joined by Sir Henry Clinton from Charleston, and about the mid- die of July Lord Howe arrived with rein- forcements, a large part of whom were Hessians, hired, as we have stated, by the King of England from the Duke of Hesse Cassel, in German}-. Their arrival raised the strength of the British army in New York Bay to thirty thousand men. Their attack upon the city was merely a question of time, and under the most favorable circumstances it was scarcely to be hoped that Washington would succeed in maintaining his hold upon New York. In the meantime an event of the highest importance had changed the whole character of the war as regarded the Ameri- cans. England Will Not Relent. The colonists had taken up arms to resist the aggressions of the King and Government of Great Britain upon their liberties and to compel the mother country to respect the rights guaranteed to them by their charters and by the British Constitution. Thus far the war had been waged for these ends. At the outset of the struggle a few far-seeing persons, such as Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry, had been convinced that an appeal to arms would render the final separation of the colonies from England inevitable, and that such an issue was but the fulfilment of the destiny of their country, and as such to be desired. The great majority of the people, however, neither thought of nor wished for independ- ence. They would have been satisfied to secure their liberties and privileges as English subjects, and would gladly have continued loyal to the king. The events of the war had made it plain to the most skeptical that England did not intend to do justice to her colonies. Neither the king, the ministry, nor Parliament were disposed to swerve from their purpose of reducing America to absolute submission to their will. They were determined that the colonists should bear every burden of British citizenship, and enjoy none of its privileges save what they should see fit to allow them. Americans were not to enjoy either liberty or property as lawful rights. The Feeling Toward Great Britain. This determination was so clear that none could mistake it. Since the commencement of the struggle public opinion in America had undergone a great change, and the party in favor of a total and final separation from the mother country had increased so rapidly that it now embraced the great major- ity of the American people. Now that they had become convinced that they could main- tain their liberties only by a total and unqual- ified separation from Great Britain, they did not hesitate to choose that course. Their choice was made without regret. At the commencement of the war a very genuine attachment bound the people of the colonies to England; but the course of the royal government and the severities of the British commanders in the Northern colonies, and the outrages of the royal governors in the South, had entirely alienated the people from their love for England. Still there were many Tories, or friends of the king, in America, and they were active and bitter in their opposition to the patriots. From the first the Americans regarded the Tories with a feeling of hatred which increased as the struggle went on, and this feeling was THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 38s soon extended to all who fought under the royal flag or sought to uphold its cause. Not only had the people been gradually coming to view independence as desirable and indispensable ; the exercise by Congress of the functions of a supreme government had accustomed them to it, and had shown them their capacity for conducting a gen- eral government for the whole countrv Early in March, 1776, Congress granled let- ters of marque and re- prisal against British commerce, and some what later sent Silas Deane as its commis- sioner to France to seek assistance from that country. In May it had formally recoi" mended the colon to disregard the rov governments i 1 adopt systems suiU to their needs, and 1 harmony with t' changed state ofaffdi To all men it v as c\ 1 dent that a form il r>. nunciation of alic^i ance to Great Britiin and the assertion their independe net. the colonies was mc ly a question of tinii. inoepi It was, therefore, a sui pri.se to no one w iicn the first definite action looking towards inde- pendence was taken. On the fifteenth of May, 1776, the general assembly of Virginia instructed the delegates of that colony in 25 Congress to offer a resolution in favor of the separation of the colonies from England, and the formal declaration of their independence. On the thirtieth of May Massachusetts instructed her delegates to support tiiis reso- 1 1)1 \Cr H\IL, PIIII \I)EIPIII\ lution. On the seventh of June Riclu.iJ Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered a resolution in Congress, "that the united colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent States, and that their political connection 386 with Great Britain is, and ought to be, dis- solved." The resolution was seconded by John Adams, of Massachusetts, and was debated witli great earnestness. It was adopted by a bare majority of one — seven colonies voting for it, and si.N; against it. In accordance with the resolution, a committee was appointed to draw up a declaration of independence, and, in order that the delegates might have an opportunity to ascertain the wishes of their constituents, the consideration of the subject was postponed until the first of July. Two THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. with a few verbal alterations, was adopted by the committee as it came from his hand. It reviewed in a clear and comprehensive manner the cause which had impelled the colonies to take up arms for the defence of their liberties, and which now induced them to sever the ties that bound them to Great Britain. The declaration concluded in these mem- orable words : " We, therefore, the repre- sentatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of all the world for the rectitude of our inten- tions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved from all alle- giance to the British crown, and that all poli- tical connection between tliem and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved; and that, as free and HOUSE IN WHICH THE DECLARATION OK INDEI-ENDENCE WAS WRITfEN, PHILADELPHIA. other committees were also appointed. One of these was charged with the preparation of a plan for uniting the colonics in a single government ; the other was to report a plan for securing alliances with foreign nations. The committee charged with the preparation of a declaration of independence consisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. On the twenty-eighth of Jiuie the com- mittee reported the declaration to Congress. It was written by Thomas Jefferson, and, independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace contract alliances, establish commerce and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this decla- ration, with a firm reliance on the protection of a Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." The declaration was debated in Congress, and a few passages, which it was feared might offend the friends of the colonies in Great Britain, were stricken out. The vote SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 3S8 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. was then taken by colonies, and though some of the delegates voted against it, the declaration received tiie votes of all the colo- nies with the exception of New York, which accepted it a few days later. On the fourth day of July, 1776, the Declaration of Inde- pendence was formally adopted by Congress, and was ordered to be published to the world, and to be read at the head of the regiments of the army. Congress was in session in the hall of the state house in Philadelphia. In the spire of this venerable building hung a bell, inscribed OLD BELL OF INDEPENDEN'CE HALL. with the words of Scripture : " Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." On the morning of the fourth of July vast crowds assembled around the building, as it was known that Congress would on that day take definite action upon the declaration. The bell-ringer stationed himself in the tower, ready to proclaim the good news the moment it should be announced to him, and had posted his little son at the door of the hall to await the signal of the door-keeper. When the announcement of the vote was made, the door-keeper gave the signal and the boy ran quickly to the tower. The old man heard him coming, and clutched the bell-rope with a firm grasp. The next instant the glad cry of the boy's voice was heard. " Ring ! ring I " he cried, and then the deep, sonorous tones of the bell went rolling out of the tower, and were answered with a mighty shout from the assembled throng without. The declaration was received by all the states and by the army with enthusiasm. Thus the thirteen united colonies became the thir- teen United States. It should not be for- gotten that the declaration did not make the colonies independent states, or states in any sense. It was simply their announcement to the world that they had, each for itself, by the exercise of its own sovereign power,, assumed the independence which rightfully belonged to it. The Declaration of Independence put an end to all the hopes that had been cherished of an accommodation with Great Britain, and caused those who were still wavering to embrace the cause of their country. It relieved Congress of the disadvantage under which it had hitherto acted, and enabled it to pursue a more vigorous and decisi\e policy in the prosecution of the war. There was no retreat now ; nothing remained but to continue the struggle until Great Britain should be compelled to acknowledge the independence of the states, or they should be reduced to the condition of conquered provinces. On the twelfth of July the committee appointed to prepare a plan for the union of the states reported one, which is thus summed up: " 1st. The style of the confederacy was to be ' The United States of America.' " 2d. Each state retained its sovereignty, freedom and independence and every power THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 389 and right which is not expressly delegated to the United States. " 3d. The object of the confederation was for their mutual defence, the security' of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever. " 4th. In determining all questions in Congress each State was to have one vote. " 5th. Each Sfate was to maintain its own delegates. " 6th. The free inhabitants of each State, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from jus- tice e.xcepted, were to be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several States. " 7th. All fugitives from justice from one State into another were to be delivered up on demand. "8th. Full faith and credit were to be given to the records of each State in all the others. " 9th. Congress was to grant no title of nobility. " loth. No person holding any office was to receive a present from a foreign power. "nth. No State was to form any agree- ment or alliance with a foreign power with- out the consent of the States in Congress assembled. " 1 2th. No two or more States were to form any alliance between themselves with- out the like consent of the States in Congress assembled. " 13th. No State, without the like consent of Congress, was to keep war ships or an army in time of peace ; but each was to keep a well-organized and disciplined militia, with munitions of war. " 14th. No State was to lay any duty upon foreign imports which would interfere with any treaty made by Congress. " 15th. No State was to issue letters of marque, or to engage in war, without the consent of the Congress, unless actually invaded or menaced with invasion. " 1 6th. When Federal land forces were raised, each State was to raise the quota required by Congress, arm and equip them at the expense of all the States, and to appjint all officers of and under the rank of colonel. " 17th. Each State was to levy and raise the quota of tax required by Congress for Federal purposes. " iSth. The faith of all the States was pledged to pay all the bills of credit emitted, or money borrowed on their joint account, by the Congress. " 19th. It was agreed and covenanted that Canada might accede to the union so formed if she chose to do so. " 20th (and lastly). Each State was to abide by the determination of all the States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by the confederation, were submitted to them. The Articles of Confederation were to be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union was to be perpetual. No article of the confederation was to be altered without the consent of every State. " The delegations of power by each of the States to all the States, in general Congress assembled, upon a like analysis, may be stated as follows : " 1st. The sole and exclusive power to determine on war and peace, except in case a State should be invaded or menaced with invasion. " 2d. To send and receive ambassadors. " 3d. To make treaties, with a proviso, etc. "4th. To establish rules for captures. " 5th. To grant letters of marque and re- prisal. " 6th. To appoint courts for trial of piracies and other crimes '^oeci'^ed. J90 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION "/th. To decide questions of dispute between two or more States in a prescribed manner. " 8th. The sole and exclusive power to " loth. To regulate trade with the Indian tribes. " I ith. To establish post offices. iv i^iat SIGNATURES OF THE SIGNERS OV THE DECLAKAl >F INDEPENDENCE. coin money and regulate the value. "gtli. To fix a standard of weights ant measures. " 1 2th. To appoint all officers of the militia land forces, when called out by Congress, except regimental. THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 39» " 13th. To appoint all officers of the Fede- ral naval forces. " 14th. To make rules and regulations for the government of land and naval forces. " 15th. To appropriate and apply public money for public expenses, the common defence and general welfare. " i6th. To borrow money and emit bills of credit. " 17th. To build and equip a navy. " i8th. To agree upon the number of land forces and make requisitions upon the States for their quotas in proportion to the value of all land within each State. " The foregoing powers were delegated with this limitation : The war power, the treaty power, the power to coin money, the power to regulate the value thereof the power of fixing the quotas of money to be raised by the States, the power to emit bills of credit, the power to borrow money, the power to appropriate money, the power to regulate the number of land and naval forces, and the power to appoint a comriander-in-chief of tlie army as well as the navy, were never to be exercised unless nine of the States were assenting to the same. " These articles form the original basis and first Constitution of the existing Federal Union of the United States of America." * The States Come Into Line. These Articles of Confederation were adopted, after discussion, by Congress, vot- ing by States, and were then submitted to the several States for ratification by them. In the meantime Congress continued to exer- cise the powers conferred by them. By the early part of 1777 all the States save Mary- land had ratified and adopted the articles. That State did not give her full assent to them until 1781. Alexander H. Stephens. Lord Howe arrived in New York Bay about the middle of July, as has been stated. He was vested with full powers by the king to settle the quarrel between America and England if the Americans would agree to submit unconditionally to the king. Failing to accoTiplish a settlement, he and his brother, Sir William Howe, were charged with the supreme conduct of the war. Lord Howe was a man of amiable disposition, and really desired peace ; but as he was fully convinced of the justice of the royal preten- sions, he could not understand or appreciate the claims or grievances of the Americans. Moreover, he had come too late. The Ameri- can people meant that their separation from Great Britain should be final. Lord Howe was greatly deceived upon his arrival as to the actual state of feeling in America. He was received with loyal addresses by the Tories of Long and Staten Islands and the New Jersey shore, and was assured by Gov- ernor Tryon that the country was full of friends of the king who might be induced to join him if properly supported. Washington Insulted. Lord Howe, therefore, resolved to attempt a peaceful settlement before proceeding to hostilities, and issued a circular addressed to the people of America, offering them the royal pardon if they would cease their rebel- lion, lay down their arms and trust to the clemency of the king. Congress gave to this circular the widest publicity by causing it to be published in every newspaper in the Union, in order that the people might .see that the only settlement that would be accepted by England was their voluntary and absolute) submission to her arbitrary will. " They must fight or be slaves." About thesame time Lord Howe addressed a letter to the American eommander-in-chief, styling him George Washington, Esquire. 392 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. No notice of this communication was taken by Washington, and Howe sent him another letter addressed to George Washington, etc., etc. Washington, rightly considering that the omission of his official title was an insult to his country, refused to receive the letter. Adjutant-General Patterson, of Lord Howe's staff, who bore the communication, expressed his regret that the letter could not be opened. Lord Howe, he said, came vested with great power, and was sincerely anxious for peace. Washington, who had received him with kindly courtesy, replied that he was aware that Lord Howe was intrusted with the power to grant pardons, but that as the Americans were engaged in the defence of their rights, and had committed no crime, they had no need of pardon, and his lordship's good inten- tions could not be of service to them. It was now plain to Lord Howe that he had been deceived b)- Tryon and his friends, and that nothing could be accomplished save by force of arms. His circular had produced /no effect, and he could detect no sign of 1 wavering on the part of the Americans. Measures for Defence. It had been evident for some time that the next effort of the British would be to get possession of the city of New York. Their fleet already held the harbor, and should they succeed in securing the Hudson they would be able to establish a direct commu- nication with Canada, and to isolate New England and New York from the Middle States and the South. Reinforcements were sent to Washington from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. These gave the American commander a force of about twenty-five thousand men ; but scarcely seventeen thousand were fit for duty ; the remainder being disabled by sickness. Washington erected two forts on Man- hattan island, one just above Kingsbridge, named Fort Washington, and the other just below it, named Fort Independence. Kings- bridge furnished the only communication between the island of Manhattan and the mainland, and these forts were erected for its defence, as well as to hold the enemy's vessels in check should they attempt to ascend the Hudson. On the New Jersey side of the river, opposite Fort Washington, a third work was erected, and named Fort Lee. Other forts were built higher up the Hudson to hold the river against the enemy and maintain the communication between the Northern and Southern States. One of these, called Fort Montgomery, was located at the entrance to the Highlands, opposite the promontory of Anthony's Nose ; another was built six miles higher up the river, and was known as Fort Constitution. Battle on Long Island. For the defence of the heights of Brooklyn, which commanded the city of New York, Washington caused a line of works to be erected on a range of hills a short distance south of Brooklyn, and established there an intrenched camp. General Nathaniel Greene was placed in command of this position, and e.Kcrted himself with vigor to strengthen it. When he had matured his plans he was sud- denly taken ill, and was obliged to relinquish the commend to General Sullivan. The British fleet lay in Gravesend Bay, just without the Narrows, and Washington was for a while uncertain whether they would make their first attempt against the force on Long Island, or attack the city of New York. It soon became evident that the capture of the lines on Long Island would be their first care, and Sullivan was reinforced with six battalions, all that could be spared form New York, and on the twenty-fourth of August General Putnam was placed in command of the forces on Long Island. V WASHINGTON REVIEWING THE ARMY THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 393 On the night of the twenty-sixth of August the British crossed over from Staten Island to Long Island, and prepared to give battle. Their plan was to engage the attention of the Americans by a direct attack with two divisions, while Sir Henry Clinton, with a third division, was to turn the left flank of the Americans and gain their rear. They hoped, if these movements were successful, to surround ar>d capture the entire force under Putnam. Clinton began his march about nine o'clock on the night of the twenty-sixth, guided by a Long Island Tory. About daylight on the morning of the twenty-seventh of Au- gust, the enemy made their attack upon the front of the American posi- tion, and engaged their attention in '^ this direction, while Clinton, by a rapiil march, gained their rear. For a while the Americans fought well, but finding themselves almost surrounded, and in danger of being captured, they abandoned the field and retreated within the intrench- ments at Brooklyn. The Hessian troops behaved with great barbarity during the engagement, and a num- ber of the Americans were cruelly and wantonly bayoneted by them. A part of the engagement was fought in the beautiful region now occupied by Greenwood cemetery. Washington hastened to Brooklyn as soon as informed of the battle, and arrived just in time to witness the defeat of his troops. He was powerless to repair the disaster, and could only look on in helpless agony. " My God ! " he exclaimed, with tears : " What brave fellows I must lose this day! " The American loss was very severe in this battle. Out of a force of five thou- sand men engaged they lost two thousand men, a large number of whom were pri- soners. The British had sixteen thousand men engaged, and lost four hundred. Had they followed up their victory by an imme- diate assault upon the American intrench- ments they must have carried them; bin (jcneral Howe believed that Washington had a much stronger force for their defence than was the case, and encamped in front of the intrenchments, intending to heiiin GENERAL JOHN SLLLUAN operations against them the next day. The twenty-eighth, however, was a day of drenching rain, and the enemy were unable to do more than break ground for a battery. On the twenty-ninth a dense fog hung over the island ; but it lifted for a moment, and enabled the Americans tc detect an unusual commotion among the British shipping. It seemed plain that the enemy were pre- paring to enter the East River with their 394 THE a:\ierican revolution. fleet, and so separate the force on Long Island from that in New York. Washing- ton at once summoned a council of war, and it was decided to retreat from Long Island without delaj-. It was a hazardous attempt, for the army under General Howe was so close to the American lines that the conver- sations of the men could be heard, and the British fleet might at any moment seize the East River. To withdraw a force of nine thousand men across a wide, deep river, in the face of such an army and fleet, was a task which required the greatest skill. It tvas successfully accomplished, however. Every boat in and around New York and Brooklyn was impressed, and though the orders for the retreat were not issued until noon on the twenty-ninth, everything was in readiness for the retreat by eight o'clock that evening. At midnight the troops took up their silent march from the intrenched line to the ferry, where the boats, manned by Glover's regiment, which was composed of fishermen from Marblehead, awaited them. By eight o'clock the next morning the entire army, with all its cattle, horses and wagons, was safe upon the New York side of the river, and beyond the reach of the enemy. Important Conference. Howe was greatly mortified at the escape of the American army, for he had regarded it as a sure prize, and prepared, with the aid of Ills ships, to seize the upper part of Man- hattan Island, and confine the Americans to the city of New York, where their surrender would be inevitable. Before proceeding to the e.xecution of this plan he resolved to make another effort to induce the Americans to aban- don their cause, as he rightly believed their defeat on Long Island would be followed by a season of great depression. A few days after the retreat he released General Sullivan, who had been taken prisoner in the battle, on parole, and sent a letter by him to Congress, asking that body to send an informal com- mittee, whom he would receive as private gentlemen, to confer with him on some meas- ure of reconciliation. Interview with Lord Howe- Congress, willing to hear what he had to propose, sent Dr. Franklin, John Adams and Edward Rutledge to confer with him. They met Lord Howe at a house on Staten Island, opposite Amboy. Tne only terms his lordship had to propose were the uncon- ditional submission of the Americans to the royal mercy. He was informed that the Americans would consent to treat with Great Britain only as " a free and independ- ent nation," and that it was useless to propose any other basis for a settlement. Lord Howe thereupon expressed his regret that he should be obliged to distress the Ameri- cans. Dr. Franklin thanked him for his good feeling, and remarked : " The Ameri- cans will endeavor to lessen the pain you may feel by taking good care of themselves." The report of the interview was made pub- lic by Congress, and had a happy effect. It convinced all classes that England had no terms to offer them but such as embraced a shameful surrender of their liberties. Fearful that Howe would seek to shut him up in New York, Washington left a force within the city to hold it, and encamped with the main body of his army on Harlem Heights, at the northern end of the island, from which he could secure his retreat into Westchester County. The army was reduced to less than twenty thousand men, and was disheartened by the defeat on Long Island. It was seriously debated whether New York should be defended or not ; and it was pro- posed to burn the city to the ground, in order to prevent the enemy from securing comfortable winter-quarters in it. Congress THE DECLARATION OF IXDEPENDEN'CE. 395 ordered that the city should not be de- stroyed, but it was evident that it could not be held. Washington was anxious to learn the intentions of the enemy, who still remained on Long Island, and Captain Nathan Hale, a talented young officer of the Connecticut line, volunteered to enter their lines and pro- cure the desired information. He proceeded to the British camp, obtained the information wanted, and was returning in safety when he was arrested by a party of the enemy, among whom was a Tory relative, who re- cognised him. He was taken to Howe's headquarters, and the next morning, Sep- tember 22d, without any form of trial, was hanged as a spy. He met his death with firmness, saying : " I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country."' "Old Put " Saves His Command. In the meantime the British had seized the islands at the mouth of the Harlem River, and had erected a battery on one of them. On the fifteenth of September they crossed in force to Manhattan Island, at Kipp's Bay, about three miles above the cit}'. They easily drove back the force sta- tioned there to resist their landing, and secured their position. Washington at once sent General Heath to hold the enemy in check, and ordered Putnam to evacuate the city of New York, and retire to Harlem Heights, without the loss of a moment. Putnam obeyed his orders promptly, and retreated from the city along the line of the Bloomingdale Road, now the upper part of Broadway. His march was retarded by a crowd of women and children fleeing from the city, and was exposed to the fire of the enemy's ships in the Hudson. By great exertions he managed to save his command, but was obliged to leave his heavy artillery and three hundred men in the hands of the enenn-. The British at once took posses- sion of New York, and threw up a line of intrcnchments above the city, from the Hud- son, at Bloomingdale, to the East River, at Kipp's Bay. The Americans now held the upper part of the island, and erected a double line of earthworks from river to river, about four miles below Kingsbridge. On the sixteenth of September the enemy made an attack upon the American advanced posts, but were handsomely repulsed by the Virginia and Connecticut troops. Major Leitch, the commander of the Virginians, and Colonel Knowlton, the commander of the Connecticut regiment, and one of the captains at Bunker Hill, were killed. In spite of these losses the spirit of the troops, which had been much depressed by the recent disasters, were greatly cheered. A lull of several weeks followed, during which the Americans suffered greatly from sickness. They were without proper hospi- tal accommodations, " and they lay about in almost every barn, stable, shed, and even under the fences and bushes." Washington's Skillful Tactics. Howe now began to move his army to- wards Long Island Sound, for the purpose of marching across the mainland to the Hudson and cutting off the retreat of Washington from Manhattan Island, and at the same time sent his fleet up the Hudson. His intention was understood by Washington, who left three thousand men to defend Fort Washington, and with the main body of his army fell back to the line of the Bronx, near the village of White Plains. Here he was attacked on the twenty-eighth of October by General Howe, who was advancing from the direction of New Rochelle, and who was still hopeful of gaining the American rear. A spirited en- counter ensued, m wliich each party lost about four hundred men ; and the British THE DECLARATION OF IXDLPCNDFNCE RF \D TO THE A.KM\ THE DECLARATION OF INDEPEXDENXE. 397 intrenched themselves in front of the Ameri- can position. Apprehensive of an effort on the part of the enemy to storm his line, Washington caused the troops to spend the night in strengthen- ing the rude works which covered it. They labored with such diligence that the next morning the British commander decided that the line was too strong to be attacked, and determined to wait for reinforcements. That night Washington silently abandoned his lines at White Plains, and withdrew to the heights of North Castle, five miles dis- tant. Howe, unwilling to follow him further, inarched to Dobb's Ferr)', on the Hudson, and encamped. British Successes. This movement of the British commander caused Washington to fear that he meant to cross over into New Jersey. He accordingly made a new disposition of his forces to meet any emergency. General Charles Lee, who had recently returned from the South, was left at North Castle with a portion of the army to watch Howe ; Heath, with another portion, was ordered to occupy Peekskill to defend the passes of the Highlands ; and Putnam was stationed, with a third detach- ment, on the west side of the Hudson to hold that region. With the remainder of his troops Wash- ington crossed the Hudson and joined Gen- eral Greene at Fort Lee, arriving there on the thirteenth of November. A force of three thousand Pennsylvania troops had been left to hold Fort Washington, on Manhattan Island. Washington was in favor of with- drawing them at once, but left the matter to the decision of General Greene, and Colonel Magaw, the commander of the fort, who determined to hold it. The result proved their error. Fort Washington was attacked on the sixteenth of November by a force of five thousand Hessians and some English troops, under General Knyphausen, and was taken by storm. The enemy lost nearly one thousand men and took over two thousand prisoners. Washington witnessed the cap- ture from Fort Lee without the ability to aid the garrison. Fort Washington having fallen, Fort Leo was no longer of service, and the commander- in-chief resolved to abandon it before it was too late. The removal of the stores was at once begun, but before it could be completed Lord Cornwallis, with a force of six thousanJ men, crossed the Hudson below Dobb's. Ferry, and by a rapid march across the coun- try endeavored to confine the Americans to> the strip of land between the Hudson and the Hackensack. An immediate retreat from Fort Lee became necessary in order to secure the bridge over the Hackensack. All the heavy cannon at Fort Lee, a considerable quantity of provisions and military stores, and three hundred tents were abandoned, and fell into the hands of the British. The pas sage of the Hackensack was secured, and the army began its memorable retreat across New Jersey, closely followed by the enemy under Cornwallis. Dark Days for the American Cause. From the Hackensack Washington fell back behind the Passaic at Newark. As his rear-guard passed out of the town the advance of Cornwallis entered Newark. The Raritan was crossed at New Brunswick, and Washington left a force of twelve hundred men at Princeton, under Lord Stirling, and pushed on to Trenton to secure the passage of the Delaware. The British hung closely upon him durin;,^ the whole retreat, the opposing forces being often within cannon-shot of each other. On the eighth of December, with scarcely three thousand men, Washington crossed the 39S THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Delaware at Trenton, and went into camp in Pennsylvania. The enemy reached the river soon after, but, as all the boats had been secured by the Americans, were unable to cross over. Lord Cornwallis was very anxious to procure boats, cross the river and push on to Philadelphia, but Howe decided to wait until the river should be frozen, and to pass it on the ice. In the meantime the Hessians were stationed in Trenton, and guarded the river for some distance above and below the town. GENERAL CH.\RLES LEE. The American war had now entered its darkest period for the Americans. New York was lost to them, they had been driven from New Jersey, and their army seemed melting away. During the painful retreat across New Jersey, Washington had exerted himself to the utmost to call in the other detachments of his army. General Schuyler was directed to send him the Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops in his command ; but the enlistments of these troops were rapidly expiring, and they could not be induced to renew them. General Charles Lee was ordered to cross the Hudson and join the commander-in-chief with all speed, but he moved with a slowness and carelessness that were criminal. He remained about a fort- night on the cast side of the Hudson, and then began his march with such slowness that he did not reach Morristown until the eighth of December. On the thirteenth, vvhile lying carelessly apart from his troops, at a small innatBask- ingridge, he was captured by a troop of British cavalrj'. The command passed to General Sul- livan, and in a few days he had united his forces with those of the commander-in-chief General Lee had an abiding confidence in his own ability, and was reluctant to lose his independent command by joining Washington. His natural self-conceit had been greatl}- increased by his success at the South, and he was firmly convinced that he alone was capable of guiding the American cause through the difficulties which encompassed it. Influx enced by this feeling, he disre- garded the authority of the com. mander-in-chief, and subjected him to great inconvenience. He was not untrue to the cause he had em- braced, but his patriotism was of a different type from that which animated Washington. The enlistments of a large part of the troops expired on the first of December, and nothing could induce them to remain in the army. Whole regiments abandoned the service, and the handful of reinforcements which was obtained from Philadelphia fell far short of supplying their place. The people w(Te lishfartened, and it seemed THE DECLARATION OF INDEPEXDENCE. 399 that the cause was hopeless. A force of six militia regiments in Massachusetts and Con- necticut was on the point of marching to Washington's assistance, when the fleet of Sir Peter Parker entered Newport Harbor and landed a force on the island of Rhode Island, which took possession of Newport. In view of this invasion, it was deemed best to retain the New England militia at home. Taking the Oath of Allegiance. Washington was fully alive to the danger which threatened the cause ; but he was calm and cheerful. During the retreat through New Jersey he said to Colonel Reed : '' Should \\ ^ retreat to the back parts of Pennsylvania, will the Pennsylvanians sup- port us ? " " If the lower counties are sub- dued and gi\-e up," said the colonel, '• the back counties will do the same." Washing- ton passed his hand over his throat, and said, with a smile: "My neck does not feel as though it was made for a halter. We must retire to Augusta County, in Virginia. Numbers will be obliged to repair to us for safety; and we must try what we can do in carrying on a predatory war ; and if over- powered, we must cross the Allegheny Mountains." At this juncture of affairs Lord and Gen- eral Howe issued a proclamation, by virtue of their authority as commissioners appointed by the crown for the settlement of the war, in which all persons in America in arms against his majesty's government were ordered to disperse and return to their homes, and all civil officers were commanded to discontinue their treasonable practices, and relinquish their usurped authority. A full and free pardon was offered to every one who would, within sixty days, appear before certain designated officials, claim the pardon offered, and take an oath pledging him to obey the laws and submit to the authority of the king. Large numbers of persons, most of whom were possessed of property which they desired to save, at once came forward, made their submission and took the required oath. Some of these were men who had borne a prominent part in the patriot move- ment ; among them were two delegates from Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress, and the president of the New Jersey con- \ention, which had ratified the Declaration of Iiulependence. Within ten days after the proclamation was issued, between two and three thousand persons submitted and swore allegiance to the king. In Philadelphia great excitement prevailed, and General Putnam, who was in command there, feeling that there was danger that the royalists in the city might succeed in obtaining control of it, advised that, until matters were placed on a more certain footing. Congress should hold its sessions at some safer place. Accord- ingh- it adjourned on the twelfth of Decem- ber to meet in Baltimore. A Gallant Fleet. The only quarter in which the Americans had been able to oppose anything of a suc- cessful resistance to the British was the region of Lake Champlain. We have related the retreat of Sullivan and Arnold from Canada, and the appointment of Gates to the command of their forces. The army halted at Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point» which it strengthened, and awaited the development of the plans of Sir Guy Carle- ton, the British commander in Canada. That officer had determined to secure the control of Lakes Champlain and George, and then to push on to the Hudson, open communication with the Howes at Ni-w York, and spend the winter at Albany. He would thus entirely sever the communica- tion between New England and New York, and the Middle and Southern States. Sullivan 40O THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. had wisely destroyed all the boats on Lake Champlain which he did not need for his own purposes, and as there was no road along the shore by which he could advance, Carleton was obliged to construct a fleet before he could attempt to ascend the lake. He exerted himself with such energy that in three months he had a fleet ot five large and twenty small vessels and a number of armed boats assembled at the foot of the lake. Gates was informed of Carleton's design, and ordered Arnold, who was possessed of some nautical knowledge, to construct a flotilla and take command of it for the pur- pose of contesting Carleton's effort to ascend the lake. Arnold set to work with enthu- siasm, and soon had a force of vessels afloat about half as strong as that of the enemy. He chose a favorable position and awaited Carleton's approach. A sharp encounter occurred between the opposing forces early in October near Valcour Island, but was indecisive, and at nightfall Carleton took possession to cut off Arnold's retreat. The night was dark and cloudy, and taking advantage of it, Arnold passed the enemy and sailed for Crown Point. His vessels were in bad condition, however, and two were sunk on the voyage. Only six suc- ceeded in coming within sight of Crown Point, near which they were overtaken by Carleton on the sixth of October. The Flag-ship Riddled. Arnold made a gallant fight with his remaining vessels. One was taken with her crew, and Arnold's flag-ship, the " Congress," was cut to pieces, and half of her crew were slain. Resolved not to surrender, Arnold ordered the vessels to be run aground, and set them on fire. He and his men then waded ashore, and by a sharp fire from their rifles kept the enemy from the burning gal- leys until they were entirely consumed. The Americans then hastened to Crown Puiiit,. where they set fire to the fort and the stores,. and continued their retreat to Ticonderoga. Gates greatly strengthened the defences of this post, and when Carleton arrived before it, he found it too strong to be attacked. He therefore abandoned his attempt to reach the Hudson, and returned to Canada. A few weeks later, feeling that the lake country was safe for the winter. Gates, in obedience to orders from Washington, sent him part of his force, and shortly afterwards marched with the remainder of his troops tcv the assistance of the commander-in-chief. New Military Movements. Including these troops, Washington's force now numbered about six thousand men fit for duty. The enlistments of many of them would expire on the last day of December, and it was of the highest import- ance that something should be done to re- vive the confidence of the country before these men should be lost to the army. The circumstances in which Washington was placed required a blow to be struck in some quarter. A victory would be productive of the most important moral results ; a defeat could do no more than ruin the cause, and a policy of inaction was sure to accomplish that. An opportunity at once presented itself. The British had ceased their pursuit, and though they held New Jersey in strong force, had scattered their detachments through the state. General Howe was in New York, and Lord Cornwallls was at the same place, and was about to sail for Eng land. Both commanders believed the Ame- rican army to be too seriously crippled to assume the offensive during the winter. The Hessians, who constituted the advance-guard of the royal forces, were stationed along the Delaware. Colonel Donop had his head- quarters at Burlington, and Colonel RahL 401 402 was at Trenton with a f nee of fifteen hun- dred men. Rahl was a brave and competent officer, but he entertained such a thorough contempt for the Americans that he neglected to protect his position by earthworks or other defences. The Hessians kept the country in terror ; they were inveterate thieves, and plundered both patriot and royalist without mercy. They had earned the deep and abiding hatred of the Ameri- can soldiers by bayoneting the wounded in the battles in which they had been engaged. Midnight Marches. Washington now determined to re-cross the Delaware and attack the Hessians at different points. A force of twenty-four hundred picked troops under his own com- mand was to cross the river a few miles above Trenton and attack the enemy at that place; and the same time another detach- ment under Reed and Cadwallader were to cross over from Bristol and drive the Hes- sians under Colonel Donop out of Burling- ton. These attacks were to be simultaneous, and were ordered to be made at five o'clock on the morning of the twenty-sixth of De- cember. The division of Washington was accom- panied by a train of twenty-four field-pieces under Colonel Knox. The river was high and full of floating ice, and the weather was cold and stormy. A detachment of boats had been collected for the service, and was manned by Colonel Glover's regiment of Marblehead fishermen, who had ferried the army over the East River in the retreat from Long Island. The march was begun just after dark on Christmas night, and Wash- ington hoped to reach the New Jersey shore by midnight ; but the passage of the river was difficult and tedious by reason of the floating ice and the high wind which re- swept the boats out of their course; THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. and it was four o'clock before the artillery was landed. The march was at once re- sumed. Washington, with the main body, moved by a wide circuit to gain the north of the town, while a detachment under Sul- livan was ordered to advance by the ri\'er road and attack the enemy from the west and south sides. A blinding storm of hail and snow delayed the advance of the troops, but also concealed their movements from the enemy ; and it was eight o'clock before Trenton was reached. The attack was at once begun, and was pressed with vigor. The Hessians were completely taken by suprise; they flew to arms promptly, but by this time the Ameri- cans had gained the main street, and were sweeping it with a battery of six pieces. Colonel Rahl was mortally wounded while leading his grenadiers to the charge, and his men, seized with a panic, endeavored to re- treat. Finding that they were surrounded, about one thousand of them threw down their arms and surrendered. The remainder succeeded in escaping and joining Colonel Donop at Burlington. The magnanimity of Washington was shown on this occasion by his paying a friendly visit to Colonel Rahl, who was lying at Trenton on his dying bed. Washington expressed his sympathy for the wounded officer, who, upon his death, is believed to have been buried in the graveyard of the First Presbyterian Church, where his sup- posed remains were found fifty years later. The Victory at Trenton. The Americans lost two men killed, and two were frozen to death on the march. Several were wounded. They took one thousand prisoners with their arms. Thirty- two of the captives were officers. Washington now learned that the ice was so thick in front of Bristol that Reed and THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 403 Cadwallader had not been able to get their cannon over the river, and had not attacked the enemy at Burlintjton. He therefore deemed it best to withdraw into Pennsylva- nia, as Donop's force was still intact at Bur- lington, and the enemy had another column detachments along the river, and had retreat- ed in haste to New Brunswick and Princeton. The news of the victory at Trenton was received with delight in all parts of the country, and men began to take hope. Sev- eral regiments, whose terms of enlistment at Princeton, a few miles distant. On the evening of the twenty-si.xth he returned to his camp beyond the Delaware. The next day he learned from Reed and Cadwallader, who had crossed the Delaware on the twen- ty-seventh, that Donop had called in all his WASHINGTON' C.\Lr.S ON COLONEL RAUL. expired on the last day of December, were induced to remain six weeks longer. Wash- ington resolved to make an effort to recover New Jersey, and men of influence were sent to rouse the militia of that State to take up arms for the defence of their homes. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Altogetner matters assumed a more promis- ing aspect than they had worn at any period of the war. On the thirtieth of December Washington recrossed the Delaware and took position at Trenton. Honors Conferred on Washington. About the same time Congress bestowed upon Washington the highest proof of their confidence in his wisdom and integrity that a free people can ever confer upon a leader. On the twenty-seventh of December Congress conferred upon General Washington, by a formal resolution, unlimited military power for six months. The committee, in their let- ter informing him of this act, wrote ; " Happy is it for this country that the general of their forces can safely be entrusted with the most unlimited power, and neither personal secu- rity, liberty, nor property be in the least endangered thereby." The confidence of the country was not misplaced. Never was dic- tatorial power used more wisely or unselfish- ly, and never did its exercise produce more beneficial results. It was resolved by Congress to secure assistance from abroad, and on the thirtieth of December Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane and Arthur Lee — the last of whom was appointed in place of Mr. Jefferson who could not go — were sent as commissioners to France to secure the assistance of the government of that country. France was not yet prepared to go to war with England, and the commissioners could do no more than secure aid in money, which was expend- ed in the purchase of supplies and military stores, which were shipped to the United States. It was arranged that this money should be repaid by Congress in the produce of the country, especially in tobacco, which was to be shipped to France through a mer- cantile house. The assistance thus obtained was of the greatest ser\ice to the Americans. CHAPTER XXVIII The Year 1777 Howe Attempts to Crush Washington— Battle of Princeton— The British Confined to the Seaboard— Recovery of New Jersey— The American Army in Winter Quarters at Morristown— Effects of the American Successes— Difficulty of Procuring Troops — Washington Refuses to Exchange Prisoners — His Course Approved by Congress — Measures of Congress — Xaval Affairs — Tryon Bums Danbury — Gallantry of Arnold— Troubles in the Northern Department — Congress Adopts a National Flag — " The Stars and Stripes " — Course of France towards the United States — France Decides to Assist the Americans — Lafayette — His Arrival in America — Capture of the British General Prescott — Howe Threatens Philadelphia — Washington moves Southward — Battle of the Brandywine — Washington Retreats to the Schuylkill — Wayne's Defeat at Paoli — Philadelphia Evacuated by the Americans — It is Occupied by the British Battle of Germantown — The British Attack the Forts on the Delaware — They are Abandoned by the Americans Burgoyne's Army in Canada — Advance of Burgoyne into New York — Investment of Ticonderoga — It is Abandoned by the Americans — The Retreat to Fort Ed.vard — Burgovne reaches the Hudson — Murder of MissMcCrea — Siege of Fort Schuyler— Battle of Bennington — Critical Sitaution of Burgoyne — Gates in Command of the American Army — Battle of Behmus' Heights and Stillwater — Surrender of Burgoyne's Army — -Clinton in the Highlands. GREAT was the atonishment of General Howe when he learned of the battle at Trenton. He could scarcely believe that a hand- ful of militia had captured a strong force of veteran troops led by such a commander as Colonel Rahl. He at once took prompt measures to repair the disaster. Lord Corn- wallis, who was on the eve of sailing to Eng- land, was ordered to resume his command in New Jersey, and a force of seven thousand men was rapidly collected and placed under his orders. These troops rendezvoused at Princeton. Washington was informed of these move- ments, and ordered Generals Mifflin and Cadwallader to join him without delay. They reached Trenton the first of January, with thirty-five hundred men. This increased the American force to about five thousand men fit for dtity. Upon the approach of Cornwallis' army, Washington took position behind the Assunpink, and prepared to dis- pute the passage of that stream. The fords and bridge over the creek were carefully guarded, and were swept by the fire of the artillery placed to command them. A force under General Greene and Colonel Hand was thrown forward to hold the enemy in check, and so retarded their movements that the British army did not arrive before Trenton until four o'clock in the afternoon of January 2, 1777. Cornwallis made several deter- mined efforts to force a passage of the creek, but was each time driven back by the well- directed fire of the provincials. Thinking that he could accomplish more the next day, the British commander drew off his men, resolving to renew the attack in the morning when, he boasted, he would " bag the fox." Both armies encamped for the night in sight of each other, reddening the .sky with the glow of their camp-fires. The situation of the American army was now critical in the extreine. A retreat into Pennsylvania was impossible, as the Dela- ware was full of floating ice, and could not be passed in the face of such an army as that of Cornwallis. The issue of the next day's conflict was, to say the least, doubtful, for the army of Cornwallis was composed mainly of veteran troops, and he was himself a leader 405 4o6 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. of genuine ability. In this emergency Wash- ington determined upon one of the most briUiant and well-conceived operations of the war. It was known to him that the British .-^MEKICAN MARKSMAN IN A TREE had their main depot of supplies at New from Lrunswick, and he supposed from the pres- ence of so many troops with Cornwallis that this depot had been left unguarded. He therefore resolved to break up his camp, and march by an unfrequented road around the left flank of the enemy to Princeton, capture the force stationed there, and then haste;i to New Brunswick and secure the stores at that place. Sending his heavy baggage and stores down the river to Burlington. Washington silently withdrew his army from its position at midnight, leaving the camp-fires burning to deceive the enemy, and a small force to watch the British and destroy the bridges after the army had passed on. A forced march brought the Americans within three miles of Princeton by daybreak, on the morning of the third of January. The army was divided into two divisions, one under Washington and the other under General Mer- cer, which approached the town by different routes. Three British regiments on their way to Trenton had passed the previous night at Princeton, and had re- sumed their march at dawn. The first of these,, under Colonel Mawhood, was encountered by the division of General Mer- cer, about two miles Princeton. As Mawhood supposed Mercer's force to be a party retreating from Trenton, he at once resolved to attack it. His attack was successful. The Americans were driven back, and General Mercer was THE YE wounded, bayoneted, and left on the field apparently dead. Mercer's troops fell back in confusion, and a body of Pennsylvania militia, which had been sent by Washington to their assistance, was held in check by the fire of the British artillery. At this moment, Washington, who had been rendered anxious by the obstinate and continued firing, arrived on the field. A glance showed him the broken and shattered regiments of Mercer fallingback in confusion, and the Pennsylvania militia wavering under the heavy cannonade directed against them. Not a moment w as to be lost, and putting spurs to his horse, he dashed forward in the face of the fire of ^Mawhood's artillery, and waving his hat, called upon the troops to rally and follow him. The effect was elec- trical ; the fugitives rallied with a loud cheer and reformed their line, and at the same moment a Virginia regiment, which had just arrived, dashed out of a neighboring wood and opened a heavy fire upon the enemy. A little later the American artillery came up, and opened a shower of grape upon the British. Mawhood was driven back, and w-ith great difficulty succeeded in regaining the main road, along which he retreated with all speed to Trenton. General Mercer Mortally Wounded. The second British regiment, advancing from Princeton to Mawhood's assistance was attacked by St. Clair's brigade, and was speedily driven across the country towards New Brunswick. The third regiment, seeing the fate of their comrades, became panic- stricken. A portion fled towards New Brunswick, and the remainder took refuge in the college building at Princeton. They surrendered after a few shots from the Ame- rican artillery'. The Americans lost but a few men in this battle ; but General Mercer, a brave and AR 1777. 407 efficient commander, was mortally wounded, and died a few days after the engagement. The British lost about one hundred killed and three hundred prisoners. Eager to secure the stores at New Bruns- wick, Washington pushed on with speed in that direction, but after passing a few miles beyond Princeton decided to abandon the attempt. He was sure that Cornwallis would pursue him as soon as his retreat from Tren- ton was discovered, and his men were too much exhausted to reach New Brunswick before the arrival of the enemy. They had been without rest for a night and a day, and some of them were barefooted. His gen- erals sustained him in the opinion that it was injudicious to continue the movement against New Brunswick, and he reluctantly abandoned it, and withdrew in the direction of Morristown. New Jersey Saved from the Enemy. When Cornwallis discovered the with- drawal of the Americans on the morning of the third of January, he was greatly per- plexed to know in what direction they had gone. In a little while the sound of the cannonade at Princeton revealed to him the route taken by them, and he at once under- stood the design of Washington. He must save his stores at any risk, and he broke up his camp and set out for Princeton and New Brunswick. The Americans had obstructed the Princeton road and had broken down the bridge over Stony Creek, a few miles from the town. Without waiting to rebuild the bridge, the British commander forced his men through the icy waters, which were breast high, and hastened through Princeton with all speed. Believing that Washington had hurried on to New Brunswick, Cornwallis marched direct to that place, and did not notice the deflection of the American army from the 4o8 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. main route. Reaching New Brunswick, he made arrangements to defend the town, which he supposed would be attacked. In the meantime the American army retreated to a strong position at Morristown, ivhere the troops erected huts in which to pass the winter. Finding that the enemy did not attack him, Washington ventured to extend his line. His right was at Princeton, try beyond their lines, and rarely ventured without their camps. By the beginning of spring Cornwallis had abandoned every post in New Jersey save New Brunswick and Perth Amboy. From these points he could communicate with and draw his supplies from New York by water. Thus was New Jersey almost entirely redeemed from the enemy. The WASHINGTON S QUARTERS AT MORRISTOWN. under General Putnam, and his left, under General Heath, was in the Highlands. His own headquarters were at Morristown. For six months neither party attempted any movement of importance. Washington was not idle, however. Though he had but the skeleton of an army at Morristown, he dis- played such activity in cutting off the forag- i;ig parties of the British that they were unable to draw any supplies fron; the coun- militia of the state recovered from their former despondency and warmly seconded the efforts of Washington against the British. Confidence was returning to the country ; and though men felt that the struggle might yet be long and arduous, it was not as hope- less as they had feared. Washington passed the winter in endeav- oring to reorganize the army and fit it for the work required of it in the spring. The poHcy of short enhstments adopted by Con- gress was the source of very great trouble, and the expiration of the enlistments of a large part of the army during this winter caused the commander-in-chief the greatest anxiety. He repeatedly condemned this policy, and endeavored to procure the sub- stitution of a longer term. Great efforts Avere made to procure recruits, but they came in very slowly. In order to check the ravages of the small-pox in the camp, the recruits were inoculated immediately upon their arrival. Efforts were now made to bring about an exchange of prisoners. The British objected to an exchange of man for man, on the ground that the Americans were rebels, and such an exchange would be an acknowledg- ment of their belligerent rights. Somewhat later General Howe, who had about five thousand prisoners in New York, renewed the negotiation. The British had treated the captured Americans with great severity and had confined them in warehouses in New York, and in foul hulks anchored in the bay. They were improperly fed, and were allowed to remain almost naked. Their sufferings were fearful, and they were reduced and emaciated in strength and bod\-, until they were truly said to resemble " walk- ing corpses." British cruelty never exhibited itself in a more inhuman form than in the treatment of these unfortunate captives by the royal officials. More than ten thousand of them died in New York, during the war, from the effects of this treatment. When General Howe's proposal to ex- change these men for the Hessians taken by the Americans was received, it was declined by Washington. The Hessians had been well fed and well treated by the Americans, and were hale and hearty, and Washington was unwilling to liberate them for service in THE YEAR 1777. 409 the British army, and to receive in exchange for them half-starved men, who were so weak that they could scarcely reach their homes. It was a stern necessity, but it was recognized by Congress, and Washington's view of the matter was sustained. The Army Reorganized. During the winter five more major-generals were commissioned by Congress. They were Stirling, St. Clair, Mifflin, Stephen and Lincoln. Arnold, who was the senior brig- adier in the service, justly conceived that his rank and services entitled him to promotion, and was indignant at having been passed over in the new appointments, and com- plained bitterly of the injustice done him. Eighteen brigadier-generals were also ap- pointed. Among them were George Clinton, of New York ; Glover, the commander of the Marblehead regiment ; Woodford and Muhlenberg, of Virginia; and Hand and Anthony Wayne, of Pennsylvania. Congress gave great attention to the reor- ganization of the army during this session. A quartermaster's department was organized, with General Mifflin at its head. Four regi- ments of cavalry were ordered to be enlisted. The hospital service was reorganized and placed under the control of Dr. Shippen, of Philadelphia ; and Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia, one of the signers of the Declaration cf Inde- pendence, was appointed surgeon-general of the army. Efforts were also made to place the navy upon a better footing. Several of the frigates ordered by Congress to be built had been completed and equipped ; but the work on the rest was delayed by the want of funds. Efforts were made to complete them, as they were greatly needed, all the vessels constitut- ing the American fleet being at this time blockaded in the harbor of Providence, Rhode Island, by the enemy. 4IO THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Since the beginning of the struggle a destructive warfare had been carried on by the privateers of New England against the commerce of Great Britain, especially against the vessels of that country trading to the West Indies. During the first years of the war nearly three hundred of these were cap- tured by the privateers. The cargoes of the captured vessels were valued at the immense sum of five millions of dollars. The Ameri- can merchantmen also maintained a regular communication with France, Spain and Hol- land, and a profitable trade was carried on between the United States and those coun- tries. It was attended with great risk, how- ever, and many of the American vessels were captured by the British men-of-war. Military Stores Destroyed. Washington remained at Morristovvn some time after the spring opened, and exerted himself to the utmost to take the field as soon as the enemy should develop their plans. The first months of the season were employed by the British commander in a series of plun- dering expeditions. One of these was directed against Peekskill, where the Americans had collected a large quantity of stores. General McDougall, commanding the American force at that point, found it impossible to defend the stores, and set fire to them and retreated to the heights overlooking the town. The enemy made no attempt to follow him, and returned down the river. General Heath had been transferred to the command of the forces in Massachusetts, and was succeeded in the command of the Highlands by General Putnam. In the latter part of April General Tryon, the last royalist governor of New York, was sent by General Howe with a force of two thousand men, to destroy a large quantity of stores collected by the Americans at Dan- bur\', in the western part of Connecticut, about t\vent)--threc miles from the Sound. On the twenty-sixth of April Tryon landed near Norwalk, and marched to Danbury, where he burned the stores and set fire to the town. Thus far he had met with no opposition ; but the alarm had spread imme- diately after his landing, and the Conneticut militia, to the number of six hundred men, assembled under Generals Silliman and Wooster. Arnold chanced to be at New Haven, and collecting a small force of volun- teers, hurried to join Silliman and Wooster, and the whole command hastened after the marauders. Tryon Retreats to New York. Tryon began his retreat from Danbury before daylight on the morning of the twenty- seventh, and was soon after attacked by the militia. During the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth the British were harrassed at every step by the little band of Americans,, who, though too weak to defeat them in any single encounter, hung upon their march and inflicted upon them a loss of nearly three hundred men. The enemy at last came under the protection of the guns of their ships and the Americans were forced to withdraw. Tr\'on then re-embarked his. exhausted troops and returned to New- York. The American loss was slight. The brave old General Wooster, a veteran of sixty-eight years, was mortally wounded at the head of his men and died a few days later. Arnold behaved with such distinguished gallantry in this affair that Congress rewarded him with the rank of major-general and presented him with a horse handsomely equipped. Even this acknowledgment of his merit was min- gled with injustice, for the date of his com- mission still left him below the rank he was entiled to. and he felt the second slight as. another undeserved injury. THE YEAR 1777- 411 The Connecticut militia were very indig- nant at the burningof Danbury, and resolved to avenge it. In the latter part of May a party of one hundred and sevent}' men, under Colonel Meigs, crossed the Sound in whale- boats to the east end of Long Island. They carried their boats during the night fifteen miles across the neck, and launching them again, proceeded to Sag Harbor, where they destroyed twelve vessels and a large quan- tity of stores collected there by the British, and made ninety prisoners. They then returned to Connecticut without the loss of a man. General Schuyler Vindicated. Recruits came into the American camp very slowly, and various expedients were adopted by Washington to hasten the enlist- ments. At his instance Congress declared that all indentured servants who enlisted in the army should receive their freedom at once. Bounties in land were offered to such Hessians as should desert the British service. This last measure did not accomplish much towards crippling the enemy. In the northern department, Schuyler was left with a mere skeleton of an army. He had but seven hundred men, at the most, at Ticonderoga, and he was fearful that Carle- ton would learn his weakness, pass Lake Champlain on the ice, capture Ticonderoga, and push on to Albany. He repeatedly urged the commander-in-chief to send him reinforcements and supplies, but his request could not be granted, as there were none to spare from Washington's army. During the winter a persistent effort was made to drive Schuyler from his command, in order that Gates might succeed to it. Charges were brought against him with such recklessness that he offered his resignation to Congress. That body refused to accept it : but as the efforts of his enemies were not discontinued, Schuyler went to Phila- delphia, in April, 1777, and demanded an investigation into his conduct. Gates suc- ceeded him in his command. Schuyler was fully vindicated by the report of the investi- gating committee of Congress, and was ordered to resume his command. Gates was greatly surprised by the result, and reluct- antly relinquished the command of the northern department to his rival, and repaired to Philadelphia to seek redress at the hands of Congress fjr what he termed his wrongs. GEN'ER.A.L PHILIP SCHUYLER. Until now the Americans had been with- out a national flag. Congress, in June, 1777^ remedied this very serious want by adopting the old " Union Flag," with its thirteen stripes ; but substituted, in place of St. George's Cross, a group of thirteen stars, one for each State. Thus the "Stars and Stripes " became the national ensign of the republic — a star having been added for each additional State that has since joined the original thirteen. One of the first things that occupied the attention of Congress after the proclamation of the Declaration of Independence was the 412 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. preparation of a device for a great seal of the confederation. This was assigned to a com- mittee consisting of Franklin, Jefferson and John Adams. The seal as finally adopted has never been changed. FLAG AND SHIELD. The war in America had been watched ■with the deepest interest in Europe, and especially by France. The French Govern- ment had been convinced long before the outbreak of the Revolution that the treat- ment w-hich the colonies were receiving from land was alienating the Americans by her treatment of them. Choiseul conceived the hope that, by offering the Americans free trade with France, they would be made to resent the course of England even more decidedly. When the Revolution began the French Government svas fully prepared for it, and was ready to avenge the loss of Canada by aiding the new republic in its efforts to throw oii the authority of Great Britain. It was merely waiting to see whether the Americans were able to maintain the stand they had taken. The news of the defeat on Long Island, the loss of New York, and the retreat through New Jersey, filled the friends of America with serious alarm, and it w-as gen- erally believed in Europe that the Americans would not be able to withstand the superior force of the mother country. In the early spring of 1777 it was known in Europe that the American army, which SEAL OF THE UNITED ST.4TE.S. Great Britain would ultimately cause their separation from her ; and ten years before the war began the Duke de Choiseul, the prime minister of Louis XV., had sent Baron De Kalb to examine and report the state of feelings of the colonists towards Great Britain. De Kalb was a shrewd observer, and furnished his government with ample proofs that Eng- it was supposed had been driven in hopeless disorder over the Delaware without the means of continuing the war, had suddenly rallied and beaten a force of veteran troops at Trenton, and again at Princeton, and had recovered New Jersey from the enemy. This intelligence produced the most profound astonishment in Europe, and was received in THE YEAR TI 1777- 413 France with genuine satisfaction. Americans were extolled as a race of heroes, and the prudence and good generalship of Washington were spoken of with the highest praise. The French Government now felt justified in aiding the patriots, but it proceeded with caution. American pri- vateers were secretly fitted out, with the con- nivance of the govern- ment, and were permitted to sell their prizes in French ports, and the protests of the British ambassador against such acts were unheeded. The government made secret grants of arms and mili- tary stores to the Ame- ricans, and three ship- loads were sent out in the spring of 1777. Two of these vessels were captured by the English, but the third reached America in safety, and its cargo went to sup- ply the deficiencies of the army at Morristown. In the spring of this year the commissioners sent to France by Con- gress reached that coun- try. They had full pow- ers to enter into an alli- ance with the French King. They were granted several private interviews by the Count de Vergennes, the French Prime Minister, and were secretly encouraged to hope for the success of their mission. As yet, ho\vc\ td moved forward to check the advance of the British. A determined conflict immedi- ately ensued and continued until nightfall. It was one of the most stubbonly contested engagements of the war, and its result was mainly due to the skill and courage of Ar- nold, who held the enemy in check during^ the day, and prevented the success of their plan for turning Gates' left flank. The Brit- tish remained in possession of the field at night, ind the Americans rejoined their main body. The latter regarded the battle as a victory, as they had accomplished all they had expected. Burgoyne's difii- culties thickened rap- idly. On the seven- teenth a detachment of Massachusetts militia seized the posts at the outlet of Lake George and captured a fleet of three hundred boats loaded with supplies for Burgoyne's army, and took three hun- dred prisoners. This force then united with another and laid seige toTiconderoga. These successes completely destroyed Burgoyne's communication with Canada, and with it his means of supply- ing his army. In this emergency he was greatly encouraged by the receipt of a letter from Sir Henry Clinton at New York, informing him that he (Clinton) would in a few days make an effort to ascend the Hud- son and open communication with him. Burgoyne thereupon resolved to endeavor to hold his positon until the arrival of Clinton. Three weeks passed away in inaction, and though skirmishes between the advanced THE YEAR 427 parties were frequent, neither commander cared to attack the other; Burgoyne because he was anxious to defer a decisive engage- ment, Gates because he was scantily supplied with ammunition. Arnold Again at the Front. The success of the battle of Behmus' Heights was generally attributed by the troops to Arnold, who was very popular with them. Gates' jealously was most probably •aroused by this belief, and he unceremoni- ously deprived Arnold of his command. During this delay the American army was increased by the arrival of the Massachusetts militia and other reinforcements, to about •eleven thousand men. Burgoyne's situation was now more critical than ever. His best officers favored a retreat to Fort Edward ; but the British commander •decided before undertaking that movement to reconnoitre the American position in strong force. If it was found that it could not be attacked, he was willing to retreat to Fort Edward. A force of fifteen hundred picked men and ten pieces of cannon, com- manded by the most experienced officers in the army, was sent on the seventh of October to reconnoitre the American position. Gates, by the advice of Morgan, attacked this force on both flanks, and sent Morgan with his rifle- jnen to cut the enemy off from their camp. The sound of the firing roused Arnold, -who was brooding over his wrongs. He mounted his horse and rode at full speed to the battle-field in spite of the efforts of Gates to stop him. He reached the scene of action and was reconized by the troops, who re- ceived him with cheers. Without orders or any definite command, he placed himself at ihe head of the troops and led them against the enemy. The British, led by General Frazer, held their ground manfully, but at length Frazer was mortally wounded by one of Morgan's riflemen, and his line gave way. Burgoyne fearlessly exposed himself in the efibrts to rally his men, but was at length obliged to order a retreat to the camp. This was accomplished with extreme diffi- cult)-, and the Americans, following in close pursuit, made a determined attack upon the British intrenchments, which were stubborn- ly defended. In this attack Arnold displayed great heroism, and was wounded within the enemy's works. Though they failed to cap- ture the whole line, the Americans carried the camp of Colonel Breymen's regiment of Hessians, the key to Burgoyne's position, and took a number of prisoners. Success of the Federals. The Americans bivouaced on the field, in- tending to renew the battle the next day, but during the night Burgoyne abandoned his sick and wounded, and silently withdrew from his intrenchments. The roads being rendered bad by the rains, he halted and took posi- tion about two miles from the town of Sara- toga. On the night of the ninth, finding that the Americans held the Hudson in such heavy force as to render its passage impracti- cable, he retreated to Saratoga- He then sent out a detachment to rebuild the bridges on the road to Fort Edward, but found the road in the possession of the Americans, who also held Fort Edward, and had captured all the boats laden with provisions for his army. He was thus left with but three days rations for his men. On the twelfth the Amer- ican army, which had followed the British closely, invested their position, and opened a heavy fire on their camp. On the thir- teenth Burgoyne called a council of his offi- cers, and it was resolved to open negotiations with Gates. He proposed to Gates to surrender his army on condition that they should he allowed to sail for England from the port of 428 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Boston, first pledging themselves not to j serve again in North America during the | war. Gates had heard of the successes of i Clinton on the Hudson, and was fearful that he would reach Albany. He therefore weakly agreed to Burgoyne's proposal, and consented that the British arniy should march out of camp with the honors of war; 1 that the troops should be taken to Boston and sent to England, and that they should pledge themselves not to serve again in America during the war. These matters being arranged the British army surrendered on the seventeenth of October, and was fed i by the Americans, for its provisions were exhausted. About six thousand prisoners were surrendered, together with nearly five thousand muskets, forty-two brass field- pieces and a large quantity of military stores. Upon the surrender of Burgoyne the British garrison at Ticonderoga evacuated that place and retreated into Canada. Surrender of Burgoyne. Congress refused to ratify the terms granted to Burgoyne by Gates. It was plain that if they were sent to England they could release an equal number of troops there, who could be sent to the aid of Sir Henrj' Clinton in New York. This would deprive the United States of one of the most important results of the surrender. Burgoyne and two attendants were permitted to return to England, but the captive troops were held as prisoners of war, and the next year were marched to Charlottesville, Vir- ginia, and quartered in log huts, where the greater part of them remained until near the close of the war. Some time before Burgoyne's surrender Sir Henry Clinton, having received rein- forcements from England, resolved to under- take the capture of the forts in the High- lands of the Hudson, the garrisons of which had been greatly weakened by the detach- ments sent from them to Washington and Gates. On the sixth of October he attacked and captured Forts Montgomery and Clin- ton. General George Clinton, who com- manded at these forts, finding he could not hold them, sent to General Putnam for assistance, but his messenger deserted ta the enemy and the forts were abandoned. General Tryon was sent to occupy Kingston,, which he ordered to be burned. When the enemy heard of Burgoyne's surrender they retreated, setting fire to the house of every palriot along the river. Clinton then dis- mantled the captured forts and returned to New York, taking with him all the heavy cannon and stores. The capture of Burgoyne's arm^ was hailed with delight throughout the country. It was the most important success of the war, and put an end to the danger of invasion from Canada. Gates was greatly puffed up by his triumph, and imagined himself the hero of the war. He sent his official report of the surrender to Congress direct, and not through the commander-in-chief, as his duty required, tlius offering a grave insult to- Washington. General Schuyler now demanded an inves- tigation of his conduct previons to his relinquishment of his command to Gates. He was thoroughly acquitted of the charges of mismanagement brought against him by his enemies, and was strongly urged by Congress to remain in the army. He declined to do so and resigned his commis- sion ; but was soon afterwards returned to Congress from the State of New York. CHAPTER XXIX Aid from Abroad Sufferings of the Army at Valley Forge — Appeals of Washington to Congress — The British in Philadelphia — The Con- way Cabal — Its Disgraceful Failure — Eftorts to Improve the Army — Worthlessness of Continental Bills— General Lee Exchanged — Effect of Burgoyne's Surrender Upon England — The King is Forced to Agree to Measures of Concilia- tion — Action of France — Louis XVL Recognizes the Independence of the United States — Alliance Between the United States and France — Failure of the British Measures of Conciliation — Clinton Evacuates Philadelphia — Battle of Monmouth — General Lee Dismissed from the Army — Attack Upon Newport — Its Failure — Withdrawal of the French Fleet to the West Indies — Outrages of the British on Long Island Sound — Massacre of Wyoming— The Winter of 1779-S0 — The Army in Winter Quarters — Robert Morris — Condition of Congress — Georgia Subdued by the British — Prevost attempts to Take Charleston — Siege of Savannah — Its Failure — Capture of Stony Point — Capture of Paulus Hook — The Indians Punished — Naval Affairs — Exploits of John Paul Jones — -Evacuation of Newport — Settlement of Kentucky — Conquest of the Illinois Country by Cieorge Rogers Clarke — Settlement of Tennessee. THE sufferings of the American army during the long winter at Valley Forge were very great. Many were barefooted, and their marches through the frost and snow could be traced by the blood from their feet. They were without clothing, without food and were utterly unable to keep the field. Yet in spite of these sufferings many persons severely censured the commander-in-chief for going into winter quarters without attacking Philadelphia. In reply to one of these remonstrances from the Legislature of Pennsylvania, Wash- ington wrote to Congress on the twenty- third of December, 1777 : " Men are confined to hospitals or in farmers' houses for want of shoes. W'e have this day no less than two thousand eight hundred and ninety- eight men in camp unfit for dut)' because they are barefoot and otherwise naked. Our whole strength in Continental troops amounts to no more than eight thousand two hundred in camp fit for duty. Since the fourth instant our numbers fit for duty from ■^hardships and exposures have decreased ■'nearly two thousand men. Numbers still are obliged to sit all night by fires. Gen- tlemen reprobate the going into winter quar- ters as much as if they thought the soldiers were made of stocks and stones. I can assure those gentlemen that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw- remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside than to occupy a cold, bleak hill, and sleep under frost and snow without clothes or blankets. However, although they seem to have little feeling for the naked and distressed soldiers, I feel superabund- antly for them, and from my soul I pity those miseries which it is neither in my power to relieve nor prevent." Congress did little or nothing to relieve the sufferings of the army. It promised the troops one month's extra pay, but made no effort to provide food or clothing for them. It authorized Washington to impress what- ever articles he needed, but he remonstrated against this arbitrary use of power, as he was convinced that it would not supply the wants of the army, but would certainly anger the people of the country. Congress towards the close of the winter manifested so much hostility to the army because of its appeals for food and clothes, that Washing- ton earnestly remonstrated against this feeling 429 430 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. and reminded that body that the troops were " citizens, having all the ties and interests of citizens." It is not too much to say that the personal influence of Washington went further than anything else in keeping the army together during this trying winter. Under any other commander the troops would have dispersed. Encouraged by the calm and lofty patience of Washington, the troops remained faithful to their cause and bore their sufferings with a heroic fortitude which their descendants will ever bear in grateful honor. All this while the British army was com- fortably quartered in Philadelphia, and the officers were billeted upon the inhabitants. They were amply supplied with every com- fort, and their leisure time was given up to pleasure and dissipation on a scale the Quaker City had never dreamed of " By a proportionate tax on the pay and allowances of each officer a house was opened for daily resort and for weekly balls, with a gaming table which had assiduous votaries, and a room devoted to the game of chess. Thrice a week plays were enacted by amateur per- formers. . . . The officers, among whom all ranks of tlie British aristocracy were represented, lived in open licentiousness." The contrast between the pleasures and ease of these well-fed troops and the sufferings and privations of the ragged patriots at Valley Forge was marked indeed ; and when it is remembered that the comforts of the British could have been purchased by the patriots at the price of desertion their heroic constancy becomes more striking. The Conway Plot. The patriotism of Washington was not appreciated by all parties. A number of dis- contented members of Congress and officers of the army were anxious that he should be removed or forced to resign in order that their favorite General Gates might be pro- moted to the chief command of the army. One of the prime movers of the intrigue was an Irish adventurer named Conway, who had been promoted to the rank of brigader-gen- enal, from which circumstance the plot is known as the " Conway Cabal." The entire truth concerning this plot will never be known for after its failure the actors in it were only too glad to disavow their connection with it. The conspirators did not dare to make an open attack upon the commander-in-chief, but undertook by mean of anonymous letters underhanded appeals to the officers and men of the army, and comparisons between Gates success and what they termed Washington's failure, to destroy the confidence of the troops in their leader, and to disgust him with his command and so drive him to resign it. A Conspiracy Thwarted. Generals Mifflin and Gates were very ac- tive in this conspiricy, and even Sullivan and Wayne were in favor of making Gates com- mander-in-chief Dr. Benjamin Rush wrote a letter, to which he did not dare to sign his name, to Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, representing the army of Washing- ton as without a head, and disparaging Wash- ington as no general. " A Gates, a Lee or a Conway," he added. " would in a few weeks render them an irresistible body of men. Some of the contents of this letter ought ta be made public in order to awaken, enlighten and alarm our country." Patrick Henry took no notice of this paper save to forward it to Washington. A similar anonymous docu- ment was forwarded to Henry Laurens, the president of Congress, who also sent it to Washington. Great efforts were made to win over Lafayette to the plot, but without the least success. Washington was to a great extent aware of the plot against him but took no public AID FROM AHROAD. 431 notice of it. He was deeply pained by the unjust censure to which he was subjected, but he never for a moment harbored the thought of laying down the great work he had assumed. He knew his course would bear the most rigid inspection. He knew that the capture of Burgoyne's army which jhad made Gates the hero of the hour, was due to no skill on the part of that officer but was the result of the plan of defence Washington had long before arranged with General Schuyler. In his efforts to contend against General Howe he was under many disadvantages, not the least of which was the fact that his army was encamped in a region abounding in Tories who refused him any sup- port and constantly aided the British. His army was imperfectly disciplined ; it was infer- ior in numbers and equipment to the enemy ; and was in no condition to meet Howe in the open field, still less to undertake the difficult task of driving him from his intrenchments at Philadelphia. Conway in Disgrace. "Had the same spirit pervaded the people of this and the neighboring States, as the States of New York and New England," said Wash- ington," we might have had General Howe nearly in the same situation as General Bur- goyne." Washington knew that the salva- tion of the country demanded his presence at the head of the army. He trusted to time for his vindication, and was chiefly anxious that the enemy should not learn of the dissensions in the councils and camp of the Americans. He firmly opposed the appointment of Con- way to the post of " inspector of the armies of the United^ States," but Congress, under the influence of the cabal, appointed Canway 'to that place with the rank of major-general. In a little while the actions of the conspir- itors became known and aroused such a storm of indignation from the officers and men of the army, from the legislatures of the States, and from the great mass of the people that Gates and Conway and their associates cow- ered before it, and Congress became heartily AN AMERICAN RIFLEMAN. ashamed of having given the plot any en- couragement. The only effect of the con- spiricy was to raise Washington higher in the confidence and affection of his countrymen. The members of the conspiricy were e\er 432 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. afterwards anxious to deny their share in it. The punishment of Gates came as soon as he was entrusted with an independent com- mand, as we shall see. As for Conway, he was despised by the better part of the officers of the army, and found his position so unenvia- ble that he addressed a note to Congress ^ complaining that he had been badly treated, and intimated his intention to resign because he was not ordered to the northern depart- ment. Congress was by this time ashamed of having bestowed upon him such unde- ser\-ed honors, and gladly interpreted his let- ter as an actual resignation of his rank, and at once ended the difficulty by accepting it. Challenged to a Duel. Conway was profoundly astonished. He -sN'as confident that Congress would be terri- fied by his threat to resign, and urge him to remain in the service, and was utterly unpre- pared for the action of that body. He hast- ened to explain his letter but was not listened to. Some time after he ventured to de- nounce the commander-in-chief, and was challenged to a duel by General Cadwallader who had already charged him with cowardice at the battle of Germantown. Conway was wounded ; and beleiving himself near death wrote to Washington, apologizing for his conduct towards him. " You are," he said, " in my eyes the great and good man. May you long enjoy the love, veneration and es- teem of these States whose liberties you have asserted by your virtues." His wound was not mortal as he had supposed, and he recov- ered, and soon left the country. The winter was passed by Washington in an effort to increase the army, and render it more efficient. Baron Steuben, a Prussian officer, who had served under Frederick the Great, was appointed inspector, with the rank of major-general. He introduced into the army the drill and discipline of the Prussian service, and greatly increased its efficiency. The various States, save Georgia and South Carolina, were called upon by Ccngress to contribute their quota of troops to the army. In consideration of their large slave popula- tion, and the neccessity of retaining their • troops for their own defence, those States were excused from compliance with this de- mand. Congress and the Army. Count Pulaski succeeded in raising an in- dependent body of cavalry, and Major Henrj'- Lee organized a regiment of light horse, which under his command subsequently be- came noted as one of the most efficient corps of the army. Congress proposed to in- crease the force of the army to sixt}^ thous- and men, but was never able to bring it to more than half that number. The inabilit\- of Congress to pay the troops compelled many of the officers to leave the army, in order to provide for their families, who were suffering. Congress called upon the States to raise the money for the public expenses by taxing their people, but some of them neglected to respond to this appeal, and the remainder were too poor to render such as- sistance. Congress issued new bills of credit but the value of the " Continental Currency," as this money was called, had depreciated so greatly that a pair of shoes could not be bought for less than from five to six hundred dollars in these bills. The Tories and the British depreciated them still further by flood- ing the country with counterfeits. A great improvement was made in the supply of provisions furnished the army by the appointment of General Greene, at the request of Washington, to the post of quarter- master-general, which had been held by Gen- eral Mifflin, who had neglected its duties on all occaisons. At the urgent solicitation of the commander-in-chief, Greene assumed AID FROM ABROAD. 433 the distasteful position for one year, and dis- charged its duties with a skill and precision which kept the army so well supplied with provisions and ammunition that it was ne\'er, during his administration, obliggd to aban- don a movement because of a lack of these necessities. A Traitor in the Camp. In April, 1778, General Prescott was «xchanged for General Charles Lee, who at •once returned to duty in the army. During his captivity Lee, who was willing to ruin the cause if he could benefit himself, pro- posed a plan to the British ministry by which they could, in his opinion, bring the war to ■a successful close. The ministers did not see fit to adopt Lee's plan, but filed it away among the British archives, and the traitor was exchanged and permitted to resume his command in the American army, to become again a source of trouble and loss to it. In the meantime the American cause had assumed a new phase abroad. The English government had confidently expected that Burgoyne's expedition would be successful, and the result of his operations was watched by France with the deepest anxiety. When news arrived of the defeat of Burgoyne the astonishment of King George and his min- isters was equalled only by their mortifica- tion. It was resolved to wipe out the humiliation b}- a more vigorous prosecution of the war. It was rumored that France ■was about to aid the Americans, and that Holland was on the point of loaning them money. These rum.ors aroused the English people to a heartier support of the government than they had yet given it, and many of the principal cities offered to raise troops to supply the places of those wlio had been surrendered by Burgoyne. At the same time the friends of America were greatly 2 3 encouraged and resolved to make a new effort to put a stop to the war by offering America such terms as would either induce her to renew her former connection with Great Britain or to become the ally and friend of that countr)'. A considerable sum of money was subscribed by these for the relief of the American prisoners, who were left by the government without even the necessaries of life. Trouble in Parliament. When Parliament assembled a strong attack was made upon the polic_\' of the king by the friends of America. The em- ployment of the Hessians, and, above all, of the barbarous Indians of North America, whose cruelties shocked the English people, was severely denounced. The mercantile class was seriously discontented. Its trade with America was destroyed, and the activity of the American cruisers was so great that six hundred English vessels had already been captured; and it was necessary to con- voy merchantmen by vessels of war from one port of the kingdom to another. Thus far the war had caused an expenditure of twenty thousand lives and one hundred mil- lions of dollars, and the conquest of America was as far off as at the commencement of hostilities. Under this pressure the king was con- strained to yield, and, in February, 1778, Lord North presented to Parliment two bills by which his majesty hoped to maintain his authority in America, and conciliate his re- volted subjects. The first of these renounced all intention on the part of Great Britian to levy taxes in America ; the other appointed five commissioners to negotiate with the Americans for the restoration of the authority of England and the close of the war. The consent of the king to these measures was wrung from him by the complaints of a large 434 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. part of the English people, and by his fear that France would openly aid the United States. These bills involved a direct sur- render of the whole ground of the war; but indicated no change of opinion on the part of the king. This action on the part of Great Britian LOUIS XVI. aroused the French government to a more energetic course. Louis XVI. was opposed to treating with the United States ; but the French ministers were aware that a prompt recognition on their part of the independence of the republic would effectually neutralize the measures of Great Britain, and prevent a reconciliation. France was perfectly willing that America and England should weaken each other by their contest, but she was re- solved that Great Britain should never recover her colonies. The capture of Burgoyne's army had demonstrated the ability of Amer- ica to continue the war, and the French minis- ters resolved to lose no time in concluding an alliance with her. On the seventeenth of Decem- ber, 1/77, the Count de Ver- gennes caused Franklin and Deane to be informed of the cing's intention not only to acknowledge but to support the independence of America, and on the si.xth of February a treaty of friendship and commerce, and a second treaty of defensive alli- ance, were concluded between the United States and France. The latter bound the L^nited States to support France in case Great Britain should declare war against her. The King of France acknowledged the independence of the United States of America, and agreed to assist them with his fleet and army. No peace was to be made without mutual consent, and not until the inde- pendence of the United States should be acknowledged by Great Britain. These treaties were ratified by Congress, and were hailed with joy by the Americans, whose confidence was revived by the assurance of the assist- ance of one of the most powerful states of Europe. When the news of the treaties was received in England, the friends of America urged the government to abandon the war, and acknowl- edge the independence of the United States, AID FROM ABROAD as the only way of retaining the good feeling and trade of tliat country. The government would not even entertain the proprosition. The most it would do was to pass the concil- iator)' bills of Lord North. If they failed to accomplish the desired end the war must go on. In March France formally communi- cated to England her treaties with America. This was regarded by England as a declara- tion of war, and the British ambassador was at once recalled from Paris. In June the Bri- tish commissioners, appointed to treat under Lord North's conciliatory measures, arrived in America and opened negotia- tions. Congress de- manded as a prelude to any negotiations, that the independence of the United States should be recognized by England, and lier fleets and armies with- drawn from America. The commissioners having no authority to treat upon any such basis returned to Eng- land, having first made several ineffectual ef- forts to detach prominent Americans from the cause by bribery. The course of Sir William Howe had not pleased the British government, and he was removed from his command on the eleventh of May, 178S, and was replaced by Sir 435 Henry Clinton. About the same time Clin- ton was informed by his government that a large French fleet might be expected at any moment on the American coast, and was ordered to evacuate Philadelphia and concen- trate all his forces at New York. SIR HENRY CLINTON. He accordingly sent his sick and wounded and most of his stores, with his fleet around to New York by sea ; while, with his arm.y, twelve thousand strong, he left Philadelphia on the eighteenth of June, and, crossing the Delaware, began his march through New 436 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Jersey to New York. As soon as Washing- ton learned of his movement he broke up his camp, on the twenty-fourth of June, and crossed the Delaware in pursuit of the Brit- ish army. The intense heat of the weather, and the hea\y train which the British carried Avith them, caused them to move verj- slowly, and Washington soon overtook them. A council of war was called, at which General Charles Lee, who held the second rank in the American army, urged that Washington should confine his efforts to harassing the British on the march. It was resolved, how- ever to attack the enemy and force them to a general engagement. Lee at first declined to take any part in the battle, but at the last moment changed his mind, and solicited a command. Retreat of Clinton. Upon the adjournment of the council of war, on the twenty-seventh of June, Wash- ington sent Lafayette, with two thousand men, to occupy the hills near Monmouth Court-house and confine the enemy to the plains. On the morning of the twenty -eighth of June Lee, who had asked for a command, was sent forward by Washington with two brigades to attack the enemy. Upon coming up with Lafayette, who was his junior, Lee assumed the command of the whole advanced force and marched in the direction of the enemy, who had encamped on the previous night near .Monmouth Court-house, and had resumed their march early on the morn- ing of the twenty-eighth. As soon as Clin- ton heard of Lee's advance he determined to drive him back, and for this purpose wheeled about with his whole rear division, and made a sharp attack upon Lee, who fell back to higher ground. A misunderstand- ing of his order caused one of his subordi- nate officers to abandon his position and Lee's whole force fell back in some confusion. In the excitement of the moment Lee forgot to send word to Washington of his movement, and the first the commander-in- chief, who was advancing with the main body, knew of it was the right of Lee's command falling back rapidly and in dis- order. Riding up to the fugitives he asked them why they were retreating, and was answered that they did not know, but had been ordered to do so. Suspecting that the retreat had been ordered for the purpose of ruining the plan of battle, Washington hastened fonvard until he met General Le^ and sternly demanded of him : " What is the meaning of all this, sir? " Lee was dis- concerted for a moment, and then answered that the retreat was contrary to his orders ; and moreover, that he did not wish to en- counter the whole British army. " I am sorry," said Washington, "that you under- took the command unless you meant to fight the enemy." Lee answered that he did not think it prudent to bring on a general engagement. Washington replied, sternly: " Whatever jour opinion may have been, I expect my orders to be obeyed." Fugitives Made to Halt. Washington at once reformed the men on a commanding eminence, and hurried the main body of the Americans forward to their support. The British soon appeared in force and endeavored to dislodge the Ameri- cans from their position, and failing in this, attempted, but without success, to turn their left flank. The battle lasted till nightfall, and the American army bivouaced on the field, expecting to renew the engagement the next morning ; but during the night Clinton skilfully withdrew from his lines and continued his retreat. The weather was so warm that Washington did not deem it prudent to continue the pursuit, and Clinton was allowed to regain New York without AID FROM ABROAD. further molestation. The Americans lost about two hundred men in this engagement, 437 a number of whom died from the effects of the extreme heat. The British lost three hundred men. During the retreat two thousand Hessians deserted from the British ranks. Lee Dismissed from the Army. As General Lee possessed a large share of the confidence of the commander-in-chief, he might have saved himself from the con- sequences of his fault, had he sought to ex- plain his conduct in a proper manner. On the day after the battle he addressed an insulting letter to Washington, and met the reply of the commander-in-chief with another letter still more disrespectful in tone, demanding a court of inquiry. The court found him guilt>' of disobedience of orders, and of disrespect to the commander-in-chief, and sentenced him to be suspended from his rank for one j-ear. Towards the close of his term of punishment he addressed an insolent letter to Congress, in consequence of some fancied neglect, and was dismissed from the army. A few years later he died in Phila- delphia. After the battle of Monmouth Washington halted for a short time to refresh his men, and then marching to the Hudson crossed that stream and took position at White Plains, in New York, to be ready to co- operate with the French fleet, which was daily expected, in an attack upon the city of New York. The French fleet under Count D'Estaing, with four thousand troops on , board, had arrived in the Delaware just after Lord Howe had sailed for New York. Fail- ing to find the enemy in the Delaware, D'Estaing sailed for New York, but Lord Howe withdrew his vessels into Raritan Bay, and as the larger French ships could not cross the bar, the contemplated attack upon New York was abandoned, to the great regret of Washington. The French fleet brought the American commissioners who had negotiated the treaty with France, and also Monsieur Gerard, the first ambassador from the French king to the United States. In place of the combined attack upon New York it was resolved by Washington, in con- cert with the French admiral, to attack Nev.-port and drive the British out of Rhode Island. The British had established one of their principal depots of supplies at this point, and had there a force of six thousand men under General Pigot. It was arranged that a force of American troops under General Sullivan should attack the enemy by land, while the French fleet and army should cooperate with Sullivan from the sea. On the twenty-ninth of July D'Estaing reached Narragansett Bay with his fleet, and on the eighth of August entered Newport harbor, in spite of the fire of the British batteries. A who^e week had been lost, however, by the failure of the American troops to reach the positions assigned them as promptly as the French fleet. The delay was unavoidable, but it ruined the enterprise. The Fleet Scattered. On the ninth Lord Howe arrived off New- port harbor with his fleet to the assistance of General Pigot. On the tenth D'Estaing sailed out to engage the British fleet, but before this could be effected a sudden and terrible storm scattered both fleets. Howe returned to New York, and D'Estaing made his way back to Narragansett bay in a crippled condition. Instead of landing the four thous- and French troops he had brought witli him, the French admiral sailed to Boston with his whole force to refit. Sullivan in the meantime had crossed from the mainland to the island of Rhode Island 438 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. and had taken position before the British in- trenchments in front of Newport. Here he awaited the return of the French fleet, and in the meanwhile kept up a steady fire upon the British works. Upon D'Estaing's return he informed Sullivan of his intention to sail to Boston to refit his ships. Sullivan earnestly begged him to remain two or three days, as the British must certainly surrender by the end of that time. D'Estaing refused to do so. Sullivan then asked that the French troops might be left to cooperate with him and this also was refused. Left alone, Sulli- van was obliged to retreat to the mainland, as he learned that aid was on its way from New York to Pigot. He effected this move- ment with skill and success, on the night of the thirtieth of August. The next day Sir Henry Clinton reached Newport with a squadron of several ships and a reinforce- ment of four thousand men. Brutal 'Warfare. As he had arrived too late to attack the force under Sullivan, Clinton sent the troops he had brought with him, under Major-Gen- eral Grey.to ravage the coasts to the eastward. Grey destroyed a large number of vessels along the coasts, and stripped Fair Haven, New Bedford, and the island of Martha's Vineyard of everything that could be carried off", and returned to New York laden with plunder. Late in October a British fleet which had been dispatched from England under Ad- miral Byron in pursuit of D'Estaing, arrived off Boston harbor. Byron was unwilling to venture within the harbor, and the French Would not leave their place of security, and the English remained off Boston until a storm arose and scattered their fleet. On the first of November the French, taking advantage of the enforced withdrawal of their enemy, stood out to sea and sailed for the West Indies, and on the same day Clinton des- patched a force of five thousand British troops from New York to the West Indies. Brutal as was the conduct of General Grey, it had been already surpassed by the British and their Indian allies in Pennyslvania. The inhabitants of Wyoming valley, a beautiful region on the Susquehanna, had driven away the Tories from that region, and these had resolved upon revenge. Early in July a force of about eleven hundred Tories and Indians, under Colonel John Butler and the Indian chief Brandt, entered the Wyoming valley. Nearly all the able-bodied settlers were ab- sent with the American army, and upon hearing of the approach of the jnemy a small force had been despaiched by Wash- ington under Colonel Zebulon Butler, to the assistance of the settlers. This force was defeated by the Tories and Indians, who then proceeded to lay waste the valley and murder the inhabitants. They performed their bloody work in the most barbarous manner, and the beautiful valley was made a desolation. In the following month Cherry Valley in New York was rav- aged with equal cruelty by a force of Tories and Indians, and the inhabitants were either murdered or carried into captivit}'. The entire region of the upper Susquehanna and Delaware and the valley of the Mohawk were at the mercy of the savage allies of Great Britain. Battle of Savannah. In the latter part of November, Sir Henry Clinton sent a force of two thousand men from New York under Colonel Campbell to attack Savannah, Georgia, which v.as held by a garrison of one thousand men under General Robert Howe. The British carried the American position after a sharp engage- ment, and on the twenty-ninth of December, Savannah surrendered to them. General AID FROM ABROAD. 439 Prevost, the English commander in Florida, I ton established his headquarters at Middle- now repaired to Savannah, and assumed the command. On his march across the country he captured Sunburj', a fort of considerable importance. Upon reaching Savannah he #ent Colonel Campbell to seize Augusta, fvhich was quickly secured and fortified. brook, New Jersey, near the centre of his line. The winter passed away without any event of importance. The British held New York and Newport with too strong a force to make an attack upon either post success- fully, and the withdrawal of the French fleet .\i..Jj -^m^/ NDI.AN SCALP DANCE. Georgia was thus entirely subdued by the British by the middle of January, 1779. After the failure of the attack upon New- port the American Army went into winter quarters, occupying a series of cantonments extending from the eastern end of Long Island sound to the Delaware. This dispo- sition enabled them to oppose a force to the British at every important point. W'ashing- to the West Indies left Washington without any means of encountering the naval force of the enemy. The season was not without its trials, how- ever. Washington wrote at the beginning of the year 1779, " Our affairs are in a more distressed, ruinous, and deplorable condition tiian they have been since the eoinnience- ment of the war." The currencj- of th^ 440 THE a:\ip:rican revolution. country grew more worthless every day. During the year 1779 the enormous sum of one hundred and thirty-one million of dol- lars was issued in continental bills. The magnitude of the volume of the currency only served to depreciate it more and more, land though supplies and articles of trade were plentiful, tlieir owners refused to accept the depreciated bills of Congress, and would Bell for gold and silver only, " A wagon load of money," Washington wrote to the president of Congress, " will not purchase a wagon-load of provisions." During the year the currency depreciated from eight dollars foi one dollar to forty-one dollars and fifty cents for one dollar. Congress had so little specie that everything must have gope to ruin but for the exertions of Robert Morris, a member of Congress from Pennsylvania, and a leading merchant of Philadelphia, who borrowed large sums of coin on his own credit, and loaned them to the government. This he continued to do throughout the war. Congress had long before this been de- prived of many of its ablest members, who had resigned their seats in order to accept appointments in their own States, or to enter the army. Their places were filled with weaker men, and many dissensions mark the deliberations of the Congress of this period. Many members of Congress and a large part of the people seemed to regard the alli- ance with France as decisive of the war, and were disposed to relax their efforts. France and Canada. During the winter it was proposed to join the French in an expedition for the recovery of Canada for France, and the scheme found favor with a majority of the delegates in Con- gress. Washington opposed it with firm- ness. He pointed out to Congress the diffi- culty of the undertaking, and declared his conviction that it was not to the interest ot the United States that a power different in race, language and religion from the people of this republic should hav^e a footing uf)on this continent. In addition to this he did not desire the people of the United States to increase their obligations to a foreign, evert though a friendly, power. The American forces in the Southern States were commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln, The Tories were very numerous and very active in this region, and the feel- ing between them and the patriots was one of the bitterest hostility, and often manifested itself in bloody and relentless conflicts. Seven hundred Tories under Colonel Boyd set out in February, 1779, to join Colonel Campbell at Augusta. On the fourteenth they were attacked at Kettle Creek by a force of patriots under Colonel Pickens, and were defeated with heavy loss. Pickens hung five of his prisoners as traitors. Fighting at Charleston. General Lincoln now sent General Ashe with two thousand men to drive the British outofAugusta. Upon hearing of his approach Colonel Campbell evacuated Augusta and fell back to Brier Creek, a small stream about halfway to Savannah. Ashe followed him, but without observing proper caution, and on the third of March was surprised and routed by Campbell, with the loss of nearly his entire force. This defeat encouraged General Provost to attempt the capture of Charleston. He marched rapidly across the country to Charleston, and demanded its surrender. Lincoln, who had been reinforced, no sooner heard of this movement than he hastened by forced marches to the relief of Charleston and compelled Prevost to retire to St. John's island, opposite the mainland. The British threw up a redoubt at Stone ferry to protect AID FROM ABROAD. 441 the crossing to this island. It was attacked on the twentieth of June by the forces of General Lincoln, who were repulsed with heavy loss. A little later Prevost withdrew to Savannah. The intense heat of the wea- ther suspended military operations in the south during the remainder of the summer. Ill September, 1779, the French fleet under Count D'Estaing arrived off the coast of Georgia from the West Indies, and the admi- ral agreed to join Lincoln in an effort to recapture Savannah. The American army began its investment of the city on the twenty-third of September, and every- thing promised favorably for success; but D'Estaing became impatient of the delay of a regular siege, and decLied that he must return to the West Indies to watch the British fleet in those waters Savannah must either be taken by assault, or he would withdraw from the siege. ^ To please him Lincoln consented to storm - the British works, and the assault \\a-- ^ made on the ninth of October, but \\a> repulsed with severe loss. D'Estaing himself was wounded, and the chi^ aliou^ Count Pulaski was killed. Lincoln no^\ retreated to Charleston, and the Fiench ^ fleet sailed to the West Indies, ha\ ing a *i ^ second time failed to render any leal ' assistance to the Americans. Tins dis- aster closed the campaign for the year in the south. In the meantime Sir Henry Clinton had been ordered by his government to harass the American coast, and in accordance with these instructions despatched a number of plundering expeditions from New York against exposed points. One of these was sent in May, under General Mathews, into I the Chesapeake. Mathews entered the Eliza- I beth river, plundered the towns of Norfolk and Portsmouth, and burned one hundred and thirty merchant vessels and several ships of war on the stocks at Gosport, near Ports- mouth. He then ascended the James for some distance and ravaged its shores. He destroyed in this expedition two millions of dollars worth of property, and carried off about three thousand hogsheads of tobacco. Upon the return of this expedition, Clinton ascended the Hudson for the purpose ol destroying two forts which the Americans were constructing a short distance below West Point, for the protection of King's Feriy. an important crossing-place between GENERAL BENJA.MIN LINXOLN. the Eastern and Middle States. One of these, which was being built at Stony Point, was abandoned. The work on Verplanck's Point, on the east side of the Hudson, immediately opposite, was compelled to surrender early in June. Returning to New York, Clinton sent General Tryon with twenty-five hundred men to plunder the coast of Long Island Sound. He plundered New Haven, burned Fairfield and Norwalk, and committed other outrages at Sag Harbor, on Long Island. In /( GALLANT CHARGE OF COUNT PULASKL AID FRO^I ABROAD. 443 ciie couise of a few days this inhuman wretch 6urned two hundred and fifty dwelling- houses, five churches, and one hundred and twenty-five barns and stores. Many of the inhabitants were cruelly murdered, and a number of women were outraged by the British troops. Tryon would have carried his outrages further had he not been recalled to New York by Clinton, who feared that Washington was about to attack him. The loss of Stony Point was a serious blow to Washington, as it compelled him to establish a new line of communication between the opposite sides of the Hudson by a longer and more tedious route through the Highlands. He resolved, therefore, the recapture of the post from the British at all hazards. The British had greatly strengthened the fort, which the Americans had left unfinished, and the only way in which it could be captured was by a surprise. It was a desperate undertaking, and Washington proposed to General An- thony Wayne to attempt it. Wayne readily consented, and the two generals made a careful recon- noissance of the position. It was agreed to make the attempt at mid- night, and in order to guard against a betrayal of the movement e\-er\' dog in the vicinity was put to death. A negro who visited the fort regular!)- to sell fruit, and who had been for some time acting as a spy for the Americans, agreed to guide them to the work. At midnight on the fifteenth of July the storming party, guided by the negro, ap- proached the fort in two divisions. Not a man was permitted to load his musket, lest the accidental dischargeof a gun should ruin j • the movement. The negro, accompanied by two soldiers who were disguised as j farmers, approached the first sentinel and I gave the countersign. The sentinel was at once seized and gagged, and the same was done with the second sentinel. The third, however, gave the alarm, and the garrison flew to arms and opened a sharp fire upon the Americans. The latter now dashed for- ward at a run, scaled the parapet, and in a few moments the two opposite divisions met in the centre of the fort. The Americans took more than five hun- dred prisoners and all the supplies and artillery of the fort fell into their hands. lO^ GENERAL ANTHONY WA^TJE. Though they were justly exasperated by the brutal outrages of the British, which we have related, they conducted themselves towards their prisoners with a noblt humanity. The British historian, Stedman, declares, " They (the Americans) would have been fully justified in putting the gar- rison to the sword; not one man of which was put- to death but in fair combat." It was one of the most brilliant expeditions of the war. Wayne now proceeded to prepare 444 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. for the reduction of the fort at Verplanck's Point, but while he was thus engaged a hea\y British force ascended the river to its relief, and he was obliged to forego his attack and also to abandon Stonv Point. On the night of the eighteenth of June !\Iajor Henr)'- Lee made a bold dash at the British fort at Paulus Hook, now Jersey City, and captured it, taking one hundred and fift\--nine prisoners. The British made great efforts to intercept him, but he effected his retreat in safety, bringing off" his prisoners and losing only two men. For VM-_Oli)NEL riLNK\ LEE. these gallant exploits both Wayne and Lee were each voted a gold medal by Congress. Towards the close of the summer of 1779 Washington resolved to inflict upon the Indians a severe punishment for their out- rages upon the whites, and especially for massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley in the previous year. Early in August General Sullivan was sent into Western New York with three thousand men, with orders to ravish the country of the Si.x Nations. He was joined by General James Clinton with two thousand men, and on the twentj'-ninth of August attacked and de- feated a force of seventeen hundred Indians and Tories at Newtown, now Elmira. Sulli- van followed up his victory- by pushing for- ward into the Indian country and laying it waste with fire and sword. In the course of a few weeks he destroyed more than forty Indian villages and burned all the cornfields and orchards. The beautiful valley of the Genesee was made a desert, and to avoid starvation the Indians and their Tory allies were obliged to emigrate to Canada. They were quieted but for a time by the terrible vengeance of the Americans, and soon re- newed their depredations, and continued them to the end of the war. Congress had made great efforts to increase the force of the navy, and the num- ber of American men-of-war had been materially enlarged. Many of them had been captured, however, by the enemy, and the navy was still weak and unable to render much service to the cause, American Cruisers. The privateers were unusually active, and were hunted with unremitting vigilance by the English war vessels. They managed to inflict great loss upon the commerce of Great Britain, however. A number of American cruisers were fitted out in France, and kept the English coast in terror. John Paul Jones, a native of Scotland, who had been brought to Virginia at an early age, was one of the first naval officers commissioned b\- Congress. He was given command of the " Ranger," a vessel of eighteen guns, and by his brilliant and daring exploits kept the English coast in a state of terror, and even ventured to attack exposed points on the coast of Scotland. In 1779 he was given command of a small squadron of three ships of war fitted out in France, and sailing frcm L'Orient, proceeded on a cruise along the coast of Great Britain. - along its banks, and in order to reach the object of their march, Clarke and h.s men were obliged to cross the submerged lands, up to their armpits in water. They were five days in crossing these " drowned lands," 29 and had the weather been less mild, must have perished. On the twenty-third Vin- cennes was reached, and the town was at once carried. Clarke then laid siege to the fort, assisted in this task by the inhabitants of the town, and in twenty-four hours com- pelled Hamilton and his men to surrende. themselves prisoners of war. A British Scheme Frustrated. Clarke was unable to advance againsc Detroit because of the insufficiency of his force. His successes, however, were among the most important of the war. They not only put an end to the British scheme of a general Indian war along the western frontier of the United States, but established the authority of the Union over the country east of the Mississippi, and prevented Great Bri- tain from asserting a claim to that region at the conclusion of peace, a few years later. Returning to the Ohio, Clarke built a block- house at the falls. The conquered territory was claimed by Virginia, and was erected by the legislature of that State into the county of Illinois. By order of Governor Jeffersoa of Virginia, Clarke established a fort on the Mississippi, about five miles below the mouth of the Ohio, which he named Fort Jefferson, and entered into friendly relations with the Spaniards at St. Louis. The Tennessee region, which formed a part of the province of North Caroliiui, had been settled previous to the outbreak of hos- tilities. Fort Loudon, about thirty miles southwest of Kno.xville, was built in 1756, and in 1770 tha Cumberland Valley was settled, and Nashville was founded. By the commencement of the revolution the Ten- nessee country was quickly settled, and the population was increasing at an encouraging rate. In 1776 the Cherokees, incited by the British, waged a formidable war upon the settlers, but were defeated. CHAPTER XXX The Close of the War Seventy of the Winter of 1779-S0— Sufferings of the American Army- Ion — Capture of Charleston — Conquest of South Carolina — Gates i Camden — Exploits of Marion and Sumter — Advance of Cornwallis- • by General Greene — Kn)-phausen's Expedition into New Jersey — Arri Clinton Sails {or the Carolinas— Colonel Tarle- 1 Command of the Southern Army — Battle of -Battle of King's Mountain — Gates Succeeded ,-al of the French Fleet and Army — Arnold's Treason— The Plot for the Betrayal of West Point— Arrest of Major Andre— Flight of Arnold— Execution of Andr4— Mutiny of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Troops — Measures of Congress — Arnold Captures Richmond, Virginia — Battle of Co wpens— Masterly Retreat of General Greene— Comwallis Baffled— Battle of Guilford Court House— Com- walUs at Wilmington— Battie of Hobkirk's Hill— Siege of Ninety-six— Execution of Colonel Hayne— Battle of Eutaw Springs— Washington Decides to Attack New York— The French Army on the Hudson— Financial Affairs— Re- sumption of Specie Payments— Message from the Count De Grasse— Comwallis at Yorktown— The American Army Moves Southward— Siege of Yorktown— Surrender of Comwallis— Efiect of the News in England— Indian Troubles — Efforts in England for Peace — Negotiations Opened — Treaty of Paris — End of the War — The Army Disbanded — Washington Resigns his Commission. THE winter of 1779-80 was passed by the American army in huts near Morristown. It was one of the severest seasons ever experienced in America. The harbor of New Yorls: was frozen over as far as the Narrows, and the ice was strong enough to bear the heaviest artillery. Communication between New York and the sea was entirely cut off and the British garrison and the citizens suffered from a scarcity of provisions. Knyphausen was afraid the Americans would seek to pass the Hudson on the ice and attack the city, and landed the crews of the shipping in the harbor and added them to the gar- rison. His precautions were useless, as the American army was too weak and too poorly supplied to undertake the capture of New York. The troops at Morristown suffered very greatly during the winter. They had scarcely clothing enough to protect them from the Icold; and provisions were so scarce that in 'order to keep his men from starvation Washington was compelled to impress sup- plies from the people of the surrounding countr\^ The heavy snows made the army entirely dependent upon New Jersey for its subsistence, as transportation from a long distance could not be attempted. The people of New Jersey bore the sacrifices im- posed upon them with a noble cheerfulness, and though their state was drained almost to exhaustion, were untiring in their efforts to provide food and clothing for the troops. The Continental currency had fallen so low that one dollar in silver was worth thirty dollars in paper by the beginning of the year 1780; but neither officers nor men could obtain their pay in this depreciated cur- rency. It was almost impossible for the government to purchase anything with its notes. About the last of December, 1779, Sir Henry Clinton, leaving a strong garrison under General Knyphausen to hold New York, sailed south, with the greater part of his army, in the fleet of Admiral Arbuthnot He proceeded first to Savannah, and then moved northward for the purpose of besieg- ing Charleston. General Lincoln exerted himselfwith energy to fortify that city. Four 450 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 45' thousand cilizens enrolled themselves to assist the rcijular garrison in the defence, but only two hundred militia from the interior responded to Lincoln's call for aid. Rein- forcements -were received from Virginia and North Carolina, and Lincoln was able to muster seven thousand men, of whom but two thousand were regular troops. In Februarj-, 17S0, the British landed at St. John's island, about thirty miles below Charleston. Clinton advanced towards the city along the banks of the Ashley, while the fleet sailed around to force an entrance into the harbor. The advance of Clinton was very gradual, and Lincoln was enabled to strengthen his works and prepare for a siege. It was not until early in April that Clinton's army appeared before the Amer- ican works and began preparations to reduce them. A day or two later the British fleet passed Fort Moultrie with but little loss and took position off the cit\-. British Successes. Clinton had lost nearly all his horses on the voyage from New York, and was anxious to replace them from the country north of Charleston. The Americans had stationed bodies of militia at different points north of the city to keep open the communications with Charleston, and to prevent the foraging parties of the British from reaching the inte- rior. Clinton intrusted the task of breaking up these posts and obtaining fresh horses to Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton, a young and energetic officer. Tarleton was short of stature, of a dark, swarthy com- plexion, and broad shouldered and muscular He was insensible to fatigue, unscrupulous as to the means by which he accomplished his objects, merciless in battle, and unflag- ging in pursuit. He was one of the most efficient officers in the English army, and one of the most cruel. By purchase from friends and seizures from foes, he soon supplied Clinton with all the horses he needed. He then began his at- tempt to break up the American posts north of Charleston. On the night of the 14th of April, he surprised a body of fourteen hun- dred cavalry under General Huger and Col- onel William Washington, at Monk's Corner, about thirty miles north of Charleston. The Americans were defeated with a loss of one hundj-ed prisoners and four hundred wagons laden with stores. A little later Fort Moul- trie surrendered, and soon after Tarleton cut to pieces another detachment of American cavalrj'. Charleston was now completely invested, and the siege was pressed with vigor by Clin- ton. Lincoln's situation became every day more hopeless. The fire of the British artil- lery destroyed his defences and dismounted his cannon, and as he was entirely cut off from the country he had no hope of relief from without. On the ninth of May a terri- ble fire was opened upon the defences and the city of Charleston. The city was set on fire in five places, and the American works were reduced to a mass of ruins. Surrender of Charleston. On the twelfth Lincoln surrendered the town and his army to Sir Henry Clinton. The pri- soners, including every male adult in the city, numbered about six thousand men. The reg- ulars were held as prisoners of war, but the militia were dismissed to their homes on their promise not to serve again during the war. Clinton followed up his capture of the city by a series of vigorous measures. Tarleton was despatched into the interior to attack a Virginia regiment under Beaufort, which was advancing to the relief of Charleston. Beaufort began his retreat as soon as he heard of the surrender of Charleston, but was overtaken and surprised by Tarleton at 452 Waxhaw's, on the boundar>- of North Carolina. The British had made a forced march of one hundred and five miles in fifty-four hours. They gave no quarters to the Americans, and put to the sword all who were unable to escape. Their barbarous conduct on this occasion was termed by the American's *' Tarleton's quarters." A second column was sent by Clinton to Augusta, and a third towards Camden to reduce the country between Charleston and those points. They encountered but little resistance. Negroes Desert their Masters. Clinton issued a proclamation threatening to visit the severest punish.-nents upon those who refused to submit to the royal authority, and this was followed a little later by another, offering pardon to all who would return to their allegiance and assist in restoring the authority of the king. The measures of the British commander were entirely successful, and South Carolina was so completely sub- jugated that early in June Sir Henry Clinton sailed for New York, leaving Lord Corn- wallis to complete the conquest of the State. The country abounded in Tories, who ex- erted themselves actively to assist the British commander in his efforts to hold the Carolinas in subjection. Large numbers of them joined the British army, and " loyal legions " were formed in various parts of the country. The only resistance kept up by the Ameri- cans was maintained by the partisan corps of patriots led by Marion, Sumter, and Pickens. The exploits of these daring bands caused the British commander to feel that he could not hold the Carolinas except by the aid of a strong force, and kept him in a state of con- stant uneasiness. On the sixteenth of August Sumter defeated a large body of British and Tories at Hanging Rock, east of the Wateree river. Large numbers of negroes deserted their masters and fled to the British. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. In order to offer a definite resistance to the British, and to collect a regular army to oppose them, the Baron De Kalb was sent to to take command of the troops in the south, and all the regulars south of Pennsylvania were ordered to join him. De Kalb man- aged to collect about two regiments, and with these moved slowly southward. A lack of provisions forced him to halt three weeks on Deep river, one of the upper tributaries of the Cape Fear. Matters were so bad in the south that Con- gress resolved to send General Gates, the conqueror of BurgojTie, to take command of the army in that quarter. General Charles Lee, who knew that Gates was not the man to retrieve such losses, predicted that " his northern laurels would soon be changed into southern willows." Gates hastened south- ward, and overtook De Kalb at Deep river, and assumed the command. De Kalb ad- vised him to move into South Carolina by a circuitous route through the county of Meck- lenburg, which was true to the patriot cause, and where provisions could be easily ob- tained. Total Defeat of General Gates. Gates declined to take his ad\ice, and marched towards Camden by the direct route, which led through a barren and almost uninhabited region. He was sure that his wagons from the north laden with provisions would overtake the troops in two days ; but he was mistaken ; the wagons never made their appearance, and the troops suffered greatly from hunger and disease. His army increased every day by reinforcements from Virginia and North Carolina. On the thir- teenth of August, he reached Clermont, about twelve miles from Camden. His force now amounted to nearly four thousand men, nearly two-thirds of whom were Con- tinentals. THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 453 Upon the approach of Gates, Lord Raw- don, the British commander in this part of the State, fell back to Camden, where he was joined by CornwalHs, who had just arrived from Charleston, and who assumed the com- mand. On the night of the fifteenth. Gates moved nearer to Cam- den, and at the same time Cornwallis advanced to attack Gates, whom he hoped to surprise. The advanced guards en- countered each other in the woods, and the two armies halted until morn- ing. The battle began with dawn, on the six- teenth of August. The militia fled at the first charge of the British, but the Continentals, under the brave Do Kalb, stood firm, though attacked in front and flank. At length De Kalb fell mor- tally wounded, and the Continentals gave way. The American army was completely routed, and was broken up into small parties and scattered through the country. These continued a dis- orderly retreat, closely followed for about thirty miles by Tarleton's cav- alry, who cut them down without mercy. The battle of Camden was the most disas- trous defeat incurred by the Americans during the whole war. They lost nearly eighteen hundred men in killed and prison- ers, and all their artillery and stores. A few days after the battle, Gate* reached Char- lotte, North Carolina, with about two hun- dred men, the remains of the army which his incapacity had ruined. A few days previous to the battle, Sumter surprised a detachment convoying stores to the British army at Camden, and took two LORD CORXWALLIS. hundred prisoners. As soon as ComwaUis heard of this, he sent Tarleton in pursuit of the " Game Cock," as he styled Sumter. Tarleton pushed forward with such vigor that half of his men and horses were broken down. He overtook Sumter at Fishing 454 THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 45; Creek, on the west bank of the Catawba, and routed him with the loss of the greater part of his partisan corps, and rescued the prisoners. Early in December afterwards, an engage- ment took place between the Whigs and I Tories on Long Cane, near Ninety-Six, which resulted disastrously to the patriot cause, and which was of sufficient importance the defeat of Sumter were a number who had given their parole not to serve during the war. Some of these were hanged on the spot; the remainder were subjected to a severe impri- sonment. These severities aroused a desire for vengeance among the people, and gave man}- recruits to Marion, who from the swamps of the lower Pedee maintained a to be noticed. Colonel Benjamin Few, of constant and severe partisan warfare against Georgia, was the senior officer in com- | the British, mand of the Whigs, composed of Georgia and South Carolina militia. Colonel Cruger, the British officer m command at Ninety-Six, with a greatly superior force, determined to attack Few in his camp by surprise. His forces were within three miles of Few's camp before the latter was aware of their approach. Colonel Clarke, Lieu- tenant Colonel McCall,and Major John Lindsay, with one hundred men, were ordered cut to meet and skirmish wil h the enemy until the main body of Few's forces could be brought to their assistance. In this skirmish, Clarke received a wound in the shoulder which was thought to be mortal, and was carried from the field. McCali was wounded in the arm, and his horse being killed u/ider him, narrowly made his escape. Major Lindsay lost his sword-hand by a sabre cut just at the wrist-joint. I'he advance or skirmish- ing party were routed, with fourteen killed and seven, chiefly officers, wounded. Colonel Few, then acting as brigadier-general, re- treated with the balance of his forces with- out further loss. All united and organized resistance to the British in the Carolinas now ceased for a time. The true policy cf Corn wallis was to conciliate the people by acts of clemency, but instead of this he exasperated them by his unneces- sary severity. Among the prisoners taken at GEXEKAL FRANXIS MARION. At the same time, Sumter by great exer- tion recruited his command, and resumed his operations in the upper country. These bands were deficient in arms at first, but sup- plied themselves from the enemy. They made their own gunpowder, cast their own bullets, and provided food for themselves and their horses. By their rapid and secret movements they kept the British in a state of constant alarm. They would make a sud- den and unexpected attack upon the enemy 456 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. at some exposed point, and before pursuit could be attempted would be miles away, or safe in the labyrinths of the swamps. Gates continued to retreat slowly to the northward after his defeat. He had now about a thousand men with him. Virginia and Maryland made great exertions to rein- force him, but without success. The Patriots Aroused. In September, Cornwallis advanced north- ward with the main body of his army. Upon reaching Charlotte he despatched Colonel Ferguson, one of his most trusted officers, to rally the Tories among the mountains in the interior. Cornwallis intended to advance from Charlotte by way of Salisbury and Hills- borough into Virginia, and form a junction with a force to be sent to the lower Chesa- p.ake by Sir Henry Clinton. The success of this movement would complete the subjuga- tion of the south. The patriots in the country through which his army passed were very active. His expresses were captured or shot, and his plans made known to the Americans. While Ferguson was on the march, Corn- wallis advanced to Salisbury. The movement of Ferguson roused the patriots of the interior counties to arms, and they assembled rapidly, with the intention of cutting him off from the army under Corn- wallis. They came from all directions, from as far as Kentucky and Tennessee. Their weapons were their rifles, to the use of which they had been trained from childhood ; they had no baggage; and they moved forward as rapidly as their horses could carry them. These forces had been gathering for several days before the rumors of their march reached Colonel Ferguson. He regarded the reports with distrust at first, but upon receiving more accurate information began a rapid retreat. About the same time the various parties of the Americans effected a junction. They numbered three thousand men. A council of war was held, and it was resolved to send forward a detachment to bring Ferguson to a stand, and to follow with the main body as quickly as possible. Brilliant Exploits of Colonel Campbell. Nine hundred men, mounted on swift horses, were sent forward, under Colonel Campbell. They rode for thirty-six hours, a large part of the time through a drenching rain, and dismounted but once during this period. Ferguson, alarmed and astounded at this determination to crush him, fell back to a strong position on King's mountain, near the Catawba. He was attacked there on the seventh of October by the Americans, and defeated after a hotly contested fight. Fer- guson and about one hundred and fifty of his men were killed, the remainder were com- pelled to surrender. The prisoners num- bered about nine hundred and fifty, of whom about one hundred and fifty were wounded. The Americans lost twenty killed and a somewhat larger number wounded. The North Carolinians selected ten of the Tories who had earned their fate by their cruelties to the Americans, and hanged them on the spot. The Americans then separated and re- turned home, after seeing their prisoners safe in the hands of the proper authorities. Their victory raised the drooping spirits of their countrymen, and encouraged them to fresh exertions to resist the British. As soon as Cornwallis heard of it, he abandoned his for- ward movement, and, falling back into South Carolina, took position between the Broad and Saluda rivers. He remained there until the close of the year. Marion took advantage of the change of feeling cau.sed by the victory of King's moun- tain to renew his operations on the Pedee, but Tarleton compelled him to withdraw to bis fastness in the swamps. Sumter was more successful in the northern part of the State, and defeated a detchment sent in pursuit of him. Tarleton then went after him in person, but was defeated and forced to retreat. Sum- ter was wounded in this engagement, and was compelled to withdraw from the field for several months. During this period his com- mand, deprived of their leader, disbanded. The contest in the Carolinas de- generated into a savage civil war. The patriots and Tories fought each other wherever they met, and destroyed each other's property throughout the State. The country was thus kept in constant terror. Upon the retreat of Cornwallis from Salisbury, Gates advanced southward as far as Charlotte. Here he was relieved of his com- mand by General Nathaniel Greene, who had been appointed by Con- gress, at the urgent solicitation of Washington, to take charge of the southern department. Gates had given great disatisfaction by his failure in the south, and Congress ordered a court of inquiry to exa- mine into his conduct. Greene was placed in charge of the entire south from Delaware to Georgia, "subject to the control of the commander-in- chief." Thus Washington was given the supreme direction of the war. Greene pos- sessed his entire confidence, and the most cordial and affectionate relations existed between them. Greene found the rem- nants of Gates* army in a half mutinous condition. The men were without pay, without clothing, and suffering for the necessaries of life. Reinforcements were sent him from the north, among which were Morgan's regiment of riflemen, Lee's legion THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 457 of licjhthorse, and several batteries of artil- We must now return to the army under Washington. As the spring opened the sufTerings of the troops at Morristown in- creased. Food was so scarce that the troops were driven to desperation. Two regiments of Connecticut troops declared their intention to abandon the army and march home, or wrest provisions from the people of the sur- GENER.iVL N.^THANIEL GREENE. rounding country by force. Washington was compelled to exert all his influence and authority to restore order. It was with great difficulty that provisions were procured, and the wants of the troops supplied. The danger caused by this state of affairs was so great that Congress authorized Washington to declare martial law. The news of these troubles in the American camp induced Knyphausen to undertake an expedition into New Jersey. He landed a' 458 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Elizabethtown, with five thousand men, on the sixth of June, and marched towards Springfield. His advance was warmly con- tested by the militia of the region, but he penetrated as far as the village of Connecticut Farms. Being unable to advance farther he caused the village to be sacked and burned; and IMrs. Caldwell, the wife of the minister most infamous deeds of the war, and gave rise to a fierce and general spirit of vengeance. Her bushand, an eloquent and highly es- teemed minister, animated his contrymen by his stirring sermons, and he soon had the satisfaction of seeing that his labors were not in vain. After the return of Sir Henr\' Clinton to ^11 './ --i t^v< "now put watts into them, of the village, was murdered by some of the British troops. The militia of the region gathered in force, and Kn\-phausen was obliged to make a hasty retreat to l-'.liza- bethtown. The murder of Mrs. Caldwell aroused the most intense excitement throughout New jersey. It was denounced as one of the New York Washington moved a part of his troops towards the Highlands. Knyphausen again advanced from Elizabethtown towards Springfield, hoping to gain the passes beyond Morristown before his march should be dis- covered. His advance was detected, however, and General Greene, who was in command of the American forces, prepared to resist THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 459 him. A sharp fight ensued, in which Greene succeeded in checking the British advance. The New Jersey regiment, of which Caldwell was chaplain, was engaged in the battle. The wadding of the men gave out, and Caldwell, mounting his horse, galloped to the Presbyterian church, and returned with an armful of Dr. Watts' hymn books, which he distributed among the troops, with the pious injunction, " Now put Watts into them, boys ! " The militia came flocking in to the support of General Greene, and Knyphausen finding it impossible to advance farther, burned Springfield and fell back to Elizabeth- town. Return of Lafayette. The Americans were greatly encouraged in the spring by the return of Lafayette, who had spent the winter in France. He had been successful in his endeavors to induce the French court to send another fleet and army to the assistance of the patriots ; and he now brought the good news that a new expedition was on its way to America. In July a fleet under Count de Tiernay, with an army of seven thousand men, under Count de Rochambeau, reached Newport. The Count de Rochambeau was directed by his government to place himself under the orders of General Warhington in order to avoid disputes that might arise from military etiquette. This expedition was the first divi- sion of the army to be sent to America by France. The second division was to sail from Brest, but was unable to do so, as it was blockaded in that harbor by a British squadron. Thus the supplies of arms and clothing which were to have been sent to the American army were delayed, and the troops under Washington were unable to cooperate with the French in an attack upon New York. An English fleet had followed the French across the Atlantic, and Clinton was anxious to secure its cooperation in an attack upon the French at Newport. He could not agree with Admiral Arbuthnot upon a plan of attack, and the English admiral contented himself with blockading the French in New- port harbor. Washington called out the militia of New England to assist in the de- fence of Newport in case of an attack. The French fleet was shut up in this port, and to the great disappointment of Washington, was unable to take part in any combined operation. Some weeks later Washington, anxious to strike a decisive blow at the enemy, invited the French commanders, De Tiernay and Rochambeau, to meet him at Hartford, to arrange a plan for an attack upon New York. The meeting was held, but it was decided to ask the cooperation of the French admiral in the West Indies, as the fleet at Newport was not strong enough to cope with the British fleet at New York. Until the answer of the admiral was received nothing could be done. A Treasonable Plot. While absent at Hartford a plot was dis- covered which involved the fair fame of one of the most brilliant officers of the American army. General Benedict Arnold had been disabled by the wounds he had received at Quebec and Saratoga from undertakingactive service, and through the influence of Wash- ington had been placed in command of Phila- delphia after its evacuation by Clinton in 1778. There he lived in a style far beyond his means, and became involved in debts, which he was unable to pay. To raise the funds to discharge them he engaged in pri- vateering and mercantile speculations. These were generally unsuccessful, and meril\' in- creased his difficulties. Mis haughty and overbearing manner involved him in a quar- 460 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. rel with the authorities of Pennsylvania who accused him before Congress of abusing his official position and misusing the public funds. He was tried b)- a court-martial and was sentenced to be reprimanded by the com- aiander-in-chief. Washington performed this disagreeable task as delicately as possible, but did not lose his confidence in Arnold. BENEDICT ARNOLD. He knew him as an able officer, but, as his acquaintance with him was limited, w as most likely ignorant of the faults of Arnold's char- acter, which were well known to the mem- bers of Congress from Connecticut, who had no confidence in him. To them he was known to be naturally dishonest, regardless of the rights of others, and cruel and tyran- nical in his dealings with those under his authority. Arnold never forgave the dis- grace inflicted upon him by the sentence of the court-martial, and cherished the deter- mination to be revenged upon Washington for the reprimand received from him. While in Philadelphia, Arnold had married a member of a Tory family, and was thus enabled to communicate readily with the British officers. He opened a correspond- ence with Sir Henry Clinton, signing himself Gustavus. He kept up this cor- respondence for several months, and then made himself known to the British commander. In the meantime, at his earnest soli- citation, he was appointed by Washington, in August, 1780, to the command of West Point, the strongest and most important fortress in America. He did this with the deliberate intention of betraying the post into the hands of the enemy. The correspondence had been conducted on the part of Sir Henry Clinton by Major John Andre of the British army, a young man of amiable character and more than ordinary accom- plishments. He wrote under the assumed name of John Ander- son. He was an especial favorite of Sir Henry Clinton, and was beloved by the whole army in which he served. Soon after the appointment of Arnold to the command of West Point, Andre volunteered to go up the Hudson and have an interview with him for the purpose of completing the arrangements for the betrayal of that fortress. His offer was accepted by Clinton, and he ascended the Hudson as far as Haverstraw in the sloop of war " Vulture." He was set ashore and was met near Haverstraw on the west bank of the Hudson by General Arnold. THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 461 on the twenty-second of September. The meeting took place about dark, and the night had passed before the arrangements were completed. Much against his will, Andre was compelled to pass the next day within the American lines. During the twenty-third the " Vulture," having attracted the attention of the Americans, was fired upon and forced to drop down the river. Andre found the man who had set him ashore unwilling to row him back to the sloop, and he was compelled to return to New York by land. He changed his uniform for a citizen's dress, and, pro\-ided with a pass from Arnold, under the name of John Anderson, set out for New York along the cast bank of the river, which he deemed safer than the opposite shore. All went well until Andre reached the vicinity of Tarry- town. There he was stopped by three young men, John Paulding, David Williams, and Isaac Van Wart. They asked him his namr and destination, and he, suppos- ing them to be Tories, did not use the pass given him by Arnold, but frankly avowed himself a British ofificer travelling on important business. To his dismay he then learned that his captors were of the patriotic party, and he offered them his watch, purse, and any reward they might name if they would suffer him to pro- ceed. They refused to allow him to stir a step, and searched his person. They found concealed in his boots papers giving the plan of West Point, and an account of its garrison. Andre was taken by his captors before Colcnel Jamison, the commander of the nearest American post. Jamison rccognizeil the handwriting as that of Arnold, but, un- willing to believe that his commander could be guilty of treason, he detained the prisoner, and wrote to Arnold informing him of the arrest of Andre and of the papers found upon his person. The papers themselves he for warded by a special messenger to Washing- ton, who was on his return from Hartford. Arnold received Colonel Jamison's letter --1 M.^JOR ANDRE. as he sat at breakfast with some of his offi- cers. He concealed his emotion, and excus- ing himself to his guests, called his wife from the room, told her he must flee for his life, and hastening to his barge, escaped down the river to the " Vulture," and was received on board by the commander of that vessel. From his place of safety he wrote to Wash- ington, asking him to protect his wife, who, 462 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. he declared, was innocent of any share in his plot. When he learned that Arnold was safe, Andre wrote to Washington, and confessed tl:c whole plot. He was at once brought to trial upon the charge of being within the American lines as a spy. The court-martial was presided over by General Greene, and Lafayette and Steuben were among its mem- bers. Andre asserted that he had been induced to enter the American lines by the misrepresentations of Arnold. The Infamous Plot Confessed. He denied that he was a spy, and though cautioned not to say anything that might criminate himself, he frankly confessed the whole plot. He was sentenced, upon his own confession, to be hanged. Clinton made great exertions to save him, and Washing- ton, whose sympathy was won by the amiable character of Andre, was anxious to spare him. The circumstances of the case de- manded that the law should be executed, and Andre was hanged at Tappan, near the Hudson, on the second of October, 1780. Congress voted to each of his three captors a pension of two hundred dollars for life and and a silver medal. The plot of Arnold had been discovered by the merest chance, and the American cause had narrowly escaped a crushing dis- aster. The loss of West Point would have given the British the entire control of the Hudson, and have enabled them to separate New England from the Middle and Southern States. It might have proved fatal to the cause, and certainly would have reduced Washington to great extremities. Arnold received for his treachery the sum of ten thousand pounds sterling and a commission as brigadier-general in the English service. He was regarded with general contempt by the English officers, who refused to associate with him, and were greatly averse to serving under him. In the summer of 1780 it seemed likely that England would be involved in war with the whole civilized world. The claim of Great Britain to the right to search the ves- sels of neutral nations for articles contraband of war was productive of great annoyance to the northern powers, whose commerce was subjected to serious loss by these arbi- trary measures. Catharine II. of Russia determined to resist it, and organized with Denmark and Sweden a league known as the " Armed Neutrality," for the purpose of enforcing the principle that neutral ships in time of war are entitled to carry merchan- dise without being liable to search or seizure by the belligerent powers. \Var in Europe. Holland joined this league, and concluded a secret commercial treaty with the United States. This treaty was discovered by Great Britain almost immediately, and in the fol- lowing manner : The American minister to Holland, Henry Laurens, was captured at sea by a British frigate. He threw his papers, the treaty among them, into the sea, but they were recovered by an English sailor, who sprang overboard and secured them. They were laid before the British government, which demanded that Holland should dis- avow the treaty and the correspondence with the United States. The Dutch government returned an evasive answer, and England immediately declared war against Holland. The English fleet at once proceeded to attack the Dutch possessions and commerce in all parts of the world. Holland declared war against Great Britain, and her fleet was added to that of France against England. Spain now made an alliance with France against England, and sent her fleet to co- operate with the French in the West Indies. ESCAPE OF BENEDICT ARNOLD, 464 and also laid siege to Gibraltar. The Irish about the same time demanded a reform of the many abuses from which that island had been suffering since the battle of the Boyne, and this demand was sustained by a force of eight)^ thousand armed Protestant volunteers which had been raised forthe defence oflre- land against a threatened attack of the French. They demanded an independent parliament, and even threatened a total separation from Great Britain. In the face of these difficul- ties the spirit of England rose higher than ever, and that country, with a vigor worthy of her ancient renown, put forth all her energies to find a way out of her difficulties. The whole world was arrayed against her, but in the face of it she held her own. The heroism manifested by England at this try- ing period is worthy of the highest admira- tion. Sufferings of the Patriots. The American army passed the winter of 17S0-81 in cantonments east and west of the Hudson. The Pennsylvania troops were stationed near Morristown, and the New Jer- Jersey regiments at Pompton. Though the troops were better provided with food than during the previous winter their sufferings were still very severe. They were neglected by Congress, which was too much occupied with its dissensions to make any serious effort to relieve the wants of the soldiers. The Pennsylvania troops had an especial cause of complaint. Their enlistments were for three years or the war. The three years had expired, but the government refused to discharge them on the ground that the enlist- ments were for the period of the war no matter how long it should last. The troops on the other hand contended that the words, "for the war," meant that the enlistments should expire if the war closed in less than three years. THE ami:rican revolution. On the first of January, 1781, thirteen hundred Pennsylvania troops left the camp at Morristown under arms and set off for Philadelphia to obtain redress from Con- gress. General Wayne, their commander, placed himself in front of them, and, pistol in hand, attempted to stop their march. In an instant their bayonets were at his breast. " We love, we respect you," they ex- claimed, " but you are a dead man if you fire. Do not mistake us ; we are not going to the enemy ; were they now to come out you would see us fight under your orders with as much resolution and alacrity as ever." They halted at Princeton, where they were met by the agents of Sir Henry Clinton, who endeavored to induce them to join the British service. They promptly seized these men and delivered them up to General Wayne as spies. At a later period it was proposed to reward them for this action, but they refused to accept anything, saying : " We ask no reward for doing our duty to our country-." Mutiny Promptly Quelled. Congress was greatly alarmed by the ap- proach of these troops, and a committee, accompanied by Reed, the President of Penn- sylvania, was sent to meet them. The com- mittee met the leaders of the mutineers and agreed to relieve their immediate wants and to secure them their back pay by means of certificates. Permission was given to all who had served three years to withdraw from the army. Upon these conditions the troops returned to duty. The disaffection was increased by the yielding of Congress. On the twentieth of January the New Jersey troops at Pompton mutinied, but this out- break was quelled by a detachment sent from West Point by Washington. The mutiny opened the eyes of the coun- try to the sufferings of the army, and aroused THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 465 all |)arties to the necessity of providing for the troops. It was clearly understood that a failure to sustain the army would result in the defeat of the cause. Urgent appeals were made by Congress to all the States, especially to those of New England, to sup- ply the wants of the army, and Congress endeavored to negotiate a loan abroad. Direct taxation was resorted to to provide money at once. The British in Virginia. The year 1781 opened with a military ex- pedition under the command of the traitor Arnold, now a brigadier-general in the British service. Early in January he was sent by Sir Henry Clinton, with sixteen hundred British and Tories, from New York to the Chesapeake to ravage the shores of Virginia, After plundering the plantations along the lower bay and the James, Arnold ascended the river, and landing his troops marched to Richmond. Thomas Jefferson, tnen Governor of Virginia, called out the militia, but only a handful responded. Arnold occupied Richmond, burned the public buildings and some private dwellings, and then re-embarked and dropped down the the ri\er to Portsmouth. Washington was anxious to capture liim, and sent Lafayette with a force of twelve hundred men south- ward by land to prevent Arnold from escaping overland to join Cornwallis in the Carolinas, and at the same time the French fleet sailed from Newport for the Chesapeake to prevent the escape of the traitor by water. The British Admiral Arbuthnot followed the French fleet and brought it to an en- gagement off the mouth of the Chesapeake. The French were worsted and obliged to return to Newport, and Admiral Arbuthnot entered the bay and reinforced Arnold with two thousand liritish troops under General Philips, who assumed the command at Ports- mouth and fortified his position there. From his camp he sent out detachments to ravage the country in all directions. Lafayette, in the meantime, upon hearing of the failure of tlie plan, halted at Annapolis, in Maryland. Arnold, upon being superseded by Philips, returned to New York. ' Battle of the " Cowpens." Early in January Corn\^•allis, who was at Winnsborough, South Carolina, sent Colonel Tarlcton, with a force of one thousand cavalry and light infantry, to cut off M(jr- gan's division from the column under Gen- eral Greene. Morgan was between the Bnad and Catawba Rivers at the time, and upon hearing of Tarleton's approach began to retreat towards the Catawba. Tarleton pushed on with such speed that Morgan saw he must be overtaken. He accordingly halted and took position at the " Cowpens," ahout thirty miles west of King's Mountain, and rested his men. Tarleton arrived in front of this position on the seventeenth of January and made an impetuous attack upon the Americans. Ai first he drove the mili- tia before him, but Morgan keeping his Continentals well in hand, suddenly wheeled upon him and drove him from the field. The two forces were about equal. Morgan lost but eighty men, while the loss of the British was over six hundred. Tarleton escaped from the field with only a few of his cavalry. Cornwallis moved forward as soon as he learned of Tarleton's defeat. He supposed that Morgan would be encumbered with his wounded and prisoners, and would be slow in leaving the scene of his victory, and he hoped by a rapid march to come U[) with him, crush him, and rescue the prisoners before he could join General Greene. Mor- gan was much too wary to be caught in such a trap. He felt sure Cornwallis would 466 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. seek to avenge Tarleton's defeat, and leaving his wounded under a flag of truce, he re- sumed his retreat with all speed immediately after the battle, and hurrying towards the Catawba, crossed that river. Two hours after he had passed it the advance of Cornwallis* army reached the bank of the river, but owing to a sudden rise in the stream were unable to cross it. The British were detained in this manner for two days, during which Morgan rested his GENERAL DANIEL MORGAN. men and sent off his prisoners to a place of safety. Two days after the passage of the Catawba Morgan was joined by the troops under General Greene, who had heard of the vic- tory of the Cowpens, and was advancing to the assistance of his lieutenant. Greene was not yet strong enough to meet the British, and he continued the retreat toward the Yadkin. He moved slowly, and his rear guard was still engaged in the passage of the Yadkin when the advance guard of Corn- wallis reached that stream, on the third of February. Cornwallis had burned all his heavy baggage, and had reduced his army to the strictest light marching order, in the hope of being able to intercept Greene. A skirmish ensued on the banks of the Yadkin, and night coming on the British commander deferred the passage of the stream until the next day. During the night a heavy rain swelled the river so high that it could not be forded, and the Americans had secured all the boats on the other side. Greene, profiting by this delay, hurried on to cross the Dan into Virginia, where he could receive reinforcements and sup- plies. Morgan was left to cover the retreat of the army, but falling ill was obliged to relinquish the command of the rear guard to Colonel Otho H. Williams. Cornwallis passed the Yadkin as soon as possible and strained every nerve to Z. prevent Greene from crossing the Dan. 3 He supposed the Americans would not ^ be able to cross at the lower ferries, but would be obliged to pass the river higher up, where it could be forded. He there- fore urged his army to its utmost exer- tions to secure these fords before the arrival of the Americans. Perceiving Cornwallis' error, Colonel Williams re- treated towards the upper fords and so confirmed the British commander in his delusion. Having led the British sufficiently out of the way, Williams wheeled about, and by a rapid march of forty miles in twenty-four hours down the river, rejoined Greene, who had moved with all speed to the lower ferries, where, in anticipation of his retreat, he had collected a supply of boats. The Dan was passed on the fifteenth of February, and the Ame-ican army was safe from its pursuers. An hour or two later Cornwallis, who had discovered his mistake and had marched THE closp: of the war. 467 with speed from the upper fords, appeared on the opposite bank of the river, only to see his adversary safely beyond his reach. The river was too deep to be forded, and Greene had all the boats in his possession. Corn- vvallis was deeply mortified at his failure to intercept Greene. He had pursued him for over two hundred miles, and had made great sacrifices to come up with him, but the American commander had managed to elude him and had successfully carried out one of the most brilliant retreats in history. The Americans regarded their escape as provi- dential, and not without cause. Their way across the Carolinas might be tracked by the blood from their feet; and twice, when the enemy had come within gunshot of them, the rising of the waters of the Catawba and the Yadkin, which they had passed in safet}% had held back the British and enabled them to escape. After resting his men for a few days on the banks of the Dan, Corn- wallis fell back to Hillsboroujh. Greene Compelled to Retreat. Having received reinforcements, General Greene recrossed the Dan, about the last of February, and advanced into the Carolinas to watch Cornwallis and encourage the patriots of that region. Cornwallis, being short of supplies, moved slowly southward. Greene followed him cautiously, too weak to risk a battle, but ready to take advantage of the first error on the part of his adversary. His movements were conducted with the utmost circumspection, and in order to guard against a surprise he ne\-er remained in the same place more than one day, and [kept secret imtil the last moment the places he selected for his encampments. In the meantime he was gradually receiving rein- forcements from Virginia and Maryland, until his army numbered four thousand men. Feeling himself strong enough to attack the enemy, Greene left his baggage at a point of safety and advanced to Guilford Court-house, seventeen miles distant, with the intention of bringing Cornwallis to a decisive engagement. Here he was attacked by Cornwallis on the fifteenth of March, and after one of the hardest-fought battles of the war was compelled to retreat. Greene with- drew in good order, and Cornwallis, though victorious on the field, was so sorely crippled that he was unable to make any pursuit, and was obliged to fall back to Wilmington, near the mouth of Cape Fear River. By the time he reached that place his army had been so much weakened by desertions and losses in battle that it amounted to but four- teen hundred men. Operations in South Carolina. Greene had lost a thousand militia by desertion during his retreat, but was soon enabled to supply their places. He then moved into South Carolina for the purpose of attacking the British force under Lord Rawdon, which was posted at Camden. He advanced to Hobkirk's Hill, about two miles from Camden, where he was attacked on the t\vent>'-fifth of April by Lord Rawdon. After a sharp engagement Greene was de- feated and obliged to retreat. He withdrew his army in good order, having inflicted upon his adversary a loss about equal to his own. Rawdon was unable to derive any advantage from his victory, as he could not bring Greene to another general engagement. The activity of the American partisan corps in his rear alarmed him for the safety of his communications with Charleston, and he abandoned Camden and fell back to Monk's Corner. In the meantime Lee, Marion, Pickens, and the other partisan leaders had broken up the fortified posts of the British with 468 THE such success that by the month of June, 1 78 1, only three positions of importance remained to the British in South Carohna Charleston, Nelson's Ferry and Fort Ninety- six, near the Saluda. The last-named posi- LORD KAWDON, AFTERWARD MARQUIS OF HASTINGS. tion was of the greatest importance, and was held by a force of Carolina Tories. Lee and Pickens were sent against Augusta, Georgia, and captured it after a close invest- ment of seven days. General Greene him- self marched against Ninety-six and laid AMERICAN REVOLUTION. sie"-e to it. Being informed that Lord Raw don was marching to relieve it, he deter mined to carry the fort by assault before Rawdon could arrive. The assault was made on the eighteenth of June, but was repulsed with severe loss. Greene then raised the siege and retreated across the Saluda. Early in July the excessive heat put an end to active opera- tions on the part of the two armies. Greene withdrew to the high hills of the Santee, and the British went into camp on the Congaree. A bitter partisan war- fare now sprung up between the patriots and the tories, and continued during the summer. Houses were pillaged and burned, farms were laid waste and no quarter was given by either party. Even women and children were included in these dreadful mas- sacres. Lord Rawdon now resolved to add to the horrors of this war- fare by executing as traitors those who had given their parole not to engage in the war or had received a protection, if they should be taken in arms. Among the prisoners taken by the British at the capture of Charleston, was Colonel Isaac Hayne, a distinguished citizen of that place. His wife THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 469 was dying and his children were helpless, and he gave his parole to remain neutral, in order to be able to take care of them, and was promised protection. At a later period, the British commander being in need of rein- forcements, Hayne was ordered to take up arms against his country in behalf of the king. He regarded himself as relieved from his parole by this command, and soon after escaped from Charleston and raised a partisan corps, at the head of which he was captured. He was condemned to die as a traitor ; and though the inhabitants of Charleston, both patriot and royalist, petitioned for his pardon, it was refused, and he was hanged, by order of Lord Rawdon, on the 5th of August. Life for Life. His execution was regarded by the Amer- icans as cruel and unjust, and as contrary to military law. General Greene felt himself obliged to retaliate by executing as deserters all those prisoners who had formerly served in his own army, and so bitter was the feeling of the American troops that they could scarcely be prevented from shooting the British officers who fell into their hands. Lord Rawdon now sailed for England, and left the command of his army to Colonel Stewart, an officer of ability and experience. At the close of the summer General Greene, whose army had been increased by the com- mands of Marion and Pickens to twenty-five hundred men, resumed the offensive. He attacked the British at Eutaw Springs on the eighth of September, and after a severely con- tested battle the left wing of the British was routed. In the moment of victory the Amer- ican army stopped to plunder the enemy's camp, and the British, taking advantage of the delay, rallied and made a stand in a large stone house, from which they could not be driven. Greene was forced to draw off his troops and leave the field to the British, who lost seven hundred men in the engagement. The American loss was five hundred men. Both sides claimed the victory; but the ad- vantage certainly was not with the British, who lost more than a third of their men. Colonel Stewart, in view of this loss, fell back to the vicinity of Charleston. Greene followed him as far as Monk's Corner, and then returned to the hills of the Santee. The American commander had abundant reason to be satisfied with the result of his opera- tions in South Carolina. He had rescued the greater part of tiie State fiom the British, and had confined them to the region between the Santee and the lower Savannah. He had repeatedly engaged the enemy with the most inadequate means and under the most unfa- vorable circumstances, and had never failed, even though defeated, to accomplish the object for which he fought. He had baffled the British commanders over again, and, like William of Orange, had managed to derive greater advantages from his reverses than his adversaries were able to draw from their victories. Plan to Recapture New York. Washington was well pleased with the achievements, in the South, of his most trusted lieutenant. He was very anxious to attempt something decisive with his own army, if he could secure the aid of a French army and fleet. Two enterprises offered themselves to him — an attack upon New York, which had been greatly weakened by detachments sent from its garrison to the south, and an expedition against Cornwallis. That commander had left Wilmington on the twentieth of April, and had advanced, without encountering any serious resistance, to Petersburg, Virginia. He arrived there on the twentieth of May, and was joined by the troops under General Philips, who had been plundering the country along the James river. 470 While Washington was hesitating which would be the best course to pursue, a French frigate arrived at Newport, with the Count de Barras on board, who had come to take command of the fleet at Newport. He brought the good news that a fleet of twenty ships-of-the-line, under the Count de Grasse, having on board a considerable force of troops, had sailed for America, and might be expected to arrive in the course of a few months. Washington held a conference with the Count de Rochambeau, at Weathersfield, Connecticut, and it was resolved to attack New York. The French army was to march from Newport and form a junction with the Americans on the Hudson. A frigate was despatched to the West Indies to inform the Count de Grasse of this arrangement, and to ask his co-operation in the proposed attack. Cornwallis Strongly Intrenched. Sir Henry Clinton, who suspected the designs of Washington, now ordered Lord Cornwallis, who had crosssed the James river, and was at Williamsburg, to send him a reinforcement of troops. Cornwallis pre- pared to comply with this order, and for that purpose marched towards Portsmouth, followed cautiously by Lafayette and Steu- ben, who hid with them about four thousand American troops. On the march a slight engagement occurred, near Westover, be- tween Lafayette and Cornwallis, in which the Americans narrowly escaped a defeat. The British army crossed to the south side of the James, and a detachment was embarked for New York. At this moment a second order was received from Sir Henry Clinton, who had received a reinforcement of Hessians from England, directing Cornwallis to retain all his force, choose some central position in Virginia, fortify him.self in it, and await the development of the American plans. Corn- THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. wallis should have taken position at Ports- mouth, from which place his line of retreat to the South would have remained intact. In an evil hour for himself he recrossed the James, and crossing the peninsula between that river and the York, took position at the towns of Gloucester and Yorktown, opposite each other, on the York River. He had with him an army of eight thousand effective troops, and proceeded to fortify his position with strong intrenchments. \ number of vessels of war were anchored between Yorktown and Gloucester to main- tain the communication between those points and to assist in the defence of the place. During all this time the financial affairs of the republic were growing worse and more hopeless. The continental currency had become utterly worthless, one dollar in paper being worth only one cent in coin at the opening of the year 1781. In the .spring of that year Congress sought to put an end to its financial troubles by taking the control of the finances from a board which had hitherto managed them, and intrusting them to Robert Morris, whose sei-vices in behalf of the cause have been mentioned before. Return to Specie Payments. Morris was an experienced financier, and had opposed with all his energy the system of making continental money a legal tender. He now made a return to specie payments the condition of his acceptance of the trust imposed upon him by Congress. On the twenty-second of May, 17S1, Congress most unwillingly resolved : " That the whole debts already due by the United States be liqui- dated as soon as may be to their specie value, and funded, if agreeable to the creditors, as a loan upon interest; that the States be severally informed that the calcu- lations of the present campaign are made in solid coin, and, therefore, that the requi.-jition9 THK CLOSE OF THE WAR. 471 from them respectively being grounded on those calculations, must be complied with in such manner as effectually to answer the the purpose designed ; that experience having evinced the inefficacy of all attempts to support the credit of paper money by compulsory acts, it is recommended to such States where laws making paper bills a tender yet exist to repeal the same." On the thirty-first of May continental bills, being no longer a legal tender, ceased to cir- culate. Henceforth all credit to supply the deficiency. No man did more to contribute to the success of the cause than Robert Morris; and no man received more ingratitude from the govern- ment and people of the Union than he. In July Washington was joined in the Highlands by the French army under Count de Rochambeau, and preparations were» made to attack New York. An intercepted letter informed Sir Henry Clinton of this | design, and he exerted himself to put the transactions were to be in hard money. The result amply vin- dicated Morris' views. He induced Congress ':o establish the Bank of the United States at Philadelphia, with 1 capital of two millions of dollars and a char ter for ten years. This bank was allowed the privilege of issuing its own notes, which it w-as required to re- deem in specie upon presentation. This re quirement gained for the bank the confi dence of the people and capitalists availed themselves of it for the investment of their money. Morris used the bank freely in his public operations, and at the same time used it so wisely that he was able to secure all the aid it was capable of bestowing without subject- ing it to too severe a strain. He raised the credit of the government higher than it had ever stood before, and was able to do much towards paying the soldiers and supplying them with food and clothing. As often as the public funds failed he pledged his own SCENE IHE HIGHLWns OF THE HUDSON. city in a state of defence. In the midst of his preparations Washington received a letter from the Count de Grasse, stating that he would sail fir the Chesapeake instead of Newport. Tills decision of the French admiral compelled an entire change of plan on the part of the Americans. As Dc- Grasse would not co-operate with them, they must abandon the attack upon New York, and attempt the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown. No time was to be lost in 472 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. making the attempt, for it was now the month of August. By a series of skilful movements Sir Henry Clinton was induced to believe that an attack upon New York would soon be made, and at the same time the American army was marched rapidly across New Jersey, followed by the French. Lafayette, who was in Virginia, was ordered to prevent at all hazards a retreat of Corn- wallis' army to North Carolina, and was directed to ask assistance of General Greene if necessar}'. Cornwallis Entrapped. The plan of Washington was to blockade Cornivallis in the York river by means of the French fleet, and at the same time to besiege him in Yorktown with the army. The troops were somewhat unwilling to undertake a southern campaign in August, but their good humor was restored at Phila- delphia, where they received a part of their pay in specie, and a supply of clothing, arms and ammunition, which had just arrived from France. From Philadelphia the combined armies proceeded to Elkton, at head of the the Chesapeake, where they found trans- ports, sent by the French admiral and by Lafayette, to convey them to the James river. The first intimation Sir Henry Clinton had of a change in the American plans was the sudden sailing of the French fleet from New- port on the twenty-eight of August. Sup- posing that De Barras's object was to unite with another fleet in the Chesapeake, Clinton sent Admiral Graves to prevent the junction. Upon reaching the capes the British admiral was astonished to find the fleet of the Count de Grasse, consisting of twenty ships-of-the line, anchored within the bay. De Grasse at once put to sea as if to engage the enemy, but in reality to draw them off and allow De Barras to enter the Chesapeake. For five days he amused the English b\- constan; skirmishing. De Barras at length appearet. and passed within the capes, and De Grasse at once followed him. Admiral Graves was unwilling to attack this combined force and returned to New York. The movement of the American army to the south was known to Clinton, but he sup- posed it was only a manoeuvre to draw him off of Manhattan Island into the open coun- tr}\ When the Americans were beyond the Delaware and the French fleets had effected their junction in the Chesapeake, he recog- nized his mistake and saw that the object of Washington was the capture of Cornwallis. It was too late to prevent it ; but in the hope of compelling Washington to send back a part of his force to defend New England, Clinton sent the traitor Arnold with a large body of troops to attack New London in Connecticut. On the si.xth of September Arnold captured that town and burned the shipping and a large part of the town. A Horrible Massacre. He then took Fort Griswold, on the oppo- site side of the Thames, by storm, and basely massacred Colonel Indyard, the commander, and sixty of the garrison after the surrender of the fort. The militia of the State were summoned to take up arms for its defence, and responded in such numbers that Arnold became alarmed for his safety and returned to New York. The object of his expedition failed most signally. Washington left New England to defend herself, and continued his movement against Cornwallis. Cornwallis was very slow to realize his danger. He believed the small force under Lafayette the only command opposed to him, and on the tenth of September wrote to Clinton that he could spare him twelve hundred men for the defence of New York. He did not perceive his error until the French fleet had THE CLOSE OF THE WAR anchored in the Chesapeake and cut off his escape by water. He then attempted to retreat to North CaroHna, as Washington had foreseen, but Lafayette, who had been reinforced by three thousand French troops under the Marquis de St. Simon, from the fleet of De Grasse, was too active for him, »nd finding his retreat impossible, CornwaUis 473 the British, and on the ninth of October the cannonade was begun. It was continued for four days, and the British outworks were greatly damaged, and several of their vessels in the river were burned by means of red- hot shot thrown into them by the French vessels. On the fourteenth two of the ad- vanced redoub';s of the enemy weie stormed VIEW OF VOKKTOW sent urgent appeals to Clinton for assistance, and strengthened his fortifications. In the meantime the American and French armies descended the Chesapeake, and took position before Yorktown, while the French fleet closed the mouth of York river. The siege was begun on the twenty-eight of Sep- tember. Sixtc-n thousand men were pre- sent under Washington's orders. Works were erected completely enclosing those cf and taken, one by the Americans, the other by the French. From the positions thus gained a very destructive fire was maintained upon the English lines, which were broken in many places, while many of their guns were dismounted and rendered useless. On the fifteenth CornwaUis found himself al- most out of ammunition, and unable to maintain his position but for a few days long<;r. 474 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. In this strait the British commander re- solved upon the desperate alternative of cross- ing the York to Gloucester, abandoning his sick and wounded and baggage,and endeavor- ing to force his way northward by extraor- dinary marches to New York. It was a hopeless undertaking, but Cornwallis resolved to make the trial. On the night of the six- teenth of October he crossed a part of his army from Yorktown to Gloucester, but a sudden storm delayed the passage of the He sent to Washington an offer to surren- der, and the terms were soon arranged. On the nineteenth of October Cornwallis sur- rendered his army of seven thousand men as prisoners of war to Washington, as com- mander of the allied army, and his shipping, seamen and naval stores to the Count de Grasse, as the representative of the king of France. W^ashington despatched one of his aids to Philadelphia to communicate the good news SURRENDER OF LORD COKNW.\LLl river by the second division until after day- light, when it was useless to make the attempt. The first division was with difficulty brought back to Yorktown, as the boats were exposed to the fire of the American batteries while crossing the river. Nothing was left to Cornwallis now but a capitulation, as his works were in no condition to with- stand an assault, and simple humanity to his men demanded that the contest should cease. to Congress. The officer pushed forward with all speed, and reached Philadelphia at midnight, and delivered his message. Soon the peals of the State-house bell roused the citizens, and the watchmen took up the cry, " Cornwallis is taken ! Cornwallis is taken!" The people poured out into the streets in throngs, and no one slept in Philadelphia that night. The next day Congress proceeded in a body to a church and gave thanks for the great victory. A national thanksgiving THE CLOSE OF THE WAR. 475 was ordered, and throughout the whole land rejoicings went up to God for the success which all men felt was decisive of the war. On the nineteenth of October, the day of the surrender of Cornwallis, Sir Henry Clin- ton sailed from New York to his assistance with a force of seven thousand men. Off the capes he learned of the surrender of the British army at Yorktown, and as his fleet was not strong enough to meet that of the French he returned at once to Xew York. " It is All Over." The news of the surrender of Cornwallis was received in England with astonishment and mortification. It was the second time England had lost an entire army by capture, and her efforts to subdue the United States were no nearer success than they had been at the opening of the war. The English people had never regarded the attempt to conquer America with favor, and they now became more open and energetic in their demands for peace. " Lord North, the prime minister," says an English writer, " received the intelligence of the capture of Cornwallis as he would have done a cannon ball in his breast; he paced the room, and throwing his arms wildly about, kept exclaiming, ' O God ! it is all over ! it is all over !' " The king and the aristocracy, however, had no thought of yielding yet to the popular pressure, and were resolved to carry on the war. After the surrender at Yorktown, Wash- ington urged the Count de Grasse to coop- erate with General Greene in an attack upon Charleston. The French admiral declined to comply with his request, alleging the necessity of his immediate return to the West Indies. The French troops were quar- tered for the winter at Williamsburg, Vir- ginia, and the American army returned northward and resumed its old position on the Hudson. Washington, though con- vinced that peace was close at hand, did not relax his vigilance, and urged upon Congress the necessity of preparing for a vigorous campaign the next year ; but so thoroughly was Congress carried away by the prospect of peace that his recommendations were unheeded. In the south the British and Tories were so disheartened by the surrender of Corn- wallis that they ceased active operations and evacuated all their posts but Savannah and Charleston. General Greene at once dis- posed his army in such a manner as to con- fine them closely to Charleston. In the Northern States the only place held by the British was New York. Indian and Tory Outrages. Though active operations had ceased on the part of the two armies, a cruel and destructive warfare was continued by the Indian allies of the British against the border settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and a similar warfare was maintained by the Tories and Indians along the frontier of New York. These outrages involved the Christ- ian Delaware Indians in the punishment of the guilty savages. The Delawares had become converted to Christianity under the influence of the Moravian missionaries, and had removed from the Susquehanna to the Muskingum. They were suspected by the Americans of the crimes of their heathen brethren, and in the spring and summer of 1782 their towns were destroyed and numbers of them were slain. The war was carried into the country of the W^yandottes by the whites, but with less success. On the sixth of June a force of Pennsylvanians under Colonel Crawford was defeated by the Wyandottes. In the same summer a band of northern Indians led by Simon Girty, a Tory of infamous 4/6 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. character, invaded Kentucky. They were met by the Kentuckians under Boone, Todd, .and other leadens. A severe battle was fought at the Big Blue Lick, and the Ken- tuckians were defeated with the loss of ^nearly one-half their force. Story of Captain Huddy. Some of the staunchest patriots and some of the most ferocious Tories resided in Mon- mouth county, New Jersey. The patriots built a block-house of logs at Dover, which was a strongly fortified building. The only method of ingress or egress was by the use of a scaling ladder. Captain John Huddy was commander of this post, and was one of the bravest men who fought for the Amer- ican cause. His house was once surrounded by his foes, but esccping he jumped into the waters of the bay, and as he swam he shouted, "I am Huddy!" His escape on this occasion was remarkable. On March 20, 1782, a party of forty Tories and eighty seamen, nil fully armed, left New York in whaleboats for the pur- pose of capturing Captain John Huddy. Their coming was announced by scouts, and preparations were made to receive them. The battle was one of the fiercest of the war. The powder in the fortress at length gave out, and Huddy, with sixteen men, four of whom were wounded, was taken prisoner. Huddy was a prisoner of war, and was entitled to treatment as such, but his enemies conspired to put him to death. He was executed on the morning of April 12, and his last words were, " I shall die innocent, and in a good cause." Captain Lippincott, who ordered Huddy 's execution, cursed his men 'pecause they were unwilling to take the life of so brave a foe, and with his own hand helped to pull the rope. Returning to New York he reported to the board of loyalists that he had " ex- changed " Captain Huddy for Philip White. The pastor of the Presbyterian church at Freehold preached the funeral sermon from the front porch of the old Freehold hotel, and the body was buried with the honors of war. The desire of the English people for the close of the war had grown too strong to be resisted, and the king and his ministers were at length forced to yield. The impossi- bility of conquering America had become so apparent to the continental nations that in the spring of 17S2 the Dutch republic recognized the independence of the United States, and received John Adams as envoy from that government. The king of Eng- land maintained his obstinate opposition to the wishes of his people to the last moment. On the twenty-second of Februar\-, 1782, a resolution was introduced into the House of Commons to put an end to the American war and was supported by the leaders of the Whig party. It was defeated by a majority of one, but on the twenty-seventh of February a similar resolution was introduced and was carried by a majority of nineteen. England Gives Up the Struggle. On the twentieth of March Lord North and his colleagues were forced to relinquish their offices, and a new ministry was formed under the Marquis of Rockingham. Sir Henry Clinton was removed from his com- mand in America, and was succeeded by Sir Guy Carleton, whose humane conduct of the war while governor of Canada we have related. Carleton arrived in New York iij May, 1782, with full powers to open nego- tiations for peace. He at once put a stop to the savage warfare of the Tories and Indians on the borders of we>tern New York, and opened a correspondence with Washington proposing a cessation of hostilities until a definite treaty of peace could be arranged. CAPTAIN HUDDY LED FROM PRIsuiN TO BL HA.NOLD. 478 Five commissioners were appointed by Congress to conclude a peace with Great Britain. They were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, who had just been released from the tower of London, where he had been kept a prisoner ^or about a year, and Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson was unable to leave America. Five commissioners were appointed by Great Britain to treat with " certain colonies " named in their instructions. A Treaty Formed. The commissioners from the two countries met at Paris, but the American commis- sioners refused to open negotiations except in the name of the " United States of America." This right was acknowledged by Great Britain, and on the thirtieth of November, 1782, a preliminary treaty was signed, which was ratified by Congress in April, 1783. This treaty could not be final because by the terms of the alliance between the United States and France neither party could make a separate treaty of peace with England. In January, 1783, France and Great Britain agreed upon terms of peace, and on the third of September, 1783, a final treat}' of peace was signed by cdl the nations who had engaged in the war — by the United States, France, Spain and Holland on the one side, and Great Britain on the other. Great Britain acknowledged the independ- ence of the States of the Union in the fol- lowing words : " His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz : New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecti- cut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Marj-land, Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina and Georgia, to be free, sovereign and independent States ; that he treats with them as such ; and for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. claim to the government, proprietary' and ter- ritorial rights of the same, and every part thereof" It should be obser\'ed that the treaty acknowledged the independence and sovereignt}- of each of the thirteen States, and not of the United States as a single nation. The independence of the States had already been recognized by several of the European powers : by Sweden, on the fifth of Februarj', 1783; by Benm.ark, on the twenty-fifth of February, I78>; by Spain, on the twent>'-fourth of March ; and by Russia in July, 1783. Treaties of friendship and commerce were entered into betwe^Q the United States and these powers. Washington and His Army. During the year 1782 the greater part ot the American army was encamped at New- burg, on the Hudson. Washington mad* his headquarters in an old stone house, which was well adapted for defence and con- cealment, one of the rooms having seven doors leading to other parts of the house, and but one window. The troops were unpaid and were neglected by Congress and by the various States. Washington warned the government of the danger of further neglect of the army, but his warning was unheeded, and in March the patience of the army was so far exhausted that it was seriously proposed to march to Philadelphia and compel Congress to do justice to the troops. Washington appealed to the officers to remain patient a little longer, and pledged himself to use his influence with Congress to fulfill its neglected promises to the army. His appeal quieted the trouble for a time. Congress shortly after agreed to advance full pay to the soldiers for four months, and to pay in one gross sum the full pay of the officers for five years. The condition of the country' was a sub- ject of the gravest apprehension. It was WASHINGTON ;teks at nev THE ROOM WITH SE\EN DOORS AND ONE WIND'iW. 48o THE amp:rican revolution. plain that the articles of confederation were not capable of continuing the Union much longer, and many persons believed that the only hope of preserving a regular govern- ment, and a permanent union to the country, lay in the establishment of a monarchy. In May, 1782, Colonel Nicola, of the Pennsyl- vania line, at the instance of a number of officers, wrote a letter tc Washington, pro- posing the creation of a monarchy, and offer- ing him the crown. Washington indignantly refused to entertain the proposition, and severely rebuked the writer of the letter. Peace at Last. In the spring of 1783 the news of the signing of the preliminary treaty of peace was received in America, and was officially communicated to the nation in a proclama- tion by Congress. On the nineteenth of April, 1783, just eight years from the com- mencement of the war at Lexington, the close of hostilities was proclaimed, in general orders, to the army at Newburg. A general exchange of prisoners followed, and large numbers of Tories were obliged to leave the country, as they feared to remain after the protection of the British forces was with- drawn. They emigrated chiefly to Canada, No\'a Scotia, and the West Indies. The final treaty having been signed, the army was dis- banded on the third of November, and the troops, with the e.xception of a small force, returned to tiieir homes to enjoy their welL earned honors and the thanks of their grate- ful countrymen. On the twenty-fifth of November the British evacuated New York, which was at once occupied by a small force of Americans, under General Knox. In December Charleston was also evacuated by the British. On the second of December Washington issued a farewell address to the army, and on the fourth of that month took leave of the officers at New York. He then proceeded to Annapolis, where Congress was in ses- sion, and on the twenty-third of December, under circumstances of great solemnity, re- signed his commission to that body, and after receiving the thanks of Congress for the able and faithful manner in which he had dis charged the task intrusted to him, retired to his home at Mount Vernon, which he had not visited for eight years, except for a few hours, while on his way to attack Cornwallis at Yorktow n. jO ''^If J/ . ~*?^^« = the sacrifices made bv and represented to achieve the great end of a central go\ ernmcnt, strong enough to carry out the objects of the Union. It was a document of compromises, three of which were of especial importance. The first was a concession to the smaller States, which had feared the loss of their independence ; they were placed on the same footing as the larger States by being given an equal representation in the Senate. The second was a concession to the slave- holding States of the south, and guaranteed that in apportioning their representation in Congress three-fifths of the slaves were to be included with the white population. The third was a concession to Georgia and South Carolina, and granted them permission to continue the African slave-trade until 1808. The delegates from those States refused to sign the constitution except upon this con- dition. Decimal Currency. In the meantime Congress had taken a step of the highest importance in adopting the plan, presented by Mr. Jefferson, for a decimal currency. Until now the use of the English currency had been general in all the States. In August, 1786, our present sys- tem of dollars and cents was adopted by Congress, and a mint was established some- what later. The government was so poor, however, that it could only coin a small quantity of copper cents. The sessions of Congress were held at New York. In the session of 17S7 a meas- ure was adopted, which had the most im- portant influence upon the subsequent his- tory of the country. The treaty of Paris fixed the Mississippi river as the western boundary of the United States. This river consequently became the western limit of Virginia, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. In 1784 Virginia ceded to the general gov- ernment of the United States her claim to- the vast region owned by her beyond the Ohio. ]\Iassachusetts and Connecticut soon followed her example, and New York also ceded her western territory to the govern- ment. In July, 1787, Congress organized this vast region as the territory of the northwest. It was provided that slavery should never be permitted to exist in this territory, or in any of the States which might afterwards be formed out of it. This wise provision, which WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 485 was the basis of the wonderful prosperity of this great region, was due to the foresight of Thomas Jefferson. The northwest being secured to freedom, emigration soon set in, and it began its great career of prosperity which has since known no slackening. Washington Elected President. It was provided by the constitution that when it should have been ratified by two- thirds of the States, it should go into opera- tion on the fourth of March, 17S9. Eleven of the States having ratified the constitution, elections were held for President and Vice- President of the United States, and for mem- bers of Congress. New York was named as the seat of the new government. The fourth of March, 1789, was ushered in with a public demonstration at New York ; but a sufficient number of members of Congress to form a quorum for the transaction of busi- ness did not arrive until the thirtieth of March. On the sixth of April the electoral votes were counted, and it was found that George Washington had been unanimously chosen first President of the United States, and John Adams Vice-President. Charles Thompson, the oldest secretary of Congress, was sent to Mount \'ernon to notify Washington of his election, and a mes- senger was despatched to Boston on a similar errand to Mr. Adams. Washington promptly signified his acceptance of the office, and, two days later, started for New York. It was his desire to travel as quietly and unos- tentatiously as possible, but the people of the States through which he passed would not permit him to do so. His journey was a constant ovation. Crowds greeted him at every town with the most enthusiastic demon- strations of affection and confidence ; trium- phal arches were erected ; his way was strewn with flowers by young girls ; and maidens and mothers greeted him with songs com- posed in his honor. In consequence of these demonstrations his progress was so much retarded that he did not reach New York until the latter part of April. On the thirtieth of April Washington appeared on the balcony of Federal Hall, New York, on the site of which the United States Treasury now stands, and took the oath of office in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, and a large crowd of citizens assembled in the streets below. He then repaired to the Senate chamber, and there delivered an address to both houses of Congress. The organization of the government being now complete, Congress proceeded to arrange the executive department by the creation of the depart- ments of state, the treasury and war. Presi- dent Washington appointed Thomas Jeffer- son, secretary of state, Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasur}% and General Henry Knox, secretary of war. John Jay was made THE INAUGLRATluN OF WASHINGTON. chief justice of the United States, Edmond Randolph, attorney-general. The new government found itself face to face with many difficulties, the principal of which was the payment of the national debt. This debt was in the form of notes of the government, or promises to pay for value received. These notes had been issued by the States as well as by Congress during the revolution, and had been given in payment for services rendered the general and State governments, and for supplies. In Janu- ary, 1790, Alexander Hamilton proposed to pay all these debts in full, and that the general government should assume the war debts of States. This plan met with considerable oppo- sition at first, but was at length adopted. !t was also arranged that the revenue of the country should be divided as follows : As the control of commerce had passed into the hands of Congress the revenue derived from the duties levied upon im- ^ ported merchandise was to be applied to the uses of the general government. The proceeds of the direct taxes upon real estate and other property, which could be levied only by the respective States, were to be used for the expenses of those States. It had been for some time considered desirable to remove the seat of federal government to some point more central than New York, and which could be brought under the supreme control of Congress. In 1790 it was resolved that the seat of govern- ment be fixed at Philadelphiafor ten years, and at the end of that time be removed to a new- city to be built on the banks of the Potomac. A federal district, ten miles square, was ob- tained by cession from Virginia and Mary- land, and was placed under the sole control WASHINGTON'S ADMIXISTR.VTION. and 487 the " Father of his country," were laid on the left bank of the Potomac, a short dis- tance below the falls of that river, and build- ings for the accommodation of the general government were begun and pushed forward as rapidly as possible. The general government was removed to Philadelphia in 1791, and in December of that year the second Congress began its sessions in that city. The principal measure of this session was the e.stablishment of the GEORGE W.\SHINGTON. Bank of the United States, in accordance with the recommendations of Alexander Hamilton. The bank was chartered for twenty years, and its capital was ten millions of dollars, of which the government took two millions and private individuals the re- mainder. The measure was carried in the face of considerable opposition in Congress, but was very beneficial to the government. of the United States. The foundations of a j as well as to the general business of the new city, named Washington, in honor of I country. The notes of the bank were FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR ilver upon presentation payable in gold and at its counters. Commerce now began to show signs of a great revival from tiie stagnation and loss caused by the war. The duties levied upon foreign goods gave to domestic manufac- turers an opportunity' to place themselves upon a firmer foundation. Very great im- provements were made in the character of American manufactures. In New England iiiioiiil i^^jL INDI.\N CHILD IN CR.\DLE. the weaving of cotton and woolen goods was begun, in a feeble way it is true, but the foundation was laid of that great industry which has since been a constant and grow- ing source of wealth to that section. In 1790 the first census of the United States was taken, and showed the population to be 3,929,827 souls. The Indians of the northwest had been very troublesome for some time. The British agents in that region incited them to hostility against the United States, and urged them to claim the Ohio as their southern and eastern boundary'. They com- mitted innumerable outrages along this river and almost put a stop to the trade upon its waters by attacking and plundering the flat- boats of the emigrants and traders which were constantly descending the river. The general government resolved to put a stop to their outrages, and General Harmer was sent against them in 1 790, but was defeated with great loss. " Little Turtle " Defeats St. Clair. In 1 79 1 General St. Clair, the governor of the northwest territory, was placed in command of an expedition against the savages. He set out from Fort Washing- ton, now Cincinnati, about the middle of September, with a force of two thousand men, but near the headwaters of the Wabash was surprised and defeated by an Indian force under Little Turtle, a famous chief of the Miamis. The wreck of his army fled to Fort Washington, and the frontier was once more defenceless. President Washington now placed General Anthony Wayne in command of the forces destined to operate against the Indians. With his usual energy Wayne assembled his army at Fort Washington, and in the sum- mer of 1794 marched into the Indian countrj-, laid it waste and defeated the Indian tribes in the battle of the Maumee on the twentieth of August. In the summer of 1795 the Indians, cowed by their defeat and alarmed by the withdrawal of the British from the frontier posts, met General Wayne at his camp on the Miami and entered into a treaty with the United States by which they ceded all the eastern and southern part of Ohio to the whites and withdrew farther westward. WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 489 In the elections of 1792 Washington and Adams were chosen President and Vice- President of the United States for a second term of four years. The disputes which had been begun by the adoption of the constitu- tion had been continued during the first term of Washington's presidency, and had given rise to two political parties — the Federalists, or those who favor a strong national government, and who supported the administration, and the Anti-Federalists, who opposed the policy of the administration. Among the leaders of the Federalist party were Washington, Adams, Hamilton and Jay ; among the Anti-Federalist leaders were Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. Reign of Terror in France. The differences between Jefferson and Hamilton increased with time, and soon as- sumed the character of a personal hostility, a circumstance which was productive of great trouble to the president, since it prevented his cabinet from acting harmoniously. As the quarrel deepened, the Anti-Federalist party repudiated that title, and took the name of Republican, as it better expressed their principles. The political questions entered largely into the second election, and pre- vented Mr. Adams from receiving the unani- mous vote which was given to Washington. Shortly after the commencement of Wash- ington's first term of office, the French revo- lution broke out, and drew upon France the attention of the whole world. The events of this great struggle were watched with the deepest interest in America, for the nation cherished the warmest sentiments of grati- tude to France for her aid in the revolution. The Republican party urgently favored an alliance with the French republic, but Washington and the greater part of his cabinet were resolved to maintain a strict neutrality as to all European quarrels. The excesses of the revolutionists shocked the public sentiment of America, and the events of the reign of terror cooled the zeal of many of the most ardent friends of the French republic. Still party feeling ran high upon the subject, and the disputes were yet verj.' bitter when Mr. Edmond Charles Genet, or " Citizen Genet," as he was gen- erally styled, arrived in the United States, in 1793, as minister from the French republic. He brought the news that France had de- clared war with Great Britain. He was well ALEXANDtK IIWIILION received by the Republicans, who were anxious that the United States should become the ally of France, and thus engage in anew war with Great Britain. Washington and his cabinet were unmoved by this clamor, and a proclamation was issued declaring the neutrality of the United States in the war between Great Britain and France, and warning the American people to refrain from the commission of acts inconsistent with this neutrality. The firmness of the President in resisting the demand for an 490 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. alliance with France saved the country from innumerable losses, perhaps from the des- truction of the work of the revolution. Genet, encouraged by the sympathy of the Republican party, was determined to embroil the United States with Great Britain to such an extent that they would be compelled to make common cause with France. He therefore began to fit out privateers from American ports against the commerce of England. He was warned b\- the govern- ment that he was transcending his privileges as a minister of a friendly power, but paid no attention to this rebuke. The Republican 1 arty now took a more active stand in favor ^ towards England, as a neutral, was but little appreciated by the government of that country, which con- ducted itself towards the United States in a manner that seemed likely to result in an. other war. By the treaty of Paris England had agreed to surrender the frontier posts held by her forces within the limits of the United States. These were still retained, and were made by the British agents so many centres for stirring up the Indians to acts of hostility against the Americans. Orders were issued to the British navi'l 49 1 officers to seize and detain all vessels laden with French goods, or with provisions for any of the French colonies. As the Ameri- can ships were largely engaged in trade with France and her colonies, this order threat- ened the commerce of the States with ruin. The feeling of indignation against Eng- land, caused by these outrages, was increasing throughout the Union, and the country was rapidly drifting into a war with that king- dom. The interests of the United States M^mA demanded peace with all the world, as the country was yet too weak and unsettled to endure another war with safety. This neces- sity was recognized by Washington and his advisers, and the constant aim of the Presi- dent was to avoid, as far as possible, all com- plications which might lead to war. The conduct of Great Britain could not be passed by, and if a settlement of the matter, con- sistent with the honor and interests of the republic could not be arranged, war was in- evitable. 492 FROM Tin-: REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. Anxious to exhaust all peaceful means of settlement, President Washington sent John Jay, the chief justice, to England to enter into negotiations with the British govern- ment for the settlement of all matters in dis- pute between the two countries. Mr. Jay was eminently qualified for the task, both by his remarkable abilities and his great and honorable services to the country since the outbreak of the revolution. He was received in England with great respect, and in the ^^^''^^-^^X.>'^<:f course of a few months concluded a treaty, which was submitted to the Senate of the United States for ratification. By the terms of this treaty Great Britain agreed to give up the western posts within two years, to grant to American vessels the privilege of trading with the West Indies upon certain condi- rions, and to admit American ships free of restrictions to the ports of Great Britain and the English East Indian possessions. On the other hand provision was made by the United States for the collection of debts due British merchants by American citizens. This treaty did not please any party entirely, not even Mr. Jay himself; but it was the best that could be obtained from Great Britain at the time, and as such was accepted by the administration, which threw all its influence in favor of its adoption. It met with very great opposition in the Senate and subjected the president to a great deal of adverse criticism throughout the country. One of the powerful advocates of the treaty was Fisher Ames, of Massachusetts, who did much by his resistless eloquence to insure the adoption of the measure. After a fortnight's debate in secret session the Senate advised the ratification of the treaty. The Treaty Secures Peace. The acceptance of this treaty, imperfect and unsatisfactory as it was, secured peace to the United States for a number of years at this most critical period of its historj-. In 1/95 treaties were also negotiated with Spain, by which the boundaries between the United States and Louisiana and Florida were definitely settled. The navigation of the Mississippi was made free to both parties, and the Americans were granted the privi- lege of making New Orleans, for three years, the place of deposit for their trade. The commerce of the United States, which was increasing rapidly, was confined chiefly to the New England States. A lucra- tive trade with the countries of Europe bordering the Mediterranean had grown up, but was greatly interfered with by the Algerine pirates, who sallied out from their harbors on the African coast and captured many of the vessels engaged in this trade and sold the crews into slavery. The European powers had purchased exemption from these outrages by paying an annual tribute to the Dey of Algiers. The United WASHINGTON'S ADMINISTRATION. 493 States for the present thought it best to follow the universal custom, and ransomed the captive American sailors by the payment of nearly a million of dollars. At the same time the more sensible policy of establishing a navy for the protection of American com- merce was resolved upon, and in 1795 a bill was passed by Congress for the construction of six first-class frigates. This was the be- ginning of the United States navy^. Mr. Jefferson had retired from the cabinet at the close of 1793, and after his with- drawal party quarrels ran higher than e\ er The motives and on duct of the Presid(.nt were denounced w ith rreat bitterness by hi opponents, and he \\ 1 subjected to considi. able annoyance t these attacks H continued with firn ness the course he had marked out for himself, trustmg to time and the good sense of his countr\ men for his vmdi<_ i tion. In Septembc 1796, he issued a fare well address to the people of the United States, in which he announced his purpose to retire from public life at the close of his second term, and delivered to his countrymen such counsels and admonitions as he deemed suited to their future guidance. It was the warn- ing of a father to his children engaged in a difficult and all-important undertak- ing. It had a most happy effect. It brought up the memory of the great and unselfish services of Washington, and enabled his countrymen to see him in his true light. The gratitude of the nation, which had been long obscured by party passions, burst forth in a mighty stream, and from every quarter came evidences of the affection and venera- tion of the American people for their great leader. Congress adopted a reply to the farewell address, expressing the highest con- fidence in the wisdom and integrity of Washmgton and dunng the wmter of sCENP I\ THE M\M\IOTH C V\ E kE\TLCK\ 1796-97 nearly all the State legislatures- adopted similar resolutions. At the elections held in the fall of 1796 the Federalists put forward John Adams as their candidate, while the Republicans sup- ported Thomas Jefferson. The contest was very bitter, and resulted in the election of Mr. Adams. Mr. Jefferson, receiving the ne.Kt highest number of votes, was declared Vice President, in accordance with the law as it then stood. FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 494 During the administration of President Washington three new States were admitted into the Union, making the whole number of States sixteen. They were Vermont, which was admitted on the fourth of March, 1791, making tlie first new State under the fconstitution ; Kentuck}-, which was admitted of the presidency the government was new and untried, and its best friends doubted its ability to exist long ; the finances were in confusion and the country was burdened with debt; the disputes with Great Britain threatened to involve the country in a new war ; and the authority of the general gov- WASHINGTON S HOME AT MOUNT VERNON. In 1792 ; and Tennessee, admitted on the first of June, 1796. At the close of his term of office, Wash- ington withdrew to his home at Mount Ver- non, to enjoy the repose he had so well earned, and which was so grateful to him. His administration had been eminently suc- cessful. When he entered upon the duties ernnicnt was uncertain and scarcely recog- nized. When he left office the state of affairs was changed. The government had been severely tested and had been found equal to any demand made upon it ; the finances had been placed upon a safe and healthy footing, and the debt of the country had WASIIINGTOXS ADMINISTRATION. 495 been adjusted to the satisfaction of all parties concerned in it. The disputes with England had been arranged, and the country, no longer threatened with war, was free to devote its energies to its improvement. Industry and commerce were growing rap- idly. The exports from the United States had risen from nineteen millions to over fifty- six millions of dollars, and the imports had increased in nearly the same proportion. The rule of non-interference in Euroijcan quarrels, and of cultivating friendly relations with all the world, had become the settled policy of the republic, and its wisdom had been amply vindicated. The progress of the republic during the eight years of Wash- ington's administration was indeed gratify- ing, and gave promise of a brilliant future. CHAPTER XXXII The Administrations of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson Inanguraljon of John Adams — Aggressions of France Upon the United States— The American Commissioners Insulted by the French Government— The Alien and Sedition Laws— The Unite 1 States Prepare for War with France— France Signifies Her Willingness to Treat — New Commissioners Appointed — Settlement of the Dispute — He Capture of the " lusurgente " and "Vengeance" — Death of Washii -Removal of the Capitol to Washingto City The Second Census — Inauguration of Thomas Jefferson — The President's Message — His First Measures — Ad- mission of Ohio — Louisiana Purchased by the United States — War with the Barbary Powers^Burning of the " Phila- delphia" Re-election of Mr. Jefferson — Aaron Burr Kills Alexander Hamilton in a Duel — Burr's Subsequent Career Fulton's Steamboat — Outrages of England and France Upon American Commerce — American Vessels Searched and -Vmerican Seamen Impressed by England — Efforts to Settle These Questions — Affair of the " Chesa- peake " and " Leopard " — The Embargo — Results of This Measure — Losses of the Eastern States — Election of James Madison to the Presidency — Repeal of the Embai^o — Retirement of Mr. Jefferson. ON the fourth of March, 1797, John Adams was inaugurated Presi- dent of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office as Vice President. Mr. Adams was in the sixty-second year of his age, and in the full vigor of health and intellect. He made no changes in the cabinet left by President Washington, and the policy of his adminis- tration corresponded throughout with that of his great predecessor. He came into office at a time when this policy was to be subjected to the severest test, and was to be triumph- antly vindicated by the trial. Mr. Adams began his official career with the declaration of his "determination to maintain peace and inviolate faith with all nations, and neutrality and impartiality with the belligerent powers of Europe." The relations of the United States with France had been of an unfriendly nature for some time. Jay's treaty had greatly offended th^ French government, and the insolent conduct of M. Adet, the French minister to the United States, had led to a suspension of diplomatic intercourse between the two 496 republics. The French Directory now pro- ceeded to manifest its disregard of the rights of America by ordering the seizure of all American vessels in its ports laden with English manufactured goods. At the same time the American . minister to France, Charles C. Pinckney, was treated with such studied insult that he demanded his pass- ports and withdrew to Holland. Privateers were sent out from French ports, which cap- tured American merchantmen and treated their crews as prisoners of war. France also exerted her influence with Spain and Holland to induce them to treat the United States with hostility because of the alleged partiality of Jay's treaty with Great Britain. All this while there was a considerable party in the United States which was anxious for the conclusion of an alliance with P" ranee, and which either could not, or would not, see the deliberate purpose of that country to treat with the American republic only as a dependent. In May, 1797, President Adams called a special session of Congress and laid before it a statement of the relations with France. ADMINISTRATIONS OF ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. The announcement of the insults received by the American minister at the hands of the Directory, and the increased aggressions upon American commerce, aroused a feeling of deep indignation throughout the country, and drew upon the partisans of France in America a considerable amount of deserved odium. In the hope that a peaceful and honorable settlement might yet be had, John Marshall and Eldridge Gerry, the former a federalist and the latter a republican, were appointed special commissioners, and were ordered to proceed to Paris and unite with Mr. Pincknej,' in the negotiation of a treaty which should not conflict with those existing with other nations, and which should place beyond question the right of the United States to maintain their neutrality. " Not One Cent for Tribute." Marshall and Gerry joined Pinckney in Paris in October, 1798, and made their busi- ness known to the French minister of foreign affairs, the famous Talleyrand. He at first refused to receive the American envoys in an official capacity, and afterwards employed unknown agents to communicate with them, in order that he might be free to disavow any engagement entered into with them. It soon transpired that the object of these secret in- terviews was to extort money from the com- missioners. They were given to understand that if they would pay Talleyrand a certain sum of money for the use of himself and his friends, and would pledge the United States to make a loan to France, negotiations would be begun without delay. The answer of the American commission- ers was well expressed in the indignant words of Pinckney : " Millions for defence, not one cent for tribute." Marshall and Pinckney were ordered to quit France at once, but Mr. Gerry was invited to remain and negotiate a 497 treaty. He was nevertheless unable to accom- plish anything. The correspondence between the commissioners and Talleyrand's agents was published in thi United States, and aroused such a storm of indignation that the French party disappeared. It never dared to make its appearance again. -^^^^^ JOHN ADA.MS. About thirty thousand French exiles were residing in the United States at this time, and it was believed by the government that some of these had acted as spies for the Directory. It was known that many had abused the hospitality extended to them by seeking to induce the people of the south and west to join them in an effort to wrest Louisiana and Florida from Spain, and by endeavoring to strengthen the opposition to the efforts of the government to discharge its duty of neutrality towards the European powers. In the spring of 1798, in order to remedy this trouble. Congress passed the measures FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 498 known as the " alien and sedition acts," by the first of which the President was em- powered to order out of the country " any foreigner whom he might believ^e to be dan- gerous to the peace and safety of the United States." By the sedition act it was made a crime, with a very heavy penalty, for any one to " to write, utter, or publish " any " false, scandalous, and malicious writing " against "either House of the Cvingress of the United States or the President of the United States, JOHN MARSHALL. with intent to defame, or to bring them, or either of them, into contempt and disrepute." These acts met with great opposition through- out the country, and the latter especially was regarded as an effort on the part of the government to destroy the freedom of the press. The alien act was not executed, but a large number of foreigners left the country soon after its passage. Several persons were pro- secuted under the sedition act for their severe criticisms of the government, and the result was invariably to increase the ranks of the Republican party, which steadfastly opposed the laws as unconstitutional and violative of the freedom of the people of the Union; In the summer of 1798 Mr. Marshall returned fron: France, and his report con- firmed the statements that had been made respecting the hostile intentions of the gov- ernment of that country. The President submitted to Congress a statement of the disputes between the two republics, and Congress, recognizing the danger of war, began to prepare for it. It was resolved f:o create a navy, and the three frigates just com- pleted were fitted for sea. A State of Defence. The President was authorized to nave built, or to purchase or hire twelve ships of war of twenty guns each. An army was ordered to be raised, and the prominent points on the coast were to be placed in a state of defence. Washington was made commander-in-chief of the army, with the rank of Lieutenant-General. He accepted the position, and applied himself with energy to the task of preparing the country for defence. He gave a hearty support to the measures of the President, and used his great influence to secure for them a similar approval on the part of the people. In the winter of 1798-99 Congress appropriated a million of dollars to defray the expense of the military preparations, and authorized the construc- tion of si.K ships of war of seventy-four guns each, and six sloops of war of eighteen guns each. The energy and enthusiasm with which the Americans prepared for war opened the eyes of Talleyrand. He had not supposed they would fight, and now that he found they would, he was not willing to add to the difficulties of France by engaging in a new ADMINISTRATIONS OF ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. war. He therefore signified in an informal manner to Mr. Van Murray, the United States minister in Holland, that the French government was willing to renew diplomatic intercourse with the United States. Mr. Adams, upon being informed of this, resolved to make one more effort to secure a peaceful settlement of the quarrel. A Council of Peace. He sent Oliver Ellsworth, Chief Justice of the United States; William R. Davie and William Van Murray, minister to Holland, as commissioners to treat with the French republic for a settlement of all difficulties between the two countries. In taking this step he greatly offiended many of the leaders of his party, who insisted that overtures for peace should come from France. The most rational and probable solution of Mr. Adams' course, in the absence of direct proof, says ,tlie Hon. A. H. Stephens, " is that he acted i under the urgent private advice of Washing- ton. Be that as it may, it proved to be one of the wisest and most beneficent deeds of his life." The commissioners were ordered by the president not to enter France unless they were assured they would be received in a " manner befitting the commissioners of an independent nation." Upon reaching Paris the commissioners found that a great change had taken place in the affairs of France. A revolution had unseated the Directory, and Napoleon Bona- parte was at the head of the government as first consul. Commissioners were appointed to meet the American envoys, and negotia- tions were begun and carried forward with 'such success that on the thirtieth of Novem- ber, 1800, a treaty of peace was signed between the United States and France. In the meantime, though war was not actually declared, hostilities had begun. More tlian three hundred merchant vessels 499 were licensed to carry arms for their defence. On the ninth of February, 1799, the Ameri- can frigate "Constellation" captured the French frigate" LTnsurgente," of about equal force, after a severe engagement of an hour and a quarter, inflicting upon her a severe loss in killed and wounded. Somewhat later the "Constellation " encountered the French frigate "La Vengeance," of superior force, and in an engagement of about five hours' duration silenced her fire and inflicted upon her a loss of one hundred and fifty-six men in killed and wounded. The French vessel succeeded in making her escape. These successes were very gratifying to the Ameri- cans, as they showed what their navy could accomplish if given a fair trial. The news of the conclusion of peaee put a stop to hostilities. The army was disbanded, but the navy was kept afloat and the coast defences were maintained. Before the arrival of the new treaty the country was called upon to mourn the loss of its most illustrious citizen, George Wash- ington. He took cold while riding over his estate at Mount Vernon, and was seized with a violent sore throat, from the effects ol which he died on the fourteenth of Decern ber, 1799, in the sixty-eighth year of hi^ age. He was buried in his family vault at Mount Vernon, where his ashes still lie. Honors to the Dead Patriot. The highest honors were paid to his memory by Congress and by the various State governments, and in all parts of the Union a universal mourning was held for the Father of his Country. Not less sincere . were the tributes paid in foreign lands to the ■ memory of the illustrious dead. Upon the receipt of the sad news the flags of tlie Channel fleet of Great Britain were placed at half-mast by order of the Admiral Lo.-d Bridport, Napoleon, then first consul of FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. France, caused the standards of the French army to be draped in mourning for ten days and announced the news to the army in the orders of the day. The proudest tribute of all to the grandeur and purity of the charac- ter of Washington is the unceasing and ever increasing love and veneration with which session of Congress was opened in the un- finished Capitol of Washington. The elections for President and Vice- President were held in the autumn of 1800. Mr. Adams was the Federalist candidate for the Presidency, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney the candidate ot that party for WASHINGTON S GRAVE his country' MOU\i- VERNON. his memory is cherished b men. During the summer of the year 1800 the seat of the general government was removed from Philadelphia to the new federal city of Washington, in the District of Columbia. On the twenty-second of November the Vice-President. The Republican or Demo- cratic party nominated Thomas Jefferson for the Presidcno}'. and Colonel A.aron Burr, of New York, for the Vice-Presidency. The alieti and sedition laws had rendered the Federalist parly so unoopular that the electors chosen at the pf^Us fa-v'ed to make a ADMINISTRATIONS OF ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. choice, and the election was thrown upon the House of Representatives, according to the terms of the Constitution. On the seventeenth ofFebruar)^, i So i, after thirty-six ballots, the House elected Thomas Jefferson President, and Aaron Burr Vice-President, of the 501 capitol, in the cit}- of Washington, on the fourth of March, 1801. He was in his fifty- eighth year, and had long been regarded as one of the most illustrious men in America. He was the author of the Declaration of In- dependence, had represented the country as ^-/-^-^-^ . MAS JEFFERSON. United States, for a term of four years, from and after the fourth of March, 180 1. The second census of the United States, taken in 1800, showed the population of the country to be 5,319,762 souls. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, was inaugurated at the new minister to France, had served in the cabinet of General Washington as Secretary of State, and had filled the high office of Vice-Presi- dent during the administration of Mr. Adams. Me was the founder of the Democratic party, and was regarded by it with an enthusiastic devotion which could see no flaw in his FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 502 character. By the Federalists he was de- nounced with intense bitterness as a Jacobin, and an enemy of organized government. He was unquestionably a believer in the largest freedom possible to man, but he was too deeply versed in the lessons of statesman- ship, and was too pure a patriot to entertain for a moment the levelling principles with which his enemies charged him. Under him the government of the republic suffered no diminution of strength, but his administration was a gain to the country'. Mr. Jefferson began his administration by seeking to undo as far as possible the evil \\Ko\ ri\R effects of the sedition act of 1798. A number of persons were in prison in consequence of sentences under this act at the time of his inauguration. These were at once pardoned by the President and released from prison. At the meeting of the seventh Congress, in December, 1801, President Jefferson, in pur- suance of an announcement made some time before, inaugurated the custom which has since prevailed of .sending a written message to each House of Congress, giving his views on public affairs and the situation of the country. Previous to this the President had always met the two houses upon their assem- bling, and had addreseed them in person. A strong Democratic majority controlled this Congress, and gave a hearty support to the President. The obnoxious measures of the last admin- tration, such as the internal taxes, the taxes on stills, distilled spirits, refined sugars, car- riages, stamped paper, etc., were repealed. In accordance with a suggestion of the Presi- dent a period of naturalization was reduced from fourteen to five years. Measures were also set on foot for the redemption of the public debt, and it was provided that seven millions three hundred thousand dollars should be annually appropriated as a sinking fund for that purpose. Another act, of which the wisdom was ni was submitted to Congress by the President on the first of June, accompanied by a message in which he recapitulated the wrongs inflicted by Great Britain upon this countr)-, her violations of the rights of neutrals, her impressment of American seamen, her seizures of American ships and her refusal to enter into an\' equit- able arrangement for the settlement of these questions. The determination of Great 5is FROM THE REVOLUTION TO IHE CIVIL WAR. Britain to drive American commerce from the seas was evident, and the question was submitted to Congress whether the United States should continue to submit to these outrages or should resort to war to protect their rights. After a debate of several days an act declaring war against Great Britain was passed by Congress and was approved by the President on the eighteenth of June, 1 812. On the nineteenth the President issued a proclamation declaring that war existed between the United States and Great Britain and her dependencies. Congress authorized the President to enlist twenty-five thousand men for the regular army, to raise a force of fifty thousand volunteers, and to call out one hundred thousand militia for garrison duty. General Henry Dearborn, of Massachusetts, was appointed to the chief command of the army. Opposition to the War. The war measures of Congress were not passed without considerable opposition. A large party, composed of some of the ablest and best men in that party, was opposed to the war, and resented the effort to go to war with England alone. They claimed that France had given as good cause for war, but that nothing was said of punishing her. This was true, but this party lost sight of the fact that the United States could not go to war with both powers, and were compelled to direct their efforts against the principal offender, which was clearly England. The war was regarded as an administra- tion measure, and though it was sustained by a large majority of the American people, there was still a strong and respectable party especially in the New EIngland States, which opposed it, and which claimed that all peaceful means of settlement had not yet been exhausted. John Randolph, of Vir- ginia, opposed the declaration of war in a speech in the House of Representatives re- markable for its boldness and vigor, and declared that he had no hesitation in saying that he should prefer a contest with France to one with England. Soon after the declaration of war England made an effort to settle the controversy with the United States by negotiation. In Sep- tember, 1812, Admiral Warren, command- ing the British fleet at Halifax, addressed a letter to Mr. Monroe, the secretary of state, informing him that he was authorized by his government to enter into negotiations for a cessation of hostilities upon a basis of revo- cation of the "orders in council." The Cause of Hostilities. Mr. Monroe replied that the President was willing to enter into an armistice provided Admiral Warren had power and was willing to include in the negotiations measures for the discontinuance of the practices of seizing and searching American vessels and impress- ing American sailors from their decks, as experience had shown that no peace be- tween the two countries could be lasting which did not include a settlement of these questions. As Admiral Warren had no authority to enter into these questions, the President declined to proceed further, and the effort at negotiations came to an end. It has been held by many that the rejection by the President of the British overture was a grave error. John Randolph thought that ail the ques- tions at issue, save the right of a British sub- ject to expatriate himself and receive Amer- ican protection, could be settled by negoti- ation. That point he did not believe Eng- land would ever concede. His opinion was to some extent vindicated by the uncondi- tional revocation of the French decrees, and the immediate repeal of the British " orders ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. in council " upon the receipt of the news of this revocation. These measures were repealed within a month after the declaration of war by the United States. The only cause of the war remaining unsettled was the im- pressment question. The war thus became a struggle for the personal freedom of Amer- ican sailors ; and in a better cause no nation ever drew the sword. Plan of Carrying On the War. The weakness of the American navy made it impossible for this country to attempt any distant enterprise against Great Britain, and it was not believed by even the most enthu- siastic Americans that we could contend with her upon terms of equality at sea. The only means by which she could be crippkd by this country was by the invasion and conquest of Canada, and to this end the efforts of the United States were directed during the war. It was also believed that the commerce of England could be seriously injured by the efforts of American privatcis and from the commencement of hostilii great activity was displayed in getting ve^-. of this class to sea. In the autumn of 1812 Mr. Madison \\as reelected to the presidency by a large ma- jority. Elbridge Gerry, of Connecticut, was chosen Vice-President. Mr. Madison entered upon his second term on the fourth of March, 1813, some months after the war had begun. At the outset of the war the American forces were stationed along the Canadian frontier as follows : General Dearborn, the commander-in-chief, held the right, or east- ern part of the line ; the centre was com- manded b)' General Stephen Van Rens- selaer; and the left was held by General William Hull, then governor of Michigan Territory. The forces under these com- manders were to cooperate with each other in their movements, and were to converge upon Montreal as the objective point of the campaign. Early in July General Hull, who had seen service in the war of the revolution, col- lected a force of about two thousand men at Detroit. His position was very much exposed, Detroit being at that time sep- arated from the other settlements by about two hundred miles of unbroken forest. He urged upon the go\ernment to increase his force to three thousand men, and to secure the command of Lake Erie before the British STEPHEN VAN RENSSELAER. should obtain possession of it. His requests could not be complied with, and he was obliged to depend upon the force at Detroit. Immediately upon the declaration c f war the British commanders in Canada displa\ed great activity, seizing the most important points along the frontier. In less than a month Fort Mackinaw and other points were in their possession, and Hull's position at Detroit was surrounded and his communi- cations with the States cut off Hull there-' upon fortified his position, and endeavored, but without success, to open communication 520 FROM with llic couiitiN- in liis rear. In the mean- time a strons,' British force assembled at Fort Maiden, in Canada, opposite Detroit, under the command of General Brock, the governor of Upper Canada ; and the British agents set to work to arouse the Indians of the northwest against the Americans. In these efforts they were successful. IHIC REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. lines they were astounded to see a whii lu^ flying from them. An officer rode up to inquire the cause. The flag was the signal for a parley. Negotiations were begun, and later in the day Detroit, with its garrison and stores, and the whole of Michigan ter- ritory, was surrendered to the British by General Hull. The American troops were MASSACRE BY INDIANS AT FORT DEARBORN. Brock erected batteries on the Canadian -side of the river, in a position to command Detroit, and demanded of Hull the surrender of that place. The demand being refused. Brock crossed his forces to the American -shore, about three miles below the position occupied by General Hull, on the sixteenth of August, and advanced to attack him. As the British army drew near the American overcome with astonishment and mortifica- tion at this shameful surrender; for the force of the enemy, to whom they were betrayed by their commander, consisted of but seven hundred British and Canadians, and six hundred Indians. By the surrender of Detroit the whole northwestern frontier was exposed to the British and their Indian allies. Great Britain, ADMIMISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. unmindful of the shame she had incurred Ly her employment of the savages durini^ the revolution, did not hesitate once more to ■devote the American frontier to the horrors of a savage war. The west was greatly alarmed, and ten thousand volunteers offered their services to the government for the defence of the frontier. They were accepted, and were placed under the command of Gen- eral Harrison, who was appointed to succeed Hull. General Hull Guilty of Cowardice. Two years later, after being exchanged. General Hull was brought to trial by a court- martial for the surrender of Detroit and his army. He was found guilty of cowardice and neglect of duty, and was sentenced to be shot. He was pardoned by the President in consideration of his services during the revolution. When Detroit surrendered, Fort Dearborn stood on the site of the city of Chicago, and was occupied by Captain Nathan Heald and fifty regulars. Receiving orders from Gcn- HuU to evacuate the fort and join him at Detroit, he attempted to obey, though warned by several scouts and friendly Indians that it was certain death to make the attempt. Afraid of treachery on the part of the large number of Indians around the fort. Captain Heald destroyed during the night the gun- powder, firearms and liquor which he had promised them. The exasperated savages waited till he was well on his way with the fifty soldiers and several families, and then attacked him. The women fought as bravely as the men. Twenty-six of the regular troops, all the militia, and a number of tlie men and women were killed. One of the savages leaped into a wagon containing twelve little ones and tomahawked tiiem all. The next day Fort Dearborn was burned to the d ot six vessels, carrying sixty-three guns. P'ach fleet carried about five hundred men. The two squadrons soon encountered each other, and on .the tenth of September a severe battle was fought between them at the western end of the lake. Perry at the open- ing of the fight displayed a flag from his vessel bearing the words of the brave Law- rence, " Don't give up the ship." It was greeted with cheers from the men. During the battle the American flag-ship, the " Law- COMMODORE FERRY. rence," was disabled, and Perry passed in an open boat, under a heavy fire, to the " Nia- gara," the next largest ship, and tranferred his flag to her. The result was that the British fleet was defeated and forced to sur- render. Perry announced his victory to General Harrison in the following character- istic message : " We have met the enemy and they are ours. Two ships, one brig, a a schooner, and a sloop." This victory was of the highest imijortancc to the Americans. It gave them the com- mand of Lake Erie, and opened the way to 5-8 "ROM Tiir: Rrx^ni.uTiox to tiik civil war. PEKKVS VICTOKV ON I.AKK ERIE. Canada. Harrison hastened to profit by it, I govern.^ ^ and advanced rapidly toward.s Detroit and | Detroit Maiden. Proctoraban- doned thoseplaces and retreated with his own forces and Tecumseh and his Indians into Canada. At Detroit Harrison was joined by thirty-five hundred mountedKentuckians, under the aged Gov- ernor Shelby, one of the heroes of King's iMountain, and Col- onel Richard M.John- son. He at once en- tered Canada in pur- suit of Proctor, and by a forced march of sixty miles came up with him on the banks of the Thames, on the fifth of October. A short but desperate battle ensued, in which Tecumseh was killed and his Indians put to flight. The British \ ere routed, and Proc- oi saved himself only b\ the speed of his hor;e. l>y these successes- JiL Americans won b ick Michigan Terri- toij ,and for the pres- sent gave peace and security to the north- n estern frontier. The Kcntuckians returned home, and Colonel Lewis Cass, who was soon after appointed n. Michigan, was left to garrison ith his brigade. With fifteen. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON, hundred regulars Harrison embarked 529 Lake Erie and sailed for Buffalo to assist in the invasion of Canada from that quar- ter A small fleet of armed vessels was main- tained in Lake Ontario by each of the com- batants. The American fleet was commanded by Commodore Chauncey. In April General Dearborn embarked a force of seventeen hiinilroii picki-d men in these vessels and stores fell into the hands of the captors. They were transferred to Sackett's Harbor. As it was not part of the plan of General Dearborn to hold York, the place was eva- cuated. Just before the withdrawal of the Americans a small buildin^j, known as the Parliament House, was burned. The British attributed this act to the Americans, who disclaimed it. The American officers believed that tiie house was set on fire by <^- :-- 'fis BATTLE OF THE THAMES- sailed across Lake Ontario to attack York, now Toronto, the capital of Upper Canada. The Americans landed a short distance below the town, and advanced upon it. On the the twenty-seventh of April the place was carried by assault. The British fired the magazine of one of the works from which they were driven, and General Pike, the commander of the storming party, and one or two hundred of his troops were killed by the explosion. A large amount of military — DEATH OF TECUMSEH. the disaffected Canadians, who had threat- ened to burn it. The burning of this build- ing was made by the British the pretext for the destruction of the capitol and oilier public buildings at Washington, the next year. From York General Dearborn sailed to the Niagara to attack Fort George. The commander of this work, on the approach of the Americans, blew up his magazines and retreated to Burlington Heights, near the 530 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. western end of the lake. Dearborn followed tliem in pursuit, but was attacked and driven back by the British on the nit,'ht of the sixth of June. Two American generals, Winder and Chanler_ were made prisoners in this engagement. Dearborn fell back in haste to Fort George. In the meantime General Prevost, having learned of Dearborn's absence from Sackett's Harbor, attacked that place, on the twent)'- ninth of May, with one thousand men. He was repulsed with such vigor by the gar- rison, under General Brown, that he retreated to his ships, leaving his wounded behind. Failure of a Canadian Expedition. Soon after this General Dearborn suffered another reverse at Fort George, and allowed a detachment of six hundred men of his army to be cut off by the British. In con- .sequence of these failures General Dearborn was removed by the President, who appointed General Wilkinson, the commander of the troops at New Orleans, as his successor. It was proposed that General Wilkinson should enter Canada with his troops and advance upon Montreal, and that General Hampton, commanding the forces on Lake Champlain, should join him on the St. Law- rence. Wilkinson and Hampton were not on friendly terms, and neither of them were possessed of sufficient patriotism to overlook their personal differences for the good of their countr\-. Wilkinson advanced as far as the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and sent a. body of troops, under General Brown, to cover the descent of the rapids by the army. An engagement occurred at Chrysler's JFarm, on the eleventh of November; the British were driven back ; bnt the Americans lost more than three hundred men. Wilk- inson now .sent word to Hampton to move forward to his support, but the latter answered that he had abandoned the expe- dition, and was going into winter quarters. Under these circumstances Wilkinson fell back to French Mills, about nine miles from St. Regis, where he went into winter quar ters. Hampton prepared to pass the winter at Plattsburg on Lake Champlain. Thus the expedition was ruined by' the quarrels of it\ commanders. * British Depredations. In December the Americans abandoned Fort George, and retreated across the Niagara river. Before doing so General McClure, the commanding officer, burned the village of Newark, in order to prevent the enemy from using it as quarters fur liieir troops during the winter. There was no necessity and no excuse for the destruction of this village, and it was speedily avenged by the enemy. About the middle of Decem- ber the British crossed the Niagara river, surprised Fort Niagara, and put the garrison to the sword. In retaliation for the burning of Newark they burned every town and house that could be reached on the Amer- ican side of the river, including Lewistown, Youngstown, Manchester, Black Rock, and Buffalo. The war was not confined to the northern frontier. In the spring of 1813 Tecumseh had visited the Creek tribes in the southwest and aroused their war spirit. In August seven hundred Creeks attacked and captured Fort Minis, on the west bank of the Alabama river, near the mouth of the Tombigbee. Between three and four hundred settlers, w^ho had taken refuge in the fort, were mas- sacred. The south was soon aroused by the news of this massacre, and in a short while a force of seven thousand volunteers was marching into the Indian country in four divisions. One division, under General Andrew Jack- son, of Tennessee, moved southward from ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. 531 General Jackson at Emucfau. Jackson suc- ceeded in repulsing them, but in spite of his victory deemed it best to fall back to Fort Strother. On the twenty-fifth the Indians again attacked him and were again defeated. Soon after this Jackson, being largely rein- Nashville; another from East Tennessee, under General Cocke ; a third from Georgia, under General Floyd, and a fourth from Mis- sissippi Territory. In addition to these forces the lower Creeks took up arms against their brethren, and the Cherokees and Choc- taws joined the Amer- ricans. The principal villages of the hostile Creeks lay on and near the Coosa and Talla- poosa Rivers, and their hunting-grounds ex- tended much farther north. The Tennessee for- ces, under General Jackson, were the first to enter the Indian country, and a num- ber of unimportant encounters occurred. On the third of Nov- ember the Indians were defeated in a bloody battle at Tal- lasehatche, and on the eighth of the same month at Talladega. These were hard-won victories for the Amer- icans, and terrible blows to the savages. On the twenty-ninth of November the Georgia volunteers^ under General Floyd, attacked the Creek CAPTAIN (afterward SIR PHILIP) BROKE. town of Autossee, and killed two hundred warriors. The Creeks were badly armed, but their spirit was unbroken by their reverses. Early in the j-ear 18 14 they assumed the offensive, and on the twenty-second of January attacked forced, advanced into the Indian country with an army of four thousand Tennes- seeans. At the Horse-Shoe Bend of the Tallaposa the Creeks had their principal settlement, an intrenched camp, in which they had collected FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAk. 53^ their women and children, under the pro- tection of one thousand warriors. They were attacked here on the twenty-seventh of March, 1814, by Jackson's army, and their camp was carried, after a desperate fight, in which six hundred warriors were killed and two hundred and fifty women and children were made prisoners. This terrible blow put an end to the resistance of the Creeks. They sought peace, and were compelled to purchase it by the surrender of more than two-thirds of their hunting-grounds. Hot Naval Engagements. The year 1813 was eventful and important in the naval history of the republic, and once more the naxy sustained the spirits of the country, which had been cast down by the failure of the army. On the twenty-fifth of February the American sloop-of-war '• Hornet," Captain Lawrence, captured the British brig " Peacock," off the mouth of Demerara River, after an action of fifteen minutes. The " Peacock " was so terribly cut up by her adversary's fire that she sank in a few minutes after she struck her flag. Captain Lcwrence returned to the United States and was promoted to the command of the frigate " Chesapeake, which was lying in Boston harbor preparing for sea. While there Lawrence was challenged by Captain Broke, of the British frigate " Shan- non," which was cruising off Boston harbor. Although his ship was badly manned and his crew undisciplined, Lawrence accepted the challenge and put to sea on the first of June to meet the " Shannon." The action was begun about thirty miles east of Boston Light and lasted but fifteen minutes. The "Shannon" was in every way superior to the " Chesapeake," and the latter ship was forced to strike her flag, with a loss of one hundred and forty-six of her crew. Captain Lawrence was mortally wounded. As he was being carried below his last words were, " Don't give up the sliip 1 " — words which have since become the watchword of the service of which he was one of the brightest ornaments. Two Commanders Fall. The rejoicings in England over the cap- ture of the " Chesapeake " were very great. Although not gratifying to the Americans, yet the little navy of the Union gained new courage, for its splendid services had won the respect of the " mistress of tlie seas." In the summer of 1813 the "United States," '■ Macedonian " and " Hornet." while attempting to get to sea from New York through Long Island sound, were driven into the harbor of New London, and blockaded there by a British squadron. In August the American sloop of war " Argus " was cap- tured while cruising in the English channel by the " Pelican." In September the Ameri- can brig " Enterprise," twelve guns. Captain Burrows, captured the British brig " Boxer," Captain Blythe, off the coast of Maine. Both commanders fell in the engagement, and were buried with equal honors. During the summer of 181 3 the British fleet of Sir George Cockburn entered the Chesapeake repeatedly and ravaged its shores. All the shipping that could be reached by the enemy was destroyed, and the towns of Frenchtown, Georgetown, Havre de Grace and Fredericktown were plundered and burned. An attack was made on Norfolk, but was repulsed with heavy loss. Cockburn then plundered the town of Hampton, and sailed to the southward. The barbarities committed by this fleet along the Chesapeake and its tributaries were horrible. Neither age nor se.x were spared by the British sailors and marines, and women were ravished, and old men and little children murdered, with the knowledge 533 FRO:\I THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR, 534 of the admiral, who made no effort to stop the outrages. During the winter of 1S13-14 a communi- cation was received from the British govern- ment, stating that although Great Britain had declined the Russian mediation, she was wiUing to enter into direct negotiations with the United States, either at London or Got- tenburg, in Sweden. The President at once accepted the English offer, and Henrj^ Clay and Jonathan Russell were added to the commissioners already in Europe. Gotten- jurg was at first selected as the place of meeting, which was afterwards changed to Ghent. Great Britain Ready for Peace. At this time the opposition to the war was very great in many parts of the Union. The New England States continued bitterly hos- tile to it, and the legislature of Massachusetts, in a remonstrance addressed to Congress, denounced the war as unreasonable, and urged the conclusion of a peace. Congress Itself was more divided upon the support of the war than it had ever been. It contained many new men, some of them destined to play prominent parts in the future history of the country. Pre-eminent among those was Daniel Webster, of New Hampshire, who from the first took a high position as one of the most gifted men in Congress. Hostilities were resumed by the Americans on the Niagara frontier with the beginning of the spring of 1814. Early in May General Brown, whose force had been increased to five thousand men, crossed the Niagara. Fort Erie surrendered to him without a blow on the third of July. On the fourth General Scott, with the advanced guard of the army, moved towards the British, who had taken position, under General Riall, at Chippewa, fifteen miles distant. Scott was joined by General Brown, with the rest of the aimy, on the night of the fourth, and the next day a severe engagement occurred, in whicli the British were defeated, with the loss of five hundred men. The loss of the Americans was three hundred. Victory at Lundy's Lane. After his defeat at Chippewa General Riall fell back to Burlington Heights, and the Americans advanced to Queenstown, but soon after withdrew to Chippewa. Being strongly reinforced by a body of troops,, under General Drummond, Riall advanced from Burlington Heights to attack the Amer- icans, followed by General Drumniond's command ; and at the same time General Brown, who had heard of Drummond's arri- val, set out from Chippewa to attack the British. The advanced forces of the Amer- icans were commanded by General Scott.. The two armies unexpectedly met at Bridge- water, or Lundy's Lane, immediately opposite Niagara Falls, at sunset, on the twenty-fifth of July. The British occupied a strong position, and notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, Scott resolved to attack them. The main body of the Americans, under General Brown, soon arrived, and the battle became general. The British had posted a battery on a hill which commanded the field, and were doing great execution in the Amer- ican ranks. It was captured by the regiment of Colonel James Miller, and General Drum- mond, who had arrived on the field and had taken command in place of General Riall, who had been wounded and captured by the Americans, advanced to recover it. Drummond made three determined efforts to retake the battery, but was driven back each time. It was now midnight, and about eight hundred men had fallen on each side. The Americans had exhausted their ammu- nition and were dependent now upon the cartridges thej' obtained from the bo.xes of ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. 533 killed and wounded upon the eneni}-, and retreated into the fort, carrying with them four hundred prisoners. The American loss in this brilliant sally was three hundred men. Drummond immediately raised the siege and retreated across the Cliippewa. the fallen British. Finding all their efforts vain the British sullenly withdrew and left the field to the Americans. The latter were so exhausted by their hard march of fifteen miles and five hours of constant fighting that they made no effort at pursuit, and soon withdrew from the hill to their camp. As they had no means of hauling off the cap- tured guns they were obliged to leave them on the field. General's Brown and Scott were both wounded during the battle, as were nearly all of the field officers. Repulse at Fort Erie. The victory of Lundy"s Lane was particu- larly gratifying to the Americans. It was won, not over Canadian militia, but over veteran troops who had served under Wel- lington in the wars with Napoleon. It broke the long series of defeats sustained by the Americans since the opening of the war, and showed what could be accomplished by American soldiers under competent and determined commanders and in anything like a fair fight. General Browne withdrew to Fort Erie after the battle, and being disabled by his wounds, relinquished the command to Gen- eral Gaines. General Drummond moved forward and on the fourth of August laid siege to Fort Erie. On the fifteenth he attempted to carry the fort by an assault at midnight, but was repulsed with a loss of one thousand men. In spite of this reverse he pressed the siege with vigor, and in the meantime General Brown recovered from his wounds and resumed the command of the fort. On the seventeenth of September the Americans made a sortie against the batteries of the Brittish, which were two miles in advance of their camp. By a sudden dash from the fort they stormed and carried the batteries, spiked the guns, set fire to the magazines, inflicted a loss of six hundred in Around Lake Champlain. In October a reinforcement of four thou- 1 sand men arrived from Lake Champlain under General Izard, who assumed the com- mand of the American Army on the Niagara, He was one of the old-style commanders, and at once proceeded to neutralize the gallant achievements of Brown and Scott. He did nothing until November, when, fear- ing that Drummond would be reinforced, he blew up Fort Erie and retreated across the Niagara, leaving the entire Canadian shore in the possession of the British. General Izard had succeeded General Hampton in command of the army on Lake Champlain. Upon his withdrawal to the Niagara, General Macomb took command of the troops that remained on Lake Champlain, and held Plattsburg with a force of about three thousand men. Hearing that General Prevost was advancing to attack him, Macomb called on the militia of New York and Vermont to come to his aid, and about three thousand of them joined him, bringing his force to si.x thousand men. General Prevost having been reinforced from l-.ng- land, advanced against Plattsburg with a force of twelve thousand veteran troops, for the purpose of invading the State of New York. Upon the approach of tliis force Macomb fell back behind the Saranac, a deep and rapid stream which empties into the lake at Plattsburg, and the small American squadron, underCommodorcMacdonough, was moored across the entrance of Plattsburg bay. This squadron carried eighty-si.x guns, and was 536 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. manned by eight hundred and fifty-six men. The British army was accompanied by a squadron superior in strength to that of the Americans, and upon which they depended for the control of Lake Champlain. It was commanded by Captain Downie, mounted ninety-fi\e guns, was manned by one thou- sand men, and had plenty of ammunition. Macdonough called the crew of his flag-ship around him, and kneeling on the quarter- deck of his vessel, prayed God to crown the American arms with victory that day. After a severe engagement of two hours and a quarter, the British fleet was defeated and forced to surrender, with the exception of a few gunboats, which escaped. While this ^ , battle was going on. Prevost tried repeat- edly to cross the Sara- nac, but was each time driven back with heavy loss. During the night till British army re- tiLited in disorder, ^ .^-^ lb uidoning their sick .W-^ >• ..««s9fi*i^i '"'' ^^'ounded and a \S> " 1^^^^^ luge quantity of mili- t iry stores, having lost twenty-five hundred HKn in the engage- n Lnt. The country had -imple cause to regret the weakness of its niw during this war. The exploits of those \ Lssels which had managed to get to sea id shown what could c accomplished by branch of the public service, and Prevost arrived before Plattsburg on the | our deficiency in this respect enabled the seventh of September, and proceeded to erect j enemy to blockade the ports of the Union, l#K\ LI OF I AK batteries to cover his passage of the Saranac. On the eleventh of September he made a combined attack by land and water upon the American position. The British squadron advanced to force an entrance ir.to Platts- burg bay, and the British army at the same time attempted to force a passage of the Saranac. As the enem\'s fleet advanced, and to use the Chesapeake bay with as much freedom as if it were one of their own harbors. In the summer of .^814 a fleet of sixty British ships under Adrrvirals Cockburn and Cochrane, having on bo^-d a land-force of five thous-and men under General Ross, assembled in the Chesa- peake. J DECATUR S CONFLICT WITH THE ALGEKINE AT TRIPOLI. © E pa I' - M E A [Q E. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. Admiral Cochrane endeavored to induce the slaves of Virginia and Maryland to desert their masters, and offered them free transportation to the West Indies and Canada. As it was not known at what oint General Ross would land his troops, General Winder of Mar>'land was ordered to collect a force of fifteen thousand militia from the neighboring States. He proposed to occupy a central position from which he ::ould cover Washington City, Annapolis, and Baltimore, and was anxious to call out the militia at once ; but General Armstrong, the secretary of war, decided that it would be time enough to call out the militia when the British had revealed their designs more plainly. He did not believe the British had any idea of advancing upon Washington, and thought Baltimore could defend itself Mr. Madison submitted to the decision of the secretary of war, and the national capital was left defenceless. Attack on Washington. In the meantime, the British commanders, learning the exposed condition of the city of Washington, determined to attack it. They divided their fleet for this purpose, one por- tion ascending the Potomac, and another the Patuxent. The latter division conveyed the troops of General Ross, and landed them at Benedict, on the Patuxent, about fifty miles from Washington. General Ross at once set out for Washington, advancing slowly and meeting with no resistance. As he had no horses, his troops were obliged to drag their three or four cannon by hand, and the British made but about ten miles a day. A few determined troops might have driven them back, ana the roads might at least have been obstructed and the progress ol the enemy impeded. General Winder gathered a small force of militia, and took position at Bladensburg, on 537 the east branch of the Potomac, about three miles irom Washington. He was joined here by Commodore Barney with five hundred sailors and marines from the gunboat flotilla in the Patu.xent, which Barney, unable to offer any resistance, had burned upon the approach of the British fleet. On the twenty- fourth of August the British reached Blad- ensburg, and attacked the force under Gen- eral Winder. The militia fled at the first fire, but Barney and his sailors and marines stood their ground, and ser\'ed their guns UOKE .M.\CDONOUGH. With vigor until their position was turned on both flanks by the superior force of the enemy, when they retreated, leaving their guns and wounded in the hands ot che vic- tors. The so-called battle ot Bladensburg was little more than a skirmish. General Ross halted to resi. his men, vvho were worn out with the heat, and towards sunset resumed his march, and entered Wa.sh- ington a little before dark. The government, had abandoned the city some hours before, and had removed the greater part of its papc.- vand archives, and such public property 538 FROM Till' REVOLUTION TO THE as could be carried away, and only a few frightened citizens remained in the town. Admiral Cochrane had some time before announced that the British forces were ordered " to destroy and lay waste all towns and districts of the United States found accessible to the attacks of British arma- ments," and the army of General Ross now proceeded to carry out these infamous in- structions. They burned the capitol, and with it the library of Congress, the buildings occupied by the treasury and state depart- ments, and plundered the President's mansion and set it on fire. A number of stores and private dwellings were also pillaged and set on fire. The navy yard, with all its contents and several vessels on the stocks, was entirely destroyed. Capture of American Vessels. The British afterwards attempted to excuse their shameful conduct in Washington by alleging that it was in retaliation for the burn- ing of the parliament house at York in Canada, an act which had been disclaimed by the Americans, and which the British had not been able to prove was their work. General Ross occupied Washington during the night of the twenty-fourth, and until dark on the twenty-fifth. Then, fearing lest the Americans would assemble in such force as to intercept him, he retreated stealthily from Washington on the night of the twenty- fifth, and on the twenty-ninth reached Bene- dict and re-cmbarked his troops. The Eng- lish vessels .sent up the Potomac succeeded in passing Fort Washington, which made little or no effort to stop them, and on the twenth-cighth anchored off Ale.xandria. Twenty-one vessels were captured, and the town saved itself from bombardment by pay- ing a ransom of sixteen thousand barrels of flour and one thousand hogsheads of to- bacco. CIVIL WAR. ig his men, General After resting his men, General Ross ascended the Chesapeake to the Patapsco, for the purpose of attacking Baltimore, which was defended by Fort McHenryat the mouth of the harbor, and a force of Maryland militia and some volunteers from Pennsylvania. A force of eight thousand men was landed at the mouth of the Patapsco, under General Ross, and on the twelfth of September ad- vanced towards the city, while the fleet ascended the river to capture Fort Mc Henry and force its way into the harbor. A small party of Americans contested the advance of the British army, and a skirmish ensued in which General Ross was killed. Gallant Defence of Fort McHenry. A sharp encounter followed, each side losing about two hundred and fifty men. The American militia retired in good order, and on the morning of the thirteenth the British resumed their march towards Balti- more. The Americans were discovered in considerable force, occupying a line of in- trenchments defended by artillery, and com- manded by General Samuel Smith, an ofiicer of the revolution. The British commander now deemed it best to await the result of the engagement between the fleet and Fort McHenry, which was in progress at the time. The British fleet maintained a heavy fire upon the fort, which replied with vigor, and soon made it apparent to the enemy that they could not silence it or pass it. The attack on the fort proving a failure, the British withdrew to North Point on the night ot the thirteenth and reiinibarked on their ships. During this cannonade Francis S. Key, of Baltimore, who had visited the British fleet to obtain the release of certain prisoners, and who was detained by the admiral during the bombardment, wrote the famous song of "The Star-Spangled Banner," which has ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. 539 since become the national song of Amer- ica. The Chesapeake was not the only part of the coast that suffered from the ravages of the British. The shores of Maine were ravaged with great barbarity. Stonington, Connecticut, was subjected to a four days' bombardment by a British fleet, but the militia repulsed every attempt of the enemy to land. The foreign commerce of the coun- try was completely destroyed. The superior naval strength of the British enabled them to blockade the Atlantic ports so thoroughly that the gov- ernment ordered the lights along the coasts to be des- troyed, as they only served as guides to British cruisers. The opposition of the New England States to the war, which had caused them such severe loss, increased daily, and at length the legislature of Massachusetts recommended a convention of delegates from the seaboard States to devise amendments to the Constitu- tion for the purpose of secur- ing them from a recurrence of such evils as they were suffering from. The conven- tion met at Hartford, Con- necticut, on the fourteenth of December, 1814, and was composed of delegates from the New England States. The convention was bitterly opposed by the advocates of the war, who charged it with the intention to make a separate peace with Great Britain, which would have been a practical secession from the Union. The convention continued in session for twenty days, and adoptee! an address to the country very moderate in its tone. It proposed to amend the Constitution by making the rep- resentation in the lower House of Congress equal by basing it upon the free population only by forbidding embargo and non-inter- course laws; and by making the President ineligible for a second term. One of the strong opponents of the embargo was the rN( L\ND FARM HOL eminent jurist and scholar, Joseph Story, whose influence was widely felt at this time. The convention was for many years exposed to the bitterest denunciation of the great mass of the American people. One of the results of the opposition to the war was the complete destruction of the old Federalist party which had opposed the 540 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. Mobile. On the fifteenth of September an attack was made upon this fort, and was repulsed with the loss to the enemy of a vessel and a number of men. Previous to the assembling of the conven- tion the President, in hope of relieving the embarrassments occasioned by the opposi- tion of New England to the war, advised the repeal of the embargo and non-intercourse acts, and the abandonment of the entire re- strictive system. His recommendations were carried out by Congress. In the meantime stirring events were transpiring in the south. At this time Florida was a possession of Spain, which was supposed to be a neutral power. Great Britain had laid Spain under heavy obliga- tions in her struggle against Napoleon, and the British had now no difficulty in entering Florida, and usmg it as a base of operations against the south. Their fleet entered Pen- sacola harbor and obtained possession of the forts. From this point they began to stir up the Creek Indians to make war on the Americans, and fitted out an expedition against Fort Bowyer, com.manded by Major Lawrence, who defended the harbor of Jackson and New Orleans. General Jackson, having collected a force of three thousand Tennesseeans, marched to Pensacola, entered the town on the seventh of November, demanded that the British should leave the place at once, and notified the Spanish Governor that he should hold liim responsible for the occupation of the town or the forts by the British for purposes of hostility towards the United States. The British immediately blew up a fort which they had erected seven miles below the town and embarked in their ships. Confident that New Orleans would be the ne.xt object of attack by the British, and knowing that the city was poorly prepared to resist. General Jackson at once sent General Coffee with the mounted Tennessee- ans to that city, and followed with the rest of his troops as rapidly as possible. New Orleans was at this time a city of about twenty thousand inhabitants, less than one- half of whom were whites. The whites were principally of French birth or parentage, and cared little for the United States. They could not be relied upon to hold the city against the British. The defences were in a misera- ble state, and the people were demoralized and insubordinate. Jackson .set to work with vigor. He proclaimed martial law, and put down the opposition to his measures for the safety of the city with a firm hand. He called for volunteers to defend the city, and urged the free men of color to come forward and enroll themselves. They responded in considerable numbers. The prisons were emptied, and the prisoners enrolled in the ranks of the army. The services ot Lafitte. a noted smuggler chief of Barataria bay, and ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. 541- of his band, were accepted. Tlie British had endeavored to secure the aid of this band as pilots, as they knew the coast thoroughly, but Lafitte and his men had re- fused to hold any communication with them. While Jackson was thus engaged, the British fleet arrived on the coast of Louisi- ana, and cast anchor off the mouth of Lake Borgne, the shortest passage by water to New Orleans. It had on board a force of t twelve thousand vet- ; eran troops, just re- 1' leased from the wars against Napoleon, and four thousand marim •- and sailors. The Bi i tish army was com manded by Sii E ivard Pakenham, tli brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, and an officer of tiiLcl ability, and under him were Generals Gibb- Keene, and Lambeit veterans of the pemn sular war. The Americans hul a small flotilla in Lake Borgne, and b) e\ traordinary exertions, Jackson managed to collect a force of five thousand troops, only one thousand of whom were regulars. On the fourteenth of Decem- ber the British sent their boats into Lake Borgne, and after a severe engagement cap- tured the American flotilla, and opened the way to the city. On the twenty-second of December the British landed twenty-four hundred men under General Keene, who advanced to a point on the bank of the Mis- sissippi, about nine miles below New Orleans. Jackson attacked this party on the night of the twenty-third with the regulars and Coffee's Tennesseeans dismounted, and drove them to take shelter behind a levee. The success of the Americans in this engagement greatly encouraged them to hope for a similar issue to the final conflict. >F CH.\LMETTE — SCENE \TTLE OF NEW OKLEAN.-f The next day Jackson took position on solid ground behind a broad and deep trench that extended across the plain of Chalmette from the Mississippi to an im- passable swamp, and covered his position with a line of intrenchments. The British, believing Jackson's force to be much •stronger than it really was, made no attempt to interfere with him for several days, and FROM THE REVOLUTIOX TO THE CIVH. WAR. 542 he employed this delay in strengthening his line with bales of cotton. The British on the twenty-eighth of December opened a heavy cannonade upon the American line. Jackson replied with energy with his five pieces of artillery, and the firing was con- tinued without accomplishing anything defi- nite for several hours. On the first of January, 1S15, they attempted a second can- nonade, but the American guns soon silenced their fire. On the fourth of January a body of twenty-two hundred Kentucky riflemen, who had descended the Mississippi to his assistance, reached Jackson's camp. Only one-half of them were armed. Jackson could not supply the remainder with arms, but set them to work to construct a second lir"- of intrenchments in the rear of his first. Brilliant American Victory. Having finished their preparations, the British erected a battery of six eighteen- pounders on the night of the seventh of January, and on the morning of the eighth advanced to carry the American line by storm. Their centre was led by General Pakenham in person, and other columns under Generals Gibbs and Keene mov^ed against the right and left wings of the Americans. The open space over which the enemy were obliged to pass was nearly a mile in width, and was completely com- manded by Jackson's guns. The British advanced in .splendid style, and were soon within range of the American artillery, which opened on them with terrible effect. They never wavered, but closing up their ranks firmly pressed on. As they came within musket shot the Kentucky and Ten- nes.see riflemen opened a fatal fire upon them which literally mowed them down. They wavered and broke. General Pakenham attempted to rally them, and was sli )t down. Generals Gibbs and Keene were wounded while engaged in the same attempt, tha latter mortally. The command devolved upon General Lambert, who made two more attempts to carr>' the line by storm. Each time the fatal fire of the American riflemen drove back the tried veterans of Wellington's campaigns, and at last they broke and fled in confusion. General Lambert continued the retreat to the shore of the gulf, where the British fleet lay, and about a fortnight later embarked his troops and withdrew. Close of the War. The American loss in the battle of New Orleans was seven killed and six wounded. The British lost two thousand in killed and wounded. The victory was of the highest importance. It saved not only New Orleans but the mouth of the Mississippi from British con- trol. Had the army of General Pakenham been successful, there is good reason to believe that England would have refused to relinquish the Mississippi, and the war would have gone on, or peace would have been made with the mouth of the great river under the control of England. The victory closed the \var, and was won as we shall see three weeks after the treaty of peace was sijrned. At sea the war was carried on by the few American cruisers that managed to elude the blockade of our coast. The frigate " Essex," Commodore Porter, went to sea in 1 81 3, and made a number of captures in the Atlantic. Learning that the British whalers, which had been armed for the pur- pose of capturing American vessels, engaged in the same trade, were doing considerable damage in the Pacific, Commodore Porter sailed around Cape Horn and entered that ocean. He captured twelve armed British whalers in the course of a few months, and then learning th.it- the British frigate 543 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 544 " Phoebe " had been sent in pursuit of him, Porter sailed to Valparaiso to look for her. While he lay there the " Phcebe," accompa- nied by the English sloop of war " Cherub," arrived off the harbor. The " Phoebe " was herself a full match for the " Essex," but Porter resolved to fight both vessels. As he was leaving the harbor a sudden squall carried away his maintop- mast, and left him at the mercy of his ene- mies, which at once attacked him. His COMMODORE DEC.\TLK. desperate in history, but he was forced to surrender, but not until he had lost fifty- eight of his crew killed, and sixtj'-six wounded. In January, 1815, the frigate " President," Commodore Decatur, managed to elude the blockade of New York, and get to sea. She was chased by a British squadron of five vessels, and a running fight ensued. Being entirely disabled, the " Prcsitlent " was forced to surrender. In February, 181 5, while cruising off the port of Lisbon, one fine moonliglu night. the " Constitution," Captain Stewart, encoun- tered two British sloops of war, the "Cy ane," 24, and the " Levant," 18, and captured both of them after a short engagement. These vessels were captured after peace was signed, and were restored to the British. On the twenty-third of March, the " Hornet," Cap- tain Biddle, captured the British brig " Pen- guin" of the Cape of Good Hope. The " Penguin " was so much injured that Biddle was forced to destroy her. On the thirtieth c f June the " Peacock," Captain Warrington, ignorant of the close of the war, captured the " Nau- tilus " in the East Indies. The latter vessel was res- tored to the British. Thus the war, which opened so gloomily for the Americans, closed with a series of bril- liant successes for them. In the meantime negotia- tions for peace had been conducted between the American and British com- missioners at Ghent, in Belgium. The American commissioners had been instructed to demand the settlement of the impress- ment question, and at the same time to give assurance that upon the relinquishment of that claim by England Congress would enact a law forbidding the enlistment of English sailors in either the navy or merchant service of the United States. On the fourteenth of December, 18 14, the labors of the commissioners were brought to a close, and a treaty of peace between the United States and Great Britairj was signed. The treaty provided that all places cap- tured by either party during the war should be restored to their rightful possessors. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. 545 Arrangements were made for determining the northwest boundary of the United States, and for settling matters of minor importance. to revive it, so that the object of the war the protection of American sailors from impress- ment bv England, was attained after all. The treaty was silent on the subject of , The treaty was unanimously ratified by the DECATUR AND THE DEY OF ALGIERS. rr.pressments, the cause of the war. Nev- ertheless Great Britain ceased to exercise her claim to this right as regarded the United States, and has not since attempted i to Congrc; Senate, and on the eighteenth of February peace was proclaimed by the President. A few days later the President recommended the passage of a law forbidding 54€ FROM THE RFVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. the enlistment of foreign seamen in American vessels. The proclamation of peace was hailed with delight in all parts of the country, especial .y in the Atlantic cities which had suffered heavily by the war, and the national rejoic- ings were intensified by the news which arrived a few days later of the brilliant victory of New Orleans. Soon after the conclusion of peace with Great Britain, the United States were called upon to punish the insolence of the dey WILLI.\M C. C. CLAIBORNE. of Algiers. That ruler, thinking that the United States was too much crippled by their recent conflict with Great Britain to punish his insolence, ."suddenly made war upon them. He threatened to reduce Mr. 1 Lear, the American consul, to slavery, and compelled him to purchase his liberty and that of his family by the payment of a large ransom. Several American merchantmen were captured by the Algerine pirates, and their crews reduced to slavery. The e.xcuse offered by the dey for these outrages was that the presents of the American govern- ment were not satisfactory. The government of the United States determined to compel the Sarbary powers to make a definite settlement of the questions at issue between them and this country, and in May, 1815, Commodore Decatur was despatched to the Mediterranean with a fleet ol ten vessels, three of which were frigates. He was ordered to compel the dey to make satisfaction for his past out- rages, and to give a guarantee for his future good conduct. On the voyage out Decatur fell in with the largest frigate in the Algerine service, near Gibraltar, on the seventeenth of June, and captured her after a fight of thirty minutes. On the nineteenth another Algerine cruiser was taken. Decatur at Tunis and Tripoli. The fleet then proceeded to Algiers, but upon its arrival found the dey in a very humble frame of mind. The loss of his two best ships, and the determined aspect of the Americans, terrified him into submission, and he humbly sued for ' peace. He was required to conxe on board of Decatur's flag- ship, and there sign a humiliating treaty with the United States, by which he bound him- self to indemnify the Americans from whom he had extorted ransoms, to surrender all his prisoners unconditionally, to renounce all claim to tribute from the American gevern- ment, and to cease from molesting American vessels in future. The difficulty with Algiers having been satisfactorily settled, Decatur sailed to Tunis and Tripoli, and demanded of the govern- ment of each of those countries in- demnity for some American vessels which had been captured by the British in their harbors with their connivance. The demand was coupled in each case with a threat of bombardment, and was complied with. AD.MINTSTRATION OF JAMES MADISON. 547 About the middle of the summer Commo- dore Bainbridge joined Decatur with the " Independence," seventy-four, the "Con- gress," and several other vessels, but the energetic Decatur had settled all difficulties, and had so humbled the Barbary powers •hat they never again renewed their aggres- sions upon American commerce. The American fleet then visited the principal ports of the Mediterranean. The brilliant record made by the navy during the war with England secured it a flattering recep- tion everj'where. Indian Tribes at Peace. In the autumn of 1815 the Indian tribes, deprived of the support of Great Britain, made peace with each other and with the United States. The northwestern frontier was thus secured against the further hostility of the savages. The finances of the country were in a wretched condition at the close of the war. All the banks but those of New England had suspended specie payments, and none were now in a condition to return to a specie basis. The public debt was over $ 100,000,000 and there was a general lack of confidence throughout the countiy. Mr. A. J. Dallas, the secretary of the treasury, in view of the general distress, proposed to abolish a num- ber of the internal taxes which had been levied for the support of the war. In their place he advised the imposition upon im- ports from foreign countries of duties suffi- ciently high not only to afford a revenue, but also to protect the manufactures which had prung up during the war, and which were iircatened with ruin by the competition of European goods. The President, in his annual message, warmly recommended such a course. Another important measure was also enacted. The charter of the first Bank of the United States expired in 181 1. Efforts had been made, without success, to obtain its renewal, and Mr. Madison in January, 1 8 14 had vetoed a bill for this purpose which had passed both Houses of Congress. In the spring of i8i6abill was passed by Congress chartering a new Bank of the United States for twenty years, with a capital of $35,000,000, and received the President's signature on the tenth of April. It was located in Philadelphia, but had branches in other States. It gave the people a uniform currency, good in all parts of the countr3% and redeemable on demand in gold and silver, and thus did much to remedy the financial difficulties of the times. Somewhat later a law was passed requiring that all sums of money due the United States should be paid in gold or silver coin, " in treasury notes, in notes of the Bank of the United States, or in notes of banks payable and paid on demand in specie." On the nineteenth of April, 18 16, the Ter- ritory of Indiana was admitted into the Union as a State, making the nineteenth member of the Confederacy. William C. C. Claiborne, a distinguished lawyer and states- man and former governor of the Territory, was one of the senators-elect of the new State, and became a famous member of that body. The Presidential election took place in the fall of 1816. Mr. Madison having declined to be a candidate for a third term, the Democratic party nominated James Monroe, of Virginia, for President, and Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, for Vice-President, and elected them by large majorities over the Federal candidates, who were: For President, Rufus King, of New York ; for Vice-President, John Howard, of Maryland. CHAPTER XXXIV The Administrations of James Monroe and John Quincy Adams Inauguration of Mr. Monroe — His Tour through the Eastern States — Admission of Mississippi into the Union-- •Tiiifcles with the Indians — General Jackson's Vigorous Measures against the Spaniards in Florida — Purcliase of f'orida by the United States — Illinois becomes a State — The First Steamship — Maine admitted into the Union — Tlie Slavery Question — The Missouri Compromise — Admission of Missouri as a State— The Fourth Census — Re-election of Mr. Monroe — The TarilT— Protective Policy of the Government — Recognition of the Spanish Republics — The Monroe Doctrine — Visit of Lafayette to the United States — Retirement of Mr. Monroe — John Quincy Adams elected President — His Inauguration — Rapid Improvement of the Country — Increase of Wealth and Piospenly — Internal Improve- ments—The Creek Lands in Georgia Ceded to the United States— Death of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams— The Anti-Masons— TiieTariflT of 1S28— Andrew Jackson elected President of the United States. JAMES MONROE was inaugurated President of the United States, at Washington, on the fourth of March, 18 1 7. He had served during the revolution in the army of the United States, and had entered Congress soon after the for- mation of the government as a representative from Virginia, and had won great credit by his services in that body. He had been secretary of state during the eight years of Mr. Madison's administration, and had greatly increased his fame by his discharge of the difficult and delicate duties of this posi- tion. He was a man of amiable and con- ciliatory character, and was popular with both parties. In his inaugural address he declared his intention to adininister the government in ac- cordance with the principles of Washington, and the sentiments of this document were warmly applauded throughout the country by Federalists as well as Democrats. The administration of Mr. Monroe covered a period generally known in our political history as " the era of good feeling." Party lines were almost blotted out, and the people Df the country were more united than at any 548 previous or subsequent period in the support of national measures. A few months after his inauguration Presi- dent Monroe made a tour through the Eastern States. He was received with marked attention everywhere, and the Fed- eralist city of Boston entertained him with the cordial hospitality which is one of her characteristics. On the tenth of December, 1817, the western portion of the Territory of Mississ- ippi was admitted into the Union as the State of Mississippi. The eastern portion of the former Territory became the Territory of Alabama, for which a government was pro- vided by Congress. Towards the close of the year 18 17 the Seminole Indians, whose lands lay within the Spanish province of Florida, began to com mit depredations along the borders of Geor- gia and Alabama Territory. They were joined by the Creeks, and their operations soon became so important as to demand the immediate action of the federal government. General Gaines, commanding the federal troops in Alabama, attempted to check the Indians, but his forces were inadequate to the ADMINISTRATIONS OF MONROE AND J task, and he was compelled to ask assistance of the government. General Jackson, com- manding the southern department, was ordered to call out the militia and take the field against the Indians. He collected a force of one thousand mounted Tennesseeans, and in March, 1818, invaded the Indian country, and in a few weeks laid it waste, the villages and cornfields were burned, and the cattle captured or killed. Being satisfied that the Spaniards in Florida had incited the Indians to make war on the United States, General Jackson, as soon as he had pun- ished the Indians.march- ■edinto Florida and seized St.Marks.onAppalachee bay, the only fortified town of the Spaniards in that part of Florida. An armed American vessel, cruising ofif the Florida coast, hoisted the British colors, and two promin- •ent hostile Creek chiefs were decoyed on board, and were summarily hanged by order of Jack- son. In one of his forays against the Indians Jack- son captured two Bri- tish traders, Robert C. Ambrister, or Ambuster, and Alexander Arbuthnot. They were accused of aiding the Indians, were tried and found guilty by a court-martial, and were promptly hanged. The Spanish governor indignantly protested against the invasion of Florida, but Jackson, Q. ADAMS. 549 unmoved by this protest, advanced in May to Pensacola, the seat of the Spanish provincial government, which place was immediately surrendered to him. The Spanish governor fled to Fort Barrancas, below the town. Jackson attacked the fort and compelled it JAMES MONROE. to surrender after a brief resistance, where- upon the governor continued his flight to Havana. The invasion of Florida by Jackson drew forth an indignant protest from the Spanish government, but his conduct was sustained by a decisive majority in both FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 550 Houses of Congress. The Spanish govern- ment did not press the matter, as negotiations were soon entered upon which brought about an amicable settlement of the difficulty. The Spanish kingdom was indebted to certain citizens of the United States in sums amounting in the aggregate to five million dollars. Spain instructed her minister at Washington to conclude a treat)' with the United States ceding Florida to them as an equivalent for these claims. The treaty was arranged in 1819. Spain ceded to the United States all her claims to East and West Florida, and to the territory claimed by her on the Pacific coast north of forty-two degrees of north latitude, and the federal government assumed the Spanish debt to the citizens of this country. Two years later this treaty v.'as ratified by Spain, and on the twenty- second of April, 1 82 1, the President formally announced the acquisition of Florida by the United States. Oregon and Illinois. This purchase also included the territory 5n Oregon claimed by Spain, and embraced an area of 367,320 square miles. Florida was at once organized as a Territory, and General Jackson was appointed its first gov- ernor. On the third of December, 18 18, the Ter- ritory of Illinois was admitted into the Union as a State. The year 1S19 was marked by an event Of great importance in the history of the world_ Steam had been used for some time in the inland navigation of the Union, but it was not generally believed it could be applied to sea-going vessels. The steamship " Savan- nah," built in New York, but owned in the city from which she was named, made a suc- cessful voyage from New York to Savannah in the early part of 1819. In May of that year she sailed from Savannah for Liverpool, and reached that port in safety From Liver- pool she subsequently made a voyage tu St. Petersburg. She was the first steam vessel that ever crossed the Atlantic, and, wherever she went, was an object of the greatest interest The question of steam navigation on the ocean was thus satisfactorily settk by America. ' On the fourteenth of December, 1 8 19, Alabama was admitted into the Union as a State, making the total number of States twenty-two. North and South. = On the fifteenth of March, 1820, Maine, which had formed a part of Massachusetts, but had been ceded by that State to the gen- eral government, was admitted into the Union as a State. The object of the erection of this new State was to offset the growing power of the Southern States by the creation of a new member of the Union in New Eng- land. The number of the New England i States was thus increased to six. For some years past the question of African slaverj' in the States had been assuming an important and alarming position in the public mind. The States of the north and west had gotten rid of such negro slaves as they had originnlly possessed, and had forbidden their citizens to own or bring within their limits for purposes of labor any persons of this class. The Southern States, on the other hand, comprised a region in which slave labor was particularly profitable, and it was believed by the people of this region that the industry of many parts of the south could not be properly developed by white men, as the climate was more unsuited to them than the negroes. The production of cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco depended oa the labor of the negro, and in the States where those great staples were raised slaver>' was regarded as a necessity. ADMINISTRATIONS OF MONROE AND J At the period we are now considering slavery existed in the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Caro- lina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Missis- sippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Being regarded by these States as necessary to their prosperitj^ they considered any and all plans for its removal as attacks upon their chief source of wealth. In the non-slaveholding States the feelm- that slavery was sinful had been gradually gaining ground, and there were many per- sons in the south w li held the same vic Certain religious b dies in the country h distinctly expressi their belief that it v,i . contrary to the teach- ings of Christianity t own slaves, and mc orials had been pi sented to the legi-. i tures of some of th States, and to the C i gress of the Unit States, praying for th abolition of slaver}- The law for the organization of the Northwest Terii"or_\ forbade the admis- sion of slavery into the States to be formed out of that Territory, and thus secured them for free labor. Though Congress did not hesitate to legislate upon the subject of slavery in this case, it steadily refused to comply with the demands of the petitions presented to it praying it to take measures for the abolition of slavery throughout the nation. The exist- ence of slavery within the individual States O. ADAMS. 551 was recognized and protected by the Con.sti- tution, and Congress held that it had no right to interfere with the domestic relations of those States in which slavery, thus recog- nized and protected, was established. In February, 1819, the Territory of ]\I s- souri, which was formed out of a part of the Louisiana purchase, asked permission to\ form a constitution preparatory to being admitted into the Union as a State. When OLD \\A\ OF PICKING COTTON the bill for this purpose was presented to the House of Representatives on the thirteenth of February, Mr. Tallmadge, of New York, proposed to insert a clause providing " that the further introduction of slavery, or invol- untary servitude, be prohibited, except for the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted ; and that all children born in said State, after the admis- FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 552 sion thereof into the Union, shall bo free at the age of Uventy-five years. The announcement of this amendment produced a great sensation in the House, and throughout the country. It was believed by the advocates of sla\'ery that the resolu- tions of the House of Representatives of 1790, in reply to the first petition presented lo it for the abolition of slavery, had settled the question of the powers of the federal government respecting slavery. No effort had been made to revive the subject in the admission of Kentucky, Tennessee, Louis- iana, Mississippi, or Alabama, in each of which States negro slavery existed. Many of the most determined opponents of slavery believed that, under the constitution and the Louisiana treaty with France, Congress had no right to adopt the proposed restriction upon the admission of Missouri as a State. Free and Slave Labor. Among these were Mr. Jefferson, then living in retirement at Monticello, and John Quincy Adams, the secretary of state in Mr. Monroe's cabinet. Both of these gentlemen were sincerely desirous of the abolition of slavery. Mr. Jefferson believed that the States alone had power to legislate upon the subject within their respective limits. The opponents of slavery, on the other hand, contended that while Congress had no power to interfere with slavery in the thirteen orig- inal States, it had full power to legislate concerning it in the Territories, which were the common property of the States north and south. The advocates of slavery con- tended that, as the treaty under which the Louisiana purchase was made contained a pledge to the inhabitants of that Territory that they should enjoy " all the privileges of citizens of the United States," such a restric- tion as that proposed by Mr. Tallmadge would be a violation of this pledge. They claimed also that as slaves were property, and the Territories the common possession of the States, the citizens of the slaveholding States had the right to carry their property into the Territories ; and that the prohibition of slavery in the Territories would be to deprive the south of her share in their enjoyment. The anti-slavery advo- cates replied to this, that slave and free labor could not coexist on the same soil, and that to allow slavery in the Territories would be to drive free labor out of them ; and that it would be a great wrong to allow the intro- duction of a few hundred thousand slaves at the cost of driving millions of free men from the Territories. The National Controversy. The discussion of this question produced intense feeling between the Northern and Southern States, and the sectional division of the country was drawn too deep to be effaced while the cause of it remained. It was very clear to thinking men that the feelings aroused by this controversy could not be quieted until the institution of slavery should be abolished throughout the country, or should be introduced into every new State formed out of the Territories remaining to the republic. The excitement deepened daily, and at one time became so intense as to threaten the existence of the Union. Good men of all parties gave their best efforts to the task of effecting a settlement oi the difficulty, but amid the storm of passion which was aroused by the debate in Congress it was hard to accomplish anything. The bill allowing the people of Missouri to form a State constitution passed the House of Representatives with Mr. Tall- madge's amendment by a small majority. It was defeated in the Senate. When Con- gress met again in December, 18 19, the debate was renewed upon the Missouri ADMINISTRATIONS OF I.IONROE AND J. Q question. The House again passed the bill for- bidding the existence of slavery in Missouri. The Senate struck out Mr. Tallmadge's amendment, and added to the House bill, as a substitute for it, a proviso offered by Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, that slavery should not exist in any part of the Louisiana Territory north of thirt\--six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, and west of the proposed State of Missouri, or in any State to be formed out of this Territory. The House refused to accept the Senate's amend- ment, and in order to adjust their dif- erences a committee of conference was appointed by the two Houses. Maine, whose admission we have re- lated, was an applicant for admission into the Union at this time, and it was contended by the south that it was unjust to admit her without any restric- tion as to her domestic institutions, and yet to impose upon Missouri a restric- tion which would deprive a large part of her population of their property, and close the State against emigration from the south. The result of the committee on conference was that after long and exciting debates the amendment offered by Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, was accepted. Maine was admitted as a free State. It was enacted by Congress that sla\ery should never exist north of the line of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude; and that Missouri should be admit- ted into the Union as a slave State upon the adoption of a constitution by her people. This was regarded as an equitable settle- ment of the difficulty, and the measure is known as the Missouri Compromise. The act for the admission of Maine received the President's approval on the third of March, 1820, and the State was admitted into the Union under it on the fifteenth of March. Tlic separate act in relation to Missouri was ADAMS. 553 approved by the President on the eighth of March, 1820. Its title shows its object. It was " An act to authorize the people of Mis- souri Territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal foot- ing with the original States, and to prohibit i slavery in certain Territories." As we shall! see, the State of Missouri was not admitted into the Union under the famous Missouri Compromise. HE.NKV CLAV. When Congress met in December, 1820, the constitution adopted by Missouri was presented to that body. It contained a clause which prevented free people of color from settling in the State. " This clause," says Colonel Benton, " was adopted for the sake of peace — for the sake of internal tranquil-' ity — and to prevent the agitation of the slave question."* It was objected to in Congress * Benton's Thirly Years' View, vol. i., p. S. 554 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. b\' the party that had previously opposed the admission of Missouri as a slave State. This party argued that the constitution required that the citizens of one State should be entitled to the privileges of citizens in the other States ; and that as some of the States recognized free people of color as citizens, this provision of the Missouri constitution was in open hostility to the constitution of the United States, since it deprived the citi- zens of some of the States of their rights. The friends of the compromise measure were astounded, as they ha i supposed that it had removed all obstacles to the admis- sion of Missouri, which had already exer- cised the privileges of a State in electing senators and representatives to Congress, and in taking part in the presidential election of 1820. The subject was reopened in Con- gress in all its bitterness, and the country again plunged into profound agitation. The Struggle Renewed. At this juncture Henry Clay e.xerted him- selfwith great energy to bring about a settle- ment of the dispute. He induced the House to commit the matter to a committee of thir- teen, of which he was made chairman. This committee advi.sed the admission of Missouri upon the condition that the obnoxious clause in her constitution should be withdrawn and that her legislature should pass no law vio- Litiveof the rights of citizens of other States. Mr. Clay supposed that as this recommenda- tion amply met the objection to the admis- sion of Missouri, it would remove the last ' obstacle to the accomplishment of that object. To his astonishment it was defeated by a vote of eighty for it and eighty-three against it. The struggle now became more bitter than ever. The anti-slavery party, which had by this time obtained a definite existence, were determined that the right of the general government to control the slavery question should be acknowledged. The pro-slavery party were determined to resist the exercise of that claim. Threats were freely indulged to destroy the Union by the withdrawal of the States. Mr. Clay, undaunted by his failure, renewed his patriotic efforts to bring about a' settlement of the dispute, and at length secured the passage of measures sub- stantially the same as those advised by his first committee. The act of Congress for this purpose was approved by the President on the second of March, 1821. The Missouri legislature on the twenty-sixth of June expunged the obnoxious article from the constitution of the State, and on the tenth of August the President issued his proclamatior admitting Missouri into the Union.* The slavery question was quieted for a time by the admission of Missouri, but it was not settled. We shall encounter it again and again in the remaining chapters of this work. In 1820 the fourth census of the United States placed the population of the republic at 9,638, igi'souls. In the fall of 1820 Air. Monroe and Gov- ernor Tompkins wee re-elected President and Vice-President of the United States. Mr. * " A general idea prevails very extensively that Missouri was admitted as a slave State in 1S20, under an agree- ment with the Restrictionists, or Centralists, proposed by Mr. Clay, that she should be so admitted upon condition that negro slavery should be forever prohibited in the public domain north of 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude. No greater error in any important historical event ever existed. The truth is, Mr. Clay was not the author of the territorial line of 36 degrees 30 minutes, incorporated in the act of 1S20, nor was Missouri admitted under the provisions of thai act. On the contrary, she was admitted on the tenth of August, 1 821, by presidential proclamation, upon the ' Funda- mental Conditions,* in substance, that the Stale government, in all its departments, should be subject to the constitution ol the United States, as all the Slate governments were, and are."— ^ Compendium of the History of the Untied States. By Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, p. 329. ADMINISTRATIONS OF MONROE AND J. Q. ADAMS. 555 Monroe received at the polls a majoiity of the votes of every State in the Union, and every electoral vote but one, which was one in the college of New Hampshire, and was cast for John Ouincy Adams. Mr. Monroe entered upon his second term on the fourth of March. 1821. Nex' in importance to the slaver\- que^- world, and compelled the States to depend upon their own exertions for the supply of their wants. During this period numerous manufacturing enterprises had sprung up^ especially in New England, where capital was idle and labor abundant. At the close of the war the country was ll.r.Jed with European floods, which were UNIOUE COTTON HARVESTER. tion was that of the tariff, or the imposition 1 sold at reduced prices for the especial pur- of a protective duty in favor of home manu- j pose of ruining American manufactures. In factures. In his inaugural address the Presi- their weak and helpless condition the Ameri- dent had recommended the imposition of 1 can enterprises could not endure this corn- such a system of duties. During the war , petition, and the tariff was proposed as the the non-intercourse laws of Congress, and ; only means of saving them from ruin. The the rigid blockade maintained by the British ! first measure of this kind was passed by fleet, entirely cut the United States off from ' Congress in 1816, and was opposed by the commercial intercourse with the rest of tlie New England States, which were then largely •556 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. engaged in commerce, and was supported by the south. In 1 820 the tariff was revised. The New England States, which had directed the chief efforts to manufactures since 18 16, iiad felt the beneficial effects of protective duties, and now became the warm supporters •f the tariff. The south being an agricultural -cction had found that its interests demanded free trade, had changed its position and resolutely opposed the tariff. In spite of the opposition to the measure, however, the duties were increased in the tariff of 1820. Mexico and South America. For some years past Mexico and the States of South America formerly held by Spain as provinces had been struggling to achieve their independence of the mother country. Henry Clay had exerted himself with enthusiasm to obtain from Congress a recognition of their independence, but such a step had been considered premature. In March, 1822, however, his efforts were crowned with success, and a bill was passed by Congress in accordance with the recom- mendation of the President, recognizing the independence of Mexico and the South American republics, and providing for the establishment of diplomatic relations with them. The next year President Monroe declared in a message to Congress tliat, " as a princi- ple, the American continents, by the free and independent position they have assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power." This claim that America belongs to republicanism, and is not to be the scene of European schemes for territorial aggrandizement, has since been known as tlie " Monroe doctrine," and been regarded as one of the cardinal points of the policy of tile government of the United States. The lastyear of Mr. Monroe's administra- tion was marked by an advent of the deepest interest to the whole country. In 1824 the venerable Marquis de Lafayette came to the United States at the express invitation of Congress to visit the nation whose freedom he had helped to achieve. He reached New York on the thirteenth of August, and was received with enthusiasm. He travelled through all the States, and was everj^where received with demonstrations of respect and affection, and he was given abundant evi- dence in all parts of the country that the nation cherished with love and pride the memory of the generous stranger who came to its aid in its darkest hour of trial. Re- turning to Washington during the session of Congress, Lafayette spent several weeks there. Congress, as a token of the gratitude of the nation for his services, voted him a a township of land and the sum of two hun- dred thousand dollars. The frigate " Brandy- wine," just finished, was appointed to ccnvey him back to France, a delicate compliment, as the vessel was named after the stream on whose banks Lafayette fought his first battle and was wounded in the cause of American independence. At the time of his visit to the United States Lafayette was nearly seventy years old. Election of John Quincy Adams. In the fall of 1824 the Presidential election was held amid great political excitement. The " era of good feeling " was at an end, and party spirit ran high. There were four candidates in the field, Mr. Monroe having declined a third term : Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William H. Crawford and Henry Clay. None of these received a popular majority and the election was thrown into the House of Representatives in Congress, and resulted in the choice of John Quincy Adams, of ad:\iinistrations of Massachusetts, as President of the United States. John C. Calhoun, of South CaroHna, had been chosen Vice-President by the popular vote. On the fourth of March, 1825, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated President of the United States. He was the son of John Adams, the second President of the republic, and was in his fifty-eighth year. He was a man of great natural ability, of strong personal character, and of unbending integrity. He had been carefully educated, and was one of the most learned men in the Union. Apart from his general education he had received a special training in statesmanship. He had served as minister to the Nether- lands, and in the same capacity at the courts of Portugal, Prussia Russia and England, where he had maintained a high reputation. He had represented the State of Massachusetts in the Federal Senate, and had been secretary of state in the cabinet of Mr. Monroe during the last administration. He was therefore thoroughly qualified for the duties of the high office upon which he now entered. " King Cotton." He called to his cabinet men of marked ability, at the head of which was Henry Clay, who became secretary ot state. The administration of Mr. Adams was one of re- markable prosperity. The country was growing wealthier by the rapid increase of its agriculture, manufactures and commerce, and abroad it commanded the respect of the world. Still party spirit raged with great violence during the whole of this period. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, in 1793, by which the seed was separated from the cotton, had so cheapened the cost of producing that great staple, that it had become the principal article of export from tile United States, and a source of MONROE AND J. Q. ADA:\IS. 557- great and growing wealth to the whole country. Several important undertakings were- prosecuted with vigor, or were completed during Mr. Adams' term of office. The National Road, a splendidly constructed highway, built by the general government, from Cumberland, Maryland, across the mountains, was completed to Wheeling, on the Ohio, in 1820, and was carried beyond that stream during Mr. Adams' administra- JOHN OUINCV ADAMS. tion, the design being to extend it to the Mississippi. It furnished a broad and well- built thoroughfare between the seaboard and the west, and exerted a marked influence upon the internal trade of the country. The road from Cumberland to Wheeling cost $1,700,000. The Erie canal, extending from Buffalo on Lake Erie to the Hudson at Albany, was projected by De Witt Clinton. The plan was at first pronounced impracticable, but Clinton succeeded in inducing the State of 55S FROM New York to undertake the scheme, and in 1825 the great work was completed and the waters of the lakes and the Hudson were united. The completion of this canal secured to the city of New York the control of the western trade, and added to its wealth and imnnrtanci-iii a m.rkcd ilec^ree. THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. Mauch Chunk railway, from the coal mines to the Lehigh river, in Pennsylvania, in 1827. These were merely local works, and of but little importance, except in so far as they helped to demonstrate to the public mind the possibility and the usefulness of such enter- prises upon a larger scale. % STEAMBOAT LOADING WITH COTTON. Steam had been for some years in use as the motive power in the navigation of the rivers of the Union, and it now began to be applied to purposes of land transportation. The first railroad in this country was a mere tramway, for the transportation of granite Irom the quarries at Quincy to the Neponsett river, in Massachusetts, and was constructed in the year 1826. This was followed by the Charters for roads of more importance were soon obtained in several of the States. In 1828 work was begun on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and in 1829 on the South Carolina railroad, In the year 1827 there were three miles of railroad in operation in the United States. In 1875 the number of miles in operation is a little over seventy thousand. ADMINISTRATIONS OF For some time previous to the entrance of Mr. Adams upon office, Georgia had been involved in a dispute with the general gov- ernment and with the Creek Indians con- cerning the lands of the latter, which the United States had agreed to purchase for the benefit of Georgia. Twenty-five years passed after tlie promise was made, and the lands re- mained unpurchased be- cause the Indians would ,^ not sell them. A treat\' ^ was finally made in 1825 by which some of the chiefs ceded to the gen- eral government the lands in question. The majority of the Indians declared the chiefs had no authority to enter into this treaty, and called upon the United States to repudi- ate it. It was cancelled by the general govern- ment, but the State of Georgia determined to enforce it. The general government took the side of the Indians, and for a while it seemed that an open conflict would ensue between the State and federal authorities. The matter was settled by the Creeks consent- ing to sell their lands and to accept new homes in the west. The Indian lands were purchased by the United States, and the Creeks emigrated beyond the Missis- sippi. On the fourth of July, 1826, died, within a MONROE AND J. O. ADAMS. 559 the republic — John Adams and Thomas Jef- ferson — the latter the author of the Declara- tion of Independence, and the former its most efficient supporter. Mr. Adams died at his home at Ouincy, INIassachusetts, at the ripe old age of ninety years ; Mr. Jefferson, at STATUE OF lEFFERSOX AT VV.\SHINGTON. I ;\Ionticello, his beautiful Virginian home, at I the age of eighty-two. Both had filled the I highest stations in the republic, and both had lived to see the country they loved take rank ; among the first nations of the globe. They died on the fiftieth anniversary of American few hours of each other, two ex-presidents of I independence. 56o FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. In the year 1826 a iiJW party made its appearance in our politics. A man named William Morgan, residing in the western part of New York, published a book purport- ing to reveal the secrets of the order of Free- masons. He suddenly disappeared, and it was charged that he had been seized and murdered by the Freemasons in revenge for his exposures. The affair caused great ex- citement in the Northern and some of the Western States, and gave rise to a political DANIEL WEBSTER. party known as the Anti-Masons, whose avowed object was the exclusion of Masons from office. It acquired considerable strength in some of the States, but in a few years died out. The tariff question now engaged the atten- tion of the country once more. The manu- facturing interests were still struggling against foreign competition, and it was the opinion of the Eastern and Middle States that the gen- imposition of high duties upon products of foreign countries imported into the Union. The south was almost a unit in its opposition to a high tariff. Being, as we have said, an agricultural section, its interests demanded a free market, and it wished to avail itself of the privilege of purchasing where it could buy cheapest. The south and the west were the markets of the east, and the interests of that section demanded the exclusion of for- eign competition in supplying these markets. In July, 1827, a convention of manu- facturers was held at Harrisburg, Penn- sylvania, and a memorial was adopted praying Congress to increase the duties on foreign goods to an extent which would protect American industry. When Congress met in December, 1827, the protective policy was the most important topic of the da\'. It was warmly dis- cussed in Compress and throughout the- country. The interests of New England were championed by the matchless elo- quence of Daniel Webster, who claimed that as the adoption of the protective policy by the government had forced. New England to turn her energies to- manufacturers, the government was bound to protect her against competi- tion. After a very able and exhaustive dis- cussion, the tariff bill was passed by the House on the fifteenth of April, 1828^ and was approved by the President a little later. It was termed by its opponents the " Bill of Abominations." In the midst of this excitement the Presi- dential election occurred. Mr. Adams was a candidate for re-election, but was over- whelmingly defeated by Andrew Jackson, ot Tennessee. John C. Calhoun was chosen Vice-President. The election of Jackson was regarded as a popular condemnation of eral government should protect them by the I the protective policy of the government CHAPTER XXXV The Administrations of Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren Character of Andrew Jackson — Indian Policy of this Administration — The President Vetoes the Bill to Renew the Char- ter of the United States Bank — Debate Between Hayne and Webster — Jackson's Quarrel With Calhoun — Death of ex-President Monroe — The Cholera — Black Hawk's War — Re-election of President Jackson — The Tariff— Action of South Carolina — The Nullification Ordinance — Firmness of the President — The Matter Settled by Compromise — Pa- triotism of Henrj- Clay — The Removal of the Deposits — The Seminole War Begun — Great Fire at New York — Settle- ment of the French Claims — Arkansas Admitted Into the Union — The National Debt Paid — Death of ex- President Madison — Martin Van Buren Elected President — Michigan Admitted Into the Union — The Panic of 1837 — Cause; of It — Suspension of Specie Payments — Great Distress Throughout the Union — The Sub- Treasury — Repudiation of State Debts — The Canadian Rebellion — The President's Course — The Seminole War Ended — The Anti-Slavery Party^ Resolutions of Congress Respecting Slavery — William Henry Harrison Elected President — The Sixth Census. ANDREW JACKSON, the seventh President of the United States, was inaugurated at Washington, on the fourth of March, 1829. President Jackson was in many respects one of the most remarkable men of his day. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in North CaroHna during the contro- versy between the colonies and Great Britain, which preceded the revolution. He was left fatherless at an early age, and his youth was passed amid the stirring scenes of the war for independence. At the age of thirteen he began his career by taking part in the fight at Hanging Rock, under General Sumter. The home of the Jacksons was broken up and pillaged by the Tories, and the mother and her two sons became wan- derers. The sons were shortly after made prisoners by the Tories, and the day after his capture Andrew Jackson was ordered by a British officer to clean his boots. He indignantly refused, and the officer struck him with the flat of his sword. The boys were at length exchanged through the exer- tions of their mother. Both had contracted the small-po.x during their captivity, and the elder son soon died of his disease. ^6 Not long afterwards Mrs. Jackson, with some other ladies, went to Charleston to minister to the wants of the American pri- soners of war confined there by the British. A fever was raging among these unfortunates at the time, and Mrs. Jackson was soon num- bered among its victims. Thus, at the age of fifteen, Andrew Jackson was left alone in the world without a relative. Though young in years, he had been greatly matured in character by his trials. Even at this early age he was generous to a fault to his friends, and immovable in his resolutions when once formed. A few years later he removed to Tennes- see, then a Territory, and upon the admis- sion of the State into the Union was elected as her first representative in Congress. His services during the war of 1 8 12- 1 5 have been related. His brilliant victory over the British at New Orleans made him one of the most noted men of the day, and his prompt and decisive measures against the Spaniards in Florida during Mr. Monroe's administratioa greatly added to his reputation. During the administration of John Adams- General Jackson occupied a seat in the United States Senate, and gave a cordial support to S6i , 562 FRO^I THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. the principles of Mr. Jefferson. Resigning his seat in the Senate before the close of his term, he was elected one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. The election of General Jackson to the E\V JACKSON. Presidency was regarded with some anxiety, for though his merits as a soldier were con- ceded, it was feared by many that his known impcriousness of will and his inflexibility of purpose would seriously disqualify him for the delicate duties of the Presidenc>'. Nature had made him a ruler, however, and his adminis* tration was marked by the fearless energy that characterized every act of his life, and was on the whole successful and satisfactory to the great majority of his countrymen. General Jackson began his administra- tion by appointing a new cabinet, at the head of which he placed Martin Van Buren, of New York, as secretary of state. Until now the Post- master-General had not been regarded as a cabinet officer. Gen- eral Jackson now in- vited that officer to a seat in his cabinet and a share in its delibera- tions, and his course has since been pur- sued by each and all of his successors. The first important act of the new Presi- dent was to recom- mend to Congress the removal of all the In- dian tribes remaining east of the Mississippi to new homes west o{ that stream. Such a measure, he con- tended, would give to them a broader range, and one more suited to their wants, and would relieve the States cast of the Mississippi from all further apprehension of Indian wars. This removal involved considerable loss and hard- ship to the Creeks in Georgia, who had made an encouraging advance in civilization, A ADMINISTR.-\TIONS OF JACKSON AND VAN BUREN. 563 bill was passed by the Twenty-first Congress in May, 1830, for the purpose of carrying this poHcy into effect ; but the removal of the Indians was not completed for some years afterwards. In his first annual message to Congress, in 1829, the President took strong ground against the renewal of the charter of the Bank of the United States, which was about to expire. This was a bold step, as the bank was the most powerful institution in the United States, and had warm friends in every part of the country. The stockholders of the bank applied to the Twenty-second Con- gress during its first session, which began in December, 183 1, for a renewal of their char- ter, and in the late spring of 1832 a bill renewing this charter was passed by both Houses of Congress. The President refused to sign the bill, and returned it to Congress with his objections. He held that Congress had no constitutional power to charter such a bank, and regarded it as inexpedient to continue its existence. An effort was made by the friends of the bill to pass it over the President's veto, but it failed to obtain the necessary two-thirds vote, and consequently did not become a law. The bank was there- fore obliged to suspend its operations at the expiration of its charter in 1836. A Historic Debate. In 1 830 Senator Foot, of Connecticut, sub- mitted a resolution of inquiry to the Senate concerning the disposal of the public lands. The debate upon the resolution extended far beyond the subject embraced in that docu- ment, and in the course of it Senator Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, a brilliant orator, declared that any State had the right, in the exercise of its sovereign power, to declare null and void any act of Congress which it should consider unconstitutional. This was a plain statement of the doctrine that the Union was simply a compact between the States, from which any of the States could secede at pleasure, and it was the first time such a sentiment had been expressed on the floor of Congress. Mr. Webster, of Massa- chusetts, replied to Mr. Hayne, in an oration of superb eloquence. He denied the doc- trine that the Union was a compact of sover eign, independent States, from which any one of them could withdraw at pleasure ; and argued that the constitution was the work of the people themselves, not as separate States. ROBERT V. HAY but as members of a great nation, and was designed to make the Union perpetual ; that the controversies between the States and the general government were to be decided by the supreme court, the tribunal created for that purpose by the constitution, and not by the States themselves ; and that any attempt on the part of the people of a State to with- draw from the Union was treason. The debate added greatly to the fame of both senators, and the sentiments of Mr. Webster were unanimously re-echoed by the 564 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. north, and by a large majority at the south. The effect of the debate was to direct the attention of the people to a study of the principles of the constitution. Different views were maintained. The Northern and Western States regarded the Union as indis- soluble, while the Southern States held that 't was a compact of sovereign Statc^ and I UMIitKM \N > that any State could withdraw from the Union for just cause. During the session of the Twenty-first Congress a breach occurred between Presi- dent Jackson and Mr. Calhoun, the vice- president. The former was told for the first time that Mr. Calhoun, while a member of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, had endeavored to prevent the government from sustaining him in his invasion of Florida in 18 18. General Jackson deeply resented this, and the breach between himself and Mr. Calhoun widened daily. Shortly afterwards Mr. Calhoun re- signed the vice-presidency, and was elected to the Senate by the legislature of South ^ Carolina in 1831. In the same year Mr. Lla). was elcctLd to the Senate from Ken- tuck\ , and Edward Livingston was made secretarj'^ of state. On the fourth of lul) 1 83 1, ex-Presi- cnt Monroe died in \(.\\ York, in the se- \i.nt\ -fourth year of his age. In June, 1832, the Vsntic cholera made t first appearance in the United States, and wept with fearful ra- pidity over the whole )untry. Thousands f persons of all ages id conditions died I Jt within a few nonths, and a feeling I f general terror per- \ ided the country. Its principal ravages occurred in the North- ern States and in the \ alley of the Missis- sippi In the spring of 1832 the Sacs and Foxes, and some other tribes of Indians, inhabiting the region now known as Wisconsin, made incursions against the frontier settlements of Illinois. General Atkinson was sent by the general government with a force of troops to crush them, and, with the assistance of the militia, after a series of skirmishes, drove them beyond the Mississippi. Black Hawk, ADMINISTRATIONS OF JACKSON AND VAN BUREN. 56s a chief of the Sac nation, and the leader of the movement, was talcen prisoner. He was kindly treated, and to impress him with the folly of attacking a great nation, he was taken to Washington, and then to the prin- cipal eastern cities, that he might see for himself the power of the whites. Jackson Re-elected. Early in 1S31 General Jackson was nomi- nated for re-election to the Presidency by the legislature of Pennsylvania. The Presi- dential election took place in the fall of 1832. General Jackson was supported by the Democratic part}', and Mr. Clay by the Whigs, for the Presidency. The contest was marked by intense bitterness, for Jack- son's veto of the charter of the Bank of the United States, his other vetoes of public improvement bills, and his attitude in the *' Nullification " controversy between the United States and South Carolina had created a powerful opposition to him in all parts of the country. In spite of this op- position he was re-elected by a triumphant majority, and Martin Van Buren, of New York, the Democratic nominee, was chosen vice-president. In the meantime serious trouble had arisen between the general government and the State of South Carolina. During the year 1832 the tariff was revised by Congress, and that body, instead of diminishing the duties, increased many of them. This action gave great offence to the Southern States, which regarded the denial of free trade as a great wrong to them. They were willing to submit to a tariff sufficient for a revenue, but Acre utterly opposed to a protective tariff for the reasons we have already stated. The States of Virginia, Georgia and South Caro- lina were the most energetic in their opposi- tion to the measure, but the first two, upon its passage, submitted to it, hoping to carry out their w'shes by constitutional means at some future time. The State of South Carolina, holding the views advocated by Mr. Hayne in the Senate, in his debate with Mr. Webster, resolved to " nullify " the law within its own limits. A convention of the people of the State was held, which adopted a measure known as the " Nullification Ordinance." This ordinance declared that the tariff act of 1832, being based upon the principle of pro- JOHN C. CALHOUN. tection, and not upon the principle of raising revenue, was unconstitutional, and was there- fore null and void. Provision was made by another clause for testing the constitutionality of the law before the courts of the State. The State assumed the right to forbid the collection of the duties imposed by the tariff within its limits ; and if the general govern- ment should resist the course of the State by force, the State of South Carolina was declared to be no lonp--jr a member of the FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. see Union. This ordinance was to take effect on the twelfth of February, 1833, unless in the meantime the general government should abandon its policy of protection and return . to a tariff for revenue only. Matters had reached this state when the Presidential election occurred in the fall of 1832. The country at large was utterly opposed to the course of South Carolina, and denied its right to nullify a law of Con- gress or to withdraw from the Union in support of this right. Intense excitement EinV.XKU LIVI.NG5TON. prevailed, and the course of the President was watched with the gravest an.xicty. He was known to be opposed to the protective policy ; but it was generally believed that he was firm in his intention to enforce the laws, however he might disapprove of them. Congress met in December, 1832, and in his annual message President Jackson urged upon that body a reduction of the tariff. The message gave great satisfaction to the opponents of the tariff. A few days later the President issued a proclamation against nullification, moderate in language, but firm in tone. He expressed his opinion that the course of South Carolina was unlawful and wrong, and intimated that he would exert the power intrusted to him to compel obedi- ence to the constitution and laws of the Union. He appealed to the people of South Carolina not to persist in the enforcement o"" their ordinance, as such a course on their part must inevitably bring them in collision with the forces of the federal government ; and told them plainly that any citizen of any of the States who should take up arms against the United States in such a conflict would be guilty of treason against the United States. Referring to the action of the convention, he said : " This ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible right of resisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional, and too opprcs- si\-e to be endured; but on the strange posi- tion that any one State may not only declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit its execution ; that they may do this consist- ently with the constitution ; that the true construction of the instrument permits a State to retain its place in the Union, and yet be bound by no other of its laws than those it may choose to consider as constitu- tional." Trouble in South Carolina. The leaders of the South Carolina mow.-- rnent were Governor Hayne and John C. Calhoun, then a senator of the United States from South Carolina. Governor Hayne re plied to the President \vith a counter procla- mation, in which he warned the people of the State against " the dangerous and perni- cious doctrines " of the President's procla- mation, and called upon them to disregard " those vain menaces " of military force, and "to be fully prepared to sustain the dignity and protect the liberties of the State, if need ADMINISTRATIONS OF JACKSON AND VAN BUREN. 567 ginia sent Benjamin Watkins Leigh, a dis- tinguished citizen, as commissioner to South Carolina, to urge her to suspend the execu- tion of her ordinance until March 4th, as there was a probability that a peaceful set- tlement of the difficulty would be arranged before that time. South Carolina consentea to be guided by this appeal. Henry Clay, with his usual patriotic self- sacrifice, now came forward in the Senate- with a compromise which he hoped 'vould be, with their lives and fortunes." The State prepared to maintain its position by force. Troops were organized and arms and militar)' stores were collected. The President, on his part, took measures promptly to enforce the law. He ordered a large body of troops to assemble at Charles- ton under General Scott, and a ship of war was sent to that port to assist the federal officers in collecting the duties on imports. Civil war seemed for a time inevitable. The THE L-.NITED STATES TKEASCRV AT WASHINGTON, D. C. President was firmly resolved to compel the submission of South Carolina and to cause the arrest of Mr. Calhoun and the other leading nullifiers and bring them to trial for treason. The issue of such a conflict could not be doubtful. Fortunately a peaceful settlement of tlic trouble was effected. Mr. Verplanck, of New York, a supporter of the administra- tion, introduced a bill into Congress for a reduction of the tariff, and the State of Vir- put an end to the trouble. He was an ardent advocate of the protective system, but he was prepared to sacrifice it to the welfare of the country. He introduced a bill providing for the gradual reduction in ten years of all duties then above the revenue standard. •• One-tenth of one-half of all the duties for protection above that standard was to be taken off annually for ten years, at the end of which period the whole of the other half was to be taken off, and thereafter all duties 568 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. were to be levied mainly with a view to revenue and not for protection." This measure with some modifications was adopted by both Houses of Congress, and was approved by the President on the second of March, 1S33. The people of South Caro- lina rescinded their " Nullification Ordi- nance," and the trouble was brought to an end.* It was generally believed that the Union had escaped from a grave peril. The firm- ness of the President received the approval of the nation, except in South Carolina. The the United States and deposit them with certain State banks. The majority of the cabinet were opposed to the measure, and the secretary of the treasury, William J. Duane, when ordered by tfie President to withdraw the funds, refused to obey him as he considered the President's course " un- necessary, unwise, arbitrary and unjust." He was at once removed from his position by President Jackson, who appointed Roger B. Taney, of Maryland, in his place. Mr. Taney issued an order to the collectors, for- bidding them to deposit the public moneys action of that State was generally condemned, | paid to them in the Bank of the United and the result was looked upon as a decided triumph of the national authority. Renewed Excitement. On the fourth of March, 1833, General Jackson entered upon his second term of office. The troubles which had disquieted the country had been satisfactorily settled, and the President took advantage of the peaceful condition of affairs to visit New York and the New England States. He was received everywhere with enthusiasm. Upon his return to the capital the Presi- dent took a step which plunged the country into great excitement once more. The charter of the Bank of the United States made that institution the legal depository of the funds of the United States. The secre- tary of the treasury, with the sanction of Congress, alone had authority to remove them. The President was of the opinion that the public funds were not safe in the keeping of the bank, and announced his in- tention to remove them from the Bank of States. As for the funds already in the pos- session of the bank it was decided to with- draw them as they were needed for the pay- ment of the current expenses of the govern- ment. This measure was productive of great financial distress throughout the Union, which continued for some time. President Jackson Censured. The President's course also produced open war between himself and the Senate, in which body he was opposed by Clay, Cal- houn and Webster, its foremost members. He was defended by Benton, of Missouri, and Forsyth, of Georgia, but in spite of their efforts a resolution declaring the President's course unconstitutional and severely censur- ing him for it was adopted by the Senate. The President remained firm, however. He submitted an able protest against the action of the Senate, and by the help of the House of Representatives defeated the bank on every point. The Senate subsequently recognized the propriety of the President's *" Mr. Clay, on this occasion," says Hon. .Alexander H. Stephens, "had to break with his old political friends, while he was offering up the darling system of his heart uiwn the altar of his country. Whatever else may be said of him, no one can deny that Henry Clay was a jiatriot — every inch of him — a patriot of the highest standard. It was said that when he was importuned not to take the course he had resolved uiK)n, for the reason amongst others that it would lessen his chances for the presidency, liis reply was, ' I would rather be right than be president.' This showed the material he was made of. It was worthy a Marcellus or Ca.to."—TAc IVar Between the States, vol. i., p. 438. ADMINISTRATIONS OF JACKSON AND VAX BUREN. 569 action, and of its own motion expunged the ship of their great chief, Osceola, opposed a resolution of censure from its journal. | determined resistance to the efforts of the In inn'suan.cc of i ^ I ti Ti ^lii .;.i;ii :'.. 1"'.' T^.^'le, with one ■HIKF OF THE SEMINOLES. . dians, the government attempted in 183510 remove the Seminoles from Florida beyond the Mississippi. They were unwilling to relinquish their lands ; and under the leader- hundred and seventeen men, was sent from Tampa Bay to the assistance of General Clinch at Fort Drane, which was threatened by the Indians. He was attacked on the 570 FROM twenty-eighth of December, 1835, while on the march, and he and all but four of his men were massacred. On the same day another blow was struck at Fort King, many miles away from the scene of this massacre. Mr. Thompson, the Indian commissioner, and a party of his friends, while dining out- side of the walls of the fort, were attacked by a band of Seminoles led by Osceola in person, and killed and scalped. General Clinch at on:e took the field against the savages, and on the thirt\--first of December defeated them at Withlacooche, ninety miles north of Tampa Bay. In February, 1836, General Gaines won an important victor)^ over the savages ne^r the same place. The Seminole War. The Creeks joined the Seminoles in May, 1836, and the war spread into Georgia. The former were soon crushed by the United States troops, and were sent west of the Mississippi. The Seminoles continued the war, and as often as they were defeated in the open field would take refuge in the swamps and everglades, where it was diffi- cult for the whites to follow them, and from which they maintained a constant and effect- ive warfare upon their enemies. Osceola was always ready to make a treaty, and never hesitated to break it. At last he was con- quered by his own weapon of deceit. In October, 1S37, he came into the American camp under a flag of truce. He was at once seized, with all his followers, by General Jessup, the American commander. Osceola was sent as a prisoner to Fort Moultrie, in South Carolina, where he died of a fever. The war went on for several years longer. ' The winter of 1834-5 was one of the coldest ever known in America. The Chesa- peake Bay was frozen from its head to the Capes, and on the eighth of February, 1S35, TME REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. the mercury stood at eight degrees below zero as far south as Charleston. On the fourth of January the mercury congealed at Lebanon, New York. On the night of De- cember 16, 1835, a fire broke out in the city of New York, and in fourteen hours con- sumed the greater part of the business por- tion of the city, and destroyed over seven- teen million dollars worth of property. Dispute with France Settled. In the last years of his administration Pres- ident Jackson brought to a successful close a vexatious dispute with France, which had long been a source of annoyance to the coun- try. American merchants held claims to the amount of five million dollars against France^ for the " unlawful seizures, captures, and destruction of vessels and cargoes" during the wars of Napoleon. The government of Louis Philippe acknowledged the justice of these claims, and in 183 1 a treaty was nego- tiated between the United States and France for their payment. The Chamber of Deputies refused three times during as many years to appropriate the money for the payment of these claims, and in 1S34 President Jackson ordered the United States minister at Paris to demand' his passports, and advised Congress to make reprisals on French vessels. This vigorous- course brought France to her senses, and at this juncture Great Britain offered her media- tion for the settlement of the difficulty. The Chamber of Deputies appropriated the neces- sary sum, and the American claims were paid and the matter settled to the satisfaction of all parties. Claims for similar seizures were brought against Spain, Naples, and Denmark, and were satisfactorily settled through the firm- ness of the President. Treaties of friendship and commerce were negotiated with Russia and Turkey. ADMINISTRATIONS OF JACKSON AND VAN BUREX. On the fifteenth of June, 1836, Arkansas was admitted into the Union as a State. One of the most important acts of General Jackson's administration was the payment of the national debt. He not only left the nation free from debt, but handed over to his successor a sur- plus of forty millions of dollars in the na- tional treasury. On the twenty- eighth of June, 1836, ex-President James Madison died at Montpelier, his home, in Virj^inia, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. The Presidential election was held in the fall of 1836. Gen- eral Jackson having declined to be a can- didate for a third term, the Democratic party supported Martin Van Buren for President and Richard M. John- son, of Kentucky, for Vice-President. Mr. Van Buren was elected by a large majority; but the electors hav- ing failed to make a choice of a candidate for Vice-President, that task de\-olved upon the Senate, which elected Colonel Richard M. Johnson by a majority of seventeen votes. On the twenty-sixth of January, 1837, Michigan was admitted into the Union as a State, making the twenty-sixth member of the Confederacv. The original thirteen 571- States had been doubled in number, and the Union was strong at home, and respected abroad. At the close of his term General Jackson retired from public life, and passed the remainder of his days at his beautiful home,. near Nashville, in Tennessee, which he had named the " Hermitage." He had conducted one of the most remarkable administrations in our history, and one of the most success- ful, and had shown himself to be an earnest, incorruptible, and self-sacrificing patriot, and. •572 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. .a man of unbending honesty and of extra- ordinary energy and inflexibility of purpose. Martin Van Buren, the new President, .entered upon the duties of his office on the fourth of March, 1837. He was in his fifty- . fifth year, and had occupied many distin- guished positions in public life. He had represented the State of New York in the Senate of the United States, and had been governor of that State. He had been min- ister to England, had been made secretary of state at the commencement of General Jack- •son'.s first term, and had been elected Vice- President of the United States at the period •of Jackson's re-election. Wild Speculation. The extraordinary prosperity which had ^prevailed throughout the nation during the last year of Jackson's term came to a sudden • end almost immediately after the inaugura- tion of Mr. Van Buren. For some time past a reckless spirit of speculation had engrossed the nation, and had led to excessive banking and the issuing of paper money to an extent far beyond the necessities of the country. The State banks, with which the public funds had been deposited by President Jackson, supposed they would be able to control these funds for an indefinite period, as the revenue of the government was largely in e.xcess of its expenses ; and they made loans freely, and upon not the best securities, in all cases. Few of the new banks which sprang into existence had enough gold and silver in their vaults to redeem the notes with which they flooded the countr)-. Fictitious values pre- vailed in every department of trade, and the banks vied with each other in affording the means for the wildest speculations. In the midst of this excitement two acts of the general government brought matters to a crisis. The speculation mania had extended to the public lands, and in order to restrain it within manageable bounds President Jack- son caused the secretary of the treasury to issue an order to the collectors at the local offices to receive only gold and silver in pay- ments for land. This order was generally known as the " Specie Circular." In the summer of 1836 a law was passed by Con- gress requiring the President to distribute among the States the funds on deposit in the banks. This was an unexpected measure to the banks, and forced them to call in their loans to meet the withdrawal of the govern- ment funds. The operations of the " Specie Circular" at the same time sent large quan- tities of their notes back to them to be redeemed in coin. This complication of difficulties brought them at once to the end of their resources, and they were rendered powerless to extend their usual facilities to their customers. The result was that the business of the country was thrown into a state of hopeless confusion, and by the spring of 1837 the failures in New York alone amounted to one hundred million dollars. All parts of the countrj' were affected by the financial troubles, and, in New Orleans the failures amounted to twenty-seven million dollars. Suspension of Specie Payments. Petitions were addressed to the President from all parts of the Union, praying him to take some steps to relieve the general distress, and in May a deputation of merchants and bankers from New York waited upon Presi- dent Van Buren, and urged him to postpone the immediate collection of duties for which merchants had given bonds, to withdraw the treasury orders requiring sums duethe United States to be paid in gold and silver, and to convene Congress in extra session for the purpose of devising measures of relief The President complied with their request to suspend the collection of duties for which AD.MIXISTRATIONS OF JACKSON AND VAN BUREN. bonds had been given, but declined to take the other steps asked of him. Within a few- days after his answer was known the banks of New York suspended specie payments, and their example was followed by the rest of the banks throughout the Union. The Country in Distress. The distress of the country was very great. Hundreds of thousands of laborers were thrown out of employment, and busi- ness of all kinds was at a standstill. The government, which a few months before had been out of debt and in possession of a sur- plus of forty millions, now found itself unable to provide funds for its ordinary ex- penses. The President was compelled to summon an extra session of Congress, which met on the fourth of September, 1837. The President in his message attributed the em- barrassed condition of the country to the excessive issues of bank notes, the great fire in New York in 1835, and the reckless speculations of the people for several years past. He suggested no special legislation for the relief of these troubles, as he regarded such a course as beyond the constitutional authority of the general government. Indeed, the government could do but little to restore public confidence ; that was the task of the people themselves, and it was not accomplished for several years. To meet the necessities of the government and pro- vide a legal currency Congress, at the re- commendation of the President, issued treasury notes to the amount of ten millions of dollars. Another recommendation of the President did not give such general satisfac- tion. The President advised the creation of an independent treasury for the public funds, as a means of avoiding the risks assumed by the government in depositing its funds in the banks. These treasuries were to be located at certain central points, and the sub- 573- treasurers were to be appointed by the Presi- dent, and were to give bonds for the proper fulfilment of their duties. The President believed that the adoption of this measure would withdraw large sums of money from active circulation and so put a stop to specu- lation. The bill for the creation of the inde- pendent treasury was warmly opposed in and out of Congress, as it was feared by many that the withdrawal of so much gold and silver from circulation would seriously injure the business of the country. Mr. Calhoun supported the measure with all his- great abilities, and Mr. Clay and Mr. Web- ster opposed it. The measure failed at the extra session, but became a law in 1840. In- 1 84 1 it was repealed, and in 1846 it was re- enacted. It is still in force, and its wisdom and usefulness are now generally admitted. Great Increase of Debt. The spirit of speculation had extended to the State governments as well as to private individuals, and State bonds had been issued to the amount of one hundred million dol- lars. The pretext for this excessive increase of debt was the necessity of raising funds to carry out their system of internal improve- ments. The panic involved the States in its effects, and eight of them found themselves unable in 1838 to pay the interest on their bonds. In course of time they made good their obligations, but the State of Mississippi and the Territory of Florida not only refused to pay the interest on their bonds, but repu- diated their debts. The sale of their bonds had been made principally in Europe, and their repudiation of their debts aroused great i indignation on the other side of the Atlantic, ' and brought disgrace upon the whole nation. The effects of this were seen a few years later, when the United States sought to negotiate a national loan in Europe. Not a FROM THE ,74 ri^^.v. .1..^ RF.VOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. bond could be sold or a dollar obtained there. In 1837 a movement was made by the people of Canada to throw off their connec- tion with Great Britain and to establish their independence. It aroused the sympathies of a large number of the people of the United States, and in northern New York associa- tions called " Hunters' Lodge= " were formed for the purpose of aidin i '•■ of Schlosser on the American shore to the island. The British authorities in Canada determined to destroy the boat. One dark night in December, 1 837, a detachment from Canada was sent to Navy Island for this purpose. Not finding the " Caroline " they went over to Schlosser, where she was moored at her dock. The boat was captured after a ^- • ' ■ '--.-'-, .-7~ .\:"crican was CANADIAN TRAPPERS. patriots. The President of the United States 1 and the Governor of New York endeavored I to suppress these illegal associations, but j without success. A body of seven hundred Canadians and American sympathizers took possession of Mavy Island in the Niagara River. The island is a part of Canada, and lies near the shore of that country. The force on the island employed the steamboat " Caroline " to convey men and provisions from the town killed, and was carried out into the stream and set on fire. She drifted down to the falls and plunged over them in a blaze. The British minister at Washington at once de- clared the responsibility of his government for the capture of the boat, and justified it on the ground of self-defence. In the meantime the President had sent General Wool with a strong force to the Canadian border with orders to prevent any expedition from lea\-ing this countrj- to aid ADMINISTRATIONS OF JACKSON AND VAN BUREN. 575 the Canadians. He compelled the force on Navy Island to surrender, but the border war continued until the close of 1838, when it was put down. On the first of September of this year (1838) the United States, by their agent, received the liberal donation which was be- queathed to them in trust for the " general diffusion of knowledge among men," by James Smithson,an Englishman, which con- stitutes the endowment of the Institute in Washington city that bears his name. The amount of the legacy received, in American coin, was 3575,169. In 1840 the question -of the " Carolina " re- vived. Ale.xander Mc- Leod, a British subject residing in Canada, boasted that he had been engaged in the capture of the " Caroline," and had killed the American who fell in the conflict. Shortly afterwards he visited the New York side of the river and was at once arrested upon a charge of murder by the authorities of that State. The British government demanded his unconditional release on the ground that he had simply obeyed the orders •of his government, which was alone respon- sible for his act. The general government of theUnited States also demanded the surrender of McLeod to the Federal authorities. The State of New York, however, held that the ■offence with which McLeod was charged had been committed on her soil, and brought the prisoner to trial. As he succeeded in prov- ing that lie was not engaged in or present at the attack, he was acquitted. This conflict between the Federal and State authority led to the passage by Congress of a law requir- ing similar offences to be tried before the United States courts. In the midst of the Canadian controversy a quarrel sprang up between the State of Maine and the British provinces of New Brunswick, concerning the northeast bound- ary of the United States. Both parties pre- pared for a conflict, but the President sent THE SMITH^OM-\N INsTITL 1 General Scott to the scene of danger, and he, by his moderation and firmness, suc- ceeded in maintaining peace until the matter could be settled by treaty. The war with the Seminole Indians in Florida continued through the whole of this administration. The capture and death of Osceola, which we have related, though a severe blow to his followers, did not dis- hearten them. On the twenty-fifth of December, 1838, Colonel Zacharv Tavlor FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 5/6 inflicted a severe defeat upon the Indians at Lake Okeechobee. The war was at length brought to an end in 1842, but not until it had lasted seven years and had cost many valuable lives and the enormous sum of nearly forty million dollars. The Seminoles were subdued and were removed from Florida to new homes beyond the Mississipi. The Missouri Compromise did not quiet the agitation of the slavery question. It gave to the country only a momentary respite. The Anti-slavery or Abolition party had now become one of the recognized politi- cal organizations of the country. Its avowed object was the abolition of slavery in every State in which it existed. It was argued in opposition to their principles that the consti- tution recognized and protected slavery in the States in which it existed ; but they met this assertion by the bold declaration that they would continue their agitation until they had destroyed either slavery or the Union. They did not wish to live under a constitution which protected slavery, and which one of their principal ■ leaders de- nounced as " a covenant with death and an agreement with hell."' The body embraced the extreme Anti-slavery men of the north. Opposition to the Abolitionists. Among its adversaries were some of the sincerest opponents of slavery, who hoped to accomplish their ends by constitutional means and by the-influences of a better and more enlightened public opinion, and who deprecated and opposed the violence of the extreme Abolitionists. The leader of the ultra party in Congress was John Quincy Adams, who had been returned to the House of Representatives from Massachusetts in 1 83 1. Memorials were presented to Con- gress praying the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and gave rise to excit- ing debates in that body, which affected the whole country profoundly, and did much to widen the breach between the Northern and Southern States. This agitation continued through the whole of Mr. Van Buren's term of office. Congress Must Not Interfere. Early in the session of 1838-39, Mr. Ath- erton, of New Hampshire, offered a series of resolutions expressing the relations of the general government towards the States, and declaring the inability of Congress to inter- fere with slavery in those States in which it already existed, or in the District of Colum- bia, or the Territories. These resolutions were adopted by the House by decisive majorities, and were regarded by Mr. Clay and by the leading public men of the country as effectually disposing of the troublesome question as far as the general government was concerned. The resolutions were as follows : " JUc'So/vftf, That this government is a govern- ment of limited powers, and that by the constitution of the United States Congress has no jurisdiction whatever over the institution of slavery in the sev- eral States of the confederacy." The vote upon this resolution stood : 196 for it, and 6 against it. The second resolution was in these words : " Resolved, That petitions for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia and the Terri- tories of the United States, and against the removal of slaves from one State to another, are a part of a plan of operations set on foot to affect the institu- tion of slavery in the Southern States, and thus indi- rectly to destroy that institution within their limits.' On this resolution the vote stood : 136 for it, and 65 against it. The third resolution was in these words r " Resolved, That Congress has no right to do that indirectly which it cannot do directly ; and that the agitation of the subject of slavery in the District of Columbia, or the Territories, as a means, and with a view, of disturbing or overthrowing that institution in the several States, is against the true spirit and 37 '^'"■''^' ^' "^"E NATIONAL CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON. 3-^ 578 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. meaning of the constitution, an infringement of the rights of the States affected, and a breach of the pubHc faith upon which they entered into the con- federacy." The vote on this resolution was: 164 in favor of it, and 40 against it. The fourth of this series was in these words : " Resohred, The constitution rests on the broad principle of equality among the members of this confederacy, and that Congress, in the exercise of its acknowledged powers, has no right to discrimi- nnte between the institutions of one portion of the States and another, with a view of abolishing the one and promoting the other." The vote on this resolution was: 174 in favor of it, and 24 against it. Resolution Against Slavery Agitation. The fifth and last of Mr. Atherton's reso- lutions was in these words : " Resolved, That all attempts on the part of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, or the Territories, or to prohibit the removal of slaves from State to State, or to discriminate between the insti- tutions of one portion of the confederacy and another, with the view aforesaid, are in violation of the con- stitution, destructive of the fundamental principle on which the union of these States rests, and beyond the jurisdiction of Congress ; and that every peti- tion, memorial, resolution, proposition, or paper, touching or relating in any way, or to any extent I whatever to slaven.', as aforesaid, or the abol'hfon thereof, shall on the presentation thereof, without any further action thereon, be laid upon the table, without being debated, printed, or referred." i The vote on the first branch of this reso- lution was, 146 in favor, and 52 against it ; on the second branch of the resolution the vote stood, 126 for it, and 78 against it. As we shall see, this declaration of Con- gress was far from quieting the agitation upon this troublesome question. The slavery conflict had in reality just begun. In the fall of iS40the Presidential election was held. Mr. Van Buren and Vice-Presi- dent Johnson were nominated for re-election by the Democratic party, and the Whigs supported General William Henry Harrison, of Ohio, for President, and John Tyler, of Virginia, for Vice-President. The financial distress of the country had been but slightly relieved, and was generally attributed by the people to the interference of the government with the currency. This feeling made the Democratic nominees exceedingly unpop- ular, and the political campaign, which was one of the most exciting ever conducted in this countrj', resulted in the election of Har- rison and Tyler by overwhelming majorities. In 1840 the si.xth census showed the popu- lation of the United States to be 17,069,453. CHAPTER XXXVI The Administrations of William Henry Harrison and John Tyler An Extra Session of Congress Summoned — Death of President Harrison — John Tyler becomes President of the Unitet- States — Meeting of Congress — The Bankrupt Law — President Tyler Vetoes the Bills to Revive the United States Bank— His Quarrel with His Party— The " Tyler WTiigs "—The Tariff of 18+2— The Treaty of Washington— The United States will not Tolerate the Exercise of the Right of Search— Dorr's Rebellion— The Mormons— Invention of the Electric Telegraph — Explosion on the " Princeton " — Efforts to Secure the Annexation of Texas — Early History ot Texas — The Texan War of Independence — Battle of San Jacinto — Texan Independence Established — Texas Ap- plies for Admission into the Union — Opposition to the Measure — Significance of the Vote at the Presidential Election — James K. Polk Elected President — Texas Admitted into the Union — Iowa and Florida become States. OX THE fourth of March, 1841, Wilham Henrj^ Harrison was inaugurated President of the United States at Washington in the presence of an immense concourse of citizens from all parts of the Union. He was in his sixty-ninth year, and had spent forty years of his life in the public service. His services during the Indian hostilities which preceded the war of 18 12-15, ^n<^ ^^^ exploits during that war, have been related. He had served as governor of Indiana Ter- ritory, and had been both a member of Con- gress and a senator of the United States. He was a man of pure life and earnest character, and the certainty of a change of policy in the measures of the federal govern- ment had caused the people of the country to look forward to his administration with hope and confidence. He began by calling to seats in his cabinet men of prominence and ability. At the head of the cabinet he placed Daniel Webster, as secretary of state. The President issued a proclamation con- vening Congress in special session on the thirty-first of May, 1841. He was not destined to fulfil the hopes of his friends, however. He was suddenly seized with pneumonia, and died on the fourth of April, 1841 — ^just one month after his inaugura- tion. It was the first time that a president of the United States had died in office, and a gloom was cast over the nation by the sad event. The mourning of the people was sincere, for in General Harrison the nation lost a faith- ful, upright and able citizen. He had spent forty years in prominent public positions, and had discharged every duty confided to him with ability and integrity, and went to his grave a poor man. " Brave old Cincinnatus ! he left but his plow." Upon the assembling of Congress, that body, " out of consideration of his expenses in removing to the seat of government, and the limited means he had left behind," appro- priated the equivalent of one year's presi- dential salary — twenty-five thousand dollars — to Mrs. Harrison. According to the terms of the constitution, upon the death of General Harrison, the office of president of the United States devolved upon the vice-president, John Tyler, of Vir- ginia. Mr. Tyler was not in the city of Washington at the time of the death of his predecessor, but repaired to that city without 579 58o FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. crisis had involved thousands of merchants in hopeless bankruptcy, and under the old laws they had no means of recovering their lost position, as they were crushed down by their debts. Neither their creditors nor the country at large derived any benefit from this state of affairs, and Congress at once passed a general bankrupt law for the relief of persons thus situated. It was highly beneficial to the country, and was repealed in 1843, when the necessity for it had ceased to exist. loss of time, upon being notified of the need of his presence, and on the si.Kth of April took the oath of office before Judge Cranch, chief justice of the District of Columbia. Mr. Tyler was in his fifty-second year, and had served as governor of Virginia, and as representative and senator in Congress from that State. On the ninth of April President Tyler issued an address to the people of the United States, in which there was no indica- tion of a departure from the policy announced in the inaugural of General Harrison. He WILLIAM HENKV H.VRRISON. retained the cabinet ministers of liis prede- cessor in their respective positions. On the thirty-first of Maj' the Twenty- seventh Congress convened in e.\tra session. It was known as the "Whig Congress," as a large majority of its members were of that party. Had this party remained united they could have controlled the action of Congress to suit themselves, but as we shall see, the policy of the executive soon divided them. The first act of this Congress was to repeal the sub-treasury bill which had been passed in 1840. The effects of llic commercial Important Veto by President Tyler. Efforts were made to revive the Bank of the United States, and a bill was passed establishing an institution known as the " Fiscal Bank of the United States." Mr. Tyler, who was a member of the strict con- structionist school, now found himself at variance with a majority of his party in both Houses of Congress. As he did not believe that Congress could constitutionally charter such an institution, he vetoed this bill. Tlie advocates of the measure could not com- mand the requisite two-thirds majority for the passage of the bill over the president's veto, and his action was sustained. Another bill was passed by Congress of a similar character, establishing " The Fiscal Corpora- tion of the United States," but this also was vetoed by the president for the same reasons. His veto was sustained by Congress in this instance also. The vetoes of these measures were generally approved by the strict con- structionists throughout the Union, without regard to party ; but they were bitterly de- nounced by the majority of the Whigs, who charged the president with having violated the implied pledges upon which he was elected, and with having betrayed his party. The Whigs were for the time forgetful of the fact that at the time of his nomination tt) the vice-presidency Mr. Tyler was known ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 581 to be opposed to the Bank of the United States. The members of the cabinet, with the single exception of the secretary of state, resigned their positions in consequence of Mr. Tyler's course. Mr. Webster retained his position in order to complete the important negotiations he was at the time conducting with England. The places of the other members of the cabi- net were filled by the President with pro- minent members of the strict construc- tionist school of the Whig party, who sus- tained the President. The second session of the Twenty-seventh Congress met in De- cember, 1841, and con- tinued its sittings until August, 1842. It was noted as the longest session ever held up to this time. It found the Whig party divid- ed, and the opposing factionsbitterly hostile to each other. The majority, led by Mr. Clay, opposed the administration. The minority, because of their support of the President, received the name of " Tyler Whigs." The principal question agitated during this session was the tariff". Accord- ing to the compromise act of 1833, the duties this year were to be regulated accord- ing to a revenue standard. The majority in Congress, however, paid no regard to the pledge given in this com- promise, and a new tariff bill was passed by both Houses of Congress, regulating the duties on a strongly protective basis, and with the avowed object of reviving the pro- tective policy. It was vetoed by the Presi- dent. Another measure of a similar though slightly modified character was passed, and this was vetoed also. Congress then passed the tariff of 1842, in which the principles of the compromise of 1833 were altogether set aside, and the '^utie* made strictly protectivs^ 582 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. It required a sharp struggle in Congress to secure the passage of this bill, which received the executive signature on the thirtieth of August. Settlement of Disputes. In the meantime Mr. Webster succeeded in bringing the negotiations with Great Bri- tain to a successful close. These negotia- tions had grown out of the revolutionary disturbances in Canada, and the controversy respecting the northeast boundary of the United States during the administration of Mr. Van Buren, which we ha\'e related. The boundary question was of older origin than the former controversy, and had been pending between the United States and Eng- land for fifty years. Mr. Webster, imme- diately upon his entrance upon the office of secretary of state, had, with the approval of the President, signified the desire of this co-mtry to terminate the controversy, and Lord Ashburton had been sent by the British government as special minister to the United States, with full power to settle all the con- troversies between the two countries. The treaty of Washington was concluded in 1842, and was accepted by both countries as a settlement of the questions at issue between them. B\- the terms of this treaty the northeastern boundary' was arranged as it exists at present ; the United States obtained the free naviga- tion of the St. John's river to the sea ; and gained possession of the important military position of Rouse's Point, at the outlet of Lake Ciiamplain. The two countries mutually agreed to surrender upon proper demand all fugitives from justice escaping from the territory of one into that of the other ; and to maintain a certain number of ships of war on the African coast to aid in suppressing the slave trade. When the treaty was completed two sub- jects presented themselves to the negotiators. One of these was the right claimed by Great Britain for her cruisers to stop and if neces- sary to search merchant vessels belonging to other nations on the high seas ; the other was the impressment of seamen from Amer- ican merchant vessels by British cruisers. Mr. Webster, in a paper of great ability, ad- dressed to the American minister at London, but intended for the British foreign minister, denied the right of search, and sustained his position by arguments that were simpl_\' irre- futable. In a letter to Lord Ashburton Mr. Web- ster refused to consider the impressment question, as the United States could in no case admit such a claim on the part of Great Britain, and declared that every case of im- pressment would be considered an act of hostility and would be repelled as such. He declared as the unalterable policy of this country the doctrine that " Every merchant vessel on the high seas is rightfully con- sidered as a part of the territory to which it belongs ; " that " in every regularly docu- mented American merchant vessel the .jrew who navigate it will find their protection in the flag which is over them ; " and that " the American government, then, is prepared to say that the practice of impressing seamen from American vessels cannot hereafter be allowed to take place." The tone of the secretary of state, though firm, was courteous and conciliatory, and the negotiations were conducted in the same spirit of conciliation by the British minister. Insurrection in Rhode Island. With this treaty the United States for- mally took their position as one of the great powers of the world. The negotiations being completed, Mr. Webster resigned his place in the cabinet in May, 1843, and was suc> ceeded by Abel P. Upshur, of Virginia. ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 583 In 1842 an insurrection broke out in the State of Rhode Island, which required the intervention of the United States for its sup- pression. It is known as the Dorr rebellion. The old charter of the colony, granted by Charles II., in 1663, had up to this time served as the constitution of the State. It was found to be unsuited to the requirements of the people in their more prosperous condi- tion, and an effort was made to change it. Two parties were formed, one in favor of the proposed changes, the other opposed to them. Each party nominated its candidate for the office of governor and elected him. The " suffrage party," which favored the changes, elected Thomas W. Dorr governor, took up arms, and attacked the State arsenal for the purpose ofarming their followers. They were repulsed by the State militia assisted by the United States troops. Dorr was arrested, tried for treason, and sentenced to imprison- ment for life. He was released in 1845. The opponents of the " suffrage party " deemed it best to yield to the popular wish, however, and in November, 1842, a new constitution, embracing the desired changes, was adopted by the legislature. Mormons Found a City. About the same time a series of disturb- ances occurred in the State of Illinois, which were but the forerunners of a more serious embarrassment to the general government at a later period. A new religious sect had sprung up some years before in the western part of New York. They called themselves Mormons, and were founded by a remarkable man named Joseph Smith, who professed to have received a new revelation from God, written on plates of gold. Among the arti- cles of the Mormon faith is one which teaches the doctrine of a plurality of wives. Feeling that the east was not favorable to their growth, the Mormons at an early day removed to the west. They settled at first in Missouri, but so exasperated the people ^ T^ ^ <^ C-f -N ^ ^ 1 i^ \^ ^ i^ u sfj ^ ^ V 1 d^ (^ of that State by their conduct, that they were soon driven out of Missouri. ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 5^5 Crossing the Mississippi, they settled in Illinois, and founded a city which they called Nauvoo, and built a temple. Their numbers increased rapidly from emigration from nearly everj' country in Europe. The new- comers were mainly persons of low position and without education. Conscious of their strength they raised troops, and set the authority of the State of Illinois at defiance. The State endeavored to reduce them to obedience, and their conduct, as in Missouri, ' westward, and after a long and painful jour- ney across the plains, reached the valley of j Salt Lake, and established a settlement there. Out of this settlement grew the Ter- ritory of Utah. In 1S44 occurred one of the most im- portant events in the history of the world. In I S3 2 Samuel F. B. Morse, a native of Massachusetts, invented the electric tele- graph. He spent some years in perfecting his invention, and in 1 838 applied to Congress HE MORxMON HA.ND-CART COMPANY CROSSING THE PLAINS. turned the people against them. Several conflicts ensued between the Mormons and the authorities. In one of these Joe Smith, the prophet, and his brother were seized and put in jail, and while lying there were murdered by the mob in July, 1844. This brought matters to a crisis, and the people of Illinois determined to drive the Mormons across the Mississippi. Nauvoo was attacked in 1845, and the Mormons were compelled to leave the State. In 1 846 they bent their steps for a small appropriation to assist him in building a line of wire to demonstrate the usefulness of his discovery. He was obliged to wait five years for a favorable answer, and it was not until he had given up all hope of receiving aid from Congress that that body, on the last day of the session of 1843, appro- priated the sum of thirty thousand dollars to construct a telegraph line between Washing- ton City and Baltimore, a distance of forty miles. The line was completed in 1844, and SS6 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. was successfully operated by Professor ]\Iorse. This was the first line established in the world. In the thirty-one \ears which have elapsed since then the use of the telegraph has become general throughout the civilized world, and in the United States alone over sixty thousand miles of telegraph lines are in operation at the present time. On the twenty-eighth of February, 1844, the President, accomnnni"-;! hy the members spectators. This sad event was greatly lamented throughout the country. Judge L^pshur was succeeded as secretary of state by John C Calhoun, then a senator from South Carolina. The last years of Mr. Tyler's administra* tion were devoted to the effort to secure the anne.xation of the republic of Texas to the United States. The territory embraced ".-itliin r!ve l:"-!its of Texns con-titutcc! a part 1^- i 1 ^0' .MORMO.N TABF.KNACLE AT SALT LAKE, UTAH. of his cabinet and a number of distinguished citizens, officers of the army and navy, and ladies, went on board the new steam frigate " Princeton," lying in the Potomac, to wit- ness the experimental firings of a new cannon of unusual size on board that ship, to which the name of " The Peacemaker " had been given. At one of the discharges the gun exploded, causing the instant death of Messrs. Upshur and Gilmer, the secretaries of state and of the na\ y, and .several other of the Spanish-American possessions, and was generally regarded as a part of Mexico. During the last century a number of forts had been erected in Texas by the Spaniards as a means of holding the province against the French, and each fort was made a mis- sionary station, from which efforts were made to convert the Indians, but without success. The United States were, in the early part of the present century, incl nod to regard Texas as rightfully a pait of the ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 5S7 Louisiana purchase, but this claim was waived when Florida was purchased. Early in the present century pioneers from the United States began to find their way to Texas which was then a wild country, in- habited only by roving Indians and the gar- risons of the few Spanish forts within its limits. One of these emigrants, Moses Austin, of Durham, Connecticut, conceived the plan of colonizing Texas with settlers from the United States. For this purpose he obtained from the Spanish government, in 1820, the grant of an extensive tract of land ; but before he could put his plans in execution he died. His son, Stephen F. Austin, inherited the rights of his father under this grant, and went to Texas with a number of emigrants from this country, and explored that region for the purpose of locating his grant. He selected as the most desirable site for his colony the country between the Brazos and Colorado rivers, and founded a city, which he named Austin, in honor of the originator of the colony, to whom Texas owes its existence as an American commonwealth. Having seen the settlers established in their new homes, Mr. Austin returned to the United States to collect other emigrants for his colony. During his absence Mexico and the other Spanish provinces rose in revolt against Spain, and succeeded in establishing their in- dependence. Te.xas, being regarded as a part of the Mexican territory, shared the fortunes of that country. Upon his return to Texas, Austin, in consideration of the altered state of affairs, went to the city of Mexico and obtained from the Mexican government a confirma- tion of the grant made to his father. Such a confirmation was necessary in order to enable him to give the settlers valid titles to the lands of his colony. Mexico at first exercised but a nominal authority over the new settlements, and the ct)Ionists were allowed to live under their own laws, subject to the rules drawn up by Austin. In order to encourage settlements in Texas, the Mexi- can Congress on the second of May, 182.:], enacted the following law, declaring, " That Texas is to be annexed to the Mexican prov ince of Cohahuila, until it is of sufficient importance to form a separate State, when it is to become an independent State of the Mexican republic, equal to the other States of which the same is composed, free, sover- PROFESSOK .\1UKSE. eign, and independent in whatever exclu- sively relates to its internal government and administration." Encouraged by this decree, large num bers of Americans emigrated to Texas, and to these were added emigrants from all llvj. countries of Europe. The population grew rapidly, new towns sprang up, and Austin's colony prospered in a marked degree, until 1830, when Bustamente having made himself by violence and intrigue president of the so-called Mexican republic, prohibited the 588 FROM THE rp:volution to the civil war. emigration of foreigners to the Mexican territory, and issued a number of decrees very oppressive to the people, and in viola- tion of the constitution of 1824. In order to enforce these measures in Texas, he occu- pied that province with his troops, and placed Texas under military rule. The Texans resented this interference with their rights, and finally compelled the Mexican troops to withdraw fr-.pi t!v> pro\inr.\ In iS:;-' "I- 1 ;p--r ^ A VILLAGE IN ThXAS. another revolution in Mexico drove Busta- mente from power, and placed Santa Anna at the head of affairs as president or dictator. Texas took no part in the disturbances of Mexico, but after the accession of Santa Anna to power, formed a constitution, and applied for admission into the Mexican republic as a State, in accordance with the constitution of 1S24, and the act of the Mexican Congress which we have quoted. Stephen F. Austin was sent to the city of Mexico to present the petition of Texas for this purpose. He was refused an answer to this petition for over a year, and at last wrote to the authorities of Te.xas, advising them to organize a State government without waiting for the action of the Mexican Con- 1 gress. For this recommendation, which the Mexi- r;\n ;j;overnment regarded as treasonable, Santa Anna caused the arrest : ^fc-^ ^ of Austin, and kept him in 1 prison for over a year. Texas now began to manifest the most determined opposition to the usurpation of Santa Anna, and measures were taken to maintain the rights of the province under the constitution of 1824. Troop.« were organized, and prepara tions made to resist the forct which it was certain Mexico would send against them. Santa Anna did not allow them to remain long in sus- pense, but at once despatched a force under General Cos, to disarm the Texans. On the second of October, I S3 5, Cos attacked the town of Gon- zalez, which was held by a Texan force, but was repulsed with heavy loss. A week later, on the ninth of October, the Texans captured the town of Goliad, and a little later gained possession of the mission house of the Alamo. Both places were garrisoned, and the Texan army, which was under the com- mand of Austin, in the course of a few months succeeded in driving the Mexicans out of Texas. On the twelfth of November, 1835, a con- vention of the people of Texas met at the rj^S^^^^SS^fe^-i ADMIXISTRATIOXS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 5S9 city of Austin, and organized a regular State go\-ernment. Prominent among the members was General Sam Houston, a settler from the United States. Soon after the meeting of the convention General Austin resigned the com- mand of the army, and was sent to the United States as the commissioner of that State to this government, and was succeeded as commander-in-chief by General Sam Houston. Henry Smith was elected gov- ernor of Texas by the people. Orders to Shoot Prisoners. As soon as Santa Anna learned that his troops had been driven out of Texas, and that the Texans had set up a State govern- ment, he set out for that country with an army of seventy-five hundred men. He issued orders to his troops to shoot ever}- prisoner taken, and intended to make the struggle a war of extermination. He arrived before the Alamo late in February, 1836. This fort was very strong, and was held by a force of one hundred and forty Texans under Colonel Travis. It was besieged by the whole Mexican army, and was subjected to a bombardment of eleven days. At last, on the sixth of March, the garrison being worn out with fatigue, the fort was carried by assault, and the whole garrison was put to the sword. Among the heroes who fell at the Texan ThermopylE was the eccentric but chivalrous Colonel Daxy Crockett of Tennessee, who had generously come to aid the Texans in their struggle for liberty. The capture of the Alamo cost the Mexicans a loss of sixteen hundred men, or over eleven men for every one of its defenders. On the 17th of March, 1S36, the conven- tion adopted a constitution for an independ- ent republic, and formally proclaimed the independence of Texas. David G. Burnett Aas elected president of the republic. The fort at Goliad was held by a force of three hundred and thirty Te.vans, under- Colonel Fanning, a native of Georgia. On the twenty-seventh of March it was attacked by the Mexican army. The garrison main- tained a gallant defence, but their resources being exhausted, and the Me.xicans being reinforced during the night, Fanning decided to surrender his force, if he could obtain honorable terms. He proposed to Santa SANTA ANNA. Anna to lay down his arms and surrender the post on condition that he and his men should be allowed and assisted to return to the United States. The proposition was accepted by Santa Anna, and the terms of the surrender were formally drawn up and were signed by each commander. As soon as the surrender was made, however, and the arms of the Texans were delivered, Santa 590 FROM Till- REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. • Anna, in base violation of his pledge, caused Fanning and the survivors of the garrison, to the number of three hundred men, to be put to death. The massacres of the Alamo and Goliad, and the steady advance of the Mexican army 'under Santa Anna caused a feeling of pro- found alarm throughout the new republic. The government was removed temporarily to Galveston, and General Houston retreated GENER.\L HOUSTON. behind the San Jacinto. Santa Anna pur- sued the Te.xan forces, and at length came up with them on the banks of that stream. Houston had but seven hundred and fifty men with him, and these were imperfectly armed and without discipline. With this force he surprised the Mexican camp, on the twenty-first of April, and routed the Mexican army, inflicting upon it a loss of over six hundred killed, and taking more than eight hundred prisoners. Santa Anna himself was among the prisoners. Houston at once entered into negotiations with him for the withdrawal of the Mexican forces from Texas. This was done at once, and the independence of Texas was achieved. Santa Anna also recognized the independ- ence of the new republic, but the Mexican Congress refused to confirm this act. Houston was now the idol of the Texan people as the deliverer of their country' from the hated Mexicans. At the next gen- eral election he was chosen President of the republic, and was inaugurated on the twenty-second of October, 1 836. General Mirabeau B. Lamar was the third Presi- dent of the republic of Texas, and entered upon his office in 1838. He was suc- ceeded in 1844 by Anson Jones, the fourth President. The territory of the republic was sufficiently large to make five States the size of New York, and its climate and soil were among the most delightful and fertile in the world. It contained a population of about two hundred thousand, and was increasing rapidly in inhabitants and in prosperity. On the third of March, 1837, the inde- pendence of the republic of Texas was acknowledged by the United States, and in 1839 by France and England. Being young and feeble, and being settled al- most entirely by Americans, the people of Texas at an early day came to the conclusion that their best interests required them to seek a union with the United States, and as early as August, 1837, a proposition was submitted to Mr. Van Buren looking to such a union. It was declined by him, but the question was taken up by the press and people of the Union, and was discussed with the greatest interest and activity. The south was unanimously in favor ofl the annexation of Texas, as it was a region In which slave laho"- would be particularly ADMINISTRATIONS OF HARRISON AND TYLER. 591 profitable ; and a strong party in the north opposed the annexation for the reason that it would inevitably extend the area of slaver>^ An additional argument against annexation was that it would involve a war with Mexico, which had never acknowledged the inde- pendence of Texas. In April, 1S44, Te.xas formally applied for admission into the United States, and a ing issues of the campaign. Its candidates were James K. Polk, of Tennessee, and George M. Dallas, of Pcnns} Kaiiia. The Whig parly supported Henry Clay, of Ken- tuck}-, and Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jerse>-, and opposed the annexation of Texas. During this campaign, which was one ot unusual excitement, the Anti-slavery part_\- treaty for that purpose was negotiated with her by the government of this country. It -was rejected by the Senate. In the fall of 1844 the Presidential election took place. The leading political question of the day was the annexation of Texas. It was advocated by the administration of President Tyler and by the Democratic party. This party also made the claim of the United States to Oregon one of the lead- made Its appearance for the first time as a distinct political organization, and nominated James G. Birney as its candidate for the Presidency. The result of the campaign was a decisive victory for the Democrats. This success was generally regarded as an emphatic expression of the popular will respecting the Texas and Oregon questions. Mr. Birney did not receive a single electoral FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 592 vote, and of the popular vote only sixty-four thousand six hundred and fift}'-three ballots were cast for him. When Congress met in December, 1S44, the efforts for the annexation of Texas were renewed. A proposition was made to receive Texas into the Union by a joint resolution of Congress. A bill for this purpose passed the House of Representatives, but the Senate added an amendment appointing commis- sioners to negotiate with Mexico for the annexation of Texas, which she still claimed as a part of her territory. The President was authorized by a clause in these resolu- tions to adopt either the House or the Senate plan of annexation, and on the second of March, 1845, the resolutions were adopted. Senator Benton, of Missouri, the author of the Senate plan, was of the opinion that the matter would be left to Mr. Polk, the Presi- dent-elect, to be conducted by him ; and that gentleman had expressed his intention to carry out the Senate plan, as he hoped an amicable arrangement could be made with Me.xico. Mr. Tyler, however, determined not to leave the annexation of Texas to his successor, and at once adopted the plan proposed in the House resolutions, and on the night of Sunday, March 3d, a messenger was despatched with all speed to Texas to lay the proposition before the authorities of that State. It was accepted by them, and on the fourth of July, 1845, Texas became one of the United States. The area thus added to the territorj' of the Union comprised two hundred and thirty-icven thousand five hundred and four square miles. It was provided by the act of admission that four additional States might be formed out of the territory of Texas, when the population should increase to an extent which should make such a step desir- able. Those States lying north of the Mis- souri Compromise line — 36° 30' north lati- tude — were to be free States ; those south of that line were to be free or slaveholding, " as the people of each State asking admission may desire." To Texas was reserved the right to refuse to allow the division of her territory. On the third of March, 1845, the President approved an act of Congress admitting the Territories of Iowa and Florida into the Union as States. No President has ever been more unpop- ular during his administration than Mr. Tyler. His administration speaks for itself however, and bears out the truth of his mem- orable words : " I appeal from the vituper- ation of the present day to the pen of impar- tial history, in the full confidence that neither my motives nor my acts will bear the inter- pretation which has, for sinister purposec, been placed upon them." CHAPTER XXXVII The Administration of James K. Polk — The War With Mexico. rhe Oregon Question — Position of President Polk respecting it — The Question Settled — Treaty for Settlement of Qainn against Mexico — Mexico Resents the Annexation of Texas — General Taylor Ordered to Texas— He Advances to tha Rio Grande — Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma — The War with Mexico Begun — Invasion of Mexico- Occupation of Matamoras — Action of the United States Government — Taylor Advances into the Interior — The Storm- ing and Capture of Monterey — The Armistice — Return of Santa Anna to Mexico — President Polk Duped — Sant» Anna Seizes the Mexican Government — General Wool Joins General Taylor — Troops Taken from Taylor's Army- Advance of the Mexicans — Battle of Buena Vista — Conquest of California by Fremont and Stockton — Occupation o» Santa Fe — New Mexico Conquered — Doniphan's March — Occupatio: of Chihuahua — Sailing of Scott's Expedition — Reduction of Vera Cruz — Santa Anna Collects a New Army— Batl j of Cerro Gordo — Occupation of Puebla by Scott — Trouble with Mr. Trist — Vigorous Measures of Santa Anna — Scott /.cvances upon the City of Mexico — E> Peiion Turned — Battles of Contreras and Churubusco — Capture of Moiino del Rey — Storming of Chapultepec— Capture of the City of Mexico— Siege of Puebla Raised— Flight of Santa Anna— Treaty of Peace Negotiated— Clos# of the War — Acquisition of California and New Mexico— Discover)' of Gold in California — Rapid Emigration to tha Pacific— Death of John Quincy Adams— The Wilmot Proviso — Revival of the Slavery Question— General Taylot Elected President. THE inauguration of James K. Polk, as President of the United States, took place on the fourth of March, 1845. He had served the country as governor of the State of Tennessee, and for fourteen years had been a member of the House of Representatives in Congress from that State, and had been several times chosen speaker of that body. His cabinet ■was selected from the first men of his party. James Buchanan was secretary of state ; Robert J. Walker was secretary' of the treas- ury; William L. Marcy, secretary of war, and George Bancroft, the historian, secretary of the navy. Two important questions presented them- selves to the new adininistration for settle- ment: the troubles with Mexico growing out of the annexation of Texas, and the arrange- ment of the northwestern boundary of the United States. The question of the northwestern bound- ary had been left unsettled by the treaty of 38 Washington in 1842. Great Britain was anxious to arrange the matter, and late in the year 1842 Mr. Fox, the British minister at Washington, proposed to Mr. Webster, then secretary of state, to open negotiations. The British proposition was accepted, but nothing further was done until February, 1844, when Sir Richard Packenham, the British minister at Washington, proposed to take up the question of the Oregon boundary and settle it. Mr. Upshur, the secretary of state, accepted the offer, but was killed a few days later by the explosion on board tne " Prince- ton." Six months later. Sir Richard Pack- enham renewed the proposal to Mr. Calhoun, who had become secretary of state, and nego- tiations were entered upon in earnest. The territory of Oregon lay between the forty-second and fifty-fourth parallels of north latitude, and extended from the Rocky moun- tains on the east to the Pacific ocean on the west This region was original!)- claimed by Spain, bv whose subjects it was first 593 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. S94 discovered. At the cession of Florida, Spain ceded to the United States all her territory- north of the forty-second parallel of north latitude, from the head waters of the Arkan- sas to the Pacific. Mexico, upon achieving her independence, had acknowledged by a treaty with the United States the validity of this boundary The line of fifty-four degrees forty minutes north latitude was established by treaty betAveen the United States, Great Britain and Russia as the southern boundary of the Russian possessions in America. JAMES K. POLK. The United States claimed the entire re- gion of Oregon in virtue of the cession of Spain in the Florida treaty ; the discoveries of Captain Gray of Boston, who circumnavi- gated the globe, and in 1792 discovered to a certain extent and explored the Columbia river ; the explorations of Lewis and Clarke in 1805 and 1806 of the southern main branch of the Columbia, and of the river itself from the mouth of that branch to the sea ; and the settlement of Astoria, planted at the mouth of the Columbia in 181 1 by John Jacob A''-'^'- of New York. Oregon was also claimed by England, who also rested her pretensions on discovery, and on the set- tlement made by the Northwest Company on Eraser's river in 1806, and on another near the head waters of the north branch of the Columbia. " All of Oregon, or None." In 18 18 the United States and Great Britain had agreed upon the forty-ninth degree of north latitude, as the boundary between the United States and British Amer- ica from the Lake of the Woods to the sum- mit of the Rocky mountains. Mr. Calhoun now opened the negotiations by proposing to continue this line to the Pacific. The British minister would not consent to this, but proposed to extend the forty-ninth paral- lel from the mountains to the north branch of the Columbia, and then to make the boun- dary follow that stream from this point of intersection to the sea. Mr. Calhoun at once declined to accept this boundary, and the further consideration of the subject was post- poned until Packenham could receive addi- tional instructions from his government. During the Presidential campaign of 1844 the Democratic party adopted as its watch- word, " all of Oregon or none," and the ex- citement upon the question ran high. The election of Mr. Polk showed that the Ameri- can people were resolved to insist upon their claim to Oregon, and when the new President in his inaugural address took the bold ground that the American title to " Oregon terri- tory " " was dear and indisputable," and declared his intention to maintain it at the cost of war with England, the matter assumed a serious aspect, and for a while it seemed that party passion would involve the two countries in hostilities. President Polk, upon a calmer consideration of the subject, caused the secretary of state to reopen the negotia- tions by proposing to Great Britain the forty ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK 595 tfinth parallel of latitude as a boundary. The British minister declined the proposition, and the matter was dropped. According to the treaties of iSi8 and 1S28, the joint occupation of Oregon could be terminated by either party by giving the other twelve months' notice. The President now proposed to give the required notice, which was done b\- a resolution of Congress. British ministry- decided at length to reopen negotiations, and Sir Richard Packenham shortly after communicated to Mr. Buchanan the willingness of his government to accept the forty-ninth parallel as a boundary. The time at which thejoint occupation would terminate was rapidly drawing to a close, and the President was anxious to settle the mat- trr. hut at the same time was not willing to A BASIN ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER, OREGON — AND MOUN TAIN-riCAK. E DISTANCE. This put an end to the old arrangement, and compelled the two countries to make a new settlement of the difficulty ; and this was the object of the President in terminating the joint occupation. The subject was brought to the notice of the British Parliament by Sir Robert Peel who expressed his regret that the last offer of the United States had been declined. The assume the responsibility of accepting a boundary which fell so far short of the popular expectations. At the suggestion of Senator Benton, of Missouri, he r.sked the advice of the Senate as to the propriety of accepting the British offer, and pledged him- self to be guided by its decision. The Senate advised liim to accept it, andwlien the treaty was sent to it. ratified it after a warm debate 596 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. Thus the matter extending over two days, was brought to a close. By the treaty, which was concluded in 1S46, the forty-ninth parallel of north lati- tude was made the boundary between the United States and the British possessions, from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the middle of ihe channel between Van- couver's Island and the mainland, and thence southerly through the middle of the Straits of San Juan de Fuca to the Pacific. The navigation of tlie Columbia river and its main northern branch was made free to both parties. Trouble with Mexico. In tl-,e meantime the Mexican difficulty had been found much harder of settlement. Mexico had never acknowledged the inde- pendence of Texas, and since the defeat at San Jacinto had repeatedly threatened to restore her authority over the Texans by force of arms. She warmly resented the annexa- tion of Texas by the United States, and a few days after that event was completed, General Almonte, the Mexican minister at Washing- ton, entered a formal protest against the course of the United States, demanded his passports and left the country. Some years before this a number of American ships trading with Mexican ports had been seized and plundered by the Mex- ican authorities, who also confiscated the property of a number of American residents in that country. The sufferers by these outrages appealed for redress to the govern- ment of the United States, which had repeat- edly tried to negotiate with Mexico for the collection of these claims, which amounted to six millions of dollars. Mexico made several promises of settlement, but failed to comply with them. In 1840. however, a new treaty was made between that country and the United States, and Mexico pledged her- self to pay the American claims in twenty- annual instalments of three hundred thousand dollars each. Three of these instalments had been paid at the time of the annexatiori of Texas ; but Mexico now refused to make any further payment. Troops Sent to Texas. Mexico claimed that the limits of Texas properly ended at the Neuces river, while the Texans insisted that their boundary was the Rio Grande. Thus the region between these two rivers became a debatable land, claimed by both parties, and a source of great and immediate danger. It was evident that Mexico was about to occupy this region with her troops, and the legislature of Texas, alarmed by the threatening attitude of that country, called upon the United States gov- ernment to protect its territory. The Presi- dent at once SL-nt General Zachary Taylor with a force of fifteen hundred regular troops, called the " army of occupation," to " take position in the country between the Neuces and the Rio Grande, and to repel any inva- sion of the Texan territory." General Taylor accordingly took position at Corpus Christi, at the mouth of the Neuces, in September, 1845, and remained there until the spring of 1S46. At the same time a squadron of war vessels under Com- modore Conner was despatched to the Gulf to cooperate with General Taylor. Both of the.se officers " were ordered to commit no act of hostility against Mexico unless she declared war, or was herself the aggressor by striking the first blow." At the commencement of the dispute betwee.i the two countries, Herrera was President of Mexico. Although diplomatic communications had ceased between the United States and Mexico, he was anxious to settle the quarrel by negotiation, but at the Presidential election held about this time ADMINISTRATION Herrera was ' to the American infantry which now hurried forward to secure it, the dragoons charged the Mexican centre and broke it. The whole American line then advanced rapidly ; the Mexicans gave way, and were soon flying in utter confusion towards the Rio Grande, which they crossed in such haste that many of them were drowned in the attempt to reach the Mexican chore. CH.\RGE OP THE DRAGOONS. Ridgely suggested that May should halt and allow him to draw the Mexican fire. Ridgely opened a rapid fire on the Mexican guns, ■which answered immediately. At the same moment May dashed at the Mexican battery with his dragoons, and reached it before the cannoneers could reload their pieces. They were sabred at their guns, and the battery was carried. Captain May himself made a prisoner of General La Vega, as the latter v.-as in the act of discharging one of the General Arista, the Mexican commander, fled alone from the field, leaving all his pri- vate and official papers behind him. The Americans lost one hundred and twent}--two men killed and wounded ; the Mexicans twelve hundred. All the Mexican artiUer}-, two thousand stand of arms, and six hundred mules were captured by the Americans. General Taylor advanced from the battle- field to Fort Brown, the garrison of which had heard the distant roar of the battle, and ^ •/%^*.X- •^iliri:^^ ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK ht of the Mexicans across 60 1 had seen the fl the Rio Grande. The defeat of the Mexicans at Palo Alto and Resaca do la Palma had greatly disheart- ened them. They not only abandoned their intention to invade Texas, but gave up all hope of holding the Rio Grande frontier. On the night of the seventeenth of May their army evacuated Matamoras, and retreated upon Monterey. On the eighteenth the American army crossed the Rio Grande, and occupied Matamoras. General Taylor scrupulously respected the municipal laws of the town, and protected the citizens in the exercise of their civil and religious privileges. All supplies needed by the troop'} were purchased at a liberal price, and no plundering or disorder was allowed or attempted. In the meantime the news of the attack upon the dragoons under Captain Thorn- ton had reached the United States, and with it the rumor that the American army was confronted on the Texan side of the Rio Grande by a vastly superior force of Mexicans, and that its destruc- tion was almost certain. The President sent a special message to Congress on the eleventh of May, in which he informed that body that " war existed by the act of Mexico," and called upon Congress to recognize the state of war, and to provide for its support by appropriating the necessary funds, and to authorize him to call for vol- unteers. Under the impression that the perilous ^ituation of Taylor's army made instant action necessary, Congress appropriated ten millions of dollars for the prosecution of the war, and authorized the President to accept the services of fiftj thousand volunteers. On«:-halfof this force was to be mustered into the service ; the remainder held as a re- serve. The President's call was responded to with enthusiasm all o\'cr the land, and in the course of a few weeks two hundred thousand volunteers offered their services. General Wool was ordered to muster the volunteers accepted by the President into the service. Preparations were made b\' the American government to prosecute the war with vigor At the suggestion of General Scott a com- prehensive plan of operations was adopted. Two separate expeditions were to be organ- ized. One, called the " Army of the West," was to assemble at Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri, to cross the plains and the Rocky mountains, and to invade and con- quer the northern provinces of Me.xico. A powerful fleet was to be sent around Cape Horn to attack the Mexican ports on the Pacific and cooperate with the Army of the West. A second force, called the " Army of the Centre," was to advance from Texas to the city of Mexico, and, if it was tliought best, was to cooperate with the " Arm)' of 6o2 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. On the ninth of September the American forces encamped within three miles of I'.Ion- terey. Monterey is an old Spanish city, nearly three hundred years old. It lies in a beauti- ful valley, and is about two miles in length, by one mile in breadth. The mountains approach close to it, and protect it on all sides but two. On one of these sides it is approached from the northeast by the road from Matamoras, and on the other by a rocky gorge through which runs the road connect- ing the cit>' with Saltillo. The city has three large plazas or public squares, and is built like the towns of old Spain, with narrow- streets, and houses of stone one story in height, with strong walls of masonry rising- about three feet above the fiat roofs. The city itself is enclosed with strong walls, in- tended for artillery. Occupation " under General Taylor. As we shall see, the plan was afterwards modified, and the advance upon the Mexican capital was made from Vera Cruz on the Gulf of Mexico. Towards the last of May the news of the brilliant victories on the Rio Grande was re- ceived at Washington, and was hailed with rejoicings throughout the Union. On the thirtieth of May Congress conferred upon General Taylor the rank of major-general by )revet as a reward for his victories. On the twenty-third of May the Mexican Congress formally declared war against the ''Jnited States, and the call of the Mexican government for volunteers for the defence of that country was responded to with enthu- siasm. Thanks to the energ)' of General Wool, twelve thousand volunteers were mustered into the service of the United States in six weeks. Nine thousand of these were sent forward rapidly to reinforce General Taylor, and with the remainder Wool marched to San Antonio, in Texas, to await further orders, and be ready for action. Strong Intrenchments. General Taylor had been delayed at Mata- moras for three months by the weakness of his force; but, as soon as reinforcements reached him, he prepared to advance into the interior. His first movement was directed against the city of Monterey, the capital of the State of New Leon, where the Mexicans had collected an army. His army numbered about nine thousand men of all arms, and of these a little over twenty-three hundred men were detached for garrisons, leaving an active force of six thousand six hundred and seventy men. On the twentieth of August General Worth's division marched from Matamoras, and a fortnight later General Taylor set out from the Rio Grande with the main army. Battle of Monterey. Every means of defence had been ex- hausted by the Mexicans. Forty-two heavy cannon were mounted on the city walls, the streets were barricaded, and the flat roofs and stone walls of the houses were arranged for infantry. Each house was a separate for- tress. A strongly fortified building of heavy stone, called the Bishop's palace, stood on the side of a hill without the city walls, and on the opposite side of the city were redoubts held by infantry and artillery. The com- mand of Monterey and its defences was held by General Ampudia, and the garrison con- sisted often thousand veteran troops. Ten days were passed by the American army in reconnoitering the town, its peculiar situation rendering such movements very difficult. On the afternoon of the twentieth of September General Worth was ordered to turn the hill on which stood the Bishop's palace, gain the Saltillo road, and carry the works in that direction. This movement was ADMINISTRATION successfully accomplished ; but in order to gain the desired position Worth was obliged to cut a new road across the mountain. His troops bivouacked for the night just out of range of the enemy's guns. During the night the Americans built a batter}' to com- mand the Mexican citadel. On the morning of the twenty-first of Sep- tember the American artillery opened fire on Monterey, and the infantr\- adx anccd t.. (-arry OF JAMES K. POLK. 605 During the night of the twenty-first the Mexicans evacuated the lower part of the cit>', but kept their hold upon the citadel and the upper town, from which they maintained a vigorous fire upon the American positions. At daybreak, on the twent>--second, Worth's division, advancing in the midst of a fog and rain, carried the crest commanding the Bishop's palace, and by noon had captured the palace itself The guns of the captured' the Mexican works. The brigade of General Quitman carried a strong work in the lower part of the town, and at the same time General Butler, with a part of his division, forced his way into the town on the right. While these operations were in progress General Worth's division seized the Saltillo road, and secured the enemy's line of retreat. Several fortified positions along the heights I were also carried, and their guns turned upon the Bishop's palace Tl \ \r MONTERE\ works were now directed upon the enemy in the city below. The enemy had fortified the city so thor- oughly that the Americans were not only forced to carry the various barricades in suc- cession, but were compelled to break through the walls of the fortified houses, and advance from house to house in this way. One or two field pieces were drawn up to the flat roofs, and the Mexicans were driven from point to point during the twenty-second and- 6o4 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. twenty-third, until they were confined to the citadel and plaza. On the night of the twenty-third General Ampudia opened nego- tiations, and on the morning of the twenty- fourth surrendered the town and garrison to General Taylor. The Mexican soldiers were allowed to march out with the honors of war. General Taylor was induced to grant tliis concession by his generous desire to spare the people of the cit\- the sufferin^'^ days' rations — Taylor agreed to a cessation of hostilities for eight weeks, subject to the consent of his government. The Mexican army withdrew from Monterey, and an American garrison, under General Worth, as governor, occupied the citj-. The main body of Taylor's army then went into camp at Walnut Springs, three miles distant from Monterey. The Americans lost four hundred and ei'::ht\--ci'::ht men, Irillcd and wounded. I I LIEUTEN.WT GRANT GOING FOR AMMUNITION .VT MONTEREY. which would have been caused by a pro- longed defence. The Mexican commander represented to General Taylor that the ;\Iexican government was sincerely anxious for peace, and that it would respond favorably to any fair propo- sitions upon this subject that might be laid before it. In order to afford an opportunity for such an arrangement of the war, and influ- enced by the scarcity of provisions — the American army having at the time but ten in the storming of Monterey. The Mexican loss was much greater. General Grant, then an unknown younglieu- tenant, was in the battle of Monterey, and distinguished himself on account of "gallant and meritorious services." Several times during the battle he demonstrated his supe- rior judgment and courage, not more in the fierce charge than in volunteering to make a dangerous ride under fire, in search of ammu-j nition. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK. 605 In the meantime the government of the United States had been led into a terrible blunder b\- its desire to bring the war to a speedy close. Santa Anna, who had been driven out of Mexico by one of the numerous revolutions in that country, was living in exile at Havana. He declared that if he were allowed to return to Mexico he would use his influence in favor of peace, and would secure a treaty for the accomplishment of that end. He was sure he could carry out this scheme, and only needed to be sustained by the United States government with the sum of three or four millions of dollars to enable him to get control of the Mexican govern- ment. President Polk was completely duped by the " illustrious exile," and not only urged Congress to appropriate the sum of two millions of dollars to assist Santa Anna, but issued an order to Commodore Conner, com- manding the American fleet in the Gulf, to permit Santa Anna to pass through his lines and return to Mexico. Santa Anna at once availed himself of this order, and landing at Vera Cruz hastened into the interior. Manifesto by Santa Anna. Once in Mexico, Santa Anna thought no more of his promises to President Polk. He set to work to gain possession of the gov- ernment, but not with a view to making peace. He issued a manifesto, in which he called on his countrymen to rally under his banner for the defence of their homes and country. He assured them of his undying hatred of the " perfidious Yankees," pointed to the reverses of the government of Paredes, and declared that he alone could save the country. His appeals were successful. The Mexican people rose at his call, deposed Paredes, and elected Santa Anna President. The repeated defeats of their armies were forgotten in the new enthusiasm which Santa Anna's presence and proclamations aroused, and in the course of a few months that leader found himself at the head of a well-equipped army of twenty thousand men, which Mas being steadily increased by the arrival of fresh recruits. Justice to the Enemy. In the meantime General Wool, with a reinforcement of three thousand troops, had marched from San Antonio to join General Taylor. He had reached Monclova, about seventy miles from Monterey, when he heard of the capture of the latter place by Taylor. His route had lain across an uninhabited and desert region, in which the troops suf- fered greatly for want of water. He was directed by General Taylor to take position in a fertile district in the province of Durango, where he could obtain supplies for his own command as well as for the army at Monterey. General Wool concili- ated the people of the region occupied by him by protecting them in their liberties and property, and paying fair prices for all the supplies furnished by them. The Mexicans v.-ere far better treated by the conquering army than they had been hy their own rulers. In accordance with orders received from Washington General Taylor put an end to the armistice on the thirteenth of November. On the fifteenth General Worth, with seven hundred men, occupied Saltillo, the capital of the State of Coahuila. Leaving a garrison in Monterey, under General Butler, Taylor moved towards the coast to attack Tampico. Upon reaching Victoria, the capital of the State of Tamaulipas, he learned that Tampico had surrendered to the United States squad- ron, under Commodore Conner, on the four- teenth of November. Victoria was occupied on the twenty-ninth of December. The troops under General Wool were now ordered to join General Worth at Saltillo, 6o6 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. and General Taylor prepared to resume his forward movement into the heart of Mexico. At this juncture his offensive operations were suddenly brought to a close. Massing the Forces. The plan of the invasion adopted by the government of tlit United States had been so far modified that the " Army of the Centre," under General Win field Scott, was ordered to capture Vera Cruz, the principal Mexican port on the Gulf, and advance upon the cit}' of Mexico from that point. Troops in suffi- cient numbers could not be drawn from the United States, and General Scott, as com- mander-in-chief, decided to draw the desired number of men from Taylor's army. The order for the withdrawal of these troops reached General Taylor just as he was aboutto resume active operations. Taylor was keenly dis- appointed at being thus condemned to inactivity, but like the true soldier that he was, at once obeyed the orders sent him. Generals Worth and Quitman, with their divisions, and the greater portion of the volunteers who had come out with General Wool, were at once despatched to the Gulf coast to join the expedition against Vera Cruz. The withdrawal of these troops left General Taylor with a very small force. During the month of January and the early part of February, 1847, reinforcements from the United States increased his army to about six thousand men. A portion of these was placed in garrison at Monterey and Sal- tillo, leaving General Taylor about forty- seven hundred effective troops, of whom but six hundred were regulars. Early in January, 1847, General Scott sent Lieutenant Richey with an escort of cavalry to convey a despatch to General Taylor. Lieutenant Richey was killed by the Mex- icans on the way, and his despatches were forwarded to Santa Anna, who learned from them the American plan for the invasion of Mexico. He at once resolved upon his own course. Relying upon the strength of Vera Cruz to hold Scott's army in check, he de- termined to attack General Taylor at once, and crush him. By the most energetic and despotic measures he silenced the opposition which prevailed in the city of Mexico, and obtained both men and money for his attempt. On the twenty-sixth of January he began his march upon Saltillo with twenty-three thou- sand well-armed and equipped men, and twenty pieces of artillery. Rapid Marches. The Mexican army had reached San Louis Potosi, about sixty miles south of Saltillo, when General Wool, commanding at the latter place, learned of their approach. He at once notified General Ta)'lor, who ad- vanced with his whole effective force from Monterey to Saltillo. As the enemy con- tinued to approach, Taylor left his stores at Saltillo, and moved rapidly to Agua Nueva, eighteen miles beyond Saltillo, on the road to San Louis Potosi. His design was to secure the southern end of the pass through the Sierra Nevada. With this pass in possession ofthe Americans the Mexican army would be com- pelled to fight at once, as the country in their rear was incapable of supplying them with provisions. The reports of the reconnoitering parties made it evident that the Mexican force was vastly superior to that of the Americans, and General Taylor also learned that a strong body of Mexican cavalry, under General Minon, was some distance to the left of his position, which could be turned. A daring reconnoissance was made by Major M'Culloch, of the Texan Rangers. He entered the Mexican camp, passed through' it, and obtained accurate information of their numbers, and regained his own lines in safety. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES Upon receipt of M'Culloch's intelligence, and the report of the effort of the Mexican cavalry to turn his left, General Taylor fell ■back from Agua Nueva to a new position, eleven miles higher up the valley on the twenty-first of February. The withdrawal of the American army ,vas made in good time. Santa Anna had sent Minon with the cavalry to gain the rear of Taylor's army, and at the same time en- deavored, by a forced march of fifty miles, to surprise General Taj-lor ^ ■ at Agua Nueva. Upon ar- i riving in front of that place he found to his astonish- ment and disappointment that Ta}-lor had abandoned 1 his position. Interpretmg | ^ ' , this movement as a flight the Mexican commandci pushed on in pursuit of his adversarj% and came up I ^X with him on the morning u^^ of the twenty-second ( f ,1^^^ February. - "^ The position chosen b\ ^ ^ ~ General Taylor was at the north end of the \alk\ known as Las Angostura or the Narrows, and neir the hacienda or plantation known as Buena Vista, from which latter place the battle took its name. It was one of great strength. Its flanks were protected by the mountains which arose abruptly from the defile, and the ground in front was broken by numerous ravines and gullies. The American forces were disposed so as to secure every advantage afTorded by the nature of the ground and the road through the pass — the key to the whole position — was swept by the fire of the artillery. The troops were in high spirits. It was Washington's birthday, and this incident was K. POLK 60 ; generally commented upon as a good omen. About n6bn a Mexican officer brought a note to General Taylor, in which Santa Anna demanded the surrender of the Ameri- can army. This demand was refused, and skirmishing at once began. During the afternoon Santa Anna sent a force under General Ampudia to ascend the mountains and turn the American left. This brought on severe skirmishing in this quarter, but nothing definite was accomplished during ru '-pi. MEMLAN C^RI I the afternoon. Late in the afternoon the Me.xican cavalry under General Minon, which had passed the mountains, appeared in the plains north of Saltillo. Minon was ordered to halt in the position he had gained and await the result of the battle of the next day at Buena Vista. His appearance caused great an.xiety to General Taylor, who hastened to Saltillo with reinforcements after nightfall, as he feared Minon would seek to capture that place. 6o8 FROM TH During the night of the twenty-second Santa Anna reinforced the column under Ampudia, and opened the battle at daybreak on the twenty-third of February, by endeav- oring to turn the American left. A little later he opened fire from his artillery, and moved forward three powerful columns of attack against the American centre. The movement of the column of Ampudia was successful, the left of the American line was completely turned, but the attack upon tiie centre was repulsed by the splendid fire of the American batteries. RI':VOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR twenty A Blast of Deadly Fire. At this moment General Taylor rrived upon the field from Saltillo, bringing with him May's dragoons, several companies of Mississippi riflemen, and a portion of the Arkansas cavalry, embracing every man that could be spared from Saltillo. He had come at a critical moment, for the turning of his left flank by Ampudia had neutralized the natural advantage of the position. Many of the troops were in full retreat upon Buena Vista, and nothing but the courage and con- stancy of those who yet remained firm could save the day. By great exertions Colonel Jefferson Davis rallied the greater part of his own regiment — the Mississippi rifles — and a part of the Second Indiana, and by a rapid advance drove back a strong Mexican col- umn in his front. He had scarcely accom- plished this when he was assailed by a body of one thousand s^jlendid Mexican lancers. Davis quickly formed his own men and the Second and Third Indiana in the shape of the letter V, with the opening towards the enemy, and posted Sherman's battery on his left. The line thus formed awaited in silence the approach of the Mexican cavalry, which came on at a gallop. As they drew near the opening of this terrible V the Mexicans, who had expected the Americans to fire, when they intended to dash in upon them before the men could reload, were astonished at the silence with which they were received, and slackened their pace until they came to a walk within eighty yards of the opening of the angle. In an instant Davis gave the command, and his men took deliberate aim. Then a volley flashed from the rifles and swept away the head of the Mexican column. The next moment Sherman's guns opened upon the cavalry with grape and canister. Under this combined fire horses and lancers fell in great numbers, forming a barricade over which the enemy could not pass, and the Mexicans, seized with a panic, wheeled about and fled in confusion. While this attack was in progress the Mexicans sent a body of cavalry under Tor- rejon to seize the plantation of Buena Vista. Torrejon made his attack with vigor, but was driven back by the Kentucky and Ar- kansas volunteers, assisted by Colonel May's dragoons. Colonel Yell, of the Arkansas regiment, was killed and Torrejon was wounded in this part of the engagement. Splendid Valor of the Americans. During all this while a steady cannonade had been in progress along the centre of the American line. The Me.xicans endeavored tp silence the American batteries, but with- out success. Santa Anna now sent a strong force to pass around the American left and gain the rear of Taylor's line, and this force was joined by a part of Torrejon's command, which was retreating from Buena Vista. The movement was detected by Colonel May, who met it with his cavalry and several companies of Illinois and Indiana volunteers. General Taylor sent to his assistance all the cavalry he could spr c and Bragg's battery. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK. 609 The retreat of the Mexicans, who had j the panic which had set in among them. It passed beyond the American left, was cut seemed that the wliole Mexican column. KATTLE OF IJLtNA VISTA. off, and they were driven in confusion to the I numbering five thousand men, must sur- base of the mountain, while Bragg's guns | render or be exterminated. In this emcr- showered canister upon them and increased gency the Mexican commander raised the 6io FROM Till': R1-:V0LUTI0N TO THE CIVIL WAR. white flag and asked for a parley, professing to have a message from Santa Anna to General Taylor, and the American guns ceased firing. Before the trick was dis- covered the Mexican right escaped under the cover of the flag of truce by passing along the base of the mountain to a point from whicli they rejoined their main army. Bragg's Flying Artillery. Santa Anna now brought up his reserves, and late in the afternoon made a determined attack upon the American right, which had been greatly weakened to assist the troops engaged in repelling the attack on the left. The Mexican column, twelve thousand strong, easily drove back the few scattered volunteers that disputed their advance, and captured O'Brien's battery, which was with- out infantry support, but not until every man had been killed or wounded. Washington's guns now opened upon the enemy, and suc- ceeded in holding their cavalrj' in check for a moment. The Mexican infantry pushed on, firing as they advanced, and it was evident that the crisis of the battle was at hand. The battle had been going on for eight hours, and the American troops were greatly exhausted by the unusual exertions they had been subjected to ; while the Mexican col- umn, consisting mainly of their reserves, was fresh, and four times as strong as the whole American army. Keenly alive to his dan- ger, Taylor exerted himself in every possible way to bring up his scattered regiments in time to save the position. The flying artil- lery of Captain Bragg was the first to reach the field. There was not an infantry soldier near to support him, and the salvation of the army depended upon Bragg's efforts. He unlimbcrcd his guns within a few yards of the rapidly advancing Mexicans, and poured in discharge after discharge with a rapidity which seemed wonderful. The Mexican advance was checked, and Sherman now came up and opened fire from his guns upon them. Washington's battery a little later joined in the fire. The Mississippi and In- diana volunteers now reached the field, and made a spirited attack upon the enemy's right flank. Under this terrible fire the Mexicans wavered for a few moments, and then broke in confusion and fled from the field. The Mexicans made no fiirther attack dur- ing the day, and that night Santa Anna, abandoning his wounded, and leaving his dead unburied, retreated rapidly towards Agua Nueva. The American loss in the battle of Buena Vista was two hundred and sixty-seven killed and four hundred and fifty- six wounded. That of the Mexicans was over two thousand killed and wounded, in- cluding many officers of high rank. Taylor followed the Mexican army on the twenty- fourth, as far as Agua Nueva, and collecting their wounded, removed them to Saltillo, where they were attended by the American surgeons. Honors to General Taylor. The victorj- of Buena Vista was decisive of the war. It saved the valley of the Rio Grande from invasion by a victorious Mexi- can army, and enabled the expedition of General Scott against Vera Cruz to proceed without delay to the accomplishment of its objects. It also greatly disheartened the Mexican people, and during the remainder of the year Taylor's army had nothing to do but to hold the country it occupied. General- Taylor remained at Agua Nueva until he was satisfied that no further trouble was to be apprehended from the Mexican army, and then returned by easy stages to his camp at Walnut Springs, near Monterey, which he reached by the last of March. In ADMINISTRATION OP' JAMES K. POLK. 6ii the summer of 1847, leaving General Wool in command of the army, General Taylor returned to the United States, where he \vas received with distinguished honor. While these events were going on in Mexico Captain John C. Fremont, of the United States army, had been engaged in prosecuting the discoveries in the Rocky mountain region, which he had begun in that Territor\-, and to conciliate the good- will of the inhabitants toward the United States. Fremont had but sixty men with him, but he at once moved into the valley of the Sacramento. The Mexican inhabitants were seriously considering at this time whether they should massacre the American settlers, or whether, i in the event of a war between Mexico and 1843, in which year he had exolored theval- ] ley known as the Great Basin, the region of ! the Great Salt Lake, and the valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, on the Pacific coast. In May, 1845, Fremont set out on his | third expedition, and passed the winter in the j valley of the San Joaquin, then Mexican tcrri- I tory. In Ma}-, 1846, he received orders from Washington to move into Calif.irnia and counteract any foreign scheme for securing ! the United States, they should place Cali- fornia under the protection of Great Britain, Fremont was informed of these plots, and, though no war existed as yet between the two republics, he also learned that the Mex- ican General De Castro was advancing to drive him out of California. The American settlers flocked to Fremont's camp, with their arms and horses, and he soon found himself at the head of a considerable force. FRO.M THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVH. WAR. 6l3 He was thus enabled to repulse De Castro's attack, and, after a k\v conflicts, to drive him from Upper California. By July, 1846, the Mexican authority was entirely overthrown in upper California, and the flag of independ- ence was raised by the settlers. Pursued by a British Squadron. The American squadron in the Pacific was commanded by Commodore Sloat, who was ordered by the secretary of the navy to seize the port of San Francisco as soon as he was reliably informed of the existence of war between the two countries, and to occupy or blockade such other Mexican ports as his force would permit. In the early summer of 1S46 the American squadron was lying at Mazatlan. A British squadron under Admiral Seymour also lay in the harbor, and the American commodore became convinced that the British admiral was watching him for the purpose of interfering with his designs upon California. He therefore resolved to get rid of him^ and put to sea and sailed to the westward, as if making for the Sandwich islands. The British fleet followed him promptly, but in the night the commodore tacked and sailed up the coast to Monterey, while the British continued their course to the islands. Sloat was coldly received at Monterey by the authorities. Hearing of the action of Fre- mont and the American settlers, the com- modore a few days later took possession of the town, and sent a courier to Fremont, who at once joined him with his mounted men. California was now taken possession f in the name of the United States. About the middle of July Commodore Stockton arrived in the harbor, and suc- ceeded Commodore Sloat, who returned home, in the command of the squadron. The next day Admiral Seymour arrived at Monterey. He saw he was too late, and quietly submitted to what he could not pre^ vent, though he was greatly astonished to find the town in possession of the American forces. On the seventeenth of August Fre- mont and Stockton occupied Los Angeles, the capital of Upper California. In June, 1846, General Kearney, with tite " Army of the West," numbering eighteen, hundred men, marched from Fort Leaven- worth, on the iMissouri. across the plains to Santa Fe, the capital of the Mexican prov- ince of New Mexico. After a march of nearly one thousand miles, he occupied Santa Fe on the eighteenth of August. Leaving a garrison at Santa Fe, Kearney pushed on towards California, intending to conquer that province also ; but upon reach- ing the Gila river, he was met by the famous hunter. Kit Carson, who informed him of the conquest of California by Fremont and Stockton. Kearney thereupon sent two companies of dragoons under Major Sumner back to Santa Fe, and with the remainder continued his march to the Pacific coast. Revolt in New Mexico. Upon leaving Santa Fe, Kearney had instructed Colonel Doniphan to invade the countrj' of the Navajoe Indians and compel them to make peace with the Americans. Doniphan set out in November, 1S46, and crossing the mountains, succeeded in mak- ing a treat}^ with the Navajoes, by which they agreed to refrain from hostilities against the people of New Mexico. He then marched to the southeast to meet General Wool at Chihuahua. The inhabitants of New Mexico, encouraged by the absence of Doniphan v.'ith so large a force, rose in revolt against the American forces, and murdered the American governor of the territor>' and several other ofiicials on the fourteenth of January, 1S47. Colonel Sterling Price, commanding the troops at ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. TOI.K. 613 Santa Fe, at once marched against the insur- gents, defeated thLm in two engagements, though they greatly outnumbered his force, and suppressed the rebellion. The insur- gents obtained peace only by surrendering their leaders, several of whom were hanged by the Americans. Colonel Doniphan, in the meantime, had continued his march. His route lay through a barren region destitute of water or grass, the twenty-eighth he occupied El Paso, and i there waited until his artillery could join him from Santa Fe. It arrived in the course of a j month, and on the eighth of Febrairy he resumed his march to Chihuahua. On the twenty-eighth he encounlerrd and defeated a Mexican force of over f fteeu hun- dred men with ten pieces of artillery, at -ipass of the Sacramento river, a tributar/ ofth'* Xlio ; Grande. The Mexicans l\-t o\- rthreeh-n- THE GREAT C \NI) LUWEK FALLS, YELLOWSTONE. called the Jornado del Muerto — "The Jour- ney of Death." He pressed forward with firmness through this terrible region, his men and animals suffering greatly on the march, and in the latter part of December entered the valley of the Rio Grande. With a force of eight hundred and fifty-six men he defeated over twelve hundred Mexicans at Brazito, on the twenty-sixth of December, 1846, and inflicted upon them a loss of nearly two hun- dred men, losing only seven men himself On dred killed and a number wounded. Tnc Americans lost two killed and several wounded. The Mexicans were completely routed, and left their artillery and all their train in the hands of the Americans. On the first of March, 1847, Doniphan entered Chihuahua, and raising the American flag on the citadel, took possession of the province in the name of the United States. Chihuahua w-as one of the largest cities in Mexico, and contained nearly thirty thousand FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 614 inhabitants. Doniphan's force was less than one tliousnnd men. He had expected to find General Wool here, and failing to meet him was in utter ignorance of the posi- tions of the American forces. His own position, in the midst of a hostile population, was perilous indeed, but by his firm and just measures he conciliated the inhabitants. He remained at Chihuahua for six weeks, vainly expecting the arrival of General Wool, and on the twenty-seventh of April e\acuated that place, and set out for Saltillo, three hundred and fifty miles distant. He reached that place on the twenty-second of May. Remaining there but three days, he continued his march to Monterey, from which he pro- ceeded to Matamoras. The enlistments of his men being over, they were transported to New Orleans, and there mustered out of the service. Thus ended the most remarkable e.xpedi- tirn on record. In less than one year a corps of volunteers, unused to the hardships of war, had marched over snow-covered mountains and across burning deserts, a dis- tance of over five thousand miles, over three thousand of which lay through an unknown and hostile country, abounding in enemies who might have crushed them at any ■ moment had they rallied in sufficient force. In the meantime there had been new troubles in California. In August, 1847, Commodore Stockton appointed Captain Fremont military commandant of California, and soon after sailed from San Francisco to Monterey, from which place he con- tinued his voyage to San Diego. Soon after the de- parture of the fleet Fremont learned of a conspiracy to overthrow his government. By a forced march of one hundred and fifty miles he surprised and captured the insurgent leader, Don J. Pico. A court-martial sen- tenced him to death, but Fremont wisely spared his life, and Pico, in gratitude for this clemency, gave him his powerful aid in his efforts to tranquilize the country. General Kearney had con- tinued his march from New Mexico, encount- ering great difficulties along the route, and suf- fering considerably from the repeated attacks of superior parties of the enemy. In Decem- ber, 1847, he reached San Pasqual, where he was obliged to halt. His situation was des- perate indeed; his provisions were exhausted; his horses had died on the march ; his mules were disabled ; a large number of his men were sick ; and his camp was surrounded by the enemy, who held every road by which he could escape. In this situation three ii:!;!' ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK. 615 men — Kit Carson, Lieutenant Beales of the na\y, and an Indian, whose name is unfor- tunately unknown — volunteered to make their way through the enemy's lines to San Diego, thirty miles distant, and inform Com- modore Stockton of Kearney's need of assistance. They succeeded in reaching San Diego, and the commodore promptly sent reinforcements to Kearney, which ena- bled him to drive off the enemy and reach San Die^o in safety. General Scott's Expedition. Commodore Stockton now directed his a.tention to suppressing the insurrection of the Mexican inhabitants of California, who had gotten possession of Los Angeles. Driven to extremities, they surrendered the town on the condition that the Americans should respect the rights and property of the citizens. Commodore Stockton having been re- lieved of his civil functions by orders from Washington, General Kearney claimed the governorship of the territory by virtue of his rank. Fremont refused to recognize his authority', and was brought to trial before a court-martial, which found him guilty of disobedience of orders and mutiny, and sen- tenced him to be dismissed from the service. The sentence was remitted by the President on account of Fremont's meritorious and valuable services, but Fremont refused to accept the clemency of the President and thus admit the justice of the sentence of the court, and resigned his commission. General Kearney remained in California as governor of that territory. The expedition under General Scott sailed Irom New Orleans late in November, 1846, and rendezvoused at the island of Lobos, about one hundred and twenty-five miles north of Vera Cruz. The plan of operations for this army was very simple — to capture Vera Cruz and march to the city of Mexico by the most direct route. At length every- thing being in readiness, the expedition sailed from Lobos Island, and on the morn- ing of the ninth of March, 1847, the army, thirteen thousand strong, landed without opposition at a point selected by General Scott and Commodore Conner a few days before. The city and vicinity had been thoroughljf reconnoitred, and the troops were at once marched to the positions assigned them by the commander-in-chief. Vera Cruz is the principal seaport of Mexico, and contained at the time of the siege about fifteen thousand inhabitants. It was strongly fortified on the land side, and towards the Gulf was defended by the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa, the strongest fortress in America, with the exception of Quebec. Attack Upon Vera Cruz. On the tenth of March the investment of the city was begun by General Worth, and the American lines were definitely estab- lished around the city for a distance of six miles. During the day, and for several days thereafter, bodies of Mexicans attempted to harass the besiegers, and a steady fire was maintained upon them by the guns of the castle and the city as they worked at their batteries. The American works being com- pleted, and their guns in position. General Scott summoned the city of Vera Cruz to surrender, stipulating that no batteries should be placed in the city to attack the castle unless the city should be fired upon by that work. The demand was refused by General Mor- ales, who comm.anded both the city and the castle, and at 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the twenty-second of March, the American batteries opened fire upon the town. The bombardment was continued for five days, and the fleet joined in the attack upon the 6i6 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO Tlir: CIVIL WAR. castle. The city suffered terribly ; a number of the inhabitants were killed, and many buildings were set on fire by the shells. On the twenty-seventh the cit}- and castle surrendered, and were promptly occupied by the Americans. Over fi\e thousand prison- ers and five hundred pieces of artillery fell ;nto the hands of the \ictors. The i^arrison T::;'^- --^^'J.-«t . 1 ^^&i "" ' 91 ^^aaBy^^, Jgy^ ^ l^jff^^pl^^^ .. ^^ ^ ■Hw H^^^«[;^ ^"^%^, HH^HJIPl HRHRttI^ , m^msm^ m ^^. mk:^ - \ m S^^ ' '''^aWK ^%-eii^- ■r--W^ mm BOMBARDMENT OF VERA CRUZ. were required to march out, lay down their arms, and were then dismissed upon their parole. The inhabitants were protected in their civil and religious rights. The sur- render was completed on the morning of the twenty-ninth. Having secured the city and the castle, General Scott placed a strong garrison in each, and appointed General Worth governor of Vera Cruz. He then prepared to march upon the city of Mexico, and on the eighth of April the advance division, under General Twiggs, set out from Vera Cruz towards Jalapa. Deducting the force left to garrison Vera Cruz, Scott's whole army amounted to but eighty-fi\e hundred men. Santa Anna had not found the consequen- ces to himself of the battle of Buena Vista as bad as he had e.xpected. He had succeeded in pursuading his countr)-- men that he had not been defeated in that liattle, but had simply retreated for want of provisions, and they had agreed to give him an- other trial. He had pledged himself to pre- vent the advance of the Americans to the capital, in the event of the fall of Vera Cruz, and with the aid of those of his countrymen who were willing to support him had quelled an insurrec- tion at the capital, and had strengthened his power to a greater de- gree than ever. With a force of twelve thou- sand men he had taken position at Cerro Gordo, a mountain pass at the eastern edge of the Cordilleras, to hold the American army in check, and had fortified his position with great skill and care. General Twiggs halted before the Mexican position to await the arrival of General Scott, who soon joined him with the main army. The Mexican lines were carefully reconnoi- tered, and on the eighteenth of April General ADMINISTRATIOX OP^ JAMES K. POLK. Scott, avoiding a direct atrack, turned the enemy's left, seized the heights commanding their position, and drove them from their works with a loss of three thousand prisoners and forty-three pieces of artillery. Santa Anna mounted a mule, taken from his car- riage, and fled, leaving the carriage and his private papers in the hands of the Americans. Besides their prisoners, the Mexicans lost overone thousand men in killed andwounded. the second city of Mexico, containing eighty thousand inhabitants, was occupied. Gen- eral .Scott established his headquarters at Puebla, and awaited reinforcements. The terms of the volunteers would expire in June, and they refused to re-enlist, as they were afraid to encounter the yellow fever, the scourge of the Mexican climate, the season for which was close at hand. They were returned to the United States and Gen- Scott's loss was four hundred and thirt\--one ■killed and wounded. Thebrilliant victory of Cerro Gordo opened the way for the American army to Jalapa, which was occupied on the nineteenth of April. Continuing his advance. General Scot*" captured the strong fortress of Perote, situated on a peak of the Eastern Cordille- ras, which was abandoned almost without a blow by its defenders, on the twenty-second of April. On the fifteenth of May, Puebla, bcott was forced to s[)cnJ three months at Puebla in inactivity. The force he had with him was greatly weakened by sickness, and eighteen hundred men were in the hos- pitals of Puebla alone. While at Puebla General Scott was ordered by the secretary of war to collect duties on merchandise entering the Mexican ports, and to apply the money thus obtained to the needs of the army. He was also ordered to levy contributions upon the Mexican people FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 6i8 for the use of the troops. He refused to obey this order, declaring that the country through which he was moving was too poor to warrant impressments, and that such a measure would exasperate the Mexicans and cause them to refuse to supply the army at all. " Not a ration for man or horse," he said, •' would be brought in e.xcept by the bayonet, whieh would oblige the troops to spread themselves out many leagues to the right and left in search of subsistence, and stop all military operations." He continued to buy provisions for his army at the regular prices of the country, and by so doing greatly allayed the bitterness of feeling with which the Mexicans regarded the Americans. Attempt to Suspend Hostilities. Another annoyance to which the com- mander-in-chief was subjected arose from the ill-advised action of Mr. N. P. Trist, who had been sent out to Mexico in the quality of peace commissioner. Soon after the cap- ture of Vera Cruz, General Scott had sug- gested to the Picsident the propriety of sending out commissioners to his headquar- ters, who should be empowered to treat for peace when a suitable occasion should offer itself. The President selected for this pur- pose Mr. N. P. Trist, who had been United States consul at Havana, and who was acquainted with the Spanish language — a singular selection. Mr. Trist was furnished with the draft of a treaty carefully prepared in the state de- partment at Washington, and was intrusted with a despatch from Mr. Buchanan, the secretary of state, to the Mexican minister of foreign relations. He was instructed to communicate confidentially to General Scott and Commodore Perry both the treaty and his instructions. General Scott was informed of Trist's mission by tlie secretary of war, and was directed to suspend military opera- tions until further orders, unless attacked. Mr. Trist reached Vera Cruz in due time, but instead of explaining his mission, as directed, to General Scott, he sent a note to the commander-in-chief from Vera Cruz, enclosing the letter of the secretary of war, and the sealed despatch to the Mexican minister, which he requested the general to forward to its destination. The letter of the secretary of war could not be understood by General Scott without the explanations Mr. Trist was directed to give, but failed to make. General Scott very properly resented the conduct of Trist as an attempt to degrade him by making him subordinate to that per- sonage, and in his reply to him declared that the suspension of hostilities belonged to the commander in the field and not to the secretary of war a thousand miles away. Trist thereupon wrote to General Scott, giving a full explanation of his mission, but did so in disrespectful terms. In conclusion he claimed to be the aid-de-camp of the President, and as such to possess the right to issue orders to the commander in-chief. Scott referred the matter to the government at Washington, maintaining in the meantime his independence of action as commanding general. In due time explanations came from Washington satisfactory to the general, and Mr. Trist was sharply reprimanded by the secretary of state " for his presuming to command the general-in-chief." Santa Anna in Disgrace. Aftei his defeat at Cerro Gordo, Santa Anna repaired to Orizaba, where he organ- ized a number of guerrilla bands to attack the American trains on the road between Vera Cruz and Scott's army. He then returned to the city of Mexico, where he was coldly received by the people. The affairs of the Mexican nation were i:-. the ADMIXI5TR-\TI0X OF JAMES K. POLK. 619 most hopeless confusion, and the people were utterly disheartened. Their army on which they had depended for the defence of the road to the capital had been routed at Cerro Gordo, and there was no force in exist- ence with which to stay the ad\-ance of the victorious Americans. Had General Scott been able to advance upon Mexico immedi- ately after his occupation of Puebia, the city would have fallen at once, and the war have been brought to an immediate close. A number of leaders contested the supremacy , at the capital, and the quarrels of these fac- tions paralyzed the efforts of the govern- ment. The most capable of these leaders was Santa Anna, and his strong qualities natur- ally attracted to him the largest following By his extraordinary energy he suppressed the opposition to him, secured the money he needed by forced loans firom the people, and raised an army of twenty-five thousand men and sixty pieces of artillerj^ and fortified the city of Mexico. The three months' enforced delay of General Scott's army at Puebia ^ave him time to carry out these measures, and he endeavored to gain still further advantages by opening negotiations secretly with Mr. Trist, and pretending to be anxious for peace. He declared that he needed money to enable him to act with freedom in arranging a treat}', and succeeded in getting about ten thousand dollars from the secret ser\'ice fund at the disposal of General Scott ; but his designs were soon detected by the Amer- ican commander, and the supply of money was discontinued. The American Army Advances. Reinforcements fi-om the United States arrived at Puebia in July, and on the seventh of August General Scott resumed his advance on the cit>- of .Mexico, with a force increased to ten thousand men. The route lay throujjh a beautiful upland countrj', abounding in water, and rich in the most picturesque scenery. The troops pressed on with enthusiasm, and on the tenth of August the summit of the Cordilleras was passed, and then almost from the very spot from which, more than three centuries before, the follow- ers of Cortez looked down upon the halls of the Montezumas, the American army beheld the beautiful valley of Mexico stretching out for miles before them, with the city of Mexico lying in the midst, encircled by the strong works that had been erected for its defence. Another Important Conquest. The passes on the direct road to the citj' had been well fortified and garrisoned by the Mexicans, but the country upon the flanks had been left unprotected, because Santa Anna deemed it utterly impossible for any troops to pass over it, and turn his position. El Peiion, the most formidable of these defences, was reconnoitered by the engi- neers, who reported that it would cost at least three thousand lives to cann*- it. Scott thereupon determined to turn El Penon, instead of attacking it The city and its defences were carefully reconnoitered, and it was discovered that the works on the south and west were weaker than those at any other points. General Scott now moved to the left, passed El Peiion on the south, and by the aid of a corps of skillful engineers moved his army across ravines and chasms which the Mexican commander had pro- nounced impassable, and had left unguarded. General Twiggs led the advance, and halted and encamped at Chalco, on the lake of the same name. Worth followed, and passing Twiggs, encamped at the town of San Augustin, eight miles from the capital. As soon as Santa Anna found that the Americans had turned El Penon, and had advanced to the south side of the city, he left FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. '620 that fortress and took position in the stroncj fort of San Antonio, which lay directly in front of Worth's new position. Northwest •of San Antonio, and four miles from the city, lay the little village of Churubusco, which •li:ul been strongly fortified by the Mexicans. A Tttle to the west of San Augustin was the I'irtifiod camp of Contreras, with a garrison of about si.x thousand men. In the rear, between the camp and the city, was a reserve force of twelve thousand men. The whole number of Mexicans manning these defences was about thirty-five thousand, with at least one hundred pieces of artillery of various sizes. Driven Like Chaff. General Scott lost no time in moving against the enemy's works. General Persifer F. Smith was ordered to attack the en- trenched camp at Contreras, while Shields and Pierce should move between the camp •and Santa Anna at San Antonio, and prevent him from going to the assistance of the force at Contreras. At three o'clock on the morn- ing of August 20th, in the midst of a cold rain, Smith began his march, his men hold- ing on to each other, to avoid being sepa- rated in the darkness. He made his attack at sunrise, and in fifteen minutes had posses- sion of the camp. He took three thousand prisoners and thirty three pieces of cannon. The camp at Contreras having fallen. Gen- eral Scott attacked the fortified village of Churubusco an hour or two later, and car- ried it after a desperate struggle of several hours. General Worth's division stormed and carried the strong fort of San Antonio, and General Twiggs captured another im- portant work. The Mexicans outnumbered their assailants three to one, and fought bravely. Their efforts were in vain, how- ever, and late in the afternoon tliey were driven from their defences, and pursued by the American cavalry to the gates of the city. These two victories had been won over a force of thirty thousand Mexicans by less than ten thousand Americans, and a loss of four thousand killed and wounded and three thousand prisoners had been inflicted upon the Mexican army. The American loss was eleven hundred men. Santa Anna retreated within the city, and on the twent}--first of August the American army advanced to within three miles of the city of Mexico. On the same day Santa Anna sent a flag of truce to General Scott, asking for a suspension of hostilities, in order to arrange the terms of a peace. The request was granted, and Mr. Trist was despatched to the city, and began negotiations with the Mexican commissioners. After protracted delays, designed to gain time, the Mexican commissioners declined the American con- ditions, and proposed others which they knew would not be accepted. Thoroughly disgusted, Mr. Trist returned to the Amer- ican camp, and brought with him the in- telligence that Santa Anna had violated the armistice by using the time accorded him by it in strengthening his defences. Indignant at such treachery. General Scott at once re- sumed his advance upon the city. A Hard-fought Battle. The Mexican capital was still defended by two powerful works. One of these was M'olino del Rey, " The King's Mill," a foun- dry, where it was said the church bells were being cast into cannon ; the other was the strong castle of Chapultepec. General Scott resolved to make his first attack upon Molino del Rey, which was held by fourteen thou- sand Mexicans. It was stormed and carried on the eighth of September, after a severe contest by Worth's division, four thousand strong. This was regarded as the hardest AD^IIXISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK. 621- won victory of the war. The Mexicans were nearly four times as numerous as the Americans, and their position was one of I very great strength. The Americans fought i principally with their rifles and muskets, | their artillery being of but little use to them, owing to the nature of the position. Their | loss was seven hundred and eighty-seven killed and wounded — nearly one-fourth of the force engaged. to the city by the causeway leading to the Belen gate, closely followed by Quitman's division. Worth's division was moved for- ward to attack the San Cosmo gate, while Quitman assailed the Belen gate. The defences of the causeways were taken in succession, and by nightfall the Belen and San Cosmo gates were in possession of the- Americans after a hard fight for them. The troops slept on the ground they had won. ^^^'^I'iSJJiiii, V r^ mJi.^^ STORMING OF CHAPULTEPEC. The castle of Chapultepec stood on a steep and lofty hill, and could not be turned. If won at all, it must be by a direct assault. On the twelfth of September the American artillery opened fire upon it, and reduced it almost to ruins. On the morning of the thirteenth a determined assault was made by the Americans, and the castle was carried after a sharp struggle. The fugitives from Chapultepec retreated During the night of the thirteenth Santa Anna, with the remains of his army, retreated from the city, leaving the authorities to make the best terms they could with the conquer- ors. The city officials presented themselves before General Scott before daybreak, and proposed terms of capitulation. The general replied that the city was already in his power, and that he would enter it on his own terms. The next day, September 14, 1847, the. 622 FROM THE RE\-OLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. American armyenteredthecit)'ofiMexico,oc- I thousand men from the capital to the vicinity cupied the grand square, and hoisted the star s | of Pucbla. which w as besieged by a Mexican ' force. The city contained eighteen hundred sick Americans, and was held b}- a garrison of five hun- dred men under Colonel Childs. This little force held out bravely until the arrival of a brigade from Wra Cruz, under Gen- Lial Lane, on its way to reinforce General Scott. Lane drove off Santa Anna's army, and re- \cd Puebla on the ^hth of October. Ten i\s [ater Santa Anna !■> reported to be col- icctmg another force at Ali\o Lane set out im- mediately for that place, reached it by a forced march, and dispersed the Mexicans beyond all liope of reunion. Immediately after the capture of the city of Mexico Santa Anna re- signed the presidency cf the republic in favor of Scnor Peiia y Pefia, pre- sident of the Supreme Court of Justice, but re- tained his position as commander-in-chief o f the army. The fall of the city was followed by >.he inauguration of a new government, one of the first acts of which was to , dismiss Santa Anna from the command of the army. He at once left GENEK.XL SCOTT ENTERING THE CITY OF MEXICO, and stripes over the government buildings. Santa Anna retreated with four or five the countrj-, and fled to the West Indies. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES K. POLK. 623 The Mexican government was removed to the city of Queretaro, and a new congress was elected, which began its sessions in that city. Negotiations for peace had been opened in the meantime, and the meetings of the Mexican commissioners and Mr. Trist were iicld at the town of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, where, on the second of February, 1848, a treaty of peace was signed by Nicholas P. Trist, on the part of the United States, and Senors Couto, Atristain and Cuevas, on the part of Mexico. Though Mr. Trist's powers had been withdrawn by President Polk some time before, he ventured to continue his authority on the ground that the opportunity for bringing the war to a close was too favorable to be lost. The commissioners appointed by the President to super- sede him reached M ri: > a little later, but foui : : treaty signed and >■,;. had been incessant, and had increased instead of diminishing with each succeeding year. It was one of the chief topics of discussion in the newspaper press of the country, and entered largely into every political contro- versy, however local or insignificant in its nature. The opponents of slaveiy regarded the annexation of Texas and the Mexican ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 627 war as efforts to extend that institution, and were resolved to put an end to its existence at any cost . The advocates of slavery claimed that the Southern States had an equal right to the common property of the States, and were entitled to protec- tion for their slaves in any of the Territories then owned by the States or that might af- terwards be acquired by them. The Missouri Com promise forbade the ex- istence of slavery nortli of the line of 36° 30' north latitude, and left the inhabitants south of that line free to decide upon their own institu- tions. The Anti-slavery part}' was resolved that slavery should be ex- cluded from the territory acquired from Mexico, and in the Wilmot Pro- viso struck their first blow for the accomplish- ment of this purpose. We have seen that they succeded in prohibiting slavery, by a special act of Congress, in Oregon, although the terms of the Missouri Compro- mise would have ex- cluded the institution from that Territory. Their object was fully understood by the southern people, and was bitterly resented by them. The agitation of the subject aroused a storm of passion throughout the country, and produced a very bitter feeling between the Northern and Southern States. In his last message to Congress, President Polk had recommended that the line of 36° 30' nortli latitude be extended to the Pacific, and thus leave it to the people south of that line- to decide whether they would have slavery or ZACH.^RY TAYLOR. not. This proposition was acceptable to the South ; but it was rejected by the Anti-slaver)' party. The Missouri Compromise line had been limited to the Louisiana purchase, which was entirely slaveholding, and had made more than one-half of it free- To 628 FRO:\I THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. extend the line to the Pacific would be to give the South a chance to establish slavery in territor)' which was free at the time of its acquisition by the United States. The North Would not listen to such a proposition. During the last session of Congress in Mr. Polk's administration, an effort had been made to establish territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico, but had failed in the supreme law of the land, it was superior to any territorial law or act of Congress abol- ishing slavery; and that the constitution clearly and unequivocally established and protected slavery in the Territories. Mr. Webster, speaking for the north, de- clared that the constitution was designed for the government of the States, and not for the Territories. Congress, he said, had the right it. WHITE liOUsE, W.-VaHlNGiON, D. C. consequence of the inability of Congress to agree upon the question of slavery in these Territories. In the debate in the Senate upon these measures, Mr. Callioun and Mr. Webster took an active part, and each presented in a masterly manner the views of the section he represented upon this great question. Mr. Cal- houn, speaking for the south, argued that the constitution recognized slavery; that as it was to govern the Territories independently of the constitution, and he maintained that it often exercised this right contrary to the constitution, as it did things in the Territories which it could not do in the States. He added : " When new territory has been ac- quired it has always been subject to the laws of Congress — to such laws as Congress thought proper to pass for its immediate ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. ^vernment and preparatory state in wliich it was to remain until it was ready to come into the Union as one of the family of States." He quoted in support of his position the clause of the constitution which declares that the " constitution and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pur- suance thereof, .... shall be the supreme law of the land." Congress having failed to make any pro- vision for territorial governments for Utah and New Mexico, those Territories were left in a condition of anarchy. One of the first duties devolving upon the new administration was the alleviation of this evil until it could be definitely settled by Congress. President Taylor instructed the federal officers in those Territories to encourage the people to organize temporary governments for them- selves. A New Accession to the Union. California in the meantime had grown witli such rapidity, and had experienced so much trouble from its sudden increase of popula- tion and the lack of a definite government, that its leading citizens determined to seek admission into the Union. In the autumn of 1849 a convention of the people was held, a constitution formed, and a State govern- ment organized. The action of the conven- tion was promptly ratified by the people. Upon the assembling of the Thirty-first Con- gress in the winter of 1849, California applied for admission into the Union as a State, with a constitution forbidding slavery within her limits. The organization of the Thirty-first Con- gress was delayed for three weeks. Parties were about evenly divided, and sixty ballots were taken before a speaker could be chosen. One of the leaders on the Democratic side was Robert Toombs, of Georgia. The choice at last fell upon Howell Cobb, of Georgia, who was elected by a plurality. Partisan bitterness ran high during this struggle. Upon the organization of the House, Presi- dent Taylor sent in his first and only mes- sage. He recognized the danger with which the sectional controversy threatened the country, expressed his views of the situation in moderate terms, and intimated that he should faithfully discharge his duties to the whole country. He recommended th _■ admis- sion of California with the constitution she had chosen ; and advised that Utah and New ROBERT TOOMBS. Mexico should be organized as Territories, with liberty to decide the question of slavery for themselves when they were ready to enter the Union as States. A dispute having arisen between Texas and New Mexico concerning the prop r boundary between them, the Pre- sident recommended that it should be settled by the courts of the United States. The other questions which demanded im- mediate settlement were slavery in the Dis- trict of Columbia, and the demand of the Southern States for a more faithful execution 630 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. of the provision of the constitution which required the arrest and return of fugitive slaves. The South opposed the admission of Cali- fornia with a free constitution, and the North demanded the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia, and the Northern States were unwilling to allow their officers to execute the Fugitive Slave Law within their limits. The excitement became intense, and threats to dissolve the Union of the States were fiecly indulged in by the extrem- ists of both the North and the South. Opposing Views in the Senate. On the twenty-ninth of January, 1 850, Henry Clay introduced into the Senate a series of resolutions designed to settle all the points in dispute by a general compromise. The resolutions were referred to a commitee of thirteen, of which Mr. Clay was made chairman. In due time the committee re- ported a bill known as the " Omnibus Bill " from its embracing in one measure all Mr. Clay's propositions. It provided for the admis- sion of California as a free State ; the organi- ration of the Territories of Utah and New Mexico, without reference to slavery; the adjustment of the boundary between Texas and New Mexico by paying to the former ten millions of dollars ; the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia ; and the enactment by Congress of a more string- ent and effective law for the rendition of fugitive slaves. The Omnibus bill was warmly opposed in Congress and in the country at large. The debate in the Senate brought out the views of the leading statesn>en of the country. Senator Jefferson Davis declared the bill in no sense a compromise, because it was un- equal in its provisions. The South, he de- clared, gained nothing by the measure, as the constitution already rccjuired the rendi- tion of fugitive slaves. He proposed, there- fore, that the Missouri Compromise line should be extended to the Pacific, " with the specific recognition of the right to hold slaves in the territory below that line." Mr. Clay replied to this that "no earthly power could induce him to vote for a specific . measure for the introduction of slavery ' where it had not existed, either north or south of that line. I am unwilling that the posterity of the present inhabitants of Cali- fornia and of New Me.xico should reproach us for doing just what we reproach Great Britain for doing to us. If the citizens of those Territories come here with constitu- tions establishing slavery, I am for admitting them into the Union ; but then it will be their own work and not ours, and their pos- terity will have to reproach them and not us." Webster's Union Speech. Mr. Calhoun was too ill to take part in the debate in person, but he prepared a speech of great ability, which was read for him in the Senate by Senator Mason of Vir- ginia. He declared that the Union could be preserved only by maintaining an equal num- ber of free and slave States, in order that the representation of the two sections of the country might be equal in the Senate. Mr. Webster also took part in the debate, and on this occasion delivered what is known as his " great Union speech of the seventh of March," which occupied three days in its delivery. He expressed substantially the same .'lews as those advocated by Mr. Clay. He opposed restriction of slavery in the Ter- ritories, and declared he would vote against the Wilmot Proviso. His speech created a profound sensation throughout the country, and did much to secure the final acceptance of the compromise measures. In the midst of this discussion John C. Calhoun died, on the thirty-first of March. ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 631 1850. He had entered Congress in 181 1, and had been in public life from that time until the day of his death. He had filled many high offices, both State and national, and had discharged the duties of each and all with disinterested ndelity and admitted ability. He was one of the first statesmen this country has ever pro- duced, and was the ac- knowledged leader of the South in the sectional controversy with the North. His character was above reproach, and he was a sincere and dis- interested patriot. His death was generally la- mented throughout the countr>', and his political adversaries joined heart- ily in the tributes of the nation to his many vir- , tues and great abilities. ' A few months later President Taylor was suddenly stricken down with a fever, which in a few days terminated fatally. He died on the ninth of July, 1850, amid the grief of the whole country, which felt that it had lost a faithful and upright chief magistrate. Though the successful candidate of one poli- tical party, his administration had received the earnest support of the best men of the country without regard to party, and his death was a national calamity. He had held office only si.xteen months, but had shown himself equal to his difficult and delicate position. He was sixty-six years old at the time of his death. By the terms of the constitution the office of President devolved upon Millard Fillmore, Vice-President of the United States. On MILLARD FILLMORE. the tenth of July he took the oath of office before Chief Justice Cranch of the District of Columbia, and at once entered upon the duties of his new position. Mr. Fillmore was a native of New York, and was born in that State in the )-ear 1 800. FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. He had served his State in Congress, and as governor, and was personally one of the most popular of the Presidents. The cabinet of General Taylor resigned their offices imme- iUii..v.Uio Oi LEADING MOKJION diately after his death, and the new President filled thjir places by appointing a new cabi- net with Daniel Webster at its head as secre- tary of state. Mr. Fillmore was in active sym- pathy with Mr. Clay in his efforts to secure the passage of the compromise measures, as he deemed them the best adjustment of the trouble possible under the circumstances. The compromise measures were warmly debated in Con- gress, the sessions of which ex- tended through the summer into the latter part of September. The bill was then taken up and passed, article by article, by the House of Representatives, it hav- ing previously passed the Senate. The bill at once received the ex- ecutive approval, and became a law. • The clause admitting Califor- nia into the Union as a State was adopted on the ninth of September, 1S50. The course of Mr. Clay in securing the passage of the com- promise measures of 1850 was justly regarded as the crowning glory of his life. It won for him the love and confidence of the whole country' without regard t» party, and the man who " had rather be right than be Presi- dent" had the proud satisfaction of seeing all the faults and mis- takes of his earlier years for- gotten in the confidence and gra- titude with which his countr^'- men regarded him. He ceased now to take an active part in the questions of the day, for it was fitting that his life should close with this great senice to iiis co^ntr}^ His health failed ra- pidly, but he continued to hold his seat in the Senate until the twent>'-ninth of June, 1852, when he died at the age of seventj'-five years. Honors were showered upon his memory ia ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 633 all parts of the Union, and he was i-iid to hi^ I measures failed to give satisfaction The rfbt amid a nation s unaffected mournm^ | 1 i^ituc S u I i\ u is bitterly denounct and his five in number, died one by one from j weakness was so great that he could speak cold and exhaustion on King William's only with difficulty. Island. } This oration was one of the last public acts In the early part of I S5 I Congress reduced of the great statesman. On the twenty-fourth the postage on prepaid letters to three cents of October, 1852, he died at his home at to all parts of the United States, prepayment being made by means of stamps provided by Marshfield, Massachusetts, aged seventy years, and in himperished the first statesman L^^-^ 1 -%. - RKLICS OF FRANKLINS POLAR VOYAGE. the government. The result was a rapid and immense increase of the postal revenue of the country. On tlie fourth of July, 185 i, the corner- stone of the extension of the capitol at Washington was laid by President Fillmore with appropriate ceremonies. The orator of the day was Daniel Webster. His address was one of his best efforts, but was delivered of America. He was large and stout in frame, of swarthy complexion, and slow and heavy in movement — a man of noble and commanding appearance. His intellect was cast in the same gigantic mould as his body. His language was simple and chaste, and his arguments irresistible. His patriotism knew no sectional limits. " I am as ready," he once said, "to fight and to fall for the ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOR AND FILLMORE. 637 •constitutional rights of Virginia as I am for Siose of Massachusetts." Alexander H. Stephens has said of him : ■" He was too great a man and had too great an intellect not to see the truth when it was presented, and he was too honest and too patriotic a man not to proclaim the truth Avhen he saw it, e\-en to an unwilling people. ordeal, and that he passed it with unflinch- ing firmness is one of the grandest features in the general grandeur of his character. Even his detractors have been constrained to render him unwilling homage in this re- spect." * His memory was honored byappro- priate demonstrations in all parts of the country, and it is said that the popular In this quality ol moral greatness I often j tributes on this occasion were equalled on!)- thought Mr. Webster had the advantage of 1 by those of the nation at the death ot his great contemporaries, Messrs. Clay and i Washington. Calhoun. Not that I would be understood as saying that they were not men of great moral courage, for both of them showed this high quality in many instances, but they never gave the world such striking exhibitions of it as he did. Webster often passed this In December, 1S51, Louis Kossuth, the chief of the Hungarian insurrection of 184S, visited the United States. His avowed object was to promote the cause of his * Tlu War Between the Siales, vol. i., pp. 405, 406. 638 FROM THE REVOLailON TO THE CIVIL WAR. countrymen, and he made frequent addresses | Mexico and the mouth of the MississippL in various parts of the Union, which were hstened to by vast muUitudes who were charmed with his eloquence. He visited Washington, and was granted a public recep- tion by Congress. The Austrian minister at Washington, the Chevalier Hulseman, pro- tested against this reception, and his protest being unheeded, he withdrew from Washing- ton for a while. Protection for Cuba. The attempt of Lopez upon Cuba had greatly alarmed Spain for the safety of that island. England and France, sympathizing with her, and anxious to render the acquisi- tion of Cuba by the United States impossible, proposed to the American government to join them in a " tripartite treaty," in which each should disclaim any intention to seize that island, and should guarantee Spain in her possession of it. In December, 1852, Edward Everett, who had succeeded Mr. Webster as secretary of state, by direction of the President, replied to the proposition of England and France, declining to accept it. " The President," he said, " does not covet the acquisition of Cuba for the United States," but " could not see with indifference that island fall into the possession of any Euro- pean government than Spain." He stated that the situation of the island rendered it peculiarly interesting to this country by reason of its proximity to our coast, and its commanding the approach to the Gulf of The European powers were thus given to- understand that the United States would not tolerate their interference in a question purely- American. The year 1852 was marked by intense ex- citement consequent on the political cam- paign which terminated in the fall in the Presidential election. The Democratic party made a strong and successful effort to recover its lost power, and nominated Franklia Pierce, of New Hampshire, for President,, and William R. King, of Alabama, for Vice- President. The Whig party nominated Gen- eral Winfield Scott for President, and Wil- liam A. Graham, of North Carolina, for Vice- President. The Anti-slavery party put in nomination John P. Hale, of New Hamp- shire, and George W. Julian, of Indiana. The election resulted in the choice of the candidates of the Democratic party by an overwhelming majority. The Anti-slavery party on this occasion polled but 155,825 votes, or a little more than half of the strength it had shown at the previous election. Mr. King, the Vice-President-elect, did not long survive his triumph. His health had been delicate for many years, and he was obliged to pass the winter succeeding the election in Cuba. Being unable to return home, he took the oath of office before the American consul, at Havana, on the fourth of March, 1853. He then returned to the United States, and died at his home in Ala- bama on the eighteenth of April, 1853. CHAPTER XXXIX The Administration of Franklin Pierce. Dispute with Mexico — The Gadsden Fnichase — Sur\eys for a Pacific Railway — The Japan Expedition — Treaty with /apan— The Koszta Affair— The " Black Warrior " Seized by the Cuban Officials — The " Ostend Conference "—Dis- missal of the British Minister— The Kansas-Nebraska Bill— History of the Bill— Its Passage by Congress— History of the Struggle in Kansas — Conflict Between the Pro-Slavery and Free-Soil Settlers — Lawrence Sacked — Civil War — The Presidential Campaign of 1S56 — James Buchanan Elected President of the United States — Rapid Increase of the Republican Party. PRESIDENT PIERCE took the oath of office at the capitol at Washington on the fourth of March, 1853, '■'' the presence of an immense throng. He was in his fort>'- ninth year, and had won an enviable name by his previous services to the country. He was a native of New Hampshire, and had represented that State for four years in the lower House of Congress, and for nearly a full term in the Senate of the United States. He had also served with distinction during the Mexican war as brigadier-gen- eral. He placed William L. Marcy, of New York, at the head of his cabinet as secretary of state. The first question of importance the new President was called upon to settle grew out of a dispute with Mexico concerning the boundary between that country and the Territory of New Mexico. At the time of the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo the maps were so imperfect that the boundary line had not been drawn with sufficient exact- ness. Both countries claimed the Mesilla valley, which was said to be very fertile, but which was more important to the United States as affording what was generally regarded as the most practicable route to California. Santa Anna was now President of the Mexican republic again, and sent a force of Mexican troops to occupy the region in dis- pute. The matter was settled by negotia- tion, however, and the United States obtained the Mesilla valley and the free navigation of the Gulf of California and of the Colorado to the American frontier. For these concessions the federal government paid Mexico the sum of ten millions of dol- lars. The district thus acquired was kpown as the " Gadsden Purchase," and was subse quently erected into the Territory of Ari- zona. The necessity of more rapid and certait communication with California had brougu, the nation to regard a railway between the Mississippi and the Pacific as a necessity', and as such an undertaking was considered beyond the resources of a private corpora- tion, it was believed that it should be built by the general government, or at least that the general government should bear a part of the expense. The year 1853 witnessed the first steps towards the construction of this great work. Two expeditions were de- spatched under the orders of the war depart- ment to explore the best routes for a Pacific railway. The acquisition of California brought the United States into new relations with the nations of the eastern world, as it secured for them a base upon the Pacific from which a direct trade could be conducted with China 639 FRO^I THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. ^40 and Japan. The empire of Japan, however, was closed to foreigners, and it was verj' de- sirable to open commercial relations with it. Towards the close of Mr. Fillmore's term of office. Commodore Perry, a brother of the hero of Lake Erie, was despatched to China with a fleet of seven war steamers to nego- tiate a treaty with the Japanese government. He arrived in the bay of Jeddo in the sum- mer of 1853. The natives were greatly astonished at the appearance of his steamers, the first that had ever been seen in those FK.\NKLIN FIERCE. ■waters, and at his boldness in venturing into their harbors. The Japanese officials ordered him to depart, but he refused, and insisted ■on seeing the emperor, and making known to him the object of his friendly visit. They at length decided to lay the matter before the emperor, who consented to grant an interview to the commodore, and named the fourteenth of July for that purpose. On the day appointed the commodore landed, accompanied by a strong body of marines. He was received with great ceremony by the Japanese, and delivered the President's let- ter, to which an answer was promised. The answer of the emperor was submitted to him several months later, and was favorable. A treaty was concluded between the United States and Japan, by which the former were allowed to trade in two specified ports— Simodi and Hokadadi. American citizens were permitted to reside at these ports, and consuls were accepted for them. Thus the United States had the honor of being the first to open the rich markets of the island empire to the commerce of the civilized world. Since then the relations between the two countries have steadily grown more cor- dial, and Japan has shown a remarkable rapidity and facility for adopting the civiliza- tion of the west. In July, 1853, occurred an event which did much to increase the respect for our navy among the powers of the world. Martin Koszta, a Hungarian, who had taken the preliminary steps to be naturalized in the United States, happening to be in Smyrna, in Asia Minor, on business, was seized as a rebel and a refugee by order of the Austrian consul-general, and taken on board an Aus- trian brig. The United States sloop-of-wai " St. Louis," Captain Ingraham, was lying in the harbor at the time, and Ingraham was appealed to for protection for Koszta. Ingraham Threatens to Fire. He at once demanded his release as ai\ American citizen. The demand was refused by the authorities, and Ingraham at once called his crew to quarters and threatened to fire upon the Austrian ship if Koszta was not immediately released. The Austrians at once surrendered their prisoner, and h» was placed in custody of the French consul to await the action of the government of the United States. The matter was settled by negotiation between this country and Austria, and Koszta was released. Austria addressed ADMINISTRATION OF FRANKLIN PIERCE. 641 to the government at Washington a remon- strance against the conductor Captain Ingra- ham, but his course was warmly applauded by his countrymen and by disinterested per- sons in Europe. In February, 1854, the American merchant steamer " Black Warrior " was seized by the Spanish authorities at Havana, on the pre- text that she had evaded or violated some uncertain revenue law, and the ship and her cargo were declared confiscated. This action of the Havana officials was regarded in the United States as unjust, and aroused a great deal of feeling against the Spaniards, and gave a sudden impetus to the national senti- ment in favor of the acquisition of Cuba. The affair of the " Black Warrior" was satis- factorily settled by the Spanish government. While the feeling aroused by the affair was at its height a conference of some of the American ministers in Europe, including Mr. Buchanan, minister to England, Mr. Mason, minister to France, and Mr. Soule, minister to Spain, and some others, was held at Ostend, in Belgium, and a circular was adopted recommending the acquisition of Cuba by the United States. This measure attracted much attention, and elicited con- siderable European criticism of the alleged ambitious designs of the United States. Mr. Soule, on his return to Madrid, was stopped at Calais by order of the emperor of the French, who had personal reasons for dis- liking him. The emperor, however, recon- sidered his action, and allowed Soule to pass through France to the Spanish frontier. British Minister Dismissed. In 1855 Great Britain, France, Sardinia and Turkey, being engaged in a war with Russia, the agents of the British government undertook to enlist recruits for their army within the limits of the United States in de- fiance of the neutrality laws of this country. 41 The matter being brought to the attention of the United States government, it was found that the British minister at Washing- tor, and the British consuls in some of the principal cities of the Union had encouraged, if they had not authorized, these enlistments. The government of the United States there- upon called the attention of Great Britain to- the conduct of her minister, and requested her to recall him. The queen declined to comply with this request, and the minister and the consuls were promptly dismissed by the President. The matter caused consider- able irritation in England for a while, but the good sense of the English people at length perceived the propriety of the course of the American government, and cordial relations were re-established between the two countries. Territory of Nebraska, The most important measure of Mr. Pierce's administration was the bill to organize the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The region embraced in these Territories formed a part of the Louisiana purchase, and extended from the borders of Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota to the sum- mit of the Rocky mountains, and from the parallel of 36° 30^ north latitude to the border of British America. The whole region by the terms of the Missouri Com- promise had been secured to free labor by the exclusion of slavery. Until the year 1850 this vast area was called by the general and somewhat indefi- nite name of the " Platte Country," from the Platte river, which flows through it. Little ' was known concerning it save that it was a region of great fertility. It was mainly , occupied by the reservations of the Indian tribes, which had been removed from the other States to make way for the whites. Across it swept the grand trails of the over. 642 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. land Tcxirte to Utah and the Pacific. The pcopleof the New England States were very anxious that the Indian reservations which covered the eastern part should be bought up by the general government and the coun- try thrown open to emigration. Petitions to this effect were presented to the Thirty- second Congress, but no action was taken upon them until December, 1852, when Mr. Hall, of Missouri, introduced a bill into the House to organize the " Territory of Platte." STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. It was referred to the Committee on Ter- ritories, which in February, 1853, reported a bill organizing the " Territory of Nebraska." The bill was opposed in the House of Rep- resentatives by the full strength of the South, and in the Senate the only southern sena- tors who voted for it were those from Mis- souri. The Missouri Compromise, as has been stated, secured the entire Nebraska region to free labor; but notwithstanding this the southern members of Congress were resolved to oppose the organization of a new free Territory, and to endeavor to obtain a footing for slavery, in at least a part of it. The matter was revived in the Senate on the sixteenth of January, 1854, by Senator Dixon, of Kentucky, who gave notice that whenever the Nebraska bill should be called up he would move the following amend- ment : " That so much of the eighth section of an act approved March 6, 1820, entitled ' An act to authorize the people of the Mis- souri Territory to form a constitution and State government, for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to prohibit slavery in certain Territories,' as declares ' That, in all the territory ceded by France to the United States, under the name of Louisiana, which lies north of 36° 3o' north latitude, slavery and involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall be for ever prohibited,' shall not be so construed as to apply to the Territory contemplated by this act, or to any other Territory of the United States ; but that the citizens of the several States or Territories shall be at liberty to take and hold their slaves within any of the Terri- tories or States to be formed therefrom, as if the said act, entitled as aforesaid, had never been passed." More Slavery Agitation. The announcement of this amendment startled the country as much as the Wilmot Proviso had done years before, and produced much angry excitement. It was a clear repudiation of the Missouri Compromise,, which it did not even seek to repeal. 1 Senator Douglas, of Illinois, chairman of the Committee on Territories, on the twenty- third of January, 1854, reported a bill which provided for the organization of the Platte country into t'^vo Territories. The ADMINISTRATION OF FRANKLIN PIERCE, southern portion, which lay directly west of Missouri, stretching to the Rock Mountains on the west, and extending from the thirty- seventh to the fortieth parallel of north lati- tude, was to be organized into a distinct Territory, to be called Kansas. The remain- ider was to be called Nebraska, having the line of 43° 30' for its northern boundary- Senator Douglas, in an evil hour for the country, incorporated in the bill the main features of Mr. Dixon's amendment. The bill contained the following provisions : " Section 21. And be it further enacted. That, in order to avoid misconstruction, it is hereby declared to be the true intent and meaning of this act, so far as the question of slavery is concerned, to carry into practical operation the following propositions and principles, established by the compromise measures of 1S50, to wit: " First. — That all questions pertaining to slavery in the Territories, and in the new States to be formed therefrom, are to be left to the decision of the people residing therein, through their appropriate representatives. " Second. — That all cases involving title to slaves, and questions of personal freedom, are referred to the adjudication of the local tribunals, with the right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. " Third. — That the provisions of the consti- tution and laws of the United States, in respect to fugitives from service, are to be carried into faithful execution in all the ' organized Territories," the same as in the States." A Blow at the Missouri Compromise. The section of the bill which prescribed the qualifications and mode of election of a delegate from each of the Territories was as follows: "The constitution, and all laws of the United States which are not locally inap- plicable, shall have thi same force and effect 643 within the said Territory as clsewhcrf 1 the United States, except the section of the act preparatory to the admission of Missouri into the Union, approved March 6, 1820, which was supefseded by the principles of the leg- islation of 1 85-0, commonly called the com-^ promise measures, and is declared inoper ' ative." Mr. Dixon declared that the bill, as reported by Senator Douglas, met with his hearty approval, and that he would support it with all his ability. The debate on the bill began in the Senate on the twenty-fourth of January, and continued through several weeks. It was conducted with great ability on both sides, and engaged the earnest atten- tion of the whole country. The Free Soil senators unanimously opposed the bill, which they denounced as a violation of the Missouri Compromise, by which the faith of the nation was pledged to the settlement then effected. The southern senators supported it with equal unanimity, as they held that the Missouri Compromise had been super- seded by the compromise of 1 850. Motion to Strike Out. On the sixth of February Mr. Chase, of Ohio, moved to strike out so much of the bill as declared the Missouri Compromise •'superseded" by the compromise of 1850, but the motion was defeated. Whereupon Mr. Douglas, on the fifteenth of February, moved to strike out the clause objected to by Mr. Chase, and insert the following : " Which being inconsistent with the prin- ciple of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and Territories, as recognized by the legislation of 1850 (com- monly called the compromise measures), is hereby declared inoperative and void; it being the true intent and meaning of this act ncjt to legislate slavery into any Tcrritor\- or State, nor to e.xclude it therefrom, but to C44 l-ROM THK REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the constitu- . tlon of the United States." Mr. Douglas' amendment was at once adopted, and seemed fair enough on its face. Mr. Chase exposed the hoUowness of it by proposing to add to it the following clause, which was promptly voted down : " Under which the people of the Territories, through their appropriate representatives, may, if they SALMON p. CHA^E. sec fit, prohibit the existence of slavery therein." The bill was adopted by the Senate by a vote of thirty-seven yeas to fourteen nays, and by the House by a vote of one hundred and thirteen yeas to one hundred nays, and on the thirty-first of May, 1854, received the approval of the President and became a law. The whole country engaged warmly in the discussion aroused by the re-opening of the question of slavery in the Territories. The North resented th.- repeal of the Missouri Compromise and in the South a large and respectable party sincerely regretted the re- peal of that settlement. By the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill the Thirty-third Congress assumed a grave responsibility, and opened the door to a bloody and bitter con- flict in the Territories between slavery and free labor. The events now to be related were the logical consequences of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. A few months before the final vote upon the Kansas-Nebraska bill the gen- eral government succeeded in purchas- ing the Indian reservations in those Ter- ritories, and removed the Indian tribes to new homes farther west. This action at once threw Kansas and Nebraska open to white settlers, and measures were set on foot in the New England States to encourage emigration thither. Kansas being a more fertile country than Nebraska naturally attracted the greater number of settlers. Before anything could be done by the Free Soil men, the people living on the border of Missouri passed over into Kansas, and selecting^ the best lands, put their mark upon them, hoping in this way to establish a pre-emption claim to them. Their object was to organize and hold the Territory in the interest of slavery, but very few of them removed to. Kansas, or had any wish to do so. In the meantime societies had been formed in the New England States for the promo tion of emigration to Kansas. As the Pro- slavery settlers had come into the Territory so slowly, and in such small numbers, it seemed certain that the northern people could secure Kansas to free labor by sending out settlers to occupy the Territory in good faith. The Pro-slavery party in Missouri determined to prevent this. In July, 1854, a meeting was ADMINISTRATION OF FRANKLIN PIERCF 645 held at Westport in that State, at which it ■was resolved that the persons taking part in the meeting would, " whenever called upon by any of the citizens of Kansas Territory, hold ' themselves ' in readiness together to resist and remove any and all emigrants who go there under the auspices of the Northern Emigrant Aid Societies."' The first party sent out by the New England A Societies reached a point on the Kaw river, in Kan- sas, about the middle of July. There they pitched their tents and began the building of a town, which they named Lawrence, in honor of Amos A. Law- rence, of Boston. By the last of the month they were joined by seventy more emigrants and tlie work "f founding their town w>;- pushed forward with en ergy. There was not ;i drone in the little commun- ity. They were all honest, intelligent, God-fearing men and women, and they meant to succeed in the undertak- ing they had begun. They were in legal and peaceable possession of their settle- ment, and thus far had mo- lested or wronged no one. They were not to live in peace, however. Before they had finished building their housc'^, tin.) were startled by the announcement that two hundred and fifty armed Missourians had encamped within a short distance of them for the purpose of driving them out of tlie Terri- tory. The next morning the Missourians sent them a formal notice that " the Aboli- tionists must leave the Territory, never more to return to it." They declared their desire to avoid bloodshed : but notified the settlers thit they nuibt be icady to kaxe theTeiii- tory, with all their effects, at one o'clock' that day. This the settlers refused to do, and prepared to defend their homes. The messengers of the Missourians found them 646 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. tant from the border, and supposed to be far enou' settlers of Kansas. The outrages of the Pro-slavery men had forced the Free-Soilers into an atti- tude of direct and uncompromising resist- ance ; and after the action of the latter, at Topeka, the struggle which had hitherto been comparatively bloodless changed its character and became an open and sangui- nary war between the two parties. In ihis struggle the Pro-slavery men were the aggressors. Bands of young men, armed and regularly organized into companies and regiments, came into the Territory from South Carolina, Georgia and the extreme Southern States, with the avowed design of making Kansas a slaveholding State at all hazards. On the morning of May 21st, 1856, under the pretext of aiding the United States marshal to serve certain processes upon citizens of Lawrence, they captured that town, sacked it, burned several houses and inflicted a loss upon it amounting to 51 50,000. From this time the war went on t in a series of desultory but bloody encoun- ters, some of which assumed the propor- tions of battles. During this month an event occurred which aroused universal indignation throughout the Northern States. Senator Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, made an eloquent speech in the Senate at Wash- ington on the Kansas question, some parts of which excited the anger of Preston S. Brooks, a southern member of Congress. On the twenty-second of May Brooks assaulted Mr. Sumner while he was sitting in the Senate chamber, and beat him on the head with a cane until he became insensible. Mr. Sumner was disabled for the public ser- vice for several years, but afterward was re-elected almost unanimously and resumed his seat. This cowardly assault was uni- versally condemned. In the summer of 1856 Governor Shan- non, of Kansas, was rem.oved, and John W. Geary, of Pennsylvania, was appointed in his place. He exerted himself honestly to restore peace and execute the laws, and ordered " all bodies of men combined, armed and equipped with munitions of war, with- CHAKLES SUMNER. out authority of the government, instantly to disband and quit the Territory." In obedience to this order the Free Soil com- panies nearly all disbanded, but the Pro- slavery party paid scarcely any attention to it. They concentrated a force of two thou- sand men and advanced upon Lawrence to attack it. Governor Geary at once placed himself at the head of the United States dragoons stationed in the Territory, and by a rapid march threw iiimseif with these 648 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. troops between the town of Lawrence and the hostile force and prevented another con- flict. Matters had reached this stage when the Presidential campaign opened in 1856. The struggle in the Territories had greatly weak- ened the Democratic party, and had given rise to a new party which called itself Republican, and which was based upon an avowed hostility to the extension of slavery. A third party, called the American, or Know Nothing, also took part in the campaign, and was based upon the doctrine that the political offices of the country should be held only by persons of American birth. The Democratic party nominated James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, for the Presi- dency, and John C. Breckenridge, of Ken- tucky, for the Vice-Presidency. The Repub- lican nominee for the Presidency was John C. Fremont, of California; for the Vice- Presidency William L. Dayton, of New Jersey. The American party supported Millard Fillmore, of New York, for the Presidency, and Andrew J. Donelson, of Tennessee, for the Vice-Presidency. The Whig party had been broken to pieces by its defeat in 1852, and had now entirely dis- appeared. The canvass was unusually excited. Slavery was the principal question in dis- pute. Party ties had little influence upon men. The sentiment of the nation at large had been outraged by the repeal of the Mis- souri Compromise, and thousands of Demo- crats, desiring to rebuke their party for its course in bringing about this repeal, united with the Republican party, which declared as its leading principle that it was " both the right and the duty of Congress to prohibit in the Territories those twin relics of barbar- ism — polygamy and slavery." The elections resulted in the triumph of James Buchanan, the candidate of the Dem- ocratic party. Mr. Buchanan received 174 electoral votes to 1 14 cast for Fremont. Though a majority of the American people sustained the action of the Democratic party, the significant fact remained that 1,341,264 of the voters of the country had recorded their condemnation of it b)- casting their votes for Fremont and Dayton. _^k_KJ^.^k.^?^-^°^-?34-^%J: M^ml CHAPTER XL The Administration of James Buchanan. ■^Tiaaguration of Mr. Buchanan — The Mormon Rebellion — The Financial Crisis of 1S57 — Laying of the Atlantic Tele graphic Cable — Minnesota Admitted Into the Union — The San Juan Affair — Admission of Oregon Into the Union— The Kansas Question — The Lecompton Constitution — Its Defeat — The Wyandotte Constitution — Admission of Kan sas Into the Union — The John Brown Raid — Prompt Action of the Government — Brown and His Companions Sur- rendered to the State of Virginia — Their Trial and Execution — Presidential Campaign of i860 — Rupture of the Demc cratic Party — ^Abraham Lincoln Elected President of the United States — Secession of South Carolina — Reasons for this Act — Secession of the Other Cotton States — Major Anderson Occupies Fort Sumter — Trying Position of the Gen- eral Government — Course of Mr. Buchanan — The " Star of the West " Fired Upon by the South Carolina Batteries' Organization of the Confederate States of America — Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Southern Republic — The Peace Congress — Its Failure. JAMES BUCHANAN, the fifteenth Piesident of the United States, was inaugurated at "Washington on the fourth of March, 1857. He was in his sixty-sixth year, and was a statesman of great accomplishments and ripe experience. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1 791, and was by profession a lawyer. He had served his State in Congress as a representative and a senator, had been minister to Russia under President Jackson, and had been a member of the cabinet of President Polk as secretary of state. During the four years previous to his election to the Presidency he had resided abroad as the minister of the United States to Great Britain, and in that capacity had greatly added to his reputation as a states- man. He avowed the object of his administra- tion to be " to destroy any sectional party, whether North or South, and to restore, if possible, that national fraternal feeling between the difierent States that had existed during the early days of the republic." The intense sectional feeling which the discussion of the slavery question had aroused had alarmed patriotic men in all parts of the Union, and it was earnestly hoped that Mr. Buchanan's administration would be able to effect a peaceful settlement of the quarrel. Mr. Buchanan selected his cabinet from the leading men of the Democratic party, and placed at its head as secretary of state Lewis Cass, of Michigan. We have in a previous portion of this work noticed the rise and growth of the Mormon sect, and their settlement in the region of the Great Salt lake, then a part of the Mexican republic. They were not at all pleased with their transfer to the United States by the cession of the territory occupied by them by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo. Their object in emigrating to Utah had been to place themselves beyond the limits of the United States, where they could enjoy with- out molestation their religious practices, and maintain among themselves the institution of polygamy, to which they were attached as the foundation of their faith. They were not disturbed by the Mexican government, which was indeed scarcely aware of their existence, and thus unnoticed devoted their energies to building up the country they had occupied. i Their missionaries were sent into the va- ! rious countries of Europe, and converts were made with extraordinary success and rapid- , ity. They built up a thri\ing town on the 649 650 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. borders of the great lake, to which they gave the name of Salt Lake City, and founded other towns in various parts of the Territor)-. By the year 1850 the population of the Ter- ritorj' had increased to 11,380. Being on ceeded Joe Smith as the prophet or leader of the Mormons, was appointed by President Fillmore governor of the Territory. His appointment was renewed by President Pierce, and the Mormons were left during the highway to California, the greater part I these two administrations to manage their affairs very much in their own way. Rely- ing upon the immense distance which sepa- rated them from the States, they paid but little regard to the au- thority of the United States, and finally ven- tured openly to resist the officers of the gen- eral government, and expelled the federal judge from the Ter- ritory. President Buchanan thereupon removed Brigham Young from his office of governor, and appointed a Mr. Cumming his succes- sor. The Mormons having declared that the new governor should not enter the Territory, General Harney was ordered to accompany him with a large body of troops and compel the submission of the peo- ple of Utah to the au- thority of the federal government. Under the leadership of Brigham Young the Mormons took up arms and prepared to dispute the entrance of the troops into the Territory. They declared that their settle- ment and civilization of Utah had sfiven them JAMES BUCHANAN. of the overland traffic and travel to the Pacific passed through Salt Lake City, and was a source of considerable profit to the Mormons. In 1850 the Territory of Utah was organ- ized, and Brigham Young, who had sue- ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. 651 the sole right to the Territory, and that tlicy owed no allegiance to the United States. Their resistance was so formidable that the force under General Harney was largely increased, and the command was conferred upon Brigadier- General Albert Sid ney Johnston, who was considered the most efficient offi cer in the ser\ict General Johnbtoii joined his troop at Fort Bridget about one hundted miles from Salt : Lake City, in Sep tember, 1857. The Mormons in heavy force occupied the passes leading to the valley of the Great Salt lake The season was so far advanced at the time of his arrival that General Johns- ton concluded to pass the winter at Fort Bridger. The Mormons were very active during the winter in cut- ting off the trains of the federal troops It was General Johnston's inten- tion to move upon Salt Lake City im- inducing the Mormons to lay down their arms and submit. Governor Gumming and the fed- eral officers then entered Salt Lake City and assumed the offices to which they had been appointed, and a force of federal troops was THE MORMON TEMPLE, SALT LAKE CTTV mediately upon the opening of the spring, but before that season arrived the matter was settled through the efforts of a Mr. Kane, of Philadelphia. He was sent out to Salt Lake City by the government, and succeeded in encamped near the city to render them such assistance as should be found necessary. Piesident Buchanan then issued a proclama- tion granting a free pardon "to all, for the seditions and tre.-isons by thcni committed. "^ ti52 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. Subsequently it transpired that a horrible atrocity of the most cruel and bloody descrip- tion had been committed. On the eighteenth of September, 1S57, one hundred and thirty- six emigrants, who were said to have offended the Mormons, were massacred in cold blood at Mountain Meadow, Utah. Many years later Bishop Lee, of the Mormon Church, was accused of having ordered this wholesale murder, l^rijham Young was exonerated in 1 ' A as convicted, sen- New York on the thirteenth of October, and by those of Boston on the fourteenth. The failures in the United States for the year ending December 6, 1857, are said to have reached the enormous aggregate of ^291,750,000. The Western States suffered in a marked , degree from the effects of this " crisis ;" but the South was comparatively unharmed by it. Various causeswereassigned forthe panic, the principal ofwhich were the large speculations in western lands and a heavy fall in the value MOU.XTAIN MKAUUW .MAbiACKE. tenced to death, and shot March 23, 1877, nearly twenty years after the dastardly crime was committed. In the fall of 1857 the general business of the country was thrown into confusion by a sudden financial panic, which seriously embarrassed all commercial and industrial enterprises and caused general distress. On the twenty-sixth of September the banks of Philadelphia suspended specie payments ; and their example was followed by the banks of of railway stocks. The New York banks re- sumed specie payments on the twehth of December, 1857; the Boston banks on the fourteenth of December of that year; and those of Philadelphia in April, 1858. Specie payments were gradually resumed in other parts of the country, but the depression of business continued until during the course of the year 1859. In 1858 occurred an event second only in importance to the invention of the AD.MINISTRATION OF electric telegraph. For some years it had been behe\'ed possible to connect the shores of Europe with those of America by means of a submarine telegraphic cable across the Atlantic. In 1857 an unsuc- cessful effort was made by a company of American and English capitalists to accom- plish this object. The attempt was renewed in 185S. Two war steamers were furnished for the work of laying the cable — the " Niagara " by the United States, and the " Agamemnon " by Great Britain. The two vessels metin mid ocean, and sailed each to its own country, paying out the cable as they pro- ceeded on their way. On the fifth of August, 1S58, the " Niagara" entered Trinity bay, in Newfoundland, and made fast her end of the cable to the shore, and on the same day the "Agamemnon" reached Valentia bay, in Ireland, having successfully accomplished her part of the work. The First Ocean Cable. The great work was thus ended, and on the sixteenth of August a message was received through the wires from the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, addressed to the Presi- dent of the United States, who at once returned a suitable reply. Other messages were exchanged between the two continents, and the practicability of the scheme was fully demonstrated. On the first of September the laying of the cable was celebrated with impos- ing ceremonies in New York, and rejoicings were held in other cities. The hopes aroused by the successful accomplishment of the great enterprise were soon disappointed, for after a short time the wires ceased to work, and no effort could re-establish the communication be- tween the two ends of the line. The feasi- bility of the undertaking had been practi- cally demonstrated, however, and the deter- mined men who had carried it through to JAMES BUCHANAN. 653 success were convinced that a new effort would be attended with more satisfactory results. On the eleventh of May, 1 8 5 8, the Territory of Minnesota was admitted into the Union as a State. In the autumn of 1859 a dispute arose between the United States and Great Britain as to the ownership of the large island of San Juan, lying in the strait which separates Vancouver's island from the territory of the United States. General Harney, commanding the American troops in the northwest, took possession of the island. Governor Douglas, of British Columbia, protested against this occupation, and for a while there was danger that the two parties would come to blows. The general government despatched General Scott to the scene of the controversy, and he succeeded in bringing about an adjustment of the quarrel. On the fourteenth of February, 1S59, Oregon was admitted into the Union as a State, the Territory of Washington being separated from it. A New Governor for Kansas. During the whole of Mr. Buchanan's ad- ministration the question of slaver)'- in the Territories continued to engross the atten- tion of the people. The struggle in Kansas went on with increased bitterness. In the summer of 1857 an election was ordered by the legislature of Kansas for delegates to a convention for the purpose of framing a con- stitution, and care was taken to arrange the matter so that a majority of Pro-slavery dele- gates should be chosen. For this reason, and others of equal force, the Free Soil men refused to take any part in the election, which consequently resulted in the choice of a Pro- slavery convention. The Free Soil party thereupon issued an address to the people of tiie United States, relating the wrongs they hatl suffered and were still enduring. 654 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. Governor Geary now resigned his position and President Buchanan appointed, as gov- ernor of Kansas, Robert J. Walker, a man of great eminence and ability, who was in sen- timent opposed to slavery. Mr. Walker sin- cerely desired to effect a settlement of the quarrel, and succeeded in inducing the Free Soil party to vote at the coming election for members of the territorial legislature and a delegate to Congress. They did so, and a fair election was held, which resulted in the choice of the Free Soil candidates by over- whelming majorities. Intense Feeling in Congress. In the autumn of 1857 the convention elected, as we have seen, assembled at Le- compton, and framed a State constitution. This instrument contained a clause adopting slavery, and the convention submitted this clause only to the people of the Territory for rati.'ication or rejection at the polls. The remainder of the constitution was withheld from the popular vote. The convention also ordered that all whose votes were challenged at the polls should be required " to take an oath to support the constitution if adopted," before being allowed to deposit their ballot. The Free State men refused to take part in the vote on the ratification of this constitu- tion, and consequently all the votes cast were in favor of it. It was declared adopted, and was sent to Congress for the approval of that body. The discussion of the Lecompton consti- tution in Congress was marked by great bit- terness. It was supported by the Democratic party and the administration, and was opposed with determination by the Republicans. The latter took the strong ground that the Le- compton constitution was not the work of the people of Kansas, but of a mere faction, and was distasteful to the majority of the citizens of that Territory, who were opposed to slavery. Finally, on the thirtieth of April, 1858, a bill was passed to submit the Lecompton constitution to the people of Kansas. This bill declared that if they ratified the consti- tution, they should be given certain public lands for State purposes; but that if they failed to ratify it, Kansas should not be per- mitted to enter the Union until it had a population of ninety-three thousand. With these strange conditions, the constitution was submitted to the people of Kansas on the second of August, 1858, and was rejected by them by a vote of eleven thousand three hundred against it, to seventeen hundred and eighty-eight votes in its favor. In January, 1859, the civil strife having subsided in the Territory, and the Free Soil men having a majority in the legislature, a convention was summoned at Wyandotte. It met in July, and adopted a free State con- stitution, which was submitted to the people and ratified by a large majority. The "Wyandotte Constitution" was then laid before Congress, and a bill admitting Kansas into the Union as a State was passed by the lower House early in i860. Kansas Admitted Into the Union. The Senate, however, failed to act upon the bill. At the next session the measure was revived, and on the thirtieth of January, 1 861, the opposition of the South having ceased by reason of the withdrawal of a large number of the southern representatives and senators from Congress, Kansas was admitted into the Union as a free State. Two notable events of this year should not escape special mention. They are, however, of a very different character. One was the death of the great American writer and author, Washington Irving, who may be considered as the father of American liter- ature. He was bred a lawyer, but his tastes and aptitudes led him into other fields for the ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. 655 acquisition of both fame and wealth. He commenced writing for the press at the early age of nineteen. His first sketches were under the nom dc phane of Jonathan Oldstyle ; then came his " Knickerbocker's History of New York ;" but it was the {" Sketch Book " which " laid the foundation ^ ;Of the fortune, and the permanent fame of I Irving ; the legends of ' Sleepy Hollow ' and { ' Rip Van Winkle ' at once took rank as \ modern classics, while the pictures of Eng- lish life and customs were so genial, artistic, and withal so faithful, that they fairly took the reading world by storm." This work was brought out in England in good style by the publisher, Murray, in 1820, upon the recommendation of Sir Walter Scott. A writer in " Johnson's Cyclopaedia " says, that after this publication, " a new phe- nomenon had appeared in the world of let- ters — the first American author had gained an honorable name in Albemarle street and Paternoster Row. Henceforth the path of Irving was smooth, and his subsequent writ- ings appeared with rapidity." This great author was born in New York City, on the third of April, 1783, and died at his resi- dence, Sunnyside, Tarrytown, on the Hud- son, on the twenty-eighth of November, 1859, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. The house in which he lived is a quaint old edifice. It has become one of the shrines of American pilgrimage. The other notable event of this year which made a deep impression on the popular mind, North and South, and which was attended with political results of the great- est importance, was the raid of John Brown upon Harper's Ferry. On the night of the sixteenth of October, 1859, John Brown, who had acquired a con- siderable notoriety as the leader of a Free Soil company during the war in Kansas, entered the State of Virginia, at Har[)er's Ferry, with a party of twenty-one compan- ions, and seized the United States arsenal at that place. He then sent out parties to arrest the leading citizens of the vicinity, as hostages, and to induce the negro slaves to join him, his avowed object being to put an end to slavery in Virginia by exciting an insurrection of the slaves. Several citizens were kidnapped by these parties, but the slaves refused to join Brown, or to take any part in the insurrection. At daylight on the WA^HINT.TON IRVIN'G. seventeenth of October the alarm was given, and during the morning the militia of the surrounding country was ordered under arms to put down the outbreak. Brown's force was unknown, and was greatly exag- gerated. The news of the seizure of the arsenal was telegraphed to Washington, and the govern- ment decided to recover it at once and con- fine the trouble to the spot on which it had originated. General Scott was absent from the capital at the time, and the President and 656 FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. secretaiy of war summoned Colonel Robert E. Lee, a distinguished officer of the army, to consult with them as to the best course to pursue. The interview resulted in the despatching of a battalion of marines to Harper's Ferry, under the command of Colonel Lee. Orders were telegraphed to that poiut to suspend all operations there until Colonel Lee's arrival. He reached Harper's Ferry on the night of the seven- teenth. In the meantime, upon the appearance of the militia. Brown and his companions re- treaied to the fire-engine house in the arsenal yard. This was a strong stone building, and they barricaded the doors, and during the day maintained a desultory fire upon the town. They had taken Colonel Washington, Mr. Dangerfield, and the other citizens kid- napped by them, into the engine-house with them, where they held them, in the hope that the presence of these gentlemen would pre- vent the troops from firing upon them. Capture of the Insurrectionists. As soon as Colonel Lee arrived at Har- per's Ferry, he proceeded to surround the engine-house with the marines to prevent the escape of Brown and his men, and deferred his attack upon them until the next morning, lest in a night assault some of the captive citizens might be injured. At dayhght on the eighteenth, wishing, if possible, to accom- plish the object in view without bloodshed, Colonel Lee sent his aid, Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart, to demand the surrender of the insur- gents, promising to protect them from vio- lence at the hands of the citizens, and to hold them subject to the orders of the President. Brown refused the terms offered, and demanded to be permitted to march out with his men and prisoners, with the arms of the former, to be allowed to proceed, without being followed, to a point at a certain distance from Harper's Ferry, where he would free his prisoners. He was then willing that the troops should pursue him, and to fight if he could not escape. This proposition was inadmissible, but as a last resort. Colonel Lee directed Lieutenant Stuart to remonstrate with the insurgents upon the folly of their course. This duty Stuart performed, re- maining before the engine-house until his personal danger compelled him to withdraw. Finding that nothing but force would avail. Colonel Lee gave the order for the assault,, and the marines made a dash at the engine- house, broke in the doors, and captured its inmates. Several of the insurgents were killed and wounded, Brown himself being desoerately hurt. The marines lost one man killed and one wounded. Fortunately none of the citizens captured by Brown were injured. Execution of John Brown. Colonel Lee took care to protect his prisoners, and there is little doubt that but for his precautions in their behalf they would have been shot down by the excited civil- ians. He telegraphed to Washington for in- structions, and was directed to deliver the prisoners to Mr. Ould, the attorney for the District of Columbia, who was ordered by the government to take charge of them and bring them to trial. As soon as Mr. Ould arrived Colonel Lee turned over the prisoners to him, and being satisfied that the danger was over, went back to Washington. As Brown and his companions had com- mitted their chief crime against the United States, by seizing the federal arsenal and re- sisting the troops sent to reduce them to submission, it seemed proper that they should be tried for their offences by the general gov- ernment. The attempt to incite an insurrec- tion of the slaves, however, was a crime- against the laws of the State of Virginia, and. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. 657 the governor of that State demanded of the federal authorities the surrender of Brown and his fellow prisoners for trial by the State courts. The demand was complied with, and the prisoners were arraigned in the court of the county of Jefferson, the county in which their offence was committed. They were given a fair trial, and were defended by able counsel from the free States, who came to Charlestown for that purpose. Brown frankly confessed that his object was to produce an insurrection among the slaves, and then carry them off to the free States. The prisoners were found guilty of treason, murder, and an attempt to incite insurrection, and were sen- tenced to be hanged. Brown was executed at Charlestown on the second of December, I S59, and six of his companions met the same fate a few weeks later. Proofs of a Conspiracy. During his trial Brown steadily denied that he had been aided or encouraged by any persons in the North. His denial was gen- erally doubted at the time, and it is now known that he was assisted with money and advice by some of the most respectable leaders of the extreme Anti-slavery party, and that several persons high in position knew of the designs of Brown, but failed to warn either the general government or the State of Virginia of the intended attack.* The execution of Brown and his compan- ions drew upon the South a storm of furious denunciation from the Anti-slavery men. Brown was regarded as a martyr to the cause of freedom, and the day of his execution was observed in many of the towns of the Northern States by the tolling of bells. prayer in the churches, the firing of minute- guns, and other public demonstrations of sor- row and respect. The conservative class in the North, however, and in this number were included some of the firmest opponents of slavery, sincerely deplored Brown's course, and acknowledged his punishment as merited. " The Irrepressible Conflict." Brown was a man of many good qualities, but the undertaking in which he met his fate was criminal in the extreme. Not even the intention of rescuing the slaves of Virginia from their bondage can excuse him for seek- ing to excite a servile war, in which murder and violence would have been inevitable, and in which the aged and the helpless, the defenceless women and children, would have been the chief sufferers. The effect of Brown's attempt upon the southern people was most unfortunate. They regarded it as unanswerable evidence of the intention of the people of the North to make war upon them under the cover of the Union. Regarding this view of the case as true, they came to listen with more favor to the arguments of the extreme class which openly favored a dissolution of the Union, and which asserted that the only safety of the South lay in pursuing such a course. The John Brown raid was the most power- ful argument that had ever been placed in the hands of the disunionists, and in the alarm and excitement produced by that event the southern people lost sight of the fact that the great mass of the northern people sincerely deplored and condemned the action of Brown and his supporters. The voice of reason was drowned in the storm of passionate excitement which swept * Mr. F. B. Sanborn, one of Brown's confederates, in a series of papers published in Tin Atlanlic Afon/A!y (vol. XXXV.) gives the details of this conspiracy, together with many interesting incidents connected with it, which sus- tain the view of the case presented above. 42 6s8 FROM over the land, and the extremists on both sides were able to prosecute their unpatriotic work to great advantage. While the excitement was at its height the Presidential campaign opened in the Spring of i860. The slavery question was the chief issue in this struggle. The convention of the Democratic party met at Charleston, in April, but being unable to effect an organi- EDWARD EVERETT. zation adjourned to Baltimore, and reassem- bled in that city in June. The extreme south- ern delegates were resolved that the conven- tion should be committed to the protection of slavery in the Territories by Congress, and failing to control it withdrew from it in a body, and organized a separate convention, w hich they declared represented the Demo- cratic party, but which, in reality, as the vote subsequently proved, represented but a THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. minority of that party. The new conven- tion was joined by a number of delegates from the Northern and Western States. The convention, after the withdrawal of these delegates, nominated for the Presi- dency Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, and for the Vice-Presidency Herschell V. John- son, of Georgia. It then proceeded to adopt the platform put forward by the entire party four years before at Cincinnati, upon the nomination of Mr. Buchanan, with this additional declaration : " That as differences of opinion exist in the Democratic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a territorial legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress under the constitution of the United States over the institution of slavery within the Territories ... the party will abide by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on the questions ot constitu- tional law." The "Seceders' Convention," as it was commonly called, also adopted the Cincinnati platform, and pledged themselves to non-interference by Congress with slavery in the Terri- tories or the District of Columbia. This party held to the doctrine that the constitution recognized slavery as existing in the Territories, and sanctioned and protected it there, and that neither Congress nor the peo- ple of the Territories could frame any law against slavery until the admission of such Territories into the Union as States. The regular convention held that Congress had no right to interfere with slav^ery in the Ter- ritories, to legislate either for or against it; that the regulation of that question belonged entirely to the people of the respective Ter- ritories acting through their Legislatures. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. 659 This doctrine was popularly known as "Squat- ter Sovereignty," and was credited to Mr. Douglas. The " Seceders' Convention " put forward as its candidate for the Presidency John C. Rreckenridge, of Kentucky, and for the Vice-Presidency Joseph Lane, of Oregon. Republican Nominations. The Republican party took issue with both wings of the Democratic party. Its conven- tion was held at Chicago, Illinois, and its can- didates were, for President Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, and for Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine. The platform of principles adopted by the Chicago Convention declared that " the maintenance of the principles pro- mulgated in the Declaration of Independence and embodied in the Federal Constitution is essential to the preservation of our republican institutions. . . . That all men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their Crea- tor with certain inalienable rights. . . . That the Federal Constitution, the rights of the States and the union of the States must and shall be preserved." The platform also declared that the rights of the States should be maintained inviolate, "especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively." It asserted "that the normal condition of all the territory of the United States is that of freedom," and denied the right or " authority of Congress, of a Territorial Legislature, or of individuals, to give legal existence to slavery in any Territory of the United States." A fourth party, known as the " Constitu- tional Union Party," proclaimed as its plat- form the following vague sentence : "The con- stitution of the country, the union of the ."t tales and the enforcement of the laws." The convention of this party met at Baltimore, and nominated for the Presidency John Bell, of Tennessee, and for the Vice-Presidency Edward Everett, of Massachusetts. The contest between these parties was bit- ter beyond all precedent. When the elec- tion took place in November, the result wasi as follows : Popular vote for Lincoln. 1,866,452 " " Douglas, !, 375, 157 " Breckenridgc, 847,953 Bell, 590,631 The electoral vote stood as follows'. Fcr Lincoln, iSo; for Breckenridge, 72; ii^-' Bell, 39; lor Douglas, 12. Election of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was thus elected by a pluralit) of the popular vote, which secured for him the electoral votes of eighteen States. These States were entirely north of the sectional line, and he received not a single electoral vote from a Southern State. The States, which cast their electoral votes for Brecken- ridge, Bell and Douglas, were entirely slave- holding. The division thus made was alarm- ing. It was the first time in the history of the Republic that a President had been elected by the votes of a single section of the Union. The state in which the Presidential election left the country, was alarming. The excite- ment was higher than it had been before the struggle at the polls. The Gulf States had declared at an early period of the political campaign that they would withdraw from the Union in the event of the election of a Re- publican President. The people of the South generally regarded the result of the election as an evidence of the determination of the Northern States to use the power of the fed- eral government to destroy the institution of slavery. The disunion leaders exerted them- selves to deepen this conviction, and to arouse the fears of the South. 66o FROM Till-: REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. On the otlier hand, the Republican leaders took little pains to allay the excitement by declaring their intentions to execute faith- fully the constitution and laws of the Union. Their declarations of fidelity to the Union were abundant, and were generally accom- panied by equally plain assertions of their country's history as he had never been needed before ; but, alas ! statesmanship of any kind was painfully wanting. As soon as the election of Mr. Lincoln was definitely ascertained, the legislature of South Carolina summoned a sovereign con- vention of the people of that State, which I3KID0E CROSSING IHL faUsOLLU \NN V M\LK \1 U\KKISbLKG. determination to oppose by force the with- drawal of the Southern States— declarations •which were ill-suited to calm the fears of the South, or to encourage the party in that sec- tion, which desired a perpetuation of the Union. A statesman of the Henry Clay school was needed at this crisis of our met on the seventeenth of December, iS6c This convention adopted an ordinance of secession on the twentieth of December, and declared the State no longer a mem- ber of the Union. The reasons assigned for this action were thus stated by the conven- tion : ADMIXISTRATIOX OF JAMES BUCHANAN. " An increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery has led to a disregard of their obli- gations, and the laws of the general govern- ment have ceased to effect the objects of the constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Con- necticut, Rhode Island, New York, Penn- sylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wis- consin, and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them. Strong Affirmations. " In many of these States the fugitive is discharged from the service or labor claimed, and in none of them has the State govern- ment complied with the stipulations made in the constitution. . . . Thus the consti- tutional compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by these non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obli- gation. " \\'e affirm that these ends for which this government was instituted have been defeated, and the government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of non- slaveholding States. Those States have assumed the right of deciding upon the pro- priety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized b}- the constitution ; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery ; they have per- mitted the open establishment among them of societies whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloigne the property of citizens of other States. They have encour- aged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes ; and those who remain have been incited by emissaries, books, and pictures to servile insurrection. 66 1 " For twenty-five years this agitation has been steadily increasing, until it has now secured to its aid the power of the common government. Observing the forms of the constitution, a sectional party has found within that article establishing the executive department the means of subverting the con- stitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of Presi- dent of the United States whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. Charges Against Certain States. " He is to be intrusted with the admin- istration of the common government because he has declared that that ' government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free,' and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction. " This sectional combination for the sub- version of the constitution has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizen- ship persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens ; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destruc- tive of its peace and safety. " On the fourth of March next this party will take possession of the government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory ; that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States. " The guarantees of the constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-govern- ment or self-protection, and the federal government will become their enemy." FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE CIVIL WAR. 662 These reasons were substantially the same as those avowed by the other Southern States in support of their action, and therefore we have quoted them at length. The example of South Carolina was fol- lowed by the other States of the far South, which summoned conventions and adopted ordinances of secession. Mississippi with- drew from the Union on the ninth of January. 1861 ; Florida on the tenth of JanuarjS Alabama on the eleventh of January ; Geor- gia on the nineteenth of January; Louisiana on the twenty-sixth of January', and Texas on the first of February. The forts, arsenals and other public property of the United States within the limits of these States were seized by the authorities of the States in which they were situated, and were held by their troops, with the exception of Forts Moultrie and Sumter, in Charleston harbor, and Fort Pick- ens, at Pensacola. Critical State of Affairs. F"ort Moultrie was occupied by Major Robert Anderson, of the United States army, with a garrison of eighty men. Becoming alarmed at the rapid concentration of troops in Charleston, Major Anderson evacuated the fort on the night of December 25, i860, and threw himself with his command into Fort Sumter, which was built in the bay at some distance from either shore. The State troops at once occupied Fort Moultrie, and began to erect batteries of heavy guns at different points along the harbor for the reduction of Fort Sumter. Fort Pickens was held bj- a garrison under Lieutenant Slemmer. The State of Florida occupied the navy \'ard at Pensacola and the other forts in that harbor with her troops. The property of the general government seized by the seceded States amounted to over twenty millions of dollars in value. The position of the general government was one of great difficult}'. The President was called upon either to recognize the law- fulness of the acts of the seceded States, and thus to join in the work of dissolving the Union, or to maintain the authority of the federal government, and compel the submis- sion of the Southern States to the constitu- tion and laws of the land. The go\ern- ment was almost powerless to enforce its authority. The army, but sixteen thou- sand strong, was stationed upon the re- mote frontier, and the available vessels of the navy were nearly all absent on foreign service. Many of the most prominent federal officials, including several of the cabinet ministers, were in open sympathy with the seceded States. The President's position was unquestionably embarrassing, but he made no use of the means at his command. General Scott, the veteran commander of the army, believed that prompt action on the part of the general government would confine the evil t > the six cotton States, and urged the Presi- dent to act with vigor. Mr. Buchanan was sorely perplexed, and seemed chiefly an.xious to postpone all defi- nite action until the inauguration of his suc- cessor. He was in favor of conceding every- thing but separate independence to the South, failing to percei.'e that the leaders of the secession movement would accept nothing but separation ; and by his timidity lost the advantages which the government would have gained by a bold, firm course. Attempt to Aid Major Anderson. As Major Anderson was short of supplies and needed reinforcements, the steamship "Star of the West " was despatched by the government to Charleston with provisions and a detachment of two hundred and fifty men to his assistance. She reached Charles- ton on the ninth of January, 1861, and ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. 6C3 attempted to enter the harbor, but was fired upon by the South CaroUna batteries, and turned back. The President was urged by the friends of the South to order Major Anderson to evac- uate Fort Sumter and return to Foit Moul- trie, but refused to do so. South Caroh'na then offered to purchase Fort Sumter from the general government, for its full value, but the President refused to make the sale. Immediately upon their withdrawal from the Union the six seceded States began to concert measures for their common protec- tion. Delegates were elected to a convention which met at Montgomery, Alabama, on the fourth of February, 1 861, to devise a plan for this purpose. The convention at once pro- ceeded to organize a new republic, for which they adopted the name of The Confederate States of America. On the eighth of Febru- ary, a provisional constitution having been adopted, the convention elected Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, President, and Alexan- der H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice-president of the Confederate States. The action of the convention was sustained by all the States comprising the new confederacy, and the provisional government at once entered upon its duties. Mr. Davis was inaugurated Presi- dent of the Confederate States at Montgom- ery, Alabama, February 18, 1861. Sketch of Jefferson Davis. Jefferson Davis was a native of Kentucky, and was born on the third of June, 1808. His father had removed to Mississippi during his early childhood, and he had grown up to manhood in that State. He was educated at the West Point Military Academy, from which he was graduated in 1828, and passed the next seven years of his life in the army. He served with distinction during the Black Hawk war and against the Indian tribes on the frontier. Entering into politics after his withdrawal from the army, he was soon sent to represent his State in Congress, in which body he served until the commencement of the Mexican war. During that struggle he commanded the Mississippi Rifles, and dis- tinguished himself greatly in the battles of General Taylor's army, and especially at Buena Vista. Upon his return home he was chosen to represent Mississippi in the Senate of the United States. Upon the inauguration of JEFFERSON DAVIS. President Pierce, he accepted a seat in the cabinet as secretary of war. Returning to the Senate after the close of Mr. Pierce's administration, he remained in that body until the secession of Mississippi, when he resigned his seat and returned home. He was now in his fifty-third year, and was regarded as one of the most brilliant public men in America. His election was generally looked upon in the South as a concession to the more conservative portion of the sou;Ii- ern people, for he had not been considered 1NALGLRVTK)\ OF JEFFERbON D-VMS ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES BUCHANAN. 665 as one of the original or most ultra secession leaders. The conservative elements of both sections made great efforts to bring about a recon- ciliation. The State of Virginia called upon all the States to send delegates to an informal peace congress to meet in W'ashington. This ■ body assembled in February. Twenty States were represented in it — thirteen northern and seven southern — and the venerable ex- President Tyler was chosen to preside over its deliberations. Various plans of settle- ment were proposed, and a committee, con- sisting of one member from each State, was appointed to prepare a plan upon which the congress could unite. In due time it made its report to the congress, and after a careful and elaborate discussion the resolutions were adopted, and were ordered to be laid before the rival governments. The congress then adjourned. The plan proposed by this body pleased neither side. The Southern States were not satisfied with the guarantees it offered for the protection of their rights in the matter of slavery; and the Northern States were unwilling to sanction a more rigid enforcement of the constitu- tional provision for the rendition of fugitive slaves. The effort to close the breach be- tween the States only served to widen it. Matters were in this unhappy and excited condition when the administration of Mr. Buchanan came to a close. After the inau- guration of his successor, he retired to his home at Wheatland, near Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, where he died in June, 1868. BOOK VI The Civil War CHAPTER XLI The Administration of Abraham Lincoln Inauguration of President Lincoln — His History — The Confederate Commissioners at Washington — Attack upon Fort Sumter by the Confederates — The President Calls for Troops — Response of the North and West — Secession of the Border Slates — Opening Events of the War in Virginia — Withdrawal of West Virginia — Admitted into the Union as a Separate Slate — Meeting of Congress — The West Virginia Campaign — Battle of Bull Run — The War in Missouri — Kentucky Occupied — The Blockade — Capture of Port Royal— The "Trent" Affair — Insurrection in East Tennessee — State of Affairs at the Opening of the Vear 1S62 — Edwin M. Stanton made Secretary of War— Capture of Forts Henry and Donelson — The Confederates Fall Back from Kentucky — Battle of Shiloh — Capture of Island No. 10 — Evacuation of Corinth — Capture of Memphis — Bragg's Kentucky Campaign — His Retreat into Tennessee — Battles of luka and Corinth — Battle of Murfreesboro', or Stone River — Grant's Campaign against Vicksburg — Its Failure — The War Beyond the Mississippi — Battle of Pea Ridge — Capture of Roanoke Island — Capture of New Orleans - Surrender of Fort Pulaski — The War in Virginia — Johnston's Retreat from Centreville — Battle between the " Monitor" and "Virginia'' — The Move to the Peninsula — Johnston Retreats to the Chickahominy — Battle of Seven Pines — Jackson's Successes in the Valley of Virginia — The Seven Days' Battles Before Richmond — Battle of Cedar Mountain — Defeat of General Pope's Army — Lee Invades Maryland -Capture of Harper's Ferry — Battles of South Mountain and Antie Retreat of Lee into Virginia — McClellan Removed — Battle of Fredericksburg. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the six- teenth President of the United States, was inaugurated at Wash- ington on the fourth of March, 1861. As it was feared that an attempt would be made to prevent the inauguration, the city- was held by a strong body of regular troops under General Scott, and the President-elect was escorted from his hotel to the Capitol by a military force. No effort was made to inter- fere with the ceremonies, and the inaugura- tion passed off quietly. The new President was in his fifty-third year, and was a native of Kentucky. When he was but eight years old his father removed to Indiana, and the boyhood of the future President was spent in hard labor upon the farm. Until he reached manhood he con- tinued to lead this life, and during this entire period attended school for only a year. At the age of twenty-one he removed to Illinois 666 ABRAHAM Ll.NCOLN. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 667 where he began life as a storekeeper. Being anxious to rise above his humble position, he determined to study law. He was too poor to buy the-necessary books, and so borrowed them from a neighboring lawyer, read them at night and returned them in the morning. His genial character, great good nature and love of humor won him the friendship of the people among whom he resided, and they elected him to the lower house of the Legis- lature of Illinois. He now abandoned his mercantile pursuits, and began the practice of the law, and was subsequently elected a representative to Con- gress from the Springfield District. He took an active part in the politics of his State, and in 1858 was the candidate of the Republican Party for United States Senator. In this capacity he engaged in a series of de- bates in various parts of the State with Sena- tor Douglas, the Democratic candidate for re-election to the same position. This de- bate was remarkable for its brilliancy and in- tellectual vigor, and brought him promi- nently before the whole countr}', and opened the way to his nomination for the Presi- dency. The Inaugural Address. In person he was tall and ungainly, and in manner he was rough and awkward, little versed in the refinements of society. He was a man, however, of great natural vigor of intellect, and was possessed of a fund of strong common sense, which enabled him to see at a glance through the shams by which he was surrounded, and to pursue his own aims with singleness of heart and directness of purpose. He had sprung from the ranks of the people, and he was never false to them. He was a simple, unaffected, kind-hearted man ; anxious to do his duty to the whole country; domestic in his tastes and habits ; and incorruptible in every relation of life. He was fond of humor, and overflowed with it ; finding in his " little stories " the only rela.xation he ever sought from the heavy cares of the trying position upon which he was now entering. He selected his cabinet from the leading men of the Republican party, and placed William H. Seward, of New York, at its head as Secretary of State. Mr. Lincoln was sincerely an.xious to avoid everj'thing which might precipitate the civil strife ; but at the same time was deter- mined to maintain the authority of the gen- eral government over the seceded States. In his inaugural address he declared his pur- pose to collect the public revenues at the ports of the seceded States, and to " hold, occupy and possess " the forts, arsenals and other public property seized by those States. At the time of his entrance upon the duties of his office P'ort Sumter and Fort Pickens were still held by the Federal forces. 668 THE CIVIL WAR. The Confederate government was con- vinced that war was inevitable ; and since its inauguration, had been preparing for the coming struggle. Nearly all the officers of the army and navy of the United States, who were natives of the seceded States, resigned their commissions in the old service, and were given similar positions in the army of the Confederate States. The forces collected at Charleston and Pcnsacola were reinforced by troops from other States, and the command at the former place was conferred upon Gen- eral Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and at the latter upon General Braxton Bragg, both of whom had been distinguished officers of the old army. Just before the close of Mr. Buchanan's term of office, the Confederate government despatched John Forsyth, of Alabama, Mar- tin J. Crawford, of Georgia, and A. B. Roman, of Louisiana, to Washington as commission- ers to endeavor to effect a peaceable adjust- ment of the matters at issue between the two governments, and to treat for an equitable division of the public property of the United States. Mr. Buchanan refused to receive the commis- sioners in their official capacity, and after the inauguration of the new administration they ad- dressed a note to Mr. Seward, the new Secretary of State, set- «^ ting forth the objects of their J/^^^'>^ mission, and soliciting an official ^ -^ interview with the President. Mr. Seward declined to receive them in their official capacity, but answered them verbally through ^ Mr. Justice John A. Campbell, of i^^^^^^l the Supreme Court of the United """ ■■ States, that he was in favor of a peaceful settlement of the diffi- culty, and that the troops would I'L- withdrawn from Fort Sumter in less than ten days. Mr. Sew- ard's object appears to have been to deceive the commissioners, and lull their suspicions, in order to gain time for the preparations which had been determined upon for the relief of Fort Sumter. In the meantime, the govern- ment having resolved to rein- provision Fort Sumter at all hazards, every nerve was strained to carry out this design before it should become known to the Confederates. An expedition consisting of seven ships, carrying two hun- dred and eighty-five guns and twenty-four hundred men, was prepared at New York and ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 669 r and Norfolk. The southern commissioners, whose suspicions had been allayed by Mr. Seward's message, were alarmed by the ru- mors of these preparations, which they sus- pected were for the relief of Fort Sumter. They waited upon Judge Campbell to ask an explanation, and that gentleman, on the sev- enth of April, addressed a note to Mr. Sew- ard asking if the assurances he had given were well or ill founded. Mr. Seward replied as follows : " Faith as to Sumter fully kept ; wait and see." In the meantime the expedition had sai' ' from New York ^_^ ^ __ . and Norfolk, and was on its way to Charleston harbor. On the eighth of April, 1S61, Gov- ernor Pickens, of South Carolina, was notified by the general govern- ment of its inten- tion to relieve Fort Sumter at all haz- ards, and of the sailing of the fleet for that purpose. Governor Pickens at once informed General Beauregard of this notification, and the news was telegraphed by him to the Confederate government at Montgomery. The Confederate Secretary of War there- upon ordered General Beauregard to demand the immediate surrender of Fort Sumter ; "and if this should be refused to proceed to reduce it." On the eleventh of April General Beauregard demanded of Major Anderson the surrender of the fort. The demand was refused in writing ; but Major Anderson added verbally to the mes- senger, " I will await the first shot, and if }-ou do not batter us to pieces, we will be starved out in a {cw days." Beauregard telegraphed this remark with Anderson's reply to his government, and was answered, " Do not desire needlessly to bom- bard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state the time at which, as indicated by him- self, he will evacuate, and agree that, in the meantime, he will not use his guns against us unless ours should be employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to a\ oid the effusion of biood. If this or its ' ■' 'it br refused, reduce the fort, as - 3^ '^%^^^^^ your judgment decides most practicable." The Federal fleet was on its way to Charles- ton, and if the attack of the Confederates was to be made at all, no time was to be lost. General Beauregard, therefore, gave Major Anderson warning that he should open fire upon Fort Sumter at half-past four o'clock the next morning. At the designated hour on the morning of April 1 2th, the Confederate batteries opened fire upon Fort Sumter, which replied to them with spirit. The bombardment lasted over thirty-two hours, and the fort was greatly 670 THE CIVIL WAR. damaged, and many of the guns were dis- mounted. The fleet arrived off the harbor during the bombardment, but remained in the offing, and took no part in the engage- ment. Not a single life was lost in this memorable battle. Late in the afternoon of the thirteenth, Major Anderson agreed to capitulate, and the firing ceased. The MAJOR ANDERSON. victors granted liberal terms to Anderson and liis men, whose heroism had aroused their warmest admiration ; and on the morn- ing of Sunday, April 14th, the fort was sur- rendered to the Confederate forces, and Major Anderson and the garrison embarked in one of the vessels of the fleet, which at once sailed for New York. The attack upon Fort Sumter put an end to the last hope of peace, and aroused the most intense excitement in both sections of the country. On the fifteenth of April, Presi- dent Lincoln issued a proclamation calling upon the States to furnish seventy-five thousand troops for the suppression of the rebellion, and convening Congress in extra session on the Fourth of July. The Northern and Western States re- sponded with enthu- siasm to the President's call for troops, and at once began to forward their quotas to the points designated by the war department. The enthusiasm in the South was fully equal to that of the North. The Confederate government issued a call for volun- teers to repel the threat- ened invasion of the fed- eral forces, and it was responded to with ala- crity. Until now the States of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennes- see, Kentucky, Arkansas and Missouri, generally known as the Border States, had remained in the Union, hoping to be able to effect a peaceable settlement of the quarrel. Their sympathies were with the Southern States, and it was gen- erally believed that in the event of war they would cast their lots with those States. Each of these States was included in the call of President Lincoln for troops. The governors of most of them replied by refusing to furnish the quotas required of them, and by denouncing the President's demand as illegal. AD:\riXISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOI.X. 671 pieces of cannon, and an immense quantity of stores and munitions of all kinds. The governors of the seceded Border States issued calls for \-olunteers immediately upon the withdrawal of their States. Men came for- ward in such large numbers that arms could not be provided for all of them. The prominent points of danger in Virginia were occupied and fortified by the State troops ; but the control of the military af- fairs in all the Border States soon passed Conventions of the people were held, and all but Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri withdrew from the Union, The secession of Virginia took place on the seventeenth of April ; that of Arkansas on the sixth of May ; that of North Carolina on the twentieth of May ; and that of Tennessee on the eighth of June. These States subsequently ratified the constitution of the Confederate States, and became members of the new republic. Kentucky and Missouri remained neutral. The passage of the act of secession by the Virginia convention was kept secret for a ■day or two in order to give the authorities of "that State an oppor- tunity to seize the United States arsenal at Harper's Ferry, and the na\y yard at Ports- mouth. The officer in command of the arsenal, upon hearinL; of the approach of a force of Virginia troops, destroyed a number of the mus- kets stored there, set fire to the buildings, and retreated into Pennsylvania. The Virginians extinguished I into the hands of the Confederate govern- FORT SUMTER the flames and secured a large quantity of 1 mcnt. arms and equipments and the valuable ma- chinery for the manufacture of arms. The commandant of the navy yard at Portsmouth, upon the approach of the Virginians, made no attempt to defend his post, but spiked the cannon, burned or sunk the war vessels lying in the harbor, set fire to the buildings, and retreated with two war steamers. The navy yard was at once occupied by the Virginians, who secured nearly two thousand As it was certain that the first operations of the war would take place upon the bor- ders of Virginia, the city of Richmond was made the capital of the Confederate States, and on the twenty-first of May the Confed- erate government was removed to that city. The western part of the State of Virginia refused to join the remainder of the State in its withdrawal from the Union. On the eleventh of June, 1861, the people of the 672 THE CIVIL WAR. western counties met in con\ention at Wheel- ing, declared their independence of the old State, organized a State government, and proclaimed their intention to remain faithful to the Union. The action of this convention was sustained by the Federal government, and on the twenty-sixth of November, 1861, another convention met at Wheelincf, and FOKlij sLMfLR AND MOULTRIE. adopted a constitution for the new State of West Virginia. This constitution was rati- fied by the people at the polls on the third of May, 1862, and application was made for the admission of West Virginia into the Union as a State, which was accomplished by act of Congress on the twentieth of June 1863. In the meantime the Federal government set to work with energy to prepare for the struggle before it. The call of President Lincoln for troops had been answered by three hundred thousand volunteers. On the seventeenth of April, two days after the Pres- ident's proclamation, the Sixth Mnssachu- setts regiment left Boston for Washington. In passing through Baltimore it was at- tacked by a crowd of citizens who sympa- thized with the South, and three soldiers were killed and eight wounded. Several citizens were killed and wounded. The reg- iment reached Wash- ington the same day. In a short time the force at the capital was sufficient to put an end to all fears for its safety. Alexandria and the Virginia shore opposite Washington v-ere seized and for- tified. Baltimore wis occupied by a force under General Butler, and the communica- tions of Washington with the North and West were made sure. On the nineteenth of April the President issued a proclamation declaring all the southern ports in a state oi blockade ; and on the third of May he put forth another proclamation ordering the regu- lar army of the United States to be increased to sixty-four thousand seven hundred and forty-eight men, and the navy to eighteen thousand seamen. On the tenth of May he ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 673 issued a fourth proclamation, suspending the writ oi habeas corpus in certain localities, and authority to suspend this privilege was con- ferred upon the commanders of military de- partments soon afterward. Under the instructions of the government these commanders now proceeded to arrest great numbers of persons in various parts of the country who were suspected of sympa- government paid no attention to this deci- sion, and held the prisoner in confinement. A little later the Legislature of Maryland, which was strongly Southern in its s\-mpa- thies, was prevented from meeting by the sudden arrest and imprisonment of a large number of its members by order of the secretary of war. On the fourth of July, 1861, Congresi FORT MOULTRIE, CHARLESTON H.\RBOR. ihizing with the South. They wore impris- oned at the military posts, and were denied trial by the civil courts. John Merryman, a citizen of Maryland, was one of the persons so arrested. His friends applied for redress to the Chief Justice of the United States, who held the suspension of the habeas corpus act by the President to be unconstitutional, and •ordered the discharge of the prisoner. The 43 convened in e.xtra session at Washington, in accordance with the President's proclama tion. This body proceeded to give to the government a prompt and effectual support. Resolutions were introduced to legalize the extraordinary acts of the President in setting aside the writ of habeas corpus, in ordering the arbitrary arrest and confinement of citi- zens, and in assuming certain other powers 674 THE CIVIL WAR. which belonged to Congress. Congress refused to throw over these acts, however necessar)', the sanction of the law; but in view of the necessity of prompt and vigorous action on the part of the President, excused his acts on the distinct ground of the " necessities of war." IMeasures were adopted without delay for putting in the field an army of five hundred and twenty-five thousand men, and for equipping a powerful navy ; and the sum of five hundred millions of dollars was appro- priated for the prosecution of the war. During this session Congress also adopted a solemn resolution declaring " that this war is not prosecuted on our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of over- throwing or interfering with the, rights or established institutions of those [the seceded] States ; but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality and rights of the several States unimpaired ; that as soon as these objects are accomplished the war ought to cease." In the meantime the Confederates had collected troops at important points to resist the advance of the Federal troops intoVirginia. A force under Brigadier-General Garnett was stationed in West Virginia to cover the approaches from that direction ; Harper's Ferry, which commanded the entrance into the valley of Virginia, was held by an army of seven thousand or eight thousand men, under General Joseph E. Johnston ; a much larger force, under General Beauregard, took position near Manassas Junction, about thirty miles from Washington, and a column of several thousand men, under General John B. Magruder, was stationed at Yorktown, on the peninsula between the York and James rivers, to cover Richmond from the direction of Fortress Monroe at the mouth of Hamp- ton Roads, which was still held by the Federal troops. Norfolk was also held by a strong force. With the exception of that occupied by General Garnett's command, all these positions were carefully fortified. Bethel Church and Rich Mountain. The Union army at Fortress Monroe num- bered about twelve thousand men, and was commanded by General B. F. Butler. Early in June, Magruder moved a force of eighteen hundred men and several pieces of artillery from Yorktown, and took position at Bethel - Church, about half way between Yorktown and Hampton. On the tenth of June he was attacked by a force of four thousand troops under General Pierce, of Massachusetts, but succeeded in repulsing the attack and main- taining his position. In the opposite quarter of the State, the Union forces were more successful. In order to prevent the Confederates from overrun"-, ning West Virginia, a strong body of Ohio and Indiana troops, under General George B. McClellan, was sent into that region, McClellan set to work at once to drive the Confederates out of West Virginia, and on , the third of June a portion of his command, ' under General Kelly, defeated General Garnett at Philippi. McClellan now advanced ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 6-5 against the main body of Garnett's forces. On the eleventh of July, he attacked the com- mand of Colonel Pegram at Rich Mountain, and defeated it. This defeat compelled Gen- eral Garnett to fall back towards the valley of Virginia. He was pursued by McClellan and overtaken at Carrir.k's ford, on the Cheat river. In the battle which ensued here, Gar- mander, Colonel Ellsworth, was killed by a citizen. Strong defences were erected on the Virginia shore between Washington and Alexandria, and the army was encamped within these lines. Two months were passed in organizing and disciplining this force, and in the meantime the people of the Northern and Western States became impatient of the nett was killed, and the remnant of his com- mand was driven beyond the mountains. The United States had assembled a con- siderable army of volunteers and regulars at Washington under Major-General Irwin Mc- Dowell. On the twenty-fourth of May, Alex- andria, on the Virginia side of the Potomac, nine miles below Washington, was seized by a detachment from this army. Its com- TH ROUGH B.\LTIMORE. delay, and demanded an immediate advance upon the southern army and Richmond. Preparatory to his own advance, General I McDowell sent General Patterson with twenty thousand men to cross the Potomac at W'il- j liamsport, and prevent General Johnston from 1 Icavmg the valley and joining Beauregard at j Manassas. Upon the arrival of Patterson I on the upper Potomac, General Jolinston 676 THE CIVIL WAR. evacuated Harper's Ferry and took position at Winchester. Patterson made a considerable show of force in the valley, but refrained from attacking Johnston, although the latter sought to induce him to do so. He took position about nine miles from Winchester, and remained inactive there. In the meantime the preparations for the advance of McDowell's army were completed, and on the seventeenth of July he began his march from the Potomac towards Bull Run, on the banks of which the Confederates were posted. His army numbered over fifty thou- sand men, and forty-nine pieces of artillery. As soon as the advance of this army was known to him. General Beauregard informed General Johnston of it, and begged him to come to his assistance. Johnston skilfully- eluded Patterson's army, and hastened to Bull Run, arriving there with a part of his command in time to take part in the battle. The Confederate army had taken position behind Bull Run, and in advance of Manassas Junction. Including the force brought by Geneval Johnston, who assumed the chief command b> virtue of his rank, it con- sisted of thirty-one thousand four hun- dred and thirty-one men and fifty-fiv-e guns. On the eighteenth of July General Mc- Dowell attempted to force a passage of Bull Run at Blackburn's ford, but was repulsed. On the morning ol the twenty-first, the Union army advanced in force, and endeav ored to turn the left of the Southern hne An obstinately- contested battle ensued, which lasted from sunrise until nearly sunset. It lesulted in the total defeat of the Federal army, which was driven back in utter rout upon Ale.xandria and Washington, with a loss of between four and five thou- sand men in killed, wounded and prison- ers, and twenty-eight pieces of artillery. For a while the effects of this disaster upon the Federal army were so great that Washington was almost defenceless; but the Confederates made no effort to follow up their victory. They were almost as badly de- moralized by tlieir success as the Union army by its defeat. Recovering from the dismay of its first great reverse, the government went to work i'ORTKAITS OF PROMINENT FEDERAL GENERALS THE CIVIL WAR. with vigor to repair the disaster. The lev\- of fi\e hundred thousand men oidered bj MAP SHOWINC Congress was raised promptly and difficulty, so eager was tiic dcsir SIIENANDO.AH V.ALLEY thout people to wipe out the disgrace of Bull Run. At his own request General Scott, whose bodily infirmities were so great as to render him unable to dis- cliarge the duties of his position, was re- lieved of the com- mand of the army. Major-Generai Geo. B. Mc CI el Ian was given the chief com- mand of the armies of the Union, and or- dered to take charge of the force assem- bling before Wash- ington, which was named the Army of the Potomac. He devoted himself with success to the task of organizing and dis- ciplining the recruits, which came pouring in during the fall and winter. The remainder of the year 1861 passed away quietly on the Potomac, with the single exception of the battle of Lees- burg. Colonel Baker, with a force of two thousand men, was sent by General Stone to cross the Potomac at Edward's ferry, and drive back the Con- federate force under General Evans from Leesburcf. He made his of the its position neat- attack on the twenty-first of October, but was ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 679 repulsed with the loss of eight hundred killed and wounded, being himself among the slain. The Confederate army held its position at Cjntreville through the fall and winter, and at one time its outposts were pushed forward within view of the city of Washington. • In the fall of 1S61 an army of ten thou- sand men was sent by the Confederate gov- ernment into the valley of Virginia to pre- vent its occupation by the federal forces. The command of these troops was conferred upon General T. J. Jackson, whose conspicuous gallantry at Bull Run had won him the so- briquet of" Stonewall Jackson," by which he -was afterwards known by both armies. He established his headquarters at A\'inchester. Prompt Action in Missouri. In the meantime the war had been going on in Western Virginia. After the transfer of General McClellan to Washington, the com- mand of the Union forces passed to Briga- dier-General Rosecranz, an able officer. He had several indecisive encounters with the '•commands of Generals Floyd and Wise, in the region of the Gauley and New rivers. General Robert E. Lee was sent by the Con- federate government to assume the chief command in the west. He attacked the brigade of General Reynolds at Cheat moun- tain on the fourteenth of September, but was repulsed and obliged to retreat. On the fourth of October, General Reynolds attacked a Confederate force under General Henry R. Jackson on the Greenbrier river, but was re- pulsed. The State of Missouri took no part in the secession movements of the spring of 1861. Her people were divided; a large party sympathized with the South ; but still a larger party was determined that the State should remain in the Union. These parties soon came in conflict. The governor and leading officials of the State were in favor of seces- sion, and used all their influence tu ^ring about the withdrawal of Missouri from the Union. A camp of the State militia was formed near St. Louis, and was called Camp Jackson in honor of the governor. It was known that the force assembled at this camp was intended to serve as a nucleus around which an army hostile to the federal govern- ment might assemble. By extraordinary exertions Colonel Frances P. Blair, Jr., a member of Congress from St. Louis, and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, commanding the troops at the Jefterson barracks, near St. Louis, succeeded in collecting a force of five regiments of Union volunteers. On the tenth of May, 1S61, Lyon with these five regiments suddenly surrounded Camp Jackson, and compelled General Frost, the commanding officer, to surrender his whole force, camp and equipments. By this prompt action the State forces were prevented from carrying out their plan for seizing the United States arsenal at St. Louis, which contained sixty thousand stand of arms of the latest patterns, and a number of cannon, and a large quantity of ammunition. For this decisive action Captain L}-on was commis- sioned a brigadier-general b_\- the President. Movements of General Lyon's Army. Satisfied that the desire of the southern party in Missouri to remain neutral was but a pretext to gain time to arm the State for a union with the Confederates, President Lin- coln determined to compel all the State forces not in the federal service to disband. An in- ter\iew was held at St. Louis on the eleventh of June between Governor Jackson and Gen- eral Lyon, now commanding the federal troops in Missouri. Governor Jackson de- manded that no United States forces should be quartered in or marched througli Mis- souri. General L>-on refused to comply with this demand, and insisted that the State forces 6So a ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 68 1 should be disbanded, pledging himself to respect the rights and privileges of the State. At the close of the interview the Governor returned to Jefferson City, the capital of the State, and the next day, the twelfth, issued his proclamation calling 50,000 of the State militia into active service for the purpose of driving the Federal troops from the State, and protecting the " lives, liberty and property of the citizens." General Lyon at once marched upon Jefferson City, and occupied it on the fifteenth, the Governor and his supporters having retired to the interior of the State. On the se\-enteenth Lyon proceeded to Booneville and defeated the State troops stationed there under General Price. The southwestern part of IMissouri is rich in deposits of lead, and valuable mines of this mineral are worked there. The State authorities were an.xiousto hold this region, as it was of the highest importance to them to obtain the use of these mines to supply their army with lead. A column of Federal troops under General Sigel was sent by Gen- eral Lyon to intercept the retreat of the State troops. On the fifth of July, Sigel attacked the State troops under Governor Jackson at Carthage, but was repulsed. Battle of Wilson's Creek. The next day, July 6th, Governor Jackson was joined at Carthage by General Sterling Price, of the ^Missouri State Guard, and Gen- eral Ben McCulloch, of the Confederate army, with several thousand men. The command of the whole force was conferred upon Gen- eral McCulloch, who had been ordered by his government to advance into Missouri. The Southern army, according to General AlcCulloch's statement, numbered 5,300 infantry, 6,000 mounted men and fifteen pieces of artillery. It advanced rapidly into the in- terior of the State, and on the ninth of August reached Wilson's Creek, near Springfield. General L\on had taken position there with a force somewhat smaller than that of the Confederates. On the morning of the tenth he attacked the Southern army. The battle lasted six hours, and was hotly con- tested. General L\-on was killed at the head of his troops while endeavoring to turn the left flank of the Confederates, and his army was forced back. His body was left in the hands of the Confederates, who treated it with becoming respect. Springfield was occupied by the Confeder- ates the day after the battle; but McCulloch and Price being unable to agree upon the plan of the campaign, they soon withdrew ? £< #-i- -''1 Ji^.-'-:^ -1^ to the Arkansas border. The Union army after the battle withdrew to RoUa, near the centre of the State. A few weeks later General Price with a force of over five thousand Confederates laid siege to Lexington, on the Missouri river, which was held by about three thousand men under Colonel Mulligan. iVftera gallant defence Mulligan was forced to surrender on the twentieth of September. Major-General John C. Fremont v.as now appointed by President Lincoln to take com- mand of the western arnu-. He forced Price's command back into the southwestern part of the Stato. Arriving near Springfield, ■682 PORTRAIT.-, OP Iki.munEnT J-EDtKAL GEXERALS. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 6S3 Fremont prepared to bring the Confederates to a decisive engagement, but on the second of November was removed from his com- mand. He was succeeded by General Hunter, who abandoned the pursuit, and fell back to St. Louis. On the eighteenth of November Hunter was superseded by Major-General Halleck, who by a rapid advance drove Price once more towards the Arkansas border. This movement closed the campaign of 1S61 in Missouri. The Union army had not only saved the State to the Union, but had con- fined the Confederates to the Arkansas border. Southern Party in Kentucky. In the meantime Governor Jackson had summoned the legislature of Missouri to meet at Neosho. It assembled at that place in October, passed an ordinance of secession, and elected delegates and senators to the Con- federate Congress. Though this action was merely formal, and received the support of but a small part of the people of Missouri, it was recognized as valid by the Confederate government, and ^Missouri was proclaimed one of the Confederate States. The governor and State authorities of Kentucky attempted at the outset of the war to hold the position of armed neutrality between the parties to the contest ; but as in the case of IMissouri, this effort failed. Neither the Federal government nor that of the Southern Confederacy could, in the nature of things, respect this neutralit}-. The Federal troops were poured into Ken- tucky, and the Confederates seized Columbus, on the Mississippi, Bowling Green, in the centre of the State, and other positions in the western part. The Southern party in Kentucky, within the protection of the Con- federate lines, organized a provisional govern- ment for the State, sent senators and repre- sentatives to the Congress at Richmond, which formally recognized Kentucky as one of the Confederate States. The force at Columbus was commanded by General Polk of the Confederate army. At Belmont, on the Missouri shore of the river, immediately opposite Columbus, a body of Confederate troops v/as stationed.' On the seventh of November, General U. S. Grant having descended the Mississippi from Cairo, attacked the force at Belmont with his command of three thousand men. After a sharp struggle he was repulsed, and forced to retreat to Cairo. On October iith, the privateer "Nash- ville," which had been fitted out by the Con- federates to capture Federal vessels, escaped from Charleston harbor and began to com- mit depredations upon the commerce of the North. The bold operations of the " Nash- ville" and other privateers produced a reign of terror on the high seas. Naval and Military Expedition. At the outset of the war the Confederates occupied the principal ports of the South, and a number of prominent points on the Atlantic coast. These were fortified by them as well as the means at hand would permit. The general government resolved to capture these as rapidly as possible, as their reduction was necessary in order to render the blockade of the southern coast effectual. The first expe- dition was despatched from Fortress Monroe in August, 1S61, under Commodore String- ham aud General Butler, and was directed against the Confederate works at Hatteras Inlet, which commanded the entrance to Albemarle and Pamlico sounds. These works were captured on the twent_\--ninth of August. The great extent of the coast to be block- aded by the na\y made it necessary that a good harbor at some central point should be sccur.'d, where supplies could be stored for ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 685 the fleet, and where vessels could refill with- out returninij to the northern ports. Port Royal harbor, in South Carolina, was selected as the best place for this purpose. It was defended by Fort Walker on Hilton Head and Fort Beauregard on the opposite side of the harbor. A powerful naval and militar\- expedition under Commodore Dupont and General Thomas W. Sherman attacked these Yorks on the seventh of November, and reduced them after terrible bombardment by the fleet. Port Royal was at once occupied by the expedition, and during the war was the principal depot on the southern coast for the fleets and armies of the L^nion. It was not possible, however, to render the blockade effective. Great efforts were made to increase the number of vessels employed in this duty, but the Confederates succeeded in eluding the Union cruisers almost at plea- sure, and a steady communication was main- tained between the southern ports and Eng- land by way of the West Indies. A number of armed vessels in the service of the Con- federacy succeeded in getting to sea. By the close of the year they had inflicted severe damage upon the commerce of the Northern States, and had almost driven the foreign trade of the Lfnited States from the ocean. Affair of the " Trent." During the early part of the war the South- ern government was encouraged to hope that the governments of England and France would recognize the independence of the Confederate States, and in the fall of 1 86 1, James M. Mason, of Virginia, and John Slidell, of Louisiana, were ordered to proceed to Europe, as commissioners from the Confederate States, to secure this recog- nition. They sailed from Charleston on the twelfth of October, and reached Cuba in safety. There they took passage for Plnglaad •on board the British mail-steamer " Trent." Hearing of this, Captain Wilkes, of the United States war-steamer " San Jacinto," o\-erhauIed the " Trent " upon the high seas boarded her, and seized the two commission- ers and their secretaries and sailed with them to Boston harbor, where they were im- prisoned in one of the forts. The "Trent" in the meantime proceeded on her voyage, and upon reaching England her commander informed the British govern- ment of the outrage that had been commit- ted upon its flag. The English government at once demanded of President Lincoln the immediate and uncr-nilitinnal release of the LIEUTEN.XNT-CENEKAL Vi iLK. Confederate commissioners and satisfac- tion for the insult to its flag. It was under- stood that France v/as prepared to sustain England in her demands. The Federal gov- ernment disavowed the action of Captain Wilkes in seizing the commissioners, and those gentlemen were released and allowed to continue their voyage. They reached England in due time. Mr. Mason proceeded to London and Mr. Slidell to France. Neither the English nor the French govern- ments would receive the commissioners offic- ially. It was understood that the United States would regard the interference of either in the American quarrel as a cause of war, and neither power cared to join in the struggle. Tennessee seceded from the Union, as we have related, in the spring of 1861. The 6S6 THE CIVIL WAR. western and central portions of the State were unanimously in favor of joining the Southern States and ga\e a hearty support to the Confederacy during the war, but East Tennessee, inhabited by a race of hardy mountaineers, was devoted to the Union, and was unwilling to leave it. In the autumn of l86i, the East Tennesseans took up arms against the Confederate Government, and began to destroy the railway bridges in that part of the State. This movement was full of danger to the Confederacy, as the principal line of commu- nication between Virginia and the Mississippi passed through East Tennessee. A consid- erable force of Confederate troops was sent JAMES M. MASON. into East Tennessee to hold the people in subjection and protect the railroads, but throughout the war, the hostility of the peo- ple of this region was a constant source of danger and weakness to the Confederates. When the year 1862 opened, the war had assumed colossal proportions. The military operations extended almost across the conti- nent, and engaged a number of powerful armies, and a formidable navy. The call of President Lincoln for troops had been cheer- fully responded to, and the opening of the year found the United States provided with a force of over half a million of men, splendidly armed and equipped, and supplied with every- thing necessary for the successful prosecution of the war. The North had profited by its first reverses, and was resolved that its next effort, which was to be made at the opening of the season for active operations, should find it thoroughly prepared for the task it had undertaken. A cordial support was given to the meas- ures of the government by the people. Its wants were supplied by means of a heavy loan which was readily negotiated with the capitalists of the Eastern States. From the moment that the despondency caused by the reverse at Bull Run had subsided sufficiently to enable the people of the loyal States to face the situation calmly, e\-er}-one saw that the work of preparation must all be done over JOHN sLIDELL. from the beginning, and it was done bravely and thoroughly. During the fall and winter the army was rapidly increased ; vessels were purchased and built for the navy. The Southern armies, on the other hand, had grown steadily weaker. The first suc- cesses of the Confederate troops had greatly demoralized the Southern people. Volun- teering soon ceased almost entirely. Even the heaviest bounties failed to bring recruits. There was a widespread delusion throughout the South that the war w-as practically ended. The measures of the Confederate Congress steadily thinned, instead of filling up the ranks of the Southern armies, and when the new year dawned there was grave reason to UlL UvKLaioJ. \U3U\ ^NXJbUDLLLO.V IHE CIVIL WAI fear that the sprint^ campaign would find the South without an adequate army unless more vigorous measures were resorted to. It was exceedingly doubtful whether the troops already in the service would renew their en- listments, which expired in the spring of 1862. During the winter the Southern Congress adopted a law granting a furlough and a heavy bounty to every soldier who would re-enlist for the war. The furlough was to be granted during the winter ; the bounty to be paid at a later period. Many of those who went home on these furloughs did so with the ■f'tcntion of remaining there ; and the practi- GR.\NT.S HEAU-OU.\KTERS NEAR FORT cal effect of the measure was to diminish the strength of the Confederate armies. At length the Confederate Congress was driven by the necessities of the situation to adopt a most stringent and sweeping measure. On the sixteenth of April, 1862, a conscription act i was passed, giving to the President of the Confederacy the power to call into the mili- tary service the entire male population of the various States between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years. In September, 1862, a second act was passed extending the con- :.cript age to forty-five years. The measure was acquiesced in by the Southern people, but was never popular with them. It served the purpose for which it was intended, however, and enabled the Confed- erate Government to collect a force of several hundred thousand men in the spring of 1862, and thus to fill up the ranks of its armies in the field, and to retain the regiments already in the service. When the spring opened, General Halleck, whose headquarters were at St. Louis, held Missouri against the Confederates with a powerful army. General Buell, with a con- siderable force, was stationed in Central Ken- tucky. In his front an inferior force of Con- federates, under General Albert Sidney John- ston, held Bowling Green and covered Nashville and the Tennessee and the Cumberland Rivers. They also held Colum- bus and other prominent points on the Mississippi. The Army of the Poto- mac, under General Mc- Clellan, lay along the Potomac, confronting the Confederate army of Northern Virginia, which held Centreville. A con- DONELSO.v. siderable force was col- lected at Fortress Monroe, and an army of about 10,000 Confederates, under Magruder, held a strongly fortified line, extending from Yorktown across the Peninsula to the James River. In addition to these forces, the Federal Government had collected a powerful flotilla of steamers and gunboats at Cairo, the junc- tion of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, to assist in the operations of the Western armies. The capture of New Orleans had been resolved upon, and a combined naval and military e.xpedition under Commodore Farragut and General Butler was assembled for that purpose; and another expedition ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 68. was organized in the Chesapeake for the ! reduction of Roanoke Island and the forts on 1 the North Carolina coast. I Soon after the opening of the new year, .Mr. Cameron, whose administration of the war department had failed to give satisfac- tion to the country, was removed by Presi- dent Lincoln, and sent to Russia as minister from the United States. The President on the thirteenth of January appointed Edwin M. Stanton, of Ohio, Secretary of War. Tlie new secretary was ^ confessedly one of ^ ^%i^ the ablest men in •==r^==a=^ "^^='- — "^' America, and his .^^^^^r accession to the — — — - control of the war department infused newlifeintothe mil- itary' preparations of the government. During the remain- der of the war he occupied this posi- tion, and itisnottoo much to say that his vigorous adminis- tration of his de- partment was one of the chief causes of the final success of the Union arms. Active operations were resumed earlier in the west than in the east. On tlie nineteenth of January, General George H. Thomas drove the Confederates under General Zol- licoffer from Mill Spring in Kentucky. The defeated force had held the right of the Con- federate line in Kentucky, the centre of which was at Bowling Green, and the left at Columbus, and its reverse was a serious disaster to the Confederates. The department of General Hallcck em- braced Kentucky in addition to the ccnintry west of the Mississippi. In order to hold the Cumberland and Tennessee ri\-ers, which aftorded water communication far back into the country in the rear of their line, tlie Con- federates had built a \vork, known as Fort Henry, on the Tennessee, a little south of the Kentucky border, and another and a stronger work, known as Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland and a little below Nashville. At the solicitation of Brigadier-General U. S. Grant, commanding at Cairo, General '■fei^g^:?^ A VIEW OF THE COLWTKV, SHOWING FORT DONELSON' IN THK DIST.\NCE. Halleck determined to capture tliese forts, and so break the Confederate line, and com- pel their army to fall back from Kentucky. Fort Henry was to be first attacked. The fleet of gunboats under Commodore Foote and Grant's troops from Cairo were sent against Fort Henry, which was captured on the sixth of February after a severe bombard- ment by the gunboats which had ascended the Tennessee. The garrison escaped to Fort Donelson, twelve miles distant across the country. 6go THE CIVIL WAR. The loss of Fort Henry compelled the Confederates to evacuate all their positions General Sidney Johnston slowly retired from Bowling Green upon Nashville, followed by General Buell. After the capture of Fort Henry the gunboats returned to Cairo, and, taking on board sup- plies and reinforce- ments for the army, ascended the Ohio and entered the Cumber- land, up which they passed to Fort Donel- son. Grant, in the meantime, marched across the country from Fort Henry to Fort Donelson.and in- vested the latter work. The roads were so dif- ficult that although the distance between the two forts was but twelve miles, Grant spent six days in marching it. This delay gave General Johnston an oppor- tunity to reinforce Fort Donelson. He halted at Nashville with his main army to await the result of Grant's attack on the fort. The gunboats did not join Grant until the fourteenth of Febru-= ary, and the invest- ment was not begun until their arrival. The f o 1 1 o w i n g graphic description of MAP SHOWING PITTSBURG LANDING AND CORINTH. in Kentucky. General Beauregard fell back 1 the capture of Fort Henry is from the pen oi from Columbus to Corinth, Mississippi, and | the historian, John Laird Wilson : 692 THE CIVIL WAR. "Immediately on receiving permission from Halicck to proceed with his propoied plan, Grant made arrangements for the attack on Fort Hcnrj'. He had at his disposal some seventeen thousand men. It was arranged that Commodore Foote, with a flotilla of seven gunboats, should move along the Ohio, steer up the Tennessee, and open the attack, while Grant, on the land side, should to move slowly and shell the woods, in order to discover whether there were any concealed batteries. "On the morning of the sixth it was under- stood that everything was in readiness for the attack, which was to be made simultaneously on land and water. A heavy thunder-storm had raged the previous night ; and, as a con- sequence, the roads were heavy and the -CLAD GUNBOAT. render what assistance was necessary and cut off all retreat. On .Monda\-, the second of February, Foote left Cairo, and on the morning of Tuesday he was a few miles below Fort Henry. Grant, in the meantime, with the divisions of .McClernand and C. F. Smith, had embarked in transports which were convoyed by the flotilla. These landed a few miles below the fort ; and Foote pro- ceeded up the river, having orders from Grant streams so swollen that bridges had to be built for the passage of artillery. The land forces, thus encountering unlooked-for obsta- cles, were considerably delayed. Shortly after twelve o'clock Foote opened fire upon the fort. Beginning at a thousand yards distance, he gradually ran his vessels to within si.K hundred yards of the enemy. The firing for a time was vigorously returned; but Foote pressed forth with irresistible ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINXOLX. 693 bravery, and Iiis men worked with a will and as if they meant to win. It was evident to Tilghman from tlie first that it was next to impossible for him to hold the fort. He nevertheless exerted himself to the utmost, encouraging his men alike by word and example, going so far as to work one of die guns himself Serious Accidents. . "A series of accidents meanwhile occurred inside the fort. A rifled twenty-four pounder burst, killing and wounding a number of the men. A forty-two pounder burst prematurely and killed three of the gunners. In a short time the well-directed fire from the gunboats had dismounted seven of the guns and made them useless ; the flagstaff also was shot away. The garrison became completely demoralized. It was in vain that Tilghman attempted to re- place the exhausted gunners. The troops in the camp outside the fort made good their escape, some by the Dover road, leading to Fort Donelson, others on board a steamer which was l\-ing a little above Fort Henry. "Foote had promised to reduce the fort within an hour. When he made that promise he counted on assistance from the forces on the land side. Without any such aid — for the land forces had not yet arrived on the scene — he made good his word; for the hour had scarcely expired when the white flag was raised. There was no unnecessary delay. The main body of his troops having made good their escape, Tilghman, with his staff and some si.xty artillerists, surrendered to the victorious Foote. In killed and wounded the Confederate loss was twent>'- one men. The only serious damage sus- tained by the fleet in the river was on board the ironclad Essex. A shot from the enemy had penetrated her boiler; and some twenty- nine officers and men, including Commander Porter, were seriously scalded." The capture of Fort Henry was felt b>' the South to be a damaging blow ; and it led to bitter murmuring and even loud complaints against the authorities at Richmond. It was justly regarded by the North as a victory of great importance. It was full of instruction,, inasmuch as it proved the value of gunboats on the narrow rivers of the West, especially' when acting in conjunction with land forces. It inspired hope, inasmuch as it reclaimed lo.st territor}', and restored the old flag. " Fort Henry is ours 1" said Halleck in his- despatch to McClellan. " The flag of the Union is re-established on the soil of Ten- nessee. It will never be remo\-ed." Foote was formally thanked by the Secretary of the Navy. " The country," he was told, " appre- ciates your gallant deeds, and this Depart- ment desires to convey to you and )-our brave associates its profound thanks for the service you have rendered." Important Union Success. Fort Donelson was a stronger work than Fort Henry, and was held by a force of about thirteen thousand men, commanded by Gen- eral John B. Floyd. On the fourteenth of February the gunboats opened fire upon the fort, and at the same time the army of Gen- eral Grant, reinforced to about thirty thou- sand men, began to occupy the positions as- signed it in the investment. The operations of the fourteenth ended with the repulse of the fleet, Commodore Foote being severely wounded in the engagement. Satisfied of his inability to hold the fort against the over- whelming force of the Federal army, General Floyd resolved to cut his way through, and retreat upon Nashville. On the fifteenth he made a gallant attempt to break Grant's lines, but was driven back, and a portion of the Southern intrenchments' remained in the hands of the Union army. On the night of the fifteenth a council of 694 war was held b\- the Confederate comman- ders. It was evident that escape was impos- sible and a surrender inevitable. General Floyd refused to surrender, and retreated from the fort with a considerable force of infantry and cavalry, with which he suc- .'ceeded in reaching Nashville. General Pil- low, who was left by Floyd in command, turned over the command to General Buck- ner, the next in rank, and joined Floyd in his flight. Being unable to offer further re- sistance. General Buckner, on the morning of the si.xtccnth, surrendered the fort and his troops unconditionally to the Federal army. IT 1SL.A.ND NO. lO. 1'he capture at Fort Donelson was by far the most important success that had yet been won by the Union armies, and was hailed with rejoicings throughout the north and west. By this capture over five thousand prisoners, besides the Confederate wounded, fell into the hands of the Union forces. The Federals also lost heavily in killed and wounded. General Johnston, upon learning of the fall of Fort Donelson, foil back from Nashviile to Murfreesboro', from which place he subse- quently continued his retreat across the State, and eventually joined General Beaure- gard, who had taken position at Corinth, at the junction of two important railway lines THE CIVIL WAR. on the northern border of Mississippi*. Beau- regard, in falling back from Columbus, had left a force at Island No. lO, which had been strongly fortified, to hold the ^Mississippi against the efforts of the Federal fleet and army to obtain the control of the river. Nashville was occupied by the army of General Buell, and Grant's army was moved up the Tennessee as far as Pittsburgh Land- ing. General Buell was ordered to march across the country from Nashville to the Tennessee, to unite his forces with Grant's and attack the Confederates at Corinth. General Johnston, the Confederate com- mander, had feared this concentration, which would make the __ Federal power in this quarter irresis- ~ =^ tible, and had de- '/ termined to attack Grant's army and — crush it before Buell could arrive, _ after which he would be free to — " engage Buell. His plan was ably con- ceived but his march was delayed by the fearful state of the roads, and he did not arrive opposite the Federal position until two da}'s after the time fixed for his attack. Grant was encamped at Shiloh Church, near Pittsburgh Landing, with the Tennessee river in his rear. On the morning of Sunday, April si.xth, his army was suddenly attacked by Johnston, and was driven steadily from its original position to the banks of the Tennessee, where it was sheltered by the fire of the gunboats. The battle was stubbornly contested, and the losses on both sides were very heavy. Late in the afternoon General Johnston was mortally wounded, and died soon after- wards. The command passed to General ^i*^'^>,^ ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 695 tJeauregard, ^vho failed to follow up his advantage. During the night the army of General Buell arrived, and reinforced Grant. Ontheniorning of the seventh Grant attacked the Confederates, and after a sharp fight drove them back. They retreated slowly and returned to Corinth. While these operations were in progress, the gunboats under Commodore Foote and a strong force of Western troops under Pope laid siege to Island No. 10, on the j\lis- sissippi. After a bombardment of twent\-- three days, the Confederate works were cap- tured, together with five thousand prisoners, on the seventh of April, the day on which Beauregard was driven back from Shiloh The Confederates still held Fort Pillow a strong work a short distance above Mem phis. If this could be captured, the Feder i\ \ forces would obtain the control of the ri\Li as far south as Vicksburg. General Po; Avas anxious to move against it at once, b it his army was ordered to join General Hdl Jeck. Commodore Foot being disabled b\ his wound received at Fort Donelson, wis succeeded by Captain Davis, who descended > the river and took position above Fort Pil low. General Halleck now repaired to the Ten- nessee, and took command of the Union armies there, amounting to more than one hundred thousand men. He moved forward leisurely towards Corinth, and laid siege to that place. Beauregard, seeing that it was impossible to hold Corinth against this greatly superior force, evacuated it on the night of the twenty-ninth of May, and retreated to Tupelo, Mississippi. The next day General Halleck occupied Corinth. Tlie loss of Corinth compelled the evacuation of Fort Pillow, which was abandoned by the Confederates on the fourth ot June. On the sixth the Union gunboats descended the river to Memphis, and dcL-atcd the Confederate flotilla abo\-e that cit_\-. Memphis at once surrendered, and was occupied by the Union forces. All West Kentucky and West Ten- nessee were now under the control of the Union armies, which now occupied a line e.xtending from Memphis, through Corinth, almost to Chattanooga. Early in Jul\- news came to the East of another massacre in the IMormon territory. A fanatic by the name of Morris, who claimed to be the true successor of Joseph Smith, and had gathered several hundred followers, was accused of having committed various depredations, and a small force was sent by order of the chief Mr>nii"ns to arrest him. The force was under command of one Burton, sheriff of Salt Lake county. Morris refused to surrender, a conflict ensued, the camp of the Morrisites was riddled with cannon balls, and Morris was shot by Burton, Two Brighamites and ten Morrisites wer<< killed, and a large number were wounded. Tiie attacking party appears to have prac tlced unnecessary' cruelty. Returning to the story of the war, the Confederates still held East Tennessee in heavy force. Shortly after the evacuation ol Corinth General Beauregard was removed from his command, and was succeeded by General Braxton Bragg Bragg was strongly 696 THE CIVIL WAR. reinforced, and it was determined to make a bold effort to drive back the Federal advance and regain West Tennessee and, if possible, Kentucky. Bragg's army was concentrated at Chattanooga, and Geneneral Kirby Smith at Knoxville was strongly reinforced. Smith was to move from Knoxville, while Bragg was to advance from Chattanooga, and the two armies were to unite in the centre of the State ol Kentucky. Their combined forces amounted to over fifty thousand men, and it Smith then occupied Lexington and Frank- fort, and advanced towards Cincinnati ; but ascertaining that a strong force was assem- bling at that cit\', under General Lewis Wal- lace, he fell back to Frankfort, where he joined General Bragg on the fourth of October. Bragg had begun his march as soon as Kirby Smith had gotten fairly started. His objective point was Louisville, and he hoped to be able to elude the army of General Buell, which wa^ a' \':\-hville, and bv a rapid ad- *^'^^ was hoped that this piovement would compel the Federal army to abandon its advance, and fall back into Kentucky to protect that State and Ohio from ihe Confederates. Then, by a decisive victory, Bragg expected to be able to overrun and hold Kentucky and even to invade Ohio. The division of General Smith moved for- ward about the middle of August, and on the thirtieth of August defeated a Union force under General INIanson at Richm.ond, Ken- tucky', inflicting upon it a loss of 6,000 men. I vance seize Louis\-ille before BucU's arriva!. By the seventeenth of September he was at Munfordsville, Kentucky, which he captured after several slight encounters, taking forty- five hundred prisoners. BueU in the mean- time had divined Bragg's purpose, and had set out from Nashville for the Ohio by forced marches. He reached Louisville before the arrival of the Confederates, and being heavily reinforced advanced to attack Bragg, who had turned aside and occupied Frankfort on the fourth of October. N Mu^^^^^^r^A' ^^^\ ''/ PORTRAITS OF PROMINEXT COXFEDERrTE^ ^NERALS. 697 698 THE CIVIL WAR. Bragg fell back slowly, ravaging the coun- try along his route, and was followed by Buell with equal deliberation. On the eighth of October an indecisive battle was fought be- tween the two armies at Perryville. After this conflict, in which both sides lost heavily, Buell refrained from attacking Bragg again, and the latter continued his retreat leisurely into Tennessee, taking with him a wagon train forty miles in length, loaded with plunder -captured in Kentucky. Grant Strikes Decisive Blows. During this campaign the Federal army under General Grant had held its line in West Tennessee, extending from Corinth to Mem- phis. A Confederate army under Generals Price and Van Dorn was assembled in Mis- sissippi in front of the Union position. Grant, who was now in command of the Federal forces in West Tennessee (Halleck having been summond to Washington as Com- manding General), ordered General Rosecrans to his assistance. Upon the arrival of this commander with his troops. Grant advanced upon Price at luka, and defeated him on the nineteenth of September. He then repaired to Jackson, Tennessee, leaving Rosecrans with nineteen thousand men to hold Corinth against the Confederates. After his defeat at luka Price was joined by Van Dorn, whose troops brought the strength of the Confederate army to eighteen thousand men. They at once advanced upon Corinth, and on the fourth of October attacked that place. The battle which ensued was noted for the obstinacy with which it was contested by both sides. The Confederates were defeated with a loss of about three thou- sand killed and wounded, and were pursued for about thirty miles southward. The Union . loss was about five hundred and eighteen killed, wounded and missing. The Federal Government was greatly dis- satisfied with Bucll's failure to intercept Bragg, and upon his arrival at Nashville he was removed from the command of his army, which was conferred upon General Rose- crans, as a reward for his victory at Corinth. Bragg had taken position near Murfreesboro', about thirty miles distant from Nashville, and Rosecrans, towards the last of December, moved upon that place to attack him. Bragg had at the same time completed his prepara- tions to resume the offensive, and had begun his advance upon Nashville, and the two armies encountered each other at Stone River, near Murfreesboro', on the thirty-first of December. They were about equal in strength, each numbering about forty thou- sand men. Bragg Repulsed by Rosecrans. The battle was fiercely disputed, but at nightfall Rosecrans was driven back with heavy loss, and Bragg telegraphed to Rich- mond news of a great victory. Rosecrans, however, had merely fallen back to a new and stronger position. On the second ol January, 1863, Bragg renewed his attack, but w-as repulsed with terrible slaughter. On the third a heavy rain fell and prevented all military operations, and that night Bragg retreated from the field. He retired in good order to Tullahoma, about thirty miles from Murfreesboro'. The losses on both sides in this battle were heavy, ranging from ten thousand to twelve thousand men in each army. The Confederates, having lost the upper and lower Mississippi, had fortified Vicksburg and Port Hudson, in order to maintain their hold upon that stream, and to keep open their communications with the country west of the Mississippi. Vicksburg had been made a post of extraordinary .strength, and was gar. risoned by a considerable force of Confed-. erate troops. Towards the last of the yeai ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 699 General Grant determined to undertake an expedition against it. He sent General Sher- man with forty thousand men, and a fleet of gunboats, under Commodore Porter, to de- scend the Mississippi and attack the southern works above the city ; and advanced south- ward from Corinth with the main army by land. Grant had accomplished full\- half the distance when a strong body of Con- federate cavalry, under General Van Dorn, made a dash into his rear, and on the twen- tieth of December cap- tured Holly Springs, Grant's principal de- pot of supplies. This movement compelled Grant to abandon his advance upon \'icksburg, and to fall back and re- establish his com- munications with his base. Sherman, ignor- ant of this disaster, left Memphis on the twentieth of Decem- ber, and a few days later landed his troops on the banks of the Yazoo, from which he advanced upon the Confederate works at ■Chickasaw bayou, on the north of Vicksburg. On the twenty-ninth of December he made a spirited attack upon them, but was repulsed. He withdrew his troops to the boats, and retired to Young's Point, on the Louisiana .shore, a short distance above Vicksburg. The Confederates were driven out of Mis- souri at the close of 1S61, and retired into Arkansas. General Van Dorn was now sent by the Confederate government to take command of the forces of Price and McCul- GENERAL SHER.M.\N AT THE OUTBKE.-\K. OF THE W.\ loch, which numbered about sixteen thousand men. He reached the head-quarters of this force on the third of March, 1862. The Federal army, under General Curtis, with General Sigel as his second in command, had taken position on the heights of Pea ^rrrr'-rr: — r L = ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Ridge, around Sugar creek, in the north- | western part of Arkansas. It numbered about eleven thousand men. On the seventh of March Van Dorn attacked the Union army in this position, and after a bloody fight, which lasted for about seven or eight hours, dro\-e it back. Curtis took up a new position during the night, and the next morning the Confederates renewed the attack, and were repulsed. After the battle of Shiloh, the troops of Price and Van Dorn were withdrawn across the Mississippi to reinforce General Beau- regard at Corinth. We have seen them bearing the brunt of the campaign in northern Mississippi against Grant's army. Towards the close of the summer, it being necessar}- to make a vigorous effort to hold the trans- Mississippi region against the efforts of the Union forces, the Confederate government sent Lieutenant-General Holmes to take command of it. The operations in this region during the remainder of the \-ear were of an unimportant character. General Burnside's Expedition. The plan of the Federal government for seizing the prominent points on the coast was carried forward with great energy during the year 1862. Between Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, on the coast of North Caro- lina, lies Roanoke Island, famous as the scene of Sir Walter Raleigh's unfortunate attempts to colonize America, and com- manding the entrance to Albemarle Sound. The possession of this island by the Federal forces would give them the command of the rivers entering into the sounds, pla:e the rear defences of Norfolk at their mercy, and afford them a safe base from which to attack the towns on the North Carolina coast. The Federal government having determineil to obtain possession of Roanoke Island, a j powerful expedition against it was fitted out | earl\- in the year, under the command of Major-General Ambrose E. Burnside. The expedition sailed from Hampton Roads on the eleventh of January, 1862, and after narrowly escaping being scattered by a severe storm, passed through Hatteras inlet, and anchored in Pamlico Sound on the twenty-eighth. On tlie si.xth of February the fleet took position off Roanoke Island, and on the seventh opened fire upon the Confederate works. Under the cover of this fire a force of over ten thousand troops was landed upon the island. On tlie eighth. Gen- eral Burnside attacked the Confederate in- trenchments and carried them after a sharp contest. The entire Confederate force, num- bering about twentj'-five hundred men, fell into his hands as prisoners of war. On the tenth, the Confederate squadron in Albemarle Sound was attacked and destro}-ed, or cap- tured. Having established himself firmly on Ro' anoke Island, General Burnside prepared to reduce the towns along the coast of North Carolina. On the fourteenth of March, New- berne surrendered to him, and on the twenty- fifth of April, Fort Macon, at the entrance of Beaufort Harbor, one of the strongest works on the coast, capitulated. Successes on the Florida Coast. Some important successes were won on the Coast of Florida during the spring of this )ear. An expedition from Port Royal cap- tured Fernandina and Fort Clinch, on the twenty-eightb. of February, and a little later Jacksonville, on the St. John's River, and St. Augustine passed into the hands of the Fed- eral troops. Brunswick and Darien, import- ant places on the coast of Georgia, were cap- tured about the same time. The most important naval e.vpcdition of the >-car was that which resulted in the capture of New Orleans. The Federal 702 PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCIPAL NAVAL COMMANDERS DURING THE WAR. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 703 Government had recognized from the firs'. the importance of regaining possession of the Mississippi, and, as we have seen, a large fleet of gunboats had been prepared on the upper waters of that stream to co-operate with the army in its eftbrts to capture the fortified posts along the river. All these efforts, how- ever, were useless as long as the Confederates retained possession of the lower river or of the important city of New Orleans, the com- mercial metropolis of the South. It was resolved at an early period of the struggle to wrest New Orleans from the Confederates, and a fleet of forty-five vessels of war and mortar-boats was assembled for this purpose, and placed under command of Commodore Farragut, an able and experienced officer. To the fleet was added a force of fifteen thousand troops, under General B. F. Butler. The expedition rendezvoused at Ship Island, near the mouth of the Mississippi, in the tarly part of March. Tactics of Admiral Farragut. About twenty miles above the head of the passes of the Mississippi, and about seventy miles below New Orleans, the entrance to the river is defended by two strong works — Fort Jackson on the right bank of the stream, and Fort St. Philip on the left — both built before the war. The Confederates had further strengthened their position by stretching six heavy chains, supported on a series of dismasted schooners, across the river, from shore to shore, to prevent the passage of ships. Early in April the fleet sailed from Ship Island, leaving the troops there to await the result of its operations, and entering the Mississippi took position below the forts. On the eighteenth the bombardment of the forts was begun by the ships and the mortar-boats, and was continued with great rigor until the twenty-fourth. The results of this bombardment was most discouraging, and Farragut became convinced that the forts could not be reduced by the fire of the fleet. He therefore determined to pass them with his vessels and so neutralize them. The chain and raft barricade across the river had been broken by a severe storm, and Farragut sent a party to enlarge the gap made in it, so as to admit the passage of the fleet. This task was accomplished with great gallantry. At three o'clock, on the morning of the twenty-fourth of April, the fleet got under headway and began to ascend the river, the commodore in his flag-ship, the " Hartford," leading the way. The fleet consisted of seventeen vessels, carrying two hundred and ninety-four guns. Desperate Naval Battle. As the vessels came abreast of the forts the Confederates opened a heavy fire upon them, to which they responded with vigor. The forts were passed in safety at length and a short distance above them Farragut encountered the Confederate fleet, consisting of sixteen vessels, but eight of which were arnied. Two of these were iron-clads, how- ever. A desperate battle ensued, which resulted in the total destruction of the south- ern fleet. When the sun rose on the morn- ing of the twenty-fourth the forts had been passed, and the resistance of the Confederate vessels had been overcome. There was nothing now between the Federal fleet and New Orleans, and Farragut, ascending the river slowly and cautiously, anchored in the stream, in front of the city, on the morning of the twenty-fifth. He at once demanded the capitulation of New Orleans, which had been evacuated by the Confederate troops on the previous day. and the city was surrendered to him by the municipal authorities. On the twenty-eighth Forts Jackson and St. Philip surrendered to- 704 ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 705 .Captain Porter, the commander of the mor- tar fleet. New Orleans being taken, word was sent to General Butler, at Ship Island, to hasten forward with his troops to occupy it. He arrived on the first of May, and at once took possession of the citj'. Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, was occupied by the Federal forces, and Farragut pushed on up the river, and, passing the Confederate bat- teries at Grand Gulf and Vicksburg, joined the fleet of Commodore Davis at Memphis. The capture of New Orleans was a terrible blow to the South. It deprived the Con- federacy of the largest and wealthiest city within its limits, and wrested from it the whole of the lower Mississippi. Fort Pulaski Surrenders. Another success was gained by the Union arms on the Southern coast. An expedition from Port Royal, under General Hunter, laid siege to Fort Pulaski, near the mouth of the Savannah River. This fort was constructed ty the Federal government previous to the war, and constituted one of the principal defences of the city of Savannah. On the eleventh of April, after a bombardment of fifteen days, it surrendered to General Hunter. Its capture closed the Savannah River to the entrance of the class of vessels known as blockade runners, and deprived the South of the use of one of its principal ports. The events of this year in Virginia were of the highest importance. The Army of the Potomac, nearly two hundred thousand strong, was ready for active operations with the early spring. General McClellan was anxious to avail himself of the superior naval strength of the United States to transport his army to a point on the Chesapeake Bay, from which it could easily interpose between the Confederate army, under General John- ston, and Richmond. Suspecting such a design on the part of 45 McClellan, Johnston abandoned his position at Centreville, on the eighth of March, and fell back to the Rappahannock, and a little later moved back still farther to the line of the Rapidan. McClellan advanced to Cer.- treville as soon as informed of Johnston's withdrawal, but was too late to interfere with the movements of the Confederate army. Exploits of the " Merrimac." Simultaneous with Johnston's withdrawal from Centreville occurred an incident whuh forms one of the most striking episodes of the war, and led to results of world-wide importance. Upon the evacuation of the Norfolk navy yard by the Federal forces, at the outset of the war, the splendid steam frigate " Merrimac " was scuttled and sunk This vessel was subsequently raised by the Confederates, and rebuilt by them. Her upper deck was removed, and she was covered with a slanting roof. Both the roof and her sides were heavily plated with iron, and a long, stout bow was fitted to her to enable her to act as a ram. She was then armed with ten heavy guns, and named the " \^ir- ginia." Thus prepared, she was the most powerful vessel afloat. As soon as the " Virginia " was ready fov service the Confederate authorities deter- mined to test her efficiency by attempting tc- destroy the Federal fleet to Hampton Roads. On the eighth of March the " Virginia," ac companied by two small vessels, left Norfoil-' and steamed down the Elizabeth River into Hampton Roads. Her appearance took thj Federal fl.ct by surprise, and a heavy fire was concentrated upon her from the fleet and the batteries on shore at Newport News, at the mouth of the James River. Shot and shell flew harmlessly from her iron sides, and, firing slowly as she ad\anced, she aimed straight for the sloop of war " Cumberland "' —the most formidable v<;ssel of her class in 7o6 THE CIVIL WAR. the nav•^' — and sunk her with a blow of her iron prow. The frigate "Congress," lying near by, was chased into shoal water and compelled to surrender, after which she was set on fire. GENERAL GEORGE B. M CLELL.^N The ram then endeavored to inflict a similar fate upon the frigate " Minnesota," but that vessel escaped into water too shallow for the iron-clad to venture into. At sunset the "Virginia" drew oft, and returned to the Elizabeth River. She had destroyed two of the finest vessels in the Federal navy, and inflicted upon her adversaries a loss of two hundred and fifty officers and men. She was herself uninjured, and had but two men killed and eight wounded. The success of the "Virginia" struck terror to the fleet in Hampton Roads, and it was by no means certain that the vic- torious vessel would not the next day either attack Fort Monroe, or pass by it and as- cend the Chesapeake, in which case both Washington and Bal- timore would be at her mercy. During the night, however, a most unlooked-for assist- ance arrived. The " Monitor," an iron- clad vessel of a new plan, invented by Cap- tain John Ericsson, entered Hampton Roads on her trial trip from New York. Upon learning the state of affairs her commander. Lieuten- ant Worden, deter- mined to engage the " Virginia " the next day. On the morning of the ninth the " Vir- ginia " again steamed out of the Elizabeth River into Hampton Roads. The "Monitor," though her inferior in size, and carrying but a single gun, at once moved forward to meet her. An engagement of several hours' duration ensued, in which both vessels were fought ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 707 with great gallantry ; and at the end of this time the " Virginia " drew off, and returned to Norfolk severely injured. The arrival of the " Monitor" was most fortunate. It saved the Federal fleet in Hampton Roads from total destruction, and prevented the " Vir- ginia " from extending her ravages to the ports of the Union. The battle between the " Monitor " and the " Virginia " will ever be famous as the first engagement between iron- clad vessels. It inaugurated a new era in naval warfare. In spite of the result of the battle, ho\ve\-er, the presence of the " Vir- ginia" at Norfolk deterred the Federal forces from risking an attack on that place, and prevented them from mak- ing any effort to ascend the James River with their fleet. In the meantime the army of Gen- eral McClellan had returned to its p.jsition near Alexandria, after the retreat of the Confederates to the Rapidan. General IMcClellan now proposed to move the bulk of his army to Fortress Monroe, and to advance from that point upon Rich- mond by way of the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. About seventy-five thousand men were left on the Potomac to cover Washington, and the remainder, about one hundred and twenty thousand in number, were trans- ported by water to Fortress Monroe. This movement was accomplished by the second of April. Johnston's Successful Retreat. On the fourth the Army of the Potomac began its march towards the lines of York- town, which were held by about eleven thousand five hundred men, under General Magruder. The Confederate commander had passed the first year of the war in forti- fying his position, and had constructed a series of powerful works which enabled him, with his small force, to hold McClellan's whole army in check. On ,he fifth and sixth of April McClellan made repeated attempts to force the southern lines, and failing in these decided to lay siege to them. The time thus gained by Magruder enabled General Johnston to move his army from the Rapidan to the peninsula. It was in position on the lines of Yorktown by the seventeenth of April, making the force opposed to McClellan about fifty-eight thousand strong. The Confederates did not expect to hold VIEW OF THE RAHOMINV NE.AR MECHANICSVILLE. their position on the peninsula, but from the first intended to move back nearer to Richmond, and occupy the line oftheChick- ahominy. When their preparations were completed they fell back from the lines of Yorktown, on the night of the third of May, just as McClellan was about to begin his bombardment of their position. The Federal army discovered the retreat on the morning of the fourth of May, and moved forward promptly in the hope of inter- cepting the Southern army. On the morning of the fifth the advanced forces attacked the 7o8 rear-guard of Johnston's army at Williams- burg. The Confederate commander held his THE CIVIL WAR. MAP OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA. ground until his trains had gotten off in | hominy, and lod-ed it reached the Chickahominy about the tenth of May without further molestation from the Union forces. General McClellan, following leisurely, took posi- tion on the left bank of the Chickahominy, with the river between the two armies. In accordance with General McClellan's urgent request. Presi- dent Lincoln decided to order the force left to cover Washington to join the Army of the Potomac, before Richmond, by the way of Fredericks- burg. With his force thus augmented the Union commander had no doubt of his ability to capture Richmond. Alive to this danger General Johnston directed General Jackson, who had been left to hold the valley of Vir- ginia,to manoeuvre his army so as to threaten \\\-ishington,and com- pel the Federal gov- ernment to retain the force intended for j\Ic- Clellan for the defence of Washington. While awaiting the arrival of this force McClellan threw his left wing across the Chicka- osition nearer to safety, and then resumed his retreat, and | Richmond. The Federal lines now extended ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 709 from Bottom's Bridge, on the Chickahominy, to Mechanicsville, north of that stream. TIio evacuation of the peninsula compelled the Confederates to abandon Norfolk also. They withdrew their troops from that city on the ninth of May, and sent them to rein- f^.rce General Johns- ton. On the tenth Nor- folk and Portsmouth were occupied by the Federal forces under General Wool. Before leaving the Confeder- ates had set fire to the jiavy yard, which was destro)-ed. The iron- clad steamer " Vir- ginia"' was taken into the James River, and on the eleventh was abandoned and blown up. The loss of this steamer, which could have held the James against the whole Union fleet, left the river open to within eight miles of Rich- mond. The gunboats, in- cluding the " Moni- tor," were sent up to try to force their way to Richmond, but on the fifteenth of May were driven back by a battery of heavy guns located on the heights at Drewry's bluff, eight miles below Richmond. They were badly injured by the plunging fire of the Confederates. The river was securely obstructed at this point to prevent a pas- .'iage of the batteries by the Federal fleet. Ha\ing been heavily reinforced, General Johnston determined to attack McClellan's exposed left wing, and on the thirty-first of May fell upon it at Seven Pines, and drove it back with heavy loss. General Johnston LIEUTENANT-GENERAL T. J. JACKSON. was severely wounded towards the close of the day, and was unable to carrj- out the plan upon which he had begun the battle. The next day there was hca\y skir- mishing until about ten o'clock in the morn- ing, but nothing of a more •^prions nature was THE CIVIL WAR. attempted by either side. General McClel- lan, warned by the narrow escape of his left wing, now proceeded to fortify his position on the south bank of the Chickahominy. While these events were in progress on the Chickahominy, General Jackson carried out with brilliant success the movements assigned him in the valley of Virginia. His task required the exercise of the greatest skill and determination. He was to neu- tralize the forces of Fremont, Banks and McDowell, and prevent them from render- ing any assistance to McClellan. Jackson's army fell back from Winchester on the elev- enth of March, and retired as far as Mount Jackson. Then rapidly retracing its steps it attacked Banks' forces at Kernstown, near Winchester. Though repulsed in this engagement, it succeeded in alarming the Federal government for the safety of Wash- ington. Banks' command was therefore retained in the valley to watch Jackson, and the force under McDowell was not allowed to go to McClellan's assistance on the peninsula, lest by so doing it should uncover Washington. After the battle of Kernstown Jackson retired up the valley, and a season of comparative quietude ensued. The Federal government even believed that his troops had been sent to Richmond. Jackson's Brilliant Achievements. Fremont's army was ordered to move from western Virginia into the valley; Banks was directed to march to Manassas and cover Washington ; while McDowell, with forty thousand men, was ordered to move from Fredericksburg, fiom which he was to march across the country and unite with McClel- lan's left wing, which was thrown out far to the north of Richmond to meet him. These orders were in process of execution when Jackson, who had been reinforced by a divis- ion under General Ewell, destroyed the whole Federal plan of campaign. Knowing that he could not possibly resist the combined forces of Fremont and Banks, Jackson determined to beat them in detail. Marching rapidly westward, he crossed the mountains, fell upon the advance guard of Fremont's army at McDowell, on the eighth of May, defeated it, and drove it back into western Virginia. Tiien retracing his steps with remarkable speed, he returned to the valley, and on the twenty-third of May attacked Banks' outlying force at Front Royal, and drove it in upon the main body at Strasburg. Banks at once broke up his camp and fell back down the valley, pursued by Jackson, who dealt him a terrible blow at Winchester on the twenty-fifth. By extraordinary exer- tions Banks succeeded in escaping across the Potomac, but left about three thousand prisoners, several pieces of artillery, nine thousand stand of arms, and the greater part of his stores in the hands of the Confederates. Richmond Saved from Capture. This bold advance greatly alarmed the government at Washington, and the Presi- dent ordered Fremont to move with speed into the valley, and directed General Mc- Dowell to suspend his movement to the assistance of McClellan, and send a force of twenty thousand men to gain Jackson's rear and prevent his return up the valley. Mc- Dowell sent the required force under General Shields, and Fremont hurried on to gain the upper valley in advance of Jackson. These movements entirely prevented McClellan from receiving the assistance of McDowell's corps, and saved Richmond from capture. Jackson was too good a general to be caught in a trap so skillfully laid for him. He retired up the valley with the greatest speed, and having interposed his army PORTRAITS or PROMINKN I ( OM 1 DrRA'It; GKNERALS. 71 1 THE CIVIL WAR. between Fremont and Shields, turned upon the former, and with a part of his force attacked him at Cross Ke\-s on the eighth of June, and checked his advance. Then re- uniting his forces he fell upon Shields at Port Republic on the ninth of June, and drove him back with heavy loss after one of the hardest fought battles of the war. Hav- ing thus put an end to the pursuit of his antagonists, Jackson withdrew to a safe posi- tion, from which he could hold them in check or go to the aid of the army defend- ing Richmond. The latter move being decided upon, he eluded the Federal forces in the valley, and marched rapidly to the Chickahominy. Be- fore his absence from the valley was sus- pected, he had joined General Lee. His campaign in the valley is justly regarded as one of the most brilliant of the war. With less than twenty thousand men he had neu- tralized a force of sixty thousand Union troops, and prevented the e.xccution of Mc- Clellan's carefully laid plans for the capture of Richmond. General Lee Takes Command. Upon the fall of General Johnston the command of the Confederate army before Richmond was conferred upon General Robert E. Lee, whom subsequent events proved to be the ablest of the Southern leaders. Troops were drawn from every pos- sible point to reinforce General Lee's army, and by the middle of June his forces, includ- ing Jackson's army, amounted to ninety thousand men. The Federal army was one hundred and fifteen thousand strong. Both armies were in fine condition. General Mc- Clellan, finding it impossible to obtain the assistance of McDowell's corps, and fearing for the safety of his communications with his base of supplies, which was at West Point, at the head of the York River, pieparcd to move his army to the south side of the Chickahominy, and establish a new and more secure base upon the James River. Before he could put this design in opera- tion he was attacked by General Lee, who, on the twent\--fifth of June, fell upon the right of the Union line at Mechanicsville, and forced it back upon the centre at Cold Harbor. On the twenty-sixth the position at Cold Harbor was attacked and carried by the Confederates after a desperate struggle. With great difficulty McClellan secured his retreat to the south side of the Chickahom- iny, and destroyed the bridges in his rear. Having decided to retreat to the James River rather than attempt to retain his com- munication with West Point, McClellan destroyed his stores, and on the twenty- eighth began his retreat from the Chicka- hominy by way of White Oak Swamp. As soon as his movement was discovered pur- suit was made by the Confederates, who attacked his rear guard under General Sum- ner at Savage Station late in the afternoon of the twenty-ninth. Sumner held his ground until the darkness put an end to the action, and during the night of the twenty-ninth withdrew across White Oak Swamp, destroy- ing all the bridges after him. End of the "Seven Days' Battles." On the thirtieth General Lee made a last effort to prevent McClellan from reaching the James, and towards the close of the afternoon the bloody battle of Frazier's Farm was fought. It was continued until nine o'clock. The Federal force at Frazier's Farm held its ground until the remainder of McClellan's army had .«afely traversed White Oak Swamp. The object of the battle hav- ing been accomplished, McClellan resumed his retreat to the James River, and took posi- tion upon Malvern Hill, within a short dis- tance of that stn-am. Here he massed his ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 7M artillerj', and the gunboats in the James I River moved up to a point from which they could throw their shells into the Confederate lines. On the afternoon of the first of July the Confederates made a gallant attempt to carry Malvern Hill, but were repulsed with severe loss. The next morning the Federal ami)- withdrew to Harrison's Landing on the James River. Thus ended the " Seven Da>-s' Battles," during which the Federal army lost about twenty thousand men in killed, wounded and prisoners, fifty-two pieces of artillery, thirty-five thousand stand of arms, and an enormous quantity of stores of all kinds. The Confederate loss was nineteen thousand five hundred and thirtj^-three killed, wounded and missing. The retreat of McClellan's army threw the North into the deepest despondency. On the second of July President Lincoln issued a eall for three hundred thousand fresh troops. The necessities of the struggle, however, made this force insufficient, and on the fourth of August the President ordered that a draft of three hundred thousand militia should be made and placed in the ser\'ice of the United States for a period of nine months unless sooner discharged. The States complied with the requisitions upon them, and in the brief period of three months the enormoLis mass of si.x hundred thousand fresh troops was raised, armed and placed in the field. Battle of Cedar Mountain. For the protection of Washington the Federal government now collected the com- mands of Banks, Fremont and McDowell in one army, and placed it under command of Major-General John Pope, whose capture of Lland No. lo and other points in the west had given him a fair reputation. He assumed his new command with a jjrofiision of boasts, and promised to succeed where McCleilan had failed. According to General Pope th.j capture of Richmond was the easiest under- taking in the world. His army towards the latter part of July advanced to the Rapidan. To watch this force General Lee. late in July, sent General Jackson's corps to the Rapidan. On the ninth of August Jackson attacked the ad\anced corps of Pope's army at Cedar Mountain, and defeated it. This defeat suspended General Pope's forward movement. General McCleilan now received orders from Washington to evacuate Harri- son's Landing and to reinforce General Pope with his army. He at once put this order in execution. The withdrawal of his troops was detected by General Lee, who rapidly reinforced Jackson, and finally moved with his whole army to the Rapidan. Daring Flank Movement. About the same time Burnside's corps, which had been withdrawn from the southern coast, and was awaiting orders in Hampton Roads, was directed to move into the Potomac and reinforce Pope. General Pope had now under his command a force of over one hundred thousand men. The Confed- erate army, which was concentrated upon the Rapidan by the eighteenth of August, num- bered about seventy thousand men. Its strength was greatly overestimated by Gen- eral Pope, who deemed it most prudent to retire behind the Rappahannock, which he did on the eighteenth and nineteenth of August. His new position was well chosen. His right was at Rappahannock Station, and his left at Kelley's ford, some distance lower down the river. General Lee now resolved to attack Pope before he could be joined by McClellan's troops. He divided his army into two columns, and sent Jackson's corps by a cir- cuitous route, by way of Thoroughfare Gap, to gain the rear of the Federal armv This 7H THE CIVIL WAR. daring flank march was accomplished by I trains loaded with supplies. Upon learning Jackson, and on the twenty-sixth of August | of this movement Pope at once fell back PORTRAITS OF PKOMIVLM . he captured Manassas Junction, Pope's main depotof supplies, with an enormous quantity of stores of all kinds, and several railroad i\ \I CIM K\Lb fiuMi the Rappahannock, intending to cru.sh the isolated corps of Jackson, and at the same time Lee set off" rapidly by way of ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINXOLN. Thoroughfare Gap to join his endangered lieutenant. Pope's armjr had been reinforced by the corps of Porter and Heintzelman, and Rey- nolds' division of McCIellan's army, and was at least one hundred and twenty thousand strong. He moved back rapidly to attack Jackson, and encountered Ewell's division near Manassas Junction on the twenty- seventh. Ewell held his ground, and at night rejoined Jackson, who moved swiftly from Manassas to a new position near the old Bull Run battle-field. This brought him nearer to Lee, and secured his retreat in case of a defeat. Ewell's resistance decei\-ed General Pope, who had posted McDowell's and Porter's corps to hold the road from Thoroughfare Gap, by which Lee must advance to Jackson's assistance. Supposing that Jackson meant to make a stand at Manassas, Pope ordered these troops to move from the positions they had taken and to advance upon Manassas Junction. Manassas was reached at noon on the twenty- eighth, and then General Pope saw for the first time how he had been deceived by Jackson, and how he had blundered in leaving the road from Thoroughfare Gap open to Lee. His command was in a critical position, and he was so situated that he could not make the best use of the forces which were at his disposal. Repulse of the Union Forces. He endeavored to repair his error by at- tacking Jackson at once. He did attack that general in his new position late in the afternoon of the twenty-eighth, but was re- pulsed with severe loss. On the same after- noon General Lee with Longstrcet's corps forced the passage of Thoroughfare Gap, and bivouacked that night in the open country beyond it. On the morning of the twenty- ninth he pushed forward with speed, and by noon his advanced division reached Jack- son's position. By four o'clock in the after- noon the Confederate army was reunited under the command of General Lee. About three o'clock in the afternoon General Pope determined to attack upon Lee's position, but was repulsed. On the thirtieth, having reunited all the corps of his army. General Pope determined to risk the fate of the campaign upon a de- cisive engagement. The Confederates held a large part of the old battlefield of Bull Run, and the conflict which ensued is usually ] rs MAJOR-GENER.AL PHILIP KEARNEY. known as the second battle of Bull Run. It resulted in the defeat of General Pope, who was driven back to the heights of Centre- ville with heavy loss. On the thirt\--first Jackson attacked the Federal rear-guard at Chantilly. A spirited encounter took place, and the Federal troops were slowly forced back, losing General Phil Kearney, one cf the most accomplished officers in the service. General Pope now withdrew his army with.u the lines of Washington. He had lost since the opening of the campaign over thirty thousand men, includ- ing eight generals killed, thirty pieces oi artillery, over twenty thousand stand ot 7i6 THE CIV arms, and an enormous quantity of stores. The Confederate loss was nine thousand one hundred and twelve, including five generals. The defeat of the Union army and the presence of the Confederates on the Poto- mac placed the city of Washington in great danger. The government acted with vigor and decision in this emergency. The losses of Pope's army were made up by reinforce- ments. General Pope was relieved of com- mand, and General McClellan was restored to the command of the army of the Potomac. He set to work with energy to reorganize the broken masses of Pope's army into an effective force. McClellan at South Mountain. General Lee now crossed the Potomac and invaded Maryland, hoping to be able not only to remove the war from the soil of Vir- ginia, but also to obtain large reinforcements from the southern sympathizers in Maryland. In this he was disappointed, as scarcely any one joined him. On the fifth of September he crossed the Potomac, and on the sixth occupied Frederick City. Ilarper's Ferry was held by a force of eleven thousand men under Colonel Miles, and it was necessary to reduce this post in order to preserve the com- munications of the Confederate army with its own country. General Jackson was despatched with his corps to capture Harp- er's Ferry. He promptly carried the heights overlooking the town, and on the fifteenth of September the town and garrison surren- dered to him after a feeble resistance. General Lee in the meantime had taken position at South Mountain to await the issue of Jackson's attack upon Harper's Ferry. McClellan, advancing slowly from Washington, reached Frederick on the twelfth of September. There he found a copy of General Lee's confidential order to his corps commanders, which had been lost IL WAR. b\' some one. This documerit gave the Con- federate plan of operations, and enabled McClellan to act with certainty in directing his own movements. Hastening forward he attacked General Lee at South Mountain on the fourteenth of September, and after a stubborn fight Lee fell back behind Antietam Creek, and on the morning of the seven- teenth was joined there by the troops of Jackson, who had made a forced march from Harper's Ferry. The Confederate army numbered about forty thousand men, having been terribly reduced by the straggling of the men on the march through Virginia. The Federal army numbered over eighty thousand men, and was eager for a contest. The prolonged resistance of Harper's Ferry, and the losses of his army by straggling, had defeated Lee's plan of campaign. He was now compelled to retire across the Potomac, and he halted on the Antietam only to secure the reunion of Jackson's corps witli his army and a safe passage of the Potomac. Battle of Antietam. On the morningof the seventeenth of Sep- tember General McClellan attacked the Con- federate army in force, but it held its ground during the day, both armies at nightfall occu- pying about the same positions they had held in the morning. The Federal loss was twelve thousand four hundred and sixty-nine, includ- ing thirteen generals wounded, one mortally ; that of the Confederates eight thousand seven hundred and ninety, includingthree generals killed, five wounded. The eighteenth passed quietly away, and that night Lee silently withdrew from his position and retreated across the Potomac. He retired up the valley to Winchester. The Federal army moved to the vicinity of Harper's Ferry, and did not cross the Potomac until the second of November. 7i8 THE CIVIL WAR. Upon entering Virginia General McClellan moved towards the Rappahannock, with the ■design of interposing his army between Lee and Richmond. General Lee at once left the valley where he had been detained by the necessity of watching McClellan, and by a rapid march to Warrenton, placed his army between Richmond and McClellan. The Federal army continuing to advance, he fell back to Culpepper Court-house, and McClel- lan moved forward to the vicinity of VVarren- 1 1 \M BATTLE GKOl ton. On the seventh of November, when about to resume his advance, McClellan, whose conduct of the campaign had not pleased either President Lincoln or the people •of the North, was removed from the com- mand of the Army of the Potomac, which was conferred upon General Ambrose E. Burnside. Burnside at once advanced to the banks of the Rappahannock opposite Fredericksburg, intending to pass the river at that place and •.move upon Richmond. Upon his arrival at Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, he found the Confederate army strongly posted on the heights in the rear of the latter place, pre- pared to dispute his advance. He crossed the Rappahannock on the eleventh and twelfth of December, and on the thirteenth attacked the Confederate posi- tion, which had been strongly entrenched. He was repulsed with a loss of eleven thou- sand men, and compelled to retreat across the Rappahannock. This terrible reverse _ greatly disheart- ened the Army of the Potomac, and destroyed its faith in its commander; and so the year closed gloomily for the Union cause in the east. In the fall of 1862 President Lincoln took the bold step of issu- ing a proclamation announcing that if the seceded States did not return to their allegiance to the Union, he would declare all the negro slaves within their limits free from the first of January next. Tliis proclamation was issued on the twenty-second of September, imme- diately after the battle of Antietam. The army and navy of the United States were to enforce the terms of this proclamation, and from the new year there was to be no more slavery within the limits of the Union. The proclamation was avowedly a war meas- ure, buc it was sustained by Congress by appropriate legislation during the ensuing winter. CHAPTER XLII The Administration of Abraham Lincoln — The Civil War — Concluded. The Emancipation Proclamation — Battle of Chancellorsville — Death of Stonewall Jackson — Invasion of the North by Lee's Army — Battle of Gettysburg — Retreat of Lee into Virginia — Grant's Army Crosses the Mississippi — Battle of Champion Hills — Investment of Vicksburg — Surrender of Vicksburg and Port Hudson — Battle of Chickamauga — Rosecrans Shut Up in Chattanooga — Grant in Command of the Western Armies — Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge — Defeat of Bragg's Army — The Campaign in East Tennessee — Retreat of Longstreet — Capture of Galveston — Attack on Charleston — Capture of Fort Wagner — Charleston Bombarded — State of Affairs in the Sjiring of 1864 — The Red River Expedition — Grant Made LieutenantGeneral — Advance of the Army of the Potomac — • Battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor— Sheridan's Raid— Death of General J. E. B. Stuart— Battle of New Market— Early Sent into the Valley of ^'irginia — Butler's Army at Bermuda Hundreds — Grant Crosses the James River — The Siege of Petersburg Begun — Early's Raid upon Washington — Sheridan Defeats Early at Winchester and Fishei'sUill — Battle of Cedar Creek — The Final Defeat of Early's Army — Sherman's Advance to Atlanta — Johns- ton Removed — Defeat of Hood Before Atlanta — Evacuadon of Atlanta — Hood's Invasion of Tennessee— Battle of Franklin — Siege of Nashville — Hood Defeated at Nashville — His Retreat— Sherman's " March to Sea " — Capture of Savannah — Battle of Mobile Bay — Attack on Fort Fisher — The Confederate Cruisers — Sinking of the " Alabama" by the" Kearsarge " — Re-election of President Lincoln — Admission of Nevada into the Union — The Hampton Roads Peace Conference — Capture of Fort Fisher — Occupation of Wilmington — Sherman Advances through South Carolina — Evacuation of Charleston — Battles of Averasboro' and Bentonville — Sherman at Goldsboro' — Critical Situation of Lee's Army — Attack on Fort Steadman — Sheridan Joins Grant — Advance of Grant's Army — Battle of Five Forks- Attack on Petersburg — Evacuation of Richmond and Petersburg — Retreat of Lee's Army — Richmond Occu|iied — Surrender of General Lee's Army — Rejoicings in the North — Assassination of President Lincoln — Death of Booth- Execution of the Conspirators — Johnston Surrenders — Surrender of the Other Confederate Forces — Capture of Jeffer- son Davis — Close of the War. IN accordance with his proclamation of September 22, 1862, President Lincoln, on the first of January, 1863, issued his proclamation of emancipation, in which he declared all the slaves within the limits of the Confederate States free from that day. The plan of campaign adopted by the Federal government for 1863 was very much like that of the previous year. In the east the Army of the Potomac was to push for- ward towards Richmond; and in the west the army of General Grant was to capture Vicksburg, and thus open the Mississippi, after which it was to march eastward, unite with the forces of General Rosecrans and occupy East Tennessee, thus cutting the communication between the Border and the Gulf States. In addition to these operations an expedition against Charleston, South Ca- rolina, was to be attempted. The Army of the Potomac was greatly disheartened by its defeat at Fredericksburg, and had lost confidence in General Burnside. That commander, at his own request, was removed from the command, and was suc- ceeded by General Joseph Hooker on the twenty-fifth of January. Hooker at once began the reorganization of his army, and soon brought it to a splendid state of eflFi- ciency. By the opening of the spring it numbered one hundred and twenty thousand men and four hundred pieces of artillery. General Lee had remained in his position back of Fredericksburg al' winter, and his 719 T^O PORTRAITS OF SOME OF THE GENliKALS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 721 army had been weakened by the withdrawal of General Longstreet's corps, twenty-four thousand strong, by the Confederate govern- ment, leaving him about fifty thousand men. General Hooker, upon learning of Lee's weakened condition, determined to attack him. He divided his army into two columns. One of these, consisting of the Second, Fifth, Eleventh, and Twelfth army corps, under his own command, was to cross the Rap- pahannock above Fredericksburg and turn the Confederate position. The other column, consisting of the First, Third, and Sixth corps, under General Sedg- wick, was to cross the river at Fred- ericksburg and attack the heights. Be- tween these forces it was believed that Lee's army would be crushed. On the twenty-seventh of April Hooker moved off with the first column, crossed the river on the twenty-eighth and twenty- ninth at Kelley's Ford, and on the thir- tieth took position at Chancellorsville, on the left and in the rear of Lee's forti- fied line. On the twenty-ninth General Sedgwick crossed his column about three miles below Fredericksburg, and during that da}- and the thirtieth made demon- strations as though he intended to assault the southern position in the rear of the town. General Lee's situation was now cri- tical, and demanded the most extra- ordinary exertions of him. Leaving a small force to hold the heights in the rear of Fredericksburg, he moved with his main body towards Chancellorsville, where Hooker had intrenched himself with about eighty thousand men. His onl\- hope of safety lay in defeating this force before Sedgwick's column could arrive to its assist- ance. On the second of May he sent Jack- son's corps to turn the Federal right, and with the remainder of his force, deceived 46 Hooker into the belief that he meant to storm the intrenched position of the Federal army. Jackson performed his flank march with success, and on the afternoon of the second of May made a fierce attack upon the Federal right, and drove it in upon its centre. In this attack he received a mortal wound, of which he died on the tenth of May. The next day, the third, having reunited Jackson's corps with his main force, Lte attacked Hooker at Chancellorsville, and drove him back to the junction of the Rap- pahannock and Rapidan rivers. He was preparing to storm this new position when he learned that Sedgwick had defeated the force left to hold the heights of Fredericks- burg on the third of May, and was marching against him. I lis danger was now greater 722 than ever. Leaving a part of his army to hold Hooker in check, he marched rapidly to meet Sedg^vick. He encountered him at Salem Heights on the fourth of May, and compelled him to recross the Rappahannock GENERAL GEORGE G. MlCADl- at Banks' Ford. Then moving back towards Hooker's position Lee prepared to storm it. General Hooker, ho\vc\er, disheartened by Sedgwick's defeat, withdrew his army across the Rappahannock on tlie night of the fifth, and returned to his old position on the north THE CIVIL WAR. side of that stream, having lost t-.velve thou- sand men and fourteen pieces of artillery in the battle of Chancellorsville. The Confederate losswas also heavy. Out of an army of about fifty thousand men, ten thou- sand two hundred and eighty-one were killed, wounded and captured. The victory was dearly boug'pt by the Confed- erates uy the death of Stonewall Jackson, who was worth fully fifty thousand men to their cause. At the moment of his success againf the Federal right, he wa shot down by his own men, who mistook his escort for a party of Federal cavalry. The success of the Confederates in Virginia was more than counter- balanced by their re- verses in the West and Southwest. The South- ern government, anxious to change the course of the war by a bold stroke, decided to fol- low up the victor}' at Chancellorsville by an invasion of the North by Lee's army. This army was reinforced heavily and by the last of May numbered seventy thou sand infantry and artillery, and ten thou- sand cavalry. General Hooker's army, on the other hand, had been reduced by deser- tions and expirations of enlistments, to about eighty thousand men, making the two forces about equal. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 723 On the third of June, 1863, Lee began his forward movement, and marching through the valley of Virginia, captured Winchester, which was held by General Milroy's com- mand, on the fourteenth, taking four thou- sand prisoners and twenty-nine pieces of cannon. On the twenty-second of June the Potomac was crossed at Williamsport, and the Confederate army moved towards Hagers- town, Maryland. General Hooker had fol- lowed Lee from the Rappahannock, and had manoeu\Ted his army so as to interpose it between the Confederates and Washington. Invasion of the North. On the twenty-third the advanced corps of Lee's army, under General Ewell, occupied Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and on the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth. General Hooker crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, and marched to Frederick, Maryland. He was anxious to withdraw the garrison of Harper's Ferry, which had retired from that place to the Mar\-land heights, opposite the town, but the war department refused to allow him to do so. Hooker thereupon relin- quished the command of the arm\-, and was succeeded by Major-General George G. ]\Ieade, the senior corps commander, and a soldier of genuine ability. General Lee now moved his army east of the mountains, and directed his advance towards Gettysburg. In ignorance of his adversary's design, Gen- eral Meade hastened forward to occupy the same point. The invasion of Penns\'lvania by the Con- federate army aroused the most intense ex- citement in the North. President Lincoln called out one hundred thousand militia to serve for si.x months, unless sooner dis- charged, and as far north as New York, preparations were made to receive the Con- federate army with a stubborn resistance should it succeed in penetrating so far. Every effort was made to raise troops and forward them to General Meade in time to be of service to him. On the morning of the first of Jul}-, the left wing of the army of the Potomac, under General Reynolds, and the advanced corps of Lee's army, under Generals A. P. Hill and Ewell, encountered each other at Gettysburg. General Reynolds was forced back and killed. General Hancock was at once sent by Gen- eral Meade to assume the command of the left wing, and upon his arrival he at once recognized the importance of the position at Gettysburg, and occupied it. He was promptly reinforced by General Meade, and by the afternoon of the second of July, the army of the Potomac was securely posted on the heights known as Cemeterj^ Ridge. The Confederate army took position on the opposite hills known as Seminary Ridge. Between the two armies lay the battle-field on which the engagement of the first of July was fought. Heavy skirmishing prevailed throughout the day on the second, the advan- tage being with the Confederates. Great Battle at Gettysburg. On the third of July General Lee made a general attack upon the Federal position on Cemetery Ridge, which, very strong by nature, had been rendered impregnable by entrenchments. His attack was made with determination, and was a splendid exhi- bition of American courage, which won for his troops the generous admiration of their adversaries ; but it was unsuccessful. The grand charge of the Confederates was made in the afternoon, and was repulsed with ter- rible slaughter. Still Lee's position was so strong, and the morale of his army so unim- paired, that General Meade deemed it best to remain satisfied with his victory, and not to risk its fruits by an attack upon the Con- federate lines. 724 THE CIVIL WAR. The stirring events on the third and last i attack by discharging his pistol. The battle day of the battle are \ ividly described by at once became general. A fearful struggle John Laird Wilson, the eminent war corres- j ensued. A hea\y artillery fire was opened pondent and historian. Mr. Wilson's account , at once on the enemy's position. But, as is as follows : the ground was rugged and broken and also " As early as three o'clock on the morn- covered with trees, and as every advantage m'^ of the third, there were .signs of activity was taken of places of shelter and conceal-. -n ^^ life ^J' ^^^ ^ ■- B\nLL OF GErnsBUKG in the enemy's front. It was evident that an attack was intended ; and Geary, having been informed by General Kane, who commanded his first brigade, of what was going on, resolved to seize whatever advantage might be gained by opening the battle himself His men were aroused; and at twenty minutes before four o'clock, he gave the signal for ment, the fight partook very much of the character of sharpshooting on a grand scale. " As the battle progressed the contestants got intermingled, and it became more and more difficult to use the artillery. The Con- federates not only held their position, but charged again and again, in heavy masses, on the National lines, only, however, to be ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 72s repulsed with tremendous loss. The slaugh- ter was terrible. The sun arose ; the day advanced ; the air became clouded with dust and smoke ; the heat became almost intoler- able ; but still the battle raged. At last there is a lull in the long-continued tempest. Then, suddenly, there is a fierce yell fi-om ' thousands of throats ; and Ewell'smen, hav- ! ing gathered up their strength for a final effort, are seen rushing forward with tremen- dous fury. They are allowed to come within easy musket range, when the men in blue, springing to their feet, pour in upon them a deliberate volley. It was the last charge on this part of the line. Discomfited and dis- couraged, torn and bleeding, their dead and wounded companions piled in heaps on the ground where they fell, the survivors drew back through the woods towards Rock Creek, fighting as they retired, with a courage which commanded the admiration of their foes. The Victors Exultant. " Shouts of victory now filled the air. ' Men,' says one who was present and shared in the triumph, ' cheered themselves hoarse, laughed, rolled themselves on the ground, and threw their caps high in the air, while others shook hands with comrades, and thanked God that the Star Corps had again triumphed.' Geary, not disposed to allow the Confederates to re-form, as soon as this charge was repelled, made a vigorous coun- ter-charge ; and the enemy, yielding easily, the breastworks were reoccupied, and the right flank secured. Thus ended the fighting on the right. " Ewell had been completely baffled in his plan. He had flung away his opportunity the night before; and to reclaim it he had now done his best, and failed. He could not find fault with his men , for never, even under Jackson, had they fought more bravely. ' It cannot be denied,' says General Kane, who, with his glorious first brigade, of Geary's division, bore the burden of that morning's fight, ' that they fought most courageously.' But they were pitted against men of equal braver)', of equal determination with them- selves — men who were now on their own soil, and fighting for the sanctity of their own homes. " Never, perhaps, before, since the war com- menced, had the fighting been more deter- mined and severe than it was during those long, dreary morning hours. The ground, after the battle, red with gore, and thickly covered w-ith the bodies of the slain, gave evidence of the terrible character of the struggle. The grey and the blue uniforms were sometimes found in one common heap. Some poor fellows, after hours of suffering, and having almost bled to death, were found writhing in mortal agony. The wood in which the battle raged was 'torn and rent with shells and solid shot, and pierced with innumerable minie balls.' In the following summer, the trees were leafless, as if the mute but stalwart giants of the forest had yielded up their lives with those who fell beneath their shade. An Ominous Silence. " It was now shortly after ten o'clock. The last sounds of battle had died away. There was silence over the whole battle field. It was evident, however, that preparations were being made inside the Confederate lines for another gigantic and possibly crowning efibrt. The morning sky had been obscured by broken clouds. As the forenoon advan- ced, the clouds dispersed ; and a hot July sun poured down his rays with a tropical intensity. Pickett's division, of Longstrcet's corps, which had not come up on the pre- vious day, had now arrived on the field. Stuart, also, after his long detour, had joined 726 THE CIVIL WAR. Lee with his cavalrj*. It soon began to be manifest that the point of attack was to be the National left centre — the depressed part of the ridge immediately north of Little Round Top. By noon, the guns were got into position on the ridge occupied by Long- street and Hill. Meade had an abundant supply of the same instruments of war ; but owing to the peculiarity of the ground, he could only, out of the three hundred guns, make use of eighty, against those of the enemy. Loud Thunder of Guns. " About one o'clock, the report of a Whit- worth gun was heard. It was the signal for attack. Seminary Hill seemed as if swept with a tongue of flame. Then came the loud, thundering roar of artillery ; and one hundred and forty fiveguns, from their angry mouths, poured death and destruction on the National lines. The National commanders ordered their men to lie flat on the earth, and to take every advantage of objects of pro- tection. All this was done; but, notwith- standing every precaution, the destruction of life and property was terrible. Solid shot, chain-shot, shrapnel, shells, fell with deadly effect inside the National lines. Men and horses were dreadfully cut up; caissons filled with ammunition were exploded; and gun- carriages and other pieces of war material were shattered to pieces. The shot and shell and canister fell thick and fast in and around General Meade's headquarters, killing men and horses, ripping up the roof and knocking away the pillars of the cottage. " General Hunt, Meade's chief of artillery, v/as in no haste to reply. Waiting until the first hostile outbreak spent itself, he then ordered the batteries to open fire. Instantly, the whole ridge, from Cemetery Hill to the Round Tops, seemed ablaze. The din was terrific, the thunder of artillery rivalling, in fierce grandeur, the most magnificent displays of nature. For two hours this artiller\- duel lasted; and. during that time, war was ex- hibited in its sublimer and more imposing aspects. " At the expiration of two hours, there Vvas a lull in the cannonade. Hunt, dreading the possible exhaustion of his ammunitions and not willing to bring up loads of it from the rear, lest it should be exploded, had ordered a gradual slackening of the fire. The Confederates were deceived. It was Lee's belief that he had silenced all the enemy's guns, except a few which still kept firing frorr. a clump of woods. Now came the more serious business of war. The fire of the Confederate guns also slackened ; and the columns of attack were seen forming on the edge of the woods which crown the summit of Seminary Ridge. It was just three o'clock. When formed, the front was about a mile in extent ; and, as it emerged from the woods, and began to move steadily and firmly down the slope of Seminary- Ridge, a thrill of admiration passed through the National ranks. It was a splendid sight, and well fitted to call forth admiration, even in the breast of an enemy. The fresh division of Pickett, composed mostly of veteran Vir- ginians, was singled out and appointed to lead the van. Pickett's men were formed and arranged in double line of battle. The attacking force numbered about eighteen thousand men. Ammunition Exhausted. "The distance between the two lines of battle was about a mile. For the attacking party there was a hill to descend and a hill to climb, and a valley between. It was matter of observation that, as the columns advanced, the Confederate guns were silent. 'Why?' was the question put by the men who were rushing into the jaws of death. ' Wh)- ?' t/' ^xi I I //i ife ); =' I ^- ■■■' --^ I vjl "'2 ^ 1 POSITIONS DURING IHE tlK^ ^J ARMSTEAD Lf? ^ '8/ \f/ '^^^-'^ W\. / ^' Zf ^ ,-' U Ja s ^^ii -" BRIG GENS W ' U /ilf^^" ^ V A *?£g"'^ B X 1^ m" POSITIONS DURING THE SKCOND AND THIRD DAYS AT GETTi^SBURG. 727 72S said the men on the heights behind. ' Why ?' said the Nationals on the heights in front. The reason was not known till afterwards. It was not then known to Lee himself His ammunition was already exhausted. The silence of the guns in their rear did not affect the firm and steady step of the advancing I columns. It did not encourage the Nationals to slacken their artillery fire. On came Longstreet's men, in face of the withering tempest of bullet and canister and shell ■which, at each successive step, decimated their front. On, on they came; and it was already a question in the National ranks whether their own thin line of defense could resist the fierce onset of those firm and com- pact battalions who seemed to fear no fire, to dread no foe. The Green Mountain Troops. "The Nationals, however, were not ill pre- pared for the attack. Doubleday was on the left, with Stannard's brigade of Vermont troops well advanced in a little grove on his own right, and at an angle with the main line. Hancock was more to the right with his two divisions of Gibbon and Hays in front. From the direction in which the assaulting columns were moving, it seemed for a time as if the fir.st heavy blow would fall upon Doubleday. Such, however, was the severity of the artil- lery fire from Little Round Top that they were forced to bend more to their own left. Still they moved on, their line of march now bringing them more directly in front of Han- cock's position. " Now came the opportunity for Stannard's brave Vermonters. They were in no haste to waste their ammunition. The Confederate columns were allowed to come so well for- ward that their right flank was fully exposed. Then, at the signal given, the Vermont men pour forth a well-directed and most destruc- tive fire. Volley succeeds voUcj- in rapid THE CIVIL WAR. succession ; and the now trembling lines, already torn and tattered, are under the oblique fire of eight batteries in charge of Major McGilvray. Not a few of Pickett's men, unable to endure this terrific fire, were compelled to surrender. The main body, how- ever, presses on, and, inclining still more to his own left, Pickett is moving straight on the divisions of Gibbon and Hays. ' Hold your fire, boys ! they are not near enough yet,' was Gibbon's injunction as he moved calmly and composedly along the ranks. The rifled guns of the National artillery, having fired away all their canister, were now withdrawn to await the issue of the struggle between the opposing infantry. The hostile lines are now within two and three hundred yards of the National front. Gibbon and Hays simul- taneously open upon the advancing columns a most destructive fire. The response is swift and well directed, the Confederates using their muskets for the first time since they began to face this terrific storm of artil- lery and musketry. All at once the battle becomes general. Terror and Confusion. " The swing made by the advancing col- umns to their own left, after the terrific blow received by them from Stannard, had the effect of flinging Pettigrew, who commanded Heth's division, of Hill's corps, well towards Hays' right. Pettigrew's men were, for the most part. North Carolina troops, and were comparatively raw and unused to battle. Tliey had been deceived into the belief that they would meet only the Pennsylvania mili- tia. They were quickly undeceived. Hays' men were admirably posted. His right was well advanced ; and the nature of the ground was such as to enable him to open a simul- taneous fire on Pettigrew's troops, not only with his right and front, but also with sev- eral lines in his rear. Woodruff's battery ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 729 was also in position; and the destructive effects of a very tempest of bullets were to be aggra\-atcd by showers of grape and canister. "All at once, this tremendous f.re fell upon the already torn and decimated lines on Pickett's left; and they knew they were in the presence of the Arm\' of the Potomac. There was no more fight in them. Terror- stricken, Pettigrew's men broke in utter con- fusion, large numbers of them flinging down their arms, and accepting mercy at the hands •of their antagonists. General Pettigrevv him- self was wounded ; but, being able to retain command, he \-ainly strove to rally his men. Fifteen colors, and two thousand prisoners rewarded the skill and activity with which Hays met the threatened attack. " While disaster was thus befalling the Confederate columns on the right and left Pickett's brave Virginians were pressing forward vigorously towards Gibbon's front, and were about to fall with all their weight on Owen's brigade, now temporarily com- •manded by General Webb. The Final Struggle. " In spite of the dreadful fire of artillery and musketry which was mowing down their ranks, Pickett's men rush bravely on. They are now close to the stone wall. The two National regiments in front, yield and fall hack to the regiment in the rear. Webb and his officers are at hand ; the retreating regi- ments are quickly rallied and re-formed; and the second line is held. But the Confederates have pushed themselves over the breast- works, and planted their battle flags on the wall. The struggle now becomes fierce and terrific in the extreme. It is a hand-to-hand conflict, man facing man, and fighting with the energy of despair. The clothes of the men are actually being burned by the powder of the exploding cartridges; and the National cannoneers, refusing to retire, ?. clubbed and bayoneted at their guns. " Pickett, however, is now left entirely alone. The forces which were intended to cover his left have been defeated, captured or driven from the field. Wilcox, whose duty it was to come up and cover his right, has failed to advance. The right of his own division has been badh^ cut up and destroyed. Hancock, who this day revealed all the qualities of a great commander in actual conflict, now massed his men on the point which was in danger. Hall and Harrow, who had now no longer an enemy in their front, were brought over with their brigades to reinforce the centre. The Nineteenth Massachusetts, Col- onel Devereux, and Mallou's Forty-Second New York, both of Gate's brigade, of Double- day's division, of the First corps, were moved in the same direction. " Stannard, at the same time, moved for- ward two of his Vermont regiments to strike iihe enemy on the right flank. The situation, Hancock tells us, 'had now become very pecu- liar. The men of all the brigades had, in some measure, lost their regimental organiza- tion, but Individually, they were firm. The ambition of inaividual commanders to cover the point penetrated by the enemy, the smoke of the battle and the intensity of the engage- ment caused this confusion. The point, how- ever, was covered. In regular formation, our line would have stood four ranks deep.' Pickett's men were now pressed on all sides. " The colors of the different National regi- ments were well advanced. Cheered by the words, and fired by the example of their officers, the men pressed bravely fo-ward. It is the climax of the fight; but tiie end is at hand. Pickett's men had done their best and their utmost — they had fought like true heroes ; but now, utterly overpowered, and reduced to the last stage of desperation, thej' give up the fight. Flinging their arms from 73° THE CIVIL WAR. them, many of them raise their hands in token of surrender; others fall upon the MAP SHOWING VICKSBUKG AND ITS APPROACHEb {ground to escape the destructive fire ; the remainder seek safety in precipitate flight. " In this last struggle. Gibbon's division took twelve colors and two thousand five hundred prisoners. So far, Hancock hadcaptured twenty- seven battle flags and foul thousand five hundred pris- oners. It was a magnificent trophy. The losses on both sides were very heavy. The face of the hill and the low ground was literally covered with the dead and wounded. In no previous battle had the oflicers suffered so severely. On the National side large numbers had been struck down, Generals Gibbon and Hancock being among the wounded. The Confederates left on the field fourteen of their field-ofiicers, only one of that rank escaping unhurt; and, of the three brigade com- manders, of Pickett's division, Garnett was killed, Armitage fell within the National lines, fatally wounded, and Kemper was carried off the field, dan- gerously hurt." The victory was decisive. It put an end to the Confed- erate invasion. On the night of the fourth of July General Lee withdrew from Seminary Ridge and retreated to the Potomac, which he crossed on the thirteenth and four- teenth without serious opposi- tion from the Federal army. On the fifteenth Lee moved back to Winchester. The Fed- eral loss at Gettysburg was twenty-three thousand, and that of the Con- federates about the same. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. On the seventeenth and eighteenth of July General Meade crossed the Potomac below Harper's Ferry, and moving east of the Blue Ridge, endeavored to place his army between Lee and Richmond. The Confederate com- mander by rapid marches reached Culpepper Court-house in advance of him, however, and about the first of August occupied the line of the Rappahannock. The remainder of the year witnessed but one important oper- the Federal arms. At the opening of the year the army of General Grant lay on the Mississippi above Vicksburg, assisted by the fleet of gunboats under Admiral Porter. The first three months of the year were passed by the Federal army in a series of movements along the Yazoo River, the result of which was to convince General Grant that Vicks- burg could not be taken from that quarter. He therefore determined upon a new and -> ?;-' VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI. ation by the armies in Virginia. In October General Lee made a sudden forward move- ment for the purpose of throwing his army between Meade and Washington, but the latter eluded him and reached Centreville in safety. Lee then withdrew to the Rapidan, and the army of the Potomac took position on the north side of that stream. Both armies passed the winter there. In the west and southwest success crowned more daring plan of operations. He "ecided to march his army across the Louisiana shore from MiUiken's bend, above Vicksburg, to New Carthage, below that cit\', and to run his gunboats and transports by the bat- teries. Should the boats succeed in passing, he meant to cross his command to the Missis- sippi shore, and attack Vicksburg from the rear. By investing the city from the land 732 ADMINISTRATION O:' ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 33 side his flanks would rest upon and be cov- ered by the Mississippi, and he could rc-cstah- lish communication between his right wing and his base of supplies at Milliken's Bend. The plan was daring in the highest degree, and required the greatest skill and resolution in its execution. In order to retain their hold upon the Mis- sissippi the Confederates had fortified Vicks- burg with great care. Port Hudson, about two hundred and forty miles lower down the river, had also been fortified, but not so strongly as Vicksburg. As long as the Con- federates held these points they were able to keep a considerable extent of the river open to themselves and closed to the Union gun- boats. Preparing for the Struggle. Thus they were enabled to cross in safety the enormous herds of beef cattle which they drew froin the rich pastures of Texas for their armies east of the Mississippi. A strong force held the works at Port Hudson. Vicks- burg was occupied by a large garrison, and was under the command of Lieutenant-Gen- eral John C. Pemberton, who, with an armv of about thirty thousand men, independent of the garrison of Vicksburg, held the country in the rear of that city. Appreciating the importance of defeating the Federal a: :ny in this quarter, the Confederate Govcrnmc;.t, in the spring of 1863, sent General Joseph E. Johnston to take command of all the forces in Mississippi. It failed to supply him with a proper force of troops, and General Pem- berton treated his orders with open defiance. Grant having completed his preparations moved his army from Milliken's Bend to a point on the Louisiana shore opposite Grand Gulf. On the night of the sixteenth of April a division of gunboats and transports ran by the Vicksburg batteries, suffering severely from the heavy fire to \\hich they were exposed for a distance of eight miles. On the night of the twenty-second a second division passed the batteries with similar loss. Once below Vicksburg, however, the boats were safe. They then proceeded to Grant's position on the river below. On the twenty-ninth of April the gunboats attacked the batteries at Grand Gulf, but were repulsed. The troops were then marched to a point opposite Bruins- burg, Mississippi, and the gunboats and transports were run b}- tiie Grand Gulf bat- teries. On the first of May the Federal army was ferried across to the Mississippi shore, and at A GENERAL JOHN C. PI:MI;EKT0N. once began its march into the interior. Near Port Gibson a part of Penibcrton's army was encountered and defeated on the san;e day. This success compelled the evacuation of Grand Gulf by the Confederates. Grant now boldly threw his army between Johnston's forces at Jackson and Pemberton's army, intending to hold the former in check, and drive the latter within the defences of \'icks- burg. On the fourteenth of May he attacked Johnston at Jackson, the capital of Missis- sippi, and forced him to retreat northward towards Canton. Then turning upon Pem- berton he attacked him at Champion Hills, or Baker's Creek, on the >i.Ktcenth, and 734 THK CIVIL WAR. inflicted a severe defeat upon him. Pem- berton withdrew towards the Big Black River, and the next day met a second defeat there. He now retreated within the defences of Vicksburg, which place was promptly invested by Grant's arm}-. I On the nineteenth of May Grant attempted to carry the Confederate position by assault, but was repulsed with heavy loss. The assault was repeated with a like result on the twenty-second. There remained then nothing but a regular siege. This was pressed with vigor, and the city was sub- jected to a terrible bombardment, which caused great suffering to the people. "While the siege was carried on Johnston's army was held back, and prevented from under- taking any movement for the relief of Vicks- burg. At length, reduced to despair by the steady approach of the Union trenches, Pem- berton surrendered the city and his army to General Grant on the fourth of July. By this surrender thirty thousand prisoners, two hundred and fifty cannon, and si.xty thousand stand of arms, together with a large quan- tity of military stores, fell into the hands of the Union forces. It was justly esteemed the greatest victory of the war. While the siege of Vicksburg was in pro- gress. General Banks ascended the Mis- sissippi from New Orleans and laid siege to Port Hudson. Upon hearing of the fall of Vicksburg, the Confederate commander sur- rendered the post and his army of si.xt\--two hundred and thirty-three men to General Banks, on the eighth of July. These victories wrested hum the Confederates thtir last hold upon the Mississippi. They cre- ated the most intense ! cjoicing in the Northern uid Western States, and I corresponding depres- lon m the South. Being imultaneous with the Lfeat of the Southern u my at Gettysburg, they u<.re regarded as deci- i\eofthewar: as indeed they were. From this time we shall trace the Icclming fortunes of the southern Confederacy and the gradual but steady re-establishment of the authority of the Union over the Southern States. After the battle of Murfreesboro', or Stone River, the army of General Rosecrans remained quietly in winter quarters at Nash- ville and Murfreesboro'. Bragg's army passed the winter at Chattanooga. Towards the last of June Rosecrans moved forward from Nashville, and advancing slowly threat- ened Bragg's communications with Rich- mond. The Confederate commander had no wish to emulate the example of Pemberton ADMINISTRATIOX OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. w ing, under the command of General George H. Thomas, remained firm. Had that mven at Vicksburg, and at once evacuated Chatta- nooga, on the eighth of September, and retired towards Dal- ton, Georgia. This movement, which was interpreted by Rose- ;rans as a retreat, was designed to secure the union with Bragg's army of Longstreet's corps, which had been detached from Lee's army and sent to join Bragg. This junc- lion was effected on the eighteenth, and other reinforcements arrived from Missis- sippi. Thus strength- ened Bragg suddenly wheeled upon Rose- crans, and on the nine- teenth of September attacked him at Chick- amauga. The battle was severe, but inde- cisive, and was re- newed the next day. Towards noon, on the twentieth, Rose- crans having greatly weakened the other parts of his line to help the left, which was hard pressed, Longstreet made a fu- rious dash at the weak- ened part, and in an ir- resistible attack swept the Federal right and centre from the field. Rosecrans endeavored to stop the retreat, but was borne along in I way the rout would have been complete; the dense crowd of fugitives. Only the left | but all through the long afternoon, Thomas MAP OF THE CIIICKAM.'^UGA AND CHATT.\NOOGA CA.MPAIGNS. THE CIVIL WAR. he withdrew his corps in good order and re- tired upon Chatta- nooga. The Union loss at Chickamauga was sixteen thousand men and fifty-one guns Brass's about POSITIONS OF THE ARMIES AT THIC BATTLE OK MISSIONARY RIDGE. held on to his position with a grim resolution I three thousand men which nothing could shake. After nightfall | his assistance, and eighteen thousand men. Bragg advanced at once upon the defeated army of Rosecrans, w-hich had taken re- fuge in Chattanooga, occupied the heights commanding the city, and seized the com- munications of the Federal army with Nashville. Thus close- ly besieged, the Union forces suffered consid- erably from a scarcity of provision-;. General Rosecrans was now removed from the command of the Army of the Cum- berland, and General Grant was appointed to the chief command of all the western ar- mies. He at once set to work to extricate the Army of the Cum- berland, to the com- mand of which Gen- eral Thomas had suc- ceeded, from its peril- ous situation. Hooker was sent with tvventy- from Meade's army to Sherman was ordered ADMINISTRATION OF A15RAIIAM LINCOLN. 737 to march with the force which had taken Vicksburg along the line of the railway from Memphis to Chattanooga. The arrival ■of these reinforcements soon changed the .aspect of affairs. On the twenty-third of No\-ember the Army of the Cumberland made a vigorous sortie and drove the Confederates from the important position of Orchard Knob. On the twenty-fourth, Hooker stormed Lookout Mountain, the left of the Confederate line, -and carried it after a hard fight. The invest- ment was now thoroughly broken, and the Confederates were confined to Missionary Ridge, which had formerly constituted the Tight of their line. On Ihetwenty-fifth.thisposi- ' tion was assaulted by the vhole strength of the Federal army, and was ■carried after a stubborn fight. Bragg, beaten at all points, with heaw loss, retreated into Geor 'gia, where he was soon after removed from his r-jSS; command and immedi ately succeeded by Gen- grant's •eral Joseph E. Johnston. During the progress of this campaign General Burnside had moved from Kentucky with a force of about twenty-five thousand jnen, about the time that Rosecrans began liis advance from Nashville in June. The :Strong position of Cumberland Gap was sur- rendered to him with scarcely an effort for its defence by the Confederates, and he moved into East Tennessee. Driving back the Confederate forces, which sought to stop his march, he occupied Knoxville. The object of his expedition was to afford a ral- lying point for the Union men of East Ten- nessee. After the battle of Chickamauga, and the investment of Chattanooga, President 47 Jefferson Davis visited Bragg's army, and being convinced that the capture of Rose- crans' force was inevitable, decided to with- draw General Longstreet's corps from Bragg, and to send it to drive Burnside out of East Tennessee. Longstreet's men were in no condition to undertake such a campaign, but under their energetic commander, succeeded in confining Burnside's army to the defences of Knoxville. The siege of that place was formed, ar.d several assaults were made upon the L^nion works, but were each repulsed with heavy loss. Burnside's men were reduced almost to starvation, but held out with unshaken E.ADQUAKTEKs NEAR CHAiiA> resolution. After the defeat of Bragg at Mis sionary Ridge, Grant ordered Sherman t.) march with his corps to the relief of Knox- ville. Upon the approach of this force Long- street, on the fourth of December, raised the siege and retreated into Virginia. Beyond the Mississippi the war was car- ried on with varying success throughout the year 1863, but to the general advantagi- ot the Federal forces. On the third of Ju the Confederates, under General Ilr;lme- attacked Helena, Arkansas, but were re pulsed. By the close of the year the Cot- federate forces had been pressed back as f. as the Red River. 738 THE CIVIL WAR. On the first of January, 1863, Galveston, Texas, which had surrendered to the Federal forces in the fall of 1862, was recaptured by the Confederates, under General Magruder. By the capture of this place, the Confederates obtained one more port from which they could maintain communications with and receive supplies from Europe. of land troops, under General Gilmore, effected a lodgment on the south end of Morris' Island, and secured their position by intrench- ments. The Union parallels were pushed forward steadily towards Fort Wagner, at the north end of the island, and a final assault of that work was ordered. Before the order could >'^^,r. n the sprmg of 1S63, a powerful naval I be executed, Fort Wagner was evacuated on e.xped.tion, under Admiral Dupont,was des- the night of the sixth of September. The patched agamst Charleston. On the seventh Federal batteries on Morris' Island now of April. Dupont attempted to force his way mto the harbor, but was driven back by the forts and batteries, and nine of his iron-clads were severely injured. Early in July, a force maintained a heavy and constant fire upon Fort Sumter, and reduced it to a shapeless mass of rubbish on the land side. Yet, in this condition it was stronger than at first. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 739 the mass of rubbish offering a more effectual resistance to shot and shell than the walls. The long-range guns on Morris' Island threw shells into the city of Charleston, which was regularly bombarded from this time until its fall, in 1S65. The capture of Fort Wagner enabled the Federal forces to close the har- bor of Charleston effectually against blockade runners. In spite of the victories of Chancellorsville and Chickamauga, and the invasion of the North, the close of the year found the South fairly on the downward road to final failure. Missouri was freed from the presence of the Confederate army, and the greater part of Arkansas was held by the Federal ""^ troops. The Mis sissippi was lost to ' the South, and tin immense supplic from the trans-^Ii^ sissippi region well no longer availabl( to the Confederati forces east of th< great ri\-er. Tennes see was occupied h] the Federal forces, and the mva^iuii uf the North had ended in disaster. The resources of the South were gradually becoming exhausted, and the supply of men was falling off. The North, on the other hand, was increasing in determination. The war had opened new channels of industry, and these had more than repaid the losses of the first period of the struggle. The North was growing richer in spite of the war, while the South was growing poorer because of it. At the end of 1S63 the Federal debt had reached the enormous total of gi, 300,000,000, with the certainty of a heavy increase during the coming year. Still the people of the loyal States responded with heartiness to the heavy demands of the Federal government for men and money. Specie had long since disappeared from circulation, but a system of Treasury notes, which were made a legal tender, had replaced coin as a circulating medium. The new paper money was abun- dant, and the North gave few outward signs of distress. Everything spoke of prosperity. The contrast between the condition of the Union and the Confederacy was striking and most suggestive. Early in the spring of 1864 an expedition was sent into that part of Louisiana known as the Red River country. It consisted of a f-irce of ten thousand troops, under Generai Ml33lO\\R\ Sniith, fium \ n,k.^buri^, a.ia a fleet of gun- boats, under Admiral Porter. On the four- teenth of March Fort de Russy was captured by the troops, and on the twenty-first Natch- itoches was occupied General Banks now arrived with a strong reinforcement of troops from New Orleans, and took command of the expedition. About the first of April he set out for Shreveport, at the head of navigalion on the Red River, his army marching along the shore, and the gunboats ascending the stream. The Confederates gathered in heavy force, under the command of General Kirby Smith, to oppose his advance. On the eighth of April the Confederate army attacked Banks at Sabine Cross-Roads, 740 THE CIVIL WAR. near Mansfield, and inflicted a .stinj^ing defeat upon him. The Union forces were rallied at Pleasant Hill, where they were attacked by the Confederates on the ninth. The Confed- erates were repulsed, but Banks continued his retreat, and reached Alexandria on the twenty-fifth of April. The expedition then returned to the Mississippi. Banks was The Red River expedition was thus a total failure, and was a source of great mortifica- tion, as well as serious loss, to the Federal government. Early in March General Grant was raised to the grade of Lieutenant-General, that rank having been revived by act of Congress to reward him for his great services during >:%^ THE ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER BY THE MONITOR FLEET. relieved of the command at New Orleans, and was succeeded by General Canby. General Steele, commanding the Union forces in Arkanses, had moved from Little Rock, on the twenty-third of March, towards Shreveport, to co-operate with General Banks. He was attacked by the Confed- erates and driven back to Little Rock, which he reached on the second of May. the war. It had been held only by Wash- ington, General Scott having been given only the brevet rank. He was also appointed commander of all the armies of the United States. He decided to assume the immedi- ate direction of the campaign in Virginia, and established his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac. At the same time General W. T. Sherman was appointed to 742 THE CIVIL WAR. tke command of the military division of the Mississippi, in which were included the Armies of the Cumberland, of the Ohio, and of the Tennessee. The supreme control of the military oper- ations both east and west was vested in Gen- eral Grant — a great gain, inasmuch as theoper- ations in the two quarters of the Union could now be made to assist each other. The plan of the campaign embraced a simultaneous advance of both armies ; the Army of the Potomac was charged with the task of defeat- ing Lee and capturing Richmond ; the west- ern army, under Sherman, was to force John- ston back into GcLuijia. FORT DE RUSSY. I he Army of the Potomac numbered one hundred and forty thousand men on the first of May, 1864; the Confederate army, under General Lee, about fifty thousand. General Meade retained the immediate command of the Army of the Potomac, but General Grant accompanied it, and directed its movements. On the morning of May 4th — ^just three days before Sherman moved from Chattanooga — the Federal army crossed the Rapidan, and, turning the right of Lee's position, entered the region known as the Wilderness. Gen- eral Lee determined to attack tiiis force and prevent it from reaching the open country beyond the Wilderness. On the fifth of May he encountered the Army of the Potomac in the Wilderness, near the old battle-field of Chancellorsviile. The attack was made by the Federal forces, which endeavored to drive off Lee's army, which blocked the route by which they were advancing. Lee held his ground during the day, and that night both armies bivouacked upon the field. The battle was renewed on the sixth, but Grant failed to force the Confederate position. The fighting during these two days was carried on in a thickly-wooded region, in which the artillery of the two armies could not be used to advan- tage. On the sixth the Confederates suf- fered a serious loss in the person of General Longstreet, who was severely wounded, and was incapacitated from continuing in command. The losses in killed and wounded w ere very heavy on both sides, as the fight- nig was of a desperate character. Six Days' Fighting in 'Virginia. On the seventh General Grant moved his army around Lee's right, and marched rapidly to seize the strong position of Spottsylvania Court-house, which would have placed him between the Confederates and Richmond. Lee at once divined his purpose, and fell back rapidly to the heights around Spottsylvania Court-house, which he occupied on the eighth. Upon arriving before this position Grant found his enemy strongly entrenched in it, and at once re- solved to drive him from it. On the tenth of May he made a determined attack upon the Confederate line, but failed to carry it. On the morning of the eleventh. General Grant sent a characteristic dispatch to the Secretary of War. " We have now," he wrote, " eniied the sixth day of very hard fighting. The result to this time is much in our favor. Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. I think the ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 743 loss of the enemy must be greater. We have taken over five thousand prisoners in battle, while he has taken from us but few, except stragglers. I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer." The eleventh was Wednesday. The morning rose bright and clear. The two opposing armies lay in close proximity to each other. As the day advanced there was some skirmishing ; but on neither side was any attempt made to provoke a general engagement. Both commanders, it was evi- dent, were preparing for battle; nor could doubt remain in any mind that, whatever might be the result, another and even more fearful encounter at _ ^_, .-..: < __ Spottsylvania was ^^"^^^^ imminent. Grant was still r bent on carrying = :::• out his policy of ~ '- ' continuous ham- - mering. His sue- - cess, however, c the Tuesday, in his ■^^^-^-^^: repeated attacks on the enemy's left and left centre, had not been encouraging. There was no rea- son to hope that another attack, made in the same direction, would be attended with any better results. It was resolved, there- fore, to strike a bold and effective blow on the enemy's right centre. At that point, and near the Landrum House, Lee's lines formed a salient. It was Grant's conviction that the point was vulnerable. Arrangements for the attack were made forthwith. Hancock, who was chosen to strike the blow, was ordered to leave his entrenchments in front of A. P. Hill, and, by moving to the left, to take position between the Sixth and Ninth corps. The movement was to have the sup- port of the entire army. Wright was to extend his left, and to concentrate on that wing. Warren was to make a diversionary movement on the Confederate left, in his own front, the object being to give the enemy sufficient employment in that direction, and so prevent the withdrawal of his troops for the relief of the menaced point. Burnside, for a similar reason, was to make a vigorous assault on the extreme left. Rain fell heavily in the afternoon. When night came the rain-storm had not abated ; and, as the moon was in its first quarter, the night was dark and dismal. Soon after midnight, under cover of the darkness and the storm, Hancock moved out from his uitrenchments, B\1LL\ s RtU KIVEK I>^\1 and, guided by the compass, passed in rear of Warren and Wright, and took position within 1,200 yards of the enemy's front, at the point to be attacked. Barlow's division, in two lines of masses, was placed on the lelt ; Birney's division, in two deployed lines, was placed on the right ; Motfs division, Hancock's Fourth, supported Birney, and Gibbon's division was held in reser\-e. Of the actual strength of the position about to be attacked, the Nationalists knew nothing. It might be weak and defenceless. It mighl be well fortified and proof against any attack. It mattered not. Hancock was ready, wait- ing for the first streak of early dawn to launch forth hisbravebattalions to victorv ortc-la^.h. 744 THE CIVIL WAR. It is now half-past four o'clock on the morning of Thursday, May twelfth. A heavy fog is resting on the entire surrounding country, and the feeble light of the rising sun struggles hard to penetrate the gloom. Hancock's divisions are already in motion. Steadily and silently they move towards the salient — Barlow over open ground, which extends up to the Confederate lines, Birney through the thickly wooded ground more to the right. Not a shot has yet been fired — not a word uttered. More than half of the intervening distance has already been crossed. Suddenly there is a loud-resounding cheer, which rings along the whole line. Spontan- eously the men take the double-quick. On they roll like a resistless wave. Nothing can now restrain their fierce impetuosit>'. They have reached the abatis, torn it up and tossed it aside. With wild cries, they rush bounding over the entrenchments, Barlow and Birney's men entering almost simultaneously. Inside the intrenchmects there is a terrible hand-to- hand struggle, the bayonet and the clubbed- musket being freely used. Nothing, how- ever, can save the doomed Confederates. Some four thousand men, including General Johnson, of Ewell's corps, and General George H. Stewart are surrounded and cap- tured ; and with them thirty pieces of artil- lery and as many colors. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Confederate force, stricken with terror and thrown into the wildest con- fusion, have fallen back, seeking safety in the rear. This attack of Hancock's was justly regarded as the most brilliant feat of arms yet accomplished in the campaign. Never was surprise more com- plete or more successfuL The officers were taken at their breakfast. The captured generals were greatly mortified. An hour only had elapsed since the column of at- tack was formed. Along with the prisoners, which he sent to Grant, Han- cock sent a note hastily written in pencil, saying: "I have finished up John- son, and am now going into Early." This second task, as we shall soon see^ he found to be less easy of accomplishment than the former. Early, like Johnson, commanded a divis- ion of Ewell's corps. At the point pene- trated, Lee's army, as we have seen, formed a salient. Hancock had, therefore, by his first success, thrust a wedge between the Confederate right and centre. It was his hope that he would be able to cut Lee's army in two ; and there can be no doubt that if sufficient provision had been made, promptly and in force, to follow up the advantage Hancock had won by his first brilliant assault, the desired end would have Sl.NG THE R.-\.PIU.A.N ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 745 been accomplished. As it was, Hancock's troop^, flushed with success, and incapable of being restrained after the capture of the intrenchments, pressed on through the forest in the direction of Spottsylvania driving the flying enemy before them. At the distance of half a mile, they were suddenly brought to a halt in theirtriumph- ant career. They had reached a fresh line of breast-works. Behind these works, Ewell had taken shelter ; and reinforcements had reached him from the corps of Anderson and Hill. The Na- tional advance was now effectually check- ed. It \vas not only impossible to make headway — it was im- possible to remain in the position in which they found them- selves. The tide of battle was now turned. Gathering themselves up for a supreme ef- fort, the Confederates, in overwhelming numbers and in mag- nificent array, rushed from the breast-works, and, fallingwith crush- ing weight on Hancock's men, now slightly disordered by their fearless rush through the woods, drove them back to the line which they had captured in the early morning. Here, however, Hancock managed to rally his troops ; and, getting them into line on the right and left of the angle of the works, he stoutly resisted the fierce and repeated onsets of the enemy, and firmly held his position. His situation, howe\'er, was becom- ing every moment more critical. Lee was lRAL JAMES LOXGSTREET. resolved, if possible, to recover the lost line of works ; and, with this end in view, he was putting forth the most Herculean efforts, and bringing his entire strength to bear on the one point. It was now six o'clock — one hour and a half since the first onset. Hancock 746 THE CIVIL WAR. was still holding his position ; but relief was with the defense of this position. Five times, sorely needed. At this opportune moment, when most needed, relief came. Wright, who had been hurried forward with his Sixth corps, arrived on the ground, and took position on the right of the salient. Hancock, thus relieved, concentrated his troops on the left of the angle. A little later, about eight o'clock, and with a view to relieve the pressure on Hancock and Wright, Burnside and Warren after severe hand-to-hand fighting, in which the slaughter on both sides was dreadful, were the attacking columns repulsed. It was not until after midnight that Lee with- drew his shattered and bleeding lines and re-formed them in his interior position. Hancock held the works he had captured in the morning. The battle had lasted twenty hours. The losses on either side were about I0,000 men. •were ordered to attack along their whole Such was the great battle of Spottsylvania r_-_^- T-u_ U...1- J r....- — 1_. _^ Court House. Although not a decisive vic- tory it was a positive gain to the National fronts. The battle now raged furiously at every point. No evidence was given that Lee had changed his purpose. The last line ' cause. Its moral effect was great. It was one of the bloodiest •^^ '" «s-~» "^ battles of the war. Thesight presented at the angle where the tide of battle surged and roared from earliest dawn till past midnight of that summer day, as described b)^ e\'e-witnesses, w-as something shocking to wit- ness. The bodies of the dead and wounded were piled in heaps and mingled together in wild confusion. It was, as one has said, "an angle of death — one hideous Golgotha." The severity of the musketry fire was evidenced by the condition of the forest after the battle. The trees were not only pierced by the bullets, but literally cut down. At Washington, as a relic of this fight, there is preserved the trunk of an oak tree which was cut through and through by bullets. The trunk is about twenty inches in diameter. It was evident that the Confederates could not be dislodged from their position without a still heavier loss to the Union army, and THE PLACE WHERE -SEUGWICK W.-VS KILLED at the salient was still the object of his ambi- tion. On Hancock and Wright he dealt his heaviest and most terrific blows. Again and again, and in rapid succession, he rolled against them his heavy masses. He seemed resolved to dislodge them. Seeing this, and becoming convinced that Burnside and Warren were producing no impression on their respective fronts. Grant detached two divisions from the Fifth corps — those of Cutler and Grififin — and sent them to the aid of the Second and Sixth corps at the angle which was still regarded as the prize of battle, and where was the focus of the fight. Five times did Lee hurl his heavy ■columns against the National hnes entrusted ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 747 'General Grant determined to draw them from the heights of Spottsylvania by another march to the right. On the twenty-first of May the Army of the Potomac moved from Spottsylvania to the banks of the North Anna River, and reached that stream on the twenty-third. Lee had marched rapidly by a shorter route, and his army was in position on the south side of the river when Grant reached the northern shore. Lee had chosen a posi- tion of very great strength in front of Hanover Junction, and had covered it ■with earthworks. On the twenty-fifth Grant crossed a large part of his force to the south side of the North Anna, and endeavored to force the Confederate line, but disco\er- ing its remarkable strength, withdrew his troops to the north shore, and on the twenty-sixth moved around Lee's right in the direction of the Chickahomin\ Lee followed him promptly and tod position at Cold Harbor, on the north side of the Chickahominy, and within nine miles of Richmond, occupying very much the same position held by McClel- lan's army in the battle of Cold Harbor, on the twenty-seventh of June, 1862. He covered his entire line with strong earthworks. On the first of June a sharp encounter occurred between the Federal right anc the Confederate left wings, and on the Tnorning of the third of June, Grant made a 1 general assault upon the Confederate works. ! The attack was made with great gallantry, but I -was repulsed with a loss to the Federal army j of thirteen thousand men. The losses of ^the Army of the Potomac since the passage ' 'of the Rapidan had reached the enormous i total of over sixty thousand men. The Con- | federate loss during the same period was j about twenty thousand. Failing to force the I Confederate line at Cold Harbor, General Grant drew off leisurely towards the James River at Wilcox's Landing, intending to cross that river and attack Richmond from the south side of the James. In the meantime, upon reaching Spottsyl- vania Court-house, General Grant had sent General Sheridan, with ten thousand cavalry, to destroy the railroads connecting Rich- GE.NEKAL FIIaHUGH LEE. mond with Lee's army and the valley of Vir- ginia. Sheridan executed his orders with complete success, and went within seven miles of Richmond. On the tenth of May, he reached Ashland. He was attacked there by the Confederate cavarly under General Stuart, and moved off towards Richmond. Stuart, marching by a shorter route, threw his cavalry between Sheridan and Richmond, and again encountered him at the Yellow 748 THE CIVIL WAR. Tavern, on the Brook turnpike, seven miles from the city. Stuart was mortally wounded, and Sheri- dan secured his retreat across the Chicka- hominy and down the peninsula. In General Stuart the Confederates lost their only great cavalry leader. Had Sheridan, instead of halting at Ashland, pushed straight on to Richmond, the Confederate capital must have fallen into his hands. On the twenty- fifth of June he rejoined General Grant. a force of about eighteen thousand men, under General Beauregard, and posted them in a fortified line, extending from the James to the Appomattox, in front of the Richmond and Petersburg railroad. On the sixteenth of May, Butler's army, having advanced within a short distance of this line, was attacked by the Confederates and driven back to Bermuda Hundreds. The Confederates then formed their lines across the narrow peninsula, and kept Butler's force enclosed At the opening of the campaign. General Butler, with a force of about thirty thousand men, known as the Army of the James, was sent up the James River to attack the defen- ces of Richmond, on the south side of that river. He occupied City Point and Bermuda Hundreds on the fifth of May, and a few days later, advanced up the neck of land lying between the James and the Appomattox Rivers. To oppose him, the Confederates collected between their works and the two rivers until the crossing of the James River by the Army of the Potomac. The Federal plan of campaign also included the seizure of the valley of Virginia, and of the railway connecting Virginia with East Tennessee and Georgia. On the first of May, General Sigel, with an army of ten thousand men, advanced up the valley towards Staun- ton. On the fifteenth, he was defeated with considerable loss by the Confederates, under ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 749 General Breckenridge, at Xew Market, ami was dri\en back down the valle\'. General Hunter was appointed in Sigel's place, and succeeded in forcing his way to the vicinity of Lynchburg. Lee, becoming alarmed for the safety of that place, sent General Earl\-, with twelve thousand men. to its assistance. advanced upon Petersburg. At the same time General Butler moved forward with the Army of the Jame.s against the southern works between the James and Appomattox. On the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth, Grant made repeated attempts to storm the Con- federate works bcf'-.rc Petersburg and south Early, at once attacked Hunter, and forced him to retreat by a circuitous route into West Virginia. In the meantime, General Grant had reached the James River, where his army was reinforced to one hundred and fifty thousand men. On the fifteenth and sixteenth of June Jie crossed his troops near City Point, and of the James, but was repulsed with a total loss of nine thousand six hundred and sixty- five men. Being unable to carry the southern works by storm, he began the siege of Petersburg. His right rested on the James above Ber- muda Hundreds, and from this point his line extended across the Appomattox, with his 750 left thrown out towards the Weldoii railroad. During the summer and fall he continued to extend his left until he had seized the VVeldon road. From this point he sought to extend his left still further, and to seize the South THE CIVIL WAR. Side railroad, Lee's only remaining line of communication with the South and South- west. Frequent encounters occurred between the two armies during the summer and fall, a number of which attained the proportions of battles, but we have not space to relate them all. On the thirtieth of July a mine was sprung under one of the principal works of Lee's line, and the explosion was followed by an assault by Burnside's corps. The attack was repulsed with a loss of over five thou- sand men to the Union troops. During the early autumn General Grant extended his lines across the James river, and established a force on the north side of that river to lay siege to the de- fences of Richmond. The right of this force was extended as far as the Williamsburg road. This was the situation of the two armies at the close of the year. In the meantime Early had advanced into the valley of Vir- ginia after the defeat of Hunter. The retreat of that commander in- to West Virginia had left the Potomac un- guarded, and Wash- ington City exposed to attack. General Lee at once reinforced Early to fifteen tliou- sand men, and ordered him to cross the Potomac and to threaten "Washington, hoping by this bold movement to compel Grant to weaken his army for the protection of the capital, if not to raise the siege of Petersburg. Early moved rapidly, crossed the Potomac near Martinsburg on ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. the fifth of July, and on the seventh occupied Frederick City in ^Maryland. On the nintii he defeated a small force under General Lewis Wallace at Manocacy Bridge, and advanced upon Washington. The Nine- teenth army corps of the Federal army was at Fortress Monroe, where it had just arrived from New Orleans, en route to join Grant's army. It was at once or- dered to Washington, which, until its arrival, was held by a small gar- rison, and Grant at the same time embarked the Sixth corps, and sent it with all speed around to the Potomac. These troops reached Washington before the arrival of Early, who appeared before the de- fences of that city on the eleventh of July. He found the works too strongly manned to be attacked by his force. After skirmishing for several days before them, he withdrew across the Potomac on the four- teenth, and retreated to the neighborhood of Winchester. Early's movement so alarmed the Federal gov- ernment for the safety of Washington that a force of forty thousand men, ten thousand of which were the splen- did cavalry of Sheridan, was stationed in the valley, and Major-General Sheridan was ap- pointed to the command of this army. Had Grant been able to retain these troops with his own army, it is safe to say that Lee would have been forced to abandon his position at Petersburg in the autumn of 1864. Their absence in the valley enabled the Con- federate leader to prolong his defence through the winter. As soon as he had gotten his forces well in hand, Sheridan ad\'anced upon Early, and GENEK.\L WIM 11 LD ■'. HANCOCK. on the nineteenth defeated him at Win- chester, and drove him back to Fisher's Hill, where on the twenty-second, he again defeated him and drove him out of the valley, pursuing him as far as Staunton. By the orders of General Grant, General Sheri- dan now laid waste the entire valley of the ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHA^I LINCOLN. 753 Shenandoah, destroying all the crops, mills, barns, and farming implements, and driving off the cattle with his arm\' as he moved back. Early was reinforced after his retreat to the upper valley, and about the middle of October advanced down the valley towards the Federal position with a force of nine thousand men and forty pieces of cannon. The Union army lay at Cedar Creek, and was under the temporary command of Gen- eral Wright during the absence of General Sheridan. On the nineteenth of Oc- tober Early attack- ed this force, and drove it back for several miles. In- stead of continuing the pursuit, his troops stopped to plunder the Federal camp.whichhad fal- len into their hands. General Wright rallied his men and reformed them in a new position, and at this moment General Sheridan arrived on the field. He had heard the firing at Winchester, | "twenty miles away," and had ridden at full speed from that place to rejoin his army. He at once ordered it to advance upon Early, whose men, laden with the plunder of the captured camp, were driven back with terrible force and pursued up the valley for thirty miles. This success cleared the valley of the Confederate forces, for Early was not able after this to collect more than a handful of men, and Lee had no troops to spare him. Sheridan's brilliant victories cost him a total loss of seventeen thousand men. A more extended account of C rieral Sheridan's operations, by the historian. John Laird Wilson, will be of interest ^o the reader : "As Sheridan returned down the valley towards Cedar Creek, he was closely followed by the Confederate cavalry under Rosser, supported by the main body of Early's arm\-. On October ninth, the head of Sheridan's infantry column having entered Strasburgby the east road, while the rear was still some miles further south, the enemy following the "^^I^'^;:^ cavalry on the west road, had advanced so far as to get on the left flank of the infantry column. Custer and Merritt then turned and attacked with their cavalry, when a report having spread among Rosser's men that the National infantry were at the same time flanking them, they immediately gave way and broke into a stampede. The pursuit was continued seven miles. The loss of the enemy was not great, being only about three hundred men, including prisoners ; but he abandoned eleven guns, four caissons, and an ammunition train. 754 THE CIVIL WAR. "Things remained quiet for several days after this affair ; but on the twelfth, the Con- federates again appeared in the neighborhood of Strasburg and opened an artillery fire on Emory's and Crook's cor[)s. These troops were then partially withdrawn and Crook pushed out a recdiiii i ,:i ' ' 'm >ught >>, -. \ \ (.tNERAL PHinP H SHERIDVN Ion a smart engagement of three hours' dura- tion. Night, however, closed upon the scene without any advantage and with little loss to either side. " On the fifteenth, Sheridan went to Wash- ington on important busip .ss, leaving the army under the command c General Wri'-^ht whose corps was, in the meantime intrusted to General Ricketts. Fisher's Hill had been abandoned as not affording any good defens- ible line on its southern slope, on which side Early would be likely to approach, and the army had now lain for several days in front of Strasburg, behind breast-works thrown up on rising and rolling ground, mostly along the east side of Cedar Creek — Crook, with the Eighth corps on the left, the Nine- teenth corps in the centre, the Sixth on the right. On li right of the Sixth, a itle m the rear and in trve, were the two ca- iliy divisions of Custer md Merritt. The line was four or five miles long, and followmg the course of the creek nearly north and south Crook's corps rested its left flank on the North Fork of Shenandoah and Its right on the Winchester ind Strasburg turnpike, the prmcipal highway in that region Behind Crook's left and at right angles to it \vith a view to guard agiuist any turning move- ment on that flank, lay a force about equivalent to a biigade, known as Kitch- inj; s provisional division. North of the turnpike came the Nineteenth corps, Grover's division holding its left and resting on the turnpike, where it joined Thorburn's division of Crook's command. The Sixth corps on the right, and the second cavalry division, were not strongly protected with works, as was all the rest of w \ ^\\, ^ ^ .1/11:. Ml- Mi lEbKl^AI, CAVALRY COMMANDERS. 755 THE CIVIL WAR. the line, but were well posted on high ridges, and held firmly the Middle road, or that which runs next north of the turnpike. A small stream called Meadow Run, flows into the creek between the two roads mentioned. was picketed by Powell's cavalrj' division from Cedar Creek all the way to Front Royal. Weir's battery commanded the fords, supported by cavalry which were so posted as to prevent surprise from the direction cf Sheridan's cavalry charge .-^t cedar creek. " In front the National position was consid- ered impregnable, except by surprise, and to turn it would be, it was believed, an under- taking of extreme temerity. To guard against surprise on the left, the North Fork the Luray Vallej-. Artillery was posted in front of the positions of Crook and Emory, so as to command the ford and the bridge over Cedar Creek, as well as the rising ground on the west side. The wagon trains and AD^IIXISTRATIOX OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 757 reserve artillery lay in the rear on the turn- I began to move against Sheridan's lines. His pike. On the seventeenth, the ci\ ilr\ on the | cimIin and li^ht aitillery were directed to right, under Custer, was attacked by Con- federate cavalry and infantr}', and a severe skirmish ensued, re- sulting in the repulse of the enemy. Next day a careful recon- noissance was made from the left towards Strasburg and Fish- er's Hill; but no sign of movement on the part of the enem\- v.as discovered. Dis- patches, however.were captured; and it was thus ascertained that reinforcements had been sent to Early, for the purpose of enabling him to attack and defeat Sheridan. "Early, in fact, had just received a rein- forcement of some twelve thousand men. His actual strength was thus increased to twenty-seven thou- sand. His army was still smaller than that of Sheridan. Encour- aged, however, by so large an accession of strength, Early pre- pared to put in execu- tion one of the mo.'-.t audacious movements of the war. country between CHATX.iVNOOG.^ and Atlanta. " Before break of day on the nineteenth, I advance against the National right, so as to he arranged his troops at Fisher's Hill and | occupy the attention of Torbert and the 7S8 THE CIVIL WAR. Sixth corps. His infantry marched in five columns, of which Gordon's, Kamseur's, and Pegram's were ordered to place themselves by daybreak on the left rear of the whole National position, while Kershaw's and Wharton's were to endeavor to get, about the same time, close under the entrenched rising ground on which lay Crook's com- mand. To turn the National left, it was GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON. necessary that Early's columns should descend into the gorge at the base of the Massanuttcn Mountain, ford the North Fork of the Shenandoah, and skirt Crook's en- campment for some distance, in some places within four hundred yards of his pickets. " It was a hazardous as well as audacious experiment; but it was executed with won- derful skill, and, as the result proved, with complete success. The movement was con- ducted quietly, and with great caution. The result was that before daybreak the Con- federate infantry, formed and ready for battle, lay within six hundred yards of the National camps. Gordon's column was diagonally in the rear of the Nineteenth corps; on the left of Crook, facing Kitching's provisional division, was Ramseur supported by Pegram ; in front of Crook was Kershaw supported by Wharton. Under cover of the morning mist, Kershaw's column moved rapidly through Crook's picket line, and with tremendous fury rushed upon the entrenchments. The onslaught was fearful. The surprise was complete. "In a quarter of an hour Crook's gallant army of Western Virginia became a dis- organized mass of fugitives in rapid rout towards the position of the Nineteenth corps. Crook lost several batteries, some seven hundred men made prisoners, and about one hundred in killed and wounded. The Si.xth corps was at the same time menaced; and its attention occupied by the enemy's cavalry and light artillery. It fell to the lot of the Nineteenth corps to resist unaided the shock of Gordon's col- umn, now advancing solidly massed up the slope of a broad, bare hill which com- manded Emory's camp. The Confederate force, including the divisions of Ramseur and Pegram, was as strong as Emory's, and was supported by another column coming up through the woods on the left, and along the turnpike in front. " The Nineteenth corps was thus not only taken in the rear, but outnumbered. Still it held out for about an hour ; and then its left gave way, leaving a part of the artillery in the enemy's hands. The left and centre of the National army had now fallen into com- plete confusion ; and all the trains that could be got away were sent off in haste along the turnpike towards Winchester. The sun was ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 759 now high in the heavens, and the extent of the disaster was rendered visible. The Con- federates had succeeded in rolling up the left of the line, and in severing Powell's cavalry- division on the extreme left from the rest of the army; and they were now forcing bai:i< the entire centre, and occupying the entrench- ments of the Nineteenth corps as they had those of Crook's command. They had also •captured eighteen pieces of artillery, thus not only lessening the National power for defense, but increasing their own power for attack. The captured cannon were turned with terrible effect on their late possessors. The Sixth corps was now ordered over from the right ; and these troops, executing quickly a change of front which brought them at Tight angles to their former line, were soon engaged in desperate battle. A Desperate Struggle. " The resistance made by the Sixth corps in covering the retreat afforded opportunity for re-enforcing the fugitives to some extent ; but the Confederates increased their artillery and musketry fire to the utmost, and still pressed the National left flank, with the view, apparently, of getting full possession of the turnpike, that they might seize the trains and get between the National army and Winchester. The enemy pressed the left much more vigorously than the right. Merritt's and Custer's cavalry were trans- ferred from the right to the left; and a severe contest took place in the thickly-wooded country near Middletown, in which the left had been placed by its rapid retreat. " About nine o'clock Sheridan's army had got into line of battle again, and made des- perate efforts to check the enemy. Both sides used artillery; but the Confederates had greatly the advantage in this arm, having not only their own batteries, but the cap- tured guns of their antagonists besides. The Sixth corps held its ground well ; but Crook's corps on the left was forced back, and the whole line gradually gave way, the enemy again getting past the National left flank, and finally gaining the village of Mid- dletown, about three miles northeast of the position from which Sheridan's army had been driven. The principal aim of the National commanders now was to cover the trains and draw off the army with as little loss as possible to Newton, where they hoped to be able to re-form and offer an effective resistance. The battle had been completely lost. Camps, earth-works, some twenty-four guns and one thousand eight hundred pris- oners — all were left in the hands of the enemy. The routed Nationals were flying in all directions, large numbers of them making their way to Winchester. " Face the Other Way, Boys ! " " The National army fell back, as we havi seen, first towards Middletown, and after- wards in the direction of Newton. About a mile or so in the rear of Middletown, Wright succeeded in restoring something like order. Sheridan was still absent. He had been, as we have mentioned, on a visit to Washing- ton. On his return, he spent the night at Winchester. It was not until his army had been defeated that he was made aware of Early's attack. He was in his saddle in a minute. He had scarcely left Winchester when he beheld sad evidences of the disaster which had befallen his army. The road was covered with wagon trains and crowds of weary fugitives. " As he rode along on his splendid charger, the air was rent with cheers. The fugitives felt abashed and halted; and the wounded by the wayside feebly waved a joyful salute. He did not slacken his pace to rebuke or encourage. Waving his hat to the cheering crowds, his horse still at full 760 THE CIVIL WAR gallop, he shouted, ' Face the other way, boys ! Face the other way ! We arc going back to our camps. We are going to lick them out of their boots.' The words were electric. The tide of fugitives began to turn. As he neared the main body, the enthusiasm became unbounded. Officers and men tossed their hats and cheered to the echo. He repeated his fiery words, ' Boys, if I had been here this would never have happened. We are going back. We'll have all these camps and cannon back again.' What Sheridan said he meant ; and the men believed him. He was in the field shortly after ten o'clock. General Early Repulsed. "There was a lull in the fight, which lasted several hours. Wright, as has been mentioned, had already restored order, and made dispositions, if not for attack, at least for effective resistance. Sheridan approved of the arrangements; and mid the most enthusiastic cheers, he rode along the lines, studying the ground and encouraging the men. About one o'clock Early made a charge, which was vigorously repulsed by Emory. About three o'clock Sheridan gave the order, 'The entire line will advance. The Nineteenth corps will move in con- nection with the Sixth. The right of the Nineteenth will swing to the left, so as to drive the enemy upon the pike.' "The order was promptly obeyed. The entire line moved forward — Getty's divis- ion leading the charge. Merritt's cav- alry covered the left flank; and Cu.ster's cavalry was thrown out on the right. As the Nationals advanced they were checked for a moment by a tremendous fire of artillery and musketry. The check, however, was but momentary; for Emory swung around upon the foe, and by two gallant charges greatly disordered his lines. Almost at the same moment, the National cavalry fell upon Early's flank. The tide of battle had already turned. " The Confederates fought with bravery and determination ; but Sheridan's men now fighting in the presence of their favorite chief, were not to be resisted. The battle, in fact, was already won ; and what was so? recently a retreat, was now changed into a pursuit. It was a perfect rout. On his arri- val, Sheridan said, ' We'll have all those camps and cannon back again.' His word was made good. That night, the National infantry halted within their old camps ; but the cavalry pursued, hanging upon the flanks and rear of the retreating foe, until he was beyond Strasburg, and night fell upon the scene. Early halted for the night at Fisher's Hill, and in the morning resumed his retreat southward. In the pursuit, all the captured guns were recovered. The Nationals cap- tured not only their own guns, but twenty- three of those of the enemy, together with one thousand five hundred prisoners, and any quantity of horses, mules, ambulances, wagons and stores of various kinds." Sharp Struggle at Resaca. The Western army under General Shermarr was increased to one hundred thousand men, and was concentrated in and around Chatta- nooga about the last of April. Opposed to this force. General Joseph E. Johnston had collected an army of fifty thousand men at Dalton, Georgia. The objective point of Sherman was Atlanta, Georgia, the key to the railroad system of the South. On the seventh of May the Federal army began its advance. The position at Dalton being too strong to be assaulted, Sherman turned it by a flank movement upon Resaca, to which place Johnston fell back. On the fourteenth and fifteenth of May Sherman endeavored to force the Confederate lines near ..j^-#i r j» V* ■ -r % i#^. TS« \X\' ■^- ^ ^ "f^ ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 761 Resaca, but without success. He therefore moved around Johnston's left again, and com- pelled him to fall back to Dallas. Severe fighting occurred on the twenty fifth at New Hope Church, but Johnston maintained his position. Heavy skirmishing ensued until the twenty-eighth, when Sherman hav- ing turned Allatoona Pass, Johnston oc- cupied a new position, embracing Pine, Lost and Kenesaw Moun- tains. Between the fifteenth of June and the second of July Sherman made several attempts to force this position, which was one of the strongest yet occupied by the Confederates, and fail ing to carry it, again moved to the left and turned it. Johnston at once fell back across the Chat- tahoochee and within the lines of Atlanta. He had prepared this city for a siege, and strongly fortified it. He had his army v.ell in hand, and he was determined as soon as the Federal army had passed the Chat- tahoochee to attack majok Sherman and force him to a decisive en- counter. He hoped to defeat him, and had purposely avoided a general battle until now. Should he succeed in his attempt the defeat of the Federal army at such a great distance from its base might result in its ruin, and at all events would be de- cisive of the campaign. At this juncture, however, he was removed from his command on the seventeenth of July by the Confeder- ate President, who was greatly dissatisfied with the results of the campaign, and who. EKAL JAMES D. M PHEKSON. it was generally believed, was influenced by his personal hostility to Johnston. General John B. Hood, a gallant soldier, but unfit for the great task imposed uporf him, was appointed to succeed General Johnston. In Johnston General Sherman 762 had recognized an antagonist of the first rank, and had conducted the campaign accordingly. He regarded the appoint- ment of General Hood as greatly simplify- ing the task before him. The Federal army had already paid the heavy price of over thirty thousand men for its advance to Atlanta, while Johnston had lost less than THE CIVIL WAR. ablest commanders. Sherman now drew in his lines closer to Atlanta, and by a skilful movement thrust his army between the two wings of Hood's forces, thus exposing them to the danger of being beaten in detail. This movement sealed the fate of Atlanta, which was evacuated by the Confederates on the thirty-first of August. On the second of eight thousand men. The conditions were September Sherman occupied the city, now to be reversed. Hood retreated towards Macon. The loss of Atlanta was a serious blow to the South. It placed the Federal army in the heart of Georgia, and destroyed the principal source from which the Con- federate armies were supplied with mili- tary stores, which had been manufactured in great quantities at Atlanta. Rome, Georgia, which was captured by Sher- man's army during the campaign, was also largely engaged in the manufacture of arms and ammunition. General Sherman was now anxious to march his army through Georgia, and unite with the Union forces on the coast, but he was unable as yet to undertake this movement, as Hood, with an army of thirtj'-five thousand men lay in his front, and his communications with Chat- tanooga and Knoxville were exposed to the raids of the Confederate cavalry. He now learned that the Confederate government had ordered General Hood to invade Tennessee for the purpose of drawing his army out of Georgia, and concluded to make no effort to prevent this movement. The task of watching Hood was confided to the Army of the Tennessee, under General George H. Thomas, who was given a sufficient force to hold Tennessee, and Sherman set about preparing his army for his march to the sea. Thomas was heavily reinforced from the North. Hood began his forward movement towards the last of October, and on the thirty-first of GENERAL GEORGE H. THOM.AS. On the seventeenth of July the Union army crossed the Chattahoochee, and advanced towards Atlanta. On the twen- tieth and twenty-second Hood attacked the Federai lines on Peach Tree Creek, but only to be beaten back with a loss of over eight thousand men, without inflicting any serious injury upon the Union army, which, how- ever, lost General McPherson, one of its i-|i|%^f\^ A\D SOME OF HIS COMMANDERS. 763 -64 THE CIVIL WAR. that month, crossed the Tennessee, near I command of General Schofield, and effecting- Florence. He remained on tliis river until | a passage of Duck River, on the twentj'- ninth. Schofield fell back to Franklin eighteen miles south of Nashville. He was attacked on the thir- tieth, by the Confed- erates and forced back to Nashville, witliin the defences of which city. General Thomas had collected an army of about forty thou- sand men. Hood in- vested the cit}^ and hastened forward his preparations to assault the Federal works. General Thomas, how- ever, anticipated him, and on the fifteenth of December, attacked the Confederate army and forced it back at all points. The next day, the sixteenth, the battle was renewed, and Hood was com- pletely routed. On the seventeenth the Union army set out in pursuit of Hood's broken col- umns, and followed them for over fifty miles. But for the gallantry of a small rearguard, which pre- served its discipline and covered the re- THE COUNTRY TRAVERSED BY SHERMAN IN HIS MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA. ^ ^ ^ ^t. i ^ ^I I treat to the last, the the middle of November, and on the nine- I Confederate army would have been scattered teenth, marched northward, forcing back tlie | beyond all hope of reunion. Hood recrossed ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 765 the Tennessee with barely twenty tliousand men out of the thirty-five thousand witli which he had beg-un fire to Atlanta. On the fourteentli of No- vember he set out on his " March to the Sea," the campaign. He had lost half of his generals and nearly all of his artillery. He fell back to Tupelo, Mississippi, andon the tweniy-third of Jan- uary, 1865, was, at his own request, relieved of his command. In the meantime Gen- eral Sherman, leaving Thomas to deal with Hood, had begun his march through the State of Georgia. Sat- isfied that the war was practically de- cided in the South- west, he proposed to march to the sea near Savannah, and thence through the Confed- -eracy to the position of General Grant's army. This move- ment would compel the Confederates to mass their forces in his front, and would confine the decisive operations of the war to the country be- tween his own and Grant's armies, be- tween which it was believed the Southern forces could be crush- ed. Everything being in readiness, Sherman cut loose from his communications with Chattanooga and set MAP SHOWING THE CITV OF MOBILE AND ITS DEFENCES. at the head of a splendid army of si.xty thousand men. He ravaged the country as 766 he went, leaving behind him a broad belt of desolation, sixty miles in width and three hundred in length. The Confederates had not sufficient force to offer serious opposition to his march, and THE CIVIL WAR. COMMODORE DAVID G. FARRAGUT, in about four weeks ho reached the coast near the mouth of the Savannah River. On the thirteenth of December he stormed and captured Fort McAllister, which commanded that river. The city of Savannah was thus left at Sherman's mercy, and was occupied by his army on the twenty-second of Dece»n- ber. By this successful march to the s» \, General Sherman had not only gotten h.s army in a position to co-operate with Grant in the final struggle of the war, but had struck terror to the South. The most hopeful Confeder- ate now saw thai the triumph of the Union cause was inevitable and close, at hand. During the yeai important opera- tions had been un- dertaken by the Federal forces on the coast. In July, a powerful fleet un- der Admiral Far- ragut, accompanied by a strong force of troops under Gen- eral Granger, was sent against Mo- bile. This city was one of tlie principal ports of the Con- federacy and was strongly fortified. The entrance to the bay was command- ed by Forts Mor- gan and Gaines, two powerful works built before the war, and a number of batteries and a Confederate fleet under Admiral Buchanan — who had commanded the "Virginia" in her fight with the "Monitor" — lay beyond the forts ready to contest the possession of the bav. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 767 On the fifth of August Farragut passed the I employed during the war was assemble forts with his fleet with iron-clad, and entered Mobile Bay. He im- mediately attacked the Confederate fleet, the flag-ship of which was a powerful iron-clad ram — the " Tennes- see." After one of the most desperate fights in naval annals, the entire fleet was destroyed or captured by the Union vessels. Fort Powell was evac- uated and blown up by its garrison on the same day. On the seventh of August Fort Gaines surren- dered to General Granger, and on the twenty-third Fort Morgan also capitul- ated. These successes made the Federal forces masters of Mo- bile Bay, and closed the port to blockade- runners ; but the city, which was strongly fortified, was not taken until the ne.xt year. Wilmington, on the Cape Fear River, was now the only port in the Confederacy re- maining open to block- ade runners. It was defended by Fort Fisher, an unusually cape fear kivek a.nd appro.achi formidable work near the mouth of the Cape 1 force of eight thousand troops under General Fear. A larger fleet than had yet been | Butler was embarked, and the expedition TO WILMINGTON, N. ^68 BOAT OF THE " bl. CAi'i.U.N SEMMKS. ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 7G9 sailed to the Cape Fear. Fort Fisher was subjected to a vigorous bombardment, which was begun on the twenty-fourth of Decem- ber, and the troops were landed ; but at the last moment General Butler decided that the fort was too strong to be assaulted, and the expedition returned to Hampton Roads. I^Iobilc in August of that year. In Januar)', 1S63, slic ran the blockade, and in three months c.iptured and destroyed fifteen mer- chant vessels. She was at length seized in the harbor of Bahia, in Brazil, by a Feeler;;! man-of-war, and taken to Hampton Ro;;ds. The Brazilian Government, resenting this SI.NKING OF T:1E '• ALAUA.M.A " BY THE " KEAK3AKGE.' Since the opening of the war the Confed- erate cruisers had nearly driven the commerce of the Northern States from the ocean. These vessels were built in England, and were usually manned by crews of English seamen under Confederate naval officers. One of these, the " Florida," put to sea in the sunmier of icSG2, and succeeded in reaching breach of its neutrality, demanded the release of the " Florida," but while the negotiations were in progress, she was sunk in Hampton Roads by a collision with another vessel. The most famous of all the Confederate cruisers, was the "Alabama." She was built at Liverpool, and was suffered to go to s a in spite of the protest of the Amerit..:i 770 minister at London. She was commanded by Captain Raphael Semmes, and during her lon^ career, captured sixty-five merchant vessels, and destroyed over ten millions of dollars worth of propert)-. During her entire career, she never entered a Confederate port. In the summer of 1864, she put into the harbor of Cherbourg, in France, and was blockaded there by the United States war steamer, " Kearsarge," Captain Winslow. The French government ordered the "Ala- bama"' to leave Cherbourg, and she went to sea on the nineteenth of June. She was at once attacked by the " Kearsarge," and was sunk by the guns of that steamer, after an THE CIVIL WAR. RAPII.AEL SEMMES. engagement of an hour and a quarter. Semmes was saved from drowning by the English yacht, "Deerhound," that had wit- nessed the battle and was set ashore. The destruction of the "Alabama" was hailed with delight throughout the North. In the fall of 1864, the presidential election was held in the States remaining faithful to the Union. The Republican party nominated President Lincoln for re-election, and Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee for the vice-presidency. The Democratic party supported General George B. McClellan for the presidency, and George H. Pendleton, of Ohio, for the vice- presidency. Mr. Lincoln received at the polls, 2,213,665 votes to 1,802,237 cast fot McClellan ; and the electoral votes of every State, save those of New Jersey, Delaware, and Kentucky, were cast for him. On the thirty-first of October, 1864, Nevada was admitted into the Union as a separate State. The year 1864 closed brilliantly for the Union cause. Though the Confederates had gained a number of important victories dur- ing the year, they had, on the whole, steadily lost ground. Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, were over- run by the Federal armies, and on the coast there was not a single port remaining open to the Confederacy save that of Wilmington, which was blockaded by a powerful fleet. A Million Union Troops. It was evident that the coming spring cam- paign would end the war. The Federal force.'' had been increased to the enormous total o( one million of men. The Confederates could bring into the field scarcely two hundred thousand men, and for these it was difficult to find subsistence. The vicious financial system adopted by the Confederate Govern- ment had run its appointed course, and the notes of the Confederate Treasury were worth scarcely three or four cents on the dollar. The year 1865 opened with an effort to secure the return of peace without further bloodshed. In January Mr. F. P. Blair, Sr., came from Washington to Richmond, and on his own responsibility proposed to the Con- federate Government the appointment of commissioners to negotiate with the Federal Government for the close of the war. The following commissioners were appointed by the Confederate Government : Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States; R. M. T. Hunter, Senator from Vir- ginia in the Confederate Congress, and John A. Campbell, Assistant Secretary of War. PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT FEDERAL GENEP 7/2 THE CIVIL WAR. They proceeded to City Point under a safe conduct from General Grant, and were con- veyed from that place to Hampton Roads in a Government steamer. On the third of February President Lincohi and Secretary Seward having reached Hampton Roads, an MAJOR-GENERAL J. M. SCHOFIELD, informal conference was held between the President and the commissioners. The Presi- dent refused to entertain any propositions which were not based upon the unconditional submission of the Southern States to the authority of the Union, and as the commis- sioners had no authority from their govern- ment to enter into any such arrangement the conference accomplished nothing. In the meantime, however. Admiral Porter, undaunted by the failure of Butler to take Fort Fisher, had remained off the fort with his fleet and had asked for troops to renew the attempt. The sime force that Butler had commanded, with fifteen hundred additional men, was placed under Gen- eral Terry's command and ordered to join Por- ter. This force arrived off Fort Fisher on the twelfth of January, and on the morning of the thirteenth accomplished its landing with success. A terrible fire was rained upon the fort by the fleet during the thirteenth and fourteenth, and on the fourteenth a daring re- eonnoissance of the Union force revealed the fact that the fort liad been severely damaged by this bombardment. The trenches of the Union army were pushed rapidly through the sand to within two hundred yards of Fort Fisher in order to attract the atten- tion of the garrison, and on the fifteenthafeintwas made by a force of sailors and marines from the fleet in this direction. At the same time the troops under General Terry stormed the fort from the land side, and after a hard hand- to-hand struggle of about five hours, during which each traverse was carried in succession by a separate fi:;ht. Fort Fisher was captured. PORTRAITS OF FEDERAL CAVALRY COMMANDERS. 774 THE CIVIL WAR. On the sixteenth and seventeenth the Con- federates blew up their other works at the mouth of the Cape Fear and retreated towards Wilmington. The mouth of the river was now in the possession of the Fed- eral forces, and the last port of the South was closed. A number of blockade runners, igno- rant of the capture, ran into the river and fell into the hands of the victors. Later in the month. General J. M. Schofield was placed in command of the department of North Carolina, and on the twenty-second of Feb- ruarj^ occupied the city of Wilmington, North Carolina, with his troops. INTERIOR OF FORT STE.\DM..VN. Sherman, after the capture of Savannah, allowed his army a month's rest on the coast, and towards the end of January moved northward through South Carolina towards Virginia. His force was sixty thousand strong and moved in four columns, covering a front of fifty miles. His route was marked by the same desolation he had spread through Georgia. The roads were in a horrible con- dition, and in many places the men were forced to wade through the icy waters up to the armpits. Still he pressed on right into the heart of the Confederacj-. On the seven- teenth of February he reached Columbia, South Carolina, having destroj-ed the rail- road leading north from Charleston. General Hardee, commanding the Con- federate forces at Charleston, apprehensive of being shut up in that city, which was utterly unprepared for a siege, evacuated Charleston and its defences on the seven- teenth of February and retreated northward to join General Johnston in North Carolina. The next day Charleston was occupied by the Federal forces. Fort Sumter was also taken possession of at the same time. The fort was a mass of ruins ; the city was not much better off It had suffered severely from the bombardment to which it had been subjected since the fall of Fort Wagner, and the Confederates upon their withdrawal had set fire to a, considerable part of it. From Columbia, Sherman moved to- wards Fayetteville. North Carolina, driv- ing back the Confederate forces that resisted his progress, and entered that place on the twelfth of March. From ■•' I ayetteville he moved towards Golds- The Confederate government, in the emergency to which it was reduced, was obliged to reappoint General Joseph E. Johnston to the command of the force as.sembling in Sher.r.an's front. Johns- ton succeeded in collecting about thirty-five thousand troops,with which he attacked Sher- man at Averasborough on the sixteenth of March, and again at Bentonville on the nine- teenth. The Confederates fought with their old enthusiasm in these encounters, but were unable to stay the progress of the Federal army, and on the twenty-third of March Sherman occupied Goldsborough. Johnston withdrew towards Raleigh. At Goldsborough Sherman was joined by the forces of Gen- erals Schofield and Terry, which had come up from the coast. The armies of Grant and Lee had lain con- fronting each other during the winter. General Lee had little hope of maintaining ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 775 destroyed the railroad between Charlottes- and Lynchburg for about forty miles, his position after the opening of hostilities. His army was growing weaker from sickness and desertion, and no more men could be obtained. The Con- federate Congress made a feeble effort during the winter to enlist negro troops in its service, but with singular recklessness refused to offer the boon of freedom to such of the blacks as would take up arms. That body believed that the negroes would fight for their own enslavement. Early having been driven out of the val- ley. General Sheridan was ordered to start from Winchester with a column often thou- sand cavalry, and cut the communications of Lee's army by rail- road and telegraph northandeastof Rich- mond. He left Win- chester on the twenty- seventh of February, and defeating Early's force at Waynesbor- ough, broke the Vir- ginia Central Railroad T.t that point and moved to Charlottes- ville, which surrend- ered to him. He then divided his force into positions of the armies near Petersburg, va. two columns and resumed his "ride" on I and the canal between Richmond the si.xth of March. He most thoroughly | Lynchburg shared the same fate f 7/6 THE CIVIL WAR. •considerable distance. Bcinc; unable to cross the James above Richmond on account of ihe high water, he mo\cil around the north of Richmond, crossed the river at Deep Bottom and joined Grant before Petersburg 'on the twentj--sixth of March. He had utterly laid waste the country along his route. The arrival of this splendid force ol' cavalry was of the greatest ser\ice to Grant, as we shall sec. The situation of General Lee's army was | GENERAL ROBERT F. LEE. growmg more critical every day. Me liaJ less than fofty thousand troops. He was fully convinced of the necessity of abandon- ing Richmond and Petersburg, and was anx- ious to do so at once, and unite his army with that of General Jolinston and occupy a /new position in the inter:. ir of the South. In order to secure the withdrawal of his army, he determined to make a vigorous attack upon Grant's right, hoping to compel him, in order to help his right, to draw back his left I wing, which was in dangerous proximity to the road by which Lee wished to retreat. Could he succeed in this effort, he meant to e\acuate his position at Petersburg and recire towards Danville, where he hoped to unite with General Johnston. On the twenty-iifth of March, he made a heavy attack upon Fort Steadman, on the right of Grant's line, and captured it. The ' Federal forces rallied, however, and drove the Confederates from the captured works back to their own line, inflicting upon them a loss of three thousand men. Lee had now no alternative but to await the move- ments of General Grant, as he could not afford to make the sacrifice of men which a renewal of his efforts would require of him. General Grant lost no time in taking the field. By the last of March, his army, numbering about one hundred and seventy thousand men, including Sheridan's mag- nificent cavalrj' division, was in readiness to begin the campaign. On the twenty- ninth of ?ilarch, the advance of the Federal army was begun. Leaving the bulk of his army before Petersburg, Grant sent a col- umn of twenty-five thousand men to turn the Confederate right and seize the South- side railroad, Lee's only means of com- munication with Johnston's army and the country in his rear. By the morning of the tliirticth, the Federal left had gotten fairly to the right of the Confederates. On the thirtieth, a heavy storm prevented a further advance, and Lee took advantage of the delay to reinforce his right wing with all the troops lie could .spare. On the thirty- first, he attempted to drive back the Federal left, but without success. While this battle was going on, Sheridan swung around the Confederate right and seized the important position of Fi\e Forks. Lee then sent Pick- ett's and Johnston's divisions to recover this point, and they drove off the cavalry,, and ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 777 occupied Fi\e Forks at night-fall on the thirty-first. Being joined by the Fifth corps, Sheridan attacked the Confederates on the morning of the first of April, and defeated them after a determined encounter, taking over five thousand prisoners. As soon as Sheridan had secured Five Forks, Grant opened a heavy artillery fire upon the lines of Petersburg along his whole front, and continued the bombardment through the night. On the morning of the second of April he made a determined attack upon Lee's line and broke it at several points. Gen- eral Lee was now forced to assume a new and shorter line immediately around Petersburg. The Federal army made ,i vigorous effort to foi > its way into the city. In: was unsuccessful. The fate of Petersbm was now decided. It was impossible to hold it longer. On the night of the second of April Gen- eral Lee withdrew his army from Riciimond and Petersburg and re- treated in the direction of Amelia Court-house. His intention was to move towards Danville and endeavor to join Johnston. His retreat was discovered on the morning of the third of April, and the Federal army, leaving a small force to occupy Petersburg, set off in pursuit, following the line of the Southside Railroad. On the morning of the third the withdrawal of the Confederates from the lines of Rich- mond was discovered by General Wcitzel commanding the Federal forces on the north side of the James. He at once advanced and occupied the city of Richmond, a large part of which was in flames as he entered it, hav- ing been set on fire by the Confederates upit-Ge7ieral. " General R. E. Lee." The scene and the main features of the interview have been preserved for us by an eye-witness. It took place at the house of Mr. Wilmer McLean — a square brick build- ing surrounded with roses, violets and daffo- dils. Grant — with his slouched hat, dark blue frock-coat unbuttoned and covered with mud, gray pantaloons tucked in his soiled boots, and a dark waistcoat, and with nothing to indicate his rank, except the double row of brass buttons and the three silver stars — walked up to the house, accompanied by Ord, Sheridan and their respective staffs. Lee had already arrived ; and his blooded iron-gray horse, in charge of an orderly, was nibbling at the grass. Grant and two aids entered the house; the others who accom- panied him, sat down on the porch. Lee was standing beside a table, wearing a bright bluish-gray uniform, a military hat, with a gold cord, buckskin gauntlets, high riding boots, and the splendid dress-sword which had been presented to him by the State of Virginia. Tall and erect, he had a fine soldierly bearing. It was noticed that his hair was long and gray. He was attended only by Colonel Marshall, his chief of staff. On Grant's entrance the two shook hands, sat down and proceeded to business. Grant Delivers His Terms. As Lee made no special request. Grant at once wrote out his terms : "Api'omattox CoiRT House, I April 9, 1865. ) "General: In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the eighth instant, I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Vir- ginia on the following terms, to wit : Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy tobcciven to an officer desijjnated by me, the other THE CIVIL WAR place. to be retained by such officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly exchanged, and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of his command. The arms, artillery and public property to be parked and stacked and turned over to the officers appointed by me to receive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United States authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws in force where they may reside. •' U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General. "General R. E. Lee." The following is Lee's letter of acceptance : " Headquarters Army of Northern > Virginia, April 9, 1865. ) "General: 1 have received your letter of this date, containing the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, as proposed by you. As they are substantially the same as those expressed in your letter of the eighth instant, they are accepted. 1 will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. " R. E. LEE, General. " Lieut. -General U. S. Grant." The signatures had just been attached, when Lee, after a moment's reflection, said that he had forgotten one thing. Many of the cavalry and artillery horses belonged to the men who had charge of them. It was too late, however, to speak of that now. Grant replied, " I will instruct my paroling officers that all the enlisted men of your cavalry and artillery, who own horses, are to retain them, just as the officers do theirs. They will need them for their spring plough- ing, and other farm work." Lee seemed greatly pleased with Grant's prompt com- pliance with his only half-expressed wish. "General," he said earnestly, "there is nothing which you could have accomplished mere for the good of the people or of the govern- ment." Grant's terms were in the last degree magnanimous and liberal. 786 The news of the capture of Richmond and Petersburg and the surrender of Lee's army- was received in the North with the greatest rejoicing. Bells were rung, cannon fired, and illuminations flashed from every town and village, for it was understood that these great successes were decisive of the war. In the midst of these rejoicings occurred THE CIVIL WAR. THE GRAVE OF PRESIDENT LINXOLN a terrible tragedy which plunged the countr\- into mourning. President Lincoln, whose re-election we have related, entered upon his second term on the fourth of March, 1865, a-iid the congratulations of the country. On the evening of the fourteenth of April he attended a performance at Ford's Theatre, in the city of Washington. During the midst of the performance the report of a pistol rang through the house, and the next moment a man leaped from the President's box upon the stage, and wav'ing a pistol over his head, shouted " Sic semper tyrannis" (Thus always with tyrants), and disappeared behind the scenes. The cry was raised that the Presi- dent had been killed, and in the commotion which ensued the assassin escaped. The „ murderer had en- tered the lobby of thetheatre,andhad fired from the door of the private box upon the unsuspic- ious President, who was sitting with his back to him. Mr. Lincoln fell h eavily forward and never spoke again. He was conveyed to a house on the opposite side of the street, and the high- c it skill was exert- ed to save him, but all in vain. He died on the morning of the fifteenth, sur- rounded by his fa- mily and the lead- ing men of the na- tion. Appropriate funeral services uere held on the nineteenth, and the body of the martyred President was conveyed through the principal cities of the North and West to Springfield, Illinois, where it was buried. Along the entire route it was received with the evidences of the nation's grief Cities were draped in mourning, and dense crowds poured out to greet the fun- eral cortege, and testify their love and sorrovr '-'-'^^s^^^ '^^^^4^^^^.^ ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 787 for the dead man. Even in the South, which had made the election of Abraham Lincoln the occasion of the dissolution of the Union, the unaffected and manly virtues of this simply great man had conquered the people, who had come to regard him as their best and truest friend. His death was sincerely lamented there, and in the lamentation of the South, Abra- ham Lincoln had his proudest triumph. His death was a crushing misfortune to the whole country. He was the only man capable of carrying out a policy of generous concilia- tion towards the South, and he had resolved upon such a course. He was sincerely desirous to heal the wounds of the war as soon as possible, and was strong enough to put down all opposition to his policy. His untimely death, as well as the manner of it, threw back the settlement of our national troubles fully five years. The Assassin Escapes. As he leaped from the President's box to the stage, the assassin's foot caught in an American flag with which the bo.x was draped, and he fell heavily, breaking his leg. He managed to escape, however. It was immediately ascertained that the assassin was John Wilkes Booth, a younger son of the famous actor Junius Brutus Booth. Almost at the same time that the President was shot, another assassin, one Payne, alias Powell, entered the residence of Secretary Seward. Proceeding to the chamber where the Secre- tary was confined to a sick bed, he attacked the two attendants of the invalid and his son, Frederick W. Seward, and injured them severeh", and then attempted to cut Mr. Seward's throat. He succeeded in gashing the face of his intended victim, but fled before further harm could be done. Booth, who was most probably insane, had drawn quite a number of persons into a con- spiracy, which had for its object the murder of the President and Vice-President, Secre- taries Seward and Stanton, and Chief Justice Chase. The plot failed through unexpected movements of some of the intended victims and the cowardice of some of the conspinitors. Booth and a }oung man named Harold fled into lower Maryland, from which they crossed the Potomac into Virginia. They were pursued by the government detectives and a squadron of cavalry, and were tracked to a barn in Caroline County, Virginia, between Bowling Green and Port Royal. Booth Shot by Sergeant Corbett. Here they were surrounded on the twenty- sixth of April. Harold surrendered himself but Booth, refusing to yield, was shot by Sergeant Boston Corbett, and died a few hours later, after suffering intensely. His accomplices were arrested, and were brought to trial before a military commission at Washington. Payne or Powell, Atzerot, Harold, and Mrs. Surratt were condemned to death, and were hanged on the seventh of July, 1865, for complicity in the plot. Dr. Mudd, O'Laughlin and Arnold were im- prisoned in the Dry Tortugas for life, and Spangler for six years. What Booth expected to accomplish by his horrible deed yet remains a mystery. It is now generally believed that he was insane ; rendered so perhaps by his dissipated habits — and in this state of mind had concei\ed the idea that Mr. Lincoln was a tyrant, and as such ought to be put to death. He had no accomplices in the South, and his bloody deed was regarded with horror by the southern people. We must now return to Sherman's army, which we left resting at Goldsboro'. John- ston's army was in the vicinity of Raleigh, and after the fall of Richmond was joined by Mr. Davis and the various officers of the Confederate government. On the tenth of THE CIVIL WAR. April Sherman advanced from Goldsboro' towards Johnston's position, and steadily- pressed the Confederate army back. On the thirteenth Sherman entered Raleigh. Being convinced that further resistance was hope- less, and having learned of the surrender of General Lcc's army, General Johnston '-.ow States of the Confederacy to their lost places in the Union, it was disapproved by the Federal government, and Sherman was ordered to resume hostilities. General John- ston was at once notified by General Sherman of this order, and on the twenty-sixth of April entered into an ac^reement with him by \SU jonNslOS opened negotiations with General Sherman which he surrendered to General Sherman for the surrender of his army to the Federal ] all the Confederate forces under his command, on terms similar to those granted to General commander. The result of these nec:^'-- agreement signed by the ' on the eighteenth of April. ment provided for the rcstui Lee by General Grant. The example of Generals Lee and John- ston was followed by the other Confederate commanders throughout the South. The ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 789 last to surrender was General E. Kirby Smith, in Texas, on the twenty-sixth of May. On the twenty-ninth of May Presi- dent Johnson issued a proclamation announc- ing the close of the war, and offering amnesty to all who had participated in it on the Con- federate side, with the exception of fourteen specified classes. Upon the surrender of Johnston's army, Mr. Davis and the members of his former cabinet endeavored to make their way to the coast of Florida, from which they hoped to be able to reach the West Indies. Some of them succeeded in doing so, but Mr. Davis was captured at Irwlnsville, Georgia, on the tenth of May, and was sent as a prisoner to Fortress Monroe, where he was held in con- finement until May, 1867. The civil war was over. It had cost the country one million men in the killed and crippled for life of the two armies. In money the North and South had expended proba- bly the enormous sum of ^5 ,000,000,000. The exact amount will never be known as the Confederate debt perished with the gov- ernment which created it. ipliiiiiii^lli: -j^^ zmm CHAPTER XLIII The Administration of Andrew Johnson rhe New President — Return of the Army to Civil Life — President — He Declares the Soutliern Slates Readmi Congress — The President's Acts Annulled — Reconstn Freedman's Bureau and Civil Rights Bills — The Tenu le Public Debt — The Reconstruction Question — Action of the ;d into the Union — The Fifteenth Amendment — Meetir.t; at :ion Policy of Congress — The Fourteenth Amendment — The ! of Office Act — Admission of Nebraska into the Union— Tiie -Southern States Organized as Military Districts— Admission of Southern States into the Union — The Fourteenth Amendment Ratified — President Johnson's Quarrel with Secretary Stanton — Impeachment of the President — His Acqaital — Release of Jefferson Davis— Indian War — The French in Mexico — Fall of the Mexican Empire — Lajmg of the Atlantic Telegraph — Purchase of Alaska — Naturalization Treaty with Germany — Treaty with China — Death ot General Scott — Death of ex-President Buchanan — General Grant Elected President — The Fifteenth Amendment. UPON the death of Mr. Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, the vice-Pres- ident, by the terms of the Con.sti- tution, became President of the United States. He took the oath of office on the fifteenth of April, and at once entered upon the discharge of his duties. His first act was to retain all the members of the cabinet appointed by Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Johnson was a native of North Caro- lina, having been born in Raleigh on the twenty-ninth of December, 1808. At the age of ten he was bound as an apprentice to a tailor of that city. He was at this time unable to read or write. Some years later, being determined to acquire an education, he learned the alphabet from a fellow-workman, and a friend taught him spelling. He was soon able to read, and pursued his studies steadily, working ten or twelve hours a day at his trade, and studying two or three more. In 1S26 he removed to Greenville, Tenne.s- see, carrying with him his mother, who was dependent upon him for support. Upon attaining manhood he married, and iontinued his studies under the direction of his wife, supporting his family in the mean- time by his trade. He was subsequently chosen alderman of his town, and with this election entered upon his political career. 790 Studing law he abandoned tailoring, and devoted himself to legal pursuits and politics. He was succesively chosen mayor, member of the legislature, presidential elector, and State senator. He was twice elected gover- nor of Tennessee, and three times a senator of the United States from that State. Upon the secession of Tennessee from the Union he refused to relinquish his seat in the Senate, and remained faithful to the cause of the Union throughout the war, wining consider- able reputation during the struggle by his services in behalf of the national cause. He was an earnest, honest-hearted man, who sincerely desired to do his duty to the country. His mistakes were due to his tem- perament, and proceeded from no desire to serve his own interests or those of any party. In his public life he was incorruptible. A man of ardent nature, strong convictions, and indomitable will, it was not possible that he should avoid errors, or fail to stir up a warm and determined opposition to his policy. The first duty devolving upon the new administration was the disbanding of the army, which at the close of the war numbered over a million of men. It was prophesied by foreign nations, and feared by many per- sons at home, that the sudden return of such a large body of men to the pursuits of civil ADMINISTRATION OF life would be attended with serious evils, but 1 both the Union and the Confederate soldiers went back quietly and readily to their old avocations. Thus did these citizen-soldiers give to the world a splendid exhibition of the triumph of law and order in a free country, and a proof of the stability of our institutions. Two questions — both difficult and de- licate — presented themselves for settle- ment by the govern- ment. In June, 1865, the war debt amount- ed to $2,700,000,000. The interest on this sum was ^133 ,000,000, and was nearly all pay- able in gold. The gov- ernment was called upon to raise the latter amount to pay the interest on its bonds, and at the same time to take measures to .strengthen the confi- Jence of the bond- holders in the security of their investments. The latter object was accomplished by a solemn resolution of the House of Repre- sentatives, adopted with but one dissent- ing voice on the fifth of December, 1865, pledging the faith of the nation to the payment of the public debt, "principal and interest." In order to provide for the immediate wants of the government Congress levied additional duties on imported articles, and ANDREW JOHNSON. 791 imposed taxes upon manufactured articles, incomes, etc. These burdensome imposts were cheerfully submitted to by the people, and a revenue of over $300,000,000 was raised, providing not only for the payment of the interest on the debt, and of the current ANDREW JOHNSON. expenses of the government, but also leaving a large surplus, which was applied to the reduction of the national debt. In the year 1 866, " before all the extra troops called out by the w^ar had been discharged, the debt had been diminished more than thirty-one 792 TIIK CIVIL WAR. millions of dollars " — a strikip;^ proof of tlie ability as well as tlic willingness of the nation to discharge its financial obligations. During the remainder of Mr. Johnson's term this policy was faithfully adhered to under tlie able guidance of llugii McCuUoch, secretary of the treasnr)-. which he claimetl they had no power to renounce. Now that they had submit- ted to the authority they had formerly endea- vored to reject, he claimed that they were entitled to immediate restoration to their old places in the Union. In support of his position he quoted the The other question demanding immediate attention was the adjustment of the relations of the States of the South to the Union. The President held that they had never been out of the Union but had simply been in insur- rection, and had been brought back to the acknowledgment of their allegiance to the constitution and laws of the United States, solemn declaration of Congress in the sum- mer of i86r, and the assurances of Mr. Lincoln's administration that the war was fought for the restoration of the Union, and not for purposes of conquest. In accordance with these declarations, provisional govern- ments had been formed in some of the South- ern States and their representatives had been ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JOHNSON. '93 admited to Congress during the progress of the war. A considerable party in the North supported President Johnson in this position ; but the Republican party, now the dominant political organization of the United States, opposed his views with great determination. The Republicans insisted that the results ; of the war should be secured by stringent laws, and that the Southern States, before their admission into the Union, should be Preside:. t Johnson, however, proceeded alone and without delay to the work of restoring the Southern States to their places in the Union. On the twenty-ninth of May, 1865, he issued a proclamation appointing a provisional governor for the State of North Carolina, and providing for the assembling of a convention in that State for the purpose of forming a new constitution, under which the State would be recognized by him as a ^■^-^^^fe^^?-' FORT WARREN, BOSTON HARBOR. compelled to give guarantees for the perpet- uation of these results. The Republican party, moreover, claimed that the work of reconstructing the Union properly belonged to the legislative branch of the government and not to the President. Mad the President summoned Congress in extra session and sought the aid of that body in the task before him, a conciliatory policy might have been agreed upon, and the work of recon- struction have been completed without delay. member of the Federal Union. In the mean- time North Carolina was kept under military rule. A similar course was pursued by the President towards the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississipi, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas. The people of the ten Southern States held conventions in accordance whh the President's requirements, annulled their or- dinances of secession, renewed their obliga- tions to the Federal Union, adopted new 794 THE CIVIL WAR. State constitutions, and ratified the thirteenth amendement to the constitution of the United States prohibiting slavery forever in all the States of the Union. They also elected sen- ators and representatives to Congress, and (Were recognized by the President as formally restored to their places in the Federal Union. On the first of February, 1865, Congress passed a resolution submitting to the legisla- tures of the various States the following amendement to the constitution : "Article XIII. Section j. Neither slavery nor involuntar)- ser\'itude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly con- victed, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. " Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation." On the eighteenth of December, William H. Seward, Secretary of State, formally an- nounced that this, the thirteenth amendment, had been duly ratified by the States, and had become a part of the constitution of the United States. The ratification of this amend- ment had been required of the Southern t States by the President as a condition of their readimission into the Union. The Thirt}'-ninth Congress met in Decem- bre, 1865, and at once took measures to neutralize the reconstruction policy of the President. The Republican party had a large majority in each house, and was thor- oughly united in its opposition to the Presi- dent. The senators and representatives of the Southern States were refused admission to seats in Congress, and the reconstruction measures of the President were treated as null and void. Congress insisted that the Union should not be " restored " as it was before the war, but " reconstructed " upon an entirely new basis. The measures of the President had made no change in the political status of the black population of the South. The negroes were secured in their freedom by the thirteenth amendment. Congress now proceeded to make the negro a citizen of the United States, and to reconstruct the Union upon this basis. The following, known as the fourteenth amendment to the constitution, was adopted by Congress and proposed to the States for ratification : " Article XIV. Section i. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the States wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, hberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. "Section 3. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respec- tive numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed ; but when the right to vote at any election, for the choice of electors for President and vice-President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a State or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State (being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States), or in any way abridged except for participa- tion in rebellion or other crime, the basis of repre- sentation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age, in said State. "Section j. No person shall be a senator or repre- sentative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States or as a member of any State legislature, or as an execu- tive or judicial officer of any State, to support the constitution of the United States, shall have en- gaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof; but Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. "Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States authorized by law, including debts ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JOHNSON. r95 incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned ; but neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebel- lion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave ; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. '•Section j. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." This amendement was rejected by all the Southern States except Tennessee, and by several of the North- ern States. Tennessee ratified the amend- ment, and was admit- ted by Congress into the Union. Congress at this session enacted what is known as the " Freedman's Bureau Bill," creating a de- partment under the Federal Government for the care and pro- tection of the newly emancipated negroes and the destitute whites of the South. This measure was \e- toed by the President as unconstitutional, and was passed over his veto. It was immediately put in operation throughout the South. While the Freed- man's Bureau did much to assist the negro in adapting himself to the duties of his new position, it was productive of an immense amount of corruption and fraud. Another measure of Congress which was vetoed by the President upon constitutional grounds, and was passed over his veto, was the " Civil Rights Bill," which secured to the negro the rights of a citizen. As the quarrel between the President and Congress deepened, various efforts were made by the latter to hamper the executive and impair his powers. The Thirty-ninth Con- gress adopted for this purpose a measure known as the "Tenure of Office Act," by the terms of which the President was forbid- ' den to remove any person from a civil office under the government without the consent of the Senate. This bill was promptly vetoed by the President, but was passed over his \-etn b\' the rongress. "*^^5^^^f>^n LINCOLN MO.NU.ME> .T l.\ F.\IKMOU.NT P.\KK, I'lllL On the first of March, 1867, a new State was added to the Union by the admission of Nebraska on an equality with the original thirteen States — four of which were at that time undergoing the process of reconstruc- tion. In February, 1867, Congress proceeded to take extreme measures wiih ihe Southern States that had refused to ratify the four- teenth amendment. The State governments were abolished, the State officers removed. 796 THE CIVIL WAR. and the Southein States were organized as military districts, and placed under absolute martial law. The writ of habeas corpus was suspended, and the civil law was made to give place to the will of a military com- mander. This was done with the avowed intention of compelling the Southern States to ratify the fourteenth amendment and seek admission into the Union upon the terms prescribed by Congress. Bitter Hostility in the South. The effect of the measures of Congress was to disfranchise the better class of the South- ern people, and to confer the unrestricted right of suffrage upon the negroes. The intelligence of the Southern States was denied any voice in their government, which was intrusted to the most ignorant and degraded part of their population. The measures of Congress were regarded with bitter hostility by the South, and there were very many of the more thoughtful Republicans of the North who seriously doubted the wisdom of this method of reconstruction. The mea- sures of Congress were vetoed by the Presi- dent, but were passed over his veto, March 2, 1867. Upon the organization of the military dis- tricts, the commanding generals, who, as a rule, exercised their power with moderation and forbearance, caused a registry of voters to be made, and ordered elections to be held for conventions to form State governments. The conventions so elected could not in any case be said to represent the white people of the South. After a bitter and protracted struggle, some of the conventions ratified /the fourteenth amendment, and organized State governments. On the twenty-fourth of June, 1867, Congress passed a bill over the President's veto admiting the States of Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louis- iana, North Carolina, and .South Carolina into the Union, Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, having refused to ratify the amend- ment, were denied admission into the Union. The fourteenth amendment havin;T been adopted by the requisite number ol States, was formally declared a part of the constitu- tion on the twenty-eighth of July, 1868. Attempt to Impeach the President. In the meantime the quarre'. between the President and Congress came to a decisive issue. The extreme or radical wing of the Republican party, comprising the majority in Congress, was anxious to remove Mr. Johnson from his position. Could it succeed in doing so, Benjamin Wade, of Ohio, the President of the Senate, would, by virtue of his office, become President of the United States. As Mr. Wade was one of the ex- treme radical leaders, this would place the whole power of the government in the hands of that party. A quarrel be- tween the President and Mr. Stanton, the Secretary of War, furnished the occasion for this effort. On the twelfth of August, 1867, Secretary Stanton was removed from the war department by President Johnson, who ap- pointed General Grant Secretary of War ad interim. Upon the meeting of Congress, in December, 1867, the President's course was denounced as a violation of the tenure of office act, and on the twelfth of January, 1868, the Senate refused to sanction the removal of Mr. Stanton. Mr. Stanton thereupon de- manded of General Grant the surrender of the war department, and the latter at once complied with the demand. On the twenty-first of February, President Johnson again removed Mr. Stanton, and appointed General Lorenzo Thomas,adjutant- general of the United States, Secretary of War ad interim. He held the tenure of ofifice act to be unconstitutional, and an invasion of his lawful powers as chief magistrate of ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JOHNSON. 797 the Republic. This second removal of Mr. Stanton brought matters to a crisis, and on the twenty-fourth of February, 1 868, the House of Representatives, by a strict party vote, ordered the President to be impeached of high crimes and misdemeanors.* The Senate, siting as a high court of impeach- ment, met on the fifth of March, 1868, under the presidency of Chief-Justice Chase. The impeachment was conducted by managers appointed by the House, and the President was defended by able counsel. On the t^venty-sixth of May, the case being closed, the vote was taken, with the following result : For conviction, thirty-four; for acquittal, nineteen. There not being the requisite two-thirds vote for conviction, the President was acquitted. Jefferson Davis Releasd on Bail. Jefferson Davis had been confined in For- tress Monroe since his capture by the Federal forces, in May, 1865. All the Confederate officials taken by the Union forces had been released within a year after their capture on giving their parole to answer any prosecution that might be brought against them by the Federal authorities. Mr. Davis was ex- cepted from this clemency, and remained in prison for two years. A prosecution for treason was instituted against him in the district court of Virginia, but he was not brought to trial. A number of prominent citizens of the North who had been so active in their support of the war that their motives could not be suspected, ex- erted themselves to procure his release on bail, and became his sureties. He was ac- cordingly released on bail on the thirteenth of May, 1867. During the following year the indictment against him was quashed by the government. During the latter part of the civil war a vexatious and bloody warfare with the Indians broke out on the frontier. It began in 1864, and extended through 1865 and 1 866, and until the fall of 1868 its ravages were spread along the frontier through Southern Colorado into the Indian Territory, causing severe suffering to the settlers of this region. By the winter of 1865-66 the war had assumed such formidable proportions that General Sheridan was sent with a con- siderable force against the savages. The vigorous measures of Sheridan, and General Custer's victory over the band of Black Kettle at Wacheta, brought the war to a close in the fall of 1868. * The charges against the President may be summed up as follows : I. Unlawfully ordering the removal of Mr. Stanton from the office of Secretary of War, in violation of the provisions of the tenure of office act. 2. The unlawful appointment of General Lorenzo Thomas as Secretary of War ail interim. 3. Conspiring with General Thomas and other persons to prevent Edwin M. Stanton, the lawfully appointed Secretary of War, from holding that office. 5. Conspiring with General Thomas and other persons to hinder the operation of the tenure of office act; and in pusuance of this conspiracy attempting to prevent Mr. Stanton from acting as Secretary of War. 6. Conspiring with General Thomas and others to take forcible possession of the property in the war department. 7. The President was charged with having called before him the commander of the troops in the department of Washington, and declaring to him that a law passed on the thirtieth of June, 1867, directing that " all orders and instructions relating to military operations, issued by the President or Secretary of War, shall be issued through the general of the army, and in case of his inability, through the ncNl in rank,'' was unconstitutional, and not binding upon the commander of the department of Washington, the design being to iniuce that commander to violate the law, and obey orders issued directly from the President. 8. Thai in a number of ]>ublic speeches the President had attempted to set aside the authority of Congress, to bring it into disgrace, and tb e.\cite the hatred and resentment of the people against Congress and the laws enacted by it. 9. That in August, 1S66, in a pi;blic speech in Washington, the President had declared that Congress was not a body authorized by the constitution to exercise legislative powers. Then followed a specification of alleged attempts on the part of t'le President to prevent the execution of the laws of Congress. The impeachment articles were eleven in number. The other two were simply repetitions of some of the abo\e charges. 798 THE CIVIL WAR. While the civil war was at its height, France, England and Spain became involved in a quarrel with Mexico concerning the non- payment of certain claims due citizens of those countries by the Mexican re the fourth of March, 1862, and withdrew their forces. The French, however, continued the war, and after a hard struggle, during which the iNIexicaiT: fought gallantly for their country. EMPEROR MAX and Mexico in the fall of 1861. Discovenng that France was .seeking to use the expe- dition to destroy the independence of Mexico, England and Spain settled their claims with the republic by the convention of Solidad, on jomt expedition was despatched to | Mexico was conquered, and early in June, 1863, the French army entered the capital. The emperor of the French now proceeded to overthrow the republic, it being his intention to replace it with an empire which should be dependent upon France. An ADMINISTRATION OF election was held, and under the intimidation i of the French, resulted in a majority in favor ! of the abolition of the republic and the erection of the empire. Through the same influence, the Mexicans chose Maximilian, archduke of Austria, emporer of Mexico, and in an e\il hour for himself, that amiable and high-souled prince accepted the crown. The government of the United States had viewed the interference of France in Alexican affairs with marked displeasure, but being too much engaged in its efforts to bring the civil war to a successful close to undertake any new difificulty, simply entered its protest against the action of France. The civil war ha\-ing been brought to a close, however, it took a bolder stand, and demanded of the French emporer the withdrawal cf hib troops from Mexico. The action of the gov- ernment was sustained by the great mass of the American people, and it was believed by many that a foreign war would be a sure n\ii\ and speedy way of bringing about the res- toration of the Union. The Emperor Napoleon hesitated for a while, but finally acceded to the American demand. The French troops were recalled at the close of the year 1866, and the Emperor Maximilian was left to face the Mexican people alone. They at once rose against him. defeated his forces and took him prisoner. On the nineteenth of June, 1867, he was shot by order of the Mexican government, in spite of the efforts of the United States to save him. Thus ended the hope of reviving ANDREW JOHNSON. 799 the iloiiiinion of France on the American continent. The efforts of the gentlemen interested in the laying of a telegraphic cable across the Atlantic did not end with their failures in 1858. In 1865 the same company succeeded in laying a cable for about fourteen hundred miles from the Irish coast, when it suddenly parted and sank into the sea. The expe- dition then returned to England. Undis- mayed by this failure, Mr. Cyrus W. Field, of New York, to whose courage and deter- mination the final success of the scheme was due, succeeded in persuading capitalists to make one more effort, and in July, 1866, a cable was laid from Valentia Bay, in Ireland, to Heart's Content, in Newfoundland, a dis- tance of eighteen hundred and si.xty-four miles. It was found to work to the entire satisfaction of all parties, and the great enter- prise was now an accomplished fact. The fleet then sailed from Newfoundland to the spot where the cable of 1865 had parted in mid-ocean, and proceeded to grap- ple for it. It was recovered and raised from a d'jpth of over two miles, and was then 8oo THE CIVIL WAR. spliccQ to the coil on board the " Great Eastern," tlie ship employed in the under- taking. The huge steamer then put about, and completed the laying of the cable to Heart's Content, thus giving the company two working lines. The completion of the work was hailed with rejoicings in both America and Europe. Purchase of Russian America. On the twenty-ninthof March, 1867, atreaty was concluded between the United States and Russia, by which the latter power sold to the United States for the sum of seven mil- lion two hundred thousand dollars, all of the region in the extreme northwestern part of the American continent known as Russian America. The treaty was ratified by the Senate on the ninth of April. The new territory added to the area of the United States a district of about five hundred and seventy-seven thousand three hundred and ninety square miles. In the same year a treaty was negotiated with China, through an embassy from that country, which visited the United States under the charge of Anson Burlingame, for- merly the American Minister to China. It was the first instance in which that exclusive nation had ever sought to negotiate a treaty of commerce and friendship with a foreign nation. Liberty of conscience to Americans residing in China, protection of their property and persons and important commercial privi- leges were secured by this treaty. In 1 866 the Fenians, a secret society, organ- ized for the purpose of delivering Ireland from British rule, invaded Canada in large numbers from Buffalo, New York, and St. -Mbans, Vermont. President Johnson at once issued his proclamation declaring the Fenian movement a violation of the neutrality of the United States, and sent General Meade with a sufficient force to the border to execute the laws. This decisive action put an end to the hopes of the Fenians of embroiling this coun- try in hostilities with Great Britain, and after some slight encounters with the British troops in Canada they abandoned the expedition. During President Johnson's administration, two distinguished public servants passed away. On the twenty-ninth of May, 1866, Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott, the vet- eran conqueror of Mexico, died at the age of eighty years. On the first of June, 1S68, e,x-President James Buchanan died at his home at Wheatland, near Lancaster, Penn- sylvania, in the seventy-eighth year of his age. In the fall of 1 868, the presidential election was held. The Republican party nominated General Ulysses S. Grant, the commanding- general of the army, for the presidency, and Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana, for the vice- presidency. The Democratic party nomin- ated Horatio Seymour, of New York, for the presidency, and Frank P. Blair, of Missouri, for the vice-presidency. The election resulted in the choice of General Grant by a popular vote of 2,985,031 to 2,648,830 votes cast for Mr. Seymour. In the electoral college. Grant received two hundred and seventeen votes and Seymour, seventy-seven. The States of Virginia, Mississippi and Texas were not allowed to take part in this election, being still out of the Union. In February, 1869, the two houses of Con- gress adopted the fifteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, and sub- mitted it to the various States for ratification by them. It was in the following words: " The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servi- tude." CHAPTER XLIV. The Administration (^f Ulysses S. Grant. -Early Life of President Grant— Completion of the Pacific Railway— Death of ex-President Pierce— The Fifteenth Amendment Ratified — Prosperity of the Country — The Enforcement Act — The Test-oath Abolished — The Constitu- tionality of the Legal Tender Act Affirmed — Death of Admiral Farragut — Death of General Lee — The Income Tax Repealed — The Alabama Claims — Treaty of Washington — The Geneva Conference — Award in favor of the United States — The San Juan Boundary Question settled — Eflorts to annex St. Domingo — Burning of Chicago — Forest Fires — The Civil Disabilities removed from the Southern People— Re-election of General Grant— Death of Horace Greeley — Great fire at Boston — The Modoc War — Murder of General Canby and the Peace Commissioners — Execution of the Modoc Chiefs — The Cuban Revolution — Capture of the •' Virginius" — Execution of the Prisoners — Action of the Federal Government — The Panic of I S73 — Bill for the Resumption of Specie Payments — The Centennial Exhibition — The Sioux War — Death of General Custer — Presidential Election — Controversy over it — The Electoral Commission — The Count of the Vote — Hayes declared elected. ULYSSES S. GRANT, the eigh- teenth president of the United States, was inaugurated at Wash- ington with imposing ceremonies, on the fourth of IVIarch, 1869. He was born at Mount Pleasant, Ohio, on the twenty- seventh of April, 1822. His father was a tanner, and wished him to follow his trade, but the boy had more ambitious hopes, and at the age of seventeen, a friend secured for him an appointment as a cadet at West Point, where he was educated. Upon graduating, he entered the army. Two years later he ■was sent to Mexico, and served through the war with that country with distinction. He was specially noticed by his commanders, aiid was promoted for gallant conduct. Soon after the close of the war he resigned his commission, and remained in civil life and ■obscurity until the breaking out of the civil ■war, when he volunteered his services, and was commissioned by Governor Yates, col- onel of the twenty-first Illinois regiment. He was soon made a brigadier-general, and fought his first battle at Belmont. His sub- 'sequent career has already been related in these pages. He selected the members of his cabinet more because of his personal 51 friendship for them, than for their weight and influence in the party that had elected him. Hamilton Fish, of New York, was made sec- retary of state. The most important event of the year 1869, was the opening of the Pacific rail- way from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. The eastern division of this road is known as the Union Pacific railway, and was begun at Omaha, Nebraska, in December, 1S63, and carried westward. But little prog- ress was made in the work until 1S65, when it was pushed rapidly forward. The western division, known as the Central Pacific rail- way, was begun at San Francisco, near about the same time, and carried eastward across the Sierra Nevada. The two roads unite at Ogden, near Salt Lake City, in L^tah, and the union was accomplished on the tenth of May, 1869, on which day the last rail was laid. The Union Pacific railway, from Omaha to Ogden, is one thousand and thirty-two miles in length; the Central Pacific, from Ogden to San Francisco, eight hundred and eighty-two miles ; making a total line of nineteen hundred and fourteen miles, and constituting by far the most important rail- way enterprise in the world. 801 802 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. By the completion of ihis great road, to the construction of which the general gov- ernment contributed liberally in money and lands, Portland, Maine, and San Francisco, the extremes of the continent, are brought within a week's travel. The long and difficult journey across the plains has been dispensed with, and the traveler may now pass over this once terrible and dangerous route with speed and safety, enjoying all the while the highest comforts of the most advanced civil- ization. ULYSSES S. GRANT. The east and the west are no longer separ- ated, and the rapid development of the lesources of the rich Pacific slope has more than repaid the enormous cost of the road. A direct trade with China and Japan has been opened, and the wealth of the Orient is beginning to pour into America through the portals of the Golden Gate. The shortest route to India — the dream of Columbus and the old mariners — has indeed been found. On the eighth of October, 1869, ex-Presi- dent Franklin Pierce died, at the age of sixty- five }-ears. The fifteenth amendment, having been ratified bv the necessary number of States, was formally proclaimed by Hamilton Fish, secretary of state, a part of the constitution of the United States, on the thirtieth of March, 1 870. In the \-ear 1S70 the ninth census of the United States was taken, and showed tlie population of the country to be 38,558,371 souls. The countn,' had now attained a marked degree of prosperity'. Gold fell to one hundred and ten, and during the first two }-ears of President Grant's administration, $204,000,000 of the national debt w^ere paid. The effects of the war were being rapidly o\ ercome, and the bitter feelings engendered by the struggle were giving way to a more friendly intercourse between the North and the South. The manufacturing industries of the countrj' had nearly doubled since 1 860, and the five years that had elapsed since the war had witnessed a marked improvement in the condition of the South, which was gradually adjusting her industry upon the basis of free labor, and entering upon new and profitable enterprises of manufacture and commerce. The work of reconstruction was concluded in the year 1870. On the eighth of October i86y, the State of Virginia ratified the four- teenth and fifteenth amendments, and on the twenty-si.xth of January, 1870, was read-, mitted into the Union. On the eleventh of January, 1S70, Mississippi ratified these amendments, and was readmitted into the Union on the seventeenth of Februarj'-, 1870, Texas was the last to return to the Union, but came in during the year, having ratified the amendments to the constitution. The political troubles in the South, how- ever, did not end with the return of the States. ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. to the Union. A ijreat deal of lawlessness pre- vailed in many of the Southern States, and con- siderable suffering was experienced by the negroes, whose sudden endowment with the rights and privileges of citizenship was re- sented by a lawless class of white men. The Federal goverment undertook to remedy these troubles rather than leave them to be dealt with by the States. ber issued a proclamation suspending the writ of habeas corpus in nine counties in South Carolina, in order that the law might be enforced without the interference of the Courts of the State. The evils which these severe measures were intended to remed\- were unquestionably very great, but the enforcement bill was nevertheless a danger- ous departure from the principles of free VIEW 0.\ THE GREENE RIVER AT THE CROSSI.NG OF THE U. P. R. R., \VY0M1.N(J. In the spring of 187 1 Congress passed a measure known a.s. the " Enforcement Act," or the " Kuklux Act of 1871," which gave to the Federal ofiRcials absolute power over the liberties of the citizens of the States in —hich these troubles occurred. The Presi- ent carried out the terms of the act with promptness, and on the seventeenth of Octo- government as understood in this country. A free people cannot too jealously guard their liberties. On the thirty-first of January, 1S7 1, Con-, gress repealed the test oath law, which required all applicants for civil offices to swear that they had not participated in tlii: secession movement. As few Southern men 8o4 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. could take this oath, this law excluded the genuine inhabitants of the Southern States from ofRce under the general government, and threw the political power of those States into the hands of a class of adventurers, who had been drawn to the South since the war by the hope of obtaining office. The repeal PRESIDENT GRANT ON HIS WAY TO THE INAUGURATION of this law by Congress restored the control of the Southern States to the legitimate citizens and tax-payers thereof In 1870 the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the act of Congress making " greenbacks," or the notes of the Federal treasury, a legal tender, was uncon- stitutional as regarded the payment of debts contracted prior to the passage ol tnat act. As this decision had been given by a majority of but one justice, Mr. Hoar, the Attorney- General, moved to reconsider it. The case was heard again, and the decision of the court was reversed by a vote of five to four, on the eighteenth of January, 1871. Thus , the constitutionality of the legal- tender act was affirmed. In iSjodied Admiral David G. Farragut, on the fourteenth of August, aged sixty-nine; General George H. Thomas, " the Rock of Chickamauga," and the defender of Nashville, on the twenty-eighth of December, aged fifty-three, and General Robert E. Lee, the com- mander of the Confederate army of Northern Virginia during the civil war, on the twelfth of October, aged sixty-three. On the twenty-sixth of January, 1 87 1, Congress repealed the income tax It had been retained long after the necessity for it had passed away and liad become odious to the na- tion which had only submitted to it at first because of the urgency of the need for it. Inmiediately upon the opening of President Lincoln's second term of office.Mr. Charles Francis Adams, the American minister at the court of St. James, was instructed to call the attention of the British Govern- ment to the depredations committed upon American commerce by Confederate cruisers, built, equipped and manned in Eng- land, and to insist upon' the responsibility of Great Britain for the losses thus incurred by American ship-owners. Mr. Adams dis- charged this duty in a communication addressed to the British Government, on the seventh of April, 1865. This led to a ADMIXI5TRATI0N OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. So; correspondence which continueil through the summer of that year. Great Britain refused to admit the validity of the American claim, or to submit the question to the arbitration of any foreign government. The " Alabama question" remained unset- tled for several years, and occasioned a con- siderable amount of ill-feeling between the two countries. Both governments regarded it as full of danger, but to Great Britain it was especially so, as in the event of a war between that country and any foreign power, the United States, fol- s^^-' lowing the example '^^ of England, might and ^-y,,,^- - - ^, doubtless would allow cruisers to be sent ovit from their ports wh would seriously crip pie, if they did n->\ destroy, the Britisl; commerce. After Mr. Adams' return fron; England, his succes- sor, Reverdy Johnson, was directed by the President to reopen the matter. He nego- tiated a treaty with the Earl of Clarendrjii on behalf of the Brit- ish Government in i86g, but this arrange- ment was unsatisfactory to the Senate, which body refused to ratify it. Two years later the matter was revived, and in 1 87 1 a joint high commission, com- posed of a number of distinguished public men, appointed by the American and British Governments, met at Washington, and arranged a settlement known as the treaty of Washington, which was ratified by both Governments. This treaty was ratified by the Senate on the twentj^-fourth of May, and provided for the settlement not only of the Alabama claims, but of all other questions at issue between the United States and Great Britain. The Alabama claims were referred by the treaty of Washington to a board of arbitra- tion composed of five commissioners selected from the neutral nations. This board met at Geneva, in Switzerland, on the fifteenth oi April, 1S72, and the American and English representatives presented to it their respective cases, which had been prepared by the most learned counsel in both countries. On the twenty-seventh of June the board announced its decision. The claims of the United States were admitted, and the damages awarded to that Government were $16,250,000. These were paid in due time. In our account of the administration of Mr. Buchanan we have related the dispute between the United States and Great Britain concerning the possession of the Island of San Juan, growing out of the uncertainty as to the true course of the northwestern bound- ary of the Union. This had been an open question all through the civil war. By the 8o6 ADMINISTRATKJN OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. thirty-fourth article of the treaty of Washing- ton the two countries agreed to refer this dispute to the friendly arbitration of the Emperor of Germany. Soon after the award of the Geneva conference was made the boundary question was decided by the Emper- or William in favor of the United States, into the possession of which the island of San Juan accordingly passed. Thus were these delicate and dangerous que'^tinn'; satisfactur- Measures were introduced into Congress for the purpose of securing this union, but were warmly opposed. A commission of eminent gentlemen was appointed by the President to visit the island and examine into its condi- tion. They reported favorably, but after a warm debate in Congress the measures for the annexation of the Dominican republic were defeated by a decisive majorit}-. On the night of Sunday, October 8, 1 87 1, ily adjusted by peaceful methods, and not by the sword. In 1870 the republic of St. Domingo, com- prising a large part of the island of Hayti, applied for annexation to the United States. President Grant was very anxious to secure the annexation of this island, and to accom- plish it went to the very verge of his consti- tutional powers — going farther, indeed, than manyof his friends believed he had the right. a fire broke out in the city of Chicago, and raged with tremendous violence for two days laying the greater part of the city in ashes It was the most destructive conflagration of modern times. The total area of the city burned over was two thousand one hundred and twenty-four acres, or very nearly three and one-third square miles. The number of buildings destroyed was seventeen thousand four hundred and fifty. About two hundred t.^^K'i' J «©s ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. and fifty persons died from various causes during the conflagration, and ninety-eight thousand persons were rendered homeless by it. The entire business quarter was destroyed. The actual loss will never be known. As far as it can be ascertained, it was about one hundred and ninety-six millions of dollars. Almost simultaneous with this disaster extensive forest fires swept o\-er the woods of i sities of life was liberally extended to the sufferers in Chicago and the other afflicted communities. The telegraph flashed the news across the Atlantic, and in an almost incredibly short time liberal contributions in money came pouring in from England and continental Europe, and even from the far-off cities of India. On the twent\--ninth of Ma\-. 1S72, Con- 'fTMZiI^- \ Wisconsin. .Minnesota and Michigan. Whole villages were destro>'ed by the flames, which traveled with such speed that it was often impossible for the fleetest horse to escape from them. Over fifteen hundred people perished in Wisconsin alone. These terrible calamities aroused the gen- erous -sympathy of the rest of the country, and aid in money, clothing, and the neces- gress passed an act removing the disabilities imposed upon the Southern people by the third section of the fourteenth amendment to the constitution. From this general exemption were excepted all persons who had been members of Congress, officers of the army or navy, heads of departments under the general government, or ministers to foreign countries, who had resigned their positions ADMINISTRATION OF and joined the secession movement. By this act at least one hundred and fifty thousand men of capacity and experience, whose services were greatly needed by the South, were restored to political life. In the fall of 1 8/2 the presidential eleciion occurred. The canvass was marked by the most intense partisan bitterness. The Repub- lican party renominated General Grant for j the Presidency, and supported Henry Wilson I for the Vice-Presidency. The mea- sures of the administration had arrayed a large number of Republicans against it. These now organized themselves as the Liberal Republican party, and nominated Horace Greeley of New York for the Presidency, and B. Gratz Brown of Missouri for the Vice-Presi- denc\-. The Democratic party made no nominations, and its convention endorsed the candidates of the Liberal Republican party. The election re- sulted in the triumph of the Republican candidates by overwhelming majorities. The elections were scarcely over when the country was saddened by the death of Horace Greeley. He had been one of the founders of the Republican party, and had been closely identified with the political history of the coun- try for over thirty years. He was the " Founder of the New York Tribune" and had done good service with his journal in behalf of the cause he believed to be founded in right. He was a man of simple and childlike character, utterly unaffected, and generous to a fault. In his manner and dress he was eccentric, but nature had made him a true gentleman at heart. His intellectual ability was conceded by all. His experience in public life and his natural disposition induced him to favor a policy of conciliation in the settlement of the reconstruction ULYSSES S. GRANT. S09 question, and, influenced by these convictions, he signed the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis and secured the release of the fallen leader of the South from his imprisonment. This act cost him a large part of his popu- larity in the North. He accepted the presi- dential nomination of the Liberal party in the belief that his election would aid in bringing about a better state of feeling between the North and the South. He was attacked by I* 1 HOK^LL i..l\LLLL\ his political opponents with a bitterness which caused him much suffering, and many of his old friends deserted him and joined in the warfare upon him. Just before the close of the canvass, his wife, to whom he was ten- derl\- attached, died, and his grief for her and the excitement and sorrow caused him by the political contest, broke down his firmness and unsettled his mind. He was conveyed by his friends to a private asylum, where he died on 8io AUMINISTRAilON OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. the twenty-ninth of November, 1872, in the sixy-second year of his age. The countrv could ill afford to spare him. On the ninth of November, 1S72, a fire occurred in Boston, an(J burned until iate on the tenth, sweeping i.\er .nn aic.i of -;xt\--fnc Grant was inaugurated a second time, at Washington, with great pomp. Twelve thou- sand troops took part in the procession which escorted him to the capitol. Early in iSjt,, a troublesome ^var began the Ar.d .-■ In^Mn tril..-, , r. the Pacific PRESIDENT GR.ANT P.4SSING THKOUi.K THl acres in the centre of the wholesale trade of the city, and destrojing property to the amount of seventy-eight million dollars. As this fire was confined to the business quarter of the city, compartively few jjersons were deprived of their homes. On the fourth of March, 1873, President ROTUNDA TO TAKE THE OATH OF OFFICE. coast. These Indians had been removed by the government from their old homes in Cal- ifornia to reservations in the northern part of Oregon. They at length became dissatisfied with their new location, which they declared was unable to afford them a support, and began a series of depredations upon the ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 8i; settlements of the whites, wliich soon drew upon them the vengence of the Federal gov- ernment. Troops were sent against them, but they retreated to their fastnesses in the lava beds, where they maintained a successful resistance for several months. The govern- ment at length reinforced the troops operating against them, and General Canby, command- ing the department of the Pacific, assumed the immediate command of the troops in the field. At the same time, a commissioii was appointed by the government to endeavor to settle the quarrel with the Indians peace- ably. This commission held several con ferences with Captain Jack, the head chief of the Modocs, and the other Indian leadei ■5, but accomplished nothing. At length the commissioners and General Canby agreed to meet the Indians in the lava beds, a short distance in advance of the lines of the troops They went unarmed and without an escoit While the conference was in progress, the Indians suddenly rose upon the commit sioners, and killed all but one, who managed to escape with severe wounds. General Canby was shot down at the same tiniL and died instantly. The Indians at once fled to their strong , holds amid the rocks. The troops, infu- riated by the murder of their commander, closed in upon them fiom all sides, and shut them in the lava beds. Their position was one which a handful of men might defend against an army, and they held it with a desperate determination. They were dis- lodged finally by the shells of the American guns, and such as were not killed were cap- tureil. Captain Jack and his associates in the murder of General Canby and the com- missioners were tried by a court-martial and sentenced to death. They were hanged in the presence of their countrymen and of the troops on the third of Clctober, 1873. For many years Cuba had been growing dissatisfied with the rule of Spain. In 1868 a revolution broke out in that island, having for its object the expulsion of the Spaniards and the establishment of the independence of Cuba. The patriot army was able to win numerous successes over the Spanish troops, and for several years maintained its position against every effort to dislodge it. Very great sympathy was manifested for the Cuban patriots by the people of the United ^ISf States, and repeated efforts were made to induce the government of this country to recognize the independence of Cuba and assist the patriots, or at least to acknowledge their rights as belligerents. The govern- ment, however, faithfully observed its obli-> gations as a neutral power, and forbade the organization or d.parture of all expeditions from this country for the assistance of the Cubans. The Cuban agents ve:c prevented fi om shipping arms or iniIita-> supplies to Si: AD.MINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S GRANT. theii forces, and several vessels intended to serve as cruisers against the Spanish com- merce were seized and detained by the Federal authorities. In spite of the precautions of the govern the next day. Captain Fry, the com- mander of the " Virginius," and the crew and passengers of the vessel were thrown into prison. After a mock trial, in which the simplest ment, however, several expeditions did sue- forms of decency were disregarded, Captain ceed in getting to sea and reaching Cuba. Fry and a number of the crew and passengers One of these embarked on the steamer of the " Vir -inius." ahnut thirt\-five or fortv I . -hot by order of the ..iihtary the coast ofjamaica the Spanish war steamer ' authorities. The other prisoners were held "Tornado " was sighted. She at once gave in a most cruel captivity to await the pleasure chase, and though the " Virginius " was on of the Spanish officials at Havana. The ron- the high seas and was flying the American sul of the United States at Sanciago de C-iba flag, overhauled her and took possession of ■ made great exertions to save Fry and those her on the th.rty-first of October. The j condemned to die with him. He was treated Tornado" then earned her prize into the with great indignity by the Spanish officials, port ofSantiagode Cuba, which was reached I and was not allowed to communic.le with ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Havana, from which point he could consult his governiiient by telegraph. When the news of the seizure of the " Vir- ginius " at sea under the American flag reached the United States it aroused a storm of indignation. Meetings were held in all the principal cities, and the press unanimously sustained the popular demand that the gov- ernment should require satisfaction for the outrage upon its flag. The general senti- ment of the people was in favor of instant "war, and it was openly declared that a better opportunity would never arise to drive the Spaniards out of Cuba and obtain possession of the island. Prompt Demands of the United States. The government acted with firmness and prudence. Several vessels of war were sent to Santiago de Cuba to prevent the execution of the surviving prisoners taken with the "Virginius;" the fleet in the West Indies was reinforced as rapidly as possible, and the navy was at once put on a war footing in order to be ready for any emergency. The President was urged to convene Congress in e.xtra session, but he declined to do so, know- ing that that body would be most likely to yield to the popular demand for war, and he was anxious to settle the difficulty by peace- ful means if possible. General Sickels, the American minister at Madrid, was ordered to demand of the Spanish government the arrest and punish- ment of the officials implicated in the mas- sacre of Captain Fry and his associates, a suitable indemnity in money for the families of the murdered men, an apology to the United States for the outrage upon their flag, and the surrender of the " Virginius " to the naval authorities of the United States. These demands were at once submitted to Senor Castellar, the President of the Spanish repub- Jic. In the critical situation in which Spain was then placed by her internal dissensions, Castellar had no choice but to submit to the American demands. Orders were at once transmitted to Cuba to surrender the " \'ir- ginius " and all the prisoners to the Ameri- can na\'al forces. The orders of the Spanish government were at first disregarded by the officials at Havana, who blustered a great deal, and declared their willingness to go to war with the United States. They were brought to their senses, however, by the warning of Captain General Jovellar, who told them that their refusal to obey the orders of the Madrid government would certainly involve them in a war with the United States, in which Spain would leave them to fight that power without aid from her. The Havana officials, there- fore, yielded an ungracious obedience to the orders of the home government. The survivors of the " Virginius " expe- dition, who were in a most pitiable condition in consequence of the cruelty with which they had been treated during their imprison- ment, were released, and delivered on board of an American man-of-war in the harbor ol Havana. On the twelfth of December the " Virginius" which had been taken to Havana by her captors some time before, was towed from that harbor and delivered to an Ameri- can vessel sent to receive her. She was car- ried to Key West, from which port she was ordered to New York. On the voyage she foundered at sea in a gale off Cape Fear, on the twenty-sixth of December. At a later period the Spanish government paid the indemnity demanded by the United States. Financial Crisis. In the fall of i S73 a severe commercial crisis, known as the " Railroad Panic," burst upon the country. It was caused by e.xcessive speculation in railway stocks and the reckless construction of railways in portions of the ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. country where hey were not yet needed and j which could i.ot support them. The excite- | ment beijan on the seventeenth of September, and on the eighteenth, nineteenth and twen- i tieth several of the principal banking firms of New York and Philadelphia suspended payment. The failure of these houses in- volved hundreds of other firms in all parts of the country in their ruin. 'The excitement measures to be taken for the relief of the business of the country. Various measures were urged upon them. A strong appeal was made to the President to lend the whole or the greater part of the treasury reserve of forty-four million dollars of greenbacks to the banks to furnish the Wall street brokers with funds to settle their losses and resume busi- ness. He at once declined to take so grave PNI- IN THE NtW \oKK STOCK EXCHANGE DURING THE PANIC OF I 873. became so intense that on the twentieth the New York Stock PLxchange closed its doors and put a stop to all sales of stocks in order to prevent a general destruction of the values of all securities. The banks were obliged to resort to the most stringent measures to avoid being drawn into the common ruin. President Grant and the Secretary of the Treasury hastened to New York to consult the capitalists of that city as to the projier a step, and, thanks to his firmness, the credit of the United States was not placed at the mercy Oi the reckless men who had caused the trouble. The government as a measure of relief con- sented to purchase a number of its bonds of a certain class at a fair price, and thus enable the holders who were in need of money to obtain it without sacrificing their securities. On the twenty-second the excitement in New ADMINISTRATION UP' ULYSSES S. GRANT. 815 York and the Eastern cities began to subside. The trouble was not over, however. The stringency of the money market which fol- lowed the first excitement prevailed for fully a year, and affected all branches of the industry of the country, and caused severe suffering from loss of employment and lowering of wages to the working classes. The panic shovs'.d the e.\tent to which railroad gambling had ile n 1 ness and the people (;f t showed that some of the strongest and most trusted firms in the Union had lent themselves to the task of inducing people to in\e^t their money in the sec ur ities of enterprises the sue cess of which was, to say the least, doubtful. It showed that the banks, the deposi- tories of thepeople's mont.y, had to an alarming extent crippled themselves by neg lecting their legitimate business and making ad vances on securities which in the hour of trial proved worthless in many ca^e-^., uncertain in most. The money needed for the use of the legitimate business of the country had been placed at the mercy of the railroad gamblers and had been used by them. The funds of helpless and dependent persons, of widows and orphan children, had been used to pay fictitious dividends and advance schemes which had been stamped with the disapproval of the public. An amount of recklessness and demoral- ization was revealed in the management of the financial interests of the country that startled even the most hardened. The lesson was severe, but it was needed. The panic was followed by a better and more healthful state of affairs. The business of the country slowly settled down within proper channels. Recklessness was succeeded by prudence ; extravagance by economy in all quarters. The American people took their severe les- son to heart, and resolutely set to work to secure the ^ood results that came to them from this harvest of misfortune. Dmmgthe yeai 1874, sixty persons were ENE (IN THE COLORADO KIVEK. murdered at different times in Texas by raider Indians from the F"ort Sill reservation, where they were fed by the government and treated as friends. In addition to these atroc- ities, they also ran off with a large number of horses and mules belonging to settlers on the frontier and to freighters. In July, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in turning over the savages to the military, directed that " friendly Indians, not partici- pating in late outrages, coming into agencies 8i6 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. will be protected. All professing to be loyal must enter immediately and be enrolled, and each one capable of bearing arms must answer to daily roll-call. No additional Indians must be received amongst them with- out permission." The result of this announce- ment was the enrollment of one hundred and seventy-three Kiowas, present at the time of the receipt of the commissioner's dispatch, and who, the agent was positive, had not been at war; one hundred and eight Apaches, hkewise present; and eightj'-three Coman- ches, either there at the time or arriving by August third, the day appointed by Lieuten- ant-Colonel Davidson as the last upon which the enrollment could take place. Some time after August third, the follow- ing Comanche chiefs asked permission to come in : Big Red Food, Tobermanca, Assan- onica, Little Crow and Black Duck. Word was sent to Assanonica that he would be admitted on condition of yielding up his arms. The rest were forbidden to come, since it was well known that they had been jCngaged in several massacres. Big Red ■Food, however, defied the prohibition, and drawing near to the Wichita agency with his band, formed a point around which the dis- affected began to gather. The Kiowas Open Fire. On the twenty-first of August, Lieutenant- Colonel Davidson received word from the officer commanding at the agency that trouble was anticipated there. He at once marched with four companies of cavalry, and imme- diately upon his arrival effected the arrest of Red Food, chief of the Nocanees, and told him that he and his band must submit. He appeared to consent, but presently escaped from his guard. At the same time the troops were fired upon from the rear by Kiowas, many of whom had just been enrolled at Fort Sill as friendly. The troops were much perplexed in the endeavor to distinguish the amicable from the hostile Indians ; but by the aid of inter- preters this was accomplished; the inimical band was scattered and its lodges and prop- erty were destroyed. It had undoubtedly, been their design to implicate those of their band who were disposed to peace, but their purpose was entirely frustrated, and the aflfil- iated tribes belonging to the agency were set- tled in their allegiance more firmly than ever. In April, 1875, an engagement occurred at the north fork of Sappa Creek. On the morning of the nineteenth of April Lieuten- ant Austin Henely, of Fort Wallace, Kansas, started to find the trail of a party of Indians reported to be at Punished Woman's Fork. With him were forty men of Company H, Si.xth Cavalr)-, Lieutenant C. C. Hewitt, Sur- geon F. H. Atkins, and i\Ir. Homer Wheeler, post- trader of Fort Wallace, as guide. He also had fifteen days' rations, ten days' forage and two six-mule teams. On the Trail. On the second day he directed that his wagons, with a guard under the command of Sergeant Kitchin, should proceed directly to Hackberr)' Creek while he scouted Twin Butte and Hackberry to find a trail. About noon Corporal Morris, commanding the ad- vance, discovered traces of twelve lodges. Lieutenant Henely at once collected his wagons, abandoned one of them, as well as half his forage, rations and camp equipage, notified the commanding officer at Fort Wal- lace of the fact, in order that they might be recovered, and started on the trail at the rate of nearly five miles an hour, reaching Smoky Hill River that night. A heavy rain during the night rendered it difficult to fol- low the tracks the next day. At the Kansas Pacific Railroad the trail was scattered and lost. ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 817 After considerable deliberation it was de- cided to take a northeast course to the North Bca\er and follow it to its source, upon the supposition that the Indians would collect there and pass down for the purpose of hunt- ing. Shortly after daylight a party of hunt- ers was met, who informed Lieutenant Henely that the Indians he was in search of were on the north fork of Sappa Creek, and had robbed their camp during their absence the day before. Three of the hunters volunteered to guide the party to the Indian encamp- ment. In the gray dawn of the morning the squad arrived at the creek, about three-quarters of a mile abo\-e the camp, being attracted to the spot b\- the sight of a number of ponies graz- ing. Presently Mr. Wheeler came back, galloping with furious speed, swinging his hat and shouting in a loud voice. As the force came up with him the Indian camp was displayed to view. Plan of Attack. The plan for the attack had been arranged as follows : Sergeant Kitchin was detailed to kill the herders, round up the herd as near as possible to the main command and take charge of it with half of his men. Corporal Sharpies, with fi\-e men, was left with the wagon and instructed to keep as near as pos- sible to Lieutenant Heneh', the rest of the command were to attack the savages. The north fork of Sappa Creek at this point is very crooked, is bordered by high and precipitous bluffs, and flows sluggishly through a marshy bottom, making it ex- tremely difficult to cross. As the men charged down the sides ten or twelve of the Indians ran rapidly up the bluff to a small herd of ponies ; others escaped down the creek to another herd ; while the remainder, the last to be awakened, probably seeing that flight was impossible, prepared for a des- 52 perate defence. By this time the men had reached the creek, which looked alarmingly deep and marshy. Lieutenant HeneK-, realizing that no time was to be lost in searching for a crossing, plunged in with his horse, followed by Mr. Wheeler. By extraordinary efforts their horses struggled through. A corporal who followed became mired ; but at length, by strenuous endeavors, all succeeded in cross- ing just as a number of dusky figures with long rifles confronted them, their heads ap- pearing over a bank made by the creek in highwater. The Battle-ground. This bank, with the portion of the creek and bluffs in the immediate vicinity, possessed the rather remarkable feature of a large num- ber of curious holes or pits, for what purpose constructed did not appear. Some of the Indians took refuge in these hollows ; others lined the bank, with their rifles resting on the crest. Lieutenant Henely rapidly formed his men in line and signalled to the savages to surrender, as did likewise I\Ir. Wheeler. One, who appeared to be a chief, made some rapid gesticulations which seemed to be motions for a parley ; but it was soon obvious that they were meant for Indians in the rear. The lieutenant now ordered his men to dismount and fight on foot, and as they did so the enemy fired, but in so e.xcited a manner that no one was hurt. The troops, posted around in a skirmish-line, were com- manded to fire. If the reader will imagine the dress circle of a theatre lowered to within about five feet of the pit, the men to be deployed about the edge, and the Indians down among the orchestra-chairs, they will have some idea of the relative positions of the parties. The most exposed portion was near the centre of the arc. Here Sergeant Theodore Papier and Pri\ate Robert Thcims, 8i8 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of Company H, Sixth Ca\ali\-, were instantly killed while fighting with great valor. After some twenty minutes of firing the VIEW i\ Tirr r.KANn c wi )\ Indians ceased to r^tu.ii the attack, and ihe licutcnr.r.t prepared to draw off his men in pursuit of those who had fled. Scarcely had they mounted when two savages ran up tc the two bodies in the endeavor to gain pos- session of them; but three or four men charged them at a gal- and rendered their ciTorts useless. At this moment an In- dian, gaudily dressed, jumped from a hole and.with peculiarside- long leaps, attempted to escape, but was shot down. Lieutenant Henely then posted s men at the ends of the crest and resumed the attack, the savages returning it from their pits.butwithout doing any damage. The firing having ceased, it was inferred that all were killed, and tlie command moved III the direction of the nics, driving off the ndian guard and bi inging in a herd of th? animals. As they returned a solitary ^hot was fired from ths holes, piercing horse of one of officers entirely ugh the body. Lieutenant Henely th :n determined to ni ike a termination, 3 md ordered the men to idvance on all sides, keeping up a steady fire. The only response was a few shots from the pits, which did no damage. Nineteen dead warriors were counted. Id I nil CO l)K\DO KUFR ADMINISTRATIOX OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 819 addition to eiyht squaws and children acci- dentallj' killed. From the war-bonnets and rich ornaments, two were judged to be chiefs, and one whose bonnet was sur- mounted by two horns was thought to be a medicine-man. The Indian camp was burned and the cap- tured stock, amounting to one hundred and thirty-four animals, driven off. On the re- turn march to Fort Wallace the command was overtaken by a terrible snow-storm and forced to encamp under a bank. It was im- possible to herd the captured stock, the en- tire attention of the men being required to save themselves and their horses from freez- ing to death. Having no tents and but one blanket each, the men passed a night of in- tense suffering. Some of them were frozen ; others, who had dug holes in the banks for shelter, had to be extricated in the morning by their comrades. On the following day the men disbanded into small squads to search for the captured stock, and succeeded in recapturing about one hundred head. In January, 1875, Congress passed an act providing for the resumption of specie pay- ments, and requiring that on and after Janu- ary I, 1S79, the legal tender notes of the Go\ernment shall be redeemed in specie. In the meantime silver coin is to be substituted for the fractional paper currency. On the fourth of March, 1875, Congress authorized the Territoiy of Colorado to form a State Constitution. She was admitted as a State August i, 1876. Centennial Celebration. The political troubles in Louisiana and Arkansas assumed a most serious character during the year 1873, amounting to civil war in both States. The President, in view of the serious nature of the disturbances, inter- vened with force in each State, and compelled the rival parties to refrain from additional hostilities, and the quarrels were settled in the course of the }-ear without further blood- shed. The year 1875 completed the period of one hundred years from the opening of the revolution, and the events of 1775 were cele- brated with appropriate commemorative cere- monies in the places where they occurred. The centennial anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord was celebrated at those places on the nineteenth of April with great rejoicings. On the seventeenth 01 June the centennial of Bunker Hill was cele- brated at Charlestown. Vast crowds were present from all parts of the country. One of the most gratifying features of the cele- bration was the presence and hearty partici- pation in the ceremonies of a large number of troops from the Southern States. Nearly all of these had served in the Confederate army, and their presence in the metropolis of New England was an emphatic proof that the Union has indeed been restored. The memory of the common glory won by the fathers of the republic has already done much to heal the wounds and obliterate the scars of the civil war. May the good work go on. Imposing Ceremonies. As early as 1872 measures were set on foot for the proper observance of the one hundredth anniversary of the independence of the United States. It was resolved to commemorate the close of the first century of the republic by an International Exhibi- tion, to be held at Philadelphia in 1876, in which all the nations of the world were in- vited to participate. Preparations were at once set on foot for the great celebration. The European governments with great cordiality responded to the invitations ex- tended to them by the government of the United States, and on the tenth of ^^.lay. ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 1876, the International Centennial Exhibi- tion was opened with the most imposing ceremonies, in the presence of an immense concourse of citizens from all parts of the Union, and of the President of the United States and the Emperor of Brazil. The ex- liibition remained open from May loth to November 10th, 1876, and was visited by several million people from the various States of the Union, from Canada, South America ?.nd Europe. It was one of the grandest and most notable events of the cen- tury, and illustrated our country's progress. On the fourth day of July, 1876, the United States of America completed the one hun- dredth year of their existence as an inde- pendent nation. The day was celebrated ■with imposing ceremonies and with the most patriotic enthusiasm in all parts of the Union. The celebrations began on the night of the third of July, and were kept up until near inidnight on the fourth. Each of the great cities of the Union vied with the others in the .splendor and completeness of its rejoic- ings ; but the most interesting of all the celebrations was naturally that which was held at Philadelpliia, in which city the De- claration of Independence was adopted. The arrangements for the proper observ- ance of the day were confided to the United States Centennial Commission, and extensive preparations were made to conduct them on a scale of splendor worthy of the glorious occasion. The city of Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania lent their cordial co- operation to the effort to have all things in readiness for the Fourth, and the work went forward with a heartiness and vigor that could not fail of complete success. __ — - -...^ It was wisely re- ^ ^X solved by the Com- Ay mission that as the ';4^ Declaration of In- dependence was signed in Independ- ence Hall and pro- claimed to the peo- ple m Independence Square, the com- memorative cere- monies should be ■-o conducted as to make the venerable buildmg the grand central figure of all the demonstrations. The city authorities caused the building to be handsomely draped in the national colors, and enormous stands, covered with canvas awnings and orna- mented with flags and streamers, were erected in Independence Square for the accommodation of the singers and invited guests who were to take part in the rejoic- ings. A new bell of vast proportions — the gift of a patriotic and public-spirited citizen — was hung in the State House tower, ready to join its deep tones to the shouts of the multitude when the moment of rejoic- ing should arrive. ADMINISTRATION OK ULYSSES S. GRANT. 82 1 Being anxious that the Centennial celebra- tion should do its share in cementing the reunion of the Northern and Southern States, the Commission began, at least a year before the occasion, the formation of a " Centen- nial Legion," consisting of a detachment of troops from each of the thirteen original States. The command of this splendid body of picked troops was conferred upon General Ambrose E. Burnside, of Rhode Island, and General Henry Heth, of Virginia, was chosen Lieutenant-Colonel. Both were veterans of the late civil war. The Legion was readily made up, the best volunteer commands of the original States being eager to serve in it. For a week previous to the fourth of July crowds of people began to pour steadily into Philadelphia. Volunteer organizations from the various States were constantly arriving and were either encamped at various points in and around the E.xhibition grounds or were quartered at the various hotels. Gay Decorations. The city was gayly decorated with flags and streamers, and the \ie\v down any of the principal streets was brilliant by reason of the clouds of bunting with which it was decorated. The principal buildings were almost hidden by the flags which adorned them, or were ornamented with patriotic inscriptions, and at various points on Chestnut street triumphal arches were erected. By the night of the thirdof July it was estimated that at least two hundred and fifty thousand strangers were assembled in Philadelphia. The Centennial ceremonies were begun on the morning of Saturda\-, the first of July. The leading writers of the Union had been invited to prepare memoirs of the great men of our revolutionary period, which were to be deposited among the archives of the State House, and all who were able to accept the invitation assembled in Independence Hall at eleven o'clock on the morning of July I, 1S76, where they were joined by a number of in\ited guests. The ceremonies were opened by an address from Colonel Frank M. Etting, the Chairman of the Committee on the Restoration of Independence Hall, and a prajer by the Rev. William White Bronson. Whittier's Centennial Hymn was then sung by a chorus of fifty voices. The names of the authors were then called, to which each responded in person or by pro.xy, and laid his memoir on the table in the hall. The exercises were then brought to a close, and the company repaired to the stand in Inde- pendence Square, where a large crowd had assembled. Odes, Speeches and Orations. The ceremonies in the square were begun at half-past twelve o'clock with Helfrich's Centennial Triumphal March, performed by the Centennial Musical Association. Mr. John William Wallace, the president of the day, then delivered a short address, after- which Whittier's Centennial Hymn was sung' by a chorus of one hundred and fifty voices, and Mr. William V. McKean reviewed at some length the great historical event in commemoration of which the ceremonies were held. After the band had played " God Save America," the Hon. Leverett Saltonstall, of Massachusetts, delivered an address, which elicited warm applause. " The Voice of the Old Bell," a Centennial ode, was then sung, and Governor Henry Lippitt, of Rhode Island, made a short speech. The band followed with a number of patriotic airs, and Mr. Wallace announced the unavoidable absence of General John A. Dix, and intro- duced in his place Frederick De Peyster, President of the New York Historical Society, who made a few remarks. After a Cen- tennial Ode, by S. C. Upham, had been sung filB'Hil!' 822 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. !23 by the chorus, the Hon. Benjamin Harris Brewster delivered an eloquent address, at the close of which another Centennial Hymn, by WilHam F'ennimore, was sung. Senator Frank P. Stevens, of Maryland, then said a few words, after which the " Star Spangled Banner" was sung, and the exercises were brought to a close by a prayer from Bishop Stevens. All through Sunday, the second, the crowds continued to pour into the city, and on Mon- day, third, the streets were almost impassable. Business was generally suspended from the first to the fifth of July. Brilliant Illuminations. The celebration ushering ni the F'ourth of July was begun on the night of the third. A grand civic and torchlight procession paraded the streets, which were brilliantly illuminated along the whole line of march. The proces- sion began to move about half-past 8 o'clock at night, and consisted of deputations repre- sentati\'eof the various trades of the cit}-, the Centennial Commissioners from the various foreign countries taking part in the Exhibi- tion, the Governors of a number of the States of the Union, officers of the army and navy of the United States, civic and political asso- ciations and officers of foreign men-of-war visiting the city. Some of the deputations bore torches, and these added to the bril- liancy of the scene. All along the line fire- works were ascending into the air, and cheer after cheer went up from the dense masses of enthusiastic spectators which filled the side- walks. The illumination of the streets along the route of the procession was superb. Chest- nut and Broad streets flashed rcsplendently in lines of fire and colored lanterns. The dense masses which thronged these streets stood out boldly in the clear light of the illu- mination, and the long, slow-moving line of the procession flowed through them like a vast river. Crowds had collected around Independence Hall, filling the street before it and the square in the rear of it. An orchestra and chorus were stationed on the stands in the square to hail the opening of the Fourth with music. The movements of the procession were so timed that the head of the column arrived in front of Independence Hall precisely at mid- night. Grand Military Parade. The crowd, which had been noisy but good natured, was hushed into silence as the hands of the clock in the tower approached the midnight hour, and one hundred thousand people waited in breathless eagerness the strokes which were to usher in the glorious day. As the minute-hand swept slowly past the hour there was a profound silence, and then came rolling out of the lofty steeple the deep, liquid tones of the new liberty bell, sounding wonderfully solenm and sweet as they floated down to the crowd below. Thir- teen peals were struck, and the first tone had hardly died away when there went up from the crowd such a shout as had never been heard in Philadelphia before. It was caught up and re-echoed all over the city, and at the same time the musicians and singers in the square broke into the grand strains of the " Star Spangled Banner." All the bells and steam whistles in the city joined in the sounds of rejoicing, and fireworks and firearms made the noise tenfold louder. When the " Star Spangled Banner" was ended the chorus in Independence Square sang the " Doxology," in which the crowd joined heartily, and the band then played national airs. The festivities were kept up until after two o'clock, and it was not until the first streaks of the dawn began to tinge the sky that the streets of the city resumed their wonted appearance. ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. The lull in the festivities was not of long duration. The day was at hand, and it threat- ened to be mercilessly hot, as indeed it was. As the sun arose in his full-orbed splendor, the thunder of cannon from the Navy Yard, from the heights of Fairmount Park, and from the Swedish, Brazilian, and American war vessels in the Delaware, and the clanging of bells from every steeple in the city, roused the few who had managed to snatch an hour or two of sleep after the fatigues of the night, GENERAL J. R. HAWLEY. and by six o'clock the streets were again thronged. In view of the extreme heat of the weather, the military parade had been ordered for an early hour of the day. The troops numbered about ten thousand men, rank and file, and the whole column was under the chief com- mand of General Hartranft, Governor of Penn- sylvania, and a gallant veteran of the civil war. The command was made up of troops, who during that bloody stru;.jgle had fought each other gallantly, and who had now come to testify their devotion to their common country, and to show to the world that in trusting its defence to its well-regulated mil- itia, the American republic is stronger than the most powerful monarchies of the old world. At half-past eight, the column began to move down Chestnut street towards Indepen- dence Hall, in front of which the troops were reviewed by General W. T. Sherman, the Commanding General of the armies of the United States; the Secretary of War ; Prince Oscar of Sweden ; Lieutenant-General Saigo, of the Imperial army of Japan ; the officers of the Swedish men-of-war in the harbor; the go\-ernors of several of the States; and Gen- eral Hawley, the President of the Centennial Commission. As the troops passed along they were greeted with enthusiastic cheers by the crowds on the street. The Centennial Legion and the troops from the Southern States were the objects of an especially hearty demon- stration. The route chosen was a short one, the extreme heat forbidding an extended parade, and by ten o'clock, the military cere- monies were over. Huzzahs in Independence Square. As soon as the parade was ended the crowd turned into Independence Square, which was soon tilled The approaches to the building by way of Chestnut and Sansom streets were kept clear by the police, in order that those who were entitled to seats on tlie stand might reach their places. Four thousand persons were given seats on the stand, and a vast crowd filled the square. As the invited guests appeared and took their seats on the platform, the prominent personages were cheered by the crowd. The Emporer of Brazil received a welcome that was especially noticeable for its heartiness. It was hoped that the President of the United States would be present and preside ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. over the ceremonies ; but General Grant declined the invitation to do so, which it was Wendell Holmes, music, ' Keller's Hymn,' " was sunij. The Vice-President then an- at once his privilege and his duty to accept, ! nounced that Richard Henry Lee, of Vir- and remained in Washington, preferring his a grandson of the patriot of the selfish ease to a little patriotic exertion and j Revolution who offered the resolution in exposure to the heat on this grandest of his country's festivals. His absence was gen- • erally remarked and severely condemned by his countrj'men. At a few minutes after ten o'clock, Gen- eral Hawley, the President of the United States Centennial Commission, appeared at the speaker's stand and signalled to the orchestra to begin. The opening piece, which was an overture entitled " The Great Republic," based on the national air, " Hail Columbia," and arranged for the occasion by Professor George F. Bristow, of New York, was rendered in fine style by the orchestra under the leadership of Mr. P. Gilmore. As the music ceased General Hawley again came forward and introduced as the presiding officer of the day the Hon. Thomas W. Ferry, Vice-President of the United States, who was received with loud cheers. Great Enthusiasm Over the Declaration. After a few remarks appropriate to the occasion Vice President Ferry presented to the audience Right Reverend WilKam Bacon Stevens, D. D., the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania, whom he introduced as the ecclesiastical successor of the first chaplain of the Continental Congress. The bishop was in his canonical robes, with prayer book in hand. He delivered a solemn and impressive prayer, during the utterance of which the whole audience stood with un- covered heads, silent and attentive, unmind- ful of the blazing sun which poured down upon them. When the prayer was ended the " Hymn, ' Welcome to All Nations,' words by Oliver Congress that " these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independ- ent States," would read the Declaration of Independence from the original manuscript, which the President had entrusted to the Mayor of Philadelphia. The faded and crumbling manuscript, held together by a simple frame, was then exhibited to the crowd and was greeted with cheer after cheer. Richard Henry Lee, a soldierly-looking Vir- ginian, then came forward and read the Declaration ; but the enthusiasm of the crowd was too great to permit them to listen to it quietly. At the close of the reading the orchestra performed a musical composition entitled "A Greeting from Brazil," a hymn for the first Centennial of American Independence, composed by A. Carlos Gomez, of Brazil, at the request of His Majesty Dom Pedro II, Emperor of Brazil. It was received with cheers by the crowd, which were repeated for the Braziliaa Emperor, whose hearty interest in the Centennial celebrations and the Exhibition had made him a favorite in Philadelphia. The HaUelujah Chorus Mr. John Welsh, Chairman of the Centen- nial Board of Finance, then, at the sugges- tion of Vice-President Ferry, introduced Bayard Taylor, the poet of the day, who recited a noble ode, which was listened to with deep attention, the audience occasionally breaking out into applause. When the poem was ended, the chorus sang "Our National Banner," the words by Dextei Smith. oV Massachusetts, the music by Sir jnhu.« Bfe»« diet, of England. 826 INTERSECTION OF NINTH AND CHESTNUT STS., PHILADELPHIA. ADMINISTRATI(3N OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 827 As the music died away the \'ice-l'resi- dent introduced the lion. William M. Evarts, of New York, the orator of tlie day. Mr. Evarts was greeted with hearty cheers, after which he proceeded to deliver an eloquent and able address, reviewing the lessons of the past century, and dwelling upon the great work America had performed for the world. When Mr. Evarts retired from the speak- er's stand, General Hawley gave the signal to the leader of the orchestra, and the " Hal- lelujah Chorus," from "The Messiah," was sung ; after which the vast audience, at the request of the Vice-President, joined in the One Hundredth Psalm, with wliich the memorable ceremonies came to an end. At night the city was brilliantly illumin- ated, and a magnificent display of fireworks was given by the municipal authorities at old Fairmount. ■War with the Sioux. The year 1S76, howe\er, w.is not destined to be entirely a period of jjeace. In 1867 the Government of the United States made a treaty with the Sioux Indians, by which the latter agreed to relinquish to the United States all the territory south of the Niobrara River, west of the one hundred and fourth meridian of longitude and north oftlie forty- sixth parallel of latitude. This treaty secured to the Sioux a large reservation in the south- western part of Dakota, and they agreed to withdraw to this reservation by the first of January, 1876. A fvw years later gold was discovered in the Black Hills countr}-, a very desirable region situated in southwestern Dakota, and l)'ing within the Sioux reser- vation. The announcement of this discovery pro- duced great excitement among the mining class. In the summer of 1874 an expedition under General Custer was sent by the War Department to explore the Black Hills region, partly for the purpose of ascertaining the character of the country, and partly to discover practicable military routes between F""ort Lincoln, in the Department of Dakota, opposite the terminus of the Union Pacific Railway, and Fort Laramie, in the Depart- ment of the Platte. Ther'-port of this expe- KhVliKsE OF CENTENNIAL MED.\L. dition confirmed the stories of the discovery of gold, and immediate preparations were made by parties of miners to proceed to the favored lands for the purpose of working the gold mines. These expeditions being re- ported to tlie Government, measures were taken by the War Department to v^revent 82S ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. any intrusion into the Indian reservation. Notwithstanding this prohibition, private expeditions were fitted out and started for the Black Hills. Some of these were driven back by the Indians, with loss of life and property, but others succeeded in reaching the Black Hills. It was now e\idcnt that a sj-stematic and determined effort would be made to settle the Black Hills, in spite of the oppusitinn of to retire to the resei'\'ation to which the treaty of 1S67 confined them, and now took advantage of the intrusions of the whites into their territory to gratify their long-cherished wish for war. They broke away from their reservation, and made repeated fora\-s into Wyoming and Montana, laid the country waste, carried off the horses and cattle, and murdered such settlers as ventured to oppose them. «^ //'' ;'t >^^=*- the army ; and the government decided to endeavor to purchase the region from the Sioux and throw it open to emigration Efforts were made during the year 1S75 to induce the Sioux to sell their lands, but the weak and vacillating course pursued by the government simply disgusted the Indians, and they refused to make the desired ar- rangement. The Sioux had never been really willing This brought matters to a crisis, and early in 1S76 the government resolved to drive the Sioux back upon their reservation. A force of regular troops, under Generals Terry and Crook, was sent into the difficult moun- tainous region of the Upper Yellowstone, and an active campaign was begun against the Indians. The force was too small, how- ever, for the work required of it. In spite of the smallness of its numbers^ ADMIXISTRATIOX OF ULYSSHS S. GRANT. 829 the army on the frontier succeeded in foi'c- ing the savages, who were led by Sitting Bull, their most famous chief, and who num- bered several thousand fighting men, back to the Big Horn mountains. The Indians now took up a strong position in the mountains, and on the t\vent}--fifth of June, 1S76, the Seventh Cavalry, under Generals Custer and Reno, were sent forward to ascertain the whereabouts of the enemy. They found the savages encamped on the left bank of the Little Horn River, and occup}ing a large village some three miles in length. General Custer, with his little command, at once made a gallant attack upon the Indian vil- lage, hoping that General Reno would be able to come up in time to support him. Reno was unable to advance, howe\er, Cus- ter's little band was soon surrounded by sev- eral thousand of the bravest Sioux warriors. The conflict which ensued was one of the most heroic in the annals of the American army, and one of the most disastrous. Cus- ter was slain, together with every man who accompanied him into the fight, but not until they had exacted a fearful price for their li\-es at the hands of tlie savages. The Indians Defeated. General Reno, in the meantime, had be- come engaged at the opposite end of the tow-n,and was so hard pressed by the Indians that he was unable to go to Custer's assist- ance. He succeeded in drawing off his men and in retiring to the bluffs of the Little Horn, where he held his position until the arrival of General Gibbon with reinforcements com- pelled the savages to retreat, and saved the remnant of the Seventh Cavalry from destruc- tion. The disaster of the Little Horn was the most terrible defeat ever inflicted upon the United States army by the savages, and was directly due to the criminal folly of the administration in sending a mere handful of troops to meet a strong body of the bravest Indian warriors on the continent. The disaster aroused such a storm of indig- nation throughout the country that the Gov ernment hastily forwarded reinforcements to the frontier, and Generals Terry and Crook were able to conduct their campaign with more vigor. The Indians were beaten in a number of engagements, and on the twenty- fourth of November suffered a decisive defeat in a battle with the Fourth Cavalry, under Colonel McKenzie, at one of the passes of the Big Horn ^Mountains. Negotiations were in progress during the summer and autumn for the remo\al of the Sioux to the Indian Territory, and by the beginning of tlie winter the greater part of the savages had surren- dered. A few bands under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse continued in the field. Tlicy were not allowed to remain insecurity dining the win- ter, and on the eighth of Januar\-, 1877,3 decisive victory was won o\er the band of Crazy Horse at Wolfe Mountains, in Mon- tana Territory, by General Miles, with a force ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. of infintr\ and artiller) the surrender of ( li r ' /^.^. This \ictory led to I terntou of British America. By the spring ""I 'in Til 1 I rf is-j the war had been practicallybrought to a close. The question of the re- construction of the South- ern States was one of the acies which President Grant received at the hands J of his predecessor. It was , fondly hoped by the coun- try at large that under the ' new administration " the work of reconstruction w ould be accomplished and the wounds of civil war healed." The utterances of President Grant upon en- tcung upon his new duties , ^ justified these expectations, is it was not believed that he cherished extreme views, or that he harbored vindict- ive feelings. " Nor is it probable," says a distinguished Northern writer,* "that those who relied upon the President's disposition to deal iairly and even liberally with the Southern States, were at all mistaken in that regard; but his ignorance in civil ■iffairs, which in some cases was conspicuous and mor- tify ing, seems very early to- have thrown him into the hands of managing politi- cians, and these were mainly of the extreme type, who made up in bitterness what they lacked in breadth. The politicians from the South early in 1877 the operations against Sitting I who were most about him were generally Bull obliged that chief to take refuge in the | * Charles Francis Adams, Jr. INDIANS .SUKP ND DEFEATED. ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES 5. GRANT. 831 adventurers, who found the power of the government a convenient instrument for the furtherance of personal schemes, and who did not scruple to make use of their influence with the President to that end. Among these was one of the President's brothers-in-law, who amazed the countr)- judicial fairness? Republican leaders who were disposed to amnesty and a real oblivion for past offences, were elbowed out of place, and at last driven to the rear." The labors of reconstruction were nomi- nally completed in 1870. " Had the course of the managing men of the party in power by his daring disregard of the rights of the | been wise and conciliatory, had it been actu- State which he had chosen as the scene of his operations. The Northern politicians who surrounded the President were largely of a similar stripe Was it to be expected of such men that they would deal generously with a fallen foe, or was it within the compass of partisanship like theirs that their opponents should be treated with I atcd by high motives and statesmanlike views, and had the men who represented the party in the Southern States been men who were laboring for the good of their section, rather than for the advancement of their own personal interests, it is not to be doubted that the administration would have been able to i attach to itself the support of a majority of S32 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT, olored people the Southern people. Th were naturally its friends. " The patronage of the administration was CANVON OF THE LODORE AND OM L\E (large, and it would ha\-e drawn a strong support to the party had it been distributed -wisely and from an evident desire to accom- plish only the purposes for which offices are created. Moreover, the Southern people needed peace and quiet to recuperate their exhausted interests; and while many hot-heads were sup- posed to be violent and troublesome, the best and most influential of them, of whom the late Vice-President of the Confederacy was an example, were disposed to accept with grati- tude such advances oftheir late enemies as promised to render peace pos- sible and perma- nent. But as, un- fortunately, all were not of this class, the persons who had the Presi- dent's ear, and who assumed to speak for the party in Congress, found it convenient fortheir ,)urpose to present ihe impracticable and violent as the proper representa- ti\es of Southern -eatiment, and to -^peak of and deal with the Southern eopleas unrepent- ant rebels.who were to be held down by the strong hand. " That the white people of the South were alienated from the Republican part\^ was not ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. ^o5 surprising. It was almost a matter of course that the control of the Southern States should pass to the Democratic party, for it was quite impossible to retain all the freedmen in one part}', while their late masters, the persons upon whom they now relied for employment, were mainly to be found in the other. The 'color line' was drawn when the narrow pol- icy of extreme partisans among the Repub- lican leaders arrayed against them Southern whites ; the drawing of it indeed left some white leaders among the freedmen, but it did not prevent a still greater number of the lat- ter following the political fortunes of those with whose material interests their own were so closely identified ; and the political ascen- dency of the Republican party in the South- ern States was lost permanently."* Trouble in Louisiana. This interference of the President in the affairs of a State was brought to a crisis in the winter of 1874-75, in the State of Louisi- ana. At the election for members of the Legislature, held during the fall of 1 874, both the Republican and Conservative parties claimed the victory. The Legislature met in New Orleans, on the fourth of Januarj-, 1875, and a struggle ensued for the control of the organization of the lower House. By their superior strategy the Democrats, or Conservatives, were successful, and proceeded to organize the House and seat five members of their own party, who had contested as many Republican seats 'in the House. The Democratic triumph was of short duration, however, for in a few moments. General De Trobriand, of the United States army, entered the hall and announced that he had orders to remove the five members sworn in. The Democratic Speaker, and the five members themselves, protested against this ' Charles Francis Adams, Jr S3 interference on the part of the Federal troops, and declared that they would not leave their scats until forced from them. General De Trobriand immediately summoned a file o{ soldiers, and the five members were removed from their seats and expelled from the hall, the Democratic Speaker and members at once withdrew from the hall, and the House was organized b\' the Republicans. This strange and inexcusable spectacle of the interference of the Federal troops in the domestic affairs of a State had no parallel in American history. It aroused a feeling of SAMUEL J TILDEN. general indignation throughout the North^ and the President was sharply denounced, even by men of his own party, for his inter- ference with the organization of a State Legislature. Several Governors addressed special messages on the subject to the Legis- latures of their respective States, and legisla- lative resolutions were passed denouncing the course pursued by the Federal govern- ment. The indignation which thus expressed itself was greatly increased by a dispatch frcjm General Sheridan, commanding at New 834 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. Orleans, to the War Department, dated fifth of January, 1S75, advising the general govern- ment to declare the people of Louisiana banditti, and to turn them over to him and to his troops for punishment. This savage sug- gestion was deeply resented bj' the people of the whole countr\% who had by this time good cause to deplore an\- interference of the military in civil affairs. There is reason to believe that the public indignation was felt by even the President, for, in a message to Congress upon the sub- ject, he made this admission, while defending the course of the administration : " I am well aware that any military interference by the officers or troops of the United States with the organization of a State Legislature or any of its proceedings, or with any civil department of the government, is repugnant to our ideas of government. I can conceive of no case not involving rebellion or insur- rection where such interference by authority of the general government ought to be per- mitted, or can be justified.'' In the summer of 1S76 the various poiliti- cal parties of the Union met in their respective conventions to nominate candidates foi the Presidency and Vice-Presidency of the United States, which officers were to be chosen at the general election in November. The Republican Convention assembled at Cincinnati, Ohio, on the fourteenth of June, and resulted in the nomination of Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, for President of the United States, and of William A. Wheeler, of New York, for Vice-President. The Democratic Convention was held at St. Louis on the twenty-seventh of June, and nomi- nated Governor Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, for the Presidency, and Governor Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, for the Vice-Presidency. A third convention, repre- senting the Independent Greenback party, met at Indianapolis, on the eighteenth of May, and nominated Peter Cooper, of New York, for President, and Samuel F. Cary, of Ohio, for Vice-President. Result of the Campaign. The campaign which followed these nomi- nations was one of intense bitterness, and was in many respects the most remarkable the country has ever witnessed. A most dis- creditable feature of it was the appearance of Mr. Chandler, the Secretary of the Interior, as the chief manager of the Republican party. It was the first time in the history of the country that a member of the President's Cabinet had ever held so questionable a position ; the first time that the patronage of the government had ever been used so openly in behalf of a political party. Under the leadership of Secretary Chandler, the manly and conciliatory letter of accept- ance of Governor Hayes was ignored, and a campaign of great bitterness was inaugur- ated. The election was held on the seventh oJ November. The popular vote was as follows : ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. 835 For Samuel J. Tilden, 4,284,265 " Rutherford B. Hayes, 4,033,295 " Peter Cooper, 81,737 Tilden thus received a popular majority of 250,970 votes over Hayes, and a majority of 169,233 votes over both Hayes and Cooper. In the Electoral Colleges, one hundred and eighty-five votes were necessary to a choice. Carolina to Governor Ha}-es, Mr. Tilden had fairly carried both Florida and Louisiana, and was entitled to one hundred and ninetj'-six electoral votes. The revision of the vote in Florida and Louisiana had been confided, since the reorganization of those States, to Returning Boards. It was evident from the first that each of ^^^mi&^i^M POINT PLEASANT, OHIO, THE BIRTHPLACE OF PRESIDENT GRANT. Of this number, Governor Tilden received one hundred and eighty-four, and Governor Hayes one hundred and sixty-three undis- puted votes. The votes of the States of Florida, Louisiana, Oregon and South Car- olina, twenty-two in number, were claimed by both parties for their respective candidates. It was declared by the Democrats that, even conceding the votes of Oregon and South these boards would return the vote of its respective State for the Republican candidate, and it was feared that this would be produc- tive of trouble, as the Democrats claimed a majority in these States. Immediately after the election, therefore, President Grant appointed a number of prominent Republi- cans to proceed to Florida and Louisiana to watch the counting of the votes of those 836 ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. States; and a number of prominent Dem- ocrats repaired to Tallahassee and New Orleans for the same purpose. These gen- tlemen had no official character, and were without power to interfere in any way with the counting of the vote. It was hoped, how- ever, that their presence as witnesses would act as a check upon the boards, and thus a fair count be secured. Both States were returned for Hayes. Investigations showed that the electoral vote of South Carolina had been fairly cast for Hayes, and it was generally conceded to him by both parties. The Democratic Gov- ernor of Oregon attempted by a transparent fraud to give the electoral vote of that State to Tilden, and thus elect him ; but it came to be the general sentiment of the country that the electoral vote of Oregon should right- fully be cast for Hayes. This confined the real struggle to the votes of Florida and Louisiana. It was the general conviction of the country that both of those States had been fairly carried by the Demo- cratic party, and many earnest Republicans gave open expression to this belief. The action of the Return Boards, however, was still within the letter of the laws under which they had acted. The Republican party, there- fore, claimed that as such action was not con- trary to the laws of Florida and Louisiana itf must stand ; that neither Congress nor any other body had power to go behind the cer- tificate of the electoral vote of a State, prop- erly signed and authenticated by the State officials ; and that when such certificates were presented to the two Houses of Congress, at the counting of the electoral votes of the States, they must be accepted without ques- tion, and the electoral votes of Florida and Louisiana be counted for Hayes. They declared that the States had power to make any laws they might see fit for the counting of their popular vote, and that for Congress to seek to interfere with such laws would be to illegally trespass upon the reserved rights of the States. They held, therefore, that as the action of the Return Boards was within the letter of the laws of their respective States Florida and Louisiana must be counted foi Ha)'es. The Country Agitated. The Democrats, on the other hand, main- tained that the popular majority for Tilden in Florida and Louisiana was too evident to be doubted, being simply overwhelming in the latter State, .-^nd ':hat the Return Boards had overcome these majorities only by a fraudu- lent use of their powers in throwing out Democratic votes to an extent sufficient to give Florida and Louisiana to the Republi- cans. They declared, moreover, that, as the Louisiana Board had refused to appoint a Democratic member to the vacancy in that body, as required by the law under which they acted, their action was necessarily ille- gal. They held that, as both Florida and Louisiana had been wrongfully and fraudu- lently given to the Republicans by the Return ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES • S. GRANT. 837 Boards in defiance of the will of the people r.f those States as expressed at the polls, the electoral votes of both of those States should not be counted by Congress. Such action on the part of Congress would have resulted in a declaration by that body that there had been no popular choice of a President and Vice-President, and the elec- Boards ; and the Republicans announced their decision to insist upon the counting of the votes of those States as certified by the State officials. Each party denounced the other with great bitterness ; the country was deeply agitated, and threats of armed resist- ance were freely indulged in by both parties. The crisis was the most alarming that had THt NEW DEPXKlMt. tion of the President would have devolved upon the House of Representatives, and the choice of the Vice-President upon the Senate, in accordance with the provisions of the Con- stitution. The Democrats, therefore, declared that they would insist upon the rejection of the votes of Florida and Louisiana upon the ground of fraud on the part of the Return threatened the country since the outbreak of the civil war. A feeling of general uneasiness prevailed throughout the Union, which showed itself in the depression of business in all sections. Congress met on the fourth of December, 1876. The House of Representatives was organized by the Democratic majority by the ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. election of Samuel J. Randall, of Pennsyl- vania, as Speaker. Immediately upon the organization of Congress the question of the mannerof counting the electoral votes of the States came up in that bod\-. The Repub- lican majority in the Senate claimed that, by the terms of the Constitution, the Vice-Pre- sident was compelled to open the certificates of the States in the presence of the two Houses of Congress, in joint convention, and declare the result, the two Houses being pre=;('nt mcte'\- as wit'^e-ses of the GEORGE F. EDMUNDS. count by the Vice-President. With this view the Republicans in the lower House agreed. The Democrats in both Houses maintained that while the Constitution required the Vice- President to open the certificates and count the electoral votes, the two Houses of Con- gress were made the judges of the legality of those certificates, and that, in the case of the presentation of two certificates from the same State, the two Houses were the rightful judges of which was the proper one; and that, in the event of a failure of the two Houses to agree in such a decision, the vote of such State must be rejected. In support of this view, they brought for- ward the Twenty-second Joint Rule of Con- gress, adopted February si.Kth, 1865, by a Republican Congress, and under which the counting of the electoral vote in 1865, 1869 and 1873 had been conducted. In January, 1876, the Senate, still Republican, passed a concurrent resolution adopting the joint rules of the previous session of Congress, as the joint rules for that session, " excepting the Twenty-second Joint Rule." The House failed to act upon the resolutions. At the opening of the session in December, 1876, the President of the Senate ruled that there were no joint rules in operation. The Speaker of the House, on the other hand, ruled that the joint rules previously existing, still existed. Angry Speeches and Threats. Thus the issue between the two Houses was distinctly made. The House declared its intention of insisting upon the right secured to it by the Twenty-second Joint Rule of objecting to the vote of a State, and that it would withdraw from the joint convention if this right were denied it by the Senate. The Senate declared that, in case of such with- drawal by the House, the count would be continued by the Senate, and the result pro- claimed by the Vice-President. The House, on tne other hand, announced its intention of acting in such a case if there had been no choice by the electoral vote; it would at once proceed to elect the President as re- quired by the Constitution. Each House was firm in its resolution, and the breach between them widened daily. Angry speeches and threats were made by members of Congress, and the general alarm and uneasiness deepened throughout the country. The time appointed by the Con- stitution for countintr the electoral vote was ADMINISTRATION OP' ULYSSES S. GRANT. 839 rapidly drawing nigh, and it seemed likely that an era of anarchy was about to ensue. Each House would act for itself; two Presi- dents would be declared elected. There was no doubt that President Grant would sustain the choice of the Senate with the army. In such an event civil war was inevi- table. The danger was so great that patriotic men of both parties in Congress set to work to devise some means of settlement. It was plain that this could be accomplished only by a compromise. A conference committee was appointed by each House, which com- mittee, after a long deliberation, reported to the two Houses of Congress a bill providing for the appointment of a commission, to consist of fifteen members. Five of these were to be appointed by the Senate, and five by the House of Representatives. The re- maining five were to be chosen from the Justices of the Supreme Court. Four of the justices were designated by the bill ; the fifth was to be chosen by the justices named in the bill. The Joint Convention. The bill provided for the meethig of the two Houses of Congress in joint convention on the first Thursday in February. The votes were to be opened by the Vice-Presi- dent, and counted by tellers appointed for the purpose. Each House was to have the right to object to the vote of a State, but in cases where only one certificate was pre- sented the objection must be sustained by the affirmative vote of both Houses. If not so sustained, the objection must fall and the vote be counted. Section II. of the bill pro- vided : "That, if more than one return, or paper purporting to be a return from a State, shall have been received by the President of the Senate, purporting to be the certificates of electoral votes given at the last preceding election for President and Vice-President in such State (unless they shall be duplicates of the same return), all such returns and papers shall be opened by him in the pre- sence of the two Houses when met as afore- said, and read by the tellers, and all such returns and papers shall thereupon be submit- ted to the judgment and decision as to which is the true and lawful electoral vote of sucii State," of the commission appointed by the bill. The decision of the commission, with the THOMAS F. BAYARD. reasons therefor, was to be submitted to the two Houses of Congress. Should objection be made by five senators and five representa- tives to the report of the commission, the two Houses were to separate and discuss the said objections, the time allowed for debate being limited by the bill ; but unless both Houses should agree to sustain the objections, the decision of the commission should stand. This plan met with considerable favor from the conservative element of both Houses, but was strongly opposed by the more ultra of both parties. It was debated at length and 84C ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT. with great vigor. It passed the Senate on the twenty-fifth of January, 1S77, by a vote of forty-seven yeas and seventeen nays ; ten senators not voting. The vote in the House was taken the next day, and stood, yeas, one hundred and ninety-one ; nays, eighty-six ; fourteen representatives not voting. The vote in the Senate was divided as follows: Yeas — Republicans, twenty- one; Democrats- forty-six. A^aj'S — Republicans, sixteen; Dem- ocrats, one. In the House it stood : Yeas — Democrats, one hundred and fifty-nine : Republicans, thirty-two. Najs — Democrats, eighteen; Republicans, sixty-eight. The bill was immediately signed by President Grant, who had from the first given it his warm encouragement. Counting the Electoral Vote. The members of the commission were promptly appointed. They were as follows ; Justices Clifford, Strong, Miller, Field and Bradley, of the Supreme Court ; Senators Edmunds, Morton, Frelinghuysen, Thurman and Bayard ; and Representatives Payne, Hunton, Abbott, Garfield and Hoar. The two Houses of Congress met in joint convention on the first of February, 1877, and began the counting of the electoral vote. When the vote of Florida was reached, three certificates were presented and were referred to the Electoral Commission. This body, upon hearing the arguments of the counsel of the Democratic and Republican parties^ decided that it had no power to go behind the action of the Return Board, and that the certificate of that body giving the vote of that State to Hayes, must be accepted by the two Houses of Congress. The vote by which this decision was reached stood eight all Republicans) in favor of it, and seven (all Democrats) against it. The party line appear- ing thus so sharply in the commission mor- tified and disgusted the whole country, which had looked to the commission for a decision that should be beyond question. A similar conclusion was come to in the case of Louisiana. Objections were made to the reception of the votes of Oregon and South Carolina. In the Oregon case the decision was unanimously in favor of counting the votes of the Hayes electors. In the South Carolina case the commission decided that the Democratic electors were not law- fully chosen ; but on the motion to give the State to Hayes, the vote stood eight yeas to seven nays. So South Carolina was counted for Hayes. Objection was made, on the ground of ineligibility, to certain electors from Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin, but the objections were not sustained by the two Houses. The final result was reached at ten minutes after four o'clock on the morning of the second of March, 1877. The counting of the votes of the States having been con- cluded, Mr. Allison, one of the tellers on the part of the Senate, announced the result of the footings ; whereupon the presiding officer of the two Houses declared Rutherford B, Hayes, of Ohio, the duly elected President, and William A. Wheelei, of New York, the duly elected Vice-President, for the term of four years, commencing on the fourth of March, 1877. CHAPTER XLV The Administration of Rutherford B. Hayes. nauguration of President Haj-es— Sketch of the Xew President— Civil Ser\-ice Reform — Troops in South Carolina — Two Legislatures in Session — Investigation by President Hayes— Prompt Action — Settlement of the Troubles in South Carolina and Louisiana — General Grant's Tour Around the World — Enthusiastic Reception by the Crowned Heads of other Nations — Tenth Census of the United States— Election of General Garfield as President — Arctic Expedition of Lieutenant DeLong — Hardy Adventurers Two Winters in the Ice-Pack — Destruction of the "Jeannette " — Relief Expeditions — Death from Starvation. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nineteenth President of the United States, was publicly inaugurated at Washington on Monday, March 5 , 1S77. As the fourth of March fell on Sun- day, the President-elect simply took the oath of ofiFice on that day. The inaugural cere- monies were carried out on the fifth at the Capitol with the usual pomp and parade, and in the presence of an enormous multitude of citizens and visiting military organizations from all parts of the country. After the cus- tomary reception by the Senate, the new President was escorted Ij the eastern portico of the Capitol, where he delivered his inaug- ural address to the assembled multitude, after which the oath of office was publicly admin- istered to him by Chief Justice Waite. The new President was a native of Ohio, having been born at Delaware, in that State, on the fourth of October, 1822. He graduated at Kenyon College, Gambler, Ohio, and obtained his professional education at the Cambridge Law School. He began the prac- tice of the law at Cincinnati in 1856. He was shortly afterwards made City Solicitor, which office he held until the beginning of the civil war in 1861. Soon after the opening of the war he enlisted in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteers, with which regiment he served as major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel. He led his regiment, which formed a part; of General Reno's division, at the battle of South Mountain, in September, 1862, and was severely wounded in the arm in that engagement. In the fall of 1862 he was made colonel of the regiment, and in 1 864 was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers " for gallant and meritorious services in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek," and was brevetted major-general " for gallant and distinguished services during the campaigns _f 1864 in West Virginia, and par- ticularly in the battles of Fisher's Hill and Cedar Cre'k." At the time of this last pro- motion he was in command of a division. He served until the close of the war, receiv- ing four wounds and having five horses shot under him during his military career. In the fall of 1864 he was elected to Congress, and was returned a second time in 1 866. In 1 867, before the expiration of his Congressional term, he was elected Governor of Ohio, and was re-elected to that office in 1869, being each time the candidate of the Republican party. In 1870 General Hayes was again elected to Congress, and in 1874 was nomi- nated for a third term as Governor of Ohio. His opponent was Governor William Allen, one of the most popular of the Democratic leaders of Ohio. General Hayes was elected by a handsome majority. He resigned this office in March, 1877, to enter upon his 841 842 ADMINISTRATKJX OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. new duties as President of tlie United States, President Hayes, in his letter accepting the nomination of his party for the dency, declared that if elected he Presi- would ^^-;= earnestly and faithfully seek to do justice to the States of the South, and reform the civil service of the country by ridding it of cor- rupt men, and requiring a faithful discharge of duty at the hands of every public officer. Immediately upon his inauguration he set to work to make good his promises. He selected his Cabinet from among the ablest men in the country, making ability, and not — - ___^^^ partisan service, the ust of the fitness of ; the persons selected. William RI. Evarts, of New York, was made Secretary of State, and the existence of the NA, Southern States as ^ft members of the Union y ^. was recognized by the ■ ' appointment, as Post- master-General, of Mr. Key, of Tennessee, who had sustained the Democratic ticket in the canvass of 1876. Except to the extreme partisans who had done the country so much harm under the last administration, the appointments of the new President gave great satisfaction to the entire nation. Measures were promptly set on foot for the inauguration (}fa better civil service s\-stem. The most im- ortant matter which resented itself to the new President for set- tlement was the con- dition of the States of Louisiana and South Carolina. In the fall of 1876 an election for Governor and other State officers was held in each of these States. The result at the polls appeared to be in favor of the Democratic or Conservative ADMINISTRATION OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. candidates. In each State tlie revision of the vote was controlled by Republicans, some of whom were candidates for re-elec- tion. The Returning Boards announced the triumph of the Republican tickets in Louis- jiana and South Carolina. ' In South Carolina the Conservatives re- solved to inaugurate General Wade Hamp- ton, their candidate, as Governor. The Governor of the State was Mr. Daniel H. Chamberlain, who had been the Republican candidate for re-election. Upon learning the intention of the De- mocrats to inaugurate their Gov- ernor, Mr. Chamberlain applied to President Grant for military aid. His application to President Grant was promptly responded to, and General Ruger, commanding the Department of the South, was or- dered to place the troops stationed in Columbia at Governor Chamber- lain's disposal. Having secured the aid of the troops, Governor Cham- berlain now proceeded to take the first step in his plan. On the night of the twenty-seventh of November the State House was occupied by a detachment of troops, which was posted so as to command all the apprcaches to the halls of the Legislature. The twenty-eighth of November, I S76,was the day appointed for the meeting of the Legislature. The Democratic members met in caucus at ten o'clock in the morning, and proceeded in a body to the State House. Arriving there, they found the building occu- pied by the troops, and were compelled to submit their credentials to the officers of the guard, who admitted such as had papers which he pronounced satisfactory. Passing through the troops the members of the Legis- lature reacl:ed the door c f the hall of the Lower House, which they found guarded also by troops. The doorkeeper, backed by the military force, refused to admit certain of the delegates whose credentials he declared were null and void. The entire body of Demo cratic members then withdrew, after protest ing against the interference of the military Under the protection of the troops the Republicans organized the Legislature. The irtterference of the troops aroused the most intense excitement in Columbia, and it WILLIAM A. WHEELER. was with difficulty that an outbreak was pre- vented, mainly through the influence of General Hampton. The Democrats, on the twenty-ninth of November, succeeded in gaining admission to the State House, where they organized the House of Representatives. After a struggle of a week with the Repub- licans, they withdrew to South Carolina Hall, and conducted the sessions of the Legisla- ture there, gaining members by degrees from Chamberlain's Leirislaturc atthe State House. i544 ADMINISTRATION' OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. The Republican Legislature declared the election of Governor Chamberlain, and on the seventh of December he was sworn into office, under the protection of the Federal troops. The Conservative Legislature continued its sessions at South Carolina Hall, and on the fourteenth of December Governor Hampton tion of the taxes to enable him to ~.a.rry on. the government were cordially and promptly- responded to. The authority o*" Governor Chamberlain was not recognized beyond the h.-nits of the State House in which the Federal troops were quartered ; the people refused to pay their taxes to his government, and his frovernori^hio \va'= a mere name. In was publicly inaugurated amid the greatest enthusiasm. He at once set to work, with his associates, to administer the government of the State. He was recognized by the vast majority offthe people of South Carolina, by many eveni wjlw had voted against him. His authority watv everywhere respected ; and his calls upoj): the people to advance a por- view of this state of affairs President Grant was repeatedly urged to withdraw the troops from the State buildings to their barracks, but persistently refused to do so. Such was the state of affairs in South Car- olina at the inauguration of President Hayes. The new President, with characteristic cau- tion, proceeded to investigate the mattei. ADMINISTRATION OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. After a patient and thorough inquiry he found that the Federal troops were quartered in the State House of South Carolina in an unlawful manner ; that the Constitution gave to the Federal government no authority to interfere in the domestic concerns of a State, leaving the decision of disputed elections to the State courts for settlement ; and that no such state of lawlessness or insurrection as would justify Federal interference existed in South Carolina. In view ofthe.se facts, his duty in the case was plain. It was to restore the proper rela- tions between the Federal government and the State of South Carolina, and to put an end to the unlawful and unjustifiable interfer- ence with the affairs of that State. The mat- ter was laid before the Cabinet, and on the second of April, 1877, it was resolved to order the troops to withdraw from the State House to their barracks at Columbia. The order was at once issued, and was carried into effect on the sixth of April. The troops were withdrawn, and South Carolina was left ;to settle her own affairs. This step was fol- lowed by the speedy withdrawal of Governor Chamberlain from the contest. The Hamp- ton government was soon installed in the State House, and its authority was firmly- established in all parts of the State, to the great joy of its people. The Trouble in Louisiana. The State buildings of Louisiana had been held by the Federal troops ever since the expulsion of the members of the Legislature by General De Trobriand, in 1873. At the election, in 1876, Mr. Stephen B. Packard was the Republican candidate for Governor, and Mr. H. T. Nicholis was the candidate of the Democratic party for the same office. The Republicans claimed that there was intimidation of Republican voters through- out the State, and the Returnin Congress from Ohio, in 1862, he had entered the House of Representatives in December, 1863, and had seen almost eighteen years of constant service in that body, in which he had long ranked as one of the most brilliant and trusted leaders of the Republican party. / Early in 1880 he had been chosen a United States Senator from Ohio, but had been prevented from taking his seat in the Senate by his electior. to the Presidencj'. Imme- diately after his inauguration he sent to t)ie Senate for confirmation the names of the 84Q 8so ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. members of his Cabinet. Tliey were cliosen from among the leading members of the conservative portion of the Republican party, and were headed by James G. Blaine, of Maine, as Secretary of State. They were at once confirmed by the Senate, and the new administration embarked upon its short-lived career. Very soon after enter/ng upon his duties. President Garfield found that the Executive JAMES A. GARFIELD. chair was by no means a bed of roses. The Republican party soon divided into two sec- tions, one, known as the " Conservative," supporting the administration, and the other, known as the " Stalwarts," opposing it. A bitter partisan quarrel sprang up between these two wings of the ])arty, and prolonged the Executive session of the Senate until late in June. The quarrel was the fiercest over the appointment of a new collector for the port of New York, and culminated in the resignation of their seats in the Senate by Senators Conkling and Piatt of New York, on the sixteenth of May. The resignation of these gentlemen was based upon the ground that the President had nominated Judge Robertson to be col- lector of the port of New York, without con- sulting or yielding to the wishes of the senators from that State, the said senators in effect claiming the right to determine what appointments should or should not be made by the President in their State. The President, on his part, insisted upon his right to nominate to office any man whom he should deem worthy of the trust. The struggle was in reality a contest for the independence of the Executive in the matter of public appointments, and President Garfield was warmly supported by the great mass of the nation without regard to party. He, therefore, pursued with unshaken firm- ness the policy he had determined upon. After the resignation of Sen- ators Conkling and Piatt, the nomina- tion of Judge Robertson was con- firmed by the Senate. As the time wore on, President Garfield gained steadily in the esteem of his countrymen. His purpose to give to the nation a fair and just administration of the government was every day more apparent, and his high and noble qualities became more conspicu- ous. Men began to feel that the Exec- utive chair was occupied by a President capable of conceiving a pure and noble stand- ard of duty, and possessed of the firmness and strength of will necessary to carry it into execution. The country was prosperous, and there was every reason to expect a con- tinuance of the general happiness. ADMIXISTRATIOX OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. Soon after the opening of President Gar- field's administration, the Postmaster-General discovered that certain contracts for carr\-ing the mails on what are known as " The Star Routes," were fraudulent, and that the per- sons interested in them were defrauding the government of large sums of money. The President, Postmaster-General and At- torney-General, sustained by the other members of the Cabinet, without exception, thereupon re- solved to bring the guilty parties to justice. The latter being men of wealth and position, bitterh- resented the course of the government, and violently denounced it. Never- theless the President caused mea- sures looking to the punishment of the accused parties to be begun, and only the unexpected adjournment of the grand jur>^ and court prevented a formal indictment from being brought against them. Before other mea- sures could be taken, the atti. r. tion of the entire nation \\.i occBpied by an event of gra\ ci importance. While these matters were still in progress. President ' Garfield began preparations for a brief pleasure trip to Long Branch, A'here Mrs. Garfield was recover- ^"'^i.f ing from a severe illness; in- tending from that point to visit New England, and be present at the com- mencement exercises of his alma mater, Williams' College, in Massachusetts. He was to be accompanied by a distinguished party, including several members of the Cabinet. On the morning of the second of July, the party proceeded to the Baltimore and Potomac depot, where they were to take the cars, in advance of the President, who arrived soon after in company with Secretary Blaine, who came simply to see him off and say good-bye. They left the President's car- riage together, and sauntered arm-in-arm through the depot towards the cars. In passing through the ladies' waiting- room, the President was fn-ed at twice by a man named Charles J. Guiteau. The nrst shot inflicted a slight wound in the President's right arm, and the second a terrible wound in the right side of his back, between the hip and the kidney. The President fell heavily to the floor, and the assassin was secured as he was seeking to make his escape from the building and was conveyed to a. ijoiice 852 ADMINISTRATION OF station, from which he was subsequently taken to prison. The President lay helpless upon the floor of the waiting-room, the blood flowing copiously from both his wounds. As soon as JAMES G. BLAINE. those near him recovered from the dismay ' into which the tragedy had thrown them, he was placed upon a mnttrass, physicians were summoned and he was conveyed to an upper room in the depot. He bore his sufferings JAMES A. GARFIELD. with great firmness, and from the first dis- played a cool courage that won the warm admiration of the country. The surgeons summoned were soon at hand, and found that the President's injuries were very critical. It was decided to remove him to the Executive Man- sion, and he was carried down the stairs, placed in an army ambulance and driven rapid- ly to the White House. Arriving there he was con- veyed to his wife's chamber, overlook- ing the Potomac, and placed in bed. Two attempts were made by the sur- geons to find the ball — one at the depot, and one at the White House after his arrival there — but both were unsuccessful. Grave fears were entertained by the surgeons for the President's life, and Mrs. Garfield was summoned by tele- graph from Long Branch. She ar- ~ rived during the evening. The news of the attempt upon the Presi- dent's life spread rapidly throughout the Union, and was everywhere received with horror and indignation. During the after- noon his condition became more alarming. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. 853 and bulletins were issued by the surgeons in charge at frequent intervals, giving the latest news of the state of the illustrious sufferer. These were telegraphed to all parts of the countrj', and were watched with eager impatience by vast crowds of citizens wherever they were posted. The sympathy of the whole nation went out warmly towards the wounded President and his afflicted family, and from the t^overnnients and nations of fulness that astonished his attendants, and encouraged them to hope for a favorable result. The afternoon of the second of July wore anxiously away, no signs of a reaction being manifested, but after the arrival of Mrs. Gar- field, in the evening, the President began to rally slightly. The night was passed in anxious suspense. On the morning of the third, the Pre'^ident wa« calm and cheerful. Europe messages of inquiry and sympathy were constantly received through the Atlantic cable. During the entire period of the Presi- dent's illness the official bulletins were issued three times each day, and the nation was thus kept informed of his condition. The best medical and surgical skill of the country was employed in the effort to save the President's life, and throughout the whole period of his illness he never lost his calm courage, but displayed a firmness and cheer- THE ASSASSIN.^TION OF J.4MES A. GARFIELD. though he fully realized the gravity ot his situation. He told Dr. Bliss, the surgeon in charge of his case, that he wished to know exactly what his chances for life were ; that while he desired to live, he was prepared to die, and did not fear to learn the worst. Dr. Bliss replied that though his injuries were formidable, he had, in his judgment, a chance for his life. " Well, Doctor," ex- claimed the sufferer, with a cheerful smile, " we'll take that chance." 854 ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. The day passed away without any event of importance, and the anxious nation, as well as the President's attendants, drew some hope from the fact he continued " to hold his own." The popular anxiety and sympathy were strikingly manifested on the Fourth of July, the anniversary of the National Independ- ence, in the listless and careless manner in I was kept all the while in a mosl painful suspense. The surgeons in charge, however, 1 recognized the true character of the wound I from the first, and while they hoped for a I recover)-, could not conceal from themselves the fact that such a result would be almost I miraculous. 111. lit^i.lrnt's sufferings were very great DEATH-BED OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. which the day was celebrated. The people [ were too much engrossed with their anxiety to take part in any demonstration of joy. The two months following the wounding I of President Garfield dragged wearily awa\-, the patient at times showing symptoms of ' marked improvement, and at others e.xpe- j riencing dangerous relapses. The nation alternated between hope and despair, and I during this period, and were increased by the intense heat of the season and the unhealthy suroundings of the White House. Yet he bore them all with unshaken firmness and unalterable cheerfulness. Dr. Bliss, his chief surgeon, writes of him during this period : — " The time which passed until the twenty-third of July, when the first rigoi occurred, was chieflv remarkable for tht ADMINISTRATION OF JAMKS A. GARFIKLD. 855 quiet, cool determination of the sufferer. Quite ready for, and evidently expecting the worst, his demeanor \'. :i whose great intellect a wonderful will enabk him to give the nio^t intelligent aid to the physician. Appari.nth indifferent as to res ult s > far as it should affect hnn alone, he still watched every symptom, even making inquiry aftCi each examination as tc the temperature, puUc and respiration, aiK every measure of relief adopted, with evidentl) firm determination to live for others if pos- sible."' Towards the last of August, the surgeons m attendance upon the President resolved to remove him from the White House to a more healthful locality. The removal was a risk, but not so great a risk as to permit him to remam m the malarious atmos- phere which surrounded the Executive Man'.ion, and which was rapidly destroying the little strength left him. It w as decided to convey him to Long Branch, in the hope that the pure and bracing air of the sea would enable him to regain some of his lost vitality. Accordingly, on the sixth of September. the President, accompanied by his fiimily, his surgeons and attendants, was conveyed THE CATAFALQUE AT CLEVELAND, OHIO. for the purpose. The journey was made quickly and successfully, and after reaching Long Branch the President seemed to lly. ADMINISTRATION OF JAMES A. GARFIELD. For the first few days after his arri\al at the seashore, his symptoms were so much better that renewed hope sprang up in the hearts of his countrj'men. It was only for a brief period, however. On the sixteenth of Sep- tember there was a marked change for the worse, with unmistakable evidences of in- creasinfT weakness in mind and bodv. On passed away appeared more comfortable, and his attendants were hopeful of a quiet night for him. Towards nine o'clock in the evening he fell into a quiet sleep, from which he awak- ened, shortly after ten o'clock, in great pain. General Swaim, who was watching by him, alarmed by the President's symptoms, hastily THE ROTUNDA OF THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON. the seventeenth the President sank still lower, and in the forenoon was seized with a severe rigor. On the evening of the eighteenth another alarming rigor occurred, followed by other grave symptoms. From this time the President continued to grow worse. On the morning of the nineteenth he was attacked •with another severe rigor, but after that had summoned the family and the surgeons. The President was unconscious when they arrived, and continued to sink rapidly. Efforts were made to revive him with stimulants, but in vain, and at thirty-five minutes after ten o'clock, the brave struggle was brought to an end, and the soul of James A. Garfield passed into eternity. ADMINISTRATION OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. ?57 The sad news of the death of President Garfield was at once telegraphed to New York, and by eleven o'clock the whole coun- try was aware that its Chief Magistrate was dead. Bells were tolled in every city, town and village of the Union, and everywhere citizens draped their houses in mourning. Such a display of national sorrow had never been witnessed before. The news of the death of Presi- dent Garfield was at once trans- mitted by telegraph to Vice-Presi- dent Arthur by the members of the Cabinet present at Long Branch, and he was advised by them to take the oath of office as President with- out delay. Accordingly, Justices Brady and Donahoe of the Supreme Court of New York were at once .summoned by the Vice-President, and at a little after two o'clock on the morning of the twentieth of September, he took the oath of office as President of the United -States before them at his private residence in New York. On the twentieth of September, arrangements were made for remov- ing the body of the late President to Washington City, and on the same day an autopsy was held upon the body by the surgeons who had been in attendance upon the President, assisted by several others. The autopsy revealed the fact that the wound had been fatal from the first. On the morning of the twenty-first, funeral ceremonies were held in the cottage at Long Branch in which the President died, and at ten o'clock the remains were placed on board of a special train, and conveyed to Washington, and accompanied by the fair.ily and friends of the dead President, and by President Arthur and a number of distin- guished personages. Washington was reached at 4.35 in the afternoon, and the body was escorted by a detachment of mil- itary- and Knights Templar to the Capitol, where it was laid in state until the twent>-- third. During the twenty-second and twenty- third it was visited by over one hundred thousand persons. On the afternoon of the twenty-third, the public funeral services were held in the rotunda of the Capitol, after which the body was escorted to the Baltimore and Potomac depot, and conveyed to Cleveland, Ohio, by a special train. Cleveland was reached the ne.xt day, and the remains were laid in state in a structure especially prepared for them, until the morning of the twenty- sixth, when they were buried with the most imposing ceremonies in Lake View Cemetery 658 ADMINISTRATION OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. in the suburbs of that city. Business was suspended and memorial services were held during the day in all parts of the United States. On the twent)--second of September, Pres- ident Arthur again took the oath of office, this time at the hands of the Chief-Justice of the United States, and was quietly inaugura- ted in the Vice-President's room, in the Cap- itol, delivering upon this occasion, a brief inaugural address. Soon after the attempt upon the life of President Garfield, a popular subscription was set on foot to provide a fund for the support JOHN A. IOi.\N. of his family in the event of his death. The movement was successful, and over ^330,000 were raised, and invested in United States bonds for the benefit of the widow and chil- dren of the " Martyred President." President Arthur entered quietly upon the duties of his administration, and his first acts were satisfactory to a majority of his country- men. As he had been the leader of " the Stalwart," section of the Republican party, it was felt by the members of the Cabinet of the late President that he should be free to choose his own advisers. Therefore, imme- diately upon his accession to the Executive chair, Mr. Blaine and his colleagues ten- dered him their resignations. They were requested, however, by the new President to retain their offices until he could find suitable successors to them. To this they agreed, but before the year was out several import- ant changes had been made in the Cabinet. The principal of these were the substitution of Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jer- sey, for Mr. Blaine, as Secretary of State, and the appointment of Judge Charles J. Folger to the Treasury Department. Indictment of Garfield's Assassin. One of the first acts of the new adminis- tration was to cause the indictment of Charles J. Guiteau for the murder of President Gar- field. The grand jury of the District of Columbia met on the third of October, 1 88 1 , and promptly found a true bill against Guiteau, who was arraigned in the Criminal Court of the District on the fourteenth of October. After some delay the trial of the assassin began on the fourteenth of Novem- ber. The first three days were consumed in selecting a jury, and then the trial began in earnest. It ended on the twenty-fifth of January, 1882, in the conviction of Guiteau for the murder of the late President. The prisoner was defended by able counsel, and was allowed many privileges never before granted to persons on trial for so grave an offence. The plea upon which the defence was based was insanity, but the evidence entirely destroyed this assumption, and the verdict of the jury was received throughout the country as just and proper. An effort was made by Guiteau's counsel to obtain a new trial for him, but this was denied by the court, and on the fourth of February Guiteau was sen- tenced to be hanged on the thirtieth of June, 1882. The counsel for the prisoner still continued his efforts to secure a new trial. ADMINISTRATION OF CHESTER A. ARTHUR. but these being unsuccessful in each and every instance, his only resource was an appeal to the clemency of the Executive. The President decHned, however, to interfere with the sentence. Execution of Guiteau. During the interval between his sentence and his execution, Guiteau was confined in the jail of the District of Columbia, at Wash- ington. His conduct during this interval was in keeping with that which had marked his trial — vain, egotistical, and blasphemous. To the last the prisoner was confident that President Arthur would interfere in his behalf, but the result proved this to be a vain hope. The execution took place in the District jail on the thirtieth of June, 1S82, and was witnessed by about two hundred people, nearly all representatives of the press. Guiteau displayed more firmness than had been expected of him. He walked to the gallows without making the violent scene which had been anticipated by many, and ascended it with a firm step. Upon the scaffold, how- ever, he displayed considerable emotion, which he quickly subdued. His religious adviser, Rev. Dr. Hicks, offered a short prayer, and Guiteau read a selection from the Holy Scriptures. Then he read a prayer, strangely at vari- ance with his religious professions, in which he called down the curse of the Almighty upon all who had been engaged in his trial and execution, and upon the nation at large, and denounced President Arthur as a coward and an ingrate. Finally he chanted a poem which he had written during the morning. At the close of this singular recital the trap fell.precisely at forty-three minutes past twelve o'clock, and the great crime against the American people was avenged. Guiteau's neck was broken bv the fall, and his death 859 rele. was painless. He died without a struf^_ and with scarce a tremor. At the opening of Congress in 1S83, John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky, was chosen speaker of the House. In 1 88 1 an attempt was made to establish a signal station at a point north of the eight\-- first parallel, and Lieutenant A. \V. Greeley, of the United States Navy, was selected as the officer to take charge of the e.xpedition. He received his instructions from the chitf JOHN G. CARLISLE. signal officer, General Hazen. The steamer " Proteus," which was to convey the party to its destination sailed from St. John's, New- foundland, on the seventhof July, and imme diatcly encountered rough weather. The adventurers pressed forward and, notwithstanding almost insurmountable ob- stacles succeeded in reaching a point beyond the eighty-first parallel, where they estab- lished a post and named it Fort Conger. After landing the party the " Proteus" had return ctl. ADMINISTRATION OF CHESTER A ARTHUR. 860 As is usual with all polar expeditions anxiety began to be felt for the safety of the party, and attempts were made in 1882 and 1883 to send relief. The colonists were not found, and at length, on account of their provisions being exhausted, they were reduced to terrible straits. The e.xpedition of Greeley is especially memorable for having reached the highest the northern sky; the Arctic moon wore a strange appearance; the air was sharp with penetrating frost ; and the long night of the Arctic winter was attended with a loneliness impossible to describe. The brave company at length retreated from their post. Few pages in the history of polar exploration record such terrible hardships and sufferings as fell to the lot of < feet. The height of the towers is 276^ feet. Tht height of the floor of the bridge at the cen- tre, above high water mark is 135 feet. The height of the floor of the bridge at the piers is 1 1 8 feet. .E l.\ IHK AKC'llL REGIONS— AMONG THE ICEBERGS. ADMINISTRATION- OF The caisson for the New York pier was sunk y& feet, and that for the Brooklyn pier 45^ feet below the bed of the river. Eacli cable is 15^ inches in diameter and is made up of 5,000 wires, each 'a inch in diam- CHESTER A. ARTHUR. S63 In the campaign of 18S4, James G. Blaine, of Maine, and John A. Logan, of Illinois, were the nominees of the Republican party for the offices of President and Vice-Pres ident. Grover Cleveland, of New York, and THE BKnoKLYN SUSPENSION BRIDGE. °ter. The anchorages are 930 feet from the towers and weigh 120,000,000 pounds each. The cables are capable of su.staining 49,200 tons. The weight of the central span is 6,742 ton.s. Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana, were the nominees of the Democratic party. The campaign resulted in the election of Cleve- land and Hendricks, the vote in the Elec- toral College being 219 to 182. CHAPTER XLVII The Administration of Grover Cleveland. Mr. Qeveland's Early Life— Governor of New York — Elected Tresident — Inauguration Ceremonies — Civil Service and Revenue Reform— The New Cabinet — Death of General Grant — Imposing Obsequies — Honors to the Illustrious Dead Death of General George B. McClellan — Free Trade Conference at Chicago— Death of Vice-President Thomas B. Hendricks — Pension Granted to the Widow of President Grant — President Cleveland's Message— Bill Regulating the Presidential Succession— Labor Agitations— Riot at Chicago Instigated by " Anarchists "—Statue of Liberty En- lightening the World — President Cleveland's Marriage — Soldiers' Pensions — Capital and Labor — Centennial Anni- versary of the Adoption of the Constitution — Nomination of President Cleveland — Nomination of Benjamin Harrison — Harrison's Election. THE twenty-second President of the United States was Hon. Grover Cleveland. Mr. Cleveland was a native of New Jersey, and was born in Caldwell, Essex County, March i8, 1837. He came from sturdy New England stock, many of his ancestors having held honor- able positions in their respective localties. President Cleveland, after teaching two or three years, studied law in Buffalo, was admitted to the bar, became sheriff of the county, mayor of the city, and, having received the nomination for governor of New York, was elected by a large majority. This was followed by his nomination in the Democratic Convention of 1884, and his election in the following November to the Presidency. Naturally the departure of the Republican administration and the return of the Denio- cratic party to power after twenty-four years of exile from the highest seats in the coun- cils of the Republic awakened a profound interest. As the fourth of March, 1885, approached, eyes were turned toward Wash- ington, and multitudes went up to the Capital as to a Mecca. Washington itself, accus- tomed to civic displays, exciting events and magnificent parades, was more than usually awakened, and an interest was exhibited in 864 the inauguration which overshadowed all other concerns. The representatives of the press throughout the country were there in full force to record the event and depict the scene in its imposing aspects. The ceremonies incident upon the inaugu- ration presented a pageant exceeding in civic and military display any such preceding occasion in the history of the government. There were in attendance more than one hundred thousand visitors, and the city in its profuse decorations was a bewildering maze of bright colors. Among the significant allegorical designs was a great floral ladder reaching to the roof of a business house on Pennsylvania Avenue, which bore upon its rungs the words, "Sheriff," "Mayor," "Gov- ernor," " President," thus graphically .sym- bolizing the life-work of the President elect. The inaugural of President Cleveland began as follows: "In the presence of this vast assemblage of my countrymen I am about to supplement and seal by the oath which I shall take the manifestation of the will of a great and free people. In the exercise of their power and right of self-government they have committed to one of their fellow-citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here consecrates himsel/ to their service. ADMINISTRATIOX OF GROVKR CLEVELAND. 865 " This impressive ceremony adds little to the solemn sense of responsibility with which I contemplate the duty I owe to all the people of the land. Nothing can relieve me from anxiety lest by any act of mine their in- terests may suffer, and nothing is needed to purpose by which he would be -uided in the administrationof the affairs of the government: " In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be guided by a just and unstrained construction of the ConstitLition, a careful observance of the distinction betweea strengthen my resolution to engage everj- facult>' and effort in the promotion of their welfare." Having stated his sense of the importance and sacredness of the trust confided in him, President Cleveland gave expression to the the powers granted to the Federal govern- ment and those reserved to the States or to the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those functions which, by the Constitution and laws, have been especially assigned to the executive branch of the government." 866 ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND. ■ Upon the question of civil service reform President Cleveland expressed himself in accordance with the sentiments enunciated in the platform of his party, adopted at the con- vention of 1884: " The people demand reform in the administration of the government and the influence of those who promise and the vicious methods of those who expect such rewards. And those who worthily seek public employment have the right to insist that merit and competency shall be recog- nized instead of party subserviency, or the surrender of honest political belief." CHIEI--JUSTICE \\.\n ADMI.NISTEKING THE OATH OF OFFICE TO PRESIDENT CLEVELAND. application of business principles to public affairs. As a means to this end civil service reform should be in good faith enforced. Our citizens have the right to protection from the incompetency of public employees who hold their places soleh' as the reward of partisan service, and from the corrupting Revenue reform was another topic referred to in President Cleveland's inaugural address. Thus early in his administration he presented a matter which was very fully discussed in his subsequent messages to Congress, and, , became the subject of contention between the j two great parties. ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND. "A due regard," he says, " for the interests and prosperity of all the people demand that our finances shall be established upon such a sound and sensible basis as shall secure the safety and confidence ofbusiness interests and make the wage of labor sure and steady, and that our system ofrevenue shall be so adjusted as to relieve the people from unnecessary taxation, having a due regard to the interests S67 Interior; Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas, Attorney-General ; William Crowninshield Endicott, of Massachusetts, Secretary of War; William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin, Post- master-General ; William Collins Whitney, of New York, Secretary of the Navy. On the fourth of March, the day of Presi-, dent Cleveland's inauguration, ex-President Grant was placed on the retired list of the of capital invested and workingmea employed in American industries, and preventing the accumulation of a surplus in the treasury to tempt extravagance and waste." The new cabinet was composed as follows : Thomas Francis Bayard, of Delaware, Secre- tary of State ; Daniel Manning, of New York, Secretary of the Treasury ; Lucius Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi, Secretary of the army. For some months pre\-ious to this there were ominous rumors respecting the state of his health. The great general who had led the Federal forces in the last part of the civil war, and who had gained a military reputation second to that of no commander of modern times ; who had also been lifted to the highest position in the gift of a grate- ful people, and had served eight years in the 868 ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVKLAND. White House as our chief executive, was reported to be in his last illness. The sympathy of the entire country was profoundly stirred by this announcement. Medical skill of the highest order was sum- moned ; daily bulletins of the condition of the illustrious patient were issued ; hope was expressed that his life might be spared for many years, a hope which soon proved to be unfounded; and although his labors in the preparation of his " Memoirs " continued, it became evident that he was sustained more by will-power than by any increasing L THE COTTAGE IN WHICH GRANT DIED AT MT. McGREGOR. strength, and that very .s,oon he would be I lur glory, compelled to lay down his pen as he had already laid down his sword. In the summer of 1885 he was removed to Mount McGregor, in the northern part of the State of New York, in the hope that he would be invigorated by the mountain air. Disease, however, had progressed so far that his death became inevitable, and this occurred on the twenty-third of July, at 8 o'clock A. M. Demonstrations of sorrow attended his obsequies. A special train bore his remains from Mount McGregor to the city of New York, where the funeral services and the interment were to take place. On the sixth of August he was laid in state in the City Hall, and vast crowds of people came to take their last look. On August eighth the funeral took place, which was an extraordi- nary pageantry. It was attended by celeb- rities from all parts of the land. All that statesmen, members of Congress, Governors of States, Judges of Supreme Courts and per- sons in the highest walks of professional and mercantile life could do to give honor to the illustrious dead was rendered on this ocasion. The Grand Army, of which General Grant had been the leader, was fully represented. A procession num- ring from fifty to si.xty thou- sand men followed the hearse from the City Hall to the mau- soleum erected on the banks of the Hudson, which was to con- tarn the remains of the illustrious, dead The closing scenes of the life of General Grant were as im- pressive as his previous illness had been painful,, and fitted to iwaken public sympathy. Thus was laid in the tomb another of the renowned sons of the Re- public who had done much to add to her fame and brighten It was not long after this that another death occurred which added to the affliction caused by that of ex-President Grant. On the 29th of October General George B. McClellan died at his residence at Orange Mountain, N. J. General McClellan 's name comes out conspicuously in the history of our country since i860. In the early part of the war he was commander of the Army of the Potomac. Having been displaced, the part that he occupied in the war was not afterward prominent. He was widely known, however, in political life, antl was invested ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND. %vith several offices, one of which was the governorship of New Jersey. His funeral took place in the city of New York on the second of November. The public agitation of the question of free trade and revenue reform took definite shape in the latter part of this year. At Chicai BIRDi-EVi: VIEW I ships of the navy, steamboats, and a large numberof vessels belonging to the merchant marine. On the thirtieth, religious and liter- ary exercises were held, and these were fol- lowed by a fine military parade, comprising regiments from the regular army and militia from a number of States. On a stand erected at Madison Square, President Harrison and several cabinet officers reviewed the parade. ■ NEv,' vu, ' \ugu-,t 8, 1890, and was occasioned by a decision of the United States Supreme Court (three judges dissenting) that brewers in Illinois had the right to import into Iowa beer, and to sell it in original packages without regard to the law of Iowa. Congress took up the matter promptly and provided ample legislation for the enforcement by the various States of their laws relating to the traffic in liquors. On the twenty fifth of April, 1890, Con- gress passed an act relating to the Colum- bian Exposition at Chicago. The act' provides for an exhibition of arts, indus- tries, manufactures, products of the soil, mine ADMINISTRATION OF BENJAMIN HARRISOX. S86 and sea, in 1S93, in Chicago, Illinois, in cele- bration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. A commission of two persons from each State and Territory to be appointed by the President on the nomination of the Governors, and of eight commissioners at large and two from the District of Columbia, to be appointed by the President, in all which there shall be one from each of the two lead- ing political parties — with alternates — shall be the World's Columbian Commission, with t il \KLL-, 1 CKl:^l> power to accept the site, etc., on condition of their being satisfied that $10,000,000 are secured for the complete preparation for said Exposition. The Commission is required to appoint a board of lady managers, who may appoint one or more members of all com- mittees authorized to award prizes for exhibits which may be produced in whole or in part by female labor. A naval review is directed to be held in New York harbor in April. 1S93, and the President is authorized to extend to foreign nations an invitation to send ships of war to join the United States navy in rendevous at Hampton Roads and proceed tbence to said review. The buildings shall be dedicated October 12, 1892, and the Exposition open not later than May I, 1893, and closed not later than October 30, 1893. The Commis- sion shall exist no longer than Januar)' i, 1898. A government building for $400,000 shall be erected, to contain the go\-ernment exhibits. The United States shall not in any manner, ;ior under any circumstances, be liable for any of the acts, doings, proceedings or repre- sentations of the said corporation organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, its officers, agents, ser\'ants or employees, or any of them, or for the service, salaries, labor or wages of said officers, agents, servants, or employees, or any of them, or for any sub- scriptions to the capital stock, or for any cer- tificates of stock, bonds, mortgages, or obli- gations of any kind issued by said corpora- tion, or for any debts, liabilities or expenses of any kind whatever attending such cor- poration or accruing by reason of the same. The foregoing were the main provisions of the act. On December 24, 1890, Presi- dent Harrison issued a proclamation inviting the nations of the earth to take part in the Chicago Exposition of 1893. The Nev^' Tariff Law. One of the most important measures en- acted during President Harrison's admin- istration was the McKinley Tariff Bill. After a lengthy discussion the bill was passed by a party vote, the Republican party being pledged to the principle of protection. The act went into effect October I, 1890, and in its practical workings was closely wa'ched and universally discussed. A remarkable political revolution swept over the country in the autumn of 1890, ADMINISTRATION OF BENJAMIN HARRISON. 887 which was considered largely due to the enactment of the McKinley Tariff Bill. In the Fifty-first Congress the House of Represen- tatives contained one hundred and seventy-six Republicans and one hundred and fifty-five Democrats. In the Fifty- second Congress there were eighty-eight Re- publicans and two hun- dred and thirty-five De- mocrats. The House was organized by elect- ing Charles F. Crisp, of Georgia, as Speaker. In the autumn of 1 890 troubles broke out afresh at the Indian agencies. The several tribes were seized with a peculiar craze, and began to per- form the " ghost dance," which was supposed to indicate their belief in a coming Messiah who was about to appear. It seems impossible to trace the exact origin of the Indian faith. An Indian from the upper Columbia River, named Smohalla, preached the doctrine of an Indian Messiah about the year 1880. This Indian taught that there would be an upheaval of nature, which would destroy the white man and restore to the Indian his ancestral re- mains, and that the dust of countless dead In- dians would spring to life, and would surround without one word of warning each pale face, iho would be swept from the face of the SiniNG BULL IN HIS WAR-DRESS. earth. None of the deadly weapons of civilization or skill in their use would avail. 888 ADMINISTRATION OF and the blood of eighty millions of whites would atone for the wrongs done to the red race. Within a few months the belief in this new religion spread from tiibe to tribe with marvellous rapidity. Runners traversed thousands of miles to reach distant tiibcs and bear the glad tidings. The Arrapahot-i, pa CHIEF \M1 KIL V\ imi SI the Shoshoncs, the great Sioux tribes, the Cheyenncs, both north and south, and many other tribes, were taught the faith ; and the " ghost-dance," the religious ceremony of the creed, was danced by all these tribes. Possessed by these superstitious notions, these extraordinary beliefs, the powerful tribe of Siou.K began and continued to perform their fantastic ghost-dances. Sitting-Bull, BENJAMIN HARRISON. the old deadly foe of the white men, took advantage of tlie craze to inflame the anger of his people and prepare for deeds of blood. The disquietude among the Sioux Indians resulting from Sitting-Bull's prophecy that a new Messiah was soon to appear to restore to the Indians the land taken from them by lul to bring back the buffalo,' ssumed such proportions that n\ the fourteenth of Novem- >i r the Interior Department transferred the control of the Indians of North Dakota, un- tie i orders of the President, t < the War Department, and (iLueial Miles, commanding the Department of the Mis- Miuii, was placed in control. Ti oops were ordered to be < lit forward, and it was ex- ^iLLted that within a short time there would be three thousand regulars massed in North Da- kota. Sitting-Bull had about three thousand warriors, and it was the intention of the War Department to overawe the Indians by bringing against them an equal force of United States soldiers. The Indian hostility to those of their number who were friendly to the United States Government showed itself in the attempted assas- suiation of American Horse. This In- dian was a prominent Sioux chief, and a friend of the United States. He was so regarded for years, and was always inclined to be peaceable and loyal. To nothing but the turbulent, hostile and disaffected spirit of the Indians can be attributed the attempt' to murder him. They were seemingly angry because American Horse opposed ADMIXISTRATIOX OF REXJA.MIX HAKRISOX- 889 the turbulent spirit manifested by the In- dians. On the seventh of December some of the hostile chiefs from the Bad Lands appeared at the Pine Ridge agency to hold a confer- ence with General Brooke. They came bear- inga flag of truce andarmedwithWinchester and Springfield rifles. The entrance of the novel procession cre- ated great excitement. First came the chiefs, who were Turning Bear, Big Turkey, High Pine, Big Bad Horse and Bull Dog, who was one of the leaders in the Custer massacre. Next came Two Strike, the head chief, seated in a bug- gy with Father Jule, a priest who induced the chiefs to take this step. Surrounding these was a body guard of four young warriors. All the Indians were decorated -with war paint and feathers, while many wore ghost-dance leggings and the ghost-dance shirt dangling at their saddles. The warlike cavalcade proceeded at once to General Brooke's spacious head- qiiartcrs in the agency residence. At a given signal all leaped to the ground, hitched their ponies and, guided by Father J. lie, entered the General's apartments, where the council was held, lasting two hours. At the beginning of the powwow General Brooke explained that the Great Father, through him, asked them to come in and have a talk regarding the situation. A great deal of misunderstanding and trouble had arisen by the reports taken to and fro bctweer. the camps by irresponsible parties, and it wa? therefore considered very necessary that they have a talk face to face. Through him, he said, the Great Father wanted to tell them if GENERAL NELSON A. MILES. they would come in near the agency, where lis (G-neral Brooke) could see them often, and not be compelled to depend on hcaisay, that he would give them plenty to eat and would employ many of their young men as I scouts, etc. I The soldicr.'J did not come there to fight I but to protect the -. 396 ADMINISTRATION OF 1892, by a vote of 154 to 136. The bill, which provided for the free coinage of silver, had previously passed the Senate by a small •najority. Cyrus W. Field, the projector of the first A«-lantic cable, died July 12, 1892, at the age of seventy three. Canadian Tolls. On the twentieth of August President Hirrison issued a proclamation intended to secure just commercial relations between the United States and Canada. The govern- ment of the Dominion had made a practice of discriminating against the citizens of the United States in the use of the Welland Canal, in violation of the treaty of Washing- ton, concluded May 8, 187 1. The President maintained that this discriminating system was unjust and unreasonable. He therefore directed that from and after September i, 1892, until further notice, a toll of 20 cents per ton be levied, collected, and paid on all freight of whate\er kind or description pass- ing through the St. Mary's Falls Canal in transit to any port of the Dominion of Canada, whether carried in vessels of the United States or of other nations; and to that extent he suspended from and after said date the right of free passage throui;h said St. Mary's Falls Canal of any and all cargoes or portions of cargoes in transit to Canadian ports. During August, 1892, alarming reports of the spread of cholera in Europe caused our government to take action intended to pre- vent the introduction of the pestilence in the United States. On Septemb-r 1st, President Harrison issued a proclamation subjecting all vessels from infected ports to a quarantine of twenty days. George W. Curtis, the eminent author, journalist, and orator, died August 31, 1892, aged sixt>-cight years. The poet John G. Whittier died on Sep- tember 7, 1892, aged eighty-four years. BENJAMIN HARRISON. The arrival of the steamer " Kite " at St. John, Newfoundland, September 12, 1892, ended one of the most successful Arctic ex- peditions ever made. The commander was Lieutenant Peary, of the United States Navy. On his arrival he telegraphed to the Navy Department at Washington as follows: " United States Navy claims highest discov- eries on Greenland, east coast. Independence Bay, 82 degrees north latitude, 34 degrees west longitude, discovered July 4, 1892. Greenland ice cape ends soutl" of Victoria Inlet. The highest point heretofore attained on the east coast is about 75 or "jj degrees, and was made by Holdenby, a German. The highest point on the west coast was 83, made by Lockwood and Brainard, of the Greely expedition." Lieutenant Peary's expedition was rich in scientific treasures and geograph- ical discoveries. The buildings of the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago were dedicated, the ceremonies beginning on the nineteenth of October, and continuing to the twenty- second. Distinguished persons were present from all parts of the country, including Vice- President Morton and members of President Harrison's Cabinet. There were militar>- and civic parades, and orations by Hon. Chauncy M. Depew^ and Hon. Henry W'at- terson. On October 25, 1892, Mrs. Caroline Lavinia Scott, wife of President Harrison, died, aged sixtj- years. Funeral services were held at the White House, Washington, and at Indianapolis. The interment was at the latter place on October 28th. The national election on November 8th resulted in the success of the Democratic; party by a large majority. The official re- turns showed that Cleveland and Stevenson obtained two hundred and seventy-eight electors, or fifty five more than a majority of I the Electoral College. ADMINISTRATION OF On January ii, 1893, General Benjamin F. Butler died at Washington, aged seventy- five years. He became prominent during the civil war by the capture and occupation of New Orleans. Death of James G. Blaine. Closely following the death of General Butler occurred that of James G. Blaine at his residence, in Washington, on January twenty-seventh. From 1S62 he served four- teen years in Congress as Representative from Maine, and during the last three terms he was Speaker of the House. In the Repub- lican nominations for the Presidency in 1876 and 18S0 he was defeated by Hayes and Garfield. Appointed United States Senator in 1876. he served till and acted as SecretaryofStateunderGarfield, but resigned after Garfield's assassination. He was the Republican candidate for the Presidency in 1884, but was defeated by Cleveland. On the fourth of March, 18S0, he received the portfolio of Secretary of State in Presi- dent Harrison's Cabinet. In the long and intricate controversy with Great Britain respecting the Behring Sea fish- eries, i\Ir. Blaine vigorously maintained the rights of the United States and showed him- self a master of diplomacy. By his speeches and writings he was known as an advocate of protection to American industries, and he made this one of the leading issues in the presidential campaign of 1884. To his ability as a statesman was added the charm of varied accomplishments, a com- manding personal appearance, great contro- versial power, and those eminent gifts which distinguish the persuasive orator and suc- cessful leader. Always intensely American in his convictions and sympathies, his con- duct of the State Department at Washington, aimed to maintain our national prerogatives, 57 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 897 and to extend our influence among the other powers of the globe. Early in February, the question of the anne.xation of Hawaii was brought to the attention of Congress, accompanied with news of a revolution in the Islands. On January fifteenth, the Queen tried to get the Cabinet to sign a new constitution that dis- franchised all foreigners and put the whole government in the hands of the native poli- ticians. The Ministers refused, and when threatened by the Queen, fled for their lives. They returned later and induced the Queen to postpone her stratagem. There was a pub- lic meeting in front of the palace. The Queen announced the failure of her plans, and a native orator demanded the lives of the Min- isters. Committee of Public Safety. Early in the evening, citizens met and formed a committee of public safet)^ On January sixteen, the United States steamship, Boston, landed three hundred men, fully armed. They marched to the office of the Consul General of the United States. The marines were sent to the American Legation, while the sailors, with two Gatling guns, camped for a time on private grounds. The committee of public safety rapidly completed its organization, and made arrangements for the proclamation of a provisional government and its protection by armed force. Commissioners soon arrived in Washing- ton to conduct negotiations with our govern- ment with a view of forming a protectorate of the Islands or annexing them to the United States. A treaty of annexation was concluded between Secretary of State Foster, and the Commissioners, and on January twenty-first was transmitted to the United States Senate. No action with a view to annexation was taken by Congress. CHAPTER XLIX. Second Administration of Grover Cleveland. Second Inauguration of President Cleveland — The New CaKinet — Extraordinary Session of Congress—. Repeal of the Sherman Silver Law — New Tariff BiU — The Bill Passes the House of Representatives — Discussion in the Senate — Over Six Hundred Amendments — Senate Bill Rejected hj the House — After- wards Passed — The President Refuses to Sign the Bill — Bland Seigniorage Bill — Utah Admitted as a State— Congress Investigates the Relations of the United States to Hawaii — Subsequent Events. ON THE 4th of March, 1893, Grover Cleveland entered for the second time upon his duties as President of the United States. The ceremonies of inauguration drew visitors to Washington from all parts of the countrj^, and were of the usual imposing character. Mr. Cleveland announced the members of his Cabinet as follows : Secretary of State, Walter 0. Gresham, of Illinois ; Secretarj' of the Treasury, John G. Carlisle, of Kentucky ; Secretary of War, Daniel S. Lamont, of New York; Attorney- General, Richard Olney, of Massachusetts ; Postmaster-General, Wilson S. Bissell, of New York ; Secretary of the Navy, Hilary A. Herbert, of Alabama ; Secretar}- of the Inte- rior, Hoke Smith, of Georgia ; Secretary of Agriculture, Julius S. Morton, of Nebraska. Congress was called together in extraordi- nary session August 7th, and received a mes- -sage from President Cleveland. The main object of the message was to recommend the immediate repeal of what was known as the Sherman law, relating to the purchase of silver by the government for coinage. The session was preceded by a period of great financial depression, the closing of many manufacturing e.stablishments and a general disturbance of the industrial and business interests of the country. A bill for the repeal of the obnoxious law was introduced into the House of Representatives by Hon. William L. Wilson, of West Virginia, and 898 after brief discussion, was promptly passed by a large majority', August 28th. The bill then went to the Senate, where a protracted struggle ensued, attended at times by bitter personalities, and by " filibustering " on the part of the minority, thereby prevent- ing the majority from declaring its expressed will. At length the bill passed the Senate, October 30th, by a \-ote of fort\--three to thirty-two. The New Tariff Bill. The second session of the Fifty-third Con- gress began on the first Monday of Decem- ber, 1893. The most important business was the passage of the Tariff bill. The new Tariff bill derived its name from ]\Ir. Wilson. Chairman of the Ways and Means Com- mittee. Preliminary work was begun upon the bill by the Ways and Means Committee of the House, in October, 1893, during the e.xtra session called by the President for the repeal of the Sherman Silver act. It was reported to the Hoi'se on December 19, and on Janu- ary 8, 1894, it began to be discussed in that body. It passed the House, Februaiy i, by a vote of 204 to 140, having been modified in only one important feature — sugar being made free of duty. On the 2d of February it was reported to the Senate and at once referred to the Finance Committee. Promptly on receiving the Wilson bill, the Finance Committee save over its task to a SECOND ADMINISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 899 sub-committee, consisting of Mills, Jones and Vest, who completed a bill on tariff- reform lines, making few changes in the Wilson bill. This was reported to the full committee on February 26. Thereupon Mr. Gorman called together the Democratic caucus to instruct the sub-committee to go to work again and reconstruct the bill so that it would suit the Protectionist Democratic Senators. A New Bill Reported. The sub-committee made a new bill, "amending " the Wilson bill in several hun- dred particulars, and altering its character in a Protectionist sense. It was reported to the Senate on March 20, but was still unsatisfac- tory. On May 5, ]\Ir. Gorman called another caucus to secure unanimity, after which, on May 8, some four hundred new amendments were reported. " The Senate bill " had assumed its final form. On July 3 it passed the Senate, and on the 7th — the House rejecting the 634 Senate amendments in gross — consideration of points of disagreement between the two Houses was begun in the conference com- mittee. The Senate conferees presented an ultimatum — " the Senate bill as it is or no tariff legislation." The Hou.se conferees demanded free raw materials and no protection for sugar, but in vain. On July 19, Mr. Wilson reported the continued disagreement to the House, at the same time making public the President's letter insisting on free raw materials. In the Senate, Mr. Gorman replied in a defiant .speech, full of personal flings. After a week of sensations, Senator Hill's proposal to recede from the amendments putting a duty on ore and coal was voted down and the bill sent back to conference. After some further dickering by the " com- promisers " and an attempt on the part of Mr. Hill to kill the bill in the Senate, the House became alarmed at the supposed prospect of failure of all tariff legislation, and on August 13 passed the Senate bill. On the .same day the House passed four bills, putting sugar^ coal, ore and barbed wire on the free list, but they were not acted on by the Senate. The President neither signed nor vetoed the Tariff bill and it became a law without his signature, taking effect August 28, 1894. Next in general importance to the Tarifi and Silver Repeal bills, were two measures which passed both the Senate and the House, one to receive the approval of the President, and the other to be returned to the body whence it came, accompanied by a \-eto mes- sage. These were the Bland Seigniorage bill, which was vetoed, and the bill repealing "all statutes relating to Supervisors of Elec- tions and Special Deput\^ Alarshals." Action Concerning the Chinese. Another important measure enacted into law, was that providing that all Chinese now in the United States should register in the offices of Internal Revenue Collectors. An act enabling Utah to enter the Union was also enacted, the same to go into effect July 4, 1S95. Acts enabling New Mexico and ArizoVia to become States, were passed by the House. Other bills which became laws during the session, were to give effect to the award ren- dered by the Bering Sea Arbitration Tribunal ; to permit the construction of a bridge across the Hudson, between New York City and the New Jersey shore ; to permit the construction of a bridge across the Delaware at Frankford, Philadelphia ; extending the limits of the port of New York so as to include Yonkers; making Labor Day a legal holiday ; extending for one year the time for final proof and payment of lands 900 SECOND ADI^IIXISTRATION OF GROVER CLEVELAND. claimed under the public land laws; reducing the time of enlistments in the army from five to three years ; to promote the efficiency of the naval militia by allowing the naval reserves of a State the use of a war vessel for manoeuvres; to exempt the articles of foreign exhibitors at the Inter- State Fair at Tacoma, Washington, from the payment of duties; joint resolutions conferring diplomas upon designers, inventors, and expert artisans who assisted in the perfection and production of exhibits awarded medals or diplomas at the World's Fair; providing for the appoint- ment of a commission to the Antwerp Inter- national Exposition ; permitting taxation of National Bank notes, and authorizing the condemnation of land at Gettysburg for marking the lines of battle and the position of troops, and for opening avenues, etc. During the session about Sooo bills were introduced in the House and referred to the various committees. These measures covered every conceivable subject of legislation. The committees acted on about 1 500 of them. About Soo of them were passed by the House and sent to the Senate, but owing to the extended debate on the Tariff bill in the latter body they did not receive its consideration. The policy of the Administration with reference to the admission of Hawaii, and more particularly Secretary Gresham's allega- tion that Queen Liliuokalani's overthrow was accomplished through the presence of United States marines in Honolulu, formed a subject of a long inquiry by the Committee on Foreign Relations. Dozens of witnesses were examined, and the committee finally made a report which was construed to mean a vindication of both Commissioner Blount and Minister Stevens, the Administration and the Provisional Government. The report was not considered in the Senate, but the matter was settled by the adoption of a resolution practically indorsing all parties concerned, and reaffirming the Monroe doctrine with respect to Hawaii. During the session there were sent to the Senate by the President 2461 messages con- taining nominations. Inasmuch as some of these messages contained more than arc- usual, notably, in the case of military' and naval promotions, a fair estimate of the total number would be 3000. Of these, all were acted upon but about fifty. The most cele- brated cases that resulted in rejection, were those of ]\Iessrs. Hornblower and Peckham, both of New York, nominated to be Asso- ciate Justices of the Supreme Court. During the session there were created by death and resignation five vacancies in the Senate and eighteen in the House. Subsequent events included t^vo issues of bonds to maintain the gold reserve, Another issue was provided for, and the subscription was opened in New York, February 20, 1895. Subscriptions for g6o,000,ooo were made in a few minutes. On April 8, 1895, the United States Supreme Court delivered a decision respect- ing the Income Tax law, which declared that the Federal Government had no author- ity to collect a tax on incomes derived from state, county and municipal bonds. A message sent to Congress by President Cleveland concerning the dispute between Great Britain and Venezuela awakened great interest throughout the country, and led to the formation of a Commission for investiga- tion. On January 4, 1896, President Cleveland issued a proclamation admitting Utah as a state into the Union. Bids for g 100,000,000 of 4 per cent, bonds were opened at the Treasury Department, Thursday, February 6, 1896. There were nearly 4700 distinct offers, aggregating nearly $700,000,000. ' of El Zanjon in Feb- ruary, 1878. Still there was not entire quiet. In the east end of Cuba General Maceo refused to recognize the treat}', and continued to fight for eleven months, only to fail in the end and be driven from Cuban soil. The Latest Uprising. The treaty concessions were by no means liberal enough to maintain order for any length of time. In 1889 General Garcia tried again. He had been captured in Cuba in 1875 and sent to a fortress in Spain. He shot himself while in prison ; but the bullet failed, and when he recovered he made his escape and reached the United States. Here he conferred with Jose Marti, Presi- dent of the Cuban revolutionar)' party, 1S95-96, and they planned another expedi- tion to Cuba. They landed and held their ground for six months, only to find that the country was not ripe for revolt. The Cubans, weary of continual turmoil and bloodshed, longed for quiet. At last Garcia was cap- tured and sent once more to Spain. From this time dates the autonomist party, started by a group of men who maintained that experience would not ju.stify further attempts to gain freedom for Cuba by force of arms, and that the island's hope lay in peaceful measures alone. The part}' gained a footing very rapidly ; indeed, its existence and doctrine had much to do with the failure of General Garcia. Despite the efforts of the peace part}', how- ever, there were revolutionist leaders who were ready to try again. In 1884 Generals Gomez and Maceo visited the United States CUBA AND VENEZUELA. 905 and Central America with a view of prepar- ing for another invasion. The movement was opposed bitterly by the home-rule party in Cuba and was abandoned. Small and ill- advised attempts at revolution followed from time to time after that, notably those headed by Limbana Sanchez, Benitez and Aguero. The home-rulers, in the meantime, were attempting to get what concessions they could from Spain by peaceful means. In 1890 they became restless again. The peace policy did not prosper. Cuba was growing uneasy again. The concessions, small and unsatisfactory at all times, began to be regarded as sops which Spain dis- tributed to maintain peace. They gave no promise of more liberal treatment in future. I^.Ien began to say that the native Cubans were cheated at the polls, and in time their representatives went to the Cortes no more. Changes in Cuba. For fourteen years the home-rulers, led by such men as Govin Monture, Figueroa, Fernandez, De Castro and Siberga, had made most vigorous fights at the polls, and, not- withstanding conservative frauds, had sent their best orators to the Spanish Parliament. It was to no purpose. The home-rulers spoke to empty benches in Spain, and no party there recognized them. The}- suc- ceeded, nevertheless, in forcing the conserva- tives in Cuba to modify their polic\- and aided manfully to complete the emancipation of the negro, following the Cuban constitution, which declared that "all men are free." With the economic part\^ the}- forced the government to celebrate the Spanish-.A.mcri- can treaty, without which the fate of the island was sealed. The conservatives divided into two groups, one leaning toward union with the Cubans on economic questions, and hoping secretly for the annexation of Cuba by the United States. They were demoralized by the re- fusals of the liberals from the polls, the autonomists having declared that unless the obnoxious suffrage laws, which gave the Spaniards a sure majority at the polls and disfranchised the Cuban rural population, were abolished, the}' would never go to Parliament again. The Liberal Party. The Spanish liberals really formed the economist party to obtain commercial con- 1 cession and secure a treaty with the United j States, and bv' joining hands with the Cubans I they forced Spain's hand in the matter. But this, like the other efforts to restore I quiet and content, proved a failure. The ! Cubans complained that in return for the treaty and its benefits to the island, Spain imposed new taxes, which more than coun- terbalanced all the good that had been done. Representatives were sent to the Spanish Parliament again, the home-rule contingent demanding, as of old, electoral reform suffi- cient to guarantee just representation. It was then that the Cuban revolutionary party began to gain prominence — the party which has drawn the sword now — and as- serted boldly that peaceful measures, look- ing to freedom and equality, had failed, and that Cuba must take up arms again and drive the Spanish soldiers into the sea. Such talk was dangerous on Cuban soil. Leaders of the party who were not already in exile left Cuba and began to plan from the outside, to raise money, to stir up the native population by secret agents — in a word, to prepare the island for one grand united effort to be free. While this sentiment was being nursed at home and outside of Cuba the peace party was still at work on its own lines. In 1894 the reform wing of the Spaniards joined the Cubans in their fight against the Spanish conservatives. They secured some reforms, 9o6 CUBA AND VENEZUELA. but these, the Cubans say, are a mere farce, as the proposition now being passed upon is the establishment of a council in Cuba in which the Spanish element will predominate. This council was to consist of thirty mem- bers, of which fifteen were to be appointed by the crown, and the remainder elected. The method of electing, the Cubans contend, would insure a majority for the Spaniards, and in any event the council might be dis- solved at pleasure by the Captain-General, Callejas. The Cubans want universal suffrage, and have been unable to secure it, as the Span- iards have insisted upon certain property qualifications. Spread of the Insurrection, On the 14th of March, 1895, Marti and Gomez, the Cuban exiles, with a handful of companions, landed at Baracoa, on the east- ern coast of Cuba, and proclaimed the re- public. The effect of this bold move was instantaneous. The news spread from end to end of the island, and although the friends of Cuba thought the moment ill-timed, hun- dreds of sympathizers flocked to the patriot standard. Like a prairie fire before a brisk breeze the single spark of insurrection fired the dry tinder of the oppressed Cubans, and the rebellion grew in volume as it flew west- ward. This is not Spain's first experience of the temper of her colony. For the past seventy years con.spiracy, insurrection, rebellion and red war have followed one another in endless progression. A few words will suffice to explain the cause leading up to the conflict of 1895-96. Cuba became a possession of .Spain by the right of discovery on Columbus' second voyage. He named it Juana, after the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, and it has suc- cessively been known as Juana, Fernandina, Santiago, Ave Maria and Cuba, the latter being the native name of the Queen of the Antilles. It was colonized by Spain, and its early history is a series of sacks and ravages by European foes. Not until the rule of Captain-General Las Casas, beginning 1790.. did prosperity begin. A Wise Administration. Under his guidance agriculture and com- merce flourished, and the condition of the native population was ameliorated. The effect of his sagacious rule was felt for over thirty years, and when Napoleon deposed the royal family of Spain, every member of the Cabildo took oath to preserve the island for their monarchy, and, going even further^ they declared war against the French con- queror. This much to show the instinctive feeling of the colony toward the mother country. Spanish coffers were empty with the re- storation of the Bourbons in the person of Ferdinand VII., and Spain's mistress looked with hungiy eyes upon the rich island with her 1800 miles of seacoast, gemmed with prosperous ports and her plantations of in- digo, sugar, tobacco and fruit. It was For- tunata's purse wherein Spain might dip her fingers and forever find it full to overflowing. With this discover}^ came oppressive taxa- tion. With the gradual impoverishment of Spain came added demands. Then the de- privation of all civil, political and religious liberty and the exclusion of Cubans from all public stations, and in order to enforce this i the Cubans were taxed to support a standing; army and navy — their gaolers. With their oppression came their desire for liberty. In 1829 the Black Eagle con- spiracy arose. The purpose of this was to throw off the Spanish yoke. It was sup- pressed, but was followed in 1840 by an insurrection of the colored population. After CUBA AND VENEZUELA. 907 smouldering and blazing for a while the fires of insurrection were smothered only to break out eight years later in a genuine conspiracy of the Cubans under the leadership of Nar- ciso Lopez. This rebellion was quelled and Lopez fled. In 1S50 he landed in Cuba with 600 men from the United States. He made a third attempt in 185 1, and together with most of his companions was captured and executed by the Spanish authorities. Insurgents Recognized. The Reformist party, which sprang up at this time, succeeded in getting an inquiry of the abuses at Madrid, with the result, how- ever, of increased taxation. In 1868 the Advance party in Cuba rose in the district of Bayamo, and on October 10, 186S, signed a declaration of independence at jManzanillo. Their first successes were so great that almost all the Spanish-American republics recognized the insurgents as belligerents. After a war of ten years, that was confined to the mountainous regions east of the town of Puerto Principe, the rebellion was put do."n. To confine it to that localit>' the -Spanish troops built a great fortified trench, known as La Trocha, across the entire width of the island, in the western portion of the State of Puerto Principe. It was here that Captain-General Campos drew up his forces last summer to prevent the eastward march j of the insurgents, who were now heavily re- inforced. All during the summer of 1895 the insur- gent leaders were organizing their forces and receiving supplies of arms and ammunition. The people were flocking to the standard of revolt, and during October, 1895, Gomez and Maceo, with ease, penetrated the lines of the Spanish captain-general, crossing La Trocha, and causing the regular troops to fall back to a line just east of Remedios. The insur- gents still pushing on, this was followed by a retreat of Campos to Santa Clara, in the province of Santa Clara, still further west. Gomez and Maceo were now in supreme authority, for Marti died just as the com- mand started west. This blow to the insur- gent cause was more than offset by the character of the people among which they found themselves. Of all the provinces of Cuba, Santa Clara is the most outspoken and loyal to the cause of liberty. The ranks of Gomez and Maceo were increased by thou- .sands of volunteers of an intelligence and physical strength superior even to those of Santiago. Horses were procured in abund- ance, and the bulk of the insurgent army was formed into a speedy and well-equipped cav- alrj'. They were armed with rifles, and car- ried with them an abundance of ammunition. Fully Armed. Each man also carried a machete, which is a long, heavily-weighted iron knife, used by the sugar planters to cut the cane, and by all travelers to open up paths through the heavy tropical underbrush. They are terrible weap- ons in the hands of the Cubans, and the Spanish troops fear them more than the rifles. The insurgents took no supply train with them. A stray pig or fowl supplied them with supper, while an ox meant dinner for a company. Thus prepared the\- turned their faces toward the setting sun and Ha- vana. All this while Campos, the Spanish gen- eral, was " concentrating," according to the official dispatches. In other words, he was drawing dead lines across the island at points where he announced that he would bring the insurgents to a pitched battle. Each suc- cessive dead-line was further west than the one preceding it. And each time the insur- gents slipped by the troops, leaving a harried country behind them. Railroads, bridges and roads were destroyed ; plantations burned and yo8 CUBA AND VENEZUELA. store-houses empty. The troops, under the spur of necessity, followed as rapidly as pos- sible, leaving the insurgents in jjossession of the country to the east. In this way not only did the Cubans make this remarkable march westward, but they garrisoned it. In Santiago the insurgents kept the Spanish forces in the fortified cities, and in a short time two large expeditions successfully landed at that end of the island. One, armed with cannon, fired upon and crippled the Xiieva Espatia, of the Spanish navy, while such leaders as Rabi, Martinez and Aguirre were fighting as valiantly there as Gomez and Maceo in the province of Matanzas. Similar reports came from Puerto Principe j and Santa Clara, showing that the insurgents had complete control of the interior of these i provinces. But Campos claimed that it was his plan to get the insurgents between his | forces and Havana and crush them as a nut is crushed in a nut-cracker. j General Campos Repulsed. Then came decisive attacks by the insur- gents. Campos was driven from pillar to post, changing his headquarters from Santa Clara to Cienfuegos, from Cienfuegos to Pal- millas, from Palmillas to Colon, from Colon to Jovcllanos, from Jovellanos to Limonare, ; from Limonare to Guanabana, and from Guanabana to Havana, where he was feted as a conqueror by the Spanish authorities, and where he received telegrams of congratula- tion from the Queen Regent of Spain and | her Prime Minister. Just prior to this noisy w-elcome, namely on December 24, 1895, General Maximo Gomez, at the head of 12,000 men, by a feint, turned the flank of the Spanish commander at Colon, and passing the sleepy old seaport of Matanzas, marched straight on to a point only fifty miles from Havana, Campos with ' all his 80,000 pickea Spanisn troops, to the contrary notwithstanding. Christmas and New Year's passed and the insurgents were still there, marching and countermarching in three columns, holding Spain at bay, and waiting for additional supplies of ammunition and arms before pushing on. The grave question now was what the insurgents would do ? Havanna was in an agony of suspense and preparing for a siege. The loyalty of the citizens was questionable, as well as that of the Grande Civil, or local militia. Campos and all his troops seemed unable to cope with the situation. It was believed that should the insurgents push on and take Havana, the defeat of Spain and the liberty of Cuba would arrive. Advent of General Weyler. The next move on the part of Spain was to recall General Campos, his campaign in Cuba having proved a failure. He was replaced by General Weyler, whose tyran- nous policy and barbarous cruelties, when previously commanding the Spanish forces in the island, are well known. The steamer Alfonso XIII. arrived at Havana, February 10, 1896, having on board General Valeriano Weyler, the new Captain General of Cuba; Nicolau, Marquis of Tene- riffe ; and Generals Enrique, Barges, Ferde- rico Ochando, Miguel Melquiso, Marinues Ahumada, Luis Castelloi, Sanchez Bernal and Juan Arolas, the latter being the hero of Jolo, Philippine Islands. The entire city was brilliantly decorated in honor of the occasion and the bay was a splendid sight, all the warships and merchant craft present being decorated with bunting. The wharfs were crowded with people at an early hour and all the steamers and tugs were loaded with sightseers. The Chamber of Commerce, the Bourse, all the big com- mercial houses and government departments. CUBA AND VENEZUELA. 909 the Canarian Association, General Weyler's countrymen and others, crowded upon the chartered steamers or about the landing- place. The troops and volunteers were turned out to a man, together with the fire depart- ment and police, and for a long time no such brilliant display had been witnessed in Havana. Among the high military officers present were Generals Suarez Valdez, Pando, Marin and Navarro, Admiral Yanas and staff. Colonel Castanedo, Major Moriano and many others. Enthusiastic Reception. General Weyler was welcomed by tne City Council on board the Alfonso XIII. He was presented with an address of wel- come and assurance of loyalty. At eleven o'clock the Captain General came ashore and was received by General Marin and staff. The streets were packed with people, who displayed the greatest enthusiasm. In fact, rarely has a distinguished person been received so warmly as was General Weyler when he landed. There is no doubt that considerable real enthusiasm was manifested, in addition to the greetings which would naturally be bestowed upon the representa- tive of Spain. The balconies in all the streets about the water front and in the vicinity of the Palace were full of ladies in holiday attire, and they showered flowers upon the new eommander as he passed. Besides, numerous floral offer- ings of the most beautiful description, princi- pally in the shape of crowns, were presented to the general, who expressed his thanks in each case in a few brief words. He seemed to be much pleased with his reception, and upon arriving at the Palace formally took over the duties of the captain-generalship, taking the oath of fealty over a crucifix and upon a Bible. General Marin administered j the oath of office and soon afterward he received the local military and civil authori- ties, the different corporations and the bishops and priests. The German warships which were in the I harbor saluted the arrival of General Weyler, as did all the Spanish warships in port and I the forts ashore. The Loyalists, of course, 1 were out in the strongest force possible ; I but it may be said that the entire popula- I tion of Havana turned out, and hardly a I representative of the shipping or business interests of the city failed to make the day a holiday. Cheers and Cannonading. I After the reception of the local military and civil authorities, corporations and clergy , was completed, General Weyler appeared , upon the balcony of the palace and reviewed I the troops. His appearance before the pub- ! lie was the signal for a long outburst of the most enthusiastic cheering, the firing of can- non and the sound of martial music, all the bands in the city being stationed at different points. In addition to the inhabitants of the cit\' proper, thousands of people flocked into the cit}- from all directions before daybreak. Accompanying General Weyler were Cap- tains Gelaber and Linares, who are known as " military editors." They were to have charge of the press censorship, and it was rumored that there would be considerably more difficulty experienced in this connection by the correspondents in the future. The press regulations had been considerably relaxed, and not much difficulty had been experienced in getting average matter upon the cable. But, it was thought, the new captain-general would be very severe with correspondents who sent false accounts of Cuban successes or in any way brought about the publication of false news. By this it was not meant that General Weyler intended to interfere with 9IO CUBA AND VENEZUELA. the proper liberty which the press can be allowed in war time. It really meant only that he would do everything possible to pre- vent the sending out of news undoubtedly false. A disinterested observer of the situation wrote as follows, under date of February lo, 1896: " So far as the general situation is con- cerned there is not much change. Indeed, no change of importance is expected for some days. General Weyler will first devote himself to a complete review of the opera- tions already undertaken, and he will then figure out the situation as it actually exists. For this purpose, almost immediately after taking the oath of fealty, he caused orders to be sent to all the commanders in the field to draw up promptly and forward to headquar- ters here complete returns of the condition of their commands, together with the state of railroads, telegraphs and public thorough- fares and the probable location and strength of the enemy in their neighborhoods. Reasons for this Action. " This action upon the part of General Weyler is supplementary to the regular report and returns which were handed over to liim by General Marin after the new cap- tain-general had been sworn in. While it is no reflection upon General Marin or the other Spanish commanders here or in other parts of Cuba, the captain-general took this step in order thoroughly to go over the ground himself, and possibly in view of the sensational reports which have been circu- lated by agents of the insurgents and others to the effect that large quantities of stores, arms and ammunition are missing from the different depots and have found their way into the hands of the insurgents. Between this and the tales of wholesale dishonesty circu- lated here and elsewhere there is quite a dif- ference, and noboay here believes that there has been any treachery of importance." General Marin, who has been appointed captain-general of Porto Rico, is expected to leave for his new post to-morrow. W^eyler's Plans of Campaign. The exact plan of campaign of General Weyler is not known, but it is believed that it will be a very different one from that of Campos. He is likely to call in all of the small detachments of troops, which have from the first had such a weakening effect upon the Spanish operations, and will try to drive the insurgents into a position from which they cannot escape without a pitched battle. General Weyler will also do every- thing possible to muster as strong a force of cavalry as he can. Considerable reinforce- ments of this branch of the service have already arrived here, and more are expected during the week. Some reports credit the insurgents with desiring to concentrate all their scattered detachments and columns into one body, and so bring the insurrection to a direct issue. But Spaniards here who are well posted on the situation say that there is no truth in the report that the insurgents will make any effort to risk a pitched battle. Captain- General Weyler clearly defined the policy he intended to pursue in the con- duct of the campaign for the suppression of the insurrection. Before he had been at Havana many hours he issued the following proclamation : " To the People of Cuba : Honored by Her Majesty, the Queen, and her govern- ment, with the command of this island, under the difficult circumstances now prevailing, I take charge of it with the determination that it shall never be given up by me, and that I shall keep it in the possession of Spain, will- ing as she is to carry out whatever sacrifice CUBA AND VENEZUELA. shall be required to succeed, as she has been in the past. " I rely upon the gallantry and discipline of the army and navy, upon the patriotism, never to be subdued, of the volunteer corps, and more especially upon the support that I should be given by the loyal inhabitants, born here or in Spain. " It is not necessary to say that I shall be generous with the subdued and to all of those doing any service to the Spanish cause. But I will not lack in the decision and energy of my character to punish with all the rigor that the law enacts those who in any way shall help the enemy, or shall calumniate the prestige of our name. " Putting aside at present any idea of pol- itics, my mission is the honorable one of finishing the war, and I only see in you the loyal Spaniards who are to assist me to defeat the insurgents. But Her Majesty's government is aware of what you are and of what you are worthy, and the status of peace that these provinces may obtain. It will grant you, when it is deemed suitable to do so, the reforms the government may think most proper, with the love of a mother to her children. " Inhabitants of Cuba, lend me your co- operation, and in that way you will defend your interests, which are those of the coun- try. " Long live Spanish Cuba ! " Your General and Governor, " Valeri.-vno Wevler, " Marquese of Tenerife." To the Volunteers and Firemen. General Weyler also offered the following address : "Volunteers and Firemen: Being again at your head, I see in \'ou the successors of the volunteers and firemen who fought with me in the previous war and, with their brav- 1 ery, energy and patriotism, brought about peace, defended the towns and cities, and contributed most powerfully to save Cuba for Spain. Remember these virtues brighten your spirits, and, relying on m\' whole atten- tion, m)- decisive support and my utmost confidence, lend me the same help and co- operation, and with the same ambition save the prestige of your name and the honor of our flag, which, forever victorious, should fly over this island. To the Soldiers. " Soldiers of the army, I greet you in the name of Her Majesty, the Queen, and of the government. Having the honor of being at your head, I trust that at my command you will continue to show the bravery in face of hardships proper for the Spanish soldier, and that you will confer new wreaths to add to those already attained under the command of my predecessors. Generals Mar- tinez Campos and Sabas Marin. " On my part, answering to the great sac- rifice made by the nation, and using the efforts of all arms and bodies in the work entrusted to each of the organic units, I will not omit anything to place you in the condi- tion for obtaining the victory and the return of peace to this island, which is what she longs for. " Sailors, I have again the satisfaction to be at your side, and I again trust that, as in Mindanao recently, you will lend me your powerful co-operation to bring peace to this island. Thus I expect surely that you will afford me a new chance to express my thanks and my enthusiasm to the Spanish navy." The following circular of General \Ve%-ler was addressed to the military officers : " I have addressed my previous proclama- tions at the moment of my landing to the loyal inhabitants, to the volunteers and fire- men, and to the army and navy. 912 CUBA AND VENEZUELA. " I may give you a slight idea of the inten- tions I have and the measures I shall follow as Governor-General-in-Chief, in accordance with the general desire of Spain, and with the decided aim of Her Majesty's govern- ment to furnish all the means required to control and crush this rebellion. The Question Argued. " Knowing this, and knowing my charac- ter, I may perhaps need to say no more to make you understand what is the conduct that I am to follow. But with the idea of avoiding all kinds of doubt, even keeping (as you are to keep) the circulars to be pub- lished, I deem it necessary to make some re- marks. " It is not unknown by you that the state in which the rebellion has come and the raid made by the principal leaders recently, which could not be stopped even by the active pur- suit of the columns, is due to the indiffer- ence, the fear or the disheartenment of the inhabitants. Since it cannot be doubted that some, seeing the burning of their property without opposition, and that others, who have been born in Spain, should sympathize with the insurgents, it is necessary at all hazards to better this state of things and to brighten the spirit of the inhabitants, making them ; aware that I am determined to lend all my j assistance to the local inhabitants. So I am determined to have the law fall with all its weight upon all those in any way helping the enemy, or praising them, or in any way de- tracting from the prestige of Spain, of its army, or of its volunteers. It is necessary for those by our side to show their intentions with deeds, and their behavior should leave no doubt, and should prove that they are Spanish. " Since the defence of the country demands \ the sacrifice of her children, it is necessary ' that the towns should look to their defence, 1 and that no precautions in the way of scouts should be lacking to give news concerning the enemy, and whether it is in their neigh- borhood, and so that it may not happen that the enemy should be better informed than we. " The energy and vigor of the enemy will be strained to trace the course of our line, and in all cases you will arrest and place at my disposal to deliver to the courts those who in any way shall show their sympathy or support for the rebels. Enlistments Called For. "The public spirit being heatened, you must not forget to enlist the volunteers and guerillas in your district, this not preventing at the same time the organization, as oppor- tunity offers, of a guerilla band of twenty- five citizens for each battalion of the army. " I propose that you shall make the dis- positions you think most proper for the car- rying out of the plan I wish, but this shall not authorize you to determine anything not foreseen in the instructions, unless the urgency of some circumstances should de- mand it. " I expect that, confining yourself to these instructions, you will lend me your worthy support towards the carrying out of my plan for the good of the Spanish cause. " Weyler." The proclamation produced no perceptible change in the situation. The insurgents continued to land arms and ammunition secretly and to carry on their peculiar mode of warfare. No great battles were fought, and in the majority of the skirmishes, the Spanish troops were successful, it being apparently the policy of the rebels to worry and harass their enemy instead of coming to open conflict. Thus far it has been the his- tory of Cuban insurrection repeated — a work of devastation, a scattered warfare, an attempt CUBA AND VENEZUELA. 913 by Spanish troops to rout or capture the insurgents, yet without success. Spain has maintained a large army in Cuba which seems to be incapable of bringing order out of confusion. We come now to the trouble between Venezuela and England, with some state- ments showing the spirit and intent of what is known as the American Monroe Doctrine. ' The Venezuelan Question. I For fifty-five years the location of the boundary line between British Guiana and Venezuela has been in dispute. Nine times the line has been surveyed by British engi- neers, and each time it was unsatisfactory to the South American Republic, and was not accepted. The two governments agreed that neither nation should occupy the ground claimed by both until the controversy should be settled, and the question has dragged along in a neglected way until recent events have opened the old wound afresh. Some time ago one Sergeant Behrens and two companions of the British constabulary on duty in Guiana, were discovered on the disputed strip of land, and through some clashing with the authority of the Venezuelan i Government, were arrested and taken into custody as trespassers on Venezuelan soil. The English Government contended that the arrest had been made on British soil, and demanded redress for the action, as unlawful and an insult to British citizens. The Vene- zuelan Government protested that the arrest had occurred on its own soil, and therefore Behrens was amenable to the laws of the Republic. Thus the question was brought to a crisis. Venezuela offered to arbitrate the whole matter, but Great Britain insisted on the sur- render to itself of a large and important por- tion of the disputed territory, and would then submit to arbitration what was left. The evi- ! dence thus far obtainable on the question of the boundaries was somewhat wrapped in the uncertainties of the terms of the original ces- sion to England of Guiana, which was acquired from Holland in 1814, and the world cannot form an accurate idea of the merits of the controversy until a tribunal of arbitration has sifted them out. There are, however, certain features of England's position which give color to the suspicion generally entertained by the Amer- ican press, that that nation was afraid to trust its case to arbitration, and was bulldozing the weaker Government of the South American State out of a very large portion of its terri- tory. Most people believed that Great Bri- tain's scruples were none too fine to attempt this, and in the public mind, at least, the burden of proof in the dispute rested upon her. The property at issue includes the greater part of the country lying between the Orinoco and Esequibo Rivers, and is believed to contain valuable gold and silver deposits. Reply from the British Premier. The question between these Governments becomes of special interest to the people of the United States in view of the action that our representatives at Washington have taken. Some time ago Secretary of State Olney addressed a communication to the British Government reminding it that the United States expected it to observe the restrictions which the Monroe Doctrine placed upon the operations of European powers on American soil. Lord Salisbur)- replied that the matter was of so great moment as to require further consideration before answering. Judging from the widely varying com- ments of the press, it would seem that in the public mind the real meaning of that famous doctrine is as uncertain as is the knowledge of the true rights of tlie foreign countries to 914 CUBA AND VENEZUELA. whom the doctrine is now sought by some to be applied The principle of the Monroe Doctrine originated not with President Monroe, but — oddly enough, as it now seems — with a great English Premier. In the year 1815 the Governments of Russia, Austria and Prussia concluded a treat)- known as the " Holy Alliance," by which they pledged mutual support in all militar>' operations of every kind. After a few years the alliance was joined by France, and it then became known as the defender of the divine right of mon- archy, and the powerful combination used its armies to suppress popular movements for liberty in a number of countries, notably in Spain. Congress of Nations. The Alliance made such progress in the objects of its existence, that in 1823 steps ■were taken to call another congress of the Powers with the view of crushing the revo- tionary governments in Spanish America. At this point the Prime Minister of England, George Canning, saw in the new proposal a menace to his own country in that the growing commerce of England with the Spanish-American Republics would be di- verted if those countries returned to the condition of colonies of Spain or of any other Power. Mr. Canning then proposed to the United States Minister, Mr. Rush, that the two gov- ernments unite in a protest against the inter- ference of the allies with the affairs of the Spanish-American States. This was the origin and the first public proposal of the principle which has since become the most famous rule in the foreign policy of the United States. President Monroe and his Cabinet gave the subject anxious considera- tion. Thomas Jefferson, in commenting on the proposal, used this language : " Our first and fundamental maxim should be never to entangle ourselves in the broils of Europe ; our second, never to suffer Europe to inter- meddle with cis- Atlantic affairs. While Eu- rope is laboring to become the domicile of despotism, our endeavor should surely be to make our hemisphere that of freedom. One nation most of all could disturb us in this pursuit ; she now offers to lead, aid and ac- company us in it. By acceding to her propo- sition we detach her from the bands, bring her mighty weight into the scale of free gov- ernment, and emancipate a continent at one stroke." When Congress assembled in the month of December following Mr. Canning's proposal, President Monroe in his annual message de- fined in carefully chosen words the principles by which he proposed to be guided in the matter of the threatened interference of the allies. The statements touching on this for- eign policy are included in the following extract from his message, almost every phrase of which has become a classic in interna- tional history : Only Injuries Resented. " Of events in that quarter of the globe (Europe) with which we have so much inter- course, and from which we derive our origin, we have always been anxious and interested spectators. The citizens of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow- men on that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European Powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy to do so. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence. " With the movements in this hemisphere, we are, of necessity, more immediately con- CUBA AND VENEZUELA. 915 nected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political s)-stem of the allied Powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective govern- ments. And to the defence of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexam- pled felicit>-. this whole nation is devoted. Dangerous to Our Safety. " We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those Powers to declare that •we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies or de- pendencies of any European Power, we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great con- sideration and on just principles, acknowl- edged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or con- trolling in any other manner their destiny, by any European Power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposi- tion toward the United States. " Our policy in regard to Europe, which was adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal con- cerns of any of its Powers , to consider the Government de facto as the legitimate Gov- ernment for us ; to cultivate friendly relations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, firm and manly policy, meeting, in all instances, the just claims of every Power, submitting to injuries from none. But in regard to these continents, circumstances are eminently and conspicuously different. " It is impossible that the allied Powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endan- gering our peace and happiness ; nor can any one believe that our Southern brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should behold such interposition, in any form, with indifference. If we look to the comparative strength and resources of Spain and those new Governments, and their distance from each other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the parties to themselves in the hope that other Powers will pursue the same course." Comments of the Press. The leading daily papers of New York waged a lively war of words over the proper application of the Monroe Doctrine, arising out of the varj'ing interpretation of some ex- pressions used in this message. It must be admitted that President Monroe had reference solely to the overturning of republican forms of government, when he stated that an\' at- tempt on the part of European Powers to extend " their system " to any portion of this hemisphere would be considered as danger- ous to our peace and safety. The only loophole for controversy is the clause, " We could not view any interposition for the puspose of oppressing them (the Spanish-American republics) or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European Power." Does this clause forbid any " oppressing " of whatsoever kind ? Or does it constitute an appendage to the pre- ceding clause and refer only to " oppress- ing " when coupled with the intention to ex- tend the monarchical " system " over the op- 9i6 CUBA AND VENEZUELA. pressed, and thus establish colonial allegiance to the European Power who may be the aggressor? Some influential newspapers and one or more jurists of prominence extended to the word "oppressing," as used above, a mean- ing of almost unlimited scope. The)- con- strued it to cover almost any sort of unfair dealing by a European Power with an Amer- ican State. The second interpretation, on the other hand, was the one which has usu- ally guided our State Department, and re- ceived the support of Calhoun and Webster, as well as the published opinions of one or more college professors of international his- tory. Seward's Interpretation. This view was also clearly expressed by Secretary Seward in a note of instruction to our Minister to France at the time of the collision between that country and Mexico in 1862: "France has a right to make war against Mexico, and to determine for herself the cause. We have a right and interest to insist that France shall not improve the war she makes to raise up in Mexico an anti- republican or anti-American government, or to maintain such a government there. France has disclaimed such designs, and we, besides reposing faith in the assurances given in a frank, honorable manner, would, in any case, be bound to wait for, and not anticipate, a violation of them." If the first interpretation be the proper one, then the United States may have some right to insist on the submission to arbitra- tion of the question at issue between Great Britain and Venezuela. If, however, the second interpretation is correct — and the weight of authority is certainly in support of it — then there is as yet no violation of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine in the Venezuelan controversy, and the United States cannot invoke the same in justification of any interference in behalf of the South American republic. The tremendous sensation created all over the world by President Cleveland's message to Congress in December, 1895, on the con- troversy between Great Britain and Ven- ezuela quieted down, and the general belief among Government circles was that an ami- cable settlement would be reached by the two nations most intimately concerned, with- out the necessity of further action on the part of the United States. It was well known that the Foreign Office at London was trjnng to bring about this result. British sentiment seemed to incline more and more toward the propriety' of mak- ing concessions, if necessary, to preserve peace with the United States, and very strong speeches were made in Parliament favoring arbitration of the entire dispute and recog- nizing the justice of the position of the United States. A Senate Resolution. The indications were that President Cleve- land's action would result in establishing the force of the Monroe Doctrine in its broadest application, and its efficacy as a rule of American international law would not be disputed in the future. The Monroe Doctrine has had some dis- cussion in the Senate, arising from a resolu- tion introduced by Senator Davis, of Minne- sota, which aimed to commit Congress to a definite positive declaration of the existence and enduring force of the doctrine in the widest meaning which American construc- tion has placed upon it. The resolution was vigorously opposed by a few of the Senators as an ill-timed agitation of the question, an unwise extension of the meaning of the doctrine. TilU.MAS A. EDISON EMINENT AMERICANS. COMPRISING Biographies of Distinguished Statesmen, Inventors, Financiers, Etc. THE foregoing history of the United States may appropriately close with a concise account of the most fa- mous of our celebrities. There are names that shine resplendent in the firma- ment of human achievement, and with them are associated triumphs and successes that can never perish from the annals of time. Not alone in the stormy period of the Revolution, or during the sanguinary struggle of the Civil War, do we gaze upon these illustrious ones. In more recent historj^ there are those who challenge our admiration, and are an honor to our country. America is rich in her distinguished citizens, and in every walk of life, in every pursuit, we trace the footsteps of the giants who have ; given fame to the Republic, and whose j noble deeds and achievements are among her proudest possessions. THOMAS A. EDISON. NO inventor since the world began has achieved greater distinction than Thomas A. Edison. He is noth- ing less than a phenomenon in the realm of science, more especially in that part of it which relates to electricity. His discoveries have been the wonder of the age, and have placed him in the front rank of inventors. We find him at the age of ten reading the histories of Gibbon and Hume, yet his biog- raphers assert that he went to school only two months in his boyhood. Like the vast majority of those men who have left a deep impression upon their time, he was born in poverty and obscurity, being conspicuously a self-made man. His education was under the direction of his mother, yet at best was but superficial. Mr. Edison was born at Alva, Ohio, Feb- ruary nth, 1S47. As soon as he was old enough to become interested in any study, he showed great fondness for chemistry. This indicated the bent of his mind, and was a prophecy that the natural sciences would be his favorite pursuit. While he was em- ployed as a newsboy on a railway train, he determined to learn telegraphy. Here was the beginning of that remarkable career, and I of those discoveries Avhich, if they have not I revolutionized the telegraph system, have certainly promoted its efficiency and per- i fected its instruments. While residing at I Adrian, Mich., he opened a shop for repair- ing telegraph instruments and making new machinery. Subsequently, at Indianapolis, he invented his automatic repeater, which I was greatly in advance of any telegraph in- 91 8 EMINENT AMERICANS. strument then in existence, except the origi- nal one invented by Professor Alorse. Having lived a short time at Cincinnati, still devoting himself to electrical science, he removed to Boston, where he startled elec- tricians with his duplex telegraph. Many- attempts had previously been made to invent such an instrument, yet without success. Mr. Edison was still a young man, but hav- ing shown pre-eminent abilities, he was made president of the New York Gold Indicator Company, and moved his shops to Newark, N. J. He did not, however, remain long in the latter place, but, determining to devote himself exclusively to the work of invention, he established himself permanently at Menlo Park, where he has an extensive laboratory and is occupied constantly, with a large corps of assistants, in his various researches. Mr. Edison's history is more than usually rich in incidents of an interesting character. When he was selling papers and candies on the trains of the Grand Trunk Railway, he was making a hobby of chemistry. At this time he was a mere boy. Not having any other facilities for experimenting, he con- structed an amateur laboratory in one corner of a baggage-car. When other boys would have been at play, he was amusing and in- structing himself in that corner. During his absence one day a bottle of phosphorus, by being upset, or in some way broken, set the car on fire. Grave doubts were entertained as to tlic propriety of having so dangerous a lad on board the train, and the baggage- master kicked his chemicals and apparatus out of the car, which did not, however, put an end to the boy's passion for chemistry. He improvised another laboratory in a differ- ent place, and continued his studies as before. Mr. Edison was also at one time an ama- teur printer, and the publisher of a paper which bore the rather high-sounding title of Tlic Grand Trunk Herald. It came about in this way : on one of his trips to Chicago, the publisher of one of the daily papers in that I city made him a present of a lot of worn-out type. Thinking that this could be used to advantage, Edison established his journal, which was filled with items of news that were of special interest to the hands employed on the railroad. During the great battle at Shiloh, he persuaded the telegraph operators to send reports of the engagement to the different stations along the road. This crea- ted an immense demand for papers, and the young newsboy reaped a handsome profit by supplying them. About this time an incident occurred which has had an important influence on his life from that day to this. He proved him- self to be a young hero one day by saving I the child of a telegraph operator from being killed by a train. The father sought to re- ward him in some way, and was informed that the best reward, and one that would be the i most acceptable, would be to teach the res- j cuer of his child the art of telegraphing. This being done, the lad provided himself with wires and batteries, and soon became quite an expert in the use of telegraphic in- struments. Naturally a mind so alert was constantly seeking out new inventions. He never saw an instrument without immediately asking himself whether it could not in some way be I perfected. Very often his inventive genius I would instantly discover something that had I been entirely overlooked by the original in- ventor. Having pursued this plan all his life, his name has become identified with a vast number of inventions of various kinds- all this in addition to his own original dicov- eries. Having perfected himself as a telegraph operator, and being extremely expert, he readily secured a situation where he was ex-. EMINENT AMERICANS. 919 pected to do night work, and was required to telegraph the word " Six " to the Superin- tendent, in order to let this man know he was at his post and wide-awake. It did not take him long to contrive a machine that did the work for him, and left him free without interruption to pursue his favorite study of chemistry. His clever trick was, however, discovered, and by reason of it he lost his situation. It happened, while Mr. Edison was resid- ing in New York, that one day the Western Union wire to Albany gave out, and no mes- sages could be transmitted. The electricians of the company were baffled, and were una- ble to discover the trouble. After experi- menting a number of days, as a last resort, they called in Mr. Edison. He obtained communication with Albany by way of Pitts- burg. Then he requested the best operator at the other end of the line to sit at the ma- chine, with whom he experimented for a couple of hours with currents of different in- tensit}-. He then told the officers of the company what the difficulty was, and exactly where it was located. This achievement gave him much reputation, and proved his pre-eminent ability as an electrician. One of Mr. Edison's famous inventions is the Phonograph. The manner of its dis- covery shows the readiness with which he seizes upon every new fact, even ever>' hint developed in the study of electrical science. He was at work upon an apparatus for record- ing a telegraphic message by making, with a needle, indentations on a piece of tin foil wrapped around the cylinder. The message would thus be punctured or indented on this tin foil, then by substituting another needle — blunt — for the sharp one, and turning the cylinder, there would be a vibration as the needle entered into and passed out of the indentation. In the course of the experiments he turned the cylinder very rapidly, and instead of a succession of " clicks " a musical sound was produced. He seized the idea, and the Edison Phono- graph is the result. The perfected Phonograph of to-da\- con- \ sists of a cylinder of wax, or other plastic material, which is revolved either by hand, foot power or an electric motor. This cylin- der, called the phonogram, is used for record- ing the sound. This is done by a diaphragm such as is used in a telephone, into the centre of which is fastened a sharp needle, which rests upon and just touches the phonogram. When the words are spoken the diaphragm vibrates, moving this needle up and down, and a series of indentations are made in a spiral line on the phonogram, which is turn- ing around about eighty-five times a minute. To make the Phonograph speak, or repeat the words, another diaphragm, having a blunt, instead of a sharp needle, is placed at the starting point, and the phonogram is made to revolve. Of course, as the needle passes over the indentations it vibrates the diaphragm, and the words are reproduced as in the Telephone. Thus we can get a faith- j ful reproduction of instrumental music, songs, whistling, conversation, all sorts of sounds, ! and the phonograms can be packed into a mailing tube, and sent all over the world to be used as often as desired. This certainly is a most remarkable inven- tion. It shows what possibilities are con- nected with the science of electricity. If there are more wonders in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy, a large proportion of them find their home in Mr. Edison's laboratory. His inventive genius is always alert and active. No new phase of electricity ever presents itself without start- ing the inquiry in his mind as to how it can be made to serve some useful and practical end. He has been so successful in devising I strange things, such as were never before 920 EMINENT AMERICANS. dreamed of, that he has been given the ap- propriate title of" Wizard. " The idea of the Telephone has long been in existence. It was first practically applied in the construction of toys. One called the " Lo\-er's String" was made in 1831, and is the simplest form of a Telephone. The dis- coveries and improvements of Mr. Edison have aided greatly in perfecting this instru- ment. The transmitter, constructed and im- proved by him and Blake, is combined with the Bell Telephone and makes the Telephone of general use. To such a state of perfection has the instrument been brought that over long distances, even between some of our great cities, communication can be success- fully carried on. Special mention must be made of Mr. Edison's invention for the multiplication, or printing of copies made by pen and ink and the tj^pewriter. This is found very ser- viceable in large establishments that send out circulars, etc. Its fundamental principle is the stylus or point, the writing implement of man since the art was first invented. It is the natural tool by which the hand can trace characters, and it is this stylus or point, used j in the instrument, which has created for it ' such a decided and permanent popularit}^ The sheet of paper upon which the copy is to be printed is placed upon a blotter resting on the base-board beneath the stencil sheet, and the ink roller is passed over the stencil sheet, forcing the ink through perfora- tions, thus making the impression upon the ' paper. This operation is repeated until the required number of copies are obtained. It is a quick and simple process of reproducing letters and circulars in quantities large or small. One of the latest and most interesting inventions of Mr. Edison is the Kinetoscope, which is nothing more nor less than the reproduction of motion. The observer looks through a glass into a small cabinet and sees what appear to be living figures. They may be men or animals, and they are in action. Thus the movements of horses, children at play, men and women walking, exercises in gymnastics, etc., are faithfully reproduced. This, it must be admitted, is a marvelous triumph of inventive genius. It is not too much to say that Mr. Edi- son's ideas have entered largely into all the electrical discoveries of recent time. He, or his assistants, prompted by his original con- ceptions, have contributed largely to all the scientific journals of the country. His inven- tions consist of improvements in the electric light and the telephone. He is also the in- ventor of the phonograph, the quadruplex and sextuplex transmitter, the microphone, the megaphone, the kinetoscope, the mimeo- graph, the electric pen, etc. No one can foresee what discoveries are yet to be made in the science of electricity. The field is as wide as it is interesting. Already the marvels are on every side of us. Especially is the thought of electricians occu- pied with the endeavor to obtain a motive power that shall supersede steam. That this will be accomplished is certainly within the bounds of possibilitj^; but whatever the future discoveries are to be, it is safe to pre- dict that Mr. Edison will be among the fore- most of those who achieve success in this department of science. In person Mr. Edison is rather tall, some- what stocky, with smooth face and a youth- ful expression. He is capable of a great amount of work and has been known to spend sixty hours consecutively in his laboratory without sleep. He bears the title of Count, which was conferred upon him in Italy, in honor of his brilliant dis- coveries. CHAUN-CF.V M. DEPEW CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW. THERE are Americans who do not need to be placed in official posi- tion, who do not need to be Gov- ernors, Senators or Presidents, to exert a commanding influence and stand in the eye of the nation. They are capable of winning celebrity in more private walks. Some of our most distinguished citizens have ne\er been placed to any considerable extent under political responsibility. There are those who appear to be naturally outside of office, if not altogether superior to it. Their worth lies entirely in themselves, irrespective ■of position or surroundings. If one were asked to name the most emi- nent citizens of ourcountryChauncey Mitchell Depew would be mentioned as one of them. His fame has gone into all parts of the land, among men of business, politicians, leaders of thought, those who are especially inter- ested in moral reform — in fact, among all classes of our citizens Mr. Depew is known for his estimable qualities, his intellectual ability and his genial nature. He did, indeed, at one time hold office, but this was i many years ago, and, while he has always been interested in politics, and has even been suggested as the candidate of his party for ' the Presidency, he does not appear to have sought distinctions of this description. Mr. Depew is a man of broad and liberal education. He was born in Peekskill, N. Y., April 23, 1834. Even in his boyhood he 1 was a gifted declaimer, and gave prophecy then of his distinguished career as an orator. , The old saying that "the boy is the father to the man" is illustrated in his case. He graduated from Yale College in 1856, having taken high rank during his course, especially in the department of rhetoric and oratory. Many were the contests he had in college, j and many were the times that he emerged j from them with complete success. His social disposition, his breezy manner, his happy knack of merry-making and his fund of anec- dote, rendered him a general favorite. In 1858 he began practicing law, consider- ing that this profession furnished the widest opportunities for such abilities as he could command. His public career as an orator was begun in 1856 in the Fremont campaign. At this time he identified himself with the young Republican party, of which he has since been a prominent and enthusiastic member. He became widely known through- out the eastern part of New York for his pithy and eloquent stump-speeches, and very soon found himself in favor with the older leaders of the party. His youth, his self- possession, his fluency, his grasp of the subjects he treated, his unbounded enthu- siasm, drew immediate attention and marked a coming man. In 1 86 1 he was sent to the Legislature of New York, and two years later he was elected Secretary of State, declining a re- election two years subsequently. He found it necessary to devote his time somewhat exclusively to his profession, considering that this was his legitimate calling, and to pursue it would prove of lasting benefit to him in the end. In 1866 he was chosen attorney for the New York and Harlem Railroad, and, three years later, when the railroad was consolidated with the New York Central, he became general counsel of the company. He was elected second Vice- President of the Central Railroad in 1882, and the following year President of the " Vanderbilt roads." In person Mr. Depew is above the medium height, has prominent features and a clear, penetrating voice that can be heard b}- the largest audiences. 921 PHILIP D. ARMOUR. THE ancient classic nations were in the habit of speaking of the seven won- ders of the world. If we were asked to give a list of the seven wonders of America, the city of Chicago would most assuredly be one of them. It sits like a queen at the feet of the great chain of lakes which, taken together, are nothing less than an immense inland sea. Its growth has been rapid and phenomenal. Within the memory of living men, it was only a village, located on marshy ground, then giving no promise of becoming the great metropolis of the West. The explanation of this remarkable growth is something which does not especially con- cern us. That location has had much to do with it is doubtless true. Here is a wonder- ful centre of railroads, branching out into all parts of the West. Here are facilities for navigation which are unsurpassed by those of any inland waters on the face of the globe. Lying around Chicago, and extend- ing through leagues of fertile territorj', are farms and homesteads which have sprung into existence with startling rapidity. Chi- cago looks out upon a vast country that may appropriately be called the garden of America, producing grains, cattle, sheep and swine, in almost boundless affluence. Natur- ally these must all have a market, a central point for distribution to other parts of the country and the eastern world. While all these causes have combined to render Chicago a city whose growth has been extraordinar>% it is no less true that much is due to the enterprise of her citizens, among whom are numbered men of broad ideas, exceptional business ability, and an integrity made of gold unmixed with dross. One of these citizens whose remarkable suc- cesses have given fame to Chicago is Mr. Philip D. Armour — a full-grown man, looked 922 at from every point of view, whose business career, whose unimpeachable character and faithful endeavors in every walk of life, have made him conspicuous in the city of his resi- dence and widely known throughout the country. He was born in Stockbridge, N. Y., May 16, 1832, and received his education in the district school of his native town. Like many young men, he was under the impression that some other part of the coun- try than the one in which he was born and I reared would afford a wider field for activity and success, and started out to seek his for- tune, going to Cahfornia in 185 i. This was only two or three years after the discovery of gold, but Mr. Armour found, even at that time, that fortunes are not picked up in a day, and he was doomed to disappointment. In i 1856, he left California, convinced that he ! could do better elsewhere. Still, it is true that even at this time he exhibited those qualities of industry, tact and perseverance, which have since distinguished him and are really the secret of the success that has made him a millionaire, or it would be more correct to say, a multi-millionaire, for his possessions must be numbered among the millions. Mr. Armour went to ]\Iilwau- kee, Wio., where he embarked in the com- mission business, meeting with the success that might be expected from a man of his ability. He saw that there was a wide and growing field in the provision trade, that the West was destined, if not to feed the world, yet to contribute largely toward it, and this led to the widening of his plans and the beginning of the business in which he has made his fame and fortune. In connection with John Plankington, of Milwaukee, he established a packing house, and for a number of years devoted to the business his time and energies. This was in PHILIP D. ARMOUR. EMINENT AMERICANS. 9^3 1863, and in 1868 the Chicago estabhshment of P. D. Armour & Co. was founded, which has branch houses in Kansas City and New York, and extends its trade all over the world. These packing houses are immense establishments, and, except by actual obser- vation, no one would be able to get an accu- rate idea of the vast business that is carried on. To one unused to such sights, the rapidity with which live animals are converted into provisions, ready to be shipped, is something amazing. Various mechanical arrangements are in use, and inventive genius has employed itself in furnishing facilities for expediting the work. Many as are the remarkable sights of Chicago, a visit to the packing houses of P. D. Armour & Co. is one of the most interesting and one that is seldom omitted by strangers. That a business should have grown up in a few years so large as to extend itself into all parts of the world, is a high tribute to the enterprise of its controlling head, and to the resources of the great West. Mr. Armour does not believe in turning his business over to others and merely super- vising it in a general way. Like all success- ful business men, he has a rare faculty for dealing with details. The imprint of his hand is on ever}^ part of the great enterprises he carries on ; his personality is felt every- where. Among all the thousands of his employees there is probably not one who performs the daily amount of labor that he does himself. He is not a man to merely say, " Do this, or that," but is himself a worker, and is always found at his post. At the same time Mr. Armour is a very benevolent man, giving away large sums of money and doing this, not merely by spas- modic contribution, but as a daily habit. He not only gets, but he gives, and in this respect his ideas and activities are on a scale with the vast plans that enter into his busi- ness. The Armour Mission is one of the i religious institutions of Chicago, and he is not content merely to provide the ways and means, but also shows his interest in the work by his personal presence and super- I vision. j Thus it will be seen that Mr. Armour is something more than a man of business, con- fining his thoughts and energies entirely to his own immediate concerns. As a citizen , he is interested in public affairs, although he has never sought office. He has been willing that others should occupy positions which I could have been filled most satisfactorily by a man of his ability and character. Honors i would have been placed upon him by his fellow-citizens if he had been willing to receive them ; but he has never sought them, and when they have sought him he has gracefully declined. While such a man would doubtless have achieved great success in any pursuit, it seems evident that Mr. Armour luckily found the one to which he was especially adapted. He has given very close attention to it, and from first to last has been a working man. He has no time to waste. With him life means unremitting labor and the furtherance of his great enterprises. It is impossible to conceive of a man possessed of his energy and business capacity contenting himself with meagre results. He does not look at obstacles and hesitate ; he masters them by the force of his will and the energy of his active nature. His honorable career is well worthy to be recorded as an example and a stimulus to others who are engaged in industrial pursuits. One of the most magnificent presents Chicago ever received was from him, and the Armour Institute, fully endowed, stands not only as one of the finest ornaments of the city, but also as a monument that will per- petuate the memory and philanthropic dis- I position of the founder. THOMAS B. REED. THE history of our country shows that in everj' great crisis and.emer- gency men have come forward who were equal to the occasion. An extraordinary demand has always developed extraordinary characters and has been fruit- ful in remarkable achievements. From the period of the Revolution down to the pre- sent time, statesmen who would compare favorably with those of any other nation, have appeared upon the scene of action. Those who established our national policy and guided the young republic through its early career, were not more conspicuous than those who, in later times, have shaped the events whose record is written upon the enduring pages of history. It is but just to say that our nation has been gifted with wise and able statesmen, nor do we need to go far back to discover their names. Stormy times always bring grand men to the front, the occasion affording opportunity for leaders of intellectual force, heroic cour- age and glowing patriotism. It has been no light task to guide American affairs during the period immediately following our great Civil War. The conflict of opinions has raged under the dome of the Capitol. This was only to be expected, for a nation like ours, covering so vast an extent of territory, the life of which is composed of interests so varied, and where there is always a strong local feeling, must find that there will be differences of opinion respecting many ques- tions of national policy. Few men have lately occupied more public attention than Thomas Brackett Reed, a man constructed on a broad plan, with abundance of material put into his original composition, and physically and intellectually the peer of the most conspicuous Americans who have gone before him. As a party leader, he has ] 924 shown pre-eminent abilities, while at the same time he possesses the elements of personal popularity to a remarkable degree. He ap- pears to have gained his full growth, is not confined within narrow limits, and is so ample in thought, energy and deed, that he must be considered a grand outgrowth of American institutions. Mr. Reed was born in Maine, October 1 8th, 1839. After the usual common-school education, which the most of American boys are fortunate in being able to obtain, he con- tinued his studies and graduated at Bowdoin College in i860. The choice of his profes- sion was that of law, and he immediately began its study after leaving College. For a short time he was diverted from the practice of his profession, becoming acting paymaster in the Navy in 1864. Here, however, he remained only a year, and then resumed his profession. His comprehensive knowledge of current politics and his sound Republican principles made him widely known in his own localit}% and he was honored with an election to the lower branch of the Maine Legislature in 1868. At the next election, he was made Senator and was transferred to the upper house. For two years he was attorney- general of the State, and city solicitor for Portland for a term of four years. During all this time his reputation was extending, his marked qualities were showing them- selves, his strong individuality was attracting observation, and it became evident that he had abundant qualifications for a sphere of the widest political action. The next step in his career was his election to Congress, in 1876. He has since been continuousl}' re-elected, a fact in itself afford- ing sufficient evidence of his great popularity and the unbounded confidence reposed in z^' 1 1 fH -^^ ^^^^ \ "^ y A. i.'^.. m:' ^. ,%^ THOMAS B REED EMINENT AMERICANS. 925 him by his constituents. It was soon ad- mitted in Washington that a man of extra- ordinary parts had taken his seat in the House of Representatives. He did not com- mit the error of expressing his views on every Httle subject, on every httle occasion, but when the turning-points came and mat- ters of weighty import were to be decided, 'Sir. Reed stood in tlie centre of the arena, a vahant champion of his party faith, and an op- Donent with whom few dared to measure arms. I Representatives. Men who had resorted to the most unscrupulous methods for defeating projects which they did not favor, were respectfully but firmly told to take a back seat. Rules were adopted for " counting a quorum," and permitting public business to be transacted, a very wise and indispensable proceeding, as would be said by any man of common sense. It was justly concluded that where something was expected to be done, it was the height of idiocy and obstinacy to Mr. Reed showed an intricate knowledge 1 allow a small minority to paralyze all action, of parliamentary law and usages, having | resulting in the doing of nothing, made the conduct of public business a special j As might have been expected, a storm of study. He was quick to detect any blunder criticism was awakened. In the midst of it or mistake in the deliberations and modes of all Mr. Reed stood like a rock, conscious procedure on the floor of the House. ' that he was right and that the position he Naturally he became the leader of his party, having a clear and comprehensive conception of its principles, and being able to express his views with such force and eloquence as to command attention. He assumed his position at the front without effort, without had taken was a public necessity. Americans do not like a weak man. They had found a strong one, and the entire approbation of his party sustained Mr. Reed and applauded his administration. He was unmoved by assaults, bitter criticisms, storms of vituperation. His courting favor, purely upon his own merits ! enemies gave him the title of " Czar," berated as a statesman of broad views, generous im- pulses, magnetic force and calm judgment. He became the central figure of the Re- publican party, and in the Fifty-first Con- gress was elected Speaker of the House. It soon became evident that a man of stern will and remarkable executive ability was in the chair. Business was to go on. The country expected legislation and was to have it. The what they called his tyranny, yet inwardly respected him and bowed before the majesty of his will. Time has justified fully the position Mr. Reed assumed, and the very rules which the minority opposed they were com- pelled to adopt when they became the majority. Mr. Reed's views upon great public ques- tions are so well known as to require little reference here. Suffice it to say, he is a subterfuges and delays for defeating measures I thorough American, believes in a strong for- of public importance were to be branded as infamous. The old-time usages and rules which blocked legislative machinery were to be dragged forth and slain, as .Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. Of course, there was a stir among the dry bones. It had never been so seen in Wash- ington before. A new man was at the helm, a new life and vigor were infused into the eign policy, is an advocate of reasonable pro- tection to American industries, and stands with his windows open to the light, ready for any and all measures that will promote the widest public welfare. In personal characteristics and force of character Mr. Reed is a typical American and seems abundantly able to bear the re- sponsibilities which have fallen to his lot as deliberations and actions of the House of a public man. MELVILLE W. FULLER. LAWYERS of high reputation are found in all parts of our country, and here, more than in almost any other profession, it is difficult to draw distinctions and say that one is superior to another. Taken as a whole, the profession of law exhibits keen intellectual ability and marked oratorical power. Some members of the profession have been eminent as jurists, such as Chief Justice Marshall and Chief Justice Chase. Others have been eloquent pleaders, like Webster and Choate. Others have excelled in that intellectual acuteness which is especially re- quired in untangling the meshes of the law. It is true that very able jurists have been placed upon the bench of the Supreme Court. Yet these never have enjoyed a monopoly of legal talent. Others of equal ability might have been elevated to the same position, ful- filling its duties with equal efficiency. The subject of this sketch did not have a national reputation until he was nominated for Chief Justice by President Cleveland and promptly confirmed by the Senate. That such an honor is great is universally con- ceded ; it is one of the highest that can be conferred. It has been said that the Supreme Court is peculiarly the pride and glory of our country. Although this was said by a mem- ber of the Court and appears to have a touch of self-praise about it, nevertheless it must be admitted to be true. Here is the tribunal of last resort. Here questions are decided which pertain even to the Constitution and government of the country. Matters of the gravest import are constantly before the Court, vast interests hinging upon their de- cision. Beyond this tribunal there is no appeal. Its word is final and is not to be disputed. Its decisions pass into laws, into principles of action, and even become a part of our unwritten Constitution. 926 History furnishes a record of many tribu- nals, some just, some unjust, some cruel, some merciful, some pure, and many corrupt, but in all the long story of civilization from an- cient Egypt down through the Greek and Roman Empires to the present day, there can be found no judicial organization more worthy of high honor and profound respect than the Supreme Court of the United States. Intimately interwoven as its proceedings have been with the national and individual life of our people, calmly deciding, as it has, matters of the gravest import, involving vast measures of wealth, political consequences unmeasurable in mere money, and questions on the turn of which hung millions of lives, no taint of suspicion ever sullied its honor, the serious charge has seldom made, even in the heat of sectional strife and bitterness, that its decision, or the decisions of its individual members, were guided by aught save the cold, passionless mandate of the law, clothed with the significance that each one attached to its utterance. It was characterized by an eminent jurist as " The court which interprets the living voice of the Constitution." " In whatever has concerned the national welfare, this court has," he said, " always stood for the con- science of the people of the United States." The character and eminence of its mem- bers must ever be a subject of deepest inter- est to all Americans, for it is readily conceiv- able that without a Marshall, a Waite, a Storey and a Chase, as Chief Justices, our national and political development might have proceeded upon lines far different from the ones which it has followed. The position held by the Supreme Court, the importance of the cases brought to its judgment and the far-reaching effects of its decisions, require jurists of the most profound learning, the widest experience, the utmost MELVILLE W. FULLER. EMINENT AMERICANS. )27 patience and candor, and personal characters above reproach. That JMr. Fuller meets these requirements to a most eminent degree, is universally admitted. He was born in Au- gusta, Maine, February ii, 1833, and twenty years later graduated from Bowdoin Col- lege, an institution which has been peculiarly favored in its distinguished graduates. Hav- ing studied law at Harvard College, Mr. Fuller entered upon the practice of his pro- fession in his native cit%- in 1S55. His mind seems to have had a leaning toward journalism, and he became the editor of the Augusta Age, while at the same time he became prominent in local politics, having been made president of the Common Council during his editorship. In 1S56 he was elected City Attorney. But, like many young men born and reared in New England, he was seized with the Western fever, and de- termined to go West to find a wider field for his energies. He removed to Chicago, where, for thirty-two years, he conducted a highly successful law practice, having gained imme- diately a wide reputation for legal acumen, and for honorable methods in the manage- ment of his cases. At the same time, he did not divorce him- self from public affairs. He was a member of the Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1862, and of the Illinois House of Represen- tatives in 1863. A strong Democrat, he served as a delegate to all the national Con- ventions from 1864 to 1880 inclusive, and was always prominent in the councils of his party, where his word had the greatest influ- ence. His successful career naturally pointed to a higher position of service than he had hitherto occupied. Not only the men of his own party, but his fellow-citizens generally looked upon him as an able, honorable and upright man. When President Cleveland selected him to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Bench of the United States caused hy the death of Chief Justice Waite, the choice was pronounced a wise one b}- those who knew Mr. Fuller best. Those who had not known him were some- what surprised at his selection, but subse- quent events have justified the wisdom of the choice. He was confirmed by the Senate July 20, 1888, and took the oath of office on the 8th of October following. In the social life of Washington, Mr. Fuller and his family are widely known, making it a point to entertain their friends and show attention to strangers. Their delightful hos- pitalities are widely extended and thoroughly enjoyed. A large family of daughters, bright \ and well educated, lend attraction to the home. These have been reared, not after the straight-laced fashion, but, while placed under judicious parental restraint, they have been allowed such freedom as develops individu- ality of character, and, to a considerable ex- tent, independence of action. They think for themselves, have opinions of their own, and are fully equal to all the social func- tions in which thej- are required to take part. Mr. Fuller has received the degree of LL.D. from Bowdoin College, and also from the Northwestern University. This is simply the recognition of those distinguished abilities which have placed him at the head of the highest judicial tribunal in the land. In person he is of medium height and build, and not at all remarkable for what we are in the habit of calling " presence." His hair is white and is worn long; his face smooth, with the exception of a somewhat heavy mustache. His features are clear cut, giving evidence of the scholar and the thinker. His decisions are marked by learning, pro- found insight into the merits of the case, and a simplicity and clearness of expression which render them capable of being compre- hended by the average mind. JOHN WANAMAKER. THE career of no business man in the United States has been more successful than that of John Wana- maker. From the poor boy to the foremost merchant of our time, is an amazing step. Others may be accounted self-made men, miracles we might call them of energy exhibiting itself under all circumstances. The man who is a natural-born leader is pretty sure to lead wherever you place him. He carries in his own strong will and iron arm successes beyond the reach of feebler men. Such an one does not need to have greatness thrust upon him ; he is great al- and achievement, but to no other does the i ready. The world always has estimated, and term phenomenal apply with as much force always will estimate, men by their successes. as it does to the subject of this sketch Not only is Mr. Wanamaker the greatest merchant in America, he is also one of our greatest men. By this we do not mean that he is brilliant from all points of view, that he is a profound scholar or a great orator, but in all the elements which go to form a true and noble manhood, a man successful in all his undertakings, and a private and public citizen of pre-eminent worth and influence, he may be considered unique. It has been quite customary for instruc- tors of the rising generation to point to Mr. Wanamaker as a shining example for young men. The young as well as the old learn best from object lessons. That Mr. Wana- maker should have been selected so fre- quently as a pattern for imitation is not surprising to those who know him best. Standing conspicuously as he does before the public, it is not to be wondered at that he should have his critics, perhaps even enemies. All positive characters do have them, and it is greatly to their credit that the)- do. What impresses one especially is, that Judged by this inevitable standard, Mr. Wanamaker is a Saul among the Prophets. He was born in Philadelphia, July ii, 1838 ; attended a country school until he was fourteen, and there obtained about the only education he ever received. His first place was that of messenger boy with the publish- ing house of Troutman & Hayes, at the ex- ceedingly modest salary of $1.25 a week. He lived over four miles from the store, and footed it morning and evening, eating at noon the plain lunch brought with him from home, put up for him by a loving mother's hands. Subsequently the family lived for a time in Kosciusko County, Indiana, but re- turned to Philadelphia in 1856, where young Wanamaker eventually obtained employment in Tower Hall, then the largest clothing house in that city. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, when he was twenty-three years old, he married Miss Brown, and, having obtained a very small capital, he went into the clothing business in partnership with his brother-in- law. Here the qualities of the man began Mr. Wanamaker has so many sides to his i to show themselves, and he became conspic- character, and shows so much of genius, not only in one direction, but in many. It is not too much to say that if he had been en- gaged in any other pursuit than the mercan- tile, he would instantly have come to the front. The secret of all this is simply in the man himself. Having the ability, it cannot help 928 uous for that business shrewdness, push, and perseverance, enterprise, courage, and breadth of views which have distinguished him ever since. Of course, the business prospered and grew rapidly, until in time his clothing house became the largest in America. A second JOHN WANAilAKUR. EMINENT AMERICANS. 929 store was opened in the city, and afterwards several branch houses in other parts of the country. It is noticeable that from early manhood Mr. Wanamaker devoted himself enthusiastically to religious work, his activity in this respect keeping pace with that dis- played in his business. He established a mission school in what was then a poor, neglected part of the city, so infested with rough, criminal characters, that it was scarcely safe for a respectable citizen to walk through its streets after nightfall. This mission has grown to amazing pro- portions. It was the forerunner of the great Bethany Church and Sunday-schools, which have attracted attention, not merely in Phila- delphia, but in all parts of the countr\-. It may as well be said here that in connection with Bethany, advantages have been offered to young persons in humble circumstances for the study of various secular branches, a knowledge of which is intended to prepare them for business life. Moreover, arrange- ments have been made for the founding of an institute which will cost from one to two million dollars, where at a nominal rate young persons of both sexes can pursue academical studies, and have ample opportu- nities for manual training. This is one of Mr. Wanamaker's crowning achievements. After the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, with the financial management of which he was prominently connected, he opened the great general store in Philadelphia which continues to be one of the wonders of the age. It occupies an entire square in one direction and half this space in another. The building was once a large freight depot, and when Mr. Wanamaker conceived the idea of opening a store of such gigantic dimen- sions it was freely prophesied that he would fail. Notwithstanding all reports to the con- trary, there has doubtless never been a time when Mr. Wanamaker was anvwherc near 09 the point of failing. Failure does not seem to be in the man. Mr. Wanamaker's methods of conducting business have shown his original genius. These have been quite different from those long pursued, being especially noticeable in the liberality shown to the public. They are made to feel quite at home in the great establishment, are treated with the utmost courtesy, and if, after making purchases, these are not satisfactory, they can be re- turned. The theory is, that to treat the public liberally pays. Quite naturally Mr. Wanamaker became prominent as a citizen and public man. He appeared to have no ambition for office, but for many years was fully occupied with the management of his vast concerns. His coun- sel and advice were, however, often sought, and it is probable that no preferment within the gift of his native city would have been denied him. But he was destined to hold a much higher position and one that would identify him with the affairs of the nation at large. Having many times declined public office, in 1889 he accepted the portfolio of Postmaster-General in President Harrison's Cabinet, and introduced into the department the most approved business methods. His efficient administration did much toward perfecting and extending the postal service. Mr Wanamaker has long been distin- guished for his liberal contributions to benevolent work, and it is certain that more than one institution, endowed by his munifi- cence, will stand as a monument to his busi- ness capacity and liberal spirit. He takes the view that a considerable part of his vast estate should be distributed dur- ing his lifetime under his own care and supervision. He is not willing merely to part with his money when compelled to by grim death, after the example of a great manv. CHARLES FREDERICK CRISP, M R. CRISP has been a well-known figure in Congress since the period of his first election. He had gained a wide celebrity in Geor- gia, liad shown himself, in various ways, to be a man suited to leadership, and his eleva- tion to the House of Representatives was only to be expected, and was a worthy tribute to the man. He seems to have been by nature marked out for political life, and it will be generally admitted that in Washington he found his appropriate sphere. Mr. Crisp was born in Sheffield, England, January 20, 1845. His parents were Ameri- cans, temporarily residing in England, and returned to this country in 1846, when the subject of the sketch was about one year old. Thus, although Mr. Crisp is not a na- tive of the United States, he comes as near it as one possibly can, being distinctively Am- erican by parentage and education. The family having settled in Georgia, the i boy was placed in the common schools, where he received his education. While quick to learn and exhibiting qualities of mind much above the average, he also displayed marked traits which have been prominent through all his subsequent career. He was indepen- dent, positive, aggressive, and self-reliant. He was not in the habit of allowing any of his rights to be invaded without showing quick resentment. In time, he became a leader among the young men by whom he was surrounded, and over whom he exerted great influence. Even at this period he seemed to combine in a remarkable degree wise foresight and judgment with impetuous force. He was evidently born to be a power in whatever sphere or circumstances placed him. He shared the spirit of the South which flamed out in secession, and in this he was only like 930 the great body of young men in the Southern States. It is a well-known fact that quite largely the Confederate Army was composed of this class. They were strong in their con- victions ; they were eager for action in the field ; they were willing to take risks and make sacrifices. They did not count their lives dear to them, and history shows that tens of thousands of them fell upon the battle-field, reddening its sod with their warm blood. In 1861 Mr. Crisp entered the Confederate army as a lieutenant. He saw a good deal of active service in the field, showed himself to be a good soldier, and won the approbation of his superiors. He was a prisoner of war from May, 1864, until June, 1865. After his release he studied law, and practiced first at Ellaville, and afterward at Americus, Ga., which latter place became his subsequent home. He quickly took high rank in his profession, and gained rapid prominence, being well thought of by older lawyers as well as by the community in which he lived. In 1872 he was appointed solicitor-general of the South-western Judicial Court, and held that office until the middle of 1877, when he became judge of the Superior Court of the same circuit. He showed himself to be fully equipped for the exacting duties of his position, lending dignity to his office, and evincing that impartial spirit which properly belongs to the occupant of the judicial bench. He could have remained in this position if he had chosen, but whether satisfied with his successes or not, his fellow-citizens had already expressed their wishes to have him represent them at Washington. He resigned from the bench in September, 1882, to accept the Democratic nomination for Congress. He was permanent president of the Democratic Convention which assem- CHARLES FREDERICK CS.ISP. EMINENT AMERICANS. 931 bled in Atlanta in April, 1883, to nominate a caaciiuate for governor. Thus his steps ail seemed to be in the natural order of things, one following the other in a kind of logical sequence. He was elected to the Forty- eighth Congress, and immediately took high rank among the members of the House, being prominent on all occasions in the deliberations of his party, and regarded as one of the wisest and most efficient leaders. When the Democratic party came into power with Mr. Cleveland's second adminis- tration, Mr. Crisp was unanimously selected to assume the responsible duties of Speaker of the House, and was chosen to that position. His knowledge of parliamentary law, his ex- perience upon the floor of Congress, his character for impartial judgment, gained when connected with the courts of his adopted State, all marked him out as pos- sessing the necessaiy qualifications for the Speakership. During the sessions of the Fifty-second Congress he added greatly to his reputation, and it was generally conceded that he was a worthy successor of the able presiding officers who had gone before him. Even his political opponents agreed that his rulings and decisions showed at all times careful consideration, and were unbiased by prejudice. In manner, Mr. Crisp is a type of the cul- tivated gentleman, urbane, cordial, courteous, and approachable upon all occasions. Pos- sessed of great independence and resolution, always looking at public questions from a practical point of view, firm in the mainte- nance of his opinions, and immovable as a rock when conscious that he is in the right, he affords a central point around which the sentiment of his party shapes itself In de- bate, he is incisive, fluent, forcible, and ordi- narily shows a thorough study and complete grasp of his subject. He has proved himself to be a formidable antagonist, and many are the weapons of lesser men that have been broken upon his shield, and have fallen harmless at his feet. At times his utterances are bold and almost defiant, yet his evident sincerity assures him a respectful hearing, while the honesty of his convictions is always plainly apparent. Taking him all in all, he is a typical repre- sentative of the locality from which he comes and of the party whose ideas and principles he holds with tenacity- and expounds with such marked ability. After the shifting fortunes of political par- , ties had deprived Mr. Crisp of his position at j the head of the House of Representatives, he resumed his place on the floor to represent again the district that had repeatedly hon- ored him. He did not seem to lose interest in national legislation, but, although acting with the minority, and knowing beforehand that measures advocated by himself and friends were not certain to be passed, he did not relax his vigilance, or in any way dimin- ish his efforts in behalf of what he deemed essential to the public welfare. By common consent he was the leader of his party, and, being so regarded, he had the chief voice in its deliberations. His en- tire history as a public man had been so free from mistakes, and so contrary to the in- trigues of the mere self-seeking partisan, that he commanded the utmost respect and confi- dence. It was sufficient to know what were his views on public questions in order to gather around him a strong and lo}'al band of supporters. Not that he has ever been in the habit of exercising a domineering spirit, or of show- ing any attempt to override the honest con- victions of other men. His appeal has always been to reason and common sense. Mr. Crisp's native qualities have been his success; at the same time they have been quickened by a broad culture and large experience. MARSHALL FIELD. GIVEN the man and the opportu- j nitj% and the combination is com- ! plete. The opportunity is the great West, even the world ; the man is ilarshall Field. There is no special merit in being an Eastern boy or being born even in Massa- chusetts. Yet, in numerous instances, our Eastern boys, who are the flowering and the growth of a hard-headed, industrious, thrifty ancestry, have honored their parentage, have amassed fortunes and risen to enviable posi- tions in every walk of life. It is useless to say that nothing depends upon the kind of stuff of which a young man is made. No one can sharpen a stick and make of it a razor. That enterprises should be conducted on a grand scale in Chicago and other parts of the West, is only to be expected. Man's plans appear to follow nature's, and nature's plans in America are broad and comprehensive. Our rivers are more than rivulets, our prairies are more than garden patches, our Northern lakes have a suggestion of the sea about them, and in keeping with this breadth and fulness is American enterprise. We are an ambitious, nervous, pushing, money-making people. The Eastern boy, in fact, every boy, has dreams of a fortune. Marshall Field was born in Conway, Mass., in 1835. His father was a farmer, and that, too, in a locality where it is no easy matter to make two blades of grass grow where one grew before. It was not needful that the father should make fortunes and successes for the son ; the son had fortunes and successes in himself He went to Chicago in 1856 and obtained employment in the wholesale dry- goods house of Cooley, Wadsworth & Co., afterward Cooley, Farwell & Co., and subse- quently the John V. Farwell Company. In 1S60 he obtained an interest in the con- cern, but in 1S65 Mr. Field and L. Z. Leiter withdrew from the house, and in connection with Potter Palmer organized the firm of Field, Palmer & Leiter. Air. Palmer with- drew in 1867, and the firm became Field, Leiter & Co. Since the retirement of Mr. Leiter, in 1881, the house has been known by the name of Marshall Field & Co. To say that its business has been extended, not only throughout America, but into other parts of the world, until it is, perhaps, the most extensive of its kind of which we have any record, speaks volumes for the tact and enterprise, sound judgment and persevering energy of those who have had the manage- ment of it. While Mr. Field has been asso- ciated with men of ability and not capable of making many mistakes, his guiding thought and practical business talent have been dis- played throughout. This great mercantile establishment has branches in Paris, Manchester, Yokohama and other foreign centres, and carries on a business that amounts to many million dollars a year — just how many it would be difficult to say, for the reason that in every mercantile establishment the volume of business may vary according to times and circumstances. The amount of labor involved in starting, extending and conducting a business of such vast proportions can be known only to those by whom the burden has been borne. Let no one suppose for a moment that there has been any recklessness which rushes on without taking any thought of consequences. There has been a conservative management on the one hand, and a bold, energetic, for- ward movement on the other. There has been nothing whatever in the nature of wild speculation. There has been no jumping at chances, but in a. straightforward, mathema- MARSHALL FIELD. EMINENT AMERICANS. 933 tical way, business has been pushed, and the results could almost be foreseen. This seems | to have been the great cardinal principle on I which Mr. Field has always acted. When \ financial depressions have come, and every morning's bulletin made startling announce- ments of failures, he has been able to meet the emergencies and conquer all threatening disaster. It is said that his rule is to never borrow, never give a note, never to speculate- in stocks, and to buy for cash. He has never considered himself under any obligation to be influenced by the whims and caprices of the hour. When others have departed from sound business principles and have extended credits in order to quicken the pulses of trade, he has marked the line of danger and has pursued an opposite course. Moreover, he has always conducted his dealings with a view to gain the confidence of the public, guaranteeing the quality of the goods sold, and absolutely refusing to sell goods of inferior character. Confidence is one of the corner-stones of sound and suc- cessful business. The man who deals hon- estly and justly, who is willing to make his word good, and who will stand by every statement made, is the one who will draw custom and reap a corresponding benefit. Honesty is not only right, but it is the best policy. All policy aside, honesty should be the rule of action because it is right. In Mr. Field's long business career, he has, of course, encountered difficulties, and has sometimes been placed in trying posi- tions. He was a sufferer from the great fire in 1 87 1, which laid a large part of Chicago in ashes. Although well insured, so many of the insurance companies failed that his losses were immense. He turned away from the smouldering ruins of his establishment, and with new energy and courage started afresh. On the corner of State and 20th Streets were some horse-car sheds that had been spared by the fire ; these were rented, business was re-established, and in the follow- ing year new stores were ready to be occu- pied. Other buildings have been erected since, as they were needed, equipped with all facili- ties and admirably adapted to their purpose. In 1873 came the great panic which affect- ed the business of the entire countrj-. Few such periods of depression have ever been known, and many of the strongest concerns, some of which were almost becoming vener- able through their long careers of prosperity-, were compelled to succumb. But Mr. Field's house owed nothing, had an excellent class of customers, who had paid their bills up to within two months of the time when the panic fell with such disastrous results, and it stood like a rock. Never has there been a time since it was founded when it could not promptly meet its obligations. The business continued to grow steadily until, in 1885, it was necessary to erect ano- ther building. This was constructed of granite and sandstone, and is one of the most substantial and conveniently arranged dry- goods establishments in the world. Building after building has been added to the retail store to meet the growing demands of the business. Mr. Field has never been infatuated with the idea of making money merely to hoard it up. His charities are large and without ostentation. He has been a public-spirited citizen, taking an interest in all that con- cerned the growth and welfare of Chicago. Many institutions have profited by his liberal bequests. He gave one million dollars to the Columbian Museum fund, has been a large contributor to the Chicago Universit}-, and in numberless private channels has shown his benevolent spirit. It is but simple truth to say that he is a noble specimen, not only of the merchant-prince, but of the highest type of man. JOHN SHERMAN. OUR Civil War and the stirring times that followed it have developed some statesmen of distinguished ability, who will long be remembered and honored for the invaluable services they have rendered to the nation. There is ahvaj-s a large class of people prating about the " good old times," telling how superior the early statesmen were to those of more recent date, glorifying the founders of the Republic, and implying that with their death a large part of our national capacity for public affairs went out of existence, never to return. It is well to be patient with those who live in the shadow of bygone days, although we may be compelled to pity their simplicity. They show very little knowledge of current history, if they imagine that all the virtue and all the statesmanship belong to a past generation. With all due respect to the ability of that great class of heroes and patriots whose deeds have given lustre to our early American history, it must yet be re- membered that there are giants in these days, and that the next generation will outline their figures in grand proportions, as we do those of former times. The name of John Sherman has been closely associated with our national affairs for more than thirt}' years. During this long jjeriod few men have wrought more valiantly, have stood out more prominently in the eye of Ihe nation, have marked their career with greater achievements or have committed fewer mistakes. An eminently wise and safe man he has been. Always strong in his party convictions, he has yet been something more than a politician. He was originally freighted with material sufficient to enable him to fill every position he has occupied, so that it has never been said of him that he 934 was unequal to the occasion. From early manhood he has given to the public an im- pression of massive strength, great intellectual insight, close familiarity with public affairs, unswerving integrity, and an ability, espe- cially in the matter of finances, second to that of no other man in the nation. To write Mr. Sherman's history is to write his eulog)-. He was bom in Lancaster, Ohio, May lo, 1823. When he was but six years old his father died, leaving a large family in reduced circumstances, and he was subsequently adopted by a relative living at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. At the age of twelve a sister took charge of him and put him in a school at Lancaster, where he acquired an education. He studied law with his brother, C. T. Sherman, at Mansfield, where he afterward practiced for ten years, and where he was married, in 1848, to a daughter of James Stewart. He was looked upon as a rising man, and gained a distinction which was not confined to the limits of his profession. His neighbors and friends believed that he pos- sessed unusual qualifications for public life. In 1855 he was elected to the 34th Con- gress in the interest of the Free Soil party, and was re-elected to the 35th and 36th Con- gresses. He became a power on the floor and in committees, and was recognized as the foremost man in the House, particularly in matters affecting finance. He was again elected to Congress in i860, but in the fol- lowing year was chosen to the United States Senate, where he at once became a leader. After the close of the Civil War he and Thaddeus Stevens prepared the bill for the reconstruction of the Southern States, which was passed by Congress in the winter of 1866-67. In March, 1877, Senator Sherman was JOHN SHERMAN EMINENT AMERICANS. 935 appointed by President Hayes, Secretary of tlie Treasury, a position which he retained until the close of Mr. Hayes' administration, in 1 88 1, when he re-entered the Senate, of which he has been a member ever since, having discharged his duties with such fidel- ity and efficiency as to insure his continual re-election. Few men have ever had such confidence placed in them, and few have ever done so little to disappoint it. Having made the subjects of Finance and Revenue a special study, he was looked upon as eminently fitted for his position in the Cabinet, and when he returned to the Senate and there found grave problems confronting the coun- ; try, he addressed himself earnestly to the task of solving them and putting the finances of the nation upon a sound basis. It was due to liis management, while at the head of the Treasury, that the resumption of specie , payments was effected in 1879, without dis- ' turbance to the financial or commercial inter- ests of the country. Naturally he has been brought into close relations with capital, with banks and bankers, with monej^ed men of ^ every description, who have placed great reliance on his judgment and advice. He was a prominent candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 18S0, and again in 1888, but if this was ever seri- ously his goal of ambition, he stopped short ' of gaining the prize. Lacking, probably, in some of those magnetic qualities which be- long to a great popular leader, he has never j been able to command a following large enough to place him at the head of his party in a presidential campaign. His intellect is cold and keen, his manner is dignified and somewhat reserved; he means business, and that only, so constantly, that he has never drawn around him a sufficient number of influential men who were willing to make him j their idol and .stake everything upon his 1 advancement. i Mr. Sherman would not be selected as a shining example of the brilliant statesman. He is not possessed of that peculiar magne- tism by which many other prominent men in the nation have been distinguished, but he is a fine type of those substantial, useful quali- ties by which the best results are always brought about. He has never aimed to startle the public by dash and enthusiasm. His mind is judicial, and as a jurist he would be preeminent. His ripe age, calm judgment, and devotion to his constituents on the one hand, and to his own political faith on the other, have drawn to him universal respect. His life is one that is well rounded and complete. Es- pecially has he shown himself familiar with our national finances, upon which he has long been an authority. That his service in Washington has been as useful as it has been protracted, will be denied by no one. He was, until 1893, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Re- lations, and a member of the Committee on Finance, the Committee on Organization, Conduct and Expenditures of the Executive Departments, the .Select Cominittee on the Quadro-Centennial and the Committee on Rules. In person Mr. Sherman is very tall and somewhat spare. He has a nervous, ener- getic temperament, and is capable of great endurance and of a vast amount of v/ork. Having risen from the poverty of boyhood to the commanding heights of personal power and influence, he affords a fine illus- tration of the ample success within the grasp of every young American possessed of abil- ity, industry and laudable ambition. He lias left his imprint upon the recent history of our country, which cannot be written with- out frequent reference to the important measures conceived and fostered by his wise and eminent statesmanship. LEW WALLACE. M OST men who have distinguished themselves as authors have been authors only, devoting their en- tire time and energies to literary pursuits. This ma}- be said of Washington Irving, Henry W. Longfellow, Dr. J. G. Holland, and many others whose works have been widely known and read. Occasionally some brilliant genius like Nathaniel Haw- thorne has been compelled to combine busi- ness pursuits with literary labors in order to obtain the very necessary commodities of bread and butter. There is in our country a growing class of writers who aim to devote themselves exclusively to authorship, realiz- j ing that in this way only the best work can be accomplished. j It must be admitted, however, that some of our most popular fictions have been writ- ten amidst exacting labors, not at all con- nected with authorship ; for example, Mrs. Stowe's famous story, which has been more extensively read than any other similar pro- duction, and which was penned amidst oner- ous household duties and the most absorbing cares. This, however, is no evidence against the truth of the statement, that here as else- where, to make the most of the pursuit requires that it should be followed to the exclusion of all others. It seldom happens that any one individual shows particular aptitude for more than one calling. The merchant must be a merchant only, the teacher must be only a teacher, the clergy- man only a clergyman, the lawyer only a lawyer, the farmer a farmer only. In the person of General Lew Wallace we have the example of a man who has been successful in several directions and has ex- hibited an unusual combination of talents, He was born at Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana, in 1 827. He was fortunate in hav- 93^ ing good advantages for education in his boyhood, and always showed himself to be a diligent and painstaking scholar. He began the study of law, but upon the outbreak of the Mexican War his patriotic ardor and spirit of adventure carried him into the army, where he became a lieutenant of Indiana volunteers. Returning from active service in the field, he practiced law at Covington and Crawfordsville in his native state. He lived a comparatively uneventful life until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he immediately came to the front, fired ap- parently with the old war spirit of earlier days. He was appointed adjutant-general of Indiana and became colonel of volunteers. At the capture of Fort Donelson, he com- manded a division, and was promoted major- general of volunteers in March, 1862. He took an active part in the battle of Shiloh, and in 1863 prevented the capture of Cincin- nati by General Kirby Smith. His success at this time showed that he possessed mili- tary ability of no mean order. His troops were defeated by overwhelm- ing numbers at Monocacy, July 9, 1864. General Early was marching upon Wash- ington with 28,000 men, while Wallace had only 5,800; yet with this inferior force he detained Early for some days, and thus en- abled Grant's troops to reinforce Washing- ton before the Confederates could get there. Yet, by reason of incompetency, supposed or real, he was removed from his command by General Halleck, but was reinstated by Gen- eral Grant. He was mustered out of volun- teer service in 1 865 ; returned to the practice of law at Crawfordsville, Indiana; was Gov- ernor of Utah from 1878 to 1 88 1, and served from 1 88 1 till 1885 as United States Minister to Turkey. He afterwards devoted himself to the ,K\V WALLACE. EMINENT AMERICANS. 937 practice of law and to literature at his home in Crawfordsville. From the stirring public life he had led hitherto, he settled down into quiet pursuits. No one would have been likely to predict that a man of his make-up would have an}' idea of devoting himself to authorship, but the old Scotch saying that, " What is in the heart must come oot o' the heart," is fully illustrated in his case. Mr. Wallace was born, not merely to be a soldier and diplomat, but also a writer of unusual merit. His conceptions are bold and original ; he has the gift of imagination and the happy facult)- of combining characters and circum- stances in his works, in a way that awakens the interest of his readers, and, considering the large sale of his publications, he must be considered one of the most successful authors of the day. Mr. Wallace has issued two widely-read novels, namely, " The Fair God, A Story of the Conquest of Alexico," and " Ben Hur, A Tale of the Christ." The former was pub- lished in iS73,the latter in iS8o. The chief reputation of the author is built upon " Ben Hur," which furnishes graphic pictures of Jewish life and character, and weaves around the central figure of the story an air of cap- tivating romance. Many of the incidents are worked out with the most exacting atten- tion to details. The work begins in a style somewhat prosaic, yet gradually becomes more interesting as it progresses; and al- though it cannot be read so hurriedl)- as lighter works of fiction, once begun it is likely to be finished. Mr. Wallace is also the author of a " Life of Benjamin Harrison," published in 1888. Another work, entitled " The Boyhood of Chri.st," was issued during the same year. In 1893 he published "The Prince of India," yet it is true of him, as of other writers, that there is one work which constitutes the crowning achievement and the author cannot surpass himself The later works of Mr. Wallace have added little or nothing to his fame. It will be noticed that his writings are not in the ordinary realm of fiction. He makes no attempt, as most novelists do, to portray the great master passion of the human heart. Yet he deals with all the emotions, weaves I together the facts of histor_\-, depicts charac- ters of an unusual type, and for these reasons can lay claim to a large measure of origi- nality. 1 There are multitudes of writers of light fiction, in fact, fiction so frothy and unsub- stantial that it has only a momentar)- life, and, it may be said, ought not to have even that. Like a flood it comes, and the one compensation is that it goes as fast as it comes. There is nothing in it of permanent endurance. It whiles away a passing hour of the " summer girl," and of that class of readers who have a mania for novels of the sensational order. Only now and then comes a work :f transcendent merit which makes it a thing of life. It will doubtless be conceded that Mr. Wallace's works are not of the former class. They are written so carefulh- and are of such a high order that they are likely to be known and read in after time. Mr. Wallace is courtly and affable, an agreeable friend and companion, showing the cultivated scholar and gentleman under the rugged exterior of the soldier, who has been accustomed to the rough life of the camp and the field. He has often appeared upon the platform as a lecturer and with considerable success. He affords a striking example of what may be accomplished by untiring indus- try and those natural endowments which, if not far above the average, can be made to take on strength and lustre by their diligent FRANCES E. WILLARD. IN every walk of life where it is possible for woman to display her talents, her success has been conspicuous. Our country has every reason to be proud of those members of the gentler sex who have commanded attention in authorship, some- times in business, especially in works of re- form, and whose influence has always been upon the side of good morals, higher educa- tion, and the development of the noblest womanhood. While our progress as a nation has been rapid and such as to draw the wondering attention of the world, it is not all due to soldiers or statesmen. Our history could not be correctly written without mention of those women who, in the walks of private life, and frequently in more public spheres, have made their influence felt and have been leaders of thought and public opinion. One of our most distinguished American women is the subject of this sketch. No one is more widely known or universally re- spected. She is possessed of talents of an unusual order, a warm and earnest spirit, untiring energy, the ability to influence others, and seems to be lacking in none of those qualities essential to successful achievement. Miss Willard is known throughout the country for her devotion to the cause of re- form, especially that branch of it embraced in Temperance work. She has attended meetings and conventions, and has lectured in every part of the land, and has always been received with the attention due to her position and character and the worthy ob- jects she seeks to promote. She is eloquent in the best sense of the term, very fluent in .speech, possessed of unusual tact, and has been heard by multitudes who arc in the 938 habit of affirming that they " do not care to hear a woman speak in public." It may be truthfully said that her career exhibits all those elements which go to make one independent, aggressive, and pro- gressive likewise. Throughout her life she has never thrust herself into notice, but has simply embraced the opportunities open to her, and has entered the field of usefulness when she heard the call for service. She was born in Churchville, N. Y., September 28, I S39, and was educated at Milwaukee and the Northwestern Female College at Evans- ton, 111., from which she graduated in 1859. She became Professor of Natural Science there in 1862, and was principal of Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in i866-'67. Considering that no person's education is complete without those advantages furnished by travel and contact with the world, she spent two years abroad, and then returned to become Professor of Esthetics in North- western University and Dean of the Woman's College. This position she filled from 1S71 to 1874, and there developed her system of self government, which has attracted wide attention and has been adopted by other educators. She became convinced at this time that there was a work for her to do in connection with the cause of Temperance. In consequence of this decision she gave up all other engagements in 1874 to identify herself with the W^oman's Christian Tem- perance Union. She was immediately made I corresponding secretary, discharging the duties of this office until 1879, when she was elevated from the position of secretary to that of president. In 1876 she assisted Dwight L. Moody in liis evangelistic work and rendered efficient I service. During these years she traveled FRANXES E. WILLARD. EMINENT AMERICANS. 939 through the country-, addressing legislatures and people's meetings in behalf of temper- ance and prohibition. She organized the Home Protection Movement, and sent an appeal from nearly two hundred thousand people to the Legislature of Illinois, asking for the Temperance ballot for women. She has always been of the opinion that the great reforms needed in America will never be brought about until women are permitted to vote, having a voice not merely in domestic affairs, but in public measures for the welfare of the communitj'. Some of her hardest work has been done in the advocacy of this project. On the death of her brother, Oliver A. Willard, in 1879, she succeeded him as chief editor of the Chicago Evening Post, but re- signed soon afterward to devote all her time to the work which was dear to her heart, and in which she had exerted a wide and commanding influence. In 1886 she accepted the leadership of the White Cross movement in the societies founded by her- self and obtained enactments in many states for the protection of women. In 1888 she was made president of the American branch of the International Council of Women and of the World's Christian Union. In 1892 she visited England, and received an enthusiastic welcome from the friends of reform in that country. She was at the head of the Women's Committee of Temperance Meetings at the World's Fair in 1893. She is the editor-in-chief of the Union Signal, a journal of large circulation, and has issued nine volumes, containing addresses and other matter connected with those reforms in wliich she has been so conspicuous a figure. Miss Willard bears her honors v/ith be- coming modesty and grace. Although a positive character, she is never bold or ob- trusive, giving evidence constantly of the cultivated lady, the considerate adviser, and the warm-hearted, genial friend. In person she is a little above the medium height, has a clear-cut intellectual face, is always self- possessed and affable in manner. \ In Miss Willard's career we have a graphic illustration of the influence woman can exert upon all the great questions of the day. She and others rightly believe that the great fountain of a pure national life is the home. This must be carefullj- guarded, and the rising generation must be correctly taught. Sound morals must be inculcated, and the noblest aims held up to view. But what kind of a home can that be which is cursed by the power of drink ? What is to be done with this great evil that I throws its withering blight over the whole land ? If women can be excused, even com- mended and applauded, for showing an in- terest in public questions, urging on all true reforms, it surely is in the present case, since by efforts to check and destroy the evil of intemperance much is done for the salvation and the uplifting of the home. We are mainly concerned with Miss Willard's crusade, which could not be carried on without bringing her into public notice and incurring the criticism that she is stepping out of the domestic sphere. Let her and all others step out, if thereby lasting good shall come to the country. .Slie will be identified with Temperance work and other reforms as long as she lives, and the best and truest womanhood will owe her a debt of profound gratitude. She stands for what is noblest in her se.x, and may be congratulated upon having escaped hostile criticism to so large an extent. The best wishes of her country-women are with her in her great labor of love. There are many sympathetic souls who pray that her life may long be spared, and her influence widely extended. WILLIAM B. ALLISON. THE career of this distinguished Sena- ator affords another striking proof of the power and influence belonging to the individual man. Money talks for some men, social influence for others, learn- ing and culture for others, and brains for others. The last-named element of success belongs especially to Mr. Allison. Combined with it is his sterling integrity and a charac- ter that has never been called in question. For a long time he has stood in the halls of the United States Senate, taking an active part in all its deliberations and debates. He is considered a statesman, eminently wise and safe. While it may be said that he has gained large experience in Congress, it may also be said that he brought his experience with him. He was a man of public affairs, prominent and widely known before going to Washington. It was but natural that, having gained a local celebrity, he should be transferred to the wider field. His native state is Ohio, where he was born at Perry, Wayne County, March 2, 1829. Like many others who have molded the affairs of the nation, he spent his early years upon a farm. While the pursuit of agricul- ture is honorable and, fortunatel)-, is univer- sally considered so, it is proverbial that far- mers' boys rebel against the hard labor and monotonous life incident to a farm and seek some other calling. These sons of farmers constitute some of the best timber we have in the nation. Their surroundings arc not generally luxurious, they are trained to habits of industry, they usually obtain at least a good common-school education, and by the sheer force of intellec- tual ability and perseverance, they often rise to positions of great honor and usefulness. It did not take long for Mr. Allison to out- grow the farm. He had an ambition which 940 could not be gratified by any such pursuit. He was educated at Allegheny College, Pa., and at the Western Reserve College, Ohio, after which he took up the study of law and practiced his profession in Ohio until 1857. He wished to locate farther west, where he could be identified with a growing town. He removed to Dubuque, Iowa, where he has since made his home. Being by nature a citizen of public spirit, interested in all that concerned the town of his adoption, he soon became widely known, and was not more widely known than he was respected. His gift of speech was such as to inspire confi- dence. Matters of grave responsibility were at once committed to his hands. Like many lawyers, he anticipated public life and politi- cal preferment. He was sent as a delegate to the Chicago convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the presidency in i860, and in the follow- ing year became a member of the staff of the governor of Iowa. When the war broke out he was among the first to offer his services to the government, being willing to let his pro- fession suffer in order to help maintain the cause of the Union. He rendered valuable service in raising troops and organizing vol- unteer regiments for the war. Those were stirring times, and the exigencies brought into prominence many men who might other- wise have remained in comparative obscurity. In 1862, Mr. Allison was elected to the 38th Congress as a Republican. He served in this capacity with such fidelity and dis- tinction that he was re-elected to the three succeeding Congresses. His re-election, his neighbors were accustomed to remark face- tiously, was chronic. He served continuously as a member of that body from December 7, 1863, until March 3, 1871. Often he was appointed on important committees, and being WILLIAM B ALLISON. EMINENT AMERICANS. 941 a willing worker, was soon known as one of tlic most industrious members of the House. At the same time, he kept in close touch ; with his constituents at home. The_\- marked his achievements and were proud of his ad- vancement in the estimation of the public. He was always found ar the post of dut\', never shuffled or evaded any question of importance, was always willing to have his opinions known, and was always able to give a reason for the faith that was in him. In 1873, he was elected by the Legislature of Iowa to the United States Senate to suc- ceed James Harlan, and since that time has been re-elected almost without opposition. Thus it will be seen that he has had one of the longest terms of service that has fallen to the lot of any public man. There are no sensational elements in his character. He does not glare like a meteor nor astonish others by ill-considered and unexpected methods. Mr. Allison's character, attain- ments and public services have been such as to point to him for a presidential nomination. Accordingly, on several occasions, his name has been mentioned in the national Republi- can Conventions. While he has had a large following, and many prominent men in the , Northwest and elsewhere have endor.sed him, others have distanced him in the race. It is, however, a high distinction to be prominently named for a presidential nom- ination. Such an honor can never be con- ferred upon a weak, insignificant man. Mr. Allison is one who fully justifies the confi- dence of the public and whose elevation to the highest position in the nation would be fittingly bestowed. It is frequently tiie case that men of repu- tation diminish and appear to disadvantage as one gets near to them. They do not stand out in all the grand proportions pic- tured by our imagination. " 'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view," and as they are looked at from afar they are apt to be invested with very heroic qualities. Then, as we get a nearer view, the charm is dis- pelled, and the delusion and disappointment become apparent. Very few men gain much by a close inspection. \Vc aie apt to place our public men on a pedestal, and look up to them with a kind of awe. Upon a nearer approach we find that they stand on the ground, and perhaps are not so very far above the common level. It has, however, been said of Mr. Allison, that the near view is the one most favorable. He bears acquaintance remarkably well, and while not showy or dazzling, there is much about him to be commended, and the service he has rendered as a national legislator forms the record of an honored page of our history. The personal appearance of Mr. Allison indicates strength of body and of mind. He is large and well formed. His face is not that of a scholar, but rather the man of affairs. He is a type of the sturdy, honest, practical man, who conveys at once the impression of good sense and the possession of a level head. In his speeches he does not circum- navigate his subject, but comes at it at once. He always speaks to the point. Having '■ something to say and being able to say it, others are willing to listen and be instructed. He has the rare faculty of saying what he means and clothing his thoughts in such language that no double interpretation can be put upon his statements. The quaint old adage of calling a spade a spade applies in his case. As a type of the useful citizen, the able legislator, the genial and hearty friend, the man of culture, breadth and fullness, Mr. Allison is conspicuous. Such men at the head of public affairs give st.^biIity and con- fidence to the nation. Our country has been favored with many of this description, and among this galaxy of shining ones must be placed the subject of this brief biograpliy. RICHARD OLNEY. A POSITION in the Cabinet at Wash- ington requires abiUty of a high order. Especially is this true of the positions of Attorney-General and Secretary of State. An Attorney-General must add to profound legal knowledge a sound judgment, a wise discretion, and execu- tive ability equal to that of any manager of a large and exacting business. It is not enough that he should be merely a shrewd lawyer, a man skilled in the supposed tricks of the profession, nor is it expected that he should practice any of the unscrupulous arts that are so often charged upon the members of the bar. A Secretary of State is expected .^ be a statesman. 1 Ic must understand the polic)- of the government, and know by a kind of instinct what position to take upon all critical questions. He must be a profound student of international law and be well acquainted with our relations to foreign governments. That Richard Olney meets these unusual demands in an eminent degree, is universally conceded. B)' natural ability and broad cul- ture, he is amply qualified for the positions lie has held at Washington. He was but little known, except in his native State of Massachusetts, when called to the Cabinet during the second administra- tion of President Cleveland, although it must be said that his associates considered him one of the ablest lawyers of his time. He comes from one of the oldest New Eng- land families, and has back of him a sturdy stock and ancestry which have had so much to do in molding the nation and shaping its | history. He was born in Oxford, Mass., in 1835, and at the comparatively early age of twenty- one graduated with high honors from Brown i 942 University, at Providence, R. I. In college he was distinguished for close application to his studies, rare scholarship and excellent literary ability. He was easily the peer of the brightest and most brilliant of his class. He seemed to be able to do easil}' what others could do only by the hardest labor. After his graduation he entered the Har- vard Law School, and in two years completed the course. Thus, at the age of twenty- three, he was prepared to enter upon his pro- fession. He was fortunate in being able to associate himself with Judge B. F. Thomas, a descendant of Isaiah Thomas, the pub- I lisher of the old Tlioinas Almanac, a publi- I cation known everywhere in Massachusetts, and regarded with a feeling almost akin to veneration. He was also the founder of the well-known journal, The Worcester Spy. 1 86 1 Mr. Olney married the daughter Judge Thomas, thus uniting two distinguished families. Efibrts have been made in Massachusetts to make Mr. Olney one of the judges on the Supreme Bench of the State, but on two occasions he has declined the honor, and also, for the most part, has separated himself from political life. His ambition appeared to lie in other directions, and many positions of honor would have been conferred upon him if he had been willing to accept them. He did, however, in 1874, represent Roxbury in the State Legislature, proving himself to be a useful member of that body and thor- oughly acquainted with the duties of a repre- sentative. In 1876 he was a candidate for Attorney-General of the State on the Demo- cratic ticket, but was defeated with the other candidates of his party. He has been counsel for two big western railroads, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa to I he I In I of ' RICHARD OLNEY. EAIINENT AMERICANS. '^43 Fe and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy. This shows the estimate placed upon his legal ability. His work is always thorough, his arguments are logical and presented with admirable skill, he is quick to take advantage of the weak places in the case of his oppo- nent, he exhibits a complete mastery of law, and, withal, impresses others as a man of honor and high character. His political party has alwa\-s placed great confidence in his judgment, and in all critical periods have sought his counsel and advice. [ It is said that during the first administra- tion of President Cleveland his name was favorably considered for the position of Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court; but the President did not quite reacli the point of sending his name to the Senate for coniirmation. That he would have been an able member, an ornament of that dignified body, is doubted by none who are acquainted with his qualifications and his admitted in- tegrity. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland Attorney-General of the United States, where his strength of character, his eminent ability and profound knowledge of international law have made him conspicuous. Upon the death of Secretary Gresham, which occurred May 28, 1895, Mr. Olney was made < Secretary of State. He has had the hand- ling of some very important matters con- nected with the foreign policy of our govern- ment, and has acquitted himself in such a manner as to command the admiration of his fellow-countrymen. He believes in a vigorous policy, yet one that is always founded upon right principles. He never takes a position which he is unable to defend and maintain. He is a man of method, carrying on his work always in an orderly way, and showing marked attention to those details upon which success in any pursuit so largely depends, i ] He is not accustomed to do things in any fitful or spasmodic manner, but on the con- trary always shows cool judgment and calm deliberation. There is an absence of impulse and recklessness of decision which helps to fit him for his official duties. E.xhibiting these characteristics, he soon gained the confidence of public men in Wash- I ington. What opportunities in public life j may lie before him no one can predict ; nei- j ther would any one be surprised if he were 1 to have larger responsibilities placed upon him. A recent biography saj's: " Mr. Olney is a man of dignified bearing, one who appre- ciates the responsibilities of the position he occupies, and his reputation is that of a pro- found legal scholar, whose judgment on questions of law is seldom at fault." Mr. Olney is a substantial, well-built man, capable of a great amount of labor ; he has a genial, pleasant face, but never gives one the impression that he is courting popularitJ^ His manner is calm, yet his addresses are full of force, always engaging the attention of his hearers. There is a sharp expres- sion to his eyes and a forward thrust of the head which seems to indicate a disposition to see his way, and a determination to go I straight through everj^ matter that occupies his attention. Although not widely known when he went to Washington, he has become a man of national reputation. The best elements of manhood enter into his composition. He is a wise and safe counsellor, is possessed of marked individuality, and must be considered as one of the brightest ornaments of his pro- fession. His comparatively quiet yet suc- cessful career furnishes a good example to the rising generation of lawyers. It shows what can be done by ability well applied and by industry that never tires. JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. ANEW generation of writers has come forward, with characteris- tics widely different from those of their predecessors in the field of literature. Their writings are more dis- tinctively American — perhaps it would be more appropriate to say — West-American. There is a breeziness about them — an off- hand dash — a disregard of conventionalities which we do not discover among such men as Irving, Bryant, Longfellow and others, who may be said to have created our litera- ture and stamped it with their genius. Both fiction and poetrj' have taken on what may be called a new style. The aim to entertain, to present the humorous side of things, to make a quick, even though super- ficial impression, is very apparent. It would be unjust, however, to deny unusual merit to the new class of authors. They are splendidly endowed. To brilliant native talent many of them add great indus- James Whitcomb Riley has been given the title of the "Hoosier Poet of America." This is partly owing to the State in which he was born and lives. He has been a con- tributor for some years to current literature, showing in his writings so much of pith and pungency, together with a healthful moral tone, that his productions have been widely read and enjoyed. He was born in Greenfield, Indiana, in 1S52. In his bo)'hood he often accompanied his father, who was an attorney, as he went from place to place transacting his business, and thus early came into contact with the world, which has so much to do with the education and development of the young mind. At an early age he left home to fol- low the calling of a wandering sign-writer. For a time he was connected with a thea- trical troupe, and showed some aptitude for revising and adapting pla}-s. He also began to show a talent for song-writing and impro- try, a profound knowledge of human nature, [ vising lines on the spur of the moment, thus and are able to discern what is demanded b_\- indicating that he had a ready wit, and not the popular taste. They simply write as the ' merely the kind which is studied up and time and the people require that they should. I manufactured for the occasion. While the writer helps to form national' Over the name of "Benjamin F.Johnson, character, it is also true that the national : of Boone," he began, about the year iS75,to character helps to form him. Americans are almost omnivorous readers. They devour newspapers and periodicals by the million. There is a large and probably growing class who are cultivated in the broad sense of the term, who are students of science and philosophy, and who have a keen relish for thoughtful, substantial works, such as instruct the mind and promote scholar- ship, but the number of those who are patrons of light literature is so great that authors in tliis field multiply very rapidly, and may find sufficient encouragement to cause them to make authorship a pursuit. 944 ' contribute verses in the Hoosier dialect to the Indianapolis papers. These attracted considerable attention, sugge.sting an inter- esting field of literature, which he resolved, sooner or later, to occupy. It was evident that dialect poems were relished by the pub- lic, and as these were written upon subjects near at hand, and such as appealed to the popular heart, Mr. Riley found himself grow- ing in favor, and from that day has continued in active literary work. He is gifted in the art of imitation, which was shown by his writing a piece after the style of Edgar Allen Poe that was accepted ■ 'qfllj^ ^^^^B jj^j iM ^B Qr^il JAMES WHIILOMH kILl \ EMINENT AMERICANS. 945 by many critics as the work of that author. Such a feat as this required something more than ordinary talent. Poe's writings have an individuality peculiarly their own, and to be a successful imitator of thcni, one must possess literary ability somewhat akin to that of the gifted author of "The Raven" and " The Bells." Mr. Riley finally accepted an engagement \ with the Indianapolis Journal, and has also ^ been a constant contributor to various peri- j odicals. In addition to many dialect pieces, | he has published poems of a more serious character, proving that he possesses ability for the graver as well as the lighter strains of thought and feeling. He has issued a number of volumes, in- cluding " The Old Swimmin' Hole," " After- whiles," " Neighborly Poems," " Pipes o' Pan," " Green Fields and Running Brooks," " Rhymes of Childhood," " The Flying Islands of the Night," and others. His works abound in pictures of Western life, and around the most commonplace objects he throws a peculiar charm. Like the ballads of Carlton, many of his songs deal with the farm, the old homestead, the old arm-chair, the boys who whistle and shout and play, and the old people whose eyes are already growing dim and whose forms are bending toward the grave. Thus it will be seen that much of his popularity is due to the subjects which he treats. These are always such as to afford a fine opportunity for sentiment and wholesome moral lessons. While his writ- ings are intended to engage the attention of the reader and furnish entertainment, they are nearly always pointed with a moral, and there is something worth storing in the memory. No one could form an accurate estimate of Mr. Riley's writings and leave out what may be called the human element that is always prominent. There is no attempt to reach the towering heights of the English poets of earlier times. No stately measures of verse appeal to the most cultivated mind and arouse the admiration always accorded to genius. There is, however, a genius less commanding and imposing. Mr. Riley de- scends into the common walks of life, and makes himself at home with ordinary peo- ple. His language is so simple, his meaning is so clearly comprehended, there is such an evident comprehension of everyday life, that not as a stranger, but as a friend, does he step into the home. Much of Mr. Riley's popularity is un- doubtedly due to the dialect noticeable every- where in his work. Often the same thought clothed in different phraseology would be comparatively tame, but by the dialect used it takes on a different complexion, and comes home to the reader with much greater force. Mr. Riley has often appeared as a public reader of his own works. He has met with a large degree of success, being able, gen- erally, to command large and interested audi- ences. It is not always that an author suc- ceeds in the endeavor to interpret his own writings before a critical audience. Dickens was able to do this, but there has never been more than one Dickens, and it will be long before the world will see his like again. Mr. Riley has been much sought after for the platform, and has succeeded in giving full meaning to those dialect pieces in the pro- duction of which he has exhibited so much of literary skill and ability. Whether his work will be lasting, or will ever add greatly to the fame of American literature, is a question which we do not need to discuss, and one upon which there might be a difference < f opinion. His career, however, points him out as a man of mark, whose distinction has been justly gained, and who merits the suc- cess that has crowned his labor. REV. CHARLES H. PARKHURST, D.D. THE late Reverend Howard Crosby, D. D., was for many years Presi- dent of the Society for the Preven- tion of Crime, a large and influen- tial organization in the city of New York. Upon the death of Dr. Crosby, it was con- ceded that it would be difficult to find a person possessing the peculiar qualifications necessary for the position he had held with such distinguished ability and efficiency. Dr. Parkhurst had been favorably known as a member of the organization, was noted for intellectual ability and zeal in the work of reform, and the choice of the society placed him at its head. It became evident immediately that a man of great courage, political insight, enthusiasm in carrying out his objects, and able to com- mand the co-operation of the most influential men in New York, was now fully identified with the great reform movements contem- plated by the society. His strong person- ality was immediately felt. For several years he has been one of the most noted figures in New York, applauded by some, and execrated by others. Dr. Parkhurst was born in Framingham, Mass., April 17, 1842. He came from a vigorous stock, containing a pretty strong infusion of old Puritan element. Thought- ful and studious in his boyhood, he marked himself out for the career of a professional man, and having become an earnest and devout adherent of the Christian faith, his family and friends naturally set him aside for the work of the ministry. Accordingly he prepared for college and graduated from Amherst in 1866. He did not consider that his education would be complete if confined within narrow limits of thought, or favored with only meagre advan- tages. He studied theology at Halle, Ger- 946 man}', in 1S69, and at Leipsic in 1872 and 1873, during the intervals of which studies he was principal of the High School in Amherst, and professor of Williston Semi- nary at Easthampton, Mass. Thus it seems that he was in no excessive hurry to enter upon his life-work, being occupied with laying broad and deep foundations upon which to rear a superstructure of strength and commanding proportions. From 1874 to 1880, he was pastor of the Congregational Church at Lennox, Mass., where he became widely known for his emi- nent pulpit ability. His congregation, espe- cially during the summer months, contained many persons of culture, who enjoyed his keen, intellectual discourses and looked upon him as one of the rising men in the ministry. Upon the death of Rev. Dr. Adams, who had long been the pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York City, and who was a man of peculiar gifts, the church sought far and near for a suitable successor. Not being very successful in the attempt, attention was turned toward Dr. Parkhurst, who was chosen as pastor in 1880. Since this period he has occupied one of the most influential positions in New York. The church has been largely attended, the aggregation of wealth is great, the culture and refinement of the congregation are con- spicuous, merchants and professional men are found there in large numbers, and, added to large benevolent contributions, is the mis- sionary work, in which many of the mem- bers take a special personal interest. In 1893 Dr. Parkhurst became prominent through his efforts to make the Society for the Prevention of Crime true to its name. He saw no reason why a society, organized for a special purpose, confessedly a good one, EMINEX r AMERICANS. 947 should not be active and accomplish some- thing for the welfare of the city. He had no fear of those petty criticisms aimed at minis- ters who take some interest in public affairs. Dr. Parkhurst considered that his profession had not only the right to promote all true reform, but, in fact, was bound to do it. Those who were disturbed in their nefarious business were the ones who were so anxious that he should keep to what they jailed his : legitimate work. He felt that his position would be stronger and his influence more widely felt if he could speak of the gigantic evils in New York from personal observation. He wanted the facts that did not come by hearsay. Vague insinuations, statements that could easily be doubted and opinions based upon guesses \vcre not the amniLinition with which to load his guns, trained against the enemy. He wanted facts, and such only as came within the sphere of his personal knowledge. It cannot be doubted that Dr. Parkhurst went about his work in the right way. Con- vinced himself from his own observation, he was able to convince others. In company with judicious friends he stepped into the haunts of vice, some of them almost under ' the shadow of his own church, and others of j palatial gorgeousness located in some of the most respectable and aristocratic quarters of the city. Each new .step in the inve.stigation convinced him of the enormity of the evils on every side and of the connivance of city officials in allowing them to exist. His blood was stirred, and he came forth like a prophet of old to denounce the wickedness that cursed the city. When he began his crusade he was fully armed and equipped with the facts he had gathered. Even with these a smaller man v.ould have made little or no impression, but embodied in him were intellectual power, commanding force of speech, a position in the pulpit second to that of none, a mighty array of influential men and ample resources for the great struggle. The downfall of the corrupt political organization that ruled the city was assured. The rotten fabric trembled to its base under the strokes of the sturdy foe, who had decreed its overthrow. It is said that in college Dr. Parkhurst's professor of rhetoric criticized his style of writing very severely, but there are few public men who can put so much into a sin- gle sentence. His thoughts are at once bold and striking, and his style is pre-eminently concise and original. He has contributed to various magazines and has published several volumes, including " The Forms of the Latin Verb, Illustrated by Sanskrit," " The Blind Man's Creed, and other Sermons," and " Pat- tern in the Mount, and other Sermons." In person Dr. Parkhurst is of medium size, compactly built and a fair specimen of muscular Christianity. His great courage, persistence and untiring energy have made him the most successful political leader of the day, and givn him a wide and enviable fame. Nor has his influence been confined to New York City alone, but other cities throughout the country have patterned by the movement he has inaugurated, and have taken active steps for the investigation of municipal evils and misrule. He addressed large audiences in a number of towns, pre- .senting the plan of reform of which he is the acknowledged chief exponent, and thus awakened public interest which resulted in organized effort. Dr. Parkhurst's career teaches especially the lesson of strong and persistent courage and endeavor in the face of opposition. The consciousness of being in the right always arms a man with aggressive weapons, and keeps him firm and patient, even though robbed for the moment of success. CLAUS SPRECKELS. NOT as a scholar, orator or statesman, is Claus Spreckels known, yet his name is famiUar from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In the great chan- nels of trade and business a wonderful suc- cess has attended his efforts, and he has built up one of the largest fortunes in the world. It is, then, as a business man that he is to be considered, and as such his life affords valu- able lessons by which younger men of our generation may well profit.. Mr. Spreckels was born in Lamstedt, King- dom of Hanover, in July, 1828. His earh- life was spent in Germany, where his oppor- tunities for education were none of the best. Had he remained in his native land, it is not likely that he would have become a million- aire, for the chances would have been much fewer and the opportunities more limited. When twenty years old Mr. Spreckels came to America and went to Charleston, S. C, in pursuit of employment. He obtained a situation as clerk in a grocery store. He had no thought of remaining as a mere clerk, but had his eye upon the proprietorship of the place. In two years he owned the store and largely extended its trade. Going into the wholesale business, he became an im- porter, and was verj'- soon known in com- mercial circles throughout the South. Wish- ing for a wider field of operations, he removed his business to New York City in 1855. Having a brother who was engaged in the grocery trade in San Francisco, Mr. Spreckels left the East and went to that city to reside. He soon bought out his brother and contin- ued the business. A year later he started what was known as the Albany Brewery. His shrewd business foresight was fully jus- tified by the results. The business sprang at once into prominence and promised a fortune for its founder. He soon disposed of his 948 grocer}- business, devoted his time and ener- gies to the brewery, and so continued until 1863. Mr. Spreckels had long had his mind fixed upon sugar refining, and the time had now come for him to realize his ambition in this respect. He sold out his interest in the brewery, and, with others, founded the Bay Sugar Refineiy. Being a practical man. and wishing to gain a more thorough knowledge of the sugar business, he went to Europe to familiarize himself with the process of manu- facturing beet-root sugar. He meant to learn the process from the beginning, and with this in view he actually entered the great refinery at Magdeburg as a workman. Few men pro- bably would have been willing to come down to such a capacit)^ after they had already acquired what was considered an ample for- tune, but it is the practical man whose knowl- edge of his pursuit is complete who alwaj's carries off the palm. Having gained an intimate knowledge of the Sugar Refining business, Mr. Spreckels returned to San Francisco and immediately built another and larger refiner}^ In 1867 he organized the great corporation of the California Sugar Refinery, of which he be- came the president and was the principal owner. The vast business carried on b}- this company is one of the marvels of the Pacific coast. It refines fifty million pounds of sugar every year. The whole country may be said to be a market for this immense product. The success of this great concern is almost entirely due to the enterprise and skillful management of its founder. Not merely the general oversight, but to a large extent the minor details, are constantly under his eye. Mr. Spreckels possesses a nervous temper- ament, strong features, and has a prompt and incisive manner of doing business. CLAUS SPRECKELS. APPENDIX. The World's Columbian Exposition. Preparations for the Celebration — Action of Congress — Chicago Fixed Upon as the Location — ^Jackson Park — Government Exhibit Building — Administration Building — Mines and Mining Building — Electrical Building — Department of Agriculture — Machinery Hall — Fisheries Building — Magnificent Aquaria^ Manufactures and Liberal Arts — Building for Fine Arts — Transportation Building — Horticultural Hall — Palace of Mechanic Arts — Midwaj- Plaisance — Close of the Fair. across the seas, and a mighty throng of American citizens, pressed the electric button which set in motion the miles of shafting, the innumerable engines and machines, and the labyrinth of belting and gearing which made up the machinery of the World's Columbian Exposition. At the same moment, a National salute pealed forth from the gun, the "Andrew Johnson," lying off the Exposition grounds, in Lake Michigan ; 700 flags released from their "stops," at a concerted signal, swung loose, and streamed out under the sky in scarlet, yellow and blue, thus pro- claiming the opening of America's celebra- tion of her birth and progress. Prayer was offered by Rev. W. H. Milburn, D.D., Chaplain of the United States Senate, after which a poem, written by Mr. W. A. Crodutt, was read. Then followed addresses by the Hon. George R. Davis, Director- General of the Exposition, and President Cleveland. As the President was concluding the final sentence of his address, his eyes wandered to the table that was close at his left hand. Upon this was the button, the pressure upon which was to start the machinery and make the opening of the Exposition an accomplished fact. It was an ordinary form of Victor tele- graph key, such as is in use in most telegraph offices, except that it was of gold, instead of steel, and a button of ivory, instead of rubber. 949 EARLY in 1891 active preparations were commenced for the appro- priate celebration of the four hun- dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. As the centennial anniversar}' of American independence in 1876 had been commemorated by an Liter- national Exposition at Philadelphia, in which nearly all the civilized nations of the earth participated, it was resolved to celebrate the discovery of the New World by an exhibi- tion of grander proportions as the only suitable method of giving dignity to the great occasion. The whole countiy became interested in the project, and it was advo- cated with unanimity by the newspaper press. The act of Congress, which definitely selected Chicago as the city in which the Exposition should be held, and which fixed the dates of the celebration to be held in 1892, and the formal opening and closing of the Exposition in 1893, was approved by the [ President of the United States, April 25, 1890. Jackson Park, where the Exposition build- ings were located, is beautifully situated on Lake JMichigan, having a lake frontage of two miles, and embraces 586 acres. On Monday, the first day of May, 1893, in the presence of 300,000 people, Grovcr Cleveland, President of the United States, ^ surrounded by the members of his Cabinet, I by a distinguished representation from lands | 950 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITIOX. It rested upon a pedestal upholstered in navy blue and golden yellow plush, and on the sides of the lower tier, in silver letters, were the significant dates, 1492 and 1893. As the last words fell from the President's lips he pressed his finger upon the button. This was the signal for a demonstration, difficult of imagination, and infinitely more so of description. At one and the same instant the audience burst into a thundering shout, the orchestra pealed forth the strains of the Hallelujah Chorus, the wheels of the great Ellis engine in Machinery Hall com- menced to revolve, the electric fountains in the lagoon threw their torrents toward the sky, a flood of water gushed from the McMonnies Fountain and rolled back again into the basin, the thunder of artilery came from the vessels in the lake, the chimes in Manufactures Hall and on the German Build- ing rang out a merry peal, and, overhead, the flags at the tops of the poles in front of the platform fell apart and revealed two gilded models of the ships in which Colum- bus first sailed to American shores. Flags of All Nations. At the same moment also hundreds of flags, of all nations and all colors, were unfurled within sight of the platform. The largest was a great •' Old Glory," which fell into graceful folds from the top of the center staff in front of the stand. The roof of the Manufactures Building was gorgeous in red gonfalons, while the Agricultural Building was dressed in ensigns of orange and white. It was a wonderful scene of transformation, and amid it all cannon continued to thunder and the crowd to cheer. It was fully ten min- utes before the demonstration subsided. Then the band played "America" and the exercises were at an end. The Columbian Exposition was open to the nations of the world. It was precisely the hour of noon when President Cleveland touched the button and thus declared the opening an accomplished fact. We begin our description of the great Exposition with the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building. This was the largest building of the Expo sition. It had the appearance of being four separate buildings, yet connected and grouped around a large interior court. It was located on the eastern side of the park near the lake shore. There was a waterwa)' on the south and west sides. Figures can convey but little idea of the size of this structure, which was the largest ever built for an Exposition. It was 1,688 feet m length, and 788 feet in width. The floor space comprised an area of about thirt}'- acres, to which must be added ten acres of floor space in the galleries. Four buildings were under one roof, which had an unbroken span through the center of the building 388 feet wide and 1400 feet long. Running through the center north and south was an avenue fifty feet wide, appropriately named Columbia Avenue. Another avenue of the same width crossed the building from one side to the other. The arched roof was 150 feet high. This gigantic structure was symmetrical, although its immense and shapely proportions did not at first impress the visitor looking from the outside, because of other buildings in the immediate vicinity In order to g-'-'e an idea of its size, it has been estimated chat an ordinary ten-story building could be carried through the main hall without touching the top or sides ; that the largest church in the world, St. Peter's at Rome, would occupy only one-third of the space; that six buildings like the Chicago Auditorium, minus the towers, could easily stand inside the central hall. The immensity of the structure and the wonder of its com- pletion grew upon the observer until he was almost overwhelmed with the magnitude of THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 9-r the edifice and the task of erecting it. The long array of columns and arches on the sides was relieved from monotony by elaborate ornamentation, in which female figures, symbolical of the various arts and sciences, formed a conspicuous and very at- tractive part. There were also designs show- ing in relief the seals of the different States of the Union and the various foreign nations. These were of vast size and in keeping with the magnitude of the other parts of the building. The square pillars that supported the arches of the fagades between the win- dows were the only exterior parts without decoration. The idea of strength and solidity was apparent everywhere. Fluttering Festoons. Over the great arches of the doorways were the figures of Cupids holding long flut- tering festoons. The upper cornices were decorated with ornamental vases, in which were planted flag-poles for displaying the flags of various nations. The fluttering of these in the winds, showing a combination of the gayest colors, gave to the immense building a holiday appearance, and at the same time suggested that within its vast enclosures were condensed the treasures of the world. And while treading the twenty miles of streets in this vast building, and gazing upon the profusion of exhibits worth untold millions of money, one could realize the say- ing, that " the grandest effect of the Exposi- tion would be educational in its character." Here the world would see what the world had done. Here monarchs would learn that there are uncrowned monarchs whose achievements are no less magnificent than those of the minds that rule nations and the swords that win battles. All this was worth the time, toil and money required for the Columbian celebration. All observers were impressed, not merely with the greatness of the Exposition, but with the quality of it. The finest handicraft, the gems and fabrics wrought by the most consummate skill, the master paintings of artistic genius, the choicest products of the earth, marked the grandeur of the age and the point which the human mind has reachec in every department of its activity. Worth More Than Money. The Manufactures and Liberal Arts Build- ing cost 31,500,000, yet what is money in comparison with the objects gained ? Al- though Americans have been charged with being lovers of the " Almighty Dollar," they do not love it any more than other nations love their typical coins, for money rules the world, and within certain limits money ought to rule. Yet when America resolved upon an Exposition such as was never known before, she did not consider that money would be uselessly expended. Tlie nation edorsed the undertaking, the sep- arate States bore their part, and private and public enterprise marshalled their forces and led the way to the sublime triumph. The nation felt a pride in her great celebration, and although the Exposition, it was hoped, would pay for itself, yet this was a secondary consideration. To commemorate the great discovery of Columbus and show the pro- gress of America and the world down to the present time, was the only lofty aim and noble purpose. The Department of Manufactures was di- vided into thirty-three groups, sub-divided into more than two hundred classes, and included the varied industries which employ the countless machines in present use, and every form of handicraft. In this department the United States holds a high place, for this has been a century of invention, and the needs of this new country have called for many ingenious devices for the saving of 95^ THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. labor. The wonders of Oriental skill, the treasLues of European industry-, the skill of American inventions and processes, were all set in order behind the gleaming fagades of a classic temple, under a sky which little more than half century ago looked down on a great lake without a sail and a waste of marsh land peopled only by wandering savages. The Department of Liberal Arts gave the chief honor and prominence to education, and it acted wisely, for it includes all arts. Music, science, literature, physical science, in short, all things that educate and uplift, that ease the downward tension, that broaden the faith and the understanding, had place and illustration in this department. It included the newest deductions of physiology and science, and the most remote findings of archseological research. It proclaimed the universality of knowledge and stretched full hands to the wide world. Superb Exhibits. The Hall of Manufactures and Liberal Arts naturally contained the most compre- hensive classification of all the exhibit halls. Its contents were limited to the finished material in each line of industry represented, and no machinery was allowed within its doors except the light shafting and incidental apparatus connected with some of the small displays, where the proper exhibition of a certain line demanded a working exhibit. In every other case the rule was enforced against anything like an infringement on the province of the machinery classification. Machineiy Hall was a palace of the mechanic arts. It was especially constructed for exhibiting machinery in motion, the power for this purpose being supplied from an adjoining building. Extending around the main hall inside were two galleries and two exterior arcades with a width of fifty feet. The main entrance was 75 feet high, located in the center of the north side and opposite the south entrance of the Administration Building. This entrance had a semi-circular portico with Corinthiaii columns sixty feet in height. The idea of ornamentation was not lost sight of, and so the portico was furnished with a dome and balustrade, while above each column was a statue. Pavilions were built at the corners of the main structure fifty feet square and sur- mounted by domes. One of the main feat- ures was the east portico facing the Agricultural Building, which stood across the canal. This portico was square, with Corin- thian colums and a pediment containing an emblematic design in relief, in which Chicago was represented as introducing to the nations a company of inventors and mechanics who were showing their various mechanical achievements. The exterior of the building was covered with " staff," which was a composition of plaster of Paris, Portland cement and jute from New Zealand. This material was used in the construction of nearly all the buildings, for the reason that it can be moulded into any shape, while at the same time it possesses great strength. It is easily colored in imita- tion of marble, and this circumstance gave to the great cluster of buildings at Jackson Park the name of the " White City." Celebrated Symbolic Figures. On the top of Machinery Hall were placed eight symbolic figures of immense size. One represented Victory holding a wreath in her hand, the symbol of triumph. Another was typical of Fire, and the figure was repre- sented as holding in her right hand thunder- bolts, and in her left a burning brand, the one suggesting the fire of the skies and the other the fire of earth. Above the windows THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 953 tal and labor here found the true ground of mutual confidence, the one in diminished cost of production, the other in higher wages as the result of skillful training in the mechani- cal arts. .vere spaces occupied by cherubs and curious little genii holding in their hands the tools and implements of the various mechanical industries. Spires rising to a height of I03 feet sur- mounted the two open towers above each of ^he porticos. The Columbus idea was shown in the architecture which was Span- ish in its features, presenting beautiful columns in double rows upon which were displayed as decorations the arms of Spain and the portrait of Columbus. Immense pieces of machinery were scattered through- out the building, not the least interesting of which was the elevated traveling crane Jocated in each of the three naves for moving machinery. These cranes were also used for transporting visitors from one end of the building to the other. Inventions of World-Wide Fame. Machineiy Hall contained within its spa- cious walls the most remarkable triumphs cf invention. It would require a skilled ;riachinist to understand manj^ofthe intricate and complicated devices there exhibited. The exhibits comprised inventions of world-wide fame, and were studied by throngs of people constantly expressing their amazement at the achievements of mechanical ingenuity. Not only was the visitor impressed with the great variety of machinery, embracing all sorts of inventions for all sorts of purposes, but the mechanical construction of it, its accuracy and perfection of detail, were none the less appa- rent. There were machines which seemed to be able to do almost everything except talk. What an amount of thought, patient contri- vance, steady and intricate working of brain and hand were represented in this marvelous building ! The artisans of Europe and America here studied that which concerns them most — the development of labor-saving devices. Capi- To Save Labor. In the great Machinery Hall every labor- saving device known to modern science was represented. The development of motors for the transmission of power was illustrated by the most magnificent engines, boilers and pumps ever constructed. The modern science of fire-fighting had its demonstration in every variety of fire engines, hose carts, escapes, stand-pipes and chemical apparatus that has been evolved by the brain of veteran fire- fighters. Machinists' small tools and the im- meruse steam hammeis and trip hammers for forging and working metals were shown in all the more recent devices. Wonderful ma- chines for the manufacture of textile fabrics and clothing were shown. Marvelous appliances for turning wood and all kinds of steam, electric and hand power sawing and planing machines were among the exhibits. The most recent inventions in type-setting machines, printing, stamping and embossing and book-making machines were shown. Lithography, zincography and color-printing, photo-mechanical and other mechanical processes of illustrating were represented in a large variety of modern inventions. In machinery for working stone, clay and other minerals, for the preparation of food, and for use in all the mechanical arts, the machinery exhibit was prodigal in its displays. The progress of invention is the progress of the world to the popular mind. Mechani- cal arts have developed in this century, and especially in the latter half, not by strides, but by leaps and bounds. Hard work has been relegated to the effete nations. Europe 954 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. and America have substituted brain for brawn in the application of machinery to all the wants of human production. Between these two countries there is a constantly growing rivalry in the creation of new devices for sav- ing manual labor. In the mammoth corridors of Machinery Hall at the World's Fair the zenith of the nineteenth centurj^ progress in the mechani- cal arts was reached, and the artisans of every civilized clime learned something of practical benefit from the unfolded genius of the world's greatest inventors. The department of machinery was also a live exhibit, differing in this respect from almost every other department. Within its massive walls was the ceaseless hum of machinery in motion. From the le\«iathan power plant at the south of the main b'liiding radiated the energy that set in motion the wheels of the entire E.xposition. Within Machinery Hall itself miles of shafting, pul- leys and belting connected with the thousands of exhibits that were in motion every day during the Fair. The fascination of moving machinery is more than an attraction to the skilled artisan merely. It draws the general public, and, as at the Centennial E.xhibition in 1876, Ma- chinery Hall was the center of the largest and most continuous crowds. Its situation on the grounds was favorable to its being a popular display, as it was near the main en- trance and immediately adjacent to the great railroad terminal within the grounds. Electricity Building. According to agreement among the archi- tects of the buildings around the quadrangle the Electricity Building, like the rest, had an open portico extending along the whole of the south faqade, the lower or Ionic order forming an open screen in front of it. The various subordinate pavilions were treated with windows and balconies. The details oi the exterior orders were richly decorated and the pediments, friezes, panels and spandrils received a decoration of figures in relief, with architectural motifs, the general tendenc)- of which was to illustrate the purposes of the building. The friezes of the Ionic order boi in each bay the name of a discoverer or inven- tor associated with the development of the science of electricity, thus setting forth a bio- graphical history of the science. The color of the exterior was marble, but the walls of the hemicycle and of the various porticos and loggias were highly enriched with color, the plasters in these places being decorated with scagliola and the capitals with metallic effects in bronze. The Lightning Tamed. Each great exposition has furnished a sort of milestone to mark the progress of man in the arts and sciences. America made two revelations to the world at Chicago in her art and electrical displays. Out of the myriad forms of beauty will come no new school of art. The people of the Western world have simply proved their right to rank with the older nations. It was the fundamental aim of Chief Elec- trician Barrett and his assistant. Dr. Hornsby, to prove that electricity is not a " mysterious force" (the well-worn excuse for ignorance), that it is not in its infancy, and that it is not "a dangerous thing to tamper with." They strained every point to prove that that it is as certain a quantity as steam, quite as easily made and far more easily controlled. 'Twas Franklin first who caught the horse. He was harnessed by Professor Morse. From the great battery of boilers in Machinery Hall came primarily the force that the dynamos applied to the operation of arc and incandescent lights, power motors for various industrial purposes, the charging THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 955 of storage batteries for the working of vehicles on land and water, the supply of search lights, the intramural railway, electric fountains, giant cranes, and for almost every conceivable purpose. All Underground Wires. Not a wire was allowed above the ground, the circuits being all established by means of wooden tunnels laid to every part of the grounds and buildings, and through these subways the wires were carried on insulators fastened to the two sides, having a space in the middle large enough for attendants to pass. There were seven thousand arc lights for service, twentj'-five hundred of which were about the grounds and the balance inside of the buildings. The lamps on the grounds were placed upon ornamental iron posts 12 feet high at intervals of about 50 feet. They were located with special reference to the landscape arrangement and the lines of the buildings. As the World's Fair was a small city within itself, a fair idea was given of arc light service for municipal lighting. No attempts at outside arc decoration were made, excepting in the cases of a few of the State buildings, where they lighted up the statuary for night views. It is hardly necessary to say that the interior lighting of the great buildings was far more brilliant than anything of the kind in the past, the general idea being to have a 2,000-candle power lamp for ever\- 1,000 square feet of space. In the great Manu- factures Building only was there an attempt at artistic decoration in arc lighting. In that massive building there were five big chandeliers of arc lights. Four of them carried sixty lamps each, and the fifth sup- ported seventy-five. These were all suspended from the steel arches. Workmen reached them by climbing up the arch to a ladder against the rods which supported the chan- deliers, descending this ladder 70 feet to the chandelier. They were then 140 feet above the floor. The lamps were hung in pairs and sustained by cords which pas.sed over insulated pulleys, each lamp balancing the weight of its mate. Between them, in the rim of the chandlier, the workmen walked securely about their work, or crossed from one side to the other on the great bridge. There were twelve hundred arc lights in this building. There were five hundred in the Agricultural, three hundred and fifty in the Transportation, two hundred and fifty in the Horticultural, two hundred in the Mines, fifty in the Fisheries and seventy-seven in the Illinois State. This, it must be remembered, was aside from the exterior service — the arc lamps that lighted the grounds. The incandescent lighting was, of course, the great feature of attraction in lighting, almost all the decorative lighting being of that style. Visitors observed one fact at night which, perhaps, not one in ten thousand would discover by day. There was a uniform cornice level on all the buildings 60 feet from the ground. This line was marked at night by lines of incandescent light. The little bulbs were placed at narrow intervals, seemingly only a few inches when viewed from the ground. Floral Beauties. The Administration Building in particular was studded with lamps from foundation to dome. All about the grand canal and in the basin a row of lamps like a living line of light, set just above the water service, lent a splendor that no dream could excel. Each light was repeated in the water by a dancing counterpart, and both lent a charm to handsome gondolas and water craft of every form. About the Wooded Island and on the borders of flower beds everywhere incande.s- 956 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. ent lights brought out the beauties of flower and foliage as in the radiance of the sun. Every point of importance was so clustered about with light as to command attention and win admiration. On the dome of the Agricultural Building the great golden figure of " Diana " stood, poised and free of movement to every point of the compass. Below her was a sunken space — the corona of the dome — and in this circle, hidden from view, was arranged a multitude of lights which revealed her splendid figure as in the very eye of a calcium reflector. The absence of other lights near, together with her height, produced the effect of a gold goddess swinging in midair, but inside the buildings the work was even more elaborate. One of the most striking features of the Fair was the sixteen thousand incandescent lights in the Fine Arts Building, where there were two miles of reflecting screens. There were no arc lamps in this building, but the flood of incandescent light searched out every beauty in the pictures. Gorgeous Colors. One of the daintiest bits of lighting in all the Fair was the Wooded Island, where the Japanese had their pavilion. The Frenchmen of the Orient themselves contributed to the happiness of the inspiration by bringing with them shades and reflectors for use m prepar- ing the various effects, and the result was extremely beautiful. Quaint gables of the Hooden or Phoenix Palace were studded with prettily shaded colored lights, the graceful curves that accentuate the Japanese architec- ture were brought into relief by clusters here and there, and the gorgeous colors of the building were emphasized in the same way. Exhibitors in all the departments exhausted their resources in the preparation of their booths and pavilions, fantastic lighting being no small factor in their success. Some of the most beautiful lighting in the Exposition was done in the various State and foreign buildings, the 1,760 lights in the New York building being arranged to make the effect worthy of special distinction. Interesting Demonstrations. Within the Electrical Building was the exhibit proper of the new things in electri- city. Here was followed out the plan laid down for the balance of the Exposition, to demonstrate in a practical way the every-day uses of electricity. The visitor was able to see not only that electricity can be useful to him in almost all phases of life, whether social or commercial, but he was brought so closely in contact with the " deadly fluid " and saw so plainly all its workings that he was able to judge for himself whether it is to be still called " deadly " and " dangerous," or whether it is only one of the giant forces of the universe, brought to its knees before the great intellect of man and made to do his bidding. The visitor was allowed to lay his hands on the " deadly trolley " without ill effects. He saw one hundred thousand volts of current, more than thirty thousand times as much as New York uses to execute crimi- nals, completely under the control of the operator and handled by him so carefully and expeditiously as to suggest no danger what- ever to human life. He was on the best of terms with the electric current, and the lesson taught was that this deadly agent was perfectly harmless when confined to its appropriate mechanism, and that there is no need of its getting the upper hand. So visitors were given a knowledge of the principles of electricity much as Hermann acquaints his audiences with legerdemain, but in this case the trick was followed by the rational explanation. As the great machines whirred ami spit THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 95- and sparkled in the brilliantly lighted hall it was interesting to make a tour with an official of the department and have explanations of the things to be seen. The key to the e.xhibit was found in the inscription in great gilt letters written over the statue of Franklin, around the hemicycle that formed the main entrance, eripiiit cceIo fulme7i sceptrumqiie tyrannis, which, being liberally interpreted, means that the wild lightings have been caught and tamed. A Fountain of Fire. The electric illumination within the World's Fair grounds at night was something far more comprehensive than has ever before been attempted. Thousands of dollars were expended in preparing for night displays that far eclipsed anything the world has ever seen. With all the great buildings ablaze, the water in the lagoon a sea of light, and the magnificent MacMonnies fountain in front of the Administration Building throwing out in water}' jets all the colors of the rambow, a grand spectacle was presented. Endless rows of incandescent bulbs were arranged along the shores of the lagoon, canals and inlets ; all the buildings surround- ing the Grand Court, as it is called, including the peristyle, casino and music hall, blazed with the glare of arc and incandescent lamps, arranged in effective and tasteful designs, while powerful search-lights on the towers of the larger structures more than turned night into day on the grounds. Projected upon a scale of uparalleled splendor, the illumination of the Exposition palaces and grounds easily surpassed all other sights at Jackson Park. The main feature of the illumination, the central factor of it all, was the MacMonnies fountain. It was the most striking piece of ornamentation on the grounds. B\' day and night it was the great attraction for visitors, and its beauty and attractiveness were augmented by two electric fountains of mammoth size, the largest ever constructed. These were located on either side of the MacMonnies group, and consisted of two circular basins, each sixty feet in diameter, Ihe bottoms of which were four feet below the level of the water in the grand canal or basin. Water for the jets was furnished through twenty four-inch mains branching from a thirty-six-inch pipe connected with the gigantic pumps in Machinery Hall, just across the way. Eighteen water jets were grouped in a circle on the outer edge of each basin about the main central orifice, by which it threw a two-inch stream to the height of 1 50 feet. Immediately about this were seven jets of less than an inch in diameter, and further to the outside, describing a larger circle, was a row of six 1 14^-inch jets inter- mingled with still another of ^-inch pipes. Individual jets, so arranged as to get the best artistic effect, made a total of 1 52 streams in each fountain, every one of which could be thrown into action at the same time. Startling Effects. These fountains were illuminated by thirty- eight arc lamps, each using one hundred amperes, and their rays, of varying colors, were deflected by parabolic reflectors. The mechanism used to change the combinations of water, light and color was located in the basin, and the operators in charge were directed by electric signals from one of the high towers on Machinery Hall. When these fountains were playing tlie effects produced were startling. The combi- nations possible, because of the large number of jets and lights provided, were practically innumerable. What interested the spectators more than anything else was the " set pieces," as they were known. These were on the^ THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 958 same style as set pieces in a fireworks display. These set pieces were sometimes huge flowers, lilies outlined in clear white water, with the slender stamen indicated by the central jet, sheaves of wheat, criss-cross fences of gold, showers of rubies and other precious stones ; and other similar effects were produced by an ingenious combination of colored light thrown upon the rising and falling streams of water. It cost at least $100,000 to erect these fountains and get them ready for work and from $500 to gl.OOO per night to operate them. Agricultural Building. To the average mind an agricultural dis- play suggests bushels of corn, stacks of oats, sheaves of wheat and the other naked pro- ducts of the field. Primarily this idea is correct, but the world is far advanced beyond the primary stage. Every combination into which the food products enter or of which they can by any possibility form a part; every invention which tends to make the work of man easier in inducing the soil to yield up its favors ; the liquids as well as the solids, which are the result of man's ingenuity in compounding and mixing were .shown in the Agricultural Building, with the result that effects were produced and combinations made that were bewildering. Taste and artistic sense were shown in the general arrangement of the displays in this structure, which was in itself a beautiful object and worthy of close and critical .study. Its interior was marred in a measure in con- sequence of the demands made upon it for spaces in which to arrange exhibits, galleries iiaving been thrown across for the accommo- dation of displays for which there was no room on the main floor. Its general design was at once bold and {leroic. On either side of the main entrance were mammoth Corinthian pillars fifty feet in height, while on each corner and from the center of the building pavilions were reared. The corner pavilions were connected by curtains, forming a continuous arcade around the top of the structure. The rotunda was surrounded by a mammoth glass dome 130 feet in height. All through the main vestibule statuary was placed illustrative of the industry of agriculture, while similar designs were grouped all around the grand entrances in the most elaborate manner. At first sight of the interior of the building, owing to the great variety of displays made, the visitor gained the impression of a mighty jumble of colors — a vast fair in which each exhibitor had sought to outdo his neighbor in the matter of brightness or adornment. The world had been ransacked for every imaginable article of food stuffs, and more than half the space under the great roof was taken up with the contribution of foreign nations. Mountains of Food. Everywhere there was a sense of crowding, of things put together in the very smallest space possible, but this was owing to the desire of the chief of the department to get all he could inside the walls. Symmetry of form was sacrificed to this requirement, but such a defect was hardly noticed by the average visitor. His desire for something huge was gratified ; he saw great stacks of product piled all around him and reaching high into tiie air; mountains of food stuffs on all sides. All varieties of taste were catered to in the individual displays, but the ensemble was not altogether pleasing. It was only from the east and west galleries that the visitor obtained an idea of the immensity of the general display. If harmony was not obtained, however, there could surely be no complaint ns to THE WORLDS COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 959 variety. The designers of the paviHons, booths and other structures upon the main floor and in the galleries gave full vent to their imaginations. Mosques, towers, castles, temples, pagodas and structures embracing eveiy known variety of architecture crowded ipon each other in pleasing confusion, and 'ffered to the beholder a vision of what has been in the building line since the world began, and what may be expected in years to come where the laws and regulations regard- ing such things are lax. Europe's Contributions. The main floor of the great hall was divided between foreign countries and the States composing the great American Union. Other nations than the United States occu- pied the space north of the grand or central aisle, which ran east of the main entrance, and the various States were to the south of it. There was no reason why the visitor should be dazzled by the multiplicity of dis- plays if he kept the plan of arrangement in his head. When he reached the galleries it was somewhat different, for there he came across exhibits of every conceivable kind, representing the work of thousands of private individuals and presenting a bewildering array. Naturally enough the Agricultural Build- ing was nothing more than sample room for Mother Earth. It was essentially a business place. In the Horticultural Building were displayed nature's fripperies and gewgaws, her ball gowns and reception dresses, but here was what is necessary to the life of man ; ihe substantials, the foundations of his health and prosperity. Sweetness and light, how- ever, were imparted to the display by the trimming of its component parts into artistic forms, but on the whole the man who entered the Agricultural Building did so with the idea that i vas the place with which the life of the country was most closely connected, and hence was more representative of the country than any other structure on the grounds. But as to the displays of the nations from over the sea. The mighty countries of the European continent were here prepared to assert themselves and claim the attention they consider their due. Great Britain, France, Russia, the wheat field of Europe, and Germany were given the largest areas, and these were divided to the best advantage. Horticultural Exhibit. Loveliest of all that the world offered to the memory of Columbus in the city of white palaces was the splendid horticultural display. Mr. John Thorpe, w ho, it had been humor- ously remarked, could make a dry stick blossom, was the real head of this depart- ment. He presided over a vast building, from the middle of which arose a glass dome 122 feet high and i8o feet in diameter. But the most notable point in horticul- ture was the outdoor exhibition. Right in front of the huge building was a wooded island in the lagoon. From its shores trailed aquatic plants in curious patterns. At the southern end was a garden of fifty thousand roses laid out in a labyrinthal design and surrounded by a garlanded fence of roses eight feet high. In the center was a pagoda covered with clematis of all hues. This garden contained over sixteen thousand varieties of the roses. There were forty-eight exhibitors, and they revived many of the roses that were once fashionable but have been forgotten. Two-thirds of roses are hardy, and the rest are tender, like tea roses and other varieties that need the protection of hothouses as a rule. The finest display came from Belfast, Ireland, but California, Holland and Germany were THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 960 close competitors. The beauty and fragrance of this spot may be imagined by the fact that the margin of each group of roses was made up of flowering honeysuckles trailing on the ground. Just south of the rose garden were the rhododendrons of England, Holland, Bel- gium and America grouped for effects of massed color, and scattered among them were hundreds of Japanese, European and American lilies. Turning northward on the little island the visitor came to a plateau of old-fashioned English garden flowers, the sort of things Lord Bacon mentions in his quaint plan of a perfect garden. Here were marigolds, Sweet Williams, primroses, larkspurs, Michaelmas daisies and scores of other sentimental suggestions. Then came a large group of trees and shrubs gathered together for strange con- trasts of leaves and showing departures from normal types. There were quivering aspens, tall poplars, beeches, birches, willows, maples, elms, ashes and similar trees, all leading toward a dainty, sweet-smelling garden of annual flowering plants like sweet peas and mignonette. Floral Loveliness. The Japanese garden was one of the most interesting sights on Wooded Island. It was cared for by Japanese gardeners in costume, and working with primitive apparatus. All sorts of dwarfed pines, cedars and other growths mingled their fantastic shapes in the general plan, from which the visitor could at a glance see the origin of much that is wild and grotesque in the decorative art of Japan. There were many wonderful palm.s and stunted trees that have grown for centuries and are still vigorous. The Eastern effect was heightened by rockwork and tinkling, murmuring waterfalls. Coming back from the island by a graceful bridge, in the roadway facing the east faijade of the Horticultural Building, one could see spread out before him a gorgeous, spectacu- lar display of massed crimson, scarlet, orange and salmon-colored French cannas displayed by New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This magnificent field of color was a thousand feet long and eighty feet deep. It contained over twenty thousand plants in bloom. And behind this royal scarlet pomp, in the recesses between the main entrance an 1 the wings, were planted over a hundred thousand pansies. Thirty-seven thousand ol them, selected for the beauty of their tints^ were combined in one vast scroll-like design. There were in this exhibit six hundred and forty varieties of pansies, representing the growers of the whole world. The cannas and pansies were out of doors, and formed a striking base for the fine architecture of the monster building. The Art Palace. In a matchless white palace of pure Ionic order the art producing nations of the world, for the first time, entered upon a serious competition with the painters and sculptors of America. The structure itself was worthy of the pictured grandeur that stretched for miles under its roof. Every line was full ol quiet beauty. From portal to portal it was a noble sermon on architecture. In looking upon this building one could scarcely imagine how it could have been otherwise, it was all so natural, so harmonious, so blended to its purpose without apparent effect. Here were gathered the best modern- works of America, France, England, Ger- many, Holland, Russia, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Den- mark and Mexico, all carefully selected by separate national juries and hung upon the walls as representative creations. There can THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 96 1 be little doubt that this was the most important, as well as the most extensive, display of contemporaneous art that has yet been made in any country, not ex- cepting even that of the Paris Exposition. Old masters were excluded, so that Ameri- cans could now see for themselves the position which their country occupies in comparison with other countries. This is the first time in the history of America that such an exhibition could have been possible, for in 1876, when the Phila- delphia Exposition was opened, there was scarcely any American art to speak of But the honest critic who walked through the five acres of galleries must admit that America now holds a high place in the art world. Americans can carry their heads erect. Dore's W^orld-Renowned Paintings. The collection of the works of Gustave Dore, which is the finest collection of religious pictures in the world, was exhibited at the World's Fair. This collection was valued at half a million dollars. The Dore collection comprised thirty-two large oil paintings and many of the original sketches in black and whitefrom which these were painted. With the collection were many landscapes, showing the versatility of the great artist, and also many proofs of engravings signed by him. No artist of modern times has appealed so strongly to the religious sentiment of Christians as this renowned Alsatian, whose powerful concep- tions, both as an illustrator and painter, have placed him in the front ranks among the remarkable men of this or any other time. Perhaps no building among the scores at Jackson Park was more eagerly sought or studied with more interest than the Woman's Building. The place occupied by woman in the serious work of the world and her accomplishments in addition to being graceful and beautiful were shown at the World's Fair. There were collected and placed in attractive form object lessons displaying to the best advantage her progress and enlarged sphere of usefulness that startled those people who have regarded women as merely pedestals for bonnets and as types of frivolity. Under the leadership of Mrs. Potter Palmer the Lady Managers did wonders. More of the real results of the Exposition than they will ever get credit for can be traced to their endeavors. Co-operating with the central body were women of push and energ}' all over the country, and in many states the news that a great Exposition was to be held was first carried to the citizens by the gentler sex. In Te.xas, for instance, they did the pioneer work that resulted in a display being sent by voluntary contributions, the constitution of that state preventing the Legislature from making appropriations such as were set aside by other commonwealths. The Nobility Interested. The first labors of the women managers before they decided on the sort of exhibits that should be made were to enlist the co-operations of foreign countries. In Eng- land, Queen Victoria and Princess Christian were induced by Mrs. Palmer to join the movement. Then there came in the Duchess of Abercorn. Lady Salisbury, Mrs. Bedford Fen wick. Lady Henry Somerset, Baroness Burdett-Coutts and a number of others equally public-spirited. In France, Mme. Carnot was president of a committee: in Germany, Princess Frederick Carl ; in Itah-. Queen Margherita ; in Belgium, the Queen of the Belgians, and in Russia the Empress enthusiastically indorsed the idea of a woman's exhibit. The responses to the calls from the central body showed the strides that have been made 962 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. by women in what has been termed their " emancipation." No previous Exposition has ever had a display of women's work Hke this, and, what is of more importance, in no Exposition did woman ever have the voice that she had in this United States Government Building. Our Government exhibit was one of the best ; comprising a multitude of rare and valuable exhibits; in short, it was nothing less than a great national school in which thousands of object lessons gave visitors an insight into the methods of administering the various departments at Washington. Even people who thought themselves well informed on the functions of the Federal administration were astonished at the great variety of matters that the wonderful old gentleman Uncle Sam attends to. There were prepared displays of selected cereals, tobacco and vegetable fibres; exhibits of stuffed birds ; the fishes that swim in our American waters ; whale boats and fishing implements ; lighthouses and life-boats ; big guns and other weapons of war; geological and mineral specimens ; and rare coins and bank notes. The department of relics was rich in treasures, comprising everything that illus- trates the early and later histo:y of our country. The naval exhibit of the United States Government was nearly all contained in the composite battle-ship Illinois, which stood in Lake Michigan almost in front of the huge building devoted to manufactures. Few people who saw the formidable guns and turret of the Illinois, which seemed to stand guard over the Fair grounds and protect them from invasion by water, realized until they came very close to her that she was not a floating ship of war. This brick ship was the idea of Commodore R. W. Meade. Her Gatling and Hotchkiss guns, of which she had a battery, seemed to stand upon decks that had been washed with the spray of the ocean. Steam and smoke issued from her funnel, her steam whistle blew as if to warn adjacent craft that she was about to sheer off" from the wharf, and real naval officers in full uniform paced her quartet deck. In spite of that fact she was fi rmly buih into the mud of the lake and couldn't have been moved with a derrick. She would no( have floated even if bricks and mortal floated, for she had no bottom. Everything was shown that pertains to a first-class battle-ship, and the great interest in our naval armaments was exhibited in the crowds who constantly thronged the vessel. The Fisheries Building. The Fisheries Building embraced a large central structure with two smaller buildings connected w'th it on each end by arcades. The extreme length of the building was i,ioo feet and the width 200 feet. It was located to the northward of the United States Government Building. In the central portion was the general Fisheries exhibit. In one of the other buildings was the Angling exhibit and in the other the Aquaria. One part of the exhibition was prepared by the United States Fish Commission, and one of the annexes to the main building contained glass tanks filled with denizens of the deep living almost in a state of nature. Besides these live fish, which included specimens of those that live in salt water, there were complete collections of the imple- ments used in catching and curing them. Canada sent her fishing vessels, staunch and seaworthy, from which her people take the cod, and there could be seen also the birch bark canoes from which the Indians of the Pacific coasts lure the salmon. Fishing has not received much attention 564 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. at international exhibitions. London had an exposition devoted entirely to fisheries, but in Chicago a very great deal was done to illustrate the industr>% and that, too, without any American precedents. Norwegian stock fish and cod liver oil were there in large quantities. They gave a sea flavor to the atmosphere, and you could almost see the fish jumping in the nets and hear the boat's keel rubbing on the beach and the swash of the surf if you closed your eyes for a moment. All sorts of canned fish from Old Norway were piled up, and there was a fisherman's hut from Loffoden showing how two or three boat's crews bunk in a roughly built pine board box. Gloucester, Mass., which is not too proud to own up that its greatness is due to its fisheries, staked out a lot of space in which it gloried in the fact. It told of the past and present condition of its industries. A model of the town as it was one hundred years ago with cob whar\'es and cheap little fish sheds, was shown, and then the town proudly pointed to a model of a section of the town as it is to-day. How the wharves and the warehouses have grown ! The very men who paced the piers in miniature seemed to have a sense of their increased worth. A Happy Family of Fishes. Swimming around the tanks, apparently contented, though without very much intelli- gence on their faces, were trout, goldfish, perch and a large variety of specimens from the lakes. In a central pond were some catfish and pike. It was necessary to assort the trout according to their sizes, as they are cannibals. An interesting exhibit was that of the American Anglers. It included fishing boats, tents and furniture. There was a display also of flies, rods, reels and tackle and some young women engaged in tying flies on the hooks and making fishing lines. Primitive boats and tackle used by the Indians of the Amazon and the more modern appliances were in the exhibit from Brazil. They contrasted strangely with the steel rods and the graceful flies of North America. As the building was on the banks of the lagoon arrangements were made for tourna- ments at fly casting, bait fishing, trolling and skittering during the Fair. Several Ashing camps which showed tents, log huts and portable houses, were kept up on the bank, and anglers were able to sneer at the appliances used by others and explain the virtues of those affected by themselves. Transportation Building. Except for the doorway of retreating arches, the architectual gem of the whole Exposition, no particular attempt at adorn- ment was made on the Transportation Build- ing. Every nook, nave, corridor and grand gallery were built for a purpose. It was planned and built, more than any building in Jackson Park, for its use in properly displaying ancient and modern methods of transportation. Being in this highest sense useful it was, according to Socrates, in the highest sense beautiful. The display inside of the hall was bewildering in its range and variety. The whole history of transportation, from birch bark canoes to steamships, and from pack horses to palace cars was unfolded in a manner never to be forgotten. Looking down from the galleries upon the acres and acres of exhibits, one saw a monster black steam hammer for forging armor plates which towered above the second story, a row of famous locomotives facing out from the annex like a herd of elephants, a full section of colossal ocean steamships, and scattered about here and there, thousands of objects that told the story of how man has gradually annihilated space. THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAX EXPOSITION. 965 The invention and development of the locomotive and railway system is the nine- teenth century wonder. Less than sixtj-- eight years since the first passenger railway ran its first crude train. Now the great civil- izer has penetrated every country. About ten acres of ground floor space were devoted exclusively to exhibits pertaining to railway construction, equipment, operation, manage- ment and development. Si.xty-four modern locomotives of all types and sizes from the two one-hundred ton Decapod engines which stood on the pedestals between the Adminis- tration Building and the Railway Station to the fiv^e ton logging locomotives for use in the forests of Michigan. In the Transportation Building was the original first train run in New York, the name of the locomotive being " De Witt Clinton." The " De Witt Clinton " was built at the West Point foundry, at the foot of Beach street, New York City, in 1831. This engine was run on trial trips on the Mohawk and Hudson railroad at various times from Juh- 2, 1831, until August 9, when the first regular excursion trip was made. Passengers Sho\A?ered with Sparks. The conductor mounted a small seat attached to the rear of the tender and gave the signal for starting by blowing a tin horn. The fuel used on this trip was dry pitch pine, coal having been previously tried, but did not work satisfactorily. As there was no spark arrester on the stack the smoke and sparks poured back on the passengers in such a volume that they raised their umbrellas as shields. The covers were soon burned off these, and each man whipped his neighbor's clothes to put out the fire started by the hot cinders. When a stop was made at the water station an attempt was made to remedy the disagree- able jerks resulting from the slack between the coaches by wedging a rail from a neigh- boring fence between each car and tying it fast with packing yarn. This plan succeeded, and the train arrived at the incline plane at Schenectady without accident. After the party had partaken of refreshments in Sche- nectady they returned to Albany, and thus completed the first regular trip of a locomo- tive and train in New York State. The space devoted to wheeled vehicles was 1 30,000 square feet, and it was all fitted up with new wood carpet in white oak strips, laid out in handsome patterns and finished in oil. Each space was surrounded with hand- some ornamental brass railing and posts. This exhibit occupied the entire north end of the Main Building and the annex and about one-half of the north galler)' in the Main Building. Great Variety. On the first floor were exhibited carriages, wagons and vehicles of every description. In the gallery were displayed bicycles, carriages and wagon hardware and saddlery goods, There was a historical array of vehicles, sad- dlery goods and bicycles. An effort was made to show the evolution of these indus- tries from their primitive origins down to the present time. For this purpose a large collection was made in foreign lands, from the ancient char- iot that antedates Christ to the latest thing out. There was shown ever\'thing from the old Mexican cart drawn by oxen and the first bicycle ever made to the finest royal and family carriage that the modern builder can produce. The luxurious and useful modern brougham, which the celebrated makers of the world are displaying, stood alongside the old deacon's celebrated " one horse shay." There was a bewildering collection of carts 966 THE WORLDS COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. and harness from Palermo, land sledges from Punchal.acalache from Quebec, and a volante from Cuba. The ox and the ass appeared in various burden bearing capacities, and the harness and saddlery abounded in most useful and economical forms as well as in the elegant and even fantastic styles. The human pack animal was not forgotten. He appeared as the Cargadores of South America and the street carrier of the Orient. There were palanquins, traveling hammocks, and sedans from remote corners of the globe as well as of remote times, illustrating how one class of mankind drudges that another may ride in luxury. Mines and Mining Building. The mining e.xhibit at the World's Fair has never been equalled at any E.xposition. At Philadelphia, in Paris and at the other big shows of this character mining has had a pavilion to itself, but it has never been made a feature. At Chicago there was a splendid collection, including some thirteen thousand exhibits, illustrating all the valuables that man extracts from the earth. Not only were the processes shown bj- which the crude ore is fashioned, but the methods by which the ore is taken from tlie ground and treated were explained by costly working models. There are few things about mining that could not be learned in the building 700 feet long by 350 wide set apart for this study. Cape Colony showed the output of the Kimberley diamond mines. A quantity of the blue earth in which the diamonds are found was sent to this country to be worked over during the Fair. There were two or three carloads of it and it was worth §200,000. It was stored outside the building and guarded by men armed with enormous pistols. A force of Kaffirs extracted the diamonds. First of all, the blue earth was transported from the storage place to the South African pavilion by means of an underground tram- wa\- built to give visitors an insight into mining. When it reached the pavilion it passed into the machinery used to pulverize the earth, which is very hard. The Kaffirs sorted out the diamond pebbles. At night they guarded the diamond earth to prevent it from falling into the hands of the treacher- ous whites. In the Miners' Hut. Copper in great profusion was found in the exhibits of Arizona and New Mexico, some from the Copper Queen Consolidated Mines. New Mexico built a miners' cabin and covered it with minerals. It was the sort of place the miners live in when they can't get anything better. Mining and stone quarrying and stone working machinery was arranged under the east gallery, where there were to be found placer and hydraulic implements in everj' shape. It was shown how the polishing is done, the underground haulage, the systems of hoisting, draining, ventilating, lighting, transporting and conveying on the surface, drills, boring, blasting, crushing, screening and " sizing." There were heavy stamps for crushing ore, most of them full size. In the model room were representations of mines, shafts and tunnels and drifts which gave an idea of a miner's work that could only be obtained otherwise by a trip into the caverns of the earth. In the heavy chemical group were sulphurs, salts, pigments and fertilizers. Florida and South Carolina showed their big phosphat'.- beds. Another group contained the cements, asphalts and mastics. Included in this was a model of the pitch lake of Trinidad, sent by an asphalt firm. The clays were shown by themselves, and in one part of the gallery a THE WORLDS COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. Chicago firm, with miniature machinery, produced and baked little pressed bricks that they gave away as samples. Here also was a collection of graphite arranged by a Jersey City firm that showed all the uses of that material from crucibles to stove polish. Adjoining was an assortment of abrasives, such as grindstones. It is a noteworth\' fact that the rouge used for women's faces was classed as an abrasive and was placed al'^ng- side of the grindstones. Children's Building. Wedged in between the Woman's Building and the Horticultural Building, as if to teach by an object lesson that children are the buds of the heart, and the only flowerets in the universe more attractive to women than the flowers of the garden stood the Children's Building of the Exposition. It was an Exposition building, however, onl\- in the sense that it was on the Exposition grounds. It was built under the auspices of the Board of Lady Managers and with money which they collected all over the United States, there being only eight or ten States and Territories from which nothing was received. The Children's Building served a dual purpose. It was educational and practical, and devoted to both during the Exposition. The educational feature was a branch which showed mothers how to train the little ones entrusted to their charge. Simple ways of teaching the infant mind by figure and illus- tration were shown, and attendants were always on hand to explain the system. The practical part, aside from the gynmasium, included a room where children did wood carving, another where deaf and dumb boys and girls could go and find companions, and, best of all, the nursery. Two rooms on the first floor were devoted to this purpose. They were the brightest 967 rooms in the building, and were presided over by trained nurse girls dressed in striped dresses and wearing white caps. There were rows of cradles for the very little people, rows of beds for those a little older, toys ol all kinds, spring chairs hung from the ceiling, where babies could jump up and down and "go," and in the center was a place they called the pond. It was an enclosure fenced off as a play-ground for the little people who could only creep. On the roof of the building which was their especial kingdom was a great garden, in which they were reigning kings and queens. They were permitted to pla\' with the toys considered safe for them and that they could not throw over the battlement upon the heads of larger and less happy passers-by. They had the shade of awnings, the benefit of cool breezes, the cheer ot music and the pleasure that games gave them. In this and all other departments the toys sent them by foreign nations and American manu facturerswere proofs of genuine philanthropy. By far the greater number of toys from any one nation were French. They more than any other were of the ingenious kind — the mechanical devices that prove ingenuity in the maker and skill in the operator. Many of them were of the kind that may be enjoyed without handling by the children. The State Buildings. Nearly every State and Territory in the Union, as well as every foreign government, was represented on the Fair grounds by buildings, in which were special exhibits from those States, such as soils, mineral products, grains and other products, and also club rooms for the people from those States, which they could call their own headquarters, but all of these were open to the public free of any charge. These State buildings presented a variety 968 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. of architecture detailing in a measure the j history of the country. They contained ex- ] hibits among the most interesting to the for- eign visitors, because they showed what each State is able to produce and what are its natural resources. In many instances they represented State Fairs with very complete exhibits. Some of the state buildings were veritable palaces, and all of them of the character of homes, with their handsomely furnished par- lors, reception-rooms, reading and smoking- rooms, broad verandas and other conven- iences for visitors. Great Britain and Colonies. The British exhibit was the creation of the Society of Arts of London. This ven- erable society was founded in 1754, "for the encouragement of the arts, manufactures, and commerce of the country." The British Government placed at the disposal of the commission $125,000, afterward increased to $300,000, and it addressed itself to the task of creating an exhibit in th^ most prompt, systematic, and industrious manner. A thor- ough organization of every part of the Empire and its dependencies and of every branch of the exhibit was made, and every subject was worked up in the most intelligent and scientific manner. The result was that all of the 500,000 square feet of space placed at the disposal of the commission was speedily taken, leaving many applicants disappointed. The list of colonies represented at the Exposition included Canada, New South Wales, Cape Colony, Ceylon, British Guiana, Jamaica and Trinidad. In addition the Government of India appropriated $14,000 to the Indian Tea Association's exhibit and $3,500 to the Delhi Art Manufacture exhibit, including the erec- tion of the India Building. The British pavilion in the Manufactures and Liberal Arts Building was an exact reproduction in English oak of the banquet- ing hall at Hatfield House, the historic home of the Cecils. All of the carvings were cut from solid oak — that is to say, each figure and panel of which a casting was taken was not pieced, but reproduced from one block. By a process of "fuming " the rich, deep tone of antique work was imparted to the carvings. Native Products of Canada. The selection of the various objects of interest from Canada was made by experts appointed especially for their ability, and the selection and care of the exhibits cost over $250,000. The list was comprehensive and embraced all the domestic animals, grain, seeds, roots, fruit, mineral, timber, wood, manufactured goods, fisheries and dairy products. Canada made a showing in every large building on the ground. There were also 3,500 samples of grains, threshed and in the straw. The mineral exhibit exceeded 125 tons in weight and embraced every known mineral, marble and granite in the province. There was one block of pure nickel weighing 4,600 pounds, and twelve cones of nickel matt weighing 600 pounds each, and one sample of the ore, the richest ever yet found, weigh- ing ten tons. In the forestry division were samples of all the known varieties of wood that grow in Canada. Each piece was forty- two inches long and as large around as pos- sible. One end was polished to show the grain, and each section had a companion sec- tion squared, polished and engraved, show- ing the leaf and seed of the variety. There were also many pieces of timber prepared by the Indians without the aid of a saw and carved with a common pocket-knife. This Indian carving was most complete, one piece being a balcony, belfry, bell and THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. -69 chain — all carved out of one solid block — the work of ten years. Everj^ article was marked with its full history. As a souvenir the commissioners gave away a lithograph of the Parliament build- ings and a catalogue of the exhibit. Among the curious things were the first piano ever brought into Canada and the first mechani- cal device for grinding grain, a small hand Germany and Belgium. Never since the first great World's Fair was opened in London, nearly half a century ago, have the German people taken so lively an interest in an affair of the kind as they exhibited in the Columbian Exposition. As a nation they made displays in every depart- ment at the Fair, and in addition the mer- chants and manufacturers made distinct exhibits that compared favorably with those prepared by their business rivals of other European countries. Germany's exhibit was the pride of all wlio claim allegiance to that country or whose ancestors came from that political division of Europe. The German Building overlooking Lake Michigan was the showiest of all the foreign buildings. Armbruster Bros., of Frankfort-on-the- Main, furnished for the German exhibit in the Manufactures Building the beautiful wrought iron fence which separated this section of the exhibit from Columbia avenue. The style of the work was highly ornamental and the cen- tral one of the three gates was the largest piece of wrought iron art work ever made. It stood forty feet high and was twenty-two feet in width, and the gates alone weighed eighteen tons, exclusive of the elaborate The fence complete represented the work of 150 of the firm's most skilled workmen for a total period of almost six months. Fruit and flowers and delicate leaves were hammered from the iron until they looked to be the work of a skillful goldsmith, instead of the brawny wielders of sledge hammers over huge anvils. The central gate was the principal feature of this exhibit. Huge bars extended from the top to the bottom, filled in between with deli- cate tracery work, and the top and bottom were each marked by moldings in keeping with the whole. Towering high above the top piece was a basket of flowers, hammered out of iron, and looking as life-like, save for the color, as would a basket of wax fruit or flowers. The total length of the fence was 161 feet. After its completion it was set up both in Frankfort and Berlin, and the news of its excellence brought thousands to view it. The Emperor himself paid it a visit and expressed his admiration of its workmanship in unmeasured terms of praise. Germany's Crown Jewels. Millions of dollars' worth of jewels, be- longing to the German Emperor and Empress, and the military and civil celebrities of Germany, were sent to Chicago for exhi- bition at the Fair. The jewels are literally priceless. Aside from their intrinsic value, which is enormous, they possess great his- torical value, and were they lost, money could not replace them. They are the col- lection of many years, and were loaned offi • cially to the German exhibit at the Fair by the present Emperor. Besides the jewels ol state, there were large quantities from firms posts and surmounting top piece. The side j and private citizens. The ornaments were gates were 30 feet high and 1 5 feet wide, and each pair weighed thirteen tons. The iron was hammered and wrought from crude bars entirely by hand-work. of gold and silver, studded with diamonds and other precious gems. Belgium is famous for its laces and its lace- makers, who have their headquarters at Brus- 970 THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. sels. The ladies expected, therefore, a grand display of laces in the Belgium exhibit, and they were not disappointed. Three or four of the leading manufacturers of Brussels had booths, in which everything in this line that is rare, costly and bewitching was seen. The pieces exhibited, some large and some small, were so much finer and more beautiful than are ordinarily seen that thsy might be regarded as the apotheosis of lace. No designs were ever so rich and varied, and no lace was ever so airy, gossamer-like and divine. They looked like phantasm in thread or a dream in meshes. Rare exhibits were furnished by France, Russia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Norway and Sweden. Whatever these countries consid- ered as characteristic of their art, agriculture, manufactures and handicraft of every descrip- tion, was shown at the Fair. These nations furnished exhibits that were rich in painting, statuary, textile fabrics and historical relics. A reproduction of one of the old Viking ships of Norway attracted much attention, as did also the three ships of Columbus sent from Spain. Midway Plaisance. A great variety of sights occupied the famous Street of Nations. Here were people from the ends of the earth showing crowds of visitors what was characteristic of their respective countries. If the last Paris Exposition had its Eiffel Tower, our own World's Fair had its Ferris Wheel, nor can it be said the former caused any greater sensation than the lattei-. The Ferris Wheel was the real triumph of the Midway Plaisance. It represented better than any other exhibit the genius of American invention. It looked something like the paddle wheel of a steamer, multiplied, how- ever, a hundredfold. Instead of the paddles it had passengers cars, and when it revolved the passengers got something of the sensation that a fly must have that sits on the side of a cart wheel and feels it revolve. The entire structure was of steel, and some- what resembled a huge bicycle wheel revolv- ing between two towers. The principle of construction was somewhat similar to an old English breast water-wheel, in that it consisted of a stiff outer crown which was suspended from the center axle by a system of tension rolls. The wheel practically consisted of two wheels placed on the same axle, spaced a distance of twenty-eight and one-half feet apart, and held together by struts and ties. A Ride Skyward. Imagine a wheel 264 feet in height, and 250 feet in diameter, and around it, suspended between the two crowns by great steel trun- nion pins, thirty-six passenger cars, weighing nineteen tons apiece, each larger than the ordinary railroad coach and with a seating capacity of sixty persons. Imagine this great wheel, with its living freight to a total of 2,160 souls slowly revolving. Imagine the sensation of being carried up 260 feet on one side and being lowered on the other, and of a ride skyward, attended by magnificent views of the Fair, of the city of Chicago, and the surrounding country and the adjacent lake. The fears of the timid were overcome when they saw the solid appearance of the structure and the ease with which the revo- lutions were made. Among the interesting sights along Midway Plaisance was a reminder of Austria. This was a reproduction of a street in Old Vienna. It was opened to the public with jovial festivities, the ceremony being attended by a large delegation of the foreign element. The street contained thirty-five buildings, a city hall, a church, and covered a space 590 by 200 feet. Many articles were displayed from the windows illustrating the typical THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 971 ■industries of Viennese. At one squatty little shop tea could be obtained, served from a majestic Delft teapot, ornamented with paint- ings of fat little shepherds and shepherdesses tending pigs, boats sailing on the air, houses built in clouds, and sundry other Dutch Jantasies. On a number of days the paid admissions -vere over 300,000, and several of these were ordinary days when there were no special attractions. The largest attendance was on October 9th, " Chicago Day," when the paid admissions reached the enormous figure of over 700,000, exceeding by over 300,000 the greatest number of admissions on one day at the Paris Exposition of 1889. Opened in Gladness — Closed in Sorrow. On Saturday evening, Octobe. 28th, Hon. Carter Harrison, Ma}or of Chicago, was assassinated in his own house. Both the city and the country at large were shocked by the untimely death of the chief municipal execu- tive who had acted an important part on which lay at anchor off the grounds. Twenty more peals followed. All the flags had been at half-mast; but when the twenty- first gun was fired they were pulled simultaneously to the flagstaff's peak, and, after fluttering there for a moment, as if in farewell, they went down for the last time, and the official an- nouncement was made that the World's Columbian Exposition as an international affair was at an end. Taps were sounded and the Innes Band played "The Star-spangled Banner." This was a ^spontaneous demon- stration, and for the first time the people cheered. Tht Total Admissions. following are the official figures for the paid admissions to the Fair; May, 1,050,037; June, 2,675,113; July, 2,760,263; August, 3,515,493; September, 4,659,871, October, 6,816,435, making 21,477,212. The total admissions on passes were 2,052,188, making a grand total of 23,529.400. After every debt of the World's Fair was many of the public occasions connected with | paid there remained upwards of §1,000,000 the Exposition. The official time for closing the Fair was October 30th. Si.x months before it was opened with splendid pagentry and a thou- sand bright new banners were unfurled, while a hundred thousand spectators cheered. On the closing day the weather-stained banners were pulled down almost in silence. Those that represented foreign countries were not raised again. Only the American flag floated afterward over the buildings. A public meeting was held at 4.30 in Festival Hall which naturally assumed almost the character of a memorial service to the dead Mayor. Several addresses w-ere delivered and resolu- tions were passed, but there was no ceremony by Exposition officials. At 5 o'clock there was a little puff of smoke from the United States Steamer Michigan, to be distributed among the stockholders. Treasurer Seeberger made this pleasant announcement on the closing day. The E.x- position Company paid out §30,558,849.01, or three times the amount the managers expected to spend when they commenced building the Fair. The gate receipts during the E.xposition period proper were little over §10,000,000. Up to the last day $3,300,000 had been collected from concessionaires by Mr. Blackmer's department, and nearly §700, 000 were paid before he took hold. The returns from those who held concession privileges was one of the big surprises of the Fair. 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