HAVE any of my young readers read the beautiful poem of "Evangeline," written by the poet Longfellow? Very likely it is too old for you, though the time will come when you will read it and enjoy it greatly. Evangeline was a pretty and pious woman who lived in a French settlement called Acadia, on the Atlantic coast. You will not find this name on any of your maps, but must look for Nova Scotia, by which name Acadia is now known. The story of Evangeline tells us about the cruel way in which the poor Acadians were treated by the English. It is a sad and pathetic story, as you will see when you have read it.
It was one of the wicked results of the war between the French and the English. There were many cruel deeds in this war, and the people who suffered the most were those who had the least to do with the fighting. In one place a quiet, happy family of father, mother and children, living on a lonely farm, and not dreaming of anydanger, suddenly hear the wild war-whoop of the Indians, and soon see their doors broken open and their house blazing, and are carried off into cruel captivity—those who are not killed on the spot. In another place all the people of a village are driven from their comfortable homes by soldiers and forced to wander and beg their bread in distant lands. And all this takes place because the kings of England and France, three thousand miles away, are quarreling about some lands which do not belong to either of them. If those who brought on wars had to suffer for them they would soon come to an end. But they revel and feast in their splendid palaces while poor and innocent people endure the suffering. The war that began in the wilds of western Pennsylvania, between the French and Indians and the English lasted seven years, from 1754 to 1761. During that time there were many terrible battles, and thousands of soldiers were killed, and there was much suffering and slaughter among the people, and burning of houses, and destruction of property, and horrors of all sorts.
It is called the French and Indian War, because there were many Indians on the side of the French. There were some on the side of the English, also. Indians are very savage and cruel in their way of fighting, as you already know. I shall have to tell you one instance of their love of bloodshed.One of the English forts, called Fort William Henry, which stood at the southern end of Lake George, had to surrender to the French, and its soldiers were obliged to march out and give up their guns.
There were a great many Indians with the French, and while the prisoners stood outside the fort, without a gun in their hands, the savage men attacked them and began to kill them with knives and tomahawks. The French had promised to protect them, but they stood by and did nothing to stop this terrible slaughter, and many of the helpless soldiers were murdered. Others were carried off by the Indians as prisoners. It was the most dreadful event of the whole cruel war.
I must now ask you to look on a map of the State of New York, if you have any. There you will find the Hudson River, and follow it up north from the city of New York, past Albany, the capital of the state, until it ends in a region of mountains. Near its upper waters is a long, narrow lake named Lake George, which is full of beautiful islands. North of that is a much larger lake named Lake Champlain, which reaches up nearly to Canada.
The British had forts on the Hudson River and Lake George and the French on Lake Champlain, and also between the two lakes, where stood the strong Fort Ticonderoga. It was around theseforts and along these lakes that most of the fighting took place. For a long time the French had the best of it. The British lost many battles and were driven back. But they had the most soldiers, and in the end they began to defeat the French and drive them back, and Canada became the seat of war. But let me tell you the story of the Acadians.
Acadia was a country which had been settled by the French a long, long time before, away back in 1604, before there was an English settlement in America. Captain John Smith, you know, came to America in 1607, three years afterwards. Acadia was a very fertile country, and the settlers planted fields of grain and orchards of apples and other fruits, and lived a very happy life, with neat houses and plenty of good food, and in time the whole country became a rich farming land.
But the British would not let these happy farmers alone. Every time there was trouble with the French, soldiers were sent to Acadia. It was captured by the British in 1690, but was given back to France in 1697, when that war ended. It was taken again by the British in the war that began in 1702, and this time it was not given back. Even its name of Acadia was taken away, and it was called Nova Scotia, which is not nearly so pretty a name.
Thus it was that, when the new war withFrance began, Acadia was held as a province of Great Britain. To be sure the most of its people were descended from the old French settlers and did not like their British masters, but they could not help themselves, and went on farming in their old fashion. They were ignorant, simple-minded countrymen, who looked upon France as their country, and were not willing to be British subjects.
That is the way with the French. It is the same to-day in Canada, which has been a colony of Great Britain for nearly a century and a half. The descendants of the former French still speak their old language and love their old country, and now sometimes fight the British with their votes as they once did with their swords.
The British did not hold the whole of Acadia. The country now called New Brunswick, which lies north of Nova Scotia, was part of it, and was still held by the French. In 1755 the British government decided to attempt the capture of this country, and sent out soldiers for that purpose. Fighting began, but the French defended themselves bravely, and the British found they had a hard task to perform.
What made it worse for them was that some of the Acadians, who did not want to see the British succeed, acted as spies upon them, and told the French soldiers about their movements, so thatthe French were everywhere ready for them. And the Acadians helped the French in other ways, and gave the British a great deal of trouble.
This may have been wrong, but it was natural. Every one feels like helping his friends against his enemies. But you may be sure that it made the British very angry, and in the end they took a cruel resolution. This was to send all the Acadians away from their native land to far-off, foreign countries. It was not easy to tell who were acting as spies, so the English government ordered them all to be removed. They were told they might stay if they would swear to be true subjects of the king of England, but this the most of them would not do, for they were French at heart, and looked on King Louis of France as their true and rightful ruler.
Was not this very cruel? There were hundreds of boys and girls like yourselves among these poor Acadians, who had happy homes, and loved to work and play in their pretty gardens and green fields, and whose fathers and mothers did no harm to any one. But because a few busy men gave news to the French, all of these were to be torn from their comfortable homes and sent far away to wander in strange lands, where many of them would have to beg for bread. It was a heartless act, and the world has ever since said so, and among all the cruel things the British have done,the removal of the Acadians from their homes is looked upon as one of the worst.
When soldiers are sent to do a cruel thing they are very apt to do it in the most brutal fashion. The Acadians did not know what was to be done. It was kept secret for fear they might run away and hide. A large number of soldiers were sent out, and they spread like a net over a wide stretch of country. Then they marched together and drove the people before them. The poor farmers might be at their dinners or working in their fields, but they were told that they must stop everything and leave their homes at once, for they were to be sent out of the country. Just think of it! What a grief and terror they must have been in!
They were hardly given time to gather the few things they could carry with them, and on all sides they were driven like so many sheep to the seaside town of Annapolis, to which ships had been brought to carry them away. More than six thousand of these unhappy people, old and young, men, women and little ones, were gathered there; many of them weeping bitterly, many more with looks of despair on their faces, all of them sad at heart and very likely wishing they were dead.
Around them were soldiers to keep them from running away. They were made to get on the ships in such haste that families were often separated, husband and wife, or children and theirmothers, being put on different ships and sent to different places. And for fear that some of them might come back again their houses were burned and their farms laid waste. Many of them went to the French settlements in Louisiana, and others to other parts of America. Poor exiles! they were scattered widely over the earth. Some of them in time came back to their loved Acadia, but the most of them never saw it again. It was this dreadful act about which Longfellow wrote in his poem of Evangeline.
Now I must tell you how the French and Indian War ended. The French had two important cities in Canada, Montreal and Quebec. Quebec was built on a high and steep hill and was surrounded by strong walls, behind which were more than eight thousand soldiers. It was not an easy city to capture.
A large British fleet was sent against it, and also an army of eight thousand men, under General Wolfe. For two or three months they fired at the city from the river below, but the French scorned them from their steep hill-top. At length General Wolfe was told of a narrow path by which he might climb the hill. One dark night he tried it, and by daybreak a large body of men had reached the hill-top, and had dragged up a number of cannon with them.
When the French saw this they were frightened.They hurried out of the city, thinking they could drive the English over the precipice before any more of them got up. They were mistaken in this. The English met them boldly, and in the battle that followed they gained the victory and Quebec fell into their hands.
General Wolfe was mortally wounded, but when he was told that the French were in flight, he said: "God be praised! I die happy."
Montcalm, the French general, also fell wounded. When he knew that he must die he said: "So much the better; I shall not live to see the surrender of Quebec."
The next year Montreal was taken, and the war ended. And in the treaty of peace France gave up all her colonies in America. England got Canada and Spain got Louisiana. All North America now belonged to two nations, England and Spain.
I Â Â SHOULD be glad to have some of you take a steamboat ride up the broad Hudson River, past the city of New York, and onward in the track of the "Half Moon," Henry Hudson's ship. If you did so, you would come in time to the point where this ship stopped and turned back. Here, where Hudson and his Dutch sailors saw only a great spread of forest trees, stretching far back from the river bank, our modern travelers would see the large and handsome city of Albany, the capital of the State of New York.
This is one of the hundreds of fine cities which have grown up in our country since Henry Hudson's time. A hundred and fifty years ago it was a small place, not much larger than many of our villages. But even then it was of importance, for in it was taken the first step towards our great Union of States. I shall have to tell you what this step was, for you will certainly want to know.
Well, at the time I speak of there was no such thing as an American Union. There were thirteencolonies, reaching from New Hampshire down to Georgia. But each of these was like a little nation of its own; each had its own government, made its own laws, and fought its own fights. This was well enough in one way, but it was not so well in another. At one time the people had the Indians to fight with, at another time the French, and sometimes both of these together, and many of them thought that they could do their fighting better if they were united into one country.
So in the year 1754 the colonies sent some of their best men to Albany, to talk over this matter, and see if a union of the colonies could not be made. This is what I meant when I said that the first step towards the American Union was taken at Albany.
Of these men, there is only one I shall say anything about. This man's name you should know and remember, for he was one of the noblest and wisest men that ever lived in this country. His name was Benjamin Franklin. Forty years before this time he was a little Boston boy at work in his father's shop, helping him make candles. Afterwards he learned how to print, and then, in 1723, he went to Philadelphia, where he soon had a shop and a newspaper office, and in time became rich.
There was nothing going on that Franklin didnot take part in. In his shop he bound books, he made ink, he sold rags, soap, and coffee. He was not ashamed of honest work, and would take off his coat and wheel his papers along the street in a wheelbarrow. He started many institutions in Philadelphia which are now very important. Among these there are a great university, a large hospital, and a fine library. No doubt you have read how he brought down the lightning from the clouds along the string of a kite, and proved that lightning is the same thing as electricity. And he took an active part in all the political movements of the time. That is why he came to be sent to Albany in 1754, as a member of the Albany Convention.
Franklin always did things in ways that set people to thinking. When he went to Albany he took with him copies of a queer picture which he had printed in his newspaper. This was a snake cut into thirteen pieces. Under each piece was the first letter of the name of a colony, such as "P" for Pennsylvania. Beneath the whole were the words "Unite or die."
That was like Franklin; he was always doing something odd. The cut-up snake stood for the thirteen divided colonies. What Franklin meant was that they could not exist alone. A snake is not of much account when it is chopped up into bits, but it is a dangerous creature when it is whole.He proposed that there should be a grand council of all the colonies, a sort of Congress, meeting every year in Philadelphia, which was the most central large city. Over them all was to be a governor-general appointed by the king. This council could make laws, lay taxes, and perform other important duties.
That is enough to say about Franklin's plan, for it was not accepted. It was passed by the convention, it is true, but the king would not have it and the colonies did not want it; so the snake still lay stretched out along the Atlantic in thirteen pieces. Then came the great war with the French of which I have told you. After that was over, things came to pass which in the end forced the colonies to combine. Thus Franklin's plan, or something like it, was in time carried out, but for many years the country was in a terrible state. This is what I am now going to tell you about.
You should know that the war with the French cost the king and the colonies a great deal of money. The king of England at that time was named George. He was an obstinate man, but not a very wise one, as you will think when you have learned more about him. One thing he wanted to do was to send soldiers to America to keep the French from getting back what they had lost, and he asked the people to pay these soldiers. He also asked them to send him money to paythe governors and judges whom he had chosen to rule over them. But the people thought they could take care of themselves, and did not want British soldiers. And they preferred to pay the governors and judges themselves as they had always done, and did not want King George to do it for them. So they would not send him the money he asked for.
Some of you may think this was very mean in the Americans, after all the British had done to help them in their war with the French. But they knew very well what they were about. They thought that if they gave the king a dollar to-day he might want five dollars to-morrow, and ten dollars the next day. They judged it best not to begin with the dollar. Kings, you should know, do not always make the best use of money that is given them by their people.
And that was not all. The people in the colonies did not like the way they had been treated by the English. They had mountains full of iron, but the king would not let them make this iron into tools. They had plenty of wool, but he would not let them weave it into cloth. They must buy these and other things in England, and must keep at farming; but they were not allowed to send their grain to England, but had to eat it all at home. They could not even send goods from one colony to another. Thus they were to be keptpoor that the rich English merchants and manufacturers might grow rich.
These were some of the things the American people had to complain of. There were still other things, and a good many of the Americans had very little love for the English king and people. They felt that they were in a sort of slavery, and almost as if they had ropes on their hands and chains on their feet.
When King George was told that the Americans would not send him money he was very angry. I am afraid he called them bad names. They were a low, ignorant, ungrateful set, he said, and he would show them who was their master. He would tax them and get money from them in that way. So the English Parliament, which is a body of lawmakers like our Congress, came together and passed laws to tax the Americans.
The first tax they laid is what is called a stamp tax. I fancy you know very well what that is, for we have had a stamp tax in this country more than once, when the government was in need of money. Everybody who wrote a bank check, or made any legal paper, or sent away an express package, had to buy a stamp from the government and put it on the paper; and stamps had to be used on many other things.
But there is this difference. Our people were quite willing to buy these stamps, but they werenot willing to buy the stamps which the British government sent them in 1765. Why? Well, they had a good reason for it, and this was that they had nothing to do with making the law. The English would not pay any taxes except those made by the people whom they elected to Parliament, and the Americans said they had the same right. They were not allowed to send any members to Parliament, so they said that Parliament had no right to tax them. Their own legislatures might vote to send the king money, but the English Parliament had no right to vote for them.
When the king found that the Americans would not use his stamps he tried another plan. He laid a tax on tea and some other goods. He thought that our people could not do without tea, so he sent several shiploads across the ocean, expecting them to buy it and pay the tax. But he soon found that the colonists had no more use for taxed tea than for stamps. They would not even let the captains bring their tea on shore, except at Charleston, and there it was packed in damp cellars, where it soon rotted. A ship sent to Annapolis was set on fire and burned to the water's edge with the tea in it.
But the most stirring event took place at Boston. There one night, while the tea-ship lay at a wharf in the harbor, a number of young men dressed like Indians rushed on board with a loudwar-whoop and began to break open the tea-chests with their hatchets and pour the tea into the harbor. This was the famous "Boston tea-party."
Americans liked tea, but not tea with an English tax on it. They boiled leaves and roots and made some sort of tea out of them. It was poor stuff, but they did not pay any tax. And they would not buy any cloth or other goods brought from England. If the king was angry and stubborn they were angry and stubborn, too, and every day they grew more angry, until many of them began to think that they would be better off without a king. They were not the kind of people to be made slaves of easily by King George or any other king.
When the king heard of the "Boston tea-party" he was in a fury. He would make Boston pay well for its tea, he said. So he sent soldiers there, and he gave orders that no ships should go into or out of Boston harbor. This stopped most of the business of the town, and soon the poor people had no work to do and very little to eat. But they had crowded meetings at Faneuil Hall, where Samuel Adams and John Hancock and other patriots talked to them of their rights and wrongs. It began to look as if war would soon come.
The time had come at last for a union of the colonies. What Franklin had failed to do at Albany in 1754 was done at Philadelphia in 1774.A meeting was held there which was called a Congress, and was made up of some of the best men of the country sent from the colonies. One of these was George Washington, who had lived on his farm at Mount Vernon since the end of the French War.
Congress sent a letter to the king, asking him to give the people of this country the same rights that the people of England had. There was no harm in this, I am sure, but it made the king more obstinate still. I have said he was not a wise man. Most people say he was a very foolish one, or he would have known that the people of the colonies would fight for their rights if they could not get them in peace.
All around Boston the farmers and villagers began to collect guns and powder and to drill men into soldiers. These were called "minute men," which meant that they would be ready to fight at a minute's notice, if they were asked to. When people begin to get ready in this way, war is usually not far off.
One night at Boston a man named Paul Revere stood watching a distant steeple till he saw a light suddenly flash out through the darkness. Then he leaped on his horse and rode at full speed away. That light was a signal telling him that British soldiers were on the march to Concordtwenty miles away, to destroy some powder and guns which had been gathered there for the use of these "minute men."
Away rode Revere through the night, rousing up the people and shouting to them that the British soldiers were coming. He was far ahead of the soldiers, so that when they reached the village of Lexington, ten miles from Boston, the people were wide awake, and a party of minute men was drawn up on the village green. The soldiers were ordered to fire on these men, and some of them fell dead. Those were the first shots in a great war. It was the 19th of April, 1775.
The British marched on to Concord, but the farmers had carried away most of the stores and buried them in the woods. Then the red-coats started back, and a terrible march they had of it. For all along the road were farmers with guns in their hands, firing on the troops from behind trees and stone walls. Some of the soldiers got back to Boston, but many of them lay dead in the road. The poor fellows killed at Lexington were terribly avenged.
Far and wide spread the news, and on all sides the farmers left their plows and took down their rifles, and thousands of them set out along the roads to Boston. Soon there were twenty thousand armed men around the town, and the British were shut up like rats in a trap. The American people werein rebellion against the king and war had begun.
It was to be a long and dreadful war, but it led to American liberty, and that was a thing well worth fighting for. While the people were laying siege to Boston, Congress was in session at Philadelphia, talking about what had best be done. One good thing they did was to make George Washington commander-in-chief of the army and send him to Boston to fight the British there. They could not have found a better soldier in all America.
The next good thing took place a year later. This was the great event which you celebrate with fireworks every 4th of July. Congress decided that this country ought to be free, and no longer to be under the rule of an English king. So a paper was written by a member from Virginia named Thomas Jefferson, with the help of Benjamin Franklin and some others. The paper is known by the long name of "Declaration of Independence." It declared that the American colonies were free from British rule, and in future would take care of themselves. It was on the 4th of July, 1776, that this great paper was adopted by Congress, and on that day the Republic of the United States of America was born. That is why our people have such a glad and noisy time every 4th of July.
Everywhere the people were full of joy whenthey heard what had been done. In the state house at Philadelphia rang out the great bell on which the words, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof." In New York the statue of King George was pulled down and thrown into the dust of the street. The people did not know what dark days lay before them, but they were ready to suffer much for the sake of liberty, and to risk all they had, life and all, for the freedom of their native land.
ANY of my readers who are true, sound-hearted Americans, and I am sure all of them are that, would have been glad to see how the New England farmers swarmed around Boston in April, 1775. Some of them had fought in the French War, and brought with them their old rusty muskets, which they knew very well how to use. And most of them were hunters and had learned how to shoot. And all of them were bold and brave and were determined to have a free country. The English red-coat soldiers in Boston would soon find that these countrymen were not men to be laughed at, even if they had not been trained in war.
One morning the English woke up and rubbed their eyes hard, for there, on a hill that overlooked the town, was a crowd of Americans. They had been at work all night, digging and making earthworks to fight behind, and now had quite a fort. The English officers did not like the look of things, for the Americans could fire from that hill—Bunker Hill, they called it—straight downinto the town. They must be driven away or they would drive the troops away.
I can tell you that was a busy and bloody day for Boston. The great war-ships in the harbor thundered with their cannon at the men on the hill. And the soldiers began to march up the hill, thinking that the Yankees would run like sheep when they saw the red-coats coming near. But the Yankees were not there to run.
"Don't fire, boys, till you see the whites of their eyes," said brave General Prescott.
So the Yankee boys waited till the British were close at hand. Then they fired and the red-coats fell in rows, for the farmers did not waste their bullets. Those that did not fall scampered in haste down the hill. It was a strange sight to see British soldiers running away from Yankee farmers.
After a while the British came again. They were not so sure this time. Again the Yankee muskets rattled along the earthworks, and again the British turned and ran—those who were able to.
They could never have taken that hill if the farmer soldiers had not run out of powder. When the red-coats came a third time the Yankees could not fire, and had to fight them with the butts of their guns. So the British won the hill; butthey had found that the Yankee farmers were not cowards; after that time they never liked to march against American earthworks.
Not long after the battle of Bunker Hill General Washington came to command the Americans, and he spent months in drilling and making soldiers out of them. He also got a good supply of powder and muskets and some cannon, and one dark night in March, 1776, he built a fort on another hill that looked down on Boston.
I warrant you, the British were alarmed when they looked up that hill the next morning and saw cannon on its top and men behind the cannon. They would have to climb that hill as they had done Bunker Hill, or else leave Boston. But they had no fancy for another Bunker Hill, so they decided to leave. They went on board their ships and sailed away, and Washington and his men marched joyfully into the town. That was a great day for America, and it was soon followed by the 4th of July and the glorious Declaration of Independence. Since that 4th of July no king has ever ruled over the United States.
We call this war the American Revolution. Do you know what a revolution is? It means the doing away with a bad government and replacing it with a better one. In this country it meant that our people were tired of the rule of England andwished to govern themselves. They had to fight hard for their freedom, it is true, but it was well worth fighting for.
The war was a long and dreadful one. It went on for seven long years. At one time everything seemed lost; at other times all grew bright and hopeful. And thus it went on, up and down, to the end. I cannot tell you all that took place, but I will give you the important facts.
After the British left Boston, they sailed about for a time, and then they came with a large army to New York. Washington was there with his soldiers to meet them, and did his best, but everything seemed to go wrong. First, the Americans were beaten in battle and had to march out of New York and let the British march in. Then Washington and his ragged men were obliged to hasten across the State of New Jersey with a strong British force after them. They were too weak to face the British.
When they got to the Delaware River the Americans crossed it and took all the boats, so that the British could not follow them. It was now near winter time, and both armies went into winter quarters. They faced each other, but the wide river ran between.
You may well think that by this time the American people were getting very down-hearted. Many of them thought that all was lost, and thatthey would have to submit to King George. The army dwindled away and no new soldiers came in, so that it looked as if it would go to pieces. It was growing very dark for American liberty.
Washington Crossing the Delaware.Washington Crossing the Delaware.
But there was one man who did not despair, and that man was George Washington. He saw that something must be done to stir up the spirits of the people, and he was just the man to do it. It was a wonderful Christmas he kept that year. All Christmas day his ragged and hungry soldiers were marching up their side of the Delaware, and crossing the river in boats, though the wind was biting cold, and the air was full of falling snow, and the broken ice was floating in great blocks down the river; but nothing stopped the gallant soldiers. All Christmas night they marched down the other side of the river, though their shoes were so bad that the ground became reddened by blood from their feet. Two of the poor fellows were frozen to death.
At Trenton, a number of miles below, there was a body of German soldiers. These had been hired by King George to help him fight his battles. That day they had been eating a good Christmas dinner while the hungry Americans were marching through the snow. At night they went to bed, not dreaming of danger.
They were wakened in the morning by shots and shouts. Washington and his men were in thestreets of the town. They had hardly time to seize their guns before the ragged Yankees were all around them and nearly all of them were made prisoners of war.
Was not that a great and glorious deed? It filled the Americans with new hope. In a few days afterwards, Washington defeated the British in another battle, and then settled down with his ragged but brave men in the hills of New Jersey. He did not go behind a river this time. The British knew where he was and could come to see him if they wanted to. But they did not come. Very likely they had seen enough of him for that winter.
The next year things went wrong again for Washington. A large British army sailed from New York and landed at the head of Chesapeake Bay. Then they marched overland to Philadelphia. Washington fought a battle with them on Brandywine Creek, but his men were defeated and the British marched on and entered Philadelphia. They now held the largest cities of the country, Philadelphia and New York.
While the British were living in plenty and having a very good time in the Quaker city, the poor Americans spent a wretched and terrible winter at a place called Valley Forge. The winter was a dismally cold one, and the men had not halfenough food to eat or clothes to wear, and very poor huts to live in. They suffered dreadfully, and before the spring came many of them died from disease and hardship.
Poor fellows! they were paying dearly for their struggle for liberty. But there was no such despair this winter as there had been the winter before, for news came from the north that warmed the soldiers up like a fire. Though Washington had lost a battle, a great victory had been gained by the Americans at Saratoga, in the upper part of New York state.
While General Howe was marching on Philadelphia, another British army, under General Burgoyne, had been marching south from Canada, along the line of Lake Champlain and Lake George. But Burgoyne and his men soon found themselves in a tight place. Food began to run short and a regiment of a thousand men was sent into Vermont to seize some stores. They were met by the Green Mountain boys, led by Colonel Stark, a brave old soldier.
"There are the red-coats," said the bold colonel. "We must beat them to-day, or Molly Stark is a widow."[1]
Beat them they did. Only seventy men got back to Burgoyne. All the rest were killed or captured.
Another force, under Colonel St. Leger, marched south from Oswego, on Lake Ontario. A large body of Indians was with him. This army stopped to besiege a fort in the wilderness, and General Arnold marched to help the fort.
The way Arnold defeated St. Leger was a very curious one. He sent a half-witted fellow into the Indian camp with the tale that a great American force was coming. The messenger came running in among the savages, with bullet-holes in his clothes. He seemed half scared to death, and told the Indians that a vast host was coming after him as thick as the leaves on the trees.
This story frightened the Indians and they ran off in great haste through the woods. When the British soldiers saw this they fell into such a terror that they took to their heels, leaving all their tents and cannon behind them. The people in the fort did not know what it meant, till Arnold came up and told them how he had won a victory without firing a shot, by a sort of fairy story.
All this was very bad for Burgoyne. The Indians he brought with him began to leave. At length he found himself in a terrible plight. His provisions were nearly gone, he was surrounded by the Americans, and after fighting two battleshe retreated to Saratoga. Here he had to surrender. He and all his army became prisoners to the Americans.
We cannot wonder that this warmed up the Americans like a fire. It filled the English with despair. They began to think that they would never win back the colonies.
One thing the good news did was to get the French to come to the help of the Americans. Benjamin Franklin was then in Paris, and he asked the king to send ships and men and money to America. The French had no love for the British, who had taken from them all their colonies in America, so they did as Franklin wished.
There are two more things I wish to tell you in this chapter, one good and one bad. When the British in Philadelphia heard that the French were coming to help the Americans, they were afraid they might be caught in a trap. So they left in great haste and marched for New York. Washington followed and fought a battle with them, but they got away. After that Washington's army laid siege to New York, as it had formerly done to Boston.
That was the good thing. The bad thing was this. General Benedict Arnold, who had defeated St. Leger and his Indians, and who was one of the bravest of the American officers, turned traitor to his country. He had charge of West Point, astrong fort on the Hudson River, and tried to give this up to the British. But he was found out and had to flee for his life. MajorAndré, a British officer, who had been sent to talk with Arnold, was caught by three American scouts on his way back to New York. They searched him for papers, and found what they wanted hidden in his boot. Poor André was hung for a spy, but the traitor Arnold escaped. But he was hated by the Americans and despised by the British, and twenty years afterwards he died in shame and remorse.
FOOTNOTE:[1]All the accounts agree that Colonel Stark spoke of his wife as "Molly Stark." But it has been found that his wife's name was Elizabeth; so he may have said "Betty Stark."
[1]All the accounts agree that Colonel Stark spoke of his wife as "Molly Stark." But it has been found that his wife's name was Elizabeth; so he may have said "Betty Stark."
[1]All the accounts agree that Colonel Stark spoke of his wife as "Molly Stark." But it has been found that his wife's name was Elizabeth; so he may have said "Betty Stark."
WE are justly proud of our great war-ships, with their strong steel sides and their mighty guns, each of which can hurl a cannon-ball miles and miles away. And such balls! Why, one of them is as heavy as a dozen of you tied together, and can bore a hole through a plate of solid steel as thick as your bodies.
Such ships and such guns as these had not been dreamed of in the days of the Revolution. Then there were only small wooden vessels, moved by sails instead of steam, and a cannon-ball that weighed twenty-four pounds was thought very heavy. Six and twelve-pound balls were common. And to hit a ship a mile away! It was not to be thought of. I tell you, in those days ships had to fight nearly side by side and men to fight face to face. To be a mile away was as good as being a hundred miles.
But for all this there was some hard fighting done at sea in the Revolutionary War, in spite of the small ships and little guns. They foughtcloser together, that was all. Boast as we may about the wonderful work done by our ships at Santiago and Manila in the Spanish War, we have better right to be proud of the deeds of our great naval hero of the Revolutionary War, with his rotten old ship and poor little guns, but with his stout heart behind them all.
This hero was the sturdy John Paul Jones, one of the boldest and bravest men that ever stood on a ship's deck. And his great sea fight has never been surpassed in all the history of naval war. I cannot tell you the story of the Revolution without telling about the great ocean victory of the bold-hearted Paul Jones.
Ships poor enough were those we had to fight with. A little fleet of seven or eight small vessels, whose heaviest guns threw only nine-pound balls, and the most of them only six-pound. You could have thrown these yourself with one hand, though not so far. These were all we had at first to fight more than seventy British ships, with guns that threw eighteen-pound balls, and some still heavier. Do you not think it looked like a one-sided fight?
But the Americans had one great advantage. They had not many merchant ships and not much to lose upon the seas. On the other hand, the ocean swarmed with the merchant ships of England, and with the store ships bringing supplies of guns and powder and food to the armies on shore. Herewere splendid prizes for our gallant seamen, and out of every port sailed bold privateers, or war-ships sent out by their owners, and not by the government, sweeping the seas and bringing in many a richly-laden craft.
Some of the best fighting of the war was done by these privateers. While they were hunting for merchant ships they often came across war-ships, and you can be sure they did not always run away. No, indeed; they were usually ready to fight, and during the war no less than sixteen war-vessels were captured by our ocean rovers. On the other hand, the British privateers did not capture a single American war-ship. As for merchant vessels, our privateers brought them in by the dozens. One fleet of sixty vessels set out from Ireland for the West Indies, and out of these thirty-five were gobbled up by our privateers, and their rich stores brought into American ports. During the whole war the privateers took more than seven hundred prizes. I might go on to tell you of some of their hard fights, but I think you would rather read the story of Paul Jones, the boldest and bravest of them all, the terror of the seas to the British fleet.
Paul Jones, you should know, was born in Scotland. But he made America his home. And as he was known to be a good sailor, he was appointed first lieutenant of the "Alfred," the flagship of our small fleet. He had the honor to be the first manto raise a flag on an American man-of-war, and that is something to be proud of. This took place on the "Delaware," at Philadelphia, about Christmas, 1775.
It was an important event for the fleet was just being sent out. At a given signal Lieutenant Jones grasped the halliards, and hauled up to the mizzen topmast a great flag of yellow silk. As it unfurled to the breeze cannon roared and crowds on the shore lustily cheered. In the centre of the flag was seen the figure of a green pine tree, and under this a rattlesnake lay coiled, with the warning motto, "Don't tread on me!"
This was the famous rattlesnake flag. Another flag was raised on which were thirteen stripes, in turns red and white, and in the corner the British union jack. We then had the stripes but not the stars. They were to come after the Declaration of Independence and the union of the states.
In August, 1776, Congress made Paul Jones captain of the brig "Providence," and he soon showed what kind of a man he was. He came across a fleet of five vessels, and made up his mind to capture the largest of them, which he thought to be a fine merchant ship. He got pretty close up before he learned his mistake. It was the British frigate "Solebay," strong enough to make mince-meat of his little brig. There was nothing for it but to run, and Captain Jones made hasteto get away, followed by the "Solebay." But the Briton gained on the American, and after a four-hours' run the frigate was less than a hundred yards away. It might at any minute sink the daring little "Providence" by a broadside.
But Paul Jones was not the man to be caught. Suddenly the helm of the brig was put hard up, as sailors say, and the little craft turned and dashed across the frigate's bow. As it did so the flag of the republic was spread to the breeze, and a broadside from the brig's guns swept the frigate's deck. Then, with all sail set, away dashed the "Providence" before the breeze. As soon as the British got back their senses they fired all their guns at the brig. But not a ball hit her, and with the best of the wind she soon left the "Solebay" far behind.
And now I must tell the story of Paul Jones' greatest fight. In its way it was the greatest sea-fight ever known. It was fought with a fleet in which Jones sailed from a French port, for Congress had found what a hero they had in their Scotch sailor, and now they made him commodore of a fleet.
The flagship of this fleet was a rotten old log of a ship, which had sailed in the East India merchant service till its timbers were in a state of dry rot. It was a shapeless tub of a vessel, better fitted to lie in port and keep rabbits in than to sendout as a battle-ship. Paul Jones named it the "Bon Homme Richard," which, in English means "Poor Richard." This was a name used by Benjamin Franklin for his almanac.
It was not until the summer of 1779 that Jones was able to set sail. His ship had thirty-six guns, such as they were, and he had with him three other ships under French officers—the "Alliance," the "Pallas," and the "Vengeance." Among his crew were a hundred American sailors, who had just been set free from English prisons. And his master's mate, Richard Dale, a man of his own sort, had just escaped from prison in England.
Away they went, east and west, north and south, around the British isles, seeking for the men-of-war which should have swarmed in those seas, but finding only merchant vessels, a number of which were captured and their crews kept as prisoners. But the gallant commodore soon got tired of this. He had come out to fight, and he wanted to find something worth fighting. At length, on September 23d, he came in view of a large fleet of merchant ships, forty-two in all, under the charge of two frigates, the "Serapis," of forty-two guns, and the "Countess of Scarborough," of twenty-two smaller guns.
Commodore Jones left the smaller vessel for his consorts to deal with, and dashed away for the"Serapis" as fast as the tub-like "Bon Homme Richard" could go. The British ship was much stronger than his in number and weight of guns, but he cared very little for that. The "Serapis" had ten 18-pound cannon in each battery, and the "Bon Homme Richard" only three. And these were such sorry excuses for cannon that two of them burst at the first fire, killing and wounding the most of their crews. After that Jones did all his fighting with 12 and 8-pound guns; that is, with guns which fired balls of these weights.
It was night when the battle began. Soon the 18-pounders of the "Serapis" were playing havoc with the sides of the "Bon Homme Richard." Many of the balls went clear through her and plunged into the sea beyond. Some struck her below the water level, and soon the rotten old craft was "leaking like a basket."
It began to look desperate for Jones and his ship. He could not half reply to the heavy fire of the English guns, and great chasms were made in the ship's side, where the 18-pound balls tore out the timbers between the port holes.
Captain Pearson of the "Serapis" looked at his staggering and leaking enemy, and thought it about time for the battle to end.
"Have you surrendered?" he shouted across the water to Commodore Jones.
"I have not yet begun to fight," was the famous answer of the brave Paul Jones.
Surrender, indeed! I doubt if that word was in Paul Jones' dictionary. He would rather have let his vessel sink. The ships now drifted together, and by Jones' order the jib-boom of the "Serapis" was lashed to his mizzen-mast. This brought the ships so close side by side that the English gunners could not open their ports, and had to fire through them and blow them off. And the gunners on both sides had to thrust the handles of their rammers through the enemy's port holes, in order to load their guns.
Affairs were now desperate. The "Bon Homme Richard" was on fire in several places. Water was pouring into her through a dozen rents. It seemed as if she must sink or burn. Almost any man except Paul Jones would have given up the fight. I know I should, and I fancy most of you would have done the same. But there was no give up in that man's soul.
One would think that nothing could have been worse, but worse still was to come. In this crisis the "Alliance," one of Jones' small fleet, came up and fired two broadsides into the wounded flagship, killing a number of her crew. Whether this was done on purpose or by mistake is not known. The French captain did not like Commodore Jones, and most men think he played the traitor.
And another bad thing took place. There were two or three hundred English prisoners on the "Bon Homme Richard," taken from her prizes. One of the American officers, thinking that all was over, set these men free, and they came swarming up. At the same time one of the crew tried to haul down the flag and he cried to the British for quarter. Paul Jones knocked him down by flinging a pistol at his head. He might sink or burn—but give up the ship? never!
The tide of chance now began to turn. Richard Dale, the master's mate, told the English prisoners that the vessel was sinking, and set them at work pumping and fighting the fire to save their lives. And one of the marines, who was fighting on the yard-arms, dropped a hand grenade into an open hatch of the "Serapis." It set fire to a heap of gun cartridges that lay below, and these exploded, killing twenty of the gunners and wounding many more, while the ship was set on fire. This ended the fight. The fire of the marines from the mast-tops had cleared the decks of the "Serapis" of men. Commodore Jones aided in this with the 9-pounders on his deck, loading and firing them himself. Captain Pearson stood alone, and when he heard the roar of the explosion he could bear the strain no longer. He ran and pulled down the flag, which had been nailed to the mast.
"Cease firing," said Paul Jones.
The "Serapis" was his. Well and nobly had it been won.
Never had there been a victory gained in such straits. The "Bon Homme Richard" was fast settling down into the sea. Pump as they would, they could never save her. Inch by inch she sank deeper. Jones and his gallant crew boarded the "Serapis," and at nine o'clock the next morning the noble old craft sank beneath the ocean waves, laden with honor, and with her victorious flag still flying. The "Serapis" was brought safely into port.
Captain Pearson had fought bravely, and the British ministry made him a knight for his courage.
"If I had a chance to fight him again I would make him a lord," said brave Paul Jones.
Never before or since has a victory been won under such desperate circumstances as those of Paul Jones, with his sinking and burning ship, his bursting guns, his escaped prisoners, and his treacherous consort. It was a victory to put his name forever on the annals of fame.