PROCEEDINGS OF CONGRESS.

1774

231

country, and though she had sent representatives Ch. 19. to the Congress in Philadelphia, her delegates attached themselves to the party which opposed extreme measures. The Governor himself, the respected descendant, and bearing the name of the honored founder of the colony, recommended the overtures of the parent state to the favorable consideration of the Assembly, expressing his own opinion in favor of their candour, justice, and moderation. The house, however, resolved unanimously that they were engaged in a common cause with the other colonies, and that they could not separately entertain propositions in which they had only a partial interest. The other provinces concurred in these views, and the propositions were, therefore, referred to the General Congress. This determination was tantamount to a refusal of any terms, as it was well-known the British Government would not treat with a body unknown to the law.

Philadelphia.

The General Congress re-assembled at Phila- Congress at delphia on the 10th of May, and at once assumed the functions of sovereignty. They declared that the provinces which they represented should thenceforth be styled the United Colonies of America, and required all persons to abjure the British Government, and swear allegiance to the Congress themselves. Decrees were passed for raising an army, and for the issue of a provisional paper currency, upon the credit of the new State. By other resolutions, all dealings with the civil

232

Ch. 19.

1774

Arrival of reinforcements.

Gen. Gage proclaims

MARTIAL LAW PROCLAIMED.

or military agents of Great Britain were prohibited, and to enforce the co-operation of those colonies which might hesitate, the importation of provisions into any fishery, colony, island, or place, which should refuse to obey the orders of Congress, was absolutely interdicted.

The arrival of military reinforcements from England, contemporaneously with the promulgation of these decrees, forced the American people to the immediate alternative of rebellion or submission. In the face of ten thousand disciplined British soldiers, landed for the purpose of asserting the king's authority, and led by officers of high reputation, the question which had been agitated for ten years, was at length reduced to the infallible arbitration of the sword.

The relief of Boston was of course the first martial law. operation to be undertaken. On the arrival of his reinforcement, Gage proclaimed martial law; but offered an amnesty to all (with the exception of Samuel Adams and John Hancock), who should lay down their arms.

The reply to this, the last proclamation by an English governor of the province of Massachusetts, was a military movement of great importance on the part of the insurgents. Boston and Charlestown are situated nearly opposite to each other, on the right and left banks respectively of the river Charles; and in the centre of the peninsula upon which Charlestown is built, rises an eminence, from the summit of which the whole of

The importance of such a position was obvious; Bunker's Hill. but as an attempt to occupy it by either side must precipitate an engagement which would probably be critical, if not decisive in its character, both the royalists and the Americans refrained at first from a movement in that direction. Gage, with his limited force, would hardly have been justified in taking such a hazardous step; and the insurgents were unwilling to quit their lines. But the arrival of the British reinforcement under General Howe, materially altered the position of the royalists; and as it was probable that the first effort of the combined army would be to take possession of Bunker's-hill, the Americans determined to anticipate this movement. On the night of the sixteenth of June, a large body of the provincial troops took possession of the hill, and before daybreak they had defended the position by a formidable intrenchment and redoubt. When the returning dawn disclosed what had taken place, a cannonade was opened by a sloop of war which lay in the river, and by a small battery on the Boston side. In a few hours two thousand British troops had landed at Charlestown, and this force having been formed in two lines, under Generals Howe and Pigott, advanced under cover of artillery to assault the position. The left

234

Ch. 19.

1774

Great loss of the British.

THE AMERICANS DEFEATED.

division on entering Charlestown were galled by the sharpshooters from the houses, which the British set on fire; and the town, being built of wood, was soon burned to the ground. The Americans sustained the cannonade for several hours with firmness, and waited until the attacking columns had advanced to within a few yards of their works. They then opened such a close and well-directed fire of musketry, that the British were twice repulsed; but being rallied and reinforced by General Clinton, who seeing that the attack was likely to fail, had pushed across the river with his brigade, the position was carried at the point of the bayonet, and the Americans fled in disorder.

This affair made it sufficiently manifest that the king's troops had not to disperse an undisciplined rabble, but to encounter a militia which had already acquired to a considerable degree the steadiness of regular soldiers, and which were led by officers not unskilled in the art of war. The loss of the British in the battle of Bunker's-hill, exceeded a thousand killed and wounded, nearly half the force engaged; while the Americans, fighting behind their intrenchments until nearly the close of the day, suffered in a much smaller proportion. Altogether, though the result of this, the first engagement, was the defeat of the insurgents, yet the victory was dearly bought; and the enemy, so far from being dispirited, derived confidence from a struggle which, but

FORMATION OF AN AMERICAN ARMY.

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1774

for the opportune arrival of Clinton's brigade, Ch. 19. would probably have terminated in their favor. The American force which had been repulsed from Charlestown, were suffered to fall back upon the line of the rebel army without molestation; and, in a few days, Boston was again threatened by new works, planned with remarkable engineering skill, and executed with promptitude and regularity.

organisation.

The Congress, in pursuance of the sovereign Military authority which they had assumed, proceeded to organise a general military force, which should be the army of the United Colonies. This army recruited by compulsion, and placed under regular military law, was to be placed under the command of a General-in-Chief; and the person selected to fill this all-important office was, by a singularly happy choice, the fittest person in the Union.

I have already had occasion to mention the name of Washington-by common consent one of the most illustrious that has adorned any age or country of the world. The American general was a native, and a considerable landholder, of the province of Virginia, in the legislative assembly of which he had long possessed a leading influence, acquired not by eloquence nor loud professions of patriotism -for the one he did not possess, and the other he despised-but by integrity, prudence, and aptitude for affairs. Though unwilling to provoke a conflict with Great Britain, he was determined to maintain what he considered