134 



UNITED STATES 



In 1765 a stamp act was imposed upon the colonies, but such unequivocal marks of disappro- 

 bation were expressed throughout the country, that it was withdrawn the next year. The 

 attempt was soon after renewed in the shape of a duty upon tea, and a number of ships laden 

 with the article were despatched to America. The colonists were bent upon resistance to the 

 principle of taxation, and resolved that the duties should not be levied. On the arrival of the 

 tea at Boston, the people took possession of the ships, and threw the tea overboard. The 

 British ministry attempted to punish the Bostonians, by shutting up their port and garrisoning 

 the town with British troops. The exasperation of tlie colonists against the mother country 

 increased ; a congress of delegates from the several colonies assembled at Philadelphia ; a de- 

 termination to resist the encroachments of Britain was everywhere manifested. In this criti- 

 cal conjuncture, the rash precipitancy of the British commander at Boston, or his instructers 

 in the cabinet, kindled at once the flame of open hostility, which blazed till the British domin- 

 ion over her ancient colonies had for ever passed away. 



On the 19th of April, 1775, the British general detached a body of troops to destroy some 



military stores at Concord, a 

 few miles from Boston. The 

 alarm was given throughout the 

 neighborhood, and at Lexing- 

 ton the British were met by a 

 small body of rustics, hastily 

 collected, and armed with such 

 weapons as each man could 

 seize upon in the emergency. 

 Here the first blood was shed. 

 The Americans awaited the at- 

 tack of the British, and a short 

 skirmish ensued, when the 

 Americans yielded to the supe- 

 riority of numbers and retreat- 

 ed. The British proceeded to 

 Concord, and effected the de- 

 struction of the stores ; but in 



tlie mean time tlie inhabitants liad collected and began to annoy them by a scattering fire from 

 behind the walls and houses. They commenced a retreat, but at every step the number of their 

 assailants increased ; a running fire was poured in upon them from behind stone walls and fen- 

 ces, and tneir retreat would have become a rout, but for the timely arrival of a reinforcement 

 from Boston. With this assistance they were enabled to reach Boston in safety, after suffering 

 a heavy loss. 



The news of this battle ran through the country like an electric shock. Throughout the 

 New England States the people rushed to arms ; in three days the roads were covered with 

 people marching upon Boston, and at the end ot a week the town was invested by an army of 

 20,000 men. From the heights of the capital, the British commander might espy a line of 

 watch-fires stretching completely around hiin on the land side, and shutting him up within the 

 narrow limits of the peninsula of Boston. 



This great body of men, who thus rushed from their farms and firesides to blockade the cap- 

 ital, consisted of a heterogeneous mass, ill -armed, ignorant of tactics, unused to discipline, and 

 untried in war ; but impressed with the justice of their cause, and full of ardor to avenge the 

 slaughter of their countrymen. The British soldiers, trained to discipline and skill, and re- 

 nowned for bravery, looked with scorn upon the Americans ; their contempt for their new ene- 

 mies derived additional strength from the language of the ministerial party in Parliament, who 

 asserted, with the coolest arrogance, that the Americans were a pack of cowards, that would 

 never dare face a British soldier in the field. The correctness of this estimation was soon put 

 to the test. On the night of the 16th of June, the Americans took possession of the heights 

 of Charlestown, and a body of 1,500 threw up an entrenchment on the southern part of Bun- 

 ker's Hill, commanding the northern part of Boston, and a great portion of the harbor. The 

 dawn of day discovered this to the British, and a heavy cannonade was begun upon the woiks 

 from the British ships and batteries. This producing no effect, the British general despatched 

 a body of 3,000 men. comprising the flower of his army, to carry tlie heights by storm. About 



Battle of Lexington. 



