Leading Facts of American History

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146
LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
[1775

   In an hour and a half the British lost over 1000 men out of 3000. The American loss was somewhat less than half as much.¹ During the engagement Howe ordered Charlestown to be fired, and by night the greater part of the town was in ashes.
   This act roused Benjamin Franklin's indignation, and he wrote a letter to his former friend Strahan, a member of the English Parliament, which showed that though he was a man of peace, yet he knew when to be angry (see Franklin's letter on the opposite page). When General Washington heard how the Americans had fought at Bunker Hill he exclaimed, "The liberties of the country are safe!"
   164. Washington takes Command of the Army; Expedition against Quebec. Washington reached Cambridge and took command of the army (§ 162) of 15,000 poorly armed and untrained men (1775). Meanwhile Congress had learned that the British in Canada were intending to attack points in northern New York. To give them something else to think of nearer home, General Montgomery of New York set out to take Quebec. He descended Lake Champlain and captured Montreal.

   ¹American loss 449, British 1034. Gage was ordered back to England and General Howe received command.

FRANKLIN'S LETTER TO STRAHAN

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LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
[1775-1776

   Benedict Arnold of Connecticut, one of the bravest soldiers of the Revolution, started with over 1000 men to join in the attack. Setting out from Newburyport, Massachusetts, Arnold undertook to make his way from the mouth of the Kennebec through the forests of Maine. He was six weeks getting across the wilderness. The suffering was so terrible that many men deserted, and the rest, after having been compelled to eat their moccasins, nearly perished.
   At last Arnold reached Quebec with his ragged, barefooted, half-starved, and sadly diminished little army. Montgomery joined him with a few hundred men, and with this small force they attempted, on the last day of the year (1775), to storm "the strongest fortified city of America" (§ 142). Montgomery was killed at the head of his troops, and Arnold badly wounded -- it would have been a happy thing for the latter if he, too, had fallen dead on the field (§ 186). A few months later the Americans were driven out of Canada.
   165. Washington enters Boston; the British repulsed at Fort Moultrie. Throughout the winter (1775-1776) want of artillery and powder prevented Washington from doing anything more than simply keeping up the siege of Boston (§ 161). At length General Knox succeeded in dragging fifty cannon on ox sleds through the woods from Ticonderoga to Cambridge. Early in March (1776) Washington seized Dorchester Heights (South Boston) overlooking Boston on the south. He got his cannon into position and then gave General Howe (§ 163) his choice of withdrawing his forces from the town or having it battered to pieces about his ears. Howe took a good look, through his spyglass, at the American guns on the Heights, and ordered his men to embark as rapidly as possible (March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day -- 1776) for Halifax.

1775 ]
BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL
149

   The following day Washington entered Boston in triumph. The British had left it never to return. With them went about a thousand Tories, as those Americans were called who opposed the war and wished to submit to the King (§ 160).
   About midsummer (1776) a British fleet¹ attacked Fort Sullivan, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. The British hoped to get possession of the city; but Colonel Moultrie, aided by such heroes as Sergeant Jasper, defended his log fort with such energy that the enemy were glad enough to withdraw.²

   166. "Common Sense"; the Americans decide to separate from Great Britain. Up to 1776 the Americans had been fighting in defense of their rights as English subjects. Washington said, "When I first took command of the Continental army I abhorred the idea of independence." But in January (1776) the King's proclamation reached Congress. In it he called for troops to put down "the rebellion" in America. That was the only answer he gave to their humble petition for justice (§ 160).

   ¹General Clinton left Boston in the winter of 1776 and sailed to attack the Carolinas. He was joined there by a fleet from England under Sir Peter Parker and Lord Cornwallis.
   After their defeat at Fort Sullivan, Cornwallis and Clinton, with their men, went to New York.
   ²After the victory Fort Sullivan was named Fort Moultrie.

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LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY
[1776

   The very day that proclamation came, a remarkable pamphlet was published in Philadelphia. It was entitled "Common Sense." The writer was Thomas Paine, an Englishman who had come here to live. He boldly said that the time had come for a "final separation" from England, and that "arms must decide the contest." The pamphlet sold by tens of thousands, because it gave voice to what tens of thousands were thinking.
   The English people would not volunteer to fight the Americans, and the King had to hire nearly 30,000 Hessians, from the Prince of Hesse in Germany, to help do the work. The knowledge of that fact cut the last thread that held us bound to the mother country. The Americans had not sought separation; the King -- not the English people -- had forced it on them.
   167. The Declaration of Independence. In June, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia offered this resolution in the Continental

REDUCED COPY OF THE LAST LINE OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
(IN JEFFERSON'S HANDWRITING) WITH THE FIRST THREE SIGNATURES

Congress which was sitting in the Old State House in Philadelphia: "Resolved: that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES." John Adams of Massachusetts seconded the resolution. A committee of five -- Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts,

THOMAS JEFFERSON