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diff --git a/18618.txt b/18618.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e0f3b06 --- /dev/null +++ b/18618.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7609 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Stories of Later American History, by Wilbur +F. Gordy + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Stories of Later American History + + +Author: Wilbur F. Gordy + + + +Release Date: June 19, 2006 [eBook #18618] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF LATER AMERICAN +HISTORY*** + + +E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 18618-h.htm or 18618-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/1/18618/18618-h/18618-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/1/18618/18618-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note + + There are a few phonetic descriptions: + ' is a stress mark, + [=e] is an e-with-macron + and [=a] is an a-with-macron. + + + + + +STORIES OF LATER AMERICAN HISTORY + +by + +WILBUR F. GORDY + +Formerly Superintendent of Schools, Springfield, Mass.; Author of "A +History of the United States for Schools," "Elementary History of the +United States," "American Leaders and Heroes," "American Beginnings in +Europe," "Stories of American Explorers," "Colonial Days," and "Stories +of Early American History" + +With Maps and Illustrations + + + + + + + +[Illustration: Pioneers on the Overland Route, Westward.] + + + + +Charles Scribner's Sons +New York Chicago Boston +Copyright, 1915, by Charles Scribner's Sons + + + + + +PREFACE + + +This book, like "Stories of Early American History," follows somewhat +closely the course of study prepared by the Committee of Eight, the +present volume covering the topics outlined for Grade V, while the earlier +one includes the material suggested for Grade IV. + +It was the plan of that committee to take up in these grades, largely in a +biographical way, a great part of the essential facts of American history; +and with this plan the author, who was a member of that committee, was in +hearty accord. This method, it is believed, serves a double purpose. In +the first place, it is the best possible way of laying the foundation for +the later and more detailed study of United States history in the higher +grammar grades by those pupils who are to continue in school; and in the +second, it gives to that large number of pupils who will leave school +before the end of the sixth grade--which is at least half of all the boys +and girls in the schools of the country--some acquaintance with the +leading men and prominent events of American history. + +It is without doubt a great mistake to allow half of the pupils to go out +from our public schools with almost no knowledge of the moral and material +forces which have made this nation what it is to-day. It is an injustice +to the young people themselves; it is also an injury to their country, the +vigor of whose life will depend much upon their intelligent and patriotic +support. + +With this conviction, it has been the author's desire to make the story of +the events concrete, dramatic, and lifelike by centring them about +leaders, heroes, and other representative men, in such a way as to appeal +to the imagination and to influence the ideals of the child. In so doing, +he has made no attempt to write organized history--tracing out its +intricate relations of cause and effect. At the same time, however, he has +aimed to select his facts and events so carefully that the spirit of our +national life and institutions, as well as many of the typical events of +American history, may be presented. + +It is confidently hoped that the fine illustrations and the attractive +typographical features of the book will help to bring vividly before the +mind of the child the events narrated in the text. + +Another aid in making the stories vivid will, it is intended, be found in +"Some Things to Think About." These and many similar questions, which the +teacher can easily frame to fit the needs of her class, will help the +pupil to make real the life of days gone by as well as to connect it with +the present time and with his own life. + +In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge my deep obligations to Mr. Forrest +Morgan, of the Watkinson Library, Hartford, and to Miss Elizabeth P. Peck, +of the Hartford Public High School, both of whom have read the manuscript +and have made many valuable criticisms and suggestions. + + WILBUR F. GORDY. + +HARTFORD, CONN., +April 15, 1915. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. PATRICK HENRY + II. SAMUEL ADAMS + III. THE WAR BEGINS NEAR BOSTON + IV. GEORGE WASHINGTON IN THE REVOLUTION + V. NATHANAEL GREENE AND OTHER HEROES IN THE SOUTH + VI. JOHN PAUL JONES + VII. DANIEL BOONE + VIII. JAMES ROBERTSON + IX. JOHN SEVIER + X. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK + XI. THE NEW REPUBLIC + XII. INCREASING THE SIZE OF THE NEW REPUBLIC + XIII. INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS + XIV. THE REPUBLIC GROWS LARGER + XV. THREE GREAT STATESMEN + XVI. THE CIVIL WAR + XVII. FOUR GREAT INDUSTRIES + INDEX + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Pioneers on the Overland Route, Westward + George III + Patrick Henry + Patrick Henry Delivering His Speech in the Virginia House of + Burgesses + William Pitt + St. John's Church, Richmond + Samuel Adams + Patriots in New York Destroying Stamps Intended for Use in + Connecticut + Faneuil Hall, Boston + Old South Church, Boston + The "Boston Tea Party" + Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia + John Hancock + John Hancock's Home, Boston + A Minuteman + Old North Church + Paul Revere's Ride + Monument on Lexington Common Marking the Line of the Minutemen + Concord Bridge + President Langdon, the President of Harvard College, Praying for the + Bunker Hill Entrenching Party on Cambridge Common Just + Before Their Departure + Prescott at Bunker Hill + Bunker Hill Monument + George Washington + Washington, Henry, and Pendleton on the Way to Congress at + Philadelphia + The Washington Elm at Cambridge, under which Washington took Command + of the Army + Sir William Howe + Thomas Jefferson Looking Over the Rough Draught of the Declaration + of Independence + The Retreat from Long Island + Nathan Hale + British and Hessian Soldiers + Powder-Horn, Bullet-Flask, and Buckshot-Pouch Used in the Revolution + General Burgoyne Surrendering to General Gates + Marquis de Lafayette + Lafayette Offering His Services to Franklin + Winter at Valley Forge + Nathanael Greene + The Meeting of Greene and Gates upon Greene's Assuming Command + Daniel Morgan + Francis Marion + Marion Surprising a British Wagon-Train + John Paul Jones + Battle Between the Ranger and the Drake + The Fight Between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis + Daniel Boone + Boone's Escape from the Indians + Boonesborough + Boone Throwing Tobacco into the Eyes of the Indians Who Had Come to + Capture Him + James Robertson + Living-Room of the Early Settler + Grinding Indian Corn + A Kentucky Pioneer's Cabin + John Sevier + A Barbecue of 1780 + Battle of King's Mountain + George Rogers Clark + Clark on the Way to Kaskaskia + Clark's Surprise at Kaskaskia + Wampum Peace Belt + Clark's Advance on Vincennes + George Washington + Washington's Home, Mount Vernon + Tribute Rendered to Washington at Trenton + Washington Taking the Oath of Office as First President, at Federal + Hall, New York City + Washington's Inaugural Chair + Eli Whitney + Whitney's Cotton-Gin + A Colonial Planter + A Slave Settlement + Thomas Jefferson + "Monticello," the Home of Jefferson + A Rice-Field in Louisiana + A Flatboat on the Ohio River + House in New Orleans Where Louis Philippe Stopped in 1798 + A Public Building in New Orleans Built in 1794 + Meriwether Lewis + William Clark + Buffalo Hunted by Indians + The Lewis and Clark Expedition Working Its Way Westward + Andrew Jackson + "The Hermitage," the Home of Andrew Jackson + Fighting the Seminole Indians, under Jackson + Robert Fulton + Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle-Wheels + The "Clermont" in Duplicate at the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, 1909 + The Opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 + The Ceremony Called "The Marriage of the Waters" + Erie Canal on the Right and Aqueduct over the Mohawk River, New York + "Tom Thumb," Peter Cooper's Locomotive Working Model, First Used + near Baltimore in 1830 + Railroad Poster of 1843 + Comparison of "DeWitt Clinton" Locomotive and Train, the First Train + Operated in New York, with a Modern Locomotive of the New + York Central R.R. + S.F.B. Morse + The First Telegraph Instrument + Modern Telegraph Office + The Operation of the Modern Railroad is Dependent upon the Telegraph + Sam Houston + Flag of the Republic of Texas + David Crockett + The Fight at the Alamo + John C. Fremont + Fremont's Expedition Crossing the Rocky Mountains + Kit Carson + Sutter's Mill + Placer-Mining in the Days of the California Gold Rush + John C. Calhoun + Calhoun's Office and Library + Henry Clay + The Birthplace of Henry Clay, near Richmond + The Schoolhouse in "the Slashes" + Daniel Webster + The Home of Daniel Webster, Marshfield, Mass. + Henry Clay Addressing the United States Senate in 1850 + Abraham Lincoln + Lincoln's Birthplace + Lincoln Studying by Firelight + Lincoln Splitting Rails + Lincoln as a Boatman + Lincoln Visiting Wounded Soldiers + Robert E. Lee + Lee's Home at Arlington, Virginia + Jefferson Davis + Thomas J. Jackson + A Confederate Flag + J.E.B. Stuart + Confederate Soldiers + Union Soldiers + Ulysses S. Grant + Grant's Birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio + General and Mrs. Grant with Their Son at City Point, Virginia + William Tecumseh Sherman + Sherman's March to the Sea + Philip H. Sheridan + Sheridan Rallying His Troops + The McLean House Where Lee Surrendered + General Lee on His Horse, Traveller + Cotton-Field in Blossom + A Wheat-Field + Grain-Elevators at Buffalo + Cattle on the Western Plains + Iron Smelters + Iron Ore Ready for Shipment + + + + +MAPS + + + Boston and Vicinity + The War in the Middle States + The War in the South + Early Settlements in Kentucky and Tennessee + George Rogers Clark in the Northwest + The United States in 1803, after the Louisiana Purchase (Colored) + Jackson's Campaign + Scene of Houston's Campaign + Fremont's Western Explorations + Map of the United States Showing First and Second Secession + Areas (Colored) + Route of Sherman's March to the Sea + The Country Around Washington and Richmond + + + + +STORIES OF LATER AMERICAN HISTORY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +PATRICK HENRY + + +The Last French War had cost England so much that at its close she was +heavily in debt. + +"As England must now send to America a standing army of at least ten +thousand men to protect the colonies against the Indians and other +enemies," the King, George III, reasoned, "it is only fair that the +colonists should pay a part of the cost of supporting it." + +The English Parliament, being largely made up of the King's friends, was +quite ready to carry out his wishes, and passed a law taxing the +colonists. This law was called the Stamp Act. It provided that +stamps--very much like our postage-stamps, but costing all the way from +one cent to fifty dollars each--should be put upon all the newspapers and +almanacs used by the colonies, and upon all such legal papers as wills, +deeds, and the notes which men give promising to pay back borrowed money. + +[Illustration: George III.] + +When news of this act reached the colonists they were angry. "It is +unjust," they said. "Parliament is trying to make slaves of us by forcing +us to pay money without our consent. The charters which the English King +granted to our forefathers when they came to America make us free men just +as much as if we were living in England. + +"In England it is the law that no free man shall pay taxes unless they are +levied by his representatives in Parliament. We have no one to speak for +us in Parliament, and so we will not pay any taxes which Parliament votes. +The only taxes we will pay are those voted by our representatives in our +own colonial assemblies." + +They were all the more ready to take this stand because for many years +they had bitterly disliked other English laws which were unfair to them. +One of these forbade selling their products to any country but England. +And, of course, if they could sell to no one else, they would have to sell +for what the English merchants chose to pay. + +Another law said that the colonists should buy the goods they needed from +no other country than England, and that these goods should be brought over +in English vessels. So in buying as well as in selling they were at the +mercy of the English merchants and the English ship owners, who could set +their own prices. + +But even more unjust seemed the law forbidding the manufacture in America +of anything which was manufactured in England. For instance, iron from +American mines had to be sent to England to be made into useful articles, +and then brought back over the sea in English vessels and sold to the +colonists by English merchants at their own price. + +Do you wonder that the colonists felt that England was taking an unfair +advantage? You need not be told that these laws were strongly opposed. In +fact, the colonists, thinking them unjust, did not hesitate to break them. +Some, in spite of the laws, shipped their products to other countries and +smuggled the goods they received in exchange; and some dared make articles +of iron, wool, or other raw material, both for their own use and to sell +to others. + +"We will not be used as tools for England to make out of us all the profit +she possibly can," they declared. "We are not slaves but free-born +Englishmen, and we refuse to obey laws which shackle us and rob us of our +rights." + +So when to these harsh trade laws the Stamp Act was added, great +indignation was aroused. Among those most earnest in opposing the act was +Patrick Henry. + +Let us take a look at the early life of this powerful man. He was born in +1736, in Hanover County, Virginia. His father was an able lawyer, and his +mother belonged to a fine old Welsh family. + +But Patrick, as a boy, took little interest in anything that seemed to his +older friends worth while. He did not like to study nor to work on his +father's farm. His delight was to wander through the woods, gun in hand, +hunting for game, or to sit on the bank of some stream fishing by the +hour. When not enjoying himself out-of-doors he might be heard playing his +violin. + +Of course the neighbors said, "A boy so idle and shiftless will never +amount to anything," and his parents did not know what to do with him. +They put him, when fifteen years old, as clerk into a little country +store. Here he remained for a year, and then opened a store of his own. +But he was still too lazy to attend to business, and soon failed. + +[Illustration: Patrick Henry.] + +When he was only eighteen years old, he married. The parents of the young +couple, anxious that they should do well, gave them a small farm and a few +slaves. But it was the same old story. The young farmer would not take the +trouble to look after his affairs, and let things drift. So before long +the farm had to be sold to pay debts. Once more Patrick turned to +storekeeping, but after a few years he failed again. + +He was now twenty-three years old, with no settled occupation, and with a +wife and family to support. No doubt he seemed to his friends a +ne'er-do-well. + +About this time he decided to become a lawyer. He borrowed some law-books, +and after studying for six months, he applied for permission to practise +law. Although he passed but a poor examination, he at last was started on +the right road. + +He succeeded well in his law practice, and in a few years had so much +business that people in his part of Virginia began to take notice of him. +In 1765, soon after the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament, he +was elected a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, a body not unlike +our State Legislature. + + +PATRICK HENRY'S FIERY SPEECH AGAINST THE STAMP ACT + +History gives us a vivid picture of the young lawyer at this time as he +rides on horseback along the country road toward Williamsburg, then the +capital of Virginia. He is wearing a faded coat, leather knee-breeches, +and yarn stockings, and carries his law papers in his saddle-bag. Although +but twenty-nine, his tall, thin figure stoops as if bent with age. He does +not look the important man he is soon to become. + +When he reaches the little town of Williamsburg, he finds great +excitement. Men gather in small groups on the street, talking in anxious +tones. Serious questions are being discussed: "What shall we do about the +Stamp Act?" they say. "Shall we submit and say nothing? Shall we send a +petition to King George asking him for justice? Shall we beg Parliament to +repeal the act, or shall we take a bold stand and declare that we will not +obey it?" + +Not only on the street, but also in the House of Burgesses was great +excitement. Most of the members were wealthy planters who lived on great +estates. So much weight and dignity had they that the affairs of the +colony were largely under their control. Most of them were loyal to the +"mother country," as they liked to call England, and they wished to obey +the English laws as long as these were just. + +[Illustration: Patrick Henry Delivering His Speech in the Virginia House +of Burgesses.] + +So they counselled: "Let us move slowly. Let nothing be done in a passion. +Let us petition the King to modify the laws which appear to us unjust, and +then, if he will not listen, it will be time to refuse to obey. We must +not be rash." + +Patrick Henry, the new member, listened earnestly. But he could not see +things as these older men of affairs saw them. To him delay seemed +dangerous. He was eager for prompt, decisive action. Tearing a blank leaf +from a law-book, he hastily wrote some resolutions, and, rising to his +feet, he read them to the assembly. + +We can easily picture the scene. This plainly dressed rustic with his bent +shoulders is in striking contrast to the prosperous plantation owners, +with their powdered hair, ruffled shirts, knee-breeches, and silver +shoe-buckles. They give but a listless attention as Henry begins in quiet +tones to read his resolutions. "Who cares what this country fellow +thinks?" is their attitude. "Who is he anyway? We never heard his voice +before." + +It is but natural that these men, whose judgment has been looked up to for +years, should regard as an upstart this young, unknown member, who +presumes to think his opinion worth listening to in a time of great crisis +like this. + +But while they sit in scornful wrath, the young orator's eyes begin to +glow, his stooping figure becomes erect, and his voice rings out with +fiery eloquence. "The General Assembly of Virginia, _and only_ the General +Assembly of Virginia," he exclaims, "has the right and the power of laying +taxes upon the people of this colony." + +These are stirring words, and they fall amid a hushed silence. Then the +debate grows hot, as members rise to speak in opposition to his burning +eloquence. + +[Illustration: William Pitt.] + +But our hero is more than a match for all the distinguished men who +disagree with him. Like a torrent, his arguments pour forth and sweep all +before them. The bold resolutions he presents are passed by the assembly. + +It was a great triumph for the young orator. On that day Patrick Henry +made his name. "Stick to us, old fellow, or we're gone," said one of the +plain people, giving him a slap on the shoulder as he passed out at the +close of the stormy session. The unpromising youth had suddenly become a +leader in the affairs of the colony. + +Not only in Virginia, but also in other colonies, his fiery words acted +like magic in stirring up the people against the Stamp Act. He had proved +himself a bold leader, willing to risk any danger for the cause of justice +and freedom. + +You would expect that in the colonies there would be strong and deep +feeling against the Stamp Act. But perhaps you will be surprised to learn +that even in England many leading men opposed it. They thought that George +III was making a great mistake in trying to tax the colonies without their +consent. William Pitt, a leader in the House of Commons, made a great +speech, in which he said: "I _rejoice_ that America has resisted." He went +on to say that if the Americans had meekly submitted, they would have +acted like slaves. + +Burke and Fox, other great statesmen, also befriended us. And the English +merchants and ship owners, who were losing heavily because the Americans +refused to buy any English goods as long as the Stamp Act was in force, +joined in begging Parliament that the act be repealed. This was done the +next year. + +Other unjust measures followed, but before we take them up, let us catch +another glimpse of Patrick Henry, ten years after his great speech at +Williamsburg. + + +ANOTHER GREAT SPEECH BY PATRICK HENRY + +The people of Virginia are again greatly aroused. King George has caused +Parliament to send English soldiers to Boston to force the unruly people +of Massachusetts to obey some of his commands, against which they had +rebelled. Virginia has stood by her sister colony, and now the royal +governor of Virginia, to punish her, has prevented the House of Burgesses +from meeting at Williamsburg. + +But the Virginians are not so easily kept from doing their duty. With a +grim determination to defend their rights as free men, they elect some of +their leaders to act for them at this trying time. + +These meet in Richmond at old St. John's Church, which is still standing. +Great is the excitement, and thoughtful people are very serious, for the +shadows of the war-cloud grow blacker hour by hour. + +The Virginians have already begun to make ready to fight if they must. But +many still hope that all disagreements may yet be settled peaceably, and +therefore advise acting with caution. + +[Illustration: St. John's Church, Richmond.] + +Patrick Henry is not one of these. He believes that the time has come when +talking should give place to prompt, decisive action. The war is at hand. +It cannot be avoided. The colonists must fight or slavishly submit. + +So intense is his belief that he offers in this meeting a resolution that +Virginia should at once prepare to defend herself. Many of the leading men +stoutly oppose this resolution as rash and unwise. + +At length Patrick Henry rises to his feet, his face pale, and his voice +trembling with deep emotion. Again we see the bent shoulders straighten +and the eyes flash. His voice rings out like a trumpet. As he goes on with +increasing power, men lean forward in breathless interest. Listen to his +ringing words: + +"We must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to +the God of Hosts is all that is left us! They tell us, sir, that we are +weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be +stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we +are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every +house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we +acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs +and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have +bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of +the means which the God of nature hath placed in our hands.... There is no +retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their +clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable--and +let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come! + +"... Gentlemen may cry peace, peace--but there is no peace. The war is +actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our +ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! +Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they +have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price +of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course +others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" + +What wonder that the audience sways to his belief! + +He was a true prophet, for in less than four weeks the first gun of the +Revolution was fired in the quiet town of Lexington, Massachusetts. +Undoubtedly Patrick Henry's fiery spirit had done much to kindle the flame +which then burst forth. + +Not long after this, he was made commander-in-chief of the Virginia forces +(1775), and the next year was elected governor of Virginia. + +When the war--in the declaring of which he had taken so active a part--was +over, Patrick Henry retired at the age of fifty-eight (1794), to an estate +in Charlotte County called "Red Hill," where he lived a simple and +beautiful life. He died in 1799. + +Without doubt he was one of the most eloquent orators our country has ever +produced, and we should be grateful to him because he used his great gift +in helping to secure the freedom we now enjoy. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What was the Stamp Act? Why did Parliament pass it, and why did the +colonists object to it? + +2. What did Patrick Henry mean by saying that the General Assembly of +Virginia, _and only_ the General Assembly of Virginia had the right and +the power of laying taxes upon the people of that colony? + +3. Have you in your mind a picture of young Patrick Henry as he rode on +horseback along the country road toward Williamsburg? Describe this +picture as clearly as you can. + +4. What did William Pitt think of the Stamp Act? Why did Parliament repeal +it? + +5. Can you explain Patrick Henry's power as an orator? When did he make a +great speech in St. John's Church, Richmond? + +6. What do you admire in Patrick Henry? + +7. Do not fail to locate every event upon your map. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SAMUEL ADAMS + + +While Patrick Henry was leading the people of Virginia in their defiance +of the Stamp Act, exciting events were taking place in Massachusetts under +another colonial leader. This was Samuel Adams. Even before Virginia took +any action, he had introduced in the Massachusetts Assembly resolutions +opposing the Stamp Act, and they were passed. + +This man, who did more than any one else to arouse the love of liberty in +his colony, was born in Boston in 1722. His boyhood was quite different +from that of Patrick Henry. He liked to go to school and to learn from +books, and he cared little for outdoor life or sport of any kind. + +[Illustration: Samuel Adams.] + +As he grew up, his father wished him to become a clergyman, but Samuel +preferred to study law. His mother opposing this, however, he entered upon +business life. This perhaps was a mistake, for he did not take to +business, and, like Patrick Henry, he soon failed, even losing most of the +property his father had left him. + + +SAMUEL ADAMS AN INSPIRING LEADER + +But although not skilful in managing his own affairs, he was a most loyal +and successful worker for the interests of the colony. In fact, before +long, he gave up most of his private business and spent his time and +strength for the public welfare. + +His whole income was the very small salary which he received as clerk of +the Assembly of Massachusetts. This was hardly sufficient to pay for the +food needed in his household. But his wife was so thrifty and cheerful, +and his friends so glad to help him out because of the time he gave to +public affairs, that his home life, though plain, was comfortable, and his +children were well brought up. + +Poor as he was, no man could be more upright. The British, fearing his +influence, tried at different times to bribe him with office under the +King and to buy him with gold. But he scorned any such attempts to turn +him aside from the path of duty. + +The great purpose of his life seemed to be to encourage the colonists to +stand up for their rights as freemen, and to defeat the plans of King +George and Parliament in trying to force the colonists to pay taxes. In +this he was busy night and day. In the assembly and in the town meeting +all looked to him as an able leader; and in the workshops, on the streets, +or in the shipyards men listened eagerly while he made clear the aims of +the English King, and urged them to defend their rights as free-born +Englishmen. + +Even at the close of a busy day, this earnest, liberty-loving man gave +himself little rest. Sometimes he was writing articles for the newspapers, +and sometimes urgent letters to the various leaders in Massachusetts and +in the other colonies. Long after midnight, those who passed his dimly +lighted windows could see "Sam Adams hard at work writing against the +Tories." + +[Illustration: Patriots in New York Destroying Stamps Intended for Use in +Connecticut.] + +Had you seen him at this time, you would never have thought of him as a +remarkable man. He was of medium size, with keen gray eyes, and hair +already fast turning white. His head and hands trembled as if with age, +though he was only forty-two years old and in good health. + +He was a great power in the colony. Not only did he rouse the people +against the Stamp Act, but he helped to organize, in opposition to it, +societies of patriots called "Sons of Liberty," who refused to use the +stamps and often destroyed them. In Massachusetts, as in Virginia and +elsewhere, the people refused to buy any English goods until this hateful +act was repealed. + +At the close of a year, before it had really been put into operation, the +act was repealed, as we have already seen. But this did not happen until +many resolutions had been passed, many appeals made to the King, and after +much excitement. Then great was the rejoicing! In every town in the +country bonfires were lighted, and every colonial assembly sent thanks to +the King. + +But the obstinate, power-loving George III was not happy about this +repeal. In fact, he had given in very much against his will. He wanted to +rule England in his own way, and how could he do so if he allowed his +stubborn colonists in America thus to get the better of him? + +So he made up his mind to insist upon some sort of a tax. In 1767, +therefore, only one year after the repeal of the Stamp Act, he asked +Parliament to pass a law taxing glass, lead, paper, tea, and a few other +articles imported into the colonies. + +This new tax was laid, but again the colonists said: "We had no part in +levying it, and if we pay it, we shall be giving up our rights as freemen. +But how can we help ourselves?" + +Samuel Adams and other leaders answered: "We can resist it just as we did +the Stamp Act--by refusing to buy any goods whatever from England." To +this the merchants agreed. While the unjust tax was in force, they +promised to import no English goods, and the people promised not to ask +for such goods. + +Then many wealthy people agreed to wear homespun instead of English +cloths, and to stop eating mutton in order to have more sheep to produce +wool for this homespun, thus showing a willingness to give up for the +cause some of the luxuries which they had learned to enjoy. + +Of course, this stand taken by the colonists angered the King. He called +them rebels and sent soldiers to Boston to help enforce the laws (1768). + +From the first the people of Boston felt insulted at having these soldiers +in their midst, and it was not long before trouble broke out. In a street +fight at night the troops fired upon the crowd, killing and wounding a +number of men. + +This caused great excitement. The next day, under the leadership of Samuel +Adams, the citizens of Boston demanded that all the soldiers should be +removed. Fearing more serious trouble if the demand was disregarded, the +officers withdrew the soldiers to an island in the harbor. + +Still the feeling did not die down. The new taxes were a constant +irritation. "Only slaves would submit to such an injustice," said Samuel +Adams, and his listeners agreed. In Massachusetts and in other colonies +the English goods were refused, and, as in the case of the Stamp Act, the +English merchants felt the pinch of heavy losses, and begged that the new +tax laws be repealed. + + +SAMUEL ADAMS AND THE "BOSTON TEA PARTY" + +Feeling grew stronger and matters grew worse until at length, after +something like three years, Parliament took off all the new taxes except +the one on tea. "They must pay one tax to know we keep the right to tax," +said the King. It was as if the King's followers had winked slyly at one +another and said: "We shall see--we shall see! Those colonists must have +their tea to drink, and a little matter of threepence a pound they will +overlook." + +It would have been much better for England if she had taken off all the +taxes and made friends with the colonists. Many leaders in that country +said so, but the stubborn King was bent upon having his own way. "I will +be King," he said. "They shall do as I say." + +Then he and his followers worked up what seemed to them a clever scheme +for hoodwinking the colonists. "We will make the tea cheaper in America +than in England," they said. "Such a bargain! How can the simple colonists +resist it?" Great faith was put in this foolish plan. + +But they were soon to find out that those simple colonists were only +Englishmen across the sea, that they too had strong wills, and that they +did not care half so much about buying cheap tea as they did about giving +up a principle and paying a tax, however small, which they had no part in +levying. + +King George went straight ahead to carry out his plan. It was arranged +that the East India Company should ship cargoes of tea to Boston, New +York, Philadelphia, and Charleston. + +In due time the tea arrived. Then the King's eyes were opened. What did he +find out about the spirit of these colonists? That they simply would _not_ +use this tea. The people in New York and Philadelphia refused to let it +land, and in Charleston they stored it in damp cellars, where it spoiled. + +But the most exciting time was in Boston, where the Tory governor, +Hutchinson, was determined to carry out the King's wishes. Hence occurred +the famous "Boston Tea Party,"--a strange tea-party, where no cups were +used, no guests invited, and no tea drunk! Did you ever hear of such a +party? Let us see what really happened. + +It was on a quiet Sunday, the 28th of November, 1773, when the Dartmouth, +the first of the three tea ships bound for Boston, sailed into the harbor. +The people were attending service in the various churches when the cry, +"The Dartmouth is in!" spread like wild-fire. Soon the streets were alive +with people. That was a strange Sunday in Puritan Boston. + +The leaders quickly sought out Benjamin Rotch, the owner of the Dartmouth, +and obtained his promise that the tea should not be landed before Tuesday. +Then they called a mass meeting for Monday morning, in Fanueil Hall, +afterward known as the "Cradle of Liberty." + +[Illustration: Fanueil Hall, Boston.] + +The crowd was so great that they adjourned to the Old South Church, and +there they overflowed into the street. There were five thousand in all, +some of them from near-by towns. Samuel Adams presided. In addressing the +meeting, he asked: "Is it the firm resolution of this body not only that +the tea shall be sent back, but that no duty shall be paid thereon?" +"Yes!" came the prompt and united answer from these brave men. + +So the patriots of Boston and the surrounding towns, with Samuel Adams at +their head, were determined that the tea should not be landed. Governor +Hutchinson was equally determined that it should be. A stubborn fight, +therefore, was on hand. + +The Boston patriots appointed men, armed with muskets and bayonets, to +watch the tea ships, some by day, others by night. Six post-riders were +appointed, who should keep their horses saddled and bridled, ready to +speed into the country to give the alarm if a landing should be attempted. +Sentinels were stationed in the church belfries to ring the bells, and +beacon-fires were made ready for lighting on the surrounding hilltops. + +Tuesday, December 16, dawned. It was a critical day. If the tea should +remain in the harbor until the morrow--the twentieth day after +arrival--the revenue officer would be empowered by law to land it +forcibly. + +[Illustration: Old South Church, Boston.] + +Men, talking angrily and shaking their fists with excitement, were +thronging into the streets of Boston from the surrounding towns. By ten +o'clock over seven thousand had assembled in the Old South Church and in +the streets outside. They were waiting for the coming of Benjamin Rotch, +who had gone to see if the collector would give him a "clearance," or +permission to sail out of the port of Boston with the tea. + +Rotch came in and told the angry crowd that the collector refused to give +the clearance. The people told him that he must get a pass from the +governor. Then the meeting adjourned for the morning. + +At three o'clock in the afternoon a great throng of eager men again +crowded the Old South Church and the streets outside to wait for the +return of Rotch. It was an anxious moment. "If the governor refuses to +give the pass, shall the revenue officer be allowed to seize the tea and +land it to-morrow morning?" Many anxious faces showed that men were asking +themselves this momentous question. + +[Illustration: The "Boston Tea Party."] + +But while, in deep suspense, the meeting waited for Rotch to come they +discussed the situation, and suddenly John Rowe asked: "Who knows how tea +will mingle with salt water?" At once a whirlwind of applause swept +through the assembly and the masses outside. A plan was soon formed. + +The afternoon light of the short winter day faded, and darkness deepened; +the lights of candles sprang up here and there in the windows. It was past +six o'clock when Benjamin Rotch entered the church and, with pale face, +said: "The governor refuses to give a pass." + +An angry murmur arose, but the crowd soon became silent as Samuel Adams +stood up. He said quietly: "This meeting can do nothing more to save the +country." + +These words were plainly a signal. In an instant a war-whoop sounded +outside, and forty or fifty "Mohawks," or men dressed as Indians, who had +been waiting, dashed past the door and down Milk Street toward Griffin's +Wharf, where the tea ships were lying at anchor. + +It was then bright moonlight, and everything could be plainly seen. Many +men stood on shore and watched the "Mohawks" as they broke open three +hundred and forty-two chests, and poured the tea into the harbor. There +was no confusion. All was done in perfect order. But what a strange "tea +party" it was! Certainly no other ever used so much tea or so much water. + +Soon waiting messengers were speeding to outlying towns with the news, and +Paul Revere, "booted and spurred," mounted a swift horse and carried the +glorious message through the colonies as far as Philadelphia. + + +SOME RESULTS OF THE "BOSTON TEA PARTY" + +The Boston Tea Party was not a festivity which pleased the King. In fact, +it made him very furious. He promptly decided to punish the rebellious +colony. Parliament therefore passed the "Boston Port Bill," by which the +port of Boston was to be closed to trade until the people paid for the +tea. But this they had no mind to do. They stubbornly refused. + +Not Boston alone came under the displeasure of King George and Parliament. +They put Massachusetts under military rule, with General Gage as governor, +and sent more soldiers. The new governor gave orders that the colonial +assembly should hold no more meetings. He said that the people should no +longer make their own laws, nor levy their own taxes. This punishment was +indeed severe. + +With no vessels allowed to enter or leave the harbor and trade entirely +cut off, the people of Boston soon began to suffer. But the brave men and +women would not give in. They said: "We will not pay for the tea, nor will +we tell the King we are sorry for what we have done." + +When the people of the other colonies heard of the suffering in Boston, +they sent wheat, cows, sheep, fish, sugar, and other kinds of food to help +out. The King thought that by punishing Boston he would frighten the other +colonies. But he was mistaken, for they said: "We will help the people of +our sister colony. Her cause is our cause. We must all pull together in +our resistance to King George and the English Parliament." So his action +really united the colonies. + +In order to work together to better advantage, the colonies agreed that +each should send to a great meeting some of their strongest men to talk +over their troubles and work out some plan of united action. This meeting, +which was called the First Continental Congress, was held at Carpenters' +Hall, Philadelphia (1774). + +Samuel Adams and his cousin, John Adams, were two of the four men that +Massachusetts sent. They began their journey from Boston in a coach drawn +by four horses. In front rode two white servants, well mounted and bearing +arms; while behind were four black servants in livery, two on horseback +and two as footmen. Such was the manner of colonial gentlemen. + +[Illustration: Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia.] + +As they journeyed through the country the people honored them in many +ways. From some of the larger towns officials and citizens rode out on +horseback and in carriages to meet them and act as escort; and on reaching +a town they were feasted at banquets and greeted by gleaming bonfires, the +ringing of bells, and the firing of cannon. These celebrations showed +honor not to the men alone but to the cause. + +The First Continental Congress, to which these messengers were travelling, +urged the people to stand together in resisting the attempt of King George +and Parliament to force them to pay taxes which they had had no share in +laying. They added: "We have the right not only to tax ourselves, but also +to govern ourselves." + +With all these movements Samuel Adams was in sympathy. He went even +further, for at this time he was almost or quite alone in his desire for +independence, and he has well been called the "Father of the Revolution." +Perhaps we think of him especially in connection with the Boston Tea +Party, but his influence for the good of his country lasted far beyond +that time. + +Till the close of his life he was an earnest and sincere patriot. He died +in 1803, at the age of eighty-one years. Not an orator like Patrick Henry, +but a man of action like Washington, he had great power in dealing with +men. Truly his life was one of great and heroic service to his country. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. In what respects were Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry unlike as boys? + +2. Tell why Samuel Adams had great power over men. + +3. What kind of man was George III? Why did he so strongly desire that the +colonists should be compelled to pay a tax to England? + +4. What was the tax law of 1767, and why did the colonists object to +paying the new taxes? + +5. What led up to the "Boston Tea Party"? Imagine yourself one of the +party, and tell what you did. + +6. In what way did George III and Parliament punish Boston for throwing +the tea overboard? How did the colonies help the people of Boston at this +time? + +7. What was the First Continental Congress, and what did it do? + +8. What do you admire in Samuel Adams? + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE WAR BEGINS NEAR BOSTON + + +When Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, the King believed that such +severe punishment would not only put a stop to further rebellious acts, +but would cause the colonists to feel sorry for what they had done and +incline them once more to obey him. Imagine his surprise and indignation +at what followed! + +As soon as General Gage ordered that the Massachusetts Assembly should +hold no more meetings, the colonists made up their minds they would not be +put down in this manner. They said: "The King has broken up the assembly. +Very well. We will form a new governing body and give it a new name, the +Provincial Congress." + +[Illustration: John Hancock.] + +And what do you suppose the chief business of this Congress was? To make +ready for war! An army was called for, and provision made that a certain +number of the men enlisted should be prepared to leave their homes at a +minute's notice. These men were called "minute-men." + +Even while the patriots, for so the rebellious subjects of King George +called themselves, were making these preparations, General Gage, who was +in command of the British troops in Boston, had received orders from +England to seize as traitors Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were the +most active leaders. + +[Illustration: John Hancock's Home, Boston.] + +Of Samuel Adams you already know. John Hancock was president of the newly +made Provincial Congress. + +General Gage knew that Adams and Hancock were staying for a while with a +friend in Lexington. He had learned also through spies that minutemen had +collected some cannon and military stores in Concord, twenty miles from +Boston, and only eight miles beyond Lexington. + +The British general planned, therefore, to send a body of troops to arrest +the two leaders at Lexington, and then to push on and capture or destroy +the stores at Concord. + +[Illustration: A Minuteman.] + +Although he acted with the greatest secrecy, he was unable to keep his +plans from the watchful minutemen. We shall see how one of these, Paul +Revere, outwitted him. Perhaps you have read Longfellow's poem which tells +the story of the famous "midnight ride" taken by this fearless young man. + +Paul Revere had taken an active part in the "Boston Tea Party," and the +following year, with about thirty other young patriots, he had formed a +society to spy out the British plans. I fancy that the daring and courage +called for in this business appealed to the high spirits and love of +adventure of these young men. Always on the watch, they were quick to +notice any strange movement and report to such leaders as Samuel Adams, +John Hancock, and Doctor Joseph Warren. + +On the evening of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere and his friends brought word +to Doctor Warren that they believed General Gage was about to carry out +his plan, already reported to the patriots, of capturing Adams and +Hancock, and of taking or destroying the military stores at Concord. + +Doctor Warren quickly decided that Paul Revere and William Dawes should go +on horseback to Lexington and Concord and give the alarm. He sent them by +different routes, hoping that one at least might escape the British +patrols with whom Gage had carefully guarded all the roads leading from +Boston. + +Soon Dawes was galloping across Boston Neck, and Paul Revere was getting +ready for a long night ride. + +[Illustration: Old North Church.] + +After arranging with a friend for a lantern signal to be hung in the +belfry of the Old North Church to show by which route the British forces +were advancing, "one if by land and two if by sea," he stepped into a +light skiff with two friends who rowed him from Boston across the Charles +River to Charlestown. + +Upon reaching the other side of the river, he obtained a fleet horse and +stood ready, bridle in hand, straining his eyes in the darkness to catch +sight of the signal-lights. The horse waits obedient to his master's +touch, and the master stands eagerly watching the spot where the signal is +to appear. + +[Illustration: Paul Revere's Ride.] + +At eleven o'clock a light flashes forth. Exciting moment! Then another +light! "Two if by sea!" The British troops are crossing the Charles River +to march through Cambridge! + +No time to lose! Springing into his saddle and spurring his horse, he +speeds like the wind toward Lexington. + +Suddenly two British officers are about to capture him. He turns quickly +and, dashing into a side-path, with spurs in horse he is soon far from his +pursuers. + +Then, in his swift flight along the road he pauses at every house to +shout: "Up and arm! Up and arm! The regulars are out! The regulars are +out!" + +Families are roused. Lights gleam from the windows. Doors open and close. +Minutemen are mustering. + +When Lexington is reached, it is just midnight. Eight minutemen are +guarding the house where Adams and Hancock are sleeping. "Make less noise! +Don't disturb the people inside," they warn the lusty rider. "Noise!" +cries Paul Revere. "You'll have noise enough before long. The regulars are +out!" + +Soon William Dawes arrived and joined Revere. Hastily refreshing +themselves with a light meal, they rode off together toward Concord, in +company with Samuel Prescott, a prominent Son of Liberty whose home was in +that town. About half-way there, they were surprised by mounted British +officers, who called: "Halt." + +Prescott managed to escape by making his horse leap a stone wall, and rode +in hot haste to Concord, which he reached in safety; but Paul Revere and +William Dawes both fell into the hands of the British. + + +THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD + +Meantime, the British troops numbering eight hundred men, under +Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, were on their way to Lexington. But before they +had gone far they were made aware, by the ringing of church-bells, the +firing of signal-guns, the beating of drums, and the gleaming of +beacon-fires from the surrounding hilltops, that their secret was out, and +that the minutemen knew what was going on. + +[Illustration: Monument on Lexington Common Marking the Line of the +Minutemen.] + +Surprised and disturbed by these signs that the colonists were on the +alert, Colonel Smith sent Major Pitcairn ahead with a picked body of +troops, in the hope that they might reach Lexington before the town could +be completely aroused. He also sent back to Boston for more men. + +The British commander would have been still more disturbed if he had known +all that was happening, for the alarm-signals were calling to arms +thousands of patriots ready to die for their rights. Hastily wakened from +sleep, men snatched their old muskets from over the door, and bidding a +hurried good-by to wife and children, started for the meeting-places long +before agreed upon. + +Just as the sun was rising, Major Pitcairn marched into Lexington, where +he found forty or fifty minutemen ready to dispute his advance. + +"Disperse, ye rebels; disperse!" he cried, riding up. But they did not +disperse. Pitcairn ordered his men to fire, and eighteen minutemen fell to +the ground. + +Before the arrival of Pitcairn the British officers who had captured +Revere and Dawes returned with them to Lexington, where, commanding Revere +to dismount, they let him go. Running off at full speed to the house where +Samuel Adams and John Hancock were staying, he told them what had +happened, and then guided them across the fields to a place of safety. + +Leaving the shocked and dazed villagers to collect their dead and wounded, +Colonel Smith hastened to Concord. He arrived about seven in the morning, +six hours after Doctor Prescott had given the alarm. + +There had been time to hide the military stores, so the British could not +get at those. But they cut down the liberty-pole, set fire to the +court-house, spiked a few cannon, and emptied some barrels of flour. + +About two hundred of them stood guard at the North Bridge, while a body of +minutemen gathered on a hill on the opposite side. When the minutemen had +increased to four hundred, they advanced to the bridge and brought on a +fight which resulted in loss of life on both sides. Then, pushing on +across the bridge, they forced the British to withdraw into the town. + +[Illustration: Map: Boston and Vicinity.] + +The affair had become more serious than the British had expected. Even in +the town they could not rest, for an ever-increasing body of minutemen +kept swarming into Concord from every direction. + +By noon Colonel Smith could see that it would be unwise to delay the +return to Boston. So, although his men had marched twenty miles, and had +had little or no food for fourteen hours, he gave the order for the return +march. + +But when they started back, the minutemen kept after them and began a +deadly attack. It was an unequal fight. The minutemen, trained to woodland +warfare, slipped from tree to tree, shot down the worn and helpless +British soldiers, and then retreated only to return and repeat the +harassing attack. + +[Illustration: Concord Bridge.] + +The wooded country through which they were passing favored this kind of +fighting. But even in the open country every stone wall and hill, every +house and barn seemed to the exhausted British troops to bristle with the +guns of minutemen. The retreating army dragged wearily forward, fighting +as bravely as possible, but on the verge of confusion and panic. + +They reached Lexington Common at two o'clock, quite overcome with fatigue. +There they were met by one thousand two hundred fresh troops, under Lord +Percy, whose timely arrival saved the entire force from capture. Lord +Percy's men formed a square for the protection of the retreating soldiers, +and into it they staggered, falling upon the ground, "with their tongues +hanging out of their mouths like those of dogs after a chase." + +After resting for an hour, the British again took up their march to +Boston. The minutemen, increasing in numbers every moment, kept up the +same kind of running attack that they had made between Concord and +Lexington until, late in the day, the redcoats came under the protection +of the guns of the war vessels in Boston Harbor. + +The British had failed. There was no denying that. They had been driven +back, almost in a panic, to Boston, with a loss of nearly three hundred +men. The Americans had not lost one hundred. + +But the King was not aroused to the situation. He had a vision of his +superb regiments in their brilliant uniforms overriding all before them. + +And how did the Provincials, as the British called the Americans, regard +the situation? They saw clearly and without glamour the deadly nature of +the struggle upon which they had entered and the strength of the opposing +army against which they must measure their own strength. + +The people of Massachusetts for miles around Boston were now in a state of +great excitement. Farmers, mechanics, men in all walks of life flocked to +the army, and within a few days the Americans, sixteen thousand strong, +were surrounding the British in Boston. + +While the people of Massachusetts were in the midst of these stirring +scenes, an event of deep meaning to all the colonies was taking place in +Philadelphia. Here the Continental Congress, coming together for the +second time, was making plans for carrying on the war by voting money for +war purposes and by making George Washington commander-in-chief of the +Continental army, of which the troops around Boston were the beginning. +Thus did the colonies recognize that war had come and that they must stand +together in the fight. + +[Illustration: President Langdon, the President of Harvard College, +Praying for the Bunker Hill Entrenching Party on Cambridge Common Just +Before Their Departure.] + +Meantime more British troops, under the command of General Howe, arrived +in Boston, making an army of ten thousand men. Believing they could be +forced to leave the town by cannon planted on Bunker Hill, the Americans +decided to occupy it. + +On the night of June 16, therefore, shortly before midnight, twelve +hundred Americans marched quietly from Cambridge and, advancing to Breed's +Hill, which was nearer Boston than Bunker Hill, began to throw up +breastworks. + +[Illustration: Prescott at Bunker Hill.] + +They worked hard all night, and by early morning had made good headway. +The British, on awaking, were greatly surprised to see what had been done. +They turned the fire of their war vessels upon the Americans, who, +however, kept right on with their work. + +General Howe, now in command of the British army, thought it would be easy +enough to drive off the "rebels." So about three o'clock in the afternoon +he made an assault upon their works. + +The British soldiers, burdened with heavy knapsacks, and suffering from +the heat of a summer sun, had to march through tall grass reaching above +their knees and to climb many fences. + +Behind their breastworks the Americans watched the scarlet ranks coming +nearer and nearer. Powder was low, and must not be wasted. Colonel William +Prescott, who was in command, told his men not to fire too soon. "Wait +till you see the whites of their eyes," he said. + +Twice the British soldiers, in their scarlet uniforms, climb the slope of +the hill and charge the breastworks. Twice the Americans drive them back, +ploughing great gaps in their ranks. + +[Illustration: Bunker Hill Monument.] + +A third time they advance. But now the Americans do not answer the charge. +There is good reason--the powder has given out! A great rush--and the +redcoats have climbed over. But it is no easy victory even now, and there +is no lack of bravery on the part of the Americans. With clubbed muskets +they meet the invaders. + +The British won the victory, but with great loss. "Many such," said one +critic, "would have cost them their army." + +On the other hand, the Americans had fought like heroes, and news of the +battle brought joy to every loyal heart. Washington heard of it when on +his way to take command of the army. + +"Did the Americans stand fire?" was his first question. + +"Yes," was the answer. + +"Then," said he, "the liberties of the country are safe." + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. Impersonating Paul Revere, tell the story of his famous ride. What do +you think of him? + +2. Why did the British troops march out to Lexington and Concord? + +3. Imagine yourself at Concord on the morning of the battle, and tell what +happened. + +4. Why did the Americans fortify Breed's Hill? What were the results of +the Battle of Bunker Hill? + +5. What did Washington say when he heard that the Americans had stood +their ground in face of the British assault? + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GEORGE WASHINGTON IN THE REVOLUTION + + +In electing George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental army, +the Continental Congress probably made the very wisest choice possible. Of +course, this was not so clear then. For even leaders like Samuel Adams and +John Adams and Patrick Henry did not know Washington's ability as we have +come to know it now. But they had learned enough about his wonderful power +over men and his great skill as a leader in time of war to believe that he +was the man to whom they might trust the great work of directing the army +in this momentous crisis. + +[Illustration: George Washington.] + +We have already learned, in a previous book, something of Washington's +boyhood, so simple and free and full of activity. We recall him, as he +grew up, first as a youthful surveyor, then as the trusted messenger of +his colony, Virginia, to the commander of the French forts west of the +Alleghanies, and afterward as an aide of General Braddock when the war +with the French broke out. + +In the discharge of all these duties and in all his relations with men, +whether above him in office or under his command, he had shown himself +trustworthy and efficient, a man of clear mind and decisive action--one +who commanded men's respect, obedience, and even love. + +After the last battle of the Last French War Washington had returned to +his home at Mount Vernon, on the banks of the Potomac, and very soon +(1759) married Mrs. Martha Custis, a young widow whom he had met at a +friend's house while he was on the way to Williamsburg the year before. +With the addition of his wife's property to his own, he became a man of +much wealth and at one time was one of the largest landholders in America. + +But with all his wealth and experience Washington had the modesty which +always goes with true greatness. In the Virginia House of Burgesses, to +which he was elected after the Last French War, he was given a vote of +thanks for his brave services in that war. Rising to reply, Washington, +still a young man, stood blushing and stammering, unable to say a word. +The speaker, liking him none the less for this embarrassment, said, with +much grace: "Sit down, Mr. Washington. Your modesty equals your valor, and +that surpasses the power of any language I possess." + +Some years rolled by and the home-loving young planter lived the busy but +quiet life of a high-bred Virginia gentleman. Meanwhile the exciting +events of which we have been speaking were crowding upon one another and +leading up to the Revolution; and in this interval of quiet country life +Washington was unconsciously preparing for the greater task for which he +was soon to be chosen. + +[Illustration: Washington, Henry, and Pendleton on the Way to Congress at +Philadelphia.] + +In the events of these days Washington took his own part. He was one of +the representatives of Virginia at the first meeting of the Continental +Congress, in 1774, going to Philadelphia in company with Patrick Henry and +others. He was also a delegate to the second meeting of the Continental +Congress, in May, 1775. + +He filled well each place of trust; and what more natural than that the +Congress should choose as commander-in-chief of the American army this +gentleman, young, able, and already tried and proven? He was chosen +unanimously. + +On being elected, Washington rose and thanked Congress for the honor, +adding modestly: "I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored +with." No doubt in the dark days of war to follow he often felt in this +way, but as the task had fallen to him, he determined to do his best and +trust in a higher power for the outcome. + +[Illustration: The Washington Elm at Cambridge, under which Washington +took Command of the Army.] + +He refused to accept any salary for his services, but said he would keep +an account of his expenses. The idea of gain for himself in the time of +his country's need was far removed from this great man's heart! + +On the 21st of June, Washington set out on horseback from Philadelphia, in +company with a small body of horsemen, to take command of the American +army around Boston. This journey, which can now be made by train in a few +hours, took several days. + +Soon after starting, Washington was much encouraged, as we have seen in a +preceding chapter, by the news of the brave stand the provincials had made +at the battle of Bunker Hill. + +After three days, he reached New York, about four o'clock on Sunday +afternoon, and was given a royal welcome. Nine companies of soldiers on +foot escorted him as he passed through the streets in an open carriage +drawn by two white horses. All along the route the streets were lined with +people who greeted him with cheers. + +Continuing his journey, on July 2 he reached the camp in Cambridge, and +there officers and soldiers received him with enthusiasm. + + +WASHINGTON IN COMMAND OF THE ARMY + +Next day under the famous elm still standing near Harvard University, +Washington drew his sword and took command of the American army. + +He was then forty-three years old, tall and manly in form, noble and +dignified in bearing. His soldiers looked upon him with pride as he sat +upon his horse, a superb picture of strength and dignity. He wore a +three-cornered hat with the cockade of liberty upon it, and across his +breast a broad band of blue silk. The impression he made was most +pleasing, his courteous and kindly manner winning friends immediately. + +Washington at once began the labor of getting his troops ready to fight, +as his army was one only in name. For although the men were brave and +willing, they had never been trained for war, and were not even supplied +with muskets or powder. + +Fortunately, the British did not know how badly off the American army was, +and were taking their ease inside their own defenses. The autumn and the +winter slipped by before Washington could make the attempt to drive the +British out of Boston. + +At last, by the first of March, some cannon and other supplies arrived in +camp. Many of them had been dragged over the snow from Ticonderoga on +sledges drawn by oxen. This gave Washington his opportunity to strike. + +One night, while the cannon of the American army, which was just outside +of Boston, were firing upon the British for the purpose of concealing +Washington's plan, he sent troops to seize and fortify Dorchester Heights, +overlooking Boston on the south. + +Next morning when the astonished British commander, Howe, realized what +the Americans had done, he saw clearly that he must drive them from the +Heights or else leave Boston himself. But before he could send a force +across the bay, a violent storm came up and delayed the attack. + +In the meantime the Americans had made their earthworks so strong that +Howe decided not to molest them. He remembered too well the Bunker Hill +affair. So with all his army he sailed away to Halifax, leaving behind +much powder and many cannon, which you may be sure the Americans lost no +time in seizing. + +Washington believed that after leaving Boston the British would try to +take New York in order to get control of the Hudson River and the middle +colonies. To outwit them his men must get to New York first. This they +did. + +[Illustration: Sir William Howe.] + +He had not gone far in putting up defenses there when an event of profound +importance took place in Philadelphia. This was the signing of the +Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. Up to the summer +of 1776, it was for their rights as free-born Englishmen that the +colonists had been fighting. But now that King George was sending +thousands of soldiers to force them to give up these rights, which were as +dear to them as their own lives, they said: "We will cut ourselves off +from England. We will make our own laws; we will levy our own taxes; we +will manage our affairs in our own way. We will declare our independence." + +So they appointed a committee, two of whom were Thomas Jefferson and +Benjamin Franklin, to draw up the Declaration of Independence. This was +signed July 4, 1776. + +[Illustration: Thomas Jefferson Looking Over the Rough Draught of the +Declaration of Independence.] + +It was a great day in American history, and worthy of celebration. After +that, the thirteen colonies became States, and each organized its own +government. + +This act, no doubt, gave Washington good heart for the difficult work he +had in hand, but the task itself was no easier. While he was waiting at +New York for the enemy's attack, he had only an ill-assorted army of about +eighteen thousand men to meet them. General Howe, who soon arrived, had +thirty thousand men and a large fleet as well. Yet Washington pluckily +made plans to defend the city. + +When Brooklyn Heights, on Long Island, had been fortified, he sent General +Putnam with half the army across East River to occupy them. + +On August 27 General Howe, with something like twenty thousand men, +attacked a part of these forces and defeated them. If he had attacked the +remainder at once, he might have captured the full half of the army under +Putnam's command--and even Washington himself, who, during the heat of the +battle, had crossed over from New York. But, as we have seen, the British +were apt to "put off till to-morrow." And very fortunate it was for the +Americans. + +Possibly General Howe could have ended the war at this time if he had +continued his attack. But of course he did not know that the Americans +were going to escape, any more than he had known that they were going to +capture Boston. His men had fought hard at the end of a long night march +and needed rest. Besides, he felt so sure of making an easy capture of the +remainder of the army that there was no need of haste. For how could the +Americans get away? Did not the British fleet have them so close under its +nose that it could easily get between them and New York and make escape +impossible? + +[Illustration: The Retreat from Long Island.] + +This all seemed so clear to the easy-going General Howe that with good +conscience he gave his tired men a rest after the battle on the 27th. On +the 28th a heavy rain fell, and on the 29th a dense fog covered the +island. + +But before midday of the 29th, some American officers riding down toward +the shore noticed an unusual stir in the British fleet. Boats were going +to and fro as if carrying orders. + +"It looks as if the English vessels may soon sail up between New York and +Long Island and cut off our retreat," said these officers to Washington. +The situation was perilous. At once Washington gave orders to secure all +the boats possible, in order to attempt escape during the night. + +It was a desperate undertaking. There were ten thousand men to be taken +across, and the width of the river at the point of crossing was nearly a +mile. It would hardly seem possible that such a movement could be made in +a single night without being discovered by the British troops, who were +lying in camp within gunshot of the retreating Americans. + +But that which seemed impossible was done, for the army was transferred in +safety. + +The night must have been a long and anxious one for Washington, who stayed +at his post of duty on the Long Island shore until the last boat-load had +pushed off. The retreat was as brilliant as it was daring, and it saved +the American cause. + +But even after he had saved his army from capture and once more outwitted +the British, the situation was still one of great danger. No sooner had +the Americans made their perilous escape from Long Island than the British +seized Brooklyn Heights. So just across the river from New York were the +British troops, and just below them in the harbor lay the British fleet. + + +THE HEROIC NATHAN HALE + +With forces so unequal, a single unwise movement might bring disaster. If +only Washington could learn the plans of the British! The only way to do +this was to send a spy over into their camp. He called for a volunteer to +go inside the enemy's line and get information. Now, you know that spying +is dangerous business, for if captured the man will be hanged; and none +but a brave man will undertake it. + +Probably many of you boys and girls know the name of the hero whom +Washington selected for this delicate and dangerous task. It was Nathan +Hale. + +Perhaps you ask why he was chosen, and why he was willing to go. + +We can answer those questions best by finding out something about his +life. + +Nathan Hale was born in Coventry, a little town in Connecticut, in 1755. +His parents, who were very religious people, had taught him to be always +honest, brave, and loyal. + +Nathan was bright in school and fond of books. He was also fond of play. +Although he was not very strong as a small boy, he grew sturdy and healthy +by joining in the sports of the other boys. They liked him, because, like +George Washington, he always played fair. + +Later he went to Yale College, where he studied hard but yet had time for +fun. He became a fine athlete, tall, and well-built. He sang well, and his +gentlemanly manner and thoughtfulness of others made him beloved by all +who knew him. + +After he left college, he taught school with much success, being respected +and loved by his pupils. He was teaching in New London, Connecticut, when +the Revolutionary War broke out. + +He felt sorry to leave his school, but believing his country needed the +service of every patriotic man, he joined the army and was made a captain. + +When he learned that his commander needed a spy, he said: "I am ready to +go. Send me." + +He was only twenty-one, hardly more than a boy, yet he knew the danger. +And although life was very dear to him he loved his country more than his +own life. + +[Illustration: Nathan Hale.] + +His noble bearing and grace of manner might easily permit him to pass as a +Loyalist, that is, an American who sympathized with England--there were +many such in the British camp--and Washington accepted him for the +mission. + +He dressed himself like a schoolmaster, so that the British would not +suspect that he was an American soldier. + +Then, entering the enemy's lines, he visited all the camps, took notes, +and made sketches of the fortifications, hiding the papers in the soles of +his shoes. He was just about returning when he was captured. The papers +being found upon him, he was condemned to be hanged as a spy before +sunrise the next morning. + +The marshal who guarded him that night was a cruel man. He would not allow +his prisoner to have a Bible, and even tore in pieces before his eyes the +farewell letters which the young spy had written to his mother and +friends. + +But Nathan Hale was not afraid to die, and held himself calm and steady to +the end. Looking down upon the few soldiers who were standing near by as +he went to his death, he said: "I only regret that I have but one life to +lose for my country." All honor to this brave and true young patriot! + + +A TIME OF TRIAL FOR WASHINGTON + +But the death of Nathan Hale was only one of the hard things Washington +had to bear in this trying year of 1776. We have seen that when the +Americans left the Long Island shore, the British promptly occupied it. On +Brooklyn Heights they planted their cannon, commanding New York. So +Washington had to withdraw, and he retreated northward to White Plains, +stubbornly contesting every inch of ground. + +In the fighting of the next two months the Americans lost heavily. Two +forts on the Hudson River with three thousand men were captured by the +British. The outlook was gloomy enough, and it was well for the Americans +that they could not foresee the even more trying events that were to +follow. + +[Illustration: The War in the Middle States.] + +In order to save himself and his men from the enemy, Washington had to +retreat once more, this time across New Jersey toward Philadelphia. With +the British army, in every way stronger than his own, close upon him, it +was a race for life. Sometimes there was only a burning bridge, which the +rear-guard of the Americans had set on fire, between the fleeing forces +and the pursuing army. + +To make things worse, Washington saw his own army becoming smaller every +day, because the men whose term of enlistment had expired were leaving to +go to their homes. When he reached the Delaware River he had barely three +thousand men left. + +Here again Washington showed a master-stroke of genius. Having collected +boats for seventy miles along the river, he succeeded in getting his army +safely across at a place a little above Trenton. As the British had no +boats, they had to come to a halt. In their usual easy way, they decided +to wait until the river should freeze, when--as they thought--they would +cross in triumph and make a speedy capture of Philadelphia. + +To most people in England and in America alike, the early downfall of the +American cause seemed certain. General Cornwallis was so sure that the war +would soon come to an end that he had already packed some of his luggage +and sent it to the ship in which he expected to return to England. + +But Washington had no thought of giving up the struggle. Others might say: +"It's of no use to fight against such heavy odds." General Washington was +not that kind of man. He faced the dark outlook with all his courage and +energy. Full of faith in the cause for which he was willing to die, he +watched eagerly for the opportunity to turn suddenly upon his +overconfident enemy and strike a heavy blow. + + +THE VICTORY AT TRENTON + +Such an opportunity came soon. A body of British troops, made up of +Hessians (or Germans mainly from Hesse-Cassel, hired as soldiers by King +George), was stationed at Trenton, and Washington planned to surprise them +on Christmas night, when, as he knew, it was their custom to hold a feast +and revel. + +With two thousand four hundred picked men he prepared to cross the +Delaware River at a point nine miles above Trenton. The ground was white +with snow, and the weather was bitterly cold. As the soldiers marched to +the place of crossing, some of them whose feet were almost bare left +bloody footprints along the route. + +[Illustration: British and Hessian Soldiers.] + +At sunset the troops began to cross. It was a terrible night. Angry gusts +of wind, and great blocks of ice swept along by the swift current, +threatened every moment to dash in pieces the frail boats. + +From the Trenton side of the river, General Knox, who had been sent ahead +by Washington, loudly shouted to let the struggling boatmen know where to +land. For ten hours boat-load after boat-load of men made the dangerous +crossing. A long, long night this must have been to Washington, as he +stood in the midst of the wild storm, anxious, yet hopeful that the next +day would bring him victory. + +It was not until four in the morning that the already weary men were in +line to march. Trenton was nine miles away, and a fearful storm of snow +and sleet beat fiercely upon them as they advanced. Yet they pushed +forward. Surely such courage and hardihood deserved its reward! + +The Hessians, sleeping heavily after their night's feasting, were quite +unaware of the approaching army. About sunrise they were surprised and +most of them easily captured after a brief struggle. + +Like a gleam of light in the darkness, news of this victory shot through +the colonies. It brought hope to every patriot heart. The British were +amazed at the daring feat, and Cornwallis decided not to leave America for +a time. Instead, he advanced with a large force upon Trenton, hoping to +capture Washington's army there. + +At nightfall, January 2, 1777, he took his stand on the farther side of a +small creek, near Trenton, and thought he had Washington in a trap. "At +last," said Cornwallis, "we have run down the old fox, and we will bag him +in the morning." In the morning again! + +But Washington was too sly a fox for Cornwallis to bag. During the night +he led his army around Cornwallis's camp and, pushing on to Princeton, +defeated the rear-guard, which had not yet joined the main body. He then +retired in safety to his winter quarters among the hills about Morristown. + +During this fateful campaign Washington had handled his army in a masterly +way. He had begun with bitter defeat; he had ended with glorious victory. +The Americans now felt that their cause was by no means hopeless. It was +well that they had this encouragement, for the year that began with the +battle of Princeton (1777) was to test their courage and loyalty to the +uttermost. + +[Illustration: Powder-Horn, Bullet-Flask, and Buckshot-Pouch Used in the +Revolution.] + + +BURGOYNE'S INVASION + +It had become plain to the British that if they could get control of the +Hudson River, thus cutting off New England from the other States, they +could so weaken the Americans as to make their defeat easy. So they +adopted this plan: Burgoyne with nearly eight thousand men was to march +from Canada, by way of Lake Champlain and Fort Edward, to Albany, where he +was to meet a small force of British, who also were to come from Canada by +way of the Mohawk Valley. The main army of eighteen thousand men, under +General Howe, was expected to sail up the Hudson from New York. They +believed that this plan could be easily carried out and would soon bring +the war to a close. + +And their plan might have succeeded if General Howe had done his part. Let +us see what happened. + +Howe thought that before going up the river to meet and help Burgoyne, he +would just march across New Jersey and capture Philadelphia. This, +however, was not so easy as he had expected it to be. Washington's army +was in his pathway, and, not caring to fight his way across, he returned +to New York and tried another route, sailing with his army to Chesapeake +Bay. The voyage took two months, much longer than he expected. + +When at length he landed and advanced toward Philadelphia, he was again +thwarted. Washington's army grimly fronted him at Brandywine Creek, and a +battle had to be fought. The Americans were defeated, it is true, but +Washington handled his army with such skill that it took Howe two weeks to +reach Philadelphia, which was only twenty-six miles away from the field of +battle. + +Howe was thus kept busy by Washington until it was too late for him to +send help to Burgoyne. + +Moreover, Burgoyne was disappointed also in the help which he had expected +from the Mohawk Valley, for the army which was to come from that direction +had been forced to retreat to Canada almost before reaching the valley at +all. + +[Illustration: General Burgoyne Surrendering to General Gates.] + +Burgoyne was now in a hard place. The Americans were in front of him, +blocking his way, and also behind him, preventing him from retreating or +from getting powder and other greatly needed supplies from Canada. He +could move in neither direction. + +Thus left in the lurch by those from whom he expected aid and penned in by +the Americans, there was nothing for him to do but fight or give up. + +Like a good soldier, he fought, and the result was two battles near +Saratoga and the defeat of the British. In the end Burgoyne had to +surrender his entire army of six thousand regular troops (October 17, +1777). + +Such was the way in which the British plan worked out. Of course the +result was a great blow to England. + +On the other hand, the victory was a great cause of joy to the Americans. +It made hope stronger at home; it won confidence abroad. France had been +watching closely to see whether the Americans were likely to win in their +struggle, before aiding them openly. Now she was ready to do so, and was +quite willing to make a treaty with them, even though such a course should +lead to war with England. + +To bring about this treaty with France, Benjamin Franklin did more than +any other man. After signing the Declaration of Independence--and you will +remember that he was a member of the committee appointed to draft that +great state paper--he went to France to secure aid for the American cause. +He must have been a quaint figure at the French court, his plain hair and +plain cloth coat contrasting strangely with the fashion and elegance about +him. Yet this simple-hearted man was welcomed by the French people, who +gave feasts and parades in his honor and displayed his picture in public +places. By his personal influence he did very much to secure the aid which +France gave us. + + +LAFAYETTE JOINS THE AMERICAN ARMY + +Even before an open treaty was signed France had secretly helped the cause +of the Americans. She had sent them money and army supplies and, besides +this, able Frenchmen had come across the Atlantic to join the American +army. The most noted of these was the Marquis de Lafayette. + +The circumstances under which he came were quite romantic. Lafayette was +but nineteen when he heard for the first time at a dinner-party the story +of the American people fighting for their liberty. It interested and +deeply moved him. For in his own land a desire for freedom had been +growing, and he had been in sympathy with it. Now he made it his business +to find out more about this war, and then he quickly decided to help all +he could. + +[Illustration: Marquis de Lafayette.] + +He belonged to one of the noblest families of France, and was very +wealthy. He had a young wife and a baby, whom he regretted to leave. But +he believed that his duty called him to join the cause of freedom. His +wife was proud of the lofty purpose of her noble husband, and encouraged +him to carry out his plan. + +But Lafayette found it very hard to get away, for his family was one of +influence. His relatives and also the men in power were very angry when he +made known his purpose, and they tried to prevent his going. + +[Illustration: Lafayette Offering His Services to Franklin.] + +But he bought a ship with his own money and loaded it with army supplies. +Then, disguising himself as a postboy, he arrived at the coast without +being found out. + +After a long, tiresome voyage he reached the United States and went to +Philadelphia. + +There Congress gave him the rank of major-general, but in accepting it +Lafayette asked that he might serve without pay. + +A warm friendship at once sprang up between Washington and the young +Frenchman, and a feeling of confidence as between father and son. The +older man made the young major-general a member of his military family, +and Lafayette was always proud to serve his chief. He spent his money +freely and risked his life to help the cause of American liberty. We can +never forget his unselfish service. + +At the close of the year 1777 Washington took his army to a strong +position among the hills at Valley Forge, about twenty miles northwest of +Philadelphia, there to spend the winter. + +It was a period of intense suffering. Sometimes the soldiers went for days +without bread. "For some days past," wrote Washington, "there has been +little less than famine in the camp." Most of the soldiers were in rags, +only a few had bed clothing. Many had to sit by the fire all night to keep +warm, and some of the sick soldiers were without beds or even loose straw +to lie upon. Nearly three thousand of the men were barefoot in this severe +winter weather, and many had frozen feet because of the lack of shoes. It +makes one heart-sick to read about what these brave men passed through +during that wretched winter. + +Yet, in spite of bitter trials and distressing times, Washington never +lost faith that in the end the American cause would triumph. A beautiful +story is told showing the faith of this courageous man while in the midst +of these pitiful scenes at Valley Forge. + +[Illustration: Winter at Valley Forge.] + +One day, when "Friend Potts," a good Quaker farmer, was near the camp, he +saw Washington on his knees, his cheeks wet with tears, praying for help +and guidance. When the farmer returned to his home, he said to his wife: +"George Washington will succeed! George Washington will succeed! The +Americans will secure their independence." + +"What makes thee think so, Isaac?" inquired his wife. + +"I have heard him pray, Hannah, out in the woods to-day, and the Lord will +surely hear his prayer. He will, Hannah; thee may rest assured He will." + +Many events happened between this winter at Valley Forge and the surrender +of Cornwallis with all his army at Yorktown, but these we shall take up in +a later chapter. Washington had led his army through the valley of +despair, and never again while the war lasted was the sky so dark. + +At the close of the war Washington was glad to return to Mount Vernon and +become a Virginia planter once more. But, as we shall learn further on, he +was not permitted to spend the remainder of his days in the quiet rural +life which he liked so well. For his countrymen had come to honor and +trust him as their leader, and the time was not far away when they would +again seek his firm and wise guidance. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What kind of army did Washington have when he took command at +Cambridge? + +2. What was the Declaration of Independence, and when was it signed? + +3. How did Washington show his ability as a general at New York? What +great mistake did General Howe make at that time? + +4. What did Nathan Hale do? What do you think of him? + +5. Imagine yourself with Washington in the attack upon Trenton, and tell +what happened. + +6. What were the results of the capture of Burgoyne? + +7. Who was Lafayette, and what did he do for the American cause? + +8. Describe as well as you can the sufferings of the Americans at Valley +Forge. + +9. Are you making frequent use of the map? + + + + +CHAPTER V + +NATHANAEL GREENE AND OTHER HEROES IN THE SOUTH + + +We have given a rapid glance at the part which Washington took in the +Revolution. He, as commander-in-chief, stands first. But he would have +been quick to say that much of the credit for the success in that uneven +struggle was due to the able generals who carried out his plans. Standing +next to Washington himself as a military leader was Nathanael Greene. + +[Illustration: Nathanael Greene.] + +As you remember, the first fighting of the Revolution was in New England +near Boston. Failing there, the British tried hard to get control of the +Hudson River and the Middle States, as we have just seen. Again they were +baffled by Washington. + +One course remained, and that was to gain control of the southern States. +Beginning in Georgia, they captured Savannah. Two years later in May +(1780), they captured General Lincoln and all his force at Charleston, and +in the following August badly defeated General Gates, at Camden, South +Carolina, where with a new army he was now commanding in General Lincoln's +place. + +The outlook for the patriot cause was discouraging. One thing was certain. +A skilful general must take charge of the American forces in the south, or +the British would soon have everything in their own hands. Washington had +great faith in General Greene, and did not hesitate to appoint him for +this hard task. Let us see what led the commander-in-chief to choose this +New England man for duty in a post so far away. + +Nathanael Greene was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, in 1742. His father, +who on week-days was a blacksmith and miller, on Sundays was a Quaker +preacher. Nathanael was trained to work at the forge and in the mill and +in the fields as well. He was robust and active and, like young George +Washington, a leader in outdoor sports. But with all his other activities +he was also, like young Samuel Adams, a good student of books. + +We like to think of these colonial boys going to school and playing at +games just as boys do now, quite unaware of the great things waiting for +them to do in the world. Had they known of their future, they could have +prepared in no better way than by taking their faithful part in the work +and honest sport of each day as it came. + +Greene, being ten years younger than Washington, was about thirty-two +years old when the Boston Tea Party and those other exciting events of +that time occurred. + +[Illustration: The War in the South.] + +Although news did not travel so rapidly then as now, Greene was soon aware +that war was likely to break out at any time, and he took an active part +in preparing for it. He helped to organize a company of soldiers who +should be ready to fight for the American cause, and made the trip from +Rhode Island to Boston to get a musket for himself. In Boston he watched +with much interest the British regulars taking their drill, and brought +back with him not only a musket, hidden under some straw in his wagon, but +also a runaway British soldier, who was to drill his company. + +When news of the battle of Bunker Hill passed swiftly over the country, +proving that the war had actually begun, Rhode Island raised three +regiments of troops and placed Greene at their head as general. He marched +at once to Boston, and when Washington arrived to take command of the +American troops, it was General Greene who had the honor of welcoming him +in the name of the army. + + +GENERAL GREENE IN THE SOUTH + +At this time Greene was a man of stalwart appearance, six feet tall, +strong and vigorous in body, and with a frank, intelligent face. At once +he won the friendship and confidence of Washington, who always trusted him +with positions calling for courage, ability, and skill. It was not long +before he was Washington's right-hand man. So you can easily see why +Washington chose him in 1780 as commander of the American army in the +south. + +When General Greene reached the Carolinas, it was December, and he found +the army in a pitiable condition. There was but a single blanket for the +use of every three soldiers, and there was not food enough in camp to last +three days. The soldiers had lost heart because of defeat, they were angry +because they had not been paid, and many were sick because they had not +enough to eat. They camped in rude huts made of fence rails, corn-stalks, +and brushwood. + +A weak man would have said: "What can I do with an army like this? The +task is impossible. To remain here is to fail, so I will resign." + +But General Greene said nothing of the kind. He set to work with a will, +for he believed that the right was on his side. By wise planning, skilful +handling of the army, and hard labor, he managed, with the forces at hand, +to ward off the enemy, get food supplies, and put new spirit into his men. + +[Illustration: The Meeting of Greene and Gates upon Greene's Assuming +Command.] + +Soon he won the confidence and love of both officers and soldiers. A story +is told that shows us the sympathy he had for his men and their faith in +him. On one occasion Greene said to a barefoot sentinel: "How you must +suffer from cold!" Not knowing that he spoke to his general, the soldier +replied: "I do not complain. I know I should have what I need if our +general could get supplies." + + +DANIEL MORGAN, THE GREAT RIFLEMAN + +It was indeed fortunate for General Greene that in this time of need his +men were so loyal to him. Among them was one who later became noted for +his brilliant, daring exploits. This was Daniel Morgan, the great +rifleman. You will be interested to hear of some of his thrilling +experiences. + +When about nineteen years old, Morgan began his military career as a +teamster in Braddock's army, and at the time of Braddock's defeat he did +good service by bringing wounded men off the battle-field. It was about +this time that he became known to Washington, who liked and trusted him. +The young man was so dependable and brave that he was steadily promoted. + +When he was twenty-three, he had an exciting adventure which brought him +the only wound he ever received. It was during the Last French War. With +two other men, he was sent to carry a message to the commanding officer at +Winchester. They had still about a mile to ride when a party of French and +Indians who were hiding in the woods near the roadside fired upon them. +Morgan's comrade fell dead instantly. He himself was so severely wounded +in the neck by a musket-ball that he came near fainting and believed he +was going to die. But he managed to cling to his horse's neck and spurred +him along the forest trail. + +One Indian, hoping to get Morgan's scalp, ran for a time beside the horse. +But when he saw that the animal was outstripping him, he gave up the +chase, hurling his tomahawk with an angry yell at the fleeing man. Morgan +was soon safe in the hands of friends. + +[Illustration: Daniel Morgan.] + +During the Revolution his services were, in more than one critical +situation, of great value to the American cause. In the campaign which +ended with Burgoyne's defeat, for instance, his riflemen fought like +heroes. General Burgoyne, after his surrender, exclaimed to Morgan: "Sir, +you command the finest regiment in the world." + +Indeed, it was regarded at that time as the best regiment in the American +army, and this was largely due to Morgan's skill in handling his men. He +made them feel as if they were one family. He was always thoughtful for +their health and comfort, and he appealed to their pride but never to +their fear. + +He was a very tall and strong man, with handsome features and a remarkable +power to endure. His manner was quiet and refined, and his noble bearing +indicated a high sense of honor. He was liked by his companions because he +was always good-natured and ready for the most daring adventure. + +General Greene made good use of this true patriot, and not long after +taking command of the army he sent Morgan with nine hundred picked men to +the westward to threaten the British outposts. General Cornwallis, in +command of the British army in the south, ordered Colonel Tarleton to lead +a body of soldiers against Morgan. + +Early in the morning of January 17, 1781, after a hard night march, +Tarleton, overconfident of success, attacked Morgan at Cowpens, in the +northern part of South Carolina. The Americans stood up bravely against +the attack and won a brilliant victory. The British lost almost their +entire force, including six hundred prisoners. + +Cornwallis was bitterly disappointed, for his plan, undertaken in such +confidence, had ended in a crushing defeat. However, gathering his forces +together, he set out to march rapidly across country in pursuit of Morgan, +hoping to overwhelm him and recapture the six hundred British prisoners +before he could join Greene's army. + +But Morgan was too wary to be caught napping, and, suspecting that this +would be Cornwallis's game, he retreated rapidly in a northeasterly +direction toward that part of the army under Greene. + +Meantime Greene had heard the glorious news of the American victory at +Cowpens, and he too realized that there was great danger of Morgan's +falling into the hands of Cornwallis. To prevent this, and at the same +time draw Cornwallis far away from his supplies at Wilmington, he decided +to go to Morgan's relief. + +Sending his army by an easier, roundabout route, he himself with a small +guard rode swiftly a distance of one hundred and fifty miles across the +rough country and joined Morgan on the last day of January. + +Morgan was cleverly retreating with Cornwallis in hot pursuit. For ten +days the race for life continued, with the chances in favor of Cornwallis, +for his army was larger, besides being trained and disciplined. + +This was a famous retreat. It covered a distance of two hundred miles +through the Carolinas, across three rivers whose waters, swollen by recent +rains, rose rapidly after the Americans had crossed, and checked the +British in their pursuit. When the last river, the Dan, was forded, the +chase was so close that the rear of the retreating army had a skirmish +with the van of the pursuers. Yet Greene was so alert and skilful that he +escaped every danger and saved his army. + +In this trying campaign valuable aid was given by "partisans" in the +south. These were private companies, not part of the regular army. Such +companies had been formed in the south by both sides, and that is why they +were called "partisans." + + +MARION, THE "SWAMP FOX" + +Perhaps the most noted partisan leader was Francis Marion, of South +Carolina. He was born in Georgetown, South Carolina, in 1732, and was +therefore the same age as Washington. Although as a child he was very +frail, he became strong as he grew older. As a man he was short and slight +of frame, but strong and hardy in constitution. + +[Illustration: Francis Marion.] + +When the British began to swarm into South Carolina, Marion raised and +drilled a company of neighbors and friends, known as "Marion's Brigade." +These men were without uniforms or tents, and they served without pay. +They did not look much like soldiers on parade, but were among the bravest +and best fighters of the Revolution. Their swords were beaten out of old +mill-saws at the country forge, and their bullets were made largely from +pewter mugs and other pewter utensils. Their rations were very scant and +simple. Marion, their leader, as a rule, ate hominy and potatoes and drank +water flavored with a little vinegar. + +The story is told that one day a British officer came to the camp with a +flag of truce. After the officers had talked, Marion, with his usual +delicate courtesy, invited the visitor to dinner. We can imagine the +Englishman's surprise when, on a log which made the camp table, there was +served a dinner consisting only of roasted sweet potatoes passed on pieces +of bark! The officer was still more amazed to learn that even potatoes +were something of a luxury. + +Marion's brigade of farmers and hunters seldom numbered more than seventy, +and often less than twenty. But with this very small force he annoyed the +British beyond measure by rescuing prisoners, and by capturing +supply-trains and outposts. + +[Illustration: Marion Surprising a British Wagon-Train.] + +One day a scout brought in the report that a party of ninety British with +two hundred prisoners were on the march for Charleston. Waiting for the +darkness to conceal his movements, Marion with thirty men sallied out, +swooped down upon the British camp, capturing the entire force and +rescuing all the American prisoners. + +It was the custom of Marion's men, when hard pressed by a superior force, +to scatter, each man looking out for himself. Often they would dash +headlong into a dense, dark swamp, to meet again at some place agreed +upon. Even while they were still in hiding, they would sometimes dart out +just as suddenly as they had vanished, and surprise another squad of +British which might be near at hand. "Swamp Fox" was the name the British +gave to Marion. + +With the aid of such partisan bands, and with skilful handling of his +army, Greene was more than a match for Cornwallis. He was not strong +enough just yet for a pitched battle, but he kept Cornwallis chasing +without losing his own army. That was about all he could hope to do for a +while. + +But when he received recruits from Virginia, he thought it wise to strike +a blow, even though he could not win a victory. Turning, therefore, upon +his enemy, he fought a battle at Guilford Court House, North Carolina +(March, 1781). + +He was defeated, but came off as well as he expected, and so crippled the +British army that Cornwallis had to retreat. He went to the coast to get +supplies for his half-starved men. Like the battle of Bunker Hill, it was +a dearly bought victory for the British. + +Cornwallis now saw clearly that he could not hope longer for success in +the south, and having taken on fresh supplies, he marched northward to try +his luck at Yorktown, Virginia. + +Washington, with an army of French and American troops, was at the time in +camp on the Hudson River, waiting for the coming of the French fleet to +New York. That city was still in the hands of the British. As soon as this +fleet should arrive, Washington expected to attack the British army in New +York by land, while the fleet attacked it by sea. + +But the French fleet was well on its way to the Chesapeake instead of to +New York as expected. When this information came to Washington, he worked +out a bold and brilliant scheme. It was to march his army as quickly and +as secretly as possible to Yorktown, a distance of four hundred miles, +there join the American army under Lafayette, and, combining with the +French fleet on its arrival, capture the British under Cornwallis. + +This daring scheme succeeded so well that Cornwallis surrendered his +entire army of eight thousand men on October 19, 1781. This important +event, which practically ended the war, we shall speak of again. + +The surrender at Yorktown ended the fighting, although the treaty of peace +was not signed until 1783. By that treaty the Americans won their +independence from England. The country which they could now call their own +extended from Canada to Florida, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the +Mississippi River. + +After the treaty of peace was signed, and the army disbanded, General +Greene went home. In 1785 he moved with his family to a plantation which +the State of Georgia had given him. Here he lived in quiet and happiness, +but only a short time, for he died of sunstroke at the age of forty-four. +His comrade Anthony Wayne, voiced the feeling of his countrymen when he +said: "I have seen a great and good man die." + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. Tell what you can about General Greene's early life. + +2. What was the condition of his army when he took command in the South? +How did he prove his strength at that time? + +3. What kind of man was Daniel Morgan, and what do you think of him? + +4. Tell all you can about Marion, the "Swamp Fox," and his ways of making +trouble for the British. + +5. When did the Revolution begin? When did it end? What did the Americans +win by the treaty? What was the extent of our country at that time? + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +JOHN PAUL JONES + + +While the Revolution was being fought out on the land, important battles +were taking place also at sea. Until this war began, the Americans had had +no need of a navy because the mother country had protected them. But when +unfriendly feeling arose, Congress ordered war vessels to be built. These +were very useful in capturing British vessels, many of which were loaded +with arms and ammunition intended for British soldiers. Powder, as you +will remember, was sorely needed by Washington's army. + +[Illustration: John Paul Jones.] + +Among the men who commanded the American war vessels were some noted +sea-captains, the most famous of whom was John Paul Jones. + +He was of Scottish birth. His father, John Paul, was a gardener, who lived +on the southwestern coast of Scotland. The cottage in which our hero spent +his early boyhood days stood near the beautiful bay called Solway Firth, +which made a safe harbor for ships in time of storm. + +Here little John Paul heard many sailors tell thrilling stories of +adventure at sea and in far-away lands. Here, also, to the inlets along +the shore, the active lad and his playmates took their tiny boats and made +believe they were sailors, John Paul always acting as captain. Sometimes +when he was tired and all alone, he would sit by the hour watching the big +waves rolling in, and dreaming perhaps of the day when he would become a +great sea-captain. + +When he was only twelve, he wished to begin his life as a real sailor. So +his father apprenticed him to a merchant at Whitehaven who owned a vessel +and traded in goods brought from other lands. Soon afterward John Paul +went on a voyage to Virginia, where the vessel was to be loaded with +tobacco. While there he visited an older brother, who owned a plantation +at Fredericksburg. + +For six years John Paul remained with the Whitehaven merchant, and during +this time he learned much about good seamanship. After the merchant failed +in business, John Paul still continued to follow a seafaring life, and in +a short time became a captain. But when his brother in Virginia died, John +Paul went to Fredericksburg to manage the plantation his brother had left. + +It was now his intention to spend the rest of his life here, but, like +Patrick Henry, he failed as a farmer. In fact, it would seem that he was +born to be a sailor. + +In the meantime he had come to be a loyal American, and when the +Revolution broke out he determined to offer his services to Congress. When +he did so, he changed his name to John Paul Jones. Just why, we do not +know. + +[Illustration: Battle Between the Ranger and the Drake.] + +Congress accepted his services by appointing him first lieutenant. He +proved himself so able that in the second year of the war he was put in +command of two vessels, with which he captured sixteen prizes in six +weeks. + +In the following year he was appointed captain of the Ranger and sent to +France with letters to Benjamin Franklin, who was then American +commissioner at the French court, trying to secure aid for the American +cause. + +At that time English vessels were annoying American coasts by burning and +destroying property. Jones got permission from Franklin to attack British +coasts in the same way, and he was allowed to sail from France in his +vessel with that purpose in view. + +His plan was to sail along the western coast of England and set fire to +the large shipping-yards at Whitehaven, with which harbor, you remember, +he had become familiar in boyhood. He meant to burn all the three hundred +vessels lying at anchor there. Although he succeeded in setting fire to +only one large ship, he alarmed the people all along the coast. The +warning was carried from town to town: "Beware of Paul Jones, the pirate!" + +An English war vessel, the Drake, was sent out to capture the Ranger. As +the Drake carried two more guns and a crew better drilled for fighting, it +was thought she would make short work of the American ship in a fight. But +it was just the other way, for after a battle of a single hour the English +vessel surrendered, having lost many men. The American loss was only two +men killed and six wounded. + +After this brilliant victory the young captain put back to France. There +he found great rejoicing among the people, whose good-will was more with +America than with England. And as war had already broken out between +France and England, the French King was quite willing to furnish Jones +with a considerable naval force. + + +A DESPERATE SEA DUEL + +Accordingly, in August, 1779, Captain Jones put to sea once more, this +time with a fleet of four vessels. He named his flag-ship Bon Homme +Richard (bo-nom'-r[=e]-shaer'), after the Richard of _Poor Richard's +Almanac_, which you will remember Benjamin Franklin had written. + +In this ship, which was old, he set out to cruise along the western coast +of Ireland, in order to capture English merchant vessels. After reaching +the southern point of Ireland, he cruised northward around Scotland and +down its eastern coast. Then he sailed up and down the eastern coast of +England, looking for merchant vessels. + +At noon on the 23d of September Jones sighted a fleet of forty-two +merchantmen, guarded by two English ships of war, all sailing from the +north. He at once decided to make an attack. This took place early in the +evening, the action being mainly between the Richard and the English +man-of-war Serapis, which was a large ship, new and swift, and very much +better than the Richard. + +During the first hour the American vessel got the worst of the fight and +"was leaking like a basket." The English captain, feeling sure of victory, +called out: "Has your ship struck?" Our hero, Paul Jones, shouted back: "I +have not yet begun to fight!" + +As the British vessel came alongside his own for a more deadly struggle, +Jones with his own hands lashed the two together. Soon both were badly +leaking, but the fighting went on as fiercely as ever. Presently both +caught fire. + +[Illustration: The Fight Between the Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis.] + +Then Jones turned his cannon upon the mainmast of the Serapis, and when it +threatened to fall the English captain surrendered. So after all it was +the English ship and not the American that "struck" the flag. But the +Richard could not have held out much longer, for even before the surrender +she had begun to sink. + +When the English captain gave up his sword to John Paul Jones, he said: +"It is very hard to surrender to a man who has fought with a halter around +his neck." You see, Captain Jones would have been hanged as a pirate, if +taken. Jones replied: "Sir, you have fought like a hero. I hope your King +will reward you." + +This was a desperate sea duel, and it lasted from half past seven in the +evening until ten o'clock. It was important also in its results, for it +won much needed respect for our flag and gave a wonderful uplift to the +American cause. The victor, John Paul Jones, who was loaded with honors, +from that day took rank with the great sea-captains of the world. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. Tell all you can about the early life of John Paul Jones. + +2. Why did the English call him a pirate when he was sailing along the +British coasts in order to destroy property? + +3. What was the outcome of the desperate sea duel between the Bon Homme +Richard and the Serapis? + +4. What do you admire about John Paul Jones? + +5. Do not fail to locate every event upon the map. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +DANIEL BOONE + + +You remember that when the Last French War began, in 1756, the English +colonists lived almost entirely east of the Alleghany Mountains. If you +will look at your map, you will see how small a part of our present great +country they occupied. + +Even up to the beginning of the Revolution the Americans had few settlers +west of the Alleghanies, and had done very little there to make good their +claims to land. + +Yet at the close of the war we find that their western boundary-line had +been pushed back as far as the Mississippi River. How this was done we +shall see if we turn our attention to those early hunters and backwoodsmen +who did great service to our country as pioneers in opening up new lands. + +One of the most famous of these was Daniel Boone. He was born in +Pennsylvania, and, like many of the heroes of the Revolution, he was born +in the "thirties" (1735). + +As a boy, Daniel liked to wander in the woods with musket and fishing-rod, +and was never so happy as when alone in the wild forest. The story is told +that while a mere lad he wandered one day into the woods some distance +from home and built himself a rough shelter of logs, where he would spend +days at a time, with only his rifle for company. + +[Illustration: Daniel Boone.] + +As he was a "good shot," we may be sure he never went hungry for lack of +food. The game which his rifle brought down he would cook over a pile of +burning sticks. If you have done outdoor camp cooking, you can almost +taste its woodland flavor. Then at night as he lay under the star-lit sky +on a bed of leaves, with the skin of a wild animal for covering, a prince +might have envied his dreamless slumber. + +This free, wild life made him thoroughly at home in the forests, and +trained him for the work he was to do later as a fearless hunter and +woodsman. + +When Daniel was about thirteen years old his father removed to North +Carolina and settled on the Yadkin River. There the boy grew to manhood. +After his marriage, at twenty, he built himself a hut far out in the +lonely forest, beyond the homes of the other settlers. + +But he was a restless man and looked with longing toward the rugged +mountains on the west. Along the foothills other pioneer settlers and +hunters had taken up their abode. And young Boone's imagination leaped to +the country beyond the mountains, where the forest stretched for miles +upon miles, no one knew how far, to the Mississippi River. It was an +immense wilderness teeming with game, and he wanted to hunt and explore in +it. + +He was twenty-five when he made the first "long hunt" we know about. At +this time he went as far as what is now Boone's Creek, in eastern +Tennessee. + +Other trips doubtless he made which increased his love for wandering; and +in 1769, nine years after his first trip, having heard from a stray Indian +of a wonderful hunting-ground far to the west, he started out with this +Indian and four other men to wander through the wilderness of Kentucky. + +For five weeks these bold hunters threaded their way through lonely and +pathless mountain forests, facing many dangers from wild beasts and +Indians. + + +BOONE GOES TO KENTUCKY + +But when, in June, they reached the blue-grass region of Kentucky, a +beautiful land of stretching prairies, lofty forests, and running streams, +they felt well repaid for all the hardships of their long journey. It was +indeed as the Indian had said, alive with game. Buffaloes, wolves, bears, +elk, deer, and wild beasts of many kinds abounded, making truly a hunter's +paradise. + +They at once put up a log shelter, and for six months they hunted to their +hearts' content. Then one day two of the party, Boone himself and a man +named Stewart, while off on a hunting expedition, were captured by an +Indian band. For several days the dusky warriors carefully guarded the two +white captives. But on the seventh night, having eaten greedily of game +they had killed during the day, they fell into a sound sleep. + +[Illustration: Boone's Escape from the Indians.] + +Then Boone, who had been watching for this chance, arose quietly from his +place among the sleeping Indians and gently wakened Stewart. The two crept +stealthily away until out of hearing of the Indians, when, rising to their +feet, they bounded off like deer through the dark woods to their own camp. +But they found no one there, for the rest of the party had fled back home. + +However, Boone and Stewart stayed on, and some weeks later they were +pleasantly surprised when Daniel's brother, Squire Boone, also a woodsman, +unexpectedly arrived with another man and joined the camp. The four were +quite contented, living and hunting together, until one day Stewart was +shot by an Indian and killed. His death so frightened the man who had come +over the mountains with Squire Boone, that the woods lost their charm for +the poor fellow and he went back home. + +So only the two brothers were left. They remained together three months +longer in a little cabin in the forest. Then, as their powder and lead +were getting low, Squire Boone returned to North Carolina for a fresh +supply, leaving his brother to hold the hunting-ground. + +Now Boone was left all alone. His life was continually in danger from the +Indians. For fear of being surprised, he dared not sleep in camp, but hid +himself at night in the cane-brake or thick underbrush, not even kindling +a fire lest he should attract the Indians. + +During these weeks of waiting for his brother, he led a very lonely life. +In all that time he did not speak to a single human being, nor had he even +a dog, cat, or horse for company. Without salt, sugar, or flour, his sole +food was the game he shot or caught in traps. + +How gladly he must have welcomed his brother, who returned at the end of +two months, bringing the needed supplies! Other hunters also came from +time to time, and Boone joined one party of them for a while. + +After two years of his life in the woods he returned to his home on the +Yadkin to bring out his wife and children. + +By September, 1773, he had sold his farm and was ready with his family to +go and settle in Kentucky. He had praised the new land so much that many +others wished to go with him. So when he started there were, besides his +wife and children, five families and forty men driving their horses and +cattle before them. This group was the first to attempt settlement far out +in the wilderness, away from the other settlers. + +But while still on its way, the little company was set upon by a band of +Indians near a narrow and difficult pass in the mountains. Six men were +killed, among them Boone's eldest son, and the cattle were scattered. This +misfortune brought such gloom upon the party that all turned back for a +time to a settlement on the Clinch River. + +But Daniel Boone was one of those who would not give up. He said of +himself that he was "ordained of God to settle the wilderness," and in the +end he carried out his unflinching purpose to make his home in the +beautiful Kentucky region. + +This region had already become well known by report east of the mountains. +The Indians called it "a dark and bloody ground," for, as an old chief +told Boone, many tribes hunted and fought there, and the Indians had +roamed over it for hundreds of years. + +But none of the tribes really owned the land. So it was not possible to +buy any part of it outright. Yet, to avoid strife, a friend of Boone's, +Richard Henderson, and a few others made treaties with the most powerful +tribe, the Cherokees, who said that they might settle there. + +As soon as it became certain that the Indians would not make trouble, +Henderson sent Boone, in charge of thirty men, to open a pathway from the +Holston River through Cumberland Gap to the Kentucky River. + +With their axes the men chopped out a path through the dense undergrowth +and cane-brakes broad enough for a pack-horse. You will be interested to +know that this bridle-path was the beginning of the famous "Wilderness +Road," as it is still called. Later the narrow trail was widened into a +highway for wagons, and it was along this way, rightly called a +"wilderness road," that in later years so many thousand settlers led their +pack-trains over the mountains into Kentucky and Tennessee. + +But that is taking a long look ahead! Just now we are thinking about the +very first of these settlers, Daniel Boone and his company. + + +THE KENTUCKY SETTLERS AT BOONESBOROUGH + +When they reached the Kentucky River, Boone and his followers built a fort +on the left bank of the stream and called it Boonesborough. Its four walls +consisted in part of the outer sides of log cabins, and in part of a +stockade, some twelve feet high, made by setting deep into the ground +stout posts with pointed tops. In all the cabins there were loopholes +through which to shoot, and at each corner of the fort stood a loophole +blockhouse. There were also two strong wooden gates on opposite sides of +the fort. + +[Illustration: Boonesborough.] + +After the fort was built, Boone went back to the Clinch River and brought +on his wife and children. When they settled, it was springtime, and +Kentucky was at its best. Trees were in leaf, the beautiful dogwood was in +flower, and the woods were fragrant with the blossoms of May. Do you +wonder that they loved their new home? + +At first the cattle and horses were always driven into the fort at night. +Later, however, every settler had a cabin in his own clearing, where he +lived with his family and took care of his own stock. But even then in +time of great danger all went to the fort, driving their animals inside +its walls. This fort, with the outlying cabins, made the first permanent +settlement in Kentucky. + +Boone was a man you would have liked to know. Even the Indians admired +him. He was tall and slender, with muscles of iron, and so healthy and +strong that he could endure great hardship. Though quiet and serious, his +courage never shrank in the face of danger, and men believed in him +because he believed in himself, while at the same time his kind heart and +tender sympathy won him lasting friendships. These vigorous and sterling +qualities commanded respect everywhere. + +As a rule he wore the Indian garb of fur cap, fringed hunting-shirt, +moccasins and leggings, all made from the skins of wild animals he had +taken. This dress best suited the wilderness life. + +Of course, this life in a new country would not be without its exciting +adventures. One day, some months after Boone's family had come to +Boonesborough, Boone's daughter, with two girl friends, was on the river +floating in a boat near the bank. Suddenly five Indians darted out of the +woods, seized the three girls, and hurried away with them. In their flight +the Indians observed the eldest of the girls breaking twigs and dropping +them in their trail. They threatened to tomahawk her unless she stopped +it. But, watching her chance, from time to time she tore off strips of her +dress and dropped them as a clew for those she knew would come to rescue +them. + +When the capture became known, Boone, accompanied by the three lovers of +the captured maidens and four other men from the fort, started upon the +trail and kept up the pursuit until, early on the second morning, they +discovered the Indians sitting around a fire cooking breakfast. Suddenly +the white men fired a volley, killing two of the Indians and frightening +the others so badly that they beat a hasty retreat without harming the +girls. + +Another exciting experience, which nearly caused the settlement to lose +its leader, came about through the settlers' need of salt. We can get salt +so easily that it is hard to imagine the difficulty which those settlers, +living far back from the ocean, had in obtaining this necessary part of +their food. They had to go to "salt-licks," as they called the grounds +about the salt-water springs. The men would get the salt water from the +springs and boil it until all the water evaporated and left the salt +behind. + +Boone with twenty-nine other men had gone, early in 1778, to the Blue +Licks to make salt for the settlement. They were so successful that in a +few weeks they were able to send back a load so large that it took three +men to carry it. Hardly had they started, however, when the men remaining, +including Boone, were surprised by eighty or ninety Indians, captured, and +carried off to the English at Detroit. + +For we must not forget that all this time, while we have been following +Boone's fortunes west of the Alleghanies, on the east side of those +mountains the Revolution was being fought, and the Indians west of the +Alleghanies were fighting on the English side. They received a sum of +money for handing over to the English at Detroit any Americans they might +capture, and that is why the Indians took Boone and his companions to that +place. + +But, strangely enough, the Indians decided not to give Boone up, although +the English, realizing that he was a prize, offered five hundred dollars +for him. The Indians admired him because he was a mighty hunter, and they +liked him because he was cheerful. So they adopted him into the tribe and +took him to their home. + +Boone remained with them two months, making the best of the life he had to +lead. But when he overheard the Indians planning to make an attack upon +Boonesborough, he made up his mind to escape if possible and give his +friends warning. + +His own words tell the brave story in a simple way: "On the 16th of June, +before sunrise, I departed in the most secret manner, and arrived in +Boonesborough on the 20th, after a journey of one hundred and sixty miles, +during which I had but one meal." He could not get any food, for he dared +not use his gun nor build a fire for fear his foes might find out where he +was. He reached the fort in safety, and was of great service in beating +off the attacking party. This is only one of the many narrow escapes of +this fearless backwoodsman. + +Another incident illustrates his quick wit. One day, while he was in a +shed looking after some tobacco, four Indians with loaded guns appeared at +the door. They said: "Now, Boone, we got you. You no get away any more. +You no cheat us any more." While they were speaking Boone had gathered up +in his arms a number of dry tobacco leaves. Rubbing them to dust, he +suddenly flung it into the faces of the Indians, filling their eyes and +nostrils. Then, while they were coughing, sneezing, and rubbing their +eyes, he escaped. + +[Illustration: Boone Throwing Tobacco into the Eyes of the Indians Who Had +Come to Capture Him.] + +These are but a few of Boone's dangerous adventures. From them all he came +out safe and for years continued to be the able leader of the settlers at +Boonesborough. + +There he remained until after Kentucky was admitted as a State into the +Union (1791). Four years later he moved still farther west, led on by love +for the wild, lonely life of the forest, a life which never lost its charm +for him, even down to his last days. + +He died in 1820, eighty-five years old, his long life covering a period of +very great change in the growth of our country. By that time we had become +a nation with broadly expanded boundaries. + +It has been said that but for Daniel Boone the settlement of Kentucky +could not have been made for several years. However this may be, we know +that he was one of those fearless and daring men whose courage helped to +establish that part of our country long known as "the West." + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What kind of boyhood had Daniel Boone? + +2. Imagine yourself to have been in his place during the weeks when he was +alone in the Kentucky forests; give an account of what happened. + +3. Tell about his second capture by the Indians and his escape. Why did +they admire him? + +4. What did he do for Kentucky? What kind of man was he? + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +JAMES ROBERTSON + + +Another pioneer who lived in Boone's day was James Robertson. Like Boone, +he came from North Carolina, and he led the way for the settling of +Tennessee very much as Boone did for Kentucky. The story of those days +shows that he was one of the most forceful and successful of the early +English pioneers who led out settlements west of the Alleghanies. + +[Illustration: James Robertson.] + +Born in 1742, Robertson was ten years younger than Washington. But this +boy's early life was very different from young George Washington's, for +little James was born in a backwoods cabin, and his father and mother were +too poor to send him to school. So he grew up to manhood without being +able to read and write. + +But he wanted to study, and was persevering and brave enough to learn the +letters of the alphabet and how to spell and to write after he had grown +to manhood. We can be sure, therefore, that James was the right sort of +boy, and that he would have mastered books if he had been given the +chance, just as he mastered the wilderness in later life. But it is as a +backwoodsman that we first come to know Robertson and learn why he was +trusted and followed so willingly. + +Although not tall, he was vigorous and robust, having fair complexion, +dark hair, and honest blue eyes that met one's glance squarely. His frank, +serious face, his quiet manner, and his coolness and daring in the midst +of danger gave him a mastery over others such as it is given but few men +to have. + +Like Boone, he was noted as a successful hunter; but hunting and exploring +were not with him the chief motives for going into the wilderness. He was +first of all a pioneer settler who was seeking rich farming lands with +near-by springs, where he could make a good home for his family and give +his children advantages which he himself had never enjoyed. + +Led by this motive, he left his home in North Carolina to seek his fortune +among the forest-clad mountains, whose summits he could see far-away to +the west. With no companion but his horse and no protection but his rifle, +he slowly and patiently made his way through the trackless woods, crossing +mountain range after mountain range, until he came to the region where the +rivers flowing westward had their beginning. + +Much to his surprise, he found here on the Watauga River some settlers +from Virginia, who gave him a kindly welcome. He stayed long enough to +plant a crop of corn and see it grow up and ripen. + +Then, late in the autumn, having decided that this was a good place for +his family, he started back home. His faithful horse was his only +companion. Some corn in his leather wallet was all the food he carried. He +trusted his rifle for the rest. + +[Illustration: Early Settlements in Kentucky and Tennessee.] + +All went well for a time, but in the depth of the pathless forest he +missed his way, and the mountains became so steep and rough that his horse +could not get across. Imagine his sorrow when, to save his own life, he +had to part from his dumb friend and start on alone. + +Other misfortunes befell him. The little store of corn that he had brought +with him gave out, and his powder became so wet that it was useless for +shooting game. So almost his only food for fourteen days was such nuts and +berries as he could gather in his desperate search. + +He was near death by starvation when he chanced to meet two hunters. They +gave him food and asked him to join them. Then, allowing him to take turns +in riding their horses, they helped him to reach home in safety. + +You might think that this bitter experience would have made Robertson +unwilling to risk another journey back through the wilderness. But, as we +have said, he was not easily thwarted, and the thought of what lay beyond +the mountains made him hold the cost light. + +He gave such glowing accounts of the wonderful country he had seen that by +spring sixteen families were ready to go with him to make their home +there. + + +HOW THE BACKWOODSMEN LIVED + +Let us in imagination join this group of travellers as it starts out to +cross the mountains. Each family has its pack-horse--perhaps a few +families have two--carrying household goods. These are not so bulky as +ours to-day, for pioneer life is simple, and the people have at most only +what they need. There are, of course, some rolls of bedding and clothing, +a few cooking utensils, a few packages of salt and seed corn, and a flask +or two of medicine. The pack-horse carries also the mother and perhaps a +very small child or two. The boys who are old enough to shoulder rifles +march in front with their father, ready to shoot game for food or to stand +guard against Indians. Some of the older children drive the cows which the +settlers are taking along with them. + +After reaching the place selected for their settlement, the younger +children are set to clearing away the brush and piling it up in heaps +ready for burning. The father and the elder sons, who are big enough to +wield an axe, lose no time in cutting down trees and making a clearing for +the log cabin. All work with a will, and soon the cabin is ready. + +[Illustration: Living-Room of the Early Settler.] + +The furniture, like the cabin itself, is rude and simple. A bedstead is +set up in a corner, a washstand is placed near by, and a few three-legged +stools are put here and there; and of course there is a table to eat at. +Places are quickly found for the water bucket, used to bring water from +the stream, the gourd dipper with which to fill it, and other small +utensils; while pegs driven into the wall in convenient places hold +clothes, rifles, skins, and the like. + +[Illustration: Grinding Indian Corn.] + +If our pioneers are well-to-do, there may be tucked away in some pack a +wool blanket, but usually the chief covering on the bed is the dried skin +of some animal: deer, bear, or perhaps buffalo. + +There is plenty of food, though of course it is plain and simple, +consisting mostly of game. Instead of the pork and beef which are largely +eaten in the east, we shall find these settlers making their meal of +bear's meat or venison. + +For flour corn-meal is used. Each family has a mill for grinding the +kernels into meal, while for beating it into hominy they use a crude +mortar, made perhaps by burning a hole in the top of a block of wood. + +Bread-making is a simpler matter with them than with us, for a dough of +corn-meal is mixed on a wooden trencher and then either baked in the ashes +and called ash-cake or before the fire on a board and called johnny-cake. +Corn-meal is also made into mush, or hasty pudding; and when the settler +has cows, mush-and-milk is a common dish, especially for supper. + +For butter the settlers use the fat of bear's meat or the gravy of the +goose. Instead of coffee, they make a drink of parched rye and beans, and +for tea they boil sassafras root. + +Every backwoodsman must be able to use the rifle to good effect, for he +has to provide his own meat and protect himself and his family from +attack. He must be skilful also in hiding, in moving noiselessly through +the forests, and in imitating the notes and calls of different beasts and +birds. Sharp eyes and ears must tell him where to look for his game, and +his aim must be swift and sure. + +But most important of all, he must be able to endure hardship and +exposure. Sometimes he lives for months in the woods with no food but meat +and no shelter but a lean-to of brush or even the trunk of a hollow tree +into which he may crawl. + +Deer and bear are the most plentiful game; but now and then there is an +exciting combat with wolves, panthers, or cougars, while prowling Indians +keep him ever on his guard. The pioneer must be strong, alert, and brave. + +Each family depends upon itself for most of the necessaries of life. Each +member has his own work. The father is the protector and provider; the +mother is the housekeeper, the cook, the weaver, and the tailor. Father +and sons work out-of-doors with axe, hoe, and sickle; while indoors the +hum of the spinning-wheel or the clatter of the loom shows that mother and +daughters are busily doing their part. + +There are some articles, however, like salt and iron, which the settlers +cannot always get in the backwoods. These they must obtain by barter. So +each family collects all the furs it can, and once a year, after the +harvest is gathered, loads them on pack-horses, which are driven across +the mountains to some large trading town on the seacoast. There the skins +are traded for the needed iron or salt. + +Often many neighbors plan to go together on such a journey. Sometimes they +drive before them their steers and hogs to find a market in the east. + +A bushel of salt costs in these early days a good cow and calf. Now, that +is a great deal to pay; and furthermore, as each small and poorly fed +pack-animal can carry but two bushels, salt is a highly prized article. +Since it is so expensive and hard to get, it has to be used sparingly by +the mountaineers. Therefore the housewife, instead of salting or pickling +her meat, preserves or "jerks" it by drying it in the sun or smoking it +over the fire. + +The Tennessee settler, like Boone's followers in Kentucky, dresses very +much like the Indians, for that is the easiest and most fitting way in +which to clothe himself for the forest life he leads. And very fine do +many stalwart figures appear in the fur cap and moccasins, the loose +trousers, or simply leggings of buckskin, and the fringed hunting-shirt +reaching nearly to the knees. It is held in by a broad belt having a +tomahawk in one side and a knife in the other. + +[Illustration: A Kentucky Pioneer's Cabin.] + +While this free outdoor life develops strong and vigorous bodies, there is +not much schooling in these backwoods settlements. Most boys and girls +learn very little except reading and writing and very simple ciphering, or +arithmetic. If there are any schoolhouses at all, they are log huts, dimly +lighted and furnished very scantily and rudely. + +The schoolmaster, as a rule, does not know much of books, and is quite +untrained as a teacher. His discipline, though severe, is very poor. And +he is paid in a way that may seem strange to you. He receives very little +in cash, and for the rest of his wages he "boards around" with the +families of the children he teaches, making his stay longer or shorter +according to the number of children in school. + +In many ways, as you see, the life of the pioneer child, while it was +active and full of interest, was very different from yours. He learned, +like his elders, to imitate bird calls, to set traps, to shoot a rifle, +and at twelve the little lad became a foot soldier. He knew from just +which loophole he was to shoot if the Indians attacked the fort, and he +took pride in becoming a good marksman. He was carefully trained, too, to +follow an Indian trail and to conceal his own when on the war-path--for +such knowledge would be very useful to him as a hunter and fighter in the +forests. + + +ROBERTSON A BRAVE LEADER + +Such was the life of these early woodsmen and their families, and to this +life Robertson and those who went out with him soon became accustomed. On +their arrival at the Watauga River the newcomers mingled readily with the +Virginians already on the ground. + +Robertson soon became one of the leading men. His cabin of logs stood on +an island in the river, and is said to have been the largest in the +settlement. It had a log veranda in front, several rooms, a loft, and best +of all, a huge fireplace made of sticks and stones laid in clay, in which +a pile of blazing logs roared on cold days, making it a centre of good +cheer as well as of heat. To us it would have been a most inviting spot +for a summer holiday. + +Robertson was very prosperous and successful at Watauga; but in 1799, +after ten years of leadership at this settlement, a restless craving for +change and adventure stole over him, and he went forth once more into the +wilderness to seek a new home still deeper in the forest. + +The place he chose was the beautiful country lying along the great bend of +the Cumberland River, where Nashville now stands. Many bold settlers were +ready and even eager to join Robertson in the new venture, for he was a +born leader. + +A small party went ahead early in the spring to plant corn, so that the +settlers might have food when they arrived in the autumn. Robertson and +eight other men, who made up the party, left the Watauga by the Wilderness +Road through Cumberland Gap, crossing the Cumberland River. Then, +following the trail of wild animals in a southwesterly direction, they +came to a suitable place. + +Here they put up cabins and planted corn, and then, leaving three men to +keep the buffaloes from eating the corn when it came up, the other six +returned to Watauga. + +In the autumn two parties started out for the new settlement. One of +these, made up mostly of women and children, went by water in flatboats, +dugouts, and canoes, a route supposed to be easier though much the longer +of the two. Whether it was easier, we shall see. The other party, +including Robertson himself, went by land, hoping thus to reach the place +of settlement in time to make ready for those coming by water. + +Robertson and his men arrived about Christmas. Then began a tedious four +months of waiting for the others. It was springtime again, April 24, when +they at last arrived. Their roundabout route had taken them down the +Tennessee River, then up the Ohio, and lastly up the Cumberland. The +Indians in ambush on the river banks had attacked them many times during +their long and toilsome journey, and the boats were so slow and clumsy +that it was impossible for them to escape the flights of arrows. + +But when they arrived, past troubles were soon forgotten, and with good +heart, now that all were together, the settlers took up the work of making +homes. + +However, difficulties with the Indians were not over. The first company of +settlers that arrived had been left quite unmolested. But now, as spring +opened, bands of Indian hunters and warriors began to make life wretched +for them all. There is no doubt that the red men did not like to have the +settlers kill the game, or scare it off by clearing up the land; but the +principal motive for the attacks was the desire for scalps and plunder, +just as it was in assailing other Indian tribes. + +The Indians became a constant terror. They killed the settlers while +working in the clearings, hunting game, or getting salt at the licks. They +loved to lure on the unwary by imitating the gobbling of a turkey or the +call of some wild beast, and then pounce upon their human prey. + +As the corn crop, so carefully planned, had been destroyed by heavy +freshets in the autumn, the settlers had to scour the woods for food, +living on nuts and game. By the time winter had set in, they had used up +so much of their powder and bullets that Robertson resolved to go to +Kentucky for more. + + +ROBERTSON SAVES THE SETTLEMENT + +He went safely, though quite alone, and returned on the evening of January +15 (1780) with a good supply of ammunition. You may be sure he had a +hearty welcome in the fort, where all were gathered. There was much to +talk about, and they sat up till late into the night. All went to bed, +tired and sleepy, without any fear. For at that season of the year the red +men seldom molested them; and no sentinels were left on guard. + +Soon all were in deep slumber except Robertson, whose sense of lurking +danger would not let him sleep. He kept feeling that enemies might be +near. And he was right. For just outside the fort, prowling in the thick +underbrush and hidden by the great trees, there lay in ambush a band of +painted warriors, hungry for plunder, eager for scalps. + +They creep forward to their attack. They are very cautious, for a bright +moon lights up the blockhouses and the palisaded fort. + +Suddenly a moving shadow falls upon the moonlit clearing outside the fort. +An Indian is stealthily crossing from the dark woods to the wall. There he +crouches close, to be out of sight of the inmates of the fort. Another +crouching figure, and another. One by one every feathered warrior crosses +and keeps close to the palisade. + +The next move is to slide cautiously the strong bar and undo the chain +which fastens the gate. It is done skilfully enough, but the chain clanks +or the hinges creak. The wakeful Robertson springs quickly to his feet. +His keen eyes catch sight of the swift, dark figures, moving stealthily +into the fort. + +"Indians!" he shouts, and off goes his rifle. Instantly every settler has +snatched the gun lying at his side. In a second the shots ring out; and +the Indians flee through the gate to disappear into the leafy woods. But +they have lost one man, whom Robertson has shot, and have killed or +wounded three or four of the settlers. Robertson, by keen watchfulness, +has saved the fort from capture and his comrades from probable torture or +death. + +This was only one of many occasions in which Robertson's leadership saved +the day. After the Revolution ended (1783) the Indians were not so +unfriendly, for the English were no longer paying them for scalps. People, +therefore, became less timid about crossing the mountains, and a large +number migrated from Virginia and North Carolina to the Tennessee +settlement and made their homes at Nashville. As numbers grew larger, +dangers became less. + +By this time Robertson had become well known through the successful +planting of his two settlements, and for the wisdom and bravery with which +he managed them. As a reward for his valuable services, Washington later +on (1790) made him a general in the army. In 1814 he died. + +He is the kind of man we like to think of as a pioneer in the making of +our history. Sturdy and self-reliant, strong and fearless, he cheerfully +faced the unending struggle with the hard conditions of those early days. +Though his life was narrow, it cut deep in its loyalty to friends and +country. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What can you tell of Robertson's boyhood? + +2. Imagine yourself as one of a group of travellers on the way to Kentucky +or Tennessee, and tell all you can about the journey. + +3. Tell all you can about the food, clothing, shelter, and other +conditions of life in these backwoods settlements. + +4. What sort of training did the pioneer boy receive in school and at +home? + +5. Why did Robertson plant a settlement at the place where Nashville now +stands? + +6. How did he save this settlement from the Indians? What do you admire +about him? + +7. Are you making frequent use of the map? + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +JOHN SEVIER + + +Another daring leader who did much to build up the settlements in +Tennessee was John Sevier. + +[Illustration: John Sevier.] + +Born in 1745, Sevier was but three years younger than Robertson, and was +closely associated with him in later life. Sevier's birthplace was in the +western part of Virginia, but while he was still a young boy, the family +was driven from their home by the Indians and went to Fredericksburg, +Virginia. There he went to the same school which George Washington had +attended not many years before. + +John's mother had taught him to read, and at school he learned some useful +things; still he was not fond of books, and learned most from people and +what was going on about him. + +He left school when he was sixteen and married before he was seventeen. +About six miles from his father's house he put up a building which was +dwelling, storehouse, and fort all in one. Here on the frontier he carried +on a thriving trade with settlers and Indians, and was so successful that +by the time he was twenty-six he was looked upon as a rich man. + +He was attractive in appearance, being tall, slender, and erect, with +frank blue eyes, fair skin, and brown hair. He was a man of commanding +presence, and his athletic figure seemed well suited to the fringed +hunting-suit which every pioneer wore. + +His merry disposition and great charm of manner easily won many friends; +and these he kept by his natural kindness and courtesy. He was never +happier than when entertaining generously those who came to his home. Yet +these gentle and lovable qualities did not prevent him from being a brave +and skilful warrior, who could carry terror to the hearts of his foes. + +It was while he was engaged in his trading business that Sevier heard of +Robertson's settlement in the west, and became interested in it as a +possible home for himself and his family. In 1772 he decided to ride +through the forests to the Watauga settlement and find out what kind of +place it was. + +Alone over the mountains and through the woods he made the journey. At the +journey's end, when he met Robertson, they became friends at once, for in +spirit and aims they were much alike. Both were brave and fearless, and +both were seeking better homes for their families. + +Sevier decided to join the settlement on the Watauga, and went back to +bring his wife and two children. Returning with them, he entered heartily +into the common life of the frontier, with its many hardships and +pleasures, and soon became a prominent man in the little colony. + +For a time after their arrival the settlement was not much troubled by the +Indians. The Cherokees had given their consent to have the land taken up, +and all went well for a period. + +But, as we have already seen in the case of Boone, the breaking out of the +Revolution, and the action of the British in arming the Indians with guns +and rewarding them for bringing in captives, disturbed this peace and +stirred up the tribes against the backwoodsmen. + +The Cherokees then broke their agreement with the settlers and in large +numbers made bold and murderous attacks upon the many back-country +settlements in southwestern Virginia, the eastern Carolinas, northwestern +Georgia, and what is now eastern Tennessee. + +As Watauga was the nearest settlement to the Cherokee towns and villages, +it was likely to suffer most from the attack. Robertson commanded the +fort, with Sevier as his lieutenant. Only forty or fifty men were in the +fort when it was attacked, although it was crowded with women and +children. But these few men were resolute, well armed, and on their guard. + +It was in the gray light of the early morning that the Indians stole up +for the attack. But a friendly squaw had given warning of danger, and the +settlers were ready. The loopholes opened upon the Indians and they were +at once beaten back with loss. This was the beginning of a long, dreary +siege. As the stockade was too strong to be taken by an assault, the +Indians tried to starve the colonists out. For about three weeks they +lurked about so that the people within the fort dared not go outside for +food, and had to live mostly on parched corn. + +It was a weary time. As you may imagine, all became very tired of that +diet and very impatient at being kept shut up within the palisades for so +long, and from time to time some one would venture out, heedless of +warning and of danger. In running this risk, three or four men were shot +by the Indians, and one boy was carried off to an Indian village and +burned at the stake. A woman also was captured. + +You will be interested in the thrilling experience of another woman. Her +name was Kate Sherrill. She was tall and beautiful, graceful and gentle in +manner, and, as we shall see, not lacking courage. + +One day, taking a pitcher to get water from the river, she had ventured +some distance from the fort, when Indians dashed out of the forest and +sprang toward her. Seeing her danger, she darted swiftly back, with her +bloodthirsty foes close at her heels. + +It was a race for life, and she knew it. There was not time to reach the +gate; so she ran the shortest way to the fort, caught hold of the top of +the pickets, and, by an almost superhuman effort sprung over to the other +side. She did not fall to the ground as she expected, but into the arms of +John Sevier, for he was standing at a loophole close by, and caught her. +He had witnessed her danger and helped her to escape by shooting the +Indian closest in the chase. A romance is connected with this, for we are +told that John Sevier, who was then a young widower of thirty-one, married +Kate Sherrill during the siege. + +Although the Indian braves were eager for the scalps of the Watauga +settlers, they failed to capture the fort and finally went away, just as +they did from the neighboring settlements. For a while, but only for a +while, the pioneers were left free from Indian ravages. + + +SEVIER A HERO AMONG THE TENNESSEE SETTLERS + +In spite of the danger, however, daring men kept coming to join the +pioneers at the Watauga settlements. Sevier continued to be a leading man +in that backwoods region, and when, some years later, Robertson, as you +remember, left Watauga to go to the Cumberland valley, Sevier became the +most prominent man in the colony. + +He was so prosperous that he could surround himself with much comfort. He +built a rambling, one-story house on the Nolichucky Creek, a branch of the +French Broad River. It was the largest in the settlement and was noted for +the lavish entertainments given there, for Sevier was the same generous +host as of old. His house consisted of two groups of rooms connected by a +covered porch. Sevier with his family lived in one of the groups, and +housed his guests in the other. There were large verandas and huge +fireplaces, in which, during cold weather, cheerful wood-fires blazed. + +[Illustration: A Barbecue of 1780.] + +Here to all, rich and poor alike, and especially to the men who had +followed him in the many battles against the Indians, Sevier gave a hearty +welcome. Rarely was his hospitable home without guests, and the table was +heaped with such plain and wholesome food as woods and fields afforded. + +It was Sevier's delight at weddings or special merrymakings to feast all +the backwoods people of the neighborhood at a barbecue, where an ox was +roasted whole over the fire, and where, in fair weather, board tables were +set under the trees. These were loaded with wild fowl, bear's meat, +venison, beef, johnny-cakes, ash-cakes, hominy, and applejack. Should you +not like to have been one of the guests? + +During one of these merrymaking feasts (1780) news was brought that Major +Ferguson, one of the ablest officers in Cornwallis's army, was threatening +to make an attack on the back-country settlements. At once Sevier, along +with Isaac Shelby and others, set out to raise an army of frontiersmen to +march against Ferguson. Soon a thousand men were riding through the +forests to find the British force, of which every man except the commander +was an American Tory. + +They came upon it in a strong position on King's Mountain. Without delay +the Americans made a furious attack. They fought with great heroism, +charging up the steep mountainside with reckless bravery. + +They were divided into three bodies, one on the right of the British, one +on the left, and another in front. Sevier commanded the division on the +left. At just the right moment he led his men in a resistless rush up the +mountainside and made victory certain for the Americans. The British +raised the white flag of surrender. All of Ferguson's soldiers who had not +been killed or wounded were made prisoners. + +By this victory the backwoods hunters greatly weakened the British cause +in the south and made easier General Greene's victory over Cornwallis, of +which we have already learned. Thus they took their part in winning the +nation's liberty. + +[Illustration: Battle of King's Mountain.] + +On returning from King's Mountain to their homes, these pioneer warriors +had to meet the Cherokees again in stubborn warfare. In his usual way +Sevier struck a swift, crushing blow by marching to the mountain homes of +his savage foes, where he burned a thousand of their cabins and destroyed +fifty thousand bushels of their corn. + +In spite of this defeat, however, the Indians kept on fighting. So Sevier +determined to strike another blow. At the head of one hundred and fifty +picked horsemen, he rode for one hundred and fifty miles through the +mountain wilds and completely surprised the Indians, who did not think it +possible for an enemy to reach them. After taking the main town, burning +two other towns and three villages, capturing two hundred horses, +destroying a large quantity of provisions, and doing other damage, he +withdrew and returned home in safety. He had made the Indians afraid, and +they were quiet for a time. + +These glimpses into the life of John Sevier must help you to understand +why he became a hero among all the people of the frontier. They admired +him for his brilliant leadership; they were grateful for his protection; +and they loved him as a friend. They fondly called him "Nolichucky Jack"; +and when, later, the settlements became the State of Tennessee, again and +again they elected him governor, and sent him to Congress. + +Without doubt few men of his day were his equal as a fighter against the +Indians. It is said that in all his warfare with them he won thirty-five +victories and never lost a battle. As we have seen, he moved with great +swiftness in attacking his foes. Through his able scouts he learned the +strength and weakness of his enemies and, before they realized what was +going on, with a wild shout he and his bold followers swept down upon them +like a hurricane, striking terror to the hearts of even the bravest. + +Sevier was active in public interests even to the last years of his long +life. When eighty years old, he was at the head of a body of men who were +marking the border line between Georgia and the lands of the Indians. The +labor proved too great for his bodily strength, and the aged man died +(1815), in his tent, with only a few soldiers and Indians around him. + +He was buried where he died, and a simple slab, with the two words, "John +Sevier," inscribed upon it, indicates the spot where his body rests. + +In the homes of eastern Tennessee stories of his brave deeds are still +told to eager, listening children, for his memory is held dear in the +hearts of old and young alike. Tennessee owes much to this brave, loyal, +and high-minded man, who played a large part in shaping her destiny. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. Why did Sevier go with his family to the Watauga settlement? + +2. Imagine yourself in the Watauga Fort when the Cherokees were trying to +capture it, and give an account of what happened. + +3. Describe Sevier's hospitable home, and tell something about the kind of +feast he prepared for a wedding there. + +4. What kind of Indian fighter was Sevier? + +5. Tell all you can about his personal appearance. What do you admire +about him? + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GEORGE ROGERS CLARK + + +Among the foremost of those who promoted the westward growth of our +country stands George Rogers Clark. He was born near Monticello, Virginia, +November 19, 1752. He came of a good family and he received fairly good +training in school. But he learned much more from life than from books. + +[Illustration: George Rogers Clark.] + +When twenty years old he was already a woodsman and surveyor on the Upper +Ohio, and did something also at farming. About two years later, with +measuring rod and axe, he moved on to Kentucky, where he continued his +work as a surveyor. + +A deadly struggle was going on here, you remember, with the Indians, who +had been roused by the British against the backwoodsmen, and in this +struggle Clark became a leader. + +Why it was that in hardly more than a year's time this young man of +twenty-four rose to a position of leadership among the settlers, and was +chosen one of their lawmakers, we shall understand when we come to see +more of his sterling qualities. + +Nature had given him a pleasing face which men trusted. His forehead was +high and broad under a shock of sandy hair, and honest blue eyes peered +out from under heavy, shaggy eyebrows. His strong body could endure almost +any hardship, and his splendid health was matched by his adventurous +spirit. His fearless courage was equal to any danger, and his resolute +purpose would not give way in the face of almost insurmountable +difficulties. + +His great task would have been impossible except as he possessed these +qualities, and we know that one does not come by them suddenly. They grow +by bravely conquering the fears of every-day life and not giving in to +difficulties. It was in this way that the fearless hunters of Kentucky +quickly recognized in him a master spirit. + +Clark, as you may imagine, was not content to remain in Kentucky merely as +a skilful hunter and bold leader of war parties sent out to punish Indian +bands. His keen mind had worked out a brilliant plan, which he was eager +to carry through. It was nothing less than to conquer for his country the +vast stretch of land lying north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi, +now included in the present Great Lake States. + +In this vast region of forest and prairie the only settlements were the +scattered French hamlets, begun in the early days of exploration, when the +French occupied the land and traded with the Indians for fur. These +hamlets had passed into the hands of the English after the Last French War +and were made the centres of English power, from which, as we have seen, +the English commanders aroused the Indians against the backwoodsmen remote +from their home settlements. + +These few villages or trading-posts, which were defended by forts, were +scattered here and there at convenient places along the river courses, the +three strongest forts being at Vincennes, on the Wabash, at Kaskaskia, and +at Detroit. + +Over all the rest of the wild territory roamed hostile Indian tribes, +hunting and fighting against one another as well as against the +frontiersmen. + +Clark saw that if this region should be conquered the spreading prairies +could be opened up for settlement. + +As the first step in carrying out his plan, he needed to secure aid from +Patrick Henry, the governor of Virginia. Early in October, 1777, he +started out on horseback from Harrodsburg, one of the Kentucky +settlements, to ride through the forests and over the mountains to +Williamsburg, then the capital of the State. So urgent was his haste that +he stopped on the way but a single day at his father's house, the home of +his childhood, and then pressed on to Williamsburg. It took a whole month +to make this journey of six hundred and twenty miles. + +Patrick Henry at once fell in with Clark's plan. He arranged that the +government should furnish six thousand dollars. But as it was needful that +the utmost secrecy should be preserved, nothing was said about the matter +to the Virginia Assembly. Clark was to raise his own company among the +frontiersmen. The whole burden of making the necessary preparations rested +upon him. + + +CLARK STARTS ON HIS LONG JOURNEY + +With good heart he shouldered it, and in May, 1778, was ready with one +hundred and fifty-three men to start from the Redstone Settlements, on the +Monongahela River. He stopped at both Pittsburg and Wheeling for needed +supplies. Then his flatboats, manned by tall backwoodsmen in their +picturesque dress, rowed or floated cautiously down the Ohio River. + +They did not know on how great a journey they had entered, for even to his +followers Clark could not tell his plan. + +Toward the last of the month, on reaching the falls of the Ohio, near the +present site of Louisville, they landed on an island, where Clark built a +fort and drilled his men. Some of the families that had come with him, and +were on their way to Kentucky, remained there until autumn, planting some +corn and naming the island Corn Island. + +When about to leave, Clark said to the men: "We are going to the +Mississippi." Some were faint-hearted and wished to turn back. "You may +go," said Clark, for he wanted no discontented men among his number. From +those remaining he carefully picked out the ones who seemed robust enough +to endure the extreme hardships which he knew awaited them. + +[Illustration: George Rogers Clark in the Northwest.] + +As the success of the enterprise depended upon surprising the enemy, it +was extremely important that he press forward as secretly and as speedily +as possible. Accordingly, the men rowed hard, night and day, until they +came to an island off the mouth of the Tennessee River. Here it was their +good fortune to meet with a small party of hunters who had been at the +French settlements not long before. These men cheerfully joined Clark's +party, agreeing to act as guides to Kaskaskia. + +"If you go by the water-route of the Mississippi," said these hunters, +"the French commander at Kaskaskia will get news of your coming, through +boatmen and hunters along the river, and will be ready to defend the fort +against you. The fort is strong and the garrison well trained, and if the +commander knows of your approach he will put up a good fight." + +[Illustration: Clark on the Way to Kaskaskia.] + +So it was decided to go by land. At one time the guide lost his way, and +Clark was angry, for he feared treachery. But after two hours they found +the right course again. + +On the evening of July 4 the Kaskaskia was reached. The fort was only +three miles away, but it was across the stream. Remaining in the woods +until dusk, they rested; then, as night fell, they pushed on to a little +farmhouse only a mile from the fort. Here Clark obtained boats and +silently, in the darkness, conveyed his men across the stream. + +After two hours all was ready for the attack. Clark divided the men into +two bodies: one to surround the town and prevent the escape of the +fugitives, and the other, led by himself, to advance to the walls of the +fort. + +[Illustration: Clark's Surprise at Kaskaskia.] + +A postern gate on the side facing the river had been pointed out by a +captive, and Clark stationed his men so as to guard it. Then he went +inside along to the entrance of the large hall where public gatherings +were held. + +It was brilliantly lighted, and floating through the windows came the +music of violins. The officers of the fort were giving a dance, and young +creole men and maidens were spending a merry evening. Even the sentinels +had left their posts in order to enjoy the festal occasion. + +Alone, Clark passed through the doorway and stood with folded arms, in +grim silence, coolly watching the mirthful dancers. Lying upon the floor +just inside the door was an Indian brave. As he raised his eyes to the +face of the strange backwoodsman standing out clearly in the light of the +torches, he sprang to his feet with a piercing war-whoop. The music broke +off suddenly; a hush fell. Then the women screamed, and there was a wild +rush for the door. + +Without stirring from the place where he stood, Clark quietly said: "Go on +with your dance; but remember that you now dance under Virginia, and not +under Great Britain." Scarcely had he uttered these words when his men, +seeing the confusion, rushed into the forts and seized the officers, among +whom was the French commander. + +Then Clark sent runners throughout the town to order the people to remain +within their houses. The simple-hearted Frenchmen were in a panic of fear. + +The next morning some of their chief men, appearing before Clark, begged +for their lives. "We will gladly become slaves," they cried, "if by so +doing we may save our families." "We do not wish to enslave you," Clark +answered, "and if you will solemnly promise to become loyal American +citizens you shall be welcome to all the privileges of Americans." + +On hearing these words the French people were so carried away with joy +that they danced and sang and scattered flowers along the street. By his +kind way of dealing with them, Clark made the people of the town his +friends instead of his enemies. + +A little later the people of Vincennes also solemnly promised to be loyal +citizens, and, taking down the English flag, they raised the American +stars and stripes over their fort. + + +LIFE IN THE OLD FRENCH VILLAGES + +You will enjoy a glimpse of the life in these old French villages, for it +is quite different from that of the settlements we have visited. There are +many little hamlets, like Kaskaskia and Vincennes, on the western +frontier. They have been in existence for years, but have not increased +much in strength or size. + +The French people living there have never mingled with the American +backwoodsmen. They have kept by themselves, remaining for the most part +half-homesick emigrants. Many of them are engaged in the fur trade; some +are adventure-loving wood rovers and hunters, but the most of them are +farmers on a small scale. + +Their little villages, composed of hovels or small log cottages, are +guarded by rough earthworks. A few roomy buildings serve as storehouses +and strongholds in times of danger. There are also little wine-shops, as +in the old country, which the French love, and in which they are always +entertained by the music of violins. + +There is much gay color on the streets of these hamlets, for the Frenchmen +are dressed in bright-colored suits, made of Indian blankets. And lounging +about in cheap paint or soiled finery are lazy Indians, begging at times +and at times idly watching the boats rowing up and down the river. + +We see, too, now and then, the familiar red-and-buff uniforms of the +British army officers, which are regarded with awe whenever they appear. +For you must remember that after 1763 all the French hamlets were in +British hands, and the English officers were the great men of this country +north of the Ohio. + + +CLARK'S HARD TASK + +Although the life was gayer and easier in these French villages than in +the frontier settlements, and although the taking of Kaskaskia and +Vincennes had been easy, Clark still had a hard task before him. His small +force was made up of men who were in the habit of doing as they pleased, +and over them he had no control except through their personal liking for +him. + +Furthermore, he was so many hundred miles from Virginia that he could not +hope to get any advice or help from the government for months, or perhaps +for an entire year. He must rely entirely upon himself. And we shall see +that he was equal to the situation. + +Outside the villages, roaming over the great region he was hoping to +conquer, were thousands of Indians. They were hostile, bloodthirsty, and +ready to slaughter without pity. When they heard what Clark and his +backwoodsmen had done, they crowded to Kaskaskia to see for themselves. +Lurking back of their gloomy faces were wicked thoughts. Clark was in +great danger from these Indians. + +But he proved himself their master also. Though carefully on his guard in +any dealings he might have with them, he always appeared to them quite +unafraid and confident that he could take care of himself. His boldness +and firmness, even when surrounded by red warriors greatly outnumbering +his own small force, had a profound effect upon them. + +[Illustration: Wampum Peace Belt.] + +Once he told them that he could appeal to the Thirteen +Council-Fires--meaning, of course, the thirteen States--and that they +could send him men enough to darken the land. The Indians began to fear +him and to look upon him as a mighty warrior, and when he held up to them +the red wampum belt of war and the white of peace for them to choose which +they would have, they chose peace and left the settlement. + +But there was still another very serious difficulty which Clark had to +face. It caused even greater anxiety than the danger from the Indians, for +it was within his own company. You remember that when his men started out +they did not know that they were to go so far away from home. Now, when +their time of service was up, they threatened to leave him and return to +their homes. By means of presents and promises Clark persuaded about a +hundred to stay eight months longer. The others left for home. + +A weaker man might have been quite helpless if left with so small a force. +Not so Clark. He had wonderful power over people, and soon the creoles of +the French villages had become so loyal that their young men took the +places of the woodsmen who went away. Clark thoroughly drilled them all +until they were finely trained for any service he might ask. + +It was well he did so. For Colonel Hamilton, the British commander at +Detroit, who had charge of the British forces throughout the vast region +which Clark was trying to conquer, was a man of great energy. Soon after +getting news of what Clark had done at Kaskaskia and Vincennes, he began +preparing for an expedition against the latter place. + +Early in October (1779) he set out from Detroit with one hundred and +seventy-seven soldiers and sixty Indians. By the time he had reached +Vincennes so many other Indians had joined him that his entire force +numbered about five hundred. The fort at Vincennes, as you remember, +contained only a handful of men, and it easily fell into Hamilton's hands +(December 17, 1779). + +If Hamilton had at once marched on to Kaskaskia, he might have captured +Clark or driven him out of the northwest. But that same tendency to "put +off," which had already cost the British many a victory, here again saved +the day for the Americans. Because the weather was so cold, the route so +long, and the other difficulties in his way so great, Hamilton resolved to +wait until spring before going farther. + +And not expecting to need his soldiers before spring, he sent back to +Detroit the greater part of his force. He kept with him about eighty of +the white soldiers and about the same number of Indian allies. + +About six weeks later Clark learned from an Indian trader how small the +garrison was at Vincennes. You may be sure that he did not wait for +seasons to change. Quick to realize that this was his chance, he gathered +a force of one hundred and seventy men--nearly half of them creoles--and +in seven days he was on his way to Vincennes. + + +CLARK CAPTURES VINCENNES + +The route, two hundred and forty miles in length, led eastward across what +is now Illinois. As often happens at this season, the weather had grown so +mild that the ice and snow had thawed, causing the rivers to overflow, and +the meadows and lowlands which lay along a large part of the route were +under water from three to five foot deep. + +When we remember that there were no houses for shelter, no roads, and no +bridges across the swollen streams, we can imagine something of the +hardships of this midwinter journey. Only very strong men could endure +such exposure. + +Knowing that cheerfulness would help greatly in keeping his men well and +willing, Clark encouraged feasting and merrymaking as all were gathered at +night around the blazing logs. There the game killed during the day was +cooked and eaten, and while some sang and danced, according to creole +custom, others sat before the huge fires and told exciting stories about +hunting and Indian warfare. Then, warmed and fed, all lay down by the fire +for the night's rest. + +As long as this lasted the journey was by no means hard; but by the end of +a week conditions had changed, for they had reached the drowned lands of +the Wabash. + +Coming first to the two branches of the Little Wabash, they found the +floods so high that the land between the two streams was entirely under +water, and they were facing a mighty river five miles wide and at no point +less than three feet deep, while, of course, in the river beds it was much +deeper. + +But Clark was resourceful. He at once had his men build a pirogue, or +dugout canoe. In this he rowed across the first branch of the river, and +on the edge of the water-covered plain put up a scaffold. Then the men and +the baggage were ferried across in the pirogue, and the baggage was placed +on the scaffold. Last of all, the pack-horses swam the channel, and +standing by the scaffold in water above their knees, received again their +load of baggage. + +[Illustration: Clark's Advance on Vincennes.] + +All then proceeded to the second channel, which was crossed in the same +way. It took three days to build the pirogue and cross the two branches of +the river. + +During this time hunger was added to the other sufferings of the men, for +the flood had driven all the wild animals away, so that there was no +longer any game to shoot. Advance was slow and extremely tiresome, for the +men had to march from morning till night up to their waists in mud and +water. They were nearing the Great Wabash River. + +On February 20 the men were quite exhausted. There had been nothing to eat +for nearly two days. Many of the creoles were so downcast that they began +to talk of going home. Clark, putting on a brave face, laughed and said: +"Go out and kill a deer." + +But meanwhile his men, acting under orders, had built three canoes, and on +the morning of the 22d the entire force was ferried across the Wabash. + +Once on the side of the river where Vincennes stood, they began to feel +more cheerful, for by night they expected to be at the fort. + +It was well that they did not know what awaited them, for they had yet a +bitter experience to pass through. Almost all the way was under water, and +as they went slowly on they often stepped into hollows where the water +came up to their chins. But, guided by their bold leader, they pressed +forward until they reached a hillock, where they spent the night. + +During the long hours of this trying day Clark had kept up the spirits of +his men in every way he could. In telling about it later, he said: "I +received much help from a little antic drummer, a boy with such a +fun-loving spirit that he made the men laugh, in spite of their weariness, +at his pranks and jokes." + +On starting out again the next morning some were so weak and famished that +they had to be taken in the canoes. Those who were strong enough to wade +came to water too deep to walk through, and, painfully struggling, began +to huddle together as if all hope had fled. + +Then Clark had to do something to rouse them. Suddenly he blackened his +face with gunpowder and, sounding the war-whoop like an Indian brave, +fearlessly sprang forward. His men plunged in after him without a word. + +By dusk they were still six miles from Vincennes. Their clothing was +drenched, their muscles ached with weariness, and they were well-nigh +exhausted from lack of food. To make matters worse, the weather that day +was bitterly cold. Yet the worst experience of the whole trying march was +to come. + +For before them stretched a shallow lake, four miles in extent. With +something like a score of the strongest men just behind him, Clark plunged +into the ice-cold water, breast-deep. When they had gone about half-way +across some of them were so cold and weak that they could not take another +step. So the canoes were kept busy rescuing them and getting them to land. + +Those who, though weak, were still able to keep their feet, clung to the +strong and plodded forward. When they had finally reached the woods +bordering the farther side of the lake, they had not strength enough to +pull themselves out, but clung desperately to the bushes and logs on the +shore until the canoes could pick them up. + +On reaching land some were so exhausted that they fell upon the ground +with their faces half buried in the water. But the stronger ones built +fires and fed them broth made from some venison they had taken from squaws +in an Indian canoe which happened along. With food and warmth courage +returned. + +In the afternoon they set out again. After crossing a narrow lake in the +canoes and marching a short distance, they reached a tree-covered spot +from which they could see the town and the fort. There they made a stop +and, hidden by the trees, made ready for the attack. + +There was some fighting that night, and it was continued the next day. +Then Clark demanded the surrender of the fort. Hamilton at first refused, +but, as he had only a small number of men, he had to give up both fort and +garrison. He himself was sent a prisoner to Virginia. + +Clark's capture of Vincennes was the finishing stroke of his conquest. He +had succeeded in one of the boldest enterprises ever undertaken in +America. All the vast region he had set out to conquer remained under +American control until the end of the Revolution, when, by treaty, it +formally became a part of our country. + +In carrying out his plans Clark had not only risked his health and life, +but he had used up all his property. In spite of the great service he had +done his country, his last years were spent in poverty. For a while he +lived alone in a rude dwelling on Corn Island, but later his sister took +him to her home near Louisville. Here, in 1818, came to an end the life of +this heroic soldier and loyal American. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What was Clark's brilliant plan? + +2. Imagine yourself with him on the evening when he captured the fort at +Kaskaskia, and tell as fully as you can what happened. Tell something of +his hard task in the days that followed. + +3. Can you explain how it was that he had such a powerful influence over +men? + +4. In imagination go with Clark on his wonderful march from Kaskaskia to +Vincennes and give an account of your trials and sufferings. + +5. How do you account for Clark's remarkable success? What do you admire +about him? + +6. Are you making frequent use of the map? + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE NEW REPUBLIC + + +At the end of the Revolution Washington, as we have already noted, +returned to his beautiful home, Mount Vernon, overlooking the Potomac. +Here he again took up the many-sided duties which his large plantation +made necessary for him. His busy day began when he arose at four o'clock +in the morning and ended when he went to bed at nine o'clock in the +evening. But his life was not so quiet as we might think. For he had so +many visitors that at the end of two years he wrote in his diary one day: +"Dined with only Mrs. Washington, which I believe is the first instance of +it since my retirement from public life." + +[Illustration: George Washington.] + +When the States, after securing their independence, united under the +Constitution to form the nation called the United States of America, they +needed a President. It was but natural that again all eyes should turn to +George Washington, and he was elected without opposition. + +In his modesty he felt himself unfit to lead the American people in times +of peace. In fact, this new service was for him perhaps the hardest that +he had ever tried to render his country. Yet, as he believed with all his +heart in the new government, he decided to accept the office. He was +willing to give up his own comfort for the sake of trying to bring new +life and prosperity to his countrymen. + +[Illustration: Washington's Home, Mount Vernon.] + +On April 16, 1789, two days after being informed of his election, he said +good-by to Mount Vernon and started out as a plain citizen in a private +carriage on a seven days' journey to New York, which was then the capital +city of the United States. + +He wished to travel as quietly as possible, but the people were so eager +to show their love for him and their trust in him that they thronged to +meet and welcome him at every stage of the journey. When he passed through +Philadelphia, under an escort of city troops, he rode a prancing white +steed, and a civic crown of laurel rested upon his head. + +[Illustration: Tribute Rendered to Washington at Trenton.] + +But the most touching tribute of all he received at Trenton. On the bridge +spanning the little creek which he had crossed more than once when +thirteen years before he was battling for his country's freedom was a +floral arch. Under this a party of matrons and young girls carrying +baskets of flowers took their stand. As Washington passed beneath the arch +the girls sang a song of welcome and strewed flowers in the road before +him. On the arch was the motto: "The Hero Who Defended the Mothers Will +Protect the Daughters." + +When he arrived on the New Jersey side of the North River he was met by a +committee of both houses of Congress. They escorted him to a handsomely +equipped barge, manned by thirteen pilots, all dressed in white uniforms. +Landing on the New York side, he rode through the streets amid throngs of +shouting people, with salutes thundering from war-ships and from cannon on +the Battery, and bells joyfully ringing from church-steeples, to give him +a welcome. + +The inauguration took place on April 30. A little after noon Washington +left his house, and under a large military escort made his way to Federal +Hall, which was the Senate Chamber. + +From there he was escorted out to the balcony overlooking a large space in +the streets below, which were thronged with people. He took his seat by +the side of a crimson-covered table, on which lay a Bible. + +As Washington stood up face to face with the chancellor of New York State, +who was to give the oath, a deep hush fell on the multitude below. "Do you +solemnly swear," asked Chancellor Livingston, "that you will faithfully +execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the +best of your ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of +the United States?" + +[Illustration: Washington Taking the Oath of Office as First President, at +Federal Hall, New York City.] + +"I do solemnly swear," said Washington, "that I will faithfully execute +the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my +ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United +States." + +Then with deep earnestness he bent and kissed the Bible held before him, +with the whispered prayer: "So help me God!" + +"Long live George Washington, President of the United States!" exclaimed +Livingston, and the excited throng took up the cry, shouting with wild +enthusiasm. Thus was inaugurated our first President. + +Returning to the Senate Chamber, Washington there delivered a short +address. He was very much agitated, for he had a deep sense of the +responsibility which had been put upon him. After he had given his address +he attended service in St. Paul's Church, and then went to his new home in +New York City. + +His life as President was one of dignity and elegance. It was his custom +to pay no calls and accept no invitations, but between three and four +o'clock on every Tuesday afternoon he held a public reception. On such +occasions he appeared in court dress, with powdered hair, yellow gloves in +his hands, a long sword in a scabbard of white polished leather at his +side, and a cocked hat under his arm. Standing before the fireplace, with +his right hand behind him, he bowed formally as each guest was presented +to him. + +[Illustration: Washington's Inaugural Chair.] + +The visitors formed a circle about the room. At a quarter past three the +door was closed, and Washington went around the circle, speaking to each +person. Then he returned to his first position by the fireplace, where +each visitor approached him, bowed, and retired. + +One of his first public duties was the choosing of strong men to form his +cabinet and help him in his new tasks as President. Thomas Jefferson was +made Secretary of State; Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury; +Henry Knox, Secretary of War; and Edmund Randolph, Attorney-General. John +Jay was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. + +The new government had to settle more than one important question. One of +these related to the method of paying the State debts which had been the +outcome of the Revolutionary War. The northern States were in favor of +having the National Government take care of these debts. Washington +himself wished in this way to unite the interests of all the States as +well as have them feel that they had a share in the new government. The +southern States, however, were bitterly opposed to this plan, but they, in +their turn, were eager to have the national capital located on the Potomac +River. + +Alexander Hamilton, by a clever arrangement, persuaded the opposing +interests to adopt a compromise, or an agreement by which each side got a +part of what it wished. The northern States were to vote for a southern +capital if the southern States would vote that the National Government +should look after the State debts. + +This plan was carried out; and so it was decided that the capital of the +United States should be located in the District of Columbia, on the +Potomac River, and should be called Washington, after George Washington. + +In 1789, the seat of government was in New York; from 1790 to 1800, it was +in Philadelphia; and in 1800 it was transferred to Washington, where it +has ever since remained. + + +THE COTTON-GIN AND SLAVERY + +One of the most noteworthy events which occurred during Washington's +administration was the invention of the cotton-gin by Eli Whitney. Whitney +was born in Massachusetts. While yet a boy he was employed in making nails +by hand, for there was no machine for making them in those days. Later, +when he entered Yale College, his skilful use of tools helped him to pay +his college expenses. + +[Illustration: Eli Whitney.] + +After being graduated from Yale he went south, where he became a tutor in +the family of General Greene's widow, then living on the Savannah River, +in the home which, you remember, Georgia gave her husband. While he was in +Mrs. Greene's home he invented for her an embroidery-frame which she +greatly valued. + +One day, while she was entertaining some planters, they began to talk +about the raising of cotton. One of her guests said that it did not pay +well because so much time was needed to separate the seeds from the fibre. +He added that if a way could be found to do this more quickly the profits +would be far greater. + +"Gentlemen," said Mrs. Greene, "tell this to my young friend, Mr. Whitney. +Verily, I believe he can make anything." As a result of this conversation, +in two or three months Eli Whitney had invented the cotton-gin (1793), +although in so doing he had to make all his own tools. + +The cotton-gin brought about great changes. Before its invention it took a +slave a whole day to separate the seed from five or six pounds of cotton +fibre. But by the use of the cotton-gin he could separate the seed from a +thousand pounds in a single day. + +[Illustration: Whitney's Cotton-Gin.] + +This, of course, meant that cotton could be sold for very much less than +before, and hence there arose a much greater demand for it. It meant, +also, that the labor of slaves was of more value than before, and hence +there was a greater demand for slaves. + +As slavery now became such an important feature of southern life, let us +pause for a glimpse of a southern plantation where slaves are at work. If +we are to see such life in its pleasantest aspects, we may well go back to +Virginia in the old days before the Civil War. There the slaves led a +freer and easier life than they did farther south among the rice-fields of +South Carolina or the cotton-fields of Georgia. + +If we could visit one of these old Virginia plantations as it used to be, +where wheat and tobacco were grown, we should see first a family mansion, +often situated on a hilltop amid a grove of oaks. The mansion is a +two-story house, perhaps made of wood, and painted white. With its +vine-clad porch in front, and its wide hallway inside, it has a very +comfortable look. + +Not far away is a group of small log cabins. This cluster of simple +dwellings, known as "the quarters," is the home of the slaves, who do the +work in the house and fields. + +On the large plantations of the far south, there were sometimes several +slave settlements on one plantation, each being a little village, with the +cabins set in rows on each side of a wide street. Each cabin housed two +families; belonging to each was a small garden. + +The log cabins contained large fireplaces, and it was not unusual for the +master's children to gather about them when the weather was cold enough +for fires, to hear the negroes tell quaint tales and sing weird songs. The +old colored "mammies" were very fond of "Massa's chillun" and liked to pet +them and tell them stories. + +Sometimes the cooking for the master's family was done in the kitchen of +the "big house," but more often in a cabin outside, from which a negro +waitress carried the food to the dining-room. The slaves had regular +allowances of food, most of which they preferred to cook in their own +cabins. Their common food was corn bread and ham or bacon. + +Some of the slaves were employed as servants in the master's house, but +the greater part of them worked in the fields. They went out to work very +early in the morning. It often happened that their breakfast and dinner +were carried to them in the fields, and during the short rest which they +had while eating their meals they would often sing together. + +[Illustration: A Colonial Planter.] + +The slaves had their holidays, one of them being at the time of +hog-killing, which was an annual festival. In some parts of the south, in +November or December, corn-husking bees were held, just as the white +people held them on the frontier. When the corn was harvested, it was +piled up in mounds fifty or sixty feet high. Then the slaves from +neighboring plantations were invited to come and help husk the corn. One +negro would leap up on the mound and lead the chorus, all joining lustily +in the singing. + +[Illustration: A Slave Settlement.] + +Other holidays were given the slaves on the Fourth of July and at +Christmas time. One negro tells us about the barbecue which his master +gave to him and the other slaves. "Yes, honey, dat he did gib us Fourth of +July--a plenty o' holiday--a beef kilt, a mutton, hogs, salt, pepper, an' +eberyting. He hab a gre't trench dug, and a whole load of wood put in it +an' burned down to coals. Den dey put wooden spits across, an' dey had +spoons an' basted de meat. An' we 'vite all de culled people aroun', an' +dey come, an' we had fine times." + +The life of the slaves was sometimes hard and bitter, especially when they +were in charge of a cruel overseer on a large plantation. But it was not +always so. For it is pleasant to think that when they had good masters, +there were many things to cheer and brighten their lives. We know that +household slaves often lived in the most friendly relations with their +owners. + + * * * * * + +We must pass over many of the events which took place while Washington was +President, but you will very likely take them up in your later study. +After serving with marked success for two terms, he again returned (1797) +to private life at Mount Vernon. Here, on December 14, 1799, he died at +the age of sixty-seven, loved and honored by the American people. + +Let us always remember with grateful hearts the noble life of the great +man who has rightly been called the "Father of his Country." + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. How did the people express their feeling for Washington when he was on +his way to New York to be inaugurated as President? + +2. Describe one of his public receptions. + +3. Who were the men Washington chose to help him in his new task as +President? + +4. What effects did the invention of the cotton-gin have upon slavery? + +5. In imagination visit some old plantations and tell what you can about +slave life there. + +6. Why has Washington been called the "Father of his Country"? + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +INCREASING THE SIZE OF THE NEW REPUBLIC + + +As with reverent thought we turn from the closing days of George +Washington's life, our interest is drawn to the career of another national +hero, with whom we associate the most remarkable expansion in the area of +our country. + +[Illustration: Thomas Jefferson.] + +Already through the achievements of early pioneers and settlers, such as +Daniel Boone in Kentucky, John Sevier and James Robertson in Tennessee, +and George Rogers Clark in the region of the Great Lakes, the country +lying between the Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi River had come +to be a part of the United States. + +But now in a very different and much easier way the territory lying beyond +the Mississippi and stretching westward to the Rocky Mountains was added +to the national domain. This we obtained, not by exploration or +settlement, but by purchase; and the man who had most to do with our +getting it was Thomas Jefferson. + +The story of the purchase is most interesting, but hardly more so than the +story of Thomas Jefferson himself. + +He was born in 1743 near Charlottesville, Virginia, on a plantation of +nearly two thousand acres. As a boy he lived an out-of-door life, hunting, +fishing, swimming, or paddling his boat in the river near his home, and +sometimes riding his father's horses. He was a skilful and daring rider, +and remained to the end of his long life fond of a fine horse. + +[Illustration: "Monticello," the Home of Jefferson.] + +He was a most promising lad. At five he entered school, and even at that +early age began his lifelong habit of careful reading and studying. While +still but a boy he was known among his playmates for his industry and the +thorough way in which he did his work. + +At seventeen he entered William and Mary College at Williamsburg, +Virginia. Here he worked hard, sometimes studying fifteen hours a day. But +for his sound body and strong health he must have broken down under such a +severe strain. + +Yet this hard-working student was no mere bookworm. He was cheerful and +full of life, and was very much liked by his fellow students. Among other +friends made during his college days was the fun-loving Patrick Henry, who +with his jokes and stories kept every one about him in good humor. In time +their friendship became so intimate that when Patrick Henry came to +Williamsburg as a member of the House of Burgesses, he shared Jefferson's +rooms. Both were fond of music, and spent many a pleasant hour playing +their violins together. + +We have a description of Jefferson as he appeared at this time. He was +over six feet tall, slender in body, but with large hands and feet. His +freckled face was topped by a mass of sandy hair, from beneath which +looked out keen, friendly gray eyes. He stood erect, straight as an arrow, +a fine picture of health and strong young manhood. + +Thus we may imagine him as he stood one day while a law student at +Williamsburg, in the doorway of the courthouse, earnestly listening to his +friend Patrick Henry as he delivered his famous speech against the Stamp +Act. The fiery words of the eloquent speaker made a deep impression upon +young Jefferson's quick, warm nature. + +Both young men were earnest patriots, but they served their country in +different ways. To Patrick Henry it was given to speak with the silver +tongue of the orator; while Jefferson, who was a poor speaker, wrote with +such grace and strength that he has rightly been called "The Pen of the +Revolution." + +Before taking up his public life, it will be of interest to us to see how +he helped his countrymen in other ways. Two valuable and lasting +improvements have come down from him. The first of these was the system of +decimal currency, which replaced the clumsy system of pounds, shillings, +and pence used in colonial days. When you are called upon to work out +examples in English currency, be grateful to Thomas Jefferson that we have +instead the much simpler system of dollars and cents. + +The second improvement--which was for the benefit of agriculture, in which +Jefferson always felt a deep interest--had, perhaps, even greater +importance, for it was not merely a convenience but a means of increasing +wealth. It was a new form of plough, which, sinking deeper into the soil, +vastly increased its productive power, and has been of untold value to the +people not only of our country but of the whole world. + +Jefferson showed his interest in the work of the farm in another way. +While he was in France as American minister to the King he found that, +although the French ate a great deal of rice, especially during Lent, very +little of it came from the United States, because rice raised here was +thought to be of an inferior quality. The best rice came from Italy. + +[Illustration: A Rice-Field in Louisiana.] + +Wishing to help American rice-growers, Jefferson, therefore, went to Italy +to study the Italian method of growing it. He found that in both countries +the hulling and cleaning machine was the same. "Then," thought he, "the +seed of the Italian rice must be better." + +So, doing up some small packages of the best seed rice he could find, he +sent them to Charleston. The seeds were carefully distributed among the +planters, who made good use of them, and from those seeds as a beginning +some of the finest rice in the world is now produced in our own States. + + +JEFFERSON'S GREATEST WORK AS A STATESMAN + +But valuable as these services were to his countrymen, Jefferson's great +work in the world was that of a statesman. He first came into prominence +in the Second Continental Congress, when, you recall, the brave men +representing the several colonies decided that the time had come for the +American people to declare themselves free and independent of England. +Here Jefferson's ability as a writer did good service; for of the +committee of five appointed to draw up the Declaration of Independence +Jefferson was a member, and it fell to him to write the first draft of +that great state paper. + +Congress spent a few days in going over this draft and making some slight +changes in it. In the main, however, it stands as Jefferson wrote it. + +After filling many of the high offices in the country, in 1801 Jefferson +became the third President of the United States. In this lofty position +history gives us another striking picture of the man. It shows that he was +simple in his tastes, and that he liked best those plain ways of living +which are most familiar to the common people. + +On the day of his inauguration he went on foot to the Capitol, dressed in +his every-day clothes and attended only by a few friends. It became his +custom later, when going up to the Capitol on official business, to go on +horseback, tying his horse with his own hands to a near-by fence before +entering the building. He declined to hold weekly receptions, as had been +the custom when Washington and Adams were Presidents, but instead he +opened his house to all on the Fourth of July, and on New Year's Day. In +these ways he was acting out his belief that the President should be +simple in dress and manner. + +Many things which Jefferson did proved that he was an able statesman, but +the one act which stands out above all others as the greatest and wisest +of his administration, was the "Louisiana Purchase." + +Let us see how this purchase came to be made. Before Jefferson became +President many pioneers, we know, had already settled west of the +Alleghany Mountains. Most of them lived along the Ohio and the streams +flowing into it from the north and the south. In the upland valleys of the +Kentucky and Tennessee Rivers settlers were especially numerous. + +These lands were so fertile that the people living there became very +prosperous. As their harvests were abundant, they needed a market in which +to sell what they could not use. + +We have seen how in the autumn it was their custom to load the furs on +pack-horses, and driving the cattle before them along the forest trail, to +make the long journey over the mountains to cities and towns along the +Atlantic coast. + +[Illustration: A Flatboat on the Ohio River.] + +But to send their bulky products by this route was too expensive. Water +transportation cost much less. Such produce as corn-meal, flour, pork, and +lumber had to go on rafts or flatboats down the Ohio and Mississippi +Rivers to New Orleans. Here the cargo and the boat were sold, or the cargo +sold and loaded on ocean vessels, which in time reached the eastern market +by a cheaper though longer route than that by land. Thus the Mississippi +River, being the only outlet for this heavy produce, was very necessary to +the prosperity of the west. + +But Spain at this time owned New Orleans and all the land about the mouth +of the Mississippi River; and as the river became more and more used for +traffic Spanish officers at New Orleans began to make trouble. They even +went so far as to threaten to prevent the sending of produce to that port. + +This threat greatly troubled and angered the western farmers. They +proposed wild plans to force an outlet for their trade. But before +anything was done, news came that Napoleon, who was then at the head of +affairs in France, had compelled Spain to give up Louisiana to France. + +Then the westerners grew still more alarmed about their trade. It was bad +enough to have a weak country like Spain in control of Louisiana. But it +might be far worse to have France, the greatest military power in the +world at that time, own it. All this was very plain to Jefferson, and he +knew that Napoleon was planning to establish garrisons and colonies in +Louisiana. + +In view of the possible dangers, he sent James Monroe to France to aid our +minister there in securing New Orleans and a definite stretch of territory +in Louisiana lying on the east side of the Mississippi River. If he could +get that territory, the Americans would then own the entire east bank of +the river and could control their own trade. + +When Monroe reached France, he found that Napoleon not only was willing to +sell what Jefferson wanted, but wished him to buy much more. For as +Napoleon was about to engage in war with England, he had great need of +money. Besides, he was afraid that the English might even invade and +capture Louisiana, and in that case he would get nothing for it. He was +satisfied, therefore, to sell the whole of the Louisiana territory for +fifteen million dollars. + +This purchase was a big event in American history, for you must remember +that what was then called Louisiana was a very large stretch of country. +It included all the region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky +Mountains, from Canada down to what is now Texas. Look at your map and you +will see that it was larger than all the rest of the territory which up to +that time had been called the United States. + +[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1803, AFTER THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.] + + +NEW ORLEANS IN 1803 + +The people of that day did not realize the importance of their purchase. +For the most part the territory was a wild region, uninhabited except for +scattered Indian tribes, and almost unexplored. The place most alive was +New Orleans, which would have interested you keenly had you been a pioneer +boy or girl. New Orleans has been called a Franco-Spanish-American city, +for it has belonged to all three nations in turn and been under French +control twice. You remember that the French settled it. Let us imagine +ourselves pioneers of 1803, and that we have just brought a cargo down the +river. + +[Illustration: House in New Orleans Where Louis Philippe Stopped in 1798.] + +We find New Orleans to be one of the chief seaports of America. We see +shipping of all sorts about the town--barges and flatboats along the river +bank, merchant vessels in the harbor, and farther down some war-ships. + +There are buildings still standing which are unchanged parts of the +earlier French town--for instance, the government house, the barracks, the +hospital, and the convent of the Ursulines. We notice that the walls and +fortifications, built partly by the French and partly by the Spaniards, +are but a mere ring of grass-grown ruins about the city. + +[Illustration: A Public Building in New Orleans Built in 1794.] + +But the city is very picturesque with its tropical vegetation, always +green, and its quaint houses, many of them raised several feet above the +ground on pillars. The more pretentious mansions are surrounded by broad +verandas and fine gardens, and scattered here and there among the houses +of the better class are those of the poor people. + +The streets are straight and fairly wide, but dirty and ill-kept. The +sidewalks are of wood, and at night we need to take our steps carefully, +for only a few dim lights break the darkness. Beyond the walls of the city +we see suburbs already springing up. + +Three-fourths of the inhabitants are creoles--that is, natives of French +and Spanish descent, who speak in the French tongue. We do not understand +them any more than if we were in a really foreign city. They seem a +handsome, well-knit race. But they are idle and lacking in ambition, and +for that reason are being crowded out of business by the active, thrifty +American merchants, to whom, we observe, they are not quite friendly. + +Such was the New Orleans of 1803, a human oasis in a waste of forest, +which made up the greater part of the new territory. There were, to be +sure, in this trackless wilderness a few French villages near the mouth of +the Missouri River. Traders from the British camps in the north had found +their way as far south as these villages, but the great prairies had not +been explored, and the Rocky Mountains were yet unknown. + + +LEWIS AND CLARK'S EXPEDITION + +Before the purchase was made Jefferson had planned an expedition to +explore this region, and Congress had voted money to carry out his plan. +Two officers of the United States army, Captain Meriwether Lewis and +Captain William Clark, brother of George Rogers Clark, were put in command +of the expedition. + +They were to ascend the Missouri River to its head and then find the +nearest waterway to the Pacific coast. They were directed also to draw +maps of the region and to report on the nature of the country and the +people, plants, animals, and other matters of interest in the new lands. + +[Illustration: Meriwether Lewis.] + +In May, 1804, the little company of forty-five men left St. Louis and +started up the Missouri River, passing the scattered settlements of French +creoles. After eleven days they reached the home of Daniel Boone, the last +settlement they passed on the Missouri. Leaving that, they found no more +white settlers and very few Indians. But the woods were alive with game, +so there was no lack of food. + +[Illustration: William Clark.] + +Late in October they arrived at a village of Mandan Indians situated at +the great bend of the Missouri River, in what is now known as North +Dakota. Deciding to winter here, they built huts and a stockade, calling +the camp Fort Mandan. The Mandans were used to white men, as the village +had been visited often by traders from both north and south. + +Although the Indians gave them no trouble, the explorers suffered greatly +from cold and hunger, game being scarce and poor in the winter season. + +When spring came the party, now numbering thirty-two, again took up the +westward journey. All before them was new country. They met few Indians +and found themselves in one of the finest hunting-grounds in the world. +Sage-fowl and prairie-fowl, ducks of all sorts, swans, and wild cranes +were plentiful, while huge, flapping geese nested in the tops of the +cottonwood-trees. + +[Illustration: Buffalo Hunted by Indians.] + +Big game, such as buffalo, elk, antelope, whitetail and blacktail deer, +and big-horned sheep, was also abundant. It happened more than once that +the party was detained for an hour or more while a great herd of buffalo +ploughed their way down the bank of a river in a huge column. + +Many of the animals in this region were very tame, for they had not +learned to fear men. Yet among them the explorers found some dangerous +enemies. One was the grizzly bear, and another the rattlesnake. But the +greatest scourges of all were the tiny, buzzing mosquitoes, which beset +them in great swarms. + +The second autumn was almost upon them when they arrived at the headwaters +of the Missouri, and their hardest task was yet to be accomplished. Before +them rose the mountains. These, they knew, must be crossed before they +could hope to find any waterway to the coast. The boats in which they had +come thus far, now being useless, were left behind, and horses were +procured from a band of wandering Indians. + +Then they set out again on their journey, which presently became most +difficult. For nearly a month they painfully made their way through dense +forests, over steep mountains, and across raging torrents, whose icy water +chilled both man and beast. Sometimes storms of sleet and snow beat +pitilessly down upon them, and again they were almost overcome by +oppressive heat. + +Game was so scarce that the men often went hungry, and were even driven to +kill some of their horses for food. + +But brighter days were bound to come, and at last they reached a river +which flowed toward the west. They called it Lewis, and it proved to be a +branch of the Columbia, which led to the sea. With fresh courage they +built five canoes, in which the ragged, travel-worn but now triumphant men +made their way down-stream. The Indians whom they met were for the most +part friendly, welcoming them and providing them with food, though a few +tribes were troublesome. + +Before the cold of the second winter had set in they had reached the +forests on the Pacific coast, and here they stayed until spring, enduring +much hunger and cold, but learning many things about the habits of the +Indians. + +[Illustration: The Lewis and Clark Expedition Working Its Way Westward.] + +The next March, as soon as travel was safe, they gladly turned their faces +homeward, and after a fatiguing journey of about three months, reached the +Great Plains. + +Then the party separated for a time into two companies, Clark following +the course of the Yellowstone River, and Lewis the Missouri, planning to +meet where the two rivers united. + +This they succeeded in doing, though both parties were troubled somewhat +by Indians. The Crow Indians stole horses from Clark's party, and eight +Blackfoot warriors attacked Lewis and three of his men. But Lewis got the +better of them and captured four of their horses. + +The explorers suffered no further injury, and in September, 1806, about +two years and four months after starting out, they were back in St. Louis, +with their precious maps and notes. They had successfully carried out a +magnificent undertaking, and you may be sure they received a joyful +welcome from their friends. I wonder if any of you can tell which of our +world's fairs commemorated the leaders of this expedition. + +Through the efforts of these explorers the highway across the continent +became an established fact. When you think of the great trunk lines of +railroad, over which fast trains carry hundreds of passengers daily, stop +a moment and remember that it was little more than a hundred years ago +that we first began to know much about this region! + + +ANDREW JACKSON + +The next addition made to our expanding nation was in the extreme +southeast, and with it we associate the name of another of our Presidents, +Andrew Jackson. The story of how Florida came to be a part of the United +States will be more interesting if we know something of the career of the +picturesque hero who brought about its purchase. + +Andrew Jackson was born in Union County, North Carolina, in 1767, of poor +Scotch-Irish parents, who about two years before had come from Ireland. In +a little clearing in the woods they had built a rude log hut and settled +down to hard work. + +But Andrew's father soon died, and his mother went with her children to +live in her brother's home, where she spun flax to earn money. She was +very fond of little Andrew and hoped some day to make a minister of him. + +[Illustration: Andrew Jackson.] + +With this in view, she sent him to school, where he learned reading, +writing, and a little ciphering. But the little fellow loved nature better +than books and did not make great progress with lessons. You must +remember, however, that he was far from idle and that he did many hard and +brave tasks, worth being put into books for other boys to read. + +"Mischievous Andy," as he was called, was a barefooted, freckle-faced lad, +slender in body, with bright blue eyes and reddish hair, and was full of +life and fun. Although not robust, he was wiry and energetic, and excelled +in running, jumping, and all rough-and-tumble sports. If, when wrestling, +a stronger boy threw him to the ground, he was so agile that he always +managed to regain his feet. + +While he was yet a lad the Revolution broke out, and there was severe +fighting between the Americans and the British near his home. He was only +thirteen when he was made a prisoner of war. + +One day, soon after his capture, a British officer gave him a pair of +muddy boots to clean. The fiery youth flashed back: "Sir, I am not your +slave. I am your prisoner, and as such I refuse to do the work of a +slave." Angered by this reply, the brutal officer struck the boy a cruel +blow with his sword, inflicting two severe wounds. + +Andrew was kept in a prison pen about the Camden jail. As he was without +shelter and almost without food, the wounds refused to heal, and in his +weak and half-starved condition he fell a victim to smallpox. His mother, +hearing of her boy's wretched plight, secured his release and took him +home. He was ill for months, and before he entirely recovered his mother +died, leaving him quite alone in the world. + +In time, however, these early hardships passed, and some years later we +see Andrew, a young man of twenty-one, now become a lawyer. He is over six +feet tall, slender, straight, and graceful, with a long, slim face, and +thick hair falling over his forehead and shading his piercing blue eyes. +He has crossed the mountains with an emigrant party into the backwoods +region of Tennessee. + +The party arrived at Nashville, where their life was very much like that +of Daniel Boone in Kentucky. + +Young Jackson passed through many dangers without harm, and by his +industry and business ability became a successful lawyer and in time a +wealthy landowner. + +After his marriage he built, on a plantation of one thousand one hundred +acres, about ten miles from Nashville, a house which he called "The +Hermitage." Here he and his wife kept open house for visitors, treating +rich and poor with like hospitality. His warm heart and generous nature +were especially shown in his own household, where he was kind to all, +including his slaves. + +[Illustration: "The Hermitage," the Home of Andrew Jackson.] + +To the end of his life he had a childlike simplicity of nature. But we +must not think of him as a faultless man, for he was often rough in manner +and speech, and his violent temper got him into serious troubles. Among +them were some foolish duels. + +[Illustration: Fighting the Seminole Indians, under Jackson.] + +Yet, with all his faults, he was brave and patriotic and did splendid +service as a fighter in Indian wars. After one of his duels, with a ball +in his shoulder and his left arm in a sling, he went to lead an army of +two thousand five hundred men in an attack on the Creek Indians, who had +risen against the whites in Alabama. Although weak from a long illness, +Jackson marched with vigor against the Creeks, and after a campaign of +much hardship, badly defeated them at Horseshoe Bend, in eastern Alabama. +He thus broke for all time the power of the Indians south of the Ohio +River. + +Some three years later (1817) General Jackson, as he was now called, was +sent with a body of troops down to southern Georgia, to protect the people +there from the Seminole Indians, who lived in Florida. At this time +Florida belonged to Spain. Its vast swamps and dense forests made a place +of refuge from which outlaws, runaway negroes, and Indians all made a +practice of sallying forth in bands across the border into southern +Georgia. There they would drive off cattle, burn houses, and murder men, +women, and children without mercy. + +[Illustration: Jackson's Campaign.] + +When Jackson pursued these thieves and murderers, they retreated to their +hiding-places beyond the boundaries of Florida. But it was more than +Jackson could endure to see his enemy escape him so easily. And, although +he was exceeding his orders, he followed them across the border, burned +some of their villages, and hanged some of the Indian chiefs. He did not +stop until he had all of Florida under his control. + +This was a high-handed proceeding, for that territory belonged to Spain. +However, serious trouble was avoided by our buying Florida (1819). This +purchase added territory of fifty-nine thousand two hundred and +sixty-eight square miles to the United States. It was only six thousand +square miles less than the whole area of New England. + +By studying your map you can easily see how much the area of the United +States was extended by the purchase of Louisiana and of Florida. The +adding of these two large territories made America one of the great +nations of the world in landed estate. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. Tell all you can about Jefferson's boyhood. What kind of student was he +in college? + +2. How did he help his countrymen before taking up his public life? + +3. Why did the Westerners wish the Mississippi to be open to their trade? + +4. Why was Napoleon willing to sell us the whole of Louisiana? Use your +map in making clear to yourself just what the Louisiana Purchase included. + +5. Why did Jefferson send Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition? What +were the results of this expedition? + +6. What kind of boy was Andrew Jackson? What kind of man? + +7. What part did he take in the events leading up to the purchase of +Florida? + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS + + +After the purchase of Louisiana and the explorations of Lewis and Clark, +the number of settlers who went from the eastern part of the country to +find new homes in the West kept on increasing as it had been doing since +Boone, Robertson, and Sevier had pushed their way across the mountains +into Kentucky and Tennessee, twenty-five or thirty years earlier. + +These pioneers, if they went westward by land, had to load their goods on +pack-horses and follow the Indian trail. Later the trail was widened into +a roadway, and wagons could be used. But travel by land was slow and, hard +under any conditions. + +Going by water, while cheaper, was inconvenient, for the travellers must +use the flatboat, which was clumsy and slow and, worst of all, of little +use except when going down stream. + +The great need both for travel and for trade, then, was a boat which would +not be dependent upon wind or current, but could be propelled by steam. +Many men had tried to work out such an invention. Among them was John +Rumsey, of Maryland, who built a steamboat in 1774, and John Fitch, of +Connecticut, who completed his first model of a steamboat in 1785. + +In the next four years Fitch built three steamboats, the last of which +made regular trips on the Delaware River, between Philadelphia and +Burlington, during the summer of 1786. It was used as a passenger boat, +and it made a speed of eight miles an hour; but Fitch was not able to +secure enough aid from men of capital and influence to make his boats +permanently successful. + +The first man to construct a steamboat which continued to give successful +service was Robert Fulton. Robert Fulton was born of poor parents in +Little Britain, Pennsylvania, in 1765, the year of the famous Stamp Act. +When the boy was only three years old his father died, and so Robert was +brought up by his mother. She taught him at home until he was eight, and +then sent him to school. Here he showed an unusual liking for drawing. + +[Illustration: Robert Fulton.] + +Outside of school hours his special delight was to visit the shops of +mechanics, who humored the boy and let him work out his clever ideas with +his own hands. + +A story is told of how Robert came into school late one morning and gave +as his excuse that he had been at a shop beating a piece of lead into a +pencil. At the same time he took the pencil from his pocket, and showing +it to his teacher, said: "It is the best one I have ever used." Upon +carefully looking at the pencil, the schoolmaster was so well pleased that +he praised Robert's efforts, and in a short time nearly all the pupils +were using that kind of pencil. + +[Illustration: Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle-Wheels.] + +Another example of Robert's inventive gift belongs to his boyhood days. He +and one of his playmates from time to time went fishing in a flatboat, +which they propelled with long poles. It was hard work and slow, and +presently Robert thought out an easier way. He made two crude +paddle-wheels, attached one to each side of the boat, and connected them +with a sort of double crank. By turning this, the boys made the wheels +revolve, and these carried the boat through the water easily. We may be +sure that Robert's boat became very popular, and that turning the crank +was a privilege in which each boy eagerly took his turn. + +While still young, Robert began to paint pictures also. By the time he was +seventeen he had become skilful in the use of his brush and went to +Philadelphia to devote his time to painting portraits and miniatures. +Being a tireless worker, he earned enough here to support himself and send +something to his mother. + +At the age of twenty-one his interest in art led him to go to London, +where he studied for several years under Benjamin West. This famous master +took young Fulton into his household and was very friendly to him. + +After leaving West's studio Fulton still remained in England, and although +continuing to paint he gave much thought also to the development of canal +systems. His love for invention was getting the better of his love for art +and was leading him on to the work which made him famous. He was about +thirty when he finally gave up painting altogether and turned his whole +attention to inventing. + +He went from England to Paris, where he lived in the family of Joel +Barlow, an American poet and public man. Here he made successful +experiments with a diving boat which he had designed to carry cases of +gunpowder under water. This was one of the stages in the development of +our modern torpedo-boat. + +Although this invention alone would give Fulton a place in history, it was +not one which would affect so many people as the later one, the steamboat, +with which his name is more often associated. + +Even before he had begun to experiment with the torpedo-boat Fulton had +been deeply interested in steam navigation, and while in Paris he +constructed a steamboat. In this undertaking he was greatly aided by +Robert R. Livingston, American minister at the French court, who had +himself done some experimenting in that line. Livingston, therefore, was +glad to furnish the money which Fulton needed in order to build the boat. + +It was finished by the spring of 1803. But just as they were getting ready +for a trial trip, early one morning the boat broke in two parts and sank +to the bottom of the River Seine. The frame had been too weak to support +the weight of the heavy machinery. + +Having discovered just what was wrong in this first attempt, Fulton built +another steamboat soon after his return to America, in 1806. This boat was +one hundred and thirty feet long, eighteen feet wide, with mast and sail, +and had on each side a wheel fifteen feet across. + +On the morning of the day in August, 1807, set for the trial of the +Clermont--as Fulton called his boat--an expectant throng of curious +onlookers gathered on the banks of the North, or Hudson, River, at New +York. Everybody was looking for failure. For though Fitch's boats had made +trips in the Delaware only some twenty years earlier, the fact did not +seem to be generally known. People had all along spoken of Fulton as a +half-crazy dreamer and had called his boat "Fulton's Folly." "Of course, +the thing will not move," said one scoffer. "That any man with common +sense well knows," another replied. And yet they all stood watching for +Fulton's signal to start the boat. + +[Illustration: The "Clermont" in Duplicate at the Hudson-Fulton +Celebration, 1909.] + +The signal is given. A slight tremor of motion and the boat is still. +"There! What did I say?" cried one. "I told you so!" exclaimed another. "I +knew the boat would not go," said yet another. But they spoke too soon, +for after a little delay the wheels of the Clermont began to revolve, +slowly and hesitatingly at first, but soon with more speed, and the boat +steamed proudly off up the Hudson. + +As she moved forward, all along the river people who had come from far and +near stood watching the strange sight. When boatmen and sailors on the +Hudson heard the harsh clanking of machinery and saw the huge sparks and +dense black smoke rising out of her funnel, they thought that the Clermont +was a sea-monster. In fact, they were so frightened that some of them went +ashore, some jumped into the river to get away, and some fell on their +knees in fear, believing that their last day had come. It is said that one +old Dutchman exclaimed to his wife: "I have seen the devil coming up the +river on a raft!" + +The men who were working the boat had no such foolish fears. They set +themselves to their task and made the trip from New York to Albany, a +distance of one hundred and fifty miles, in thirty-two hours. Success had +at last come to the quiet, modest, persevering Fulton. After this trial +trip the Clermont was used as a regular passenger boat between New York +and Albany. + +The steamboat was Fulton's great gift to the world and his last work of +public interest. He died in 1815. + +But the Clermont was only the beginning of steam-driven craft on the +rivers and lakes of our country. Four years afterward (1811), the first +steamboat west of the Alleghany Mountains began its route from Pittsburg +down the Ohio, and a few years later similar craft were in use on the +Great Lakes. + + +THE NATIONAL ROAD AND THE ERIE CANAL + +But while steamboats made the rivers and lakes easy routes for travel and +traffic, something was needed to make journeys by land less difficult. To +meet this need, new highways had to be supplied, and this great work of +building public roads was taken up by the United States Government. Many +roads were built, but the most important was the one known as the National +Road. + +[Illustration: _From the painting by C.Y. Turner in the DeWitt Clinton +High School, New York._ + +The Opening of the Erie Canal in 1825.] + +It ran from Cumberland, on the Potomac, through Maryland and Pennsylvania +to Wheeling, West Virginia, on the Ohio River. From there it was extended +to Indiana and Illinois, ending at Vandalia, which at that time was the +capital of Illinois. It was seven hundred miles long, and cost seven +million dollars. + +This smooth and solid roadway was eighty feet wide; it was paved with +stone and covered with gravel. Transportation became not only much easier +but also much cheaper. The road filled a long-felt need and a flood of +travel and traffic immediately swept over it. + +[Illustration: _From the painting by C.Y. Turner in the DeWitt Clinton +High School, New York._ + +The Ceremony Called "The Marriage of the Waters."] + +Another kind of highway which proved to be of untold value to both the +East and the West, was the canal, or artificial waterway connecting two +bodies of water. + +The most important was the Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson River and +Lake Erie, begun in 1817. This new idea received the same scornful +attention from the unthinking as "Fulton's Folly." By many it was called +"Clinton's Ditch," after Governor DeWitt Clinton, to whose foresight we +are indebted for the building of this much-used waterway. The scoffers +shook their heads and said: "Clinton will bankrupt the State"; "The canal +is a great extravagance"; and so on. + +But he did not stop because of criticism, and in 1825 the canal was +finished. The undertaking had been pushed through in eight years. It was a +great triumph for Clinton and a proud day for the State. + +When the work was completed the news was signalled from Buffalo to New +York in a novel way. As you know, there was neither telephone nor +telegraph then. But at intervals of five miles all along the route cannon +were stationed. When the report from the first cannon was heard, the +second was fired, and thus the news went booming eastward till, in an hour +and a half, it reached New York. + +Clinton himself journeyed to New York in the canal-boat Seneca Chief. This +was drawn by four gray horses, which went along the tow-path beside the +canal. As the boat passed quietly along, people thronged the banks to do +honor to the occasion. + +When the Seneca Chief reached New York City, Governor Clinton, standing on +deck, lifted a gilded keg filled with water from Lake Erie and poured it +into the harbor. As he did so, he prayed that "the God of the heaven and +the earth" would smile upon the work just completed and make it useful to +the human race. Thus was dedicated this great waterway, whose usefulness +has more than fulfilled the hope of its chief promoter. + +[Illustration: Erie Canal on the Right and Aqueduct over the Mohawk River, +New York.] + +Trade between the East and the West began to grow rapidly. Vast quantities +of manufactured goods were moved easily from the East to the West, and +supplies of food were shipped in the opposite direction. Prices began to +fall because the cost of carrying goods was so much less. It cost ten +dollars before the canal was dug to carry a barrel of flour from Buffalo +to Albany; now it costs thirty cents. + +The region through which the canal ran was at that time mostly wilderness, +and for some years packets carrying passengers as well as freight were +drawn through the canal by horses travelling the tow-path along the bank. + +When travelling was so easy and safe, the number of people moving westward +to this region grew larger rapidly. Land was in demand and became more +valuable. Farm products sold at higher prices. Villages sprang up, +factories were built, and the older towns grew rapidly in size. The great +cities of New York State--and this is especially true of New York +City--owe much of their growth to the Erie Canal. + + +THE RAILROAD + +The steamboat, the national highways, and the canals were all great aids +to men in travel and in carrying goods. The next great improvement was the +use of steam-power to transport people and goods overland. It was brought +about by the railroad and the locomotive. + +[Illustration: "Tom Thumb," Peter Cooper's Locomotive Working Model. First +Used Near Baltimore in 1830.] + +In this country, the first laying of rails to make a level surface for +wheels to roll upon was at Quincy, Massachusetts. This railroad was three +miles long, extending from the quarry to the seacoast. The cars were drawn +by horses. + +Our first passenger railroad was begun in 1828. It was called the +Baltimore and Ohio and was the beginning of the railroad as we know it +to-day. But those early roads would seem very strange now. The rails were +of wood, covered with a thin strip of iron to protect the wood from wear. +Even as late as the Civil War rails of this kind were in use in some +places. The first cross-ties were of stone instead of wood, and the +locomotives and cars of early days were very crude. + +[Illustration: From an Old Time-table (furnished by the "A B C Pathfinder +Railway Guide"). Railroad Poster of 1843.] + +In 1833, people who were coming from the West to attend President +Jackson's second inauguration travelled part of the way by railroad. They +came over the National Road as far as Frederick, Maryland, and there left +it to enter a train of six cars, each accommodating sixteen persons. The +train was drawn by horses. In this manner they continued their journey to +Baltimore. + +In the autumn of that year a railroad was opened between New York and +Philadelphia. At first horses were used to draw the train, but by the end +of the year locomotives, which ran at the rate of fifteen miles an hour, +were introduced. This was a tremendous stride in the progress of railroad +traffic. + +[Illustration: Comparison of "DeWitt Clinton" Locomotive and Train, the +First Train Operated in New York, with a Modern Locomotive of the New York +Central R.R.] + +To be sure, the locomotives were small, but two or more started off +together, each drawing its own little train of cars. Behind the locomotive +was a car which was a mere platform with a row of benches, seating perhaps +forty passengers, inside of an open railing. Then followed four or five +cars looking very much like stage-coaches, each having three compartments, +with doors on each side. The last car was a high, open-railed van, in +which the baggage of the whole train was heaped up and covered with +oilcloth. How strange a train of this sort would look beside one of our +modern express-trains, with its huge engine, and its sleeping, dining, and +parlor cars! + +You will be surprised that any objection was raised to the railroad. Its +earliest use had been in England, and when there was talk of introducing +it in this country some people said: "If those who now travel by stage +take the railroad coaches, then stage-drivers will be thrown out of work!" +Little could they foresee what a huge army of men would find work on the +modern railroad. + +In spite of all obstacles and objections, the railroads, once begun, grew +rapidly in favor. In 1833 there were scarcely three hundred and eighty +miles of railroad in the United States; now there are more than two +hundred and forty thousand miles. + + +MORSE AND THE TELEGRAPH + +The next stride which Progress made seemed even more wonderful. Having +contrived an easier and a quicker way to move men and their belongings +from one place to another, what should she do but whisper in the ear of a +thinking man: "You can make thought travel many times faster." The man +whose inventive genius made it possible for men to flash their thoughts +thousands of miles in a few seconds of time was Samuel Finley Breese +Morse. + +He was born in 1791, in Charlestown, Massachusetts. His father was a +learned minister, who "was always thinking, always writing, always +talking, always acting"; and his mother was a woman of noble character, +who inspired her son with lofty purpose. + +When he was seven he went to Andover, Massachusetts, to school, and still +later entered Phillips Academy in the same town. At fourteen he entered +Yale College, where from the first he was a good, faithful student. + +[Illustration: S.F.B. Morse.] + +As his father was poor, Finley had to help himself along, and was able to +do it by painting, on ivory, likenesses of his classmates and professors, +for which he received from one dollar to five dollars each. In this way he +made considerable money. + +At the end of his college course he made painting his chosen profession +and went to London, where he studied four years under Benjamin West. +Though for some years he divided his time and effort between painting and +invention, he at last decided to devote himself wholly to invention. This +change in his life-work was the outcome of an incident which took place on +a second voyage home from Europe, where he had been spending another +period in study. + +On the ocean steamer the conversation at dinner one day was about some +experiments with electricity. One of the men present said that so far as +had been learned from experiment electricity passes through any length of +wire in a second of time. + +"Then," said Morse, "thought can be transmitted hundreds of miles in a +moment by means of electricity; for, if electricity will go ten miles +without stopping, I can make it go around the globe." + +[Illustration: The First Telegraph Instrument.] + +When once he began to think about this great possibility, the thought held +him in its grip. In fact, it shut out all others. Through busy days and +sleepless nights he turned it over and over. And often, while engaged in +other duties, he would snatch his notebook from his pocket in order to +outline the new instrument he had in mind and jot down the signs he would +use in sending messages. + +It was not long before he had worked out on paper the whole scheme of +transmitting thought over long distances by means of electricity. + +And now began twelve toilsome years of struggle to plan and work out +machinery for his invention. All these years he had to earn money for the +support of his three motherless children. So he gave up to painting much +time that he would otherwise have spent upon his invention. His progress, +therefore, was slow and painful, but he pressed forward. He was not the +kind of man to give up. + +In a room on the fifth floor of a building in New York City he toiled at +his experiments day and night, with little food, and that of the simplest +kind. Indeed so meagre was his fare, mainly crackers and tea, that he +bought provisions at night in order to keep his friends from finding out +how great his need was. + +[Illustration: Modern Telegraph Office.] + +During this time of hardship all that kept starvation from his door was +lessons in painting to a few pupils. On a certain occasion Morse said to +one of them, who owed him for a few months' teaching: "Well, Strothers, my +boy, how are we off for money?" + +"Professor," said the young fellow, "I am sorry to say I have been +disappointed, but I expect the money next week." + +"Next week!" cried his needy teacher; "I shall be dead by next week." + +"Dead, sir?" was the shocked response of Strothers. + +"Yes, dead by starvation!" was the emphatic answer. + +"Would ten dollars be of any service?" asked the pupil, now seeing that +the situation was serious. + +"Ten dollars would save my life," was the reply of the poor man, who had +been without food for twenty-four hours. You may be sure that Strothers +promptly handed him the money. + +But in spite of heavy trials and many discouragements, he had by 1837 +finished a machine which he exhibited in New York, although he did not +secure a patent until 1840. + +[Illustration: The Operation of the Modern Railroad is Dependent upon the +Telegraph.] + +Then followed a tedious effort to induce the government at Washington to +vote money for his great enterprise. Finally, after much delay, the House +of Representatives passed a bill "appropriating thirty thousand dollars +for a trial of the telegraph." + +As you may know, a bill cannot become a law unless the Senate also passes +it. But the Senate did not seem friendly to this one. Many believed that +the whole idea of the telegraph was rank folly. They thought of Morse and +the telegraph very much as people had thought of Fulton and the steamboat, +and made fun of him as a crazy-brained fellow. + +Up to the evening of the last day of the session the bill had not been +taken up by the Senate. Morse sat anxiously waiting in the Senate Chamber +until nearly midnight, when, believing there was no longer any hope, he +left the room and went home with a heavy heart. + +Imagine his surprise the next morning, when a young woman, Miss Ellsworth, +congratulated him at breakfast upon the passage of his bill. At first he +could scarcely believe the good news, but when he found that she was +telling him the truth his joy was unbounded, and he promised her that she +should choose the first message. + +By the next year (1844) a telegraph-line, extending from Baltimore to +Washington, was ready for use. On the day appointed for trial Morse met a +party of friends in the chambers of the Supreme Court at the Washington +end of the line and, sitting at the instrument which he had himself placed +for trial, the happy inventor sent the message selected by Miss Ellsworth: +"What hath God wrought!" + +The telegraph was a great and brilliant achievement, and brought to its +inventor well-earned fame. Now that success had come, honors were showered +upon him by many countries. At the suggestion of the French Emperor, +representatives from many countries in Europe met in Paris to decide upon +some suitable testimonial to Morse as one who had done so much for the +world. These delegates voted him a sum amounting to eighty thousand +dollars as a token of appreciation for his great invention. + +In 1872 this noble inventor, at the ripe age of eighty-one, breathed his +last. The grief of the people all over the land was strong proof of the +place he held in the hearts of his countrymen. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. Tell all you can about John Fitch's steamboats. + +2. Give examples which indicate young Fulton's inventive gifts. Imagine +yourself on the banks of the North River on the day set for the trial of +the Clermont, and tell what happened. + +3. What and where was the National Road? + +4. In what ways was the Erie Canal useful to the people? + +5. Describe the first railroads and the first trains. + +6. Tell what you can about Morse's twelve toilsome years of struggle while +he was working out his great invention. How is the telegraph useful to +men? + +7. What do you admire about Morse? + +8. Are you making frequent use of your map? + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE REPUBLIC GROWS LARGER + + +SAM HOUSTON + +In a preceding chapter you learned how the great territories of Louisiana +and Florida came to belong to America. We are now to learn of still other +additions, namely, the great regions of Texas and California. + +The most prominent man in the events connected with our getting Texas was +Sam Houston. + +[Illustration: Sam Houston.] + +He was born, of Irish descent, in 1793, in a farmhouse in Virginia. When +he was thirteen years old the family removed to a place in Tennessee, near +the home of the Cherokee Indians. The boy received but little schooling +out in that new country. In fact, he cared far less about school than he +did for the active, free life of his Indian neighbors. + +So when his family decided to have him learn a trade he ran away from home +and joined the Cherokees. There he made friends, and one of the chiefs +adopted him as a son. We may think of him as enjoying the sports and +games, the hunting and fishing, which took up so much of the time of the +Indian boys. + +On returning to his home, at the age of eighteen, he went to school for a +term at Marysville Academy. In the War of 1812 he became a soldier and +served under Andrew Jackson in the campaign against the Creek Indians. In +the battle of Horseshoe Bend he fought with reckless bravery. During that +fearful struggle he received a wound in the thigh. His commander, Jackson, +then ordered him to stop fighting, but Houston refused to obey and was +leading a desperate charge against the enemy when his right arm was +shattered. It was a long time before he was well and strong again, but he +had made a firm friend in Andrew Jackson. + +Later Houston studied law and began a successful practice. He became so +popular in Tennessee that the people elected him to many positions of +honor and trust, the last of which was that of governor. About that time +he was married, but a few weeks later he and his wife separated. Then, +suddenly and without giving any reason for his strange conduct, he left +his home and his State and went far up the Arkansas River to the home of +his early friends the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokees had been removed to +that distant country, beyond the Mississippi, by the United States +Government. + +About a year later Houston, wearing the garb of his adopted tribe, went in +company with some of them to Washington. His stated purpose was to secure +a contract for furnishing rations to the Cherokees. + +But another purpose was in his mind. He had set his heart on winning Texas +for the United States. Perhaps he talked over the scheme with his friend, +President Jackson. However that may be, we know that some three years +afterward Houston again left his Cherokee friends and went to Texas to +live. His desire to secure this region for his country was as strong as +ever. + +[Illustration: Scene of Houston's Campaign.] + +At that time Texas was a part of Mexico. Already before Houston went down +to that far-away land many people from the United States had begun to +settle there. At first they were welcomed. But when the Mexicans saw the +Americans rapidly growing in numbers they began to oppress them. The +Mexican Government went so far as to require them to give up their private +arms, which would leave them defenseless against the Indians as well as +bad men. Then it passed a law which said, in effect, that no more settlers +should come to Texas from the United States, so that the few thousand +Americans could not be strengthened in numbers. + +[Illustration: Flag of the Republic of Texas.] + +Of course, the Texans were indignant, and they rebelled against Mexico, +declaring Texas to be an independent republic. At the same time they +elected Houston commander-in-chief of all the Texan troops. This began a +bitter war. The Mexican dictator, Santa Anna, with an army four or five +thousand strong, marched into Texas to force the people to submit to the +government. + +The first important event of this struggle was the capture of the Alamo, +an old Texan fortress at San Antonio. Although the garrison numbered only +one hundred and forty, they were men of reckless daring, without fear, and +they determined to fight to the last. + + +DAVID CROCKETT + +Among these hardy fighters was David Crockett, a pioneer and adventurer +who had led a wild, roving life. He was a famous hunter and marksman and, +like some of our other frontiersmen, was never happier than when he was +alone in the deep, dark forests. + +Born in eastern Tennessee, in 1786, he received no schooling, but he was a +man of good understanding. His amusing stories and his skill with the +rifle had made him many friends, who chose him to represent their district +in the Tennessee Legislature and later in Congress. + +[Illustration: David Crockett.] + +Like Sam Houston, he had served under Andrew Jackson in the war with the +Creek Indians, and when the struggle with Mexico broke out he was one of +the many brave backwoodsmen who left their homes and went down to help the +Texans. + +After a long journey from Tennessee, in which more than once he came near +being killed by the Indians or wild beasts, he at last reached the +fortress of the Alamo. He knew he was taking great risks in joining the +small garrison there, but that did not hold him back. In fact, he liked +danger. + +The Mexican army, upon reaching San Antonio, began firing upon the Alamo. +Their cannon riddled the fort, making wide breaches in the weak outer +walls through which from every side thousands of Mexicans thronged into +it. The Americans emptied their muskets and then fought with knives and +revolvers. They fought with desperate bravery until only five of the +soldiers were left. + +[Illustration: The Fight at the Alamo.] + +One of these was David Crockett. He had turned his musket about and was +using it as a club in his desperate struggle with the scores of men who +sought his life. There he stood, his back against the wall, with the +bodies of the Mexicans he had slain lying in a semicircle about him. His +foes dared not rush upon him, but some of them held him at bay with their +lances, while others, having loaded their muskets, riddled his body with +bullets. Thus fell brave David Crockett, a martyr to his country's cause. + + * * * * * + +A few weeks after the tragedy of the Alamo, Santa Anna's army massacred a +force of five hundred Texans at Goliad. The outlook for the Texan cause +was now dark enough. But Sam Houston, who commanded something like seven +hundred Texans, would not give up. He retreated eastward for some two +hundred and fifty miles. But when he learned that Santa Anna had broken up +his army into three divisions and was approaching with only about one +thousand six hundred men Houston halted his troops and waited for them to +come up. On their approach he stood ready for attack in a well-chosen spot +near the San Jacinto River, where he defeated Santa Anna and took him +prisoner. + +The Texans now organized a separate government, and in the following +autumn elected Houston as the first President of the Republic of Texas. He +did all he could to bring about the annexation of Texas to the United +States and at last succeeded, for Texas entered our Union in 1845. It was +to be expected that the people of Mexico would not like this. They were +very angry, and the outcome was the Mexican War which lasted nearly two +years. + +In 1846 Texas sent Houston to the United States Senate, where he served +his State for fourteen years. When the Civil War broke out he was governor +of Texas and, although his State seceded, Houston remained firm for the +Union. On his refusal to resign, he was forced to give up his office. He +died in 1863. + + +JOHN C. FREMONT THE PATHFINDER + +Still another man who acted as agent in this transfer of land from Mexico +was John C. Fremont. He helped in securing California. + +He was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1813. His father died when he was a +young child, and his mother went to Charleston, South Carolina, to live, +and there gave her son a good education. After graduating from Charleston +College he was employed by the government as assistant engineer in making +surveys for a railroad between Charleston and Cincinnati, and also in +exploring the mountain passes between North Carolina and Tennessee. + +[Illustration: John C. Fremont] + +He enjoyed this work so much that he was eager to explore the regions of +the far western part of our country, which were still largely unknown. +Accordingly, he made several expeditions beyond the Rocky Mountains, three +of which are of special importance in our story. + +His first expedition was made in 1842, when he was sent out by the War +Department to explore the Rocky Mountains, especially the South Pass, +which is in the State of Wyoming. He made his way up the Kansas River, +crossed over to the Platte, which he ascended, and then pushed on to the +South Pass. Four months after starting he had explored this pass and, with +four of his men, had gone up to the top of Fremont's Peak, where he +unfurled to the breeze the beautiful stars and stripes. + +The excellent report he made of the expedition was examined with much +interest by men of science in our own country and in foreign lands. + +In this and also in his second expedition Fremont received much help from +a follower, Kit Carson. Kit Carson was one of the famous scouts and +hunters of the West, who felt smothered by the civilization of a town or +city, and loved the free, roaming life of the woodsman. + +[Illustration: Fremont's Expedition Crossing the Rocky Mountains.] + +Before joining Fremont, Kit Carson had travelled over nearly all of the +Rocky Mountain country. Up to 1834 he was a trapper, and had wandered back +and forth among the mountains until they had become very familiar to him. +During the next eight years, in which he served as hunter for Bent's Fort, +on the Arkansas River, he learned to know the great plains. He was, +therefore, very useful to Fremont as a guide. + +He was also well acquainted with many Indian tribes. He knew their +customs, he understood their methods of warfare, and was well liked by the +Indians themselves. He spoke their chief languages as well as he did his +mother tongue. + +After returning from his first expedition, Fremont made up his mind to +explore the region between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. He +succeeded in getting orders from the government to do this, and set out on +his second expedition in May, 1843, with thirty-nine men, Kit Carson again +acting as guide. + +[Illustration: Kit Carson.] + +The party left the little town of Kansas City in May and, in September, +after travelling for one thousand seven hundred miles, they reached a vast +expanse of water which excited great interest. It was much larger than the +whole State of Delaware, and its waters were salt. It was, therefore, +given the name of Great Salt Lake. + +Passing on, Fremont reached the upper branch of the Columbia River. Then +pushing forward down the valley of this river, he went as far as Fort +Vancouver, near its mouth. Having reached the coast, he remained only a +few days and then set out on his return (November 10). + +His plan was to make his way around the Great Basin, a vast, deep valley +lying east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But it was not long before +heavy snow on the mountains forced him to go down into this basin. He soon +found that he was in a wild desert region in the depths of winter, facing +death from cold and starvation. The situation was desperate. + +Fremont judged that they were about as far south as San Francisco Bay. If +this was true, he knew that the distance to that place was only about +seventy miles. But to reach San Francisco Bay it was necessary to cross +the mountains, and the Indians refused to act as guides, telling him that +men could not possibly cross the steep, rugged heights in winter. This did +not stop Fremont. He said: "We'll go, guides or no guides!" And go they +did. + +It was a terrible journey. Sometimes they came to places where the snow +was one hundred feet deep or more. But they pushed forward for nearly six +weeks. Finally, after suffering from intense cold and from lack of food, +they made their way down the western side of the mountains, men and horses +alike being in such a starved condition that they were almost walking +skeletons. + +At last they reached Sutter's Fort, now the city of Sacramento, where they +enjoyed the hospitality of Captain Sutter. After remaining there for a +short time, Fremont recrossed the mountains, five hundred miles farther +south, and continued to Utah Lake, which is twenty-eight miles south of +Great Salt Lake. He had travelled entirely around the Great Basin. + +From Utah Lake he hastened across the country to Washington, with the +account of his journey and of the discoveries he had made. + +In 1845 Captain Fremont--for he had now been promoted to the rank of +captain by the government--started out on his third expedition, with the +purpose of exploring the Great Basin and then proceeding to the coast of +what is now California and upward to Oregon. + +[Illustration: Fremont's Western Explorations.] + +Having explored the basin, he was on his way to Oregon, when he learned +that the Mexicans were plotting to kill all the Americans in the valley of +the Sacramento River. He therefore turned back to northern California, and +with a force made up in part of American settlers gathered from the +country round about, he took possession of that region, marched as fast as +possible to Monterey, and captured that place also. Within about two +months he had conquered practically all of California for the United +States. + +Fremont then made his home in California. On the 4th of the following July +he was elected governor of the territory by the settlers then living +there. Eleven years later the Republican party of the United States +nominated him for President, but failed to elect him. He died in 1890. He +has well been called "the Pathfinder." + +Fremont's conquest of California was, in effect, a part of the Mexican +War, which began in 1846. After nearly two years of fighting a treaty of +peace was signed, by which Mexico ceded to the United States not only +California but also much of the vast region now included in Nevada, Utah, +Arizona, and New Mexico. + +This region, which is called the Mexican Cession, contained five hundred +and forty-five thousand seven hundred and eighty-three square miles, while +Texas included five hundred and seventy-six thousand one hundred and +thirty-three square miles. These two areas together were, like Louisiana, +much larger than the whole of the United States at the end of the +Revolution. With the addition of Louisiana in 1803, of Florida in 1819, of +Texas in 1845, and of this region in 1848, the United States had +enormously increased her territory. + + +THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD + +On the same day on which the treaty of peace was signed with Mexico +(February 2, 1848), gold was discovered in California. + +Captain Sutter, a Swiss pioneer living near the site of the present city +of Sacramento--at Sutter's Fort, where Fremont stopped on his second +expedition--was having a water-power sawmill built up the river at some +distance from his home. One day one of the workmen, while walking along +the mill-race, discovered some bright yellow particles, the largest of +which were about the size of grains of wheat. On testing them, Captain +Sutter found that they were gold. + +[Illustration: Sutter's Mill.] + +He tried to keep the discovery a secret, but it was impossible to prevent +the news from spreading. "_Gold! Gold! Gold!_" seemed to ring through +the air. From all the neighboring country men started in a mad rush for +the gold-fields. Houses were left half built, fields half ploughed. "To +the diggings!" was the watchword. From the mountains to the coast, from +San Francisco to Los Angeles, settlements were abandoned. Even vessels +that came into the harbor of San Francisco were deserted by their crews, +sailors and captains alike being wild in their desire to dig for gold. + +Within four months of the first discovery four thousand men were living in +the neighborhood of Sacramento. The sudden coming together of so many +people made it difficult to get supplies, and they rose in value. Tools of +many kinds sold for large prices. Pickaxes, crowbars, and spades cost from +ten dollars to fifty dollars apiece. Bowls, trays, dishes, and even +warming-pans were eagerly sought, because they could be used in washing +gold. + +It was late in the year before people in the East learned of the +discovery, for news still travelled slowly. But when it arrived, men of +every class--farmers, mechanics, lawyers, doctors, and even +ministers--started West. + +The journey might be made in three ways. One was by sailing-vessels around +Cape Horn. This route took from five to seven months. Another way was to +sail from some Eastern port to the Isthmus of Panama, and crossing this, +to take ship to San Francisco. The third route was overland, from what is +now St. Joseph, Missouri, and required three or four months. This could +not be taken until spring, and some who were unwilling to wait started at +once by the water-routes. + +Men were so eager to go that often several joined together to buy an +outfit of oxen, mules, wagons, and provisions. They made the journey in +covered wagons called "prairie-schooners," while their goods followed in +peddlers' carts. It often happened that out on the plains they missed +their way, for there was no travelled road, and a compass was as necessary +as if they had been on the ocean. + +[Illustration: Placer-Mining in the days of the California Gold Rush.] + +Journeying thus by day, and camping by night, they suffered many hardships +while on the way. Disease laid hold of them. Four thousand died from +cholera during the first year, and many more for lack of suitable food. In +some cases they had to kill and eat their mules, and at times they lived +on rattlesnakes. The scattered bones of men and beasts marked the trail; +for in the frantic desire to reach the diggings the wayfarers would not +always stop to bury their dead. + +When the gold region was reached, tents, wigwams, bark huts, and brush +arbors served as shelter. The men did their own cooking, washing, and +mending, and food soared to famine prices. A woman or a child was a rare +sight in all that eager throng, for men in their haste had left their +families behind. + +It was a time of great excitement. Perhaps you have a grandparent who can +tell you something of those stirring days. The gold craze of '49 is a +never-to-be-forgotten event in our history. As the search for nuggets and +gold-dust became less fruitful, many of the men turned homeward, some +enriched and some--alas!--having lost all they possessed. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What kind of boy was Houston? What kind of man? What did he do for +Texas? + +2. Tell about David Crockett's heroism at the Alamo. + +3. When reading about Fremont's explorations look up on the map every one +of them. What do you think of him? + +4. Who was Kit Carson, and how did he help Fremont? + +5. Locate on your map every acquisition of territory from the end of the +Revolution to 1848. + +6. Imagine yourself going to California across the plains and mountains in +1849, and give an account of your experiences. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THREE GREAT STATESMEN + + +JOHN C. CALHOUN + +The territory which we obtained from Mexico added much to the vastness of +our country. But it led to a bitter dispute between the North and the +South over slavery. For the North said: "All this territory shall be +free." The South said: "It must all be open to slavery." + +[Illustration: John C. Calhoun.] + +The trouble over slavery was no new thing. It had begun to be really +serious and dangerous many years before the Mexican War. To understand +why, a year or two after the close of this war, there should be such deep +and violent feeling over the question of making the territory free or +opening it to slavery, we must go back to some earlier events in the +history of the Union. + +In doing so, we shall find it simpler to follow the careers of three great +statesmen, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Daniel Webster, who took each +a prominent part in the events. + +John C. Calhoun, born in South Carolina in 1782, was the youngest but one +of a family of five children. His father died when he was only thirteen, +and until he was eighteen he remained on the farm, living a quiet, simple +out-of-door life, ploughing, hunting, riding, and fishing. + +Then his brother, who had observed John's quickness of mind, persuaded him +to get an education. After studying two years and a quarter in an academy, +he entered the junior class at Yale College. Graduating in 1804, he at +once took a course in the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, and then +returned home to complete his studies for the bar. + +[Illustration: Calhoun's Office and Library.] + +Calhoun's conduct in school was above reproach, and as a man he was always +steady and serious-minded. During the early years of his public life he +won much praise for his close attention to work, his stately speeches, and +his courteous manners. His slender and erect form, his dignified bearing, +and his piercing dark eyes made him an impressive figure; while, as a +speaker, his powerful voice and winning manner were sure to command +attention. + +In 1808 he entered the South Carolina Legislature. This was the beginning +of his long public career of more than forty years. During this time he +served his country as a representative in Congress, Secretary of War, +Vice-President of the United States, Secretary of State, and United States +senator. + +In all these many years he was a prominent leader, especially in those +events which concerned the slave-holding Southern planter. This we shall +see later, after we have made the acquaintance of the second of the +powerful trio of great statesmen, Henry Clay. + + +HENRY CLAY + +Henry Clay was born near Richmond, Virginia, in 1777, in a low, level +region called "the Slashes." He was one of seven children. His father was +a Baptist clergyman, of fine voice and pleasing manner of speaking. He +died when little Henry was four years old, leaving but a small sum for his +family to live upon. + +Henry went, like the other boys of "the Slashes," to a tiny log school +without windows or floor. The schoolmaster, who knew very little himself, +taught the boys to read, write, and cipher. But that was all. + +Outside of school hours Henry shared in the farm work. He helped with the +ploughing and often rode the family pony to the mill, using a rope for a +bridle and a bag of corn, wheat, meal, or flour for a saddle. For this +reason he has been called "the Mill Boy of the Slashes." + +[Illustration: Henry Clay.] + +When fourteen years old he was given a place as clerk in a Richmond drug +store. But he was not to stay there long, for about this time his mother +married again, and his stepfather became interested in him. Realizing that +Henry was a boy of unusual ability, he secured for him a place as copying +clerk in the office of the Court of Chancery at Richmond. + +[Illustration: The Birthplace of Henry Clay, near Richmond.] + +Henry was fifteen years old, tall, thin, and homely, when he entered this +office. The other clerks were inclined to jeer at his awkwardness and his +plain, home-made, ill-fitting clothes. But Henry's sharp retorts quickly +silenced them, and they soon grew to respect and like him. He was an +earnest student. He stayed indoors and read in the evenings, while the +other young fellows were idling about the town. He was eager to do +something in the world. His opportunity soon came in the ordinary course +of his daily work. His fine handwriting attracted the notice of the +chancellor, a very able lawyer. This man was wise and kindly and had a +deep influence on his young friend. + +[Illustration: The Schoolhouse in "the Slashes."] + +Clay joined the Richmond Debating Society and soon became the star +speaker. He improved his speaking by studying daily some passage in a book +of history or science, and then going out into a quiet place and +declaiming what he had learned. + +The chancellor knew about this, and it pleased him. He advised Henry Clay +to study law, and within a year after his studies began, when he was only +twenty-one years old, he was admitted to the bar. + +To begin his law practice, he went to Lexington, Kentucky, which was then +a small place of not more than fifty houses; but Clay very soon built up a +good practice. Although he had arrived with scarcely a penny, within a +year and a half he had been so successful that he was able to marry the +daughter of a leading family. He soon owned a beautiful estate near +Lexington, which he called "Ashland," and with it several slaves. + +He became a great favorite among the people of the State, largely because +he was absolutely truthful and honest in all his dealings. He was also +talented, good-natured, and friendly to all. It is said that no man has +ever had such power to influence a Kentucky jury as Clay. + +Twice he was sent to the United States Senate to fill seats left vacant by +resignation, and here his power as a speaker was so marked that when it +was known that he would address the Senate the galleries were always full. + +Such was the beginning of his life as a statesman. It lasted some forty +years, and during this long period he was a prominent leader in the great +events having to do with the country's future. + +He filled various national offices. He was Speaker of the House of +Representatives for many years, was four years Secretary of State, and +during much more than half of the time between 1831 and 1852 he was in the +United States Senate. Three times he was a candidate for President, but +each time he failed of election. + +He would not swerve by a hair's breadth from what he considered his duty, +even for party ends. "I would rather be right than be President," he said, +and men knew that he was sincere. + +Living in a Southern State, he would naturally have the interests of the +South at heart. But he did not always take her part. While Calhoun was apt +to see but one side of a question, Clay was inclined to see something of +both sides and to present his views in such a way as to bring about a +settlement. Therefore he was called "the Great Peacemaker." + +His most important work as a peacemaker had to do with the Missouri +Compromise (1820), the compromise tariff (1833), and the Compromise of +1850--all of which we look into a little farther on, after we come to know +something about the last and perhaps the greatest of our three statesmen, +Daniel Webster. For all three were interested in the same great movement. + + +DANIEL WEBSTER + +Daniel Webster was born among the hills of New Hampshire, in 1782, the son +of a poor farmer, and the ninth of ten children. As he was a frail child, +not able to work much on the farm, his parents permitted him to spend much +of his time fishing, hunting, and roaming at will over the hills. Thus he +came into close touch with nature and absorbed a kind of knowledge which +was very useful to him in later years. + +He was always learning things, sometimes in most unusual ways, as is shown +by an incident which took place when he was only eight years old. Having +seen in a store near his home a small cotton handkerchief with the +Constitution of the United States printed upon it, he gathered up his +small earnings to the amount of twenty-five cents and eagerly secured the +treasure. From this unusual copy he learned the Constitution, word for +word, so that he could repeat it from beginning to end. + +[Illustration: Daniel Webster.] + +Of course, this was a most remarkable thing for an eight-year-old boy to +do, but the boy was himself remarkable. He spent much of his time poring +over books. They were few in number but of good quality, and he read them +over and over again until they became a part of himself. It gave him keen +pleasure to memorize fine poems and also noble selections from the Bible, +for he learned easily and remembered well what he learned. In this way he +stored his mind with the highest kind of truth. + +When he was fourteen his father sent him to Phillips Exeter Academy. The +boys he met there were mostly from homes of wealth and culture. Some of +them were rude and laughed at Daniel's plain dress and country manners. Of +course, the poor boy, whose health was not robust and who was by nature +shy and independent, found such treatment hard to bear. But he studied +well and soon commanded respect because of his good work. + +After leaving this school he studied for six months under a private tutor, +and at the age of fifteen he was prepared to enter Dartmouth College. +Although he proved himself to be a youth of unusual mental power, he did +not take high rank in scholarship. But he continued to read widely and +thoughtfully and stored up much valuable knowledge, which later he used +with clearness and force in conversation and debate. + +After being graduated from college Daniel taught for a year and earned +money enough to help pay his brother's college expenses. The following +year he studied law and in due time was admitted to the bar. As a lawyer +he was very successful, his income sometimes amounting to twenty thousand +dollars in a single year. In those days that was a very large sum. + +But he could not manage his money affairs well and, no matter how large +his income, he was always in debt. This unfortunate state of affairs was +owing to a reckless extravagance, which he displayed in many ways. + +Indeed, Webster was a man of such large ideas that of necessity he did all +things on a large scale. It was vastness that appealed to him. And this +ruling force in his nature explains his eagerness to keep the Union whole +and supreme over the States. This we shall soon clearly see. + + +SLAVERY AND THE TARIFF + +Having taken this glimpse of our three heroes, let us see how the great +events of their time were largely moulded by their influence. All of these +events, as we are soon to learn, had a direct bearing on slavery, and that +was the great question of the day. + +Up to the Revolution there was slavery in all the thirteen colonies. Some +of them wished to get rid of it; but England, the mother country, would +not allow them to do so, because she profited by the trade in slaves. +After the Revolution, however, when the States were free to do as they +pleased about slavery, some put an end to it on their own soil, and in +time Pennsylvania and the States to the north and east of it became free +States. + +Many people then believed that slavery would by degrees die out of the +land, and perhaps this would have happened if the growing of cotton had +not been made profitable by Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton-gin. + +After that invention came into use, instead of slavery's dying out, it +took a much stronger hold upon the planters of the South than it had ever +done before. + +This fact became very evident when Missouri applied for admission into the +Union. The South, of course, wished it to come into the Union as a slave +State; the North, fearing the extension of slavery into the Louisiana +Purchase, was equally set upon its coming in as a free State. + +The struggle over the question was a long and bitter one, but finally both +the North and the South agreed to give up a part of what they wanted; that +is, they agreed upon a compromise. It was this: Missouri was to enter the +Union as a slave State, but slavery was not to be allowed in any part of +the Louisiana Purchase which lay north or west of Missouri. This was +called the Missouri Compromise (1820). + +It was brought about largely through the eloquence and power of Henry +Clay, and because of his part in it he was called "the Great Peacemaker." +But Calhoun was one of the men who did not think the Missouri Compromise +was a good thing for the country. He therefore strongly opposed it. + +The next clash between the free States and the slave States was caused by +the question of the tariff, or tax upon goods brought from foreign +countries. Not long after the Missouri Compromise was agreed upon, +Northern manufacturers were urging Congress to pass a high-tariff law. +They said that, inasmuch as factory labor in England was so much cheaper +than in this country, goods made in England could be sold for less money +here than our own factory-made goods, unless a law was passed requiring a +tax, or duty, to be paid upon the goods brought over. Such a tax was +called a protective tariff. + +Calhoun, who voiced the feeling of the Southern planters, said: "This high +tariff is unfair, for, while it protects the Northern man, it makes us of +the South poorer, because we have to pay so high for the things we do not +make." + +You understand, there were no factories in the South, for the people were +mostly planters. With the cheap slave labor, a Southern man could make +more money by raising rice, cotton, sugar, or tobacco than he could by +manufacturing. Also, it was thought that the soil and climate of the South +made that section better fitted for agriculture than for anything else. + +"So the South should be allowed," said Calhoun, "to buy the manufactured +goods--such as cheap clothing for her slaves, and household tools and +farming implements--where she can buy them at the lowest prices." + +[Illustration: The Home of Daniel Webster, Marshfield, Mass.] + +But in spite of this bitter opposition in the South, Congress passed the +high-tariff law in 1828, and another in 1832. + +The people of South Carolina were indignant. So, under the guidance of +Calhoun, some of the leading men there met in convention and declared: "We +here and now nullify the tariff laws." By these words they meant that the +laws should not be carried out in South Carolina. Then they added: "If the +United States Government tries to enforce these laws on our soil, South +Carolina will go out of the Union and form a separate nation." + +Andrew Jackson was at that time President of the United States. Although +he himself did not favor a high tariff, he was firm in his purpose that +whatever law Congress might pass should be enforced in every State in the +Union. When the news came to him of what South Carolina had done, he was +quietly smoking his corn-cob pipe. In a flash of anger he declared: "The +Union! It must and shall be preserved! Send for General Scott!" General +Scott was commander of the United States army, and "Old Hickory," as +President Jackson was proudly called by many of his admirers, was ready to +use the army and the navy, if necessary, to force any State to obey the +law. + +In this bitter controversy Daniel Webster, then senator from +Massachusetts, had taken a bold stand for the Union. He said: "Congress +passed the tariff law for the whole country. If the Supreme Court decides +that Congress has the power, according to the Constitution, to pass such a +law, that settles the matter. South Carolina and every other State must +submit to this and every other law which Congress sees fit to make." + +This shows clearly that Daniel Webster's belief was that the Union stood +first and the State second. His deep love for the Union breathes all +through his masterly speeches, the most famous of which is his "Reply to +Hayne." Hayne, a senator from South Carolina, was on the side of the South +and set forth its views in a public debate. He had declared that the State +was first and the Union second, and so powerful seemed his arguments that +many doubted whether even Daniel Webster could answer them. + +But he did answer them. In a remarkable speech of four hours he held his +listeners spellbound, while he argued, with wonderful eloquence and power, +that the Union was supreme over the States. + +Again the great peacemaker, Henry Clay, brought forward a plan of settling +the trouble between the two sections. By this compromise the duties were +to be gradually lowered. This plan was adopted by Congress (1833), and +again there was peace for a time. + + +THE COMPROMISE OF 1850 + +The next dangerous outbreak between the North and the South came at the +end of the Mexican War. Then arose the burning question: "Shall the +territory we have acquired from Mexico be free or open to slavery?" Of +course, the North wanted it to be free; the South wanted it to be open to +slavery. + +Henry Clay tried again, as he had tried twice before--in 1820 and in +1833--to pour oil upon the troubled waters. Although he was now an old man +of seventy-two and in poor health, he spoke seventy times in his powerful, +persuasive way, to bring about the Compromise of 1850, which he hoped +would establish harmony between the North and the South and save the +Union. + +On one occasion when he was to speak he had to enter the Capitol leaning +upon the arm of a friend, because he was too weak to climb the steps +alone. After entering the Senate Chamber that day, the great speech he +made was so long that his friends, fearing fatal results, urged him to +stop. But he refused. Later he said that he did not dare to stop for fear +he should never be able to begin again. + +[Illustration: Henry Clay Addressing the United States Senate in 1850.] + +Calhoun was no less ready to do all he could. Early in March, 1850, the +white-haired man, now in his sixty-eighth year and, like Clay, struggling +with illness, went to the Senate Chamber, swathed in flannels, to make his +last appeal in behalf of the slaveholders. The powerful speech he made, +which was intended as a warning to the North, expressed the deep and +sincere conviction of the aged statesman that the break-up of the Union +was at hand. He made a strong plea that the agitation against slavery +should stop, and that the South, which, he said, was the weaker section, +should be treated fairly by her stronger antagonist, the North. + +Having made this last supreme effort in defense of the section which he +loved as he loved his own life, the pro-slavery veteran, supported by two +of his friends, passed out of the Senate Chamber. + +But in spite of Calhoun's opposition, the Compromise of 1850 passed. "Let +California come in as a free State," it said. This pleased the North. "Let +the people in all the rest of the territory which we got from Mexico +decide for themselves whether they shall have slavery or freedom." This +pleased the South. It also adopted the Fugitive Slave Law, which said: +"When slaves run away from the South into the Northern States, they shall +be returned to their masters; and when Northern people are called upon to +help to capture them, they shall do so." + +A month after his speech on this compromise Calhoun died. The last twenty +years of his life had been largely devoted to trying to secure what he +regarded as the rights of the slaveholders and of the whole South. He was +honest in his views. He was also sincere in his convictions that the South +was not receiving fair treatment from the North. + +Henry Clay also died in 1852. Some of the qualities that gave him his rare +power over men were his magical voice, which was so deep and melodious +that many people of his time said it was the finest musical instrument +they had ever heard; his cheerful nature, which made him keenly enjoy life +and delight to see others enjoy it; and above all else his never-swerving +sincerity and honesty, which commanded the respect and confidence of all +who knew him. Men believed that Henry Clay was a true man. His popularity +grew in strength as he grew in years. His many followers proudly called +him "Gallant Harry of the West." + +Webster's power as an orator was still more remarkable. His voice was +wonderful, his style was forceful, and his language was simple and direct. +But after all, it was his striking personal appearance which made the +deepest impression upon the men and women who heard him speak. It is told +that one day when he was walking through a street of Liverpool, a navvy +said of him: "That must be a king!" On another occasion Sydney Smith +exclaimed: "Good heavens, he is a small cathedral by himself!" He was +nearly six feet tall. He had a massive head, a broad, deep brow, and +great, coal-black eyes, which once seen could never be forgotten. + +He, too, was faithful in his devotion to his country. To the day of his +death he showed his deep affection for the flag, the emblem of that Union +which had inspired his noblest efforts. During the last two weeks of his +life he was troubled much with sleeplessness. While through his open +window he gazed at the starlit sky, his eyes would sometimes fall upon a +small boat belonging to him, which floated near the shore not far away. By +his direction a ship lantern had been so placed that its light would fall +upon the stars and stripes flying there. At six in the evening the flag +was raised and was kept flying until six in the morning up to the day of +Webster's death. + +He died in September, 1852, only a few weeks after his great compeer, +Henry Clay. His was a master spirit, and the sorrow of his passing was +well expressed by the stranger who said, when he looked at the face of the +dead: "Daniel Webster, the world without you will be lonesome." + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What can you tell about the early life of John C. Calhoun? Of Henry +Clay? Of Daniel Webster? + +2. Why was Clay called "the Great Peacemaker"? + +3. Why were the people of South Carolina opposed to the high tariff laws +of 1828 and 1832? + +4. What was Webster's idea of the Union, and in what way did it differ +from Hayne's? + +5. What was the Missouri Compromise? What was the Compromise of 1850? + +6. What do you admire about each of the three great statesmen? + +7. Are you making frequent use of your maps? + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE CIVIL WAR + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN + +It was thought by many that the Compromise of 1850 would put an end to the +bitter and violent feeling over the spread of slavery, but it did not. For +in the North the opposition to its extension into new States became so +powerful that in five years there had grown up a great political +party--the Republican party--whose main purpose was to oppose the spread +of slavery. + +[Illustration: Abraham Lincoln.] + +One of its ablest and most inspiring leaders was Abraham Lincoln. He was +born in a rough cabin in Kentucky, February 12, 1809. When he was seven +years old, the family moved to Indiana, and settled about eighteen miles +north of the Ohio River. The journey to their new home was very tedious +and lonely, for in some places they had to cut a roadway through the +forest. It took them three days to travel the last eighteen miles. + +Having arrived safely in November, all set vigorously to work to provide a +shelter against the winter. The seven-year old boy was healthy, rugged, +and active, and from early morning till late evening he worked with his +father, chopping trees and cutting poles and boughs for their "camp," the +rude shelter in which they were to live until spring. + +This "camp" was a mere shed, only fourteen feet square and open on one +side. It was built of poles lying one upon another and had a thatched roof +of boughs and leaves. As there was no chimney, there could be no fire +within the enclosure, and it was necessary to keep one burning all the +time just in front of the open side. + +[Illustration: Lincoln's Birthplace.] + +During this first winter in the wild woods of Indiana the little boy must +have lived a very busy life. There was much to do in building the cabin +which was to take the place of the "camp," and in cutting down trees and +making a clearing for the corn-planting of the coming spring. + +After spending the winter in the "camp," the Lincoln family, in the +following spring, moved into the newly built log cabin. This had no +windows, and no floor except the bare earth. There was an opening on one +side, which was used as a doorway, but there was no door, nor was there so +much as an animal's skin to keep out the rain or the snow or to protect +the family from the cold wind. + +In this rough abode the rude and simple furniture was very much like what +we have already seen in the cabins of the Tennessee settlers. For chairs +there was the same kind of three-legged stools, made by smoothing the flat +side of a split log and putting sticks into auger holes underneath. The +tables were as simply made, except that they stood on four legs instead of +three. The crude bedsteads in the corners of the cabin were made by +sticking poles in between the logs at right angles to the wall, the +outside corner where the poles met being supported by a crotched stick +driven into the ground. Ropes were then stretched from side to side, +making a framework upon which shucks and leaves were heaped for bedding, +and over all were thrown the skins of wild animals for a covering. Pegs +driven into the wall served as a stairway to the loft, where there was +another bed of leaves. Here little Abe slept. + +Abraham Lincoln's schooling was brief--not more than a year in all, and +the schools he attended were like those we became acquainted with in the +early settlements of Kentucky and Tennessee. During his last school-days +he had to go daily a distance of four and one-half miles from his home, +with probably no roadway except the deer path through the forest. His +midday lunch was a corn dodger, which he carried in his pocket. + +In spite of this meagre schooling however, the boy, by his self-reliance, +resolute purpose, and good reading habits, acquired the very best sort of +training for his future life. He had no books at his home, and, of course, +there were but few to be had in that wild country from other homes. But +among those he read over and over again, while a boy, were the Bible, +"AEsop's Fables," "Robinson Crusoe," "Pilgrim's Progress," "A History of +the United States," and Weems's "Life of Washington," all books of the +right kind. + +[Illustration: Lincoln Studying by Firelight.] + +His stepmother said of him: "He read everything he could lay his hands on, +and when he came across a passage that struck him, he would write it down +on boards, if he had no paper, and keep it before him until he could get +paper. Then he would copy it, look at it, commit it to memory, and repeat +it." + +When night came he would find a seat in the corner by the fireside, or +stretch out at length on the floor in front of it, and by the firelight +write, or work sums in arithmetic, on a wooden shovel, using a charred +stick for a pencil. After covering the shovel, he would shave it off and +use the surface over again. + +The way in which he came to own a "Life of Washington" is interesting. +Having borrowed the book, he took it to bed with him in the loft and read +until his candle gave out. Then, before going to sleep, he tucked the book +into a crevice of the logs in order that he might have it at hand as soon +as daylight would permit him to read the next morning. But during the +night a storm came up, and the rain beat in upon the book, wetting it +through and through. With heavy heart Lincoln took it back to its owner, +who gave it to him on condition that he would work three days to pay for +it. Eagerly agreeing to do this, the boy carried his new possession home +in triumph. This book had a marked influence over his future. + +But his time for reading was limited, for until he was twenty his father +hired him out to do all sorts of work, at which he sometimes earned six +dollars a month and sometimes thirty-one cents a day. Money was always +sorely needed in that household, the poor farm yielding only a small +return for much hard work. For this reason, just before Abraham Lincoln +came of age, his family, with all their possessions packed in a cart drawn +by four oxen, moved again toward the West. For two weeks they travelled +across the country into Illinois, and finally made a new home on the banks +of the Sangamon River. + +[Illustration: Lincoln Splitting Rails.] + +On reaching the end of the journey (in the spring of 1830), Abraham helped +to build a log cabin and to clear ten acres of land for planting. This was +the last work he did for his father, as he was now some months over +twenty-one and was quite ready to go out into the world and work for +himself. When he left his father's house he had nothing, not even a good +suit of clothes, and one of the first things he did was to split rails for +enough brown jeans to make him a pair of trousers. As he was six feet four +inches tall, three and one-half yards were needed! For these he split 1400 +rails. + +At times throughout life he was subject to deep depression, which made his +face unspeakably sad. But as a rule he was cheerful and merry, and on +account of his good stories, which he told with rare skill, he was in +great demand in social gatherings and at the crossroads grocery store. He +was a giant in strength and a skilful wrestler. This helped to make him +popular. + +[Illustration: Lincoln as a Boatman.] + +For some months after leaving his father's home Lincoln worked in the +neighborhood, most of the time as a farmhand and rail-splitter. But he +desired something different. From time to time he had watched the boats +carrying freight up and down the river and had wondered where the vessels +were going. Eager to learn about the life outside his narrow world, he +determined to become a boatman. As soon as he could, therefore, he found +employment on a flatboat that carried corn, hogs, hay, and other farm +produce down to New Orleans. + +But tiring at length of the long journeys, he became clerk in a village +store at New Salem, Illinois. Many stories are told of Lincoln's honesty +in his dealings with the people in this village store. It is said that on +one occasion a woman, in making change, overpaid him the trifling sum of +six cents. When Lincoln found out the mistake he walked three miles and +back that night to give the woman her money. + +In less than a year the closing of this village store left him without +employment, and after this he had a varied experience, first in a grocery +store of his own, next as postmaster in New Salem, and then as a surveyor. + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND SLAVERY + +After many trials at various occupations, he decided at last to become a +lawyer, and after being admitted to the bar, he opened an office at +Springfield, Illinois. He succeeded well in his chosen profession, and +also took a keen interest in the larger affairs of his community and +State. + +In this wider field of action certain qualities of mind and heart greatly +aided him. For, in spite of scant learning, he was a good public speaker +and skilful debater, because he thought clearly and convinced those who +heard him of his honesty and high purpose. Such a man is certain to win +his way in the world. In due time he was elected to Congress, where his +interest in various public questions, especially that of slavery, became +much quickened. + +On this question his clear head and warm heart united in forming strong +convictions that had great weight with the people. He continued to grow in +political favor and, in 1858, received the nomination of the Republican +party for the United States Senate. His opponent was Stephen A. Douglas, +known as the "Little Giant," on account of his short stature and powerful +eloquence as an orator. + +The debates between the two men, preceding the election, were followed +with keen interest all over the country. Lincoln argued with great power +against the spread of slavery into the new States, and although he lost +the election, he won such favorable notice that two years later a greater +honor came to him. In 1860, the Republican National Convention, which met +at Chicago, nominated him as its candidate for President, and a few months +later he was elected to that office. + +The agitation over slavery was growing more and more bitter, and when +Lincoln was elected some of the Southern States threatened to go out of +the Union. They claimed that it was their right to decide for themselves +whether they should secede. On the other hand, the North declared that no +State could secede without the consent of the other States. + +Before Lincoln was inaugurated seven of the Southern States had carried +out their threat to secede, calling themselves the Confederate States of +America.[A] The excitement everywhere was intense. Many people regretted +that a man of larger experience than Lincoln had not been chosen to be at +the head of the government. They were anxious lest this plain man of the +people, this awkward backwoodsman, should not be able to lead the nation +in those dark and troubled days. But, little as they trusted him, he was +well fitted for the work that lay before him. + + [A] Jefferson Davis was chosen president and Alexander H. Stephens + vice-president. The seven cotton States hoped that they would + be joined by the other eight slave States, but only four of + these eight seceded. Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and + Missouri remained loyal to the Union. + +His inauguration was but a few weeks over when the Civil War began. We +cannot here pause for full accounts of all Lincoln's trials and +difficulties in this fearful struggle. During those four fateful years, +1861-1865, his burdens were almost overwhelming. But, like Washington, he +believed that "right makes might" and must prevail, and this belief +sustained him. + +Although his whole nature revolted against slavery, he had no power to do +away with it in the States where it existed, for by his office he was +sworn to defend the Constitution. "My great purpose," he said, "is to save +the Union, and not to destroy slavery." + +But as the war went on he became certain that the slaves, by remaining on +the plantations and producing food for the Southern soldiers, were aiding +the Southern cause. He therefore determined to set the slaves free in all +the territory where people were fighting to break up the Union, just as +far as it was conquered by Union troops. "As commander-in-chief of the +Union armies," he reasoned, "I have a right to do this as a war measure." +The famous state paper in which Lincoln declared that such slaves were +free was called the Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863). + +This freeing of a part of the slaves not only hastened the end of the war +but led, after its close, to the final emancipation of all the slaves. We +should remember that the man who did most to bring about this result was +Abraham Lincoln, whose name has gone down in history as the great +emancipator. + +[Illustration: Lincoln Visiting Wounded Soldiers.] + +Passing over the events of the war, which we shall consider later in +connection with its great generals, let us look ahead two years. + +On April 9, 1865, General Lee, as we shall see a little later, surrendered +his army to General Grant at Appomattox Court House. By this act the war +was brought to a close, and there was great rejoicing everywhere. + +But suddenly the universal joy was changed into universal sorrow, for a +shocking thing happened. Five days after Lee's surrender, Lincoln went +with his wife and friends to see a play at Ford's Theatre, in Washington. +In the midst of the play, a Southern actor, John Wilkes Booth, who was +familiar with the theatre, entered the President's box, shot him in the +back of the head, jumped to the stage, and rushed through the wings to the +street. There he mounted a horse in waiting for him and escaped, soon, +however, to be hunted down and killed in a barn where he lay in hiding. + +The martyr President lingered during the long hours of the sad night, +tenderly watched by his family and a few friends. When, on the following +morning, he breathed his last, Secretary Stanton said with truth: "Now he +belongs to the ages." + +The people deeply mourned the loss of him who had wisely and bravely led +them through four years of heavy trial and anxiety. We are all richer +because of the life of Abraham Lincoln, our countryman, our teacher, our +guide, and our friend. And the loss to the South was even greater than to +the North. For he was not only just but also kind and sympathetic; and +only he could have saved the South from its calamities for years +afterward. + + +ROBERT E. LEE + +Having followed a few of the leading events in the remarkable career of +our martyr President, let us turn our thoughts to the Civil War, through +which it was Lincoln's great work to guide us, as a nation. It was a +struggle that tested the manhood, quite as much as the resources, of the +warring sections, and each side might well be proud of the bravery and +skill of its officers and soldiers. Certainly each side had among its +generals some of the greatest military leaders of all time. + +[Illustration: MAP OF THE UNITED STATES SHOWING FIRST AND SECOND SECESSION +AREAS] + +One of the ablest generals commanding the Confederate troops was Robert E. +Lee. He was born in Virginia, January 19, 1807, his father being the +Revolutionary general known as "Light-Horse Harry." Although the records +of his boyhood days are scanty, we know that when little Robert was about +four years old the Lees removed from Stratford to Alexandria, in order to +educate their children. Here the boy was prepared for West Point Academy, +which he entered when he was eighteen. At this military school he made +such a good record as a student that he was graduated second in his class. + +[Illustration: Robert E. Lee.] + +Two years later he married Miss Custis, who was a great-granddaughter of +Mrs. George Washington, and through this marriage he shared with his wife +the control of large property, which included plantations and a number of +slaves. + +Immediately after leaving West Point, he entered the army as an engineer, +and during the Mexican War distinguished himself for his skill and +bravery. A few years later (1852), he was appointed superintendent of West +Point Academy, where he remained three years. + +At the outbreak of the Civil War he was so highly esteemed as an officer +in the United States army, that he would have been appointed commander of +the Union armies if he had been willing to accept the position. He loved +the Union, and was opposed to secession, but when Virginia, his native +State, seceded he felt that it was his duty to go with her. + +[Illustration: Lee's Home at Arlington, Virginia.] + +His struggle in making the decision was a painful one, as was made plain +in a letter he wrote to a sister, then living in Baltimore. "With all my +devotion to the Union," he said, "and the feeling of loyalty and duty of +an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my +hand against my relatives, my children, my home. I know you will blame me, +but you must think as kindly of me as you can, and believe that I have +endeavored to do what I thought right." + +Soon after he decided that he must go with Virginia in the great struggle +which was to follow, he accepted the command of the Virginia State forces, +and within a year from that time became military adviser of Jefferson +Davis, who was President of the Confederacy. + +[Illustration: Jefferson Davis.] + +In 1862, the second year of the war, Lee took command of the leading +Confederate army in Virginia. General McClellan, who commanded a large +Union army, had been trying to capture Richmond, the capital of the +Confederate States. After fighting a series of battles, he approached so +close to Richmond that his soldiers could see the spires of the churches. +But as the city was strongly fortified he retreated to the James River. +During this retreat, which lasted a week, were fought what were known as +the "Seven Days' Battles." + +Having thus saved Richmond from capture, Lee marched north into Maryland, +expecting the people to rise and join his forces. But they were loyal to +the Union and refused. The terrible battle of Antietam or Sharpsburg was +fought (September, 1862), and Lee was obliged to retreat to Virginia. + +A few months later (December, 1862), Lee repulsed an attack of the Union +army at Fredericksburg with fearful slaughter, and in the following May he +won a victory at Chancellorsville. + + +"STONEWALL" JACKSON + +[Illustration: Thomas J. Jackson.] + +In all these battles Lee's most effective helper was General Thomas J. +Jackson, "Stonewall" Jackson, as he was called. Jackson won his nickname +at the battle of Bull Run. One of the Confederate generals, who was trying +to hearten his retreating men, cried out to them: "See, there is Jackson, +standing like a stone wall! Rally round the Virginians!" From that hour of +heroism he was known as Stonewall Jackson, and for his bravery in this +battle he was made a major-general. He was such a stubborn fighter, and so +furious in his enthusiasm that "his soldiers marched to death when he bade +them. What was even harder, they marched at the double-quick through +Virginia mud, without shoes, without food, without sleep." They cheerfully +did his bidding because they loved him. The sight of his old uniform and +scrawny sorrel horse always stirred the hearts of his followers. + +[Illustration: A Confederate Flag.] + +Jackson was a deeply religious man. In spirit he was so much of a Puritan +that it caused him great regret to march or to fight on a Sunday. + +He was devoted to Lee and placed the greatest confidence in him. "He is +the only man I would follow blindfold," he said, and on his death-bed he +exclaimed: "Better that ten Jacksons should fall than one Lee!" + +Stonewall Jackson was shot at the battle of Chancellorsville, but not by +the enemy. He and his escort had ridden out beyond his line of battle, +when, being mistaken for the enemy, they were fired upon by some of their +own soldiers, and Jackson was mortally wounded. His death was a great loss +to the Southern army. + + +J.E.B. STUART + +Another of General Lee's very able helpers was General Stuart. He wrote +his name J.E.B. Stuart. So his admirers called him "Jeb." + +[Illustration: J.E.B. Stuart.] + +He was absolutely fearless. "He would attack anything anywhere," and he +inspired his men with the same zeal. He was noted for falling into +dangerous situations and then cleverly getting himself out. His men were +used to this. They trusted him completely and without question. They loved +him, too, for his good comradeship. For although he preserved the +strictest discipline, he frolicked with his officers like a boy, playing +at snowballs, or marbles, or whatever they chose, and enjoying it all +heartily. + +He was so fond of gay, martial music that he kept his banjo-player, +Sweeney, always with him, and worked in his tent to the cheerful +accompaniment of his favorite songs, now and then leaning back to laugh +and join in the choruses. + +[Illustration: Confederate Soldiers.] + +His gay spirit found expression also in the clothes he wore. Listen to +this description of him: "His fighting jacket shone with dazzling buttons +and was covered with gold braid; his hat was looped up with a golden star +and decorated with a black ostrich plume; his fine buff gauntlets reached +to the elbow; around his waist was tied a splendid yellow sash, and his +spurs were pure gold." These spurs, of which he was immensely proud, were +a gift from Baltimore women. His battle-flag was a gorgeous red one, which +he insisted upon keeping with him, although it often drew the enemy's +fire. + +Stuart was very proud of his men and their pluck. He knew by name every +man in the first brigade. + +It was his strong desire that he might meet his death while leading a +cavalry charge, and he had his wish. For he was struck down near Richmond, +in 1864, while he was leading an attack against Sheridan. + +He died when he was only thirty-one, deeply mourned by all his men. + + +GETTYSBURG + +But to return to General Lee. After winning the two important battles of +Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, he decided that he would again invade +the North (1863). He believed that a great victory north of the Potomac +River might lead to the capture of Philadelphia and Washington and thus +end the war. + +Having marched boldly into Pennsylvania, he met the Union army, under +General Meade, at the little town of Gettysburg, not far from the southern +border of the State. There for three days the most terrible battle of the +war, and in its results, one of the greatest battles of all history, took +place. After three days of fighting, in which the loss on both sides was +fearful, Lee was defeated and forced to retreat to Virginia. + +The defeat of Lee's army at Gettysburg was a crushing blow to the hopes of +the South. Lee himself felt this to be true. And, grieving over the heavy +loss of his men in the famous Pickett's Charge, he said to one of his +generals: "All this has been my fault. It is I that have lost this fight, +and you must help me out of it the best you can." + +But even in the face of this defeat his officers and soldiers still +trusted their commander. They said: "Uncle Robert will get us into +Washington yet." + +[Illustration: Union Soldiers.] + +But the surrender of another division of the army, fighting far away on +the Mississippi River, added defeat to defeat. For the day following the +battle of Gettysburg, General Grant captured Vicksburg, the greatest +Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River. The South could no longer +hope for victory. + + +ULYSSES S. GRANT + +Before going on with the story of the war, let us pause for a little in +order to catch a glimpse of Ulysses S. Grant, the remarkable man who was +the greatest general that the North produced throughout the war. + +He was born in a humble dwelling at Point Pleasant, Ohio, in April, 1822. +The year following his birth the family removed to Georgetown, Ohio, where +they lived many years. + +The father of Ulysses was a farmer and manufacturer of leather. The boy +did not like the leather business, but he did like work on the farm. When +only seven years old, he hauled all the wood which was needed in the home +and at the leather factory from the forest, a mile from the village. + +[Illustration: Ulysses S. Grant.] + +From the age of eleven to seventeen, according to his own story as told in +his "Personal Memoirs," he ploughed the soil, cultivated the growing corn +and potatoes, sawed fire-wood, and did any other work a farmer boy might +be expected to do. He had his good times also, fishing, swimming in the +creek not far from his home, driving about the country, and skating with +other boys. + +He liked horses, and early became a skilful rider. A story is told of him +which indicates not only that he was a good horseman, but that he had +"bulldog grit" as well. One day when he was at a circus, the manager +offered a silver dollar to any one who could ride a certain mule around +the ring. Several persons, one after the other, mounted the animal, only +to be thrown over its head. Young Ulysses was among those who offered to +ride, but, like the others, he failed. Then, pulling off his coat, he got +on the animal again. Putting his legs firmly around the mule's body and +seizing it by the tail, Ulysses rode in triumph around the ring amid the +cheers of the crowd. + +[Illustration: Grant's Birthplace, Point Pleasant, Ohio.] + +Although he cared little for study, his father wished to give him all the +advantages of a good education and secured for him an appointment to West +Point. After graduating, he wished to leave the army and become an +instructor in mathematics at his alma mater. But, as the Mexican War broke +out about that time, he entered active service. Soon he gave striking +evidence of that fearless bravery for which he was later to become noted +on the battle-fields of the Civil War. + +At the close of the Mexican War, Grant resigned from the army and engaged +in farming and business until the outbreak of the Civil War. + +With the news that the Southern troops had fired on the flag at Fort +Sumter, Grant's patriotism was aroused. Without delay he rejoined the army +and at once took an active part in getting ready for the war. First as +colonel, and then as brigadier-general, he led his troops, and his powers +as a leader quickly developed. + +The first of his achievements was the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, +in Tennessee, the centre of a strong Confederate line of defense. At Fort +Donelson he received the surrender of nearly fifteen thousand prisoners, +and by his great victory compelled the Confederates to abandon two of +their important strongholds, Columbus and Nashville. + +After the loss of Fort Donelson the Confederates fell back to a second +line of defense and took position at Corinth. General Grant's army was at +Pittsburg Landing, eighteen miles away; not far off was the village of +Shiloh, from which the battle is now generally named. Here, early on +Sunday morning (April 6, 1862), Grant was attacked by Johnston, and his +men were driven back a mile and a half toward the river. + +It was a fearful battle, lasting until nearly dark. Not until after +midnight was Grant able to rest, and then, sitting in the rain, with his +back against the foot of a tree, he slept a few hours before the renewal +of battle on Monday morning. With reinforcements he was able on the second +day to drive the enemy off the field and win a signal victory. + +By this battle Grant broke the Confederates' second line of defense. +Although they fought bravely and well to prevent the Union troops from +getting control of the Mississippi River, by the close of 1862 the South +had lost every stronghold on the river except Port Hudson and Vicksburg. + +[Illustration: General and Mrs. Grant with Their Son at City Point, +Virginia.] + +Vicksburg was so strongly defended that the Confederates believed that it +could not be taken. A resolute effort to capture it was made by General +Grant in 1863. After a brilliant campaign of strategy, by which he got +around the defenses, he laid siege to the city itself. For seven weeks the +Confederate army held out. During that time the people of Vicksburg sought +refuge from the enemy's shells in caves and cellars, their only food at +times consisting of rats and mule flesh. But on July 4, 1863, the day +after General Lee's defeat at Gettysburg, Vicksburg surrendered to General +Grant. Four days later Port Hudson, some distance below, was captured, and +thus the last stronghold of the Mississippi came under control of the +North. + +General Grant had become the hero of the Northern army. His success was in +no small measure due to his dogged perseverance. While his army was laying +siege to Vicksburg, a Confederate woman, at whose door he stopped to ask +for a drink of water, inquired whether he expected ever to capture +Vicksburg. "Certainly," he replied. "But when?" was the next question. +Quickly came the answer: "I cannot tell exactly when I shall take the +town, but _I mean to stay here till I do, if it takes me thirty years_." + +General Grant having by his capture of Vicksburg won the confidence of the +people, President Lincoln, in 1864, put him in command of all the Union +armies of the East and the West. In presenting the new commission, Lincoln +addressed him in these words: "As the country herein trusts you, so, under +God, it will sustain you." + + +WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN + +In the spring of that year the Confederates had two large armies in the +field. One of them, under General Lee, was defending Richmond. The other, +under General Joseph E. Johnston, was in Tennessee, defending the +Confederate cause in that region. General Grant's plan was to send General +Sherman, in whom he had great confidence, against General Johnston, with +orders to capture Atlanta, which was now the workshop and storehouse of +the Confederacy. Grant himself was to march against Lee and capture +Richmond. The two great watchwords were: "On to Atlanta!" and "On to +Richmond!" + +[Illustration: William Tecumseh Sherman.] + +Early in May both Grant and Sherman began their campaigns. Starting from +Chattanooga, in Tennessee, Sherman began to crowd Johnston toward Atlanta. +In order to keep his line of supplies open from Nashville Sherman kept his +army close to the railroad, and to hinder him as much as possible, the +Confederates sent back bodies of troops to the rear of the Union army to +tear up the railroads. But so quickly were they rebuilt by Sherman's men +that the Confederates used to say: "Sherman must carry a railroad on his +back." His advance was slow but steady, and on September 2 he captured +Atlanta. + +A little later Sherman started on his famous march "From Atlanta to the +Sea," with the purpose of weakening the Confederate armies by destroying +their supplies and their railroads in Southern Georgia. His army marched +in four columns, covering a belt of territory sixty miles wide. Four days +before Christmas he captured Savannah and sent to President Lincoln the +famous telegram: "I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of +Savannah, with one hundred and fifty guns and plenty of ammunition; also +about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton." Sherman's "March to the Sea" +was a wonderful achievement. + +[Illustration: Sherman's March to the Sea.] + +Let us make the acquaintance of this remarkable man. He was at this time +forty-four. Standing six feet high, with muscles of iron and a military +bearing, he gave the impression of having great physical endurance. And no +matter whether he was exposed to drenching rain, bitter cold, or burning +heat, he never gave signs of fatigue. Many nights he slept only three or +four hours, but he was able to fall asleep easily almost anywhere he +happened to be, whether lying upon the wet ground or on a hard floor, or +even amid the din and roar of muskets and cannon. + +In battle he could not sit calmly smoking and looking on, like General +Grant. He was too much excited to sit still, and his face reflected his +thoughts. Yet his mind was clear and his decisions were rapid. + +[Illustration: Route of Sherman's March to the Sea.] + +His soldiers admired him and gave him their unbounded confidence. One of +his staff said of him while they were on the "March to the Sea": "The army +has such an abiding faith in its leader that it will go wherever he +leads." At Savannah the soldiers would proudly remark as their general +rode by: "There goes the old man. All's right." + +During the trying experience of this famous march, Sherman's face grew +anxious and care-worn. But behind the care-worn face there were kind and +tender feelings, especially for the young. Little children would show +their trust in him by clasping him about his knees or by nestling in his +arms. While he was in Savannah, large groups of children made a playground +of the general's headquarters and private room, the doors of which were +never closed to them. + +While General Sherman, in Georgia, was pushing his army "On to Atlanta" +and "On to the Sea," Grant was trying to defeat Lee and capture Richmond. +With these aims in view, Grant crossed the Rapidan River and entered the +wilderness in direct line for Richmond. Here fighting was stern business. +The woods were so gloomy and the underbrush was so thick that the men +could not see one another twenty feet away. + +Lee's army furiously contested every foot of the advance. In the terrible +battles that followed Grant lost heavily, but he pressed doggedly on, +writing to President Lincoln his stubborn resolve: "I propose to fight it +out on this line if it takes all summer." + +It did take all summer and longer. Moreover, Grant found that he could not +possibly capture Richmond from the north. So he crossed the James River +and attacked the city from the south. Yet when autumn ended Lee was still +holding out, and Grant's army settled down for the winter. + + +PHILIP H. SHERIDAN + +At this time one of Grant's most skilful generals and ablest helpers was +Philip H. Sheridan, who was a brilliant cavalry leader. As a boy he had a +strong liking for books, and especially those which told of war and the +lives of daring men. When he read of their brave deeds perhaps he dreamed +of the days when he might be a great soldier. + +At the time when he came into most prominent notice--in the summer and +autumn of 1864--he was only thirty-three years old. He was short, and as +he weighed but one hundred and fifteen pounds, he was not at all +impressive in appearance, except in the heat of battle, when his +personality was commanding and inspiring. + +[Illustration: Philip H. Sheridan.] + +No matter how trying the situation might be, he never lost self-control +and was always kind and friendly toward those working with him. But +perhaps his finest quality was a stern devotion to duty. He said, in +effect: "In all the various positions I have held, my sole aim has ever +been to be the best officer I could and let the future take care of +itself." Such a man, whether civilian or soldier, is a true patriot. + +It was early in August, 1864, that General Grant placed Sheridan in +command of the Union army in the Shenandoah valley, with orders to drive +the enemy out and destroy their food supplies. + +Sheridan entered the valley from the north, destroyed large quantities of +supplies, and after some fighting went into camp on the north side of +Cedar Creek, in October. A few days later he was called to Washington. +Returning on the eighteenth, he stayed overnight at Winchester, about +fourteen miles from Cedar Creek. + +About six o'clock the next morning, a picket on duty reported to him +before he was up that cannon were being fired in the direction of Cedar +Creek. At first Sheridan paid little attention. Then he began to be +disturbed. He writes: "I tried to go to sleep again, but grew so restless +that I could not and soon got up and dressed myself." Eating a hurried +breakfast, he mounted his splendid coal-black steed, Rienzi, and started +for the battle-field of Cedar Creek, where his army was. This was the ride +that afterward became famous as "Sheridan's Ride." + +[Illustration: Sheridan Rallying His Troops.] + +As he rode forward he could hear the booming of cannon. Then he saw a part +of his army in full retreat, and fugitives told him that a battle had been +fought against General Early's Confederates and everything lost. + +With two aides and twenty men the gallant Sheridan dashed forward to the +front as fast as his foaming steed could carry him. On meeting a +retreating officer who said, "The army is whipped," Sheridan replied: "You +are, but the army isn't." + +As he pushed ahead he said to his soldiers: "If I had been with you this +morning this disaster would not have happened. We must face the other way. +We must go back and recover our camp." + +As soon as his troops caught sight of "Little Phil," as they liked to call +him, they threw their hats into the air and, with enthusiastic cheers, +shouldered their muskets and faced about. Sheridan brought order out of +confusion and in the battle that followed drove Early's army from the +field in utter rout. + +Great was the rejoicing in the North over this victory, and Sheridan +himself was raised to the rank of major-general. + +This victory was largely due to Sheridan's magnetic influence over his +men. The following incident illustrates this remarkable power of "Little +Phil": At the battle of Five Forks, which took place near Richmond the +next spring (1865), a wounded soldier in the line of battle near Sheridan +stumbled and was falling behind his regiment. But when Sheridan cried out, +"Never mind, my man; there's no harm done!" the soldier, although with a +bullet in his brain, went forward with his fighting comrades till he fell +dead. + + +TWO GREAT GENERALS + +Let us now return to Grant. After remaining near Petersburg all winter, in +the spring of 1865 he pressed so hard upon the Confederate army that Lee +had to leave Richmond and move rapidly westward in order to escape +capture. For a week Grant closely followed Lee's troops, who were almost +starving; all they had to eat was parched corn and green shoots of trees, +and the outlook was so dark that many had deserted and started for home. + +[Illustration: The McLean House, Where Lee Surrendered.] + +There was but one thing left for Lee to do. That was to give up the +struggle, for he knew the Southern cause was hopeless. An interview, +therefore, was arranged with Grant. It was held on Sunday morning, April +9, in a house standing in the little village of Appomattox Court House. + +Grant writes in his "Personal Memoirs": "I was without a sword, as I +usually was when on horse-back on the field, and wore a soldier's blouse +for a coat, with the shoulder-straps of my rank to indicate to the army +who I was.... General Lee was dressed in a full uniform, which was +entirely new, and was wearing a sword of considerable value--very likely +the sword which had been presented by the State of Virginia.... In my +rough travelling suit, the uniform of a private with the straps of a +lieutenant-general, I must have contrasted very strangely with a man so +handsomely dressed, six feet tall, and of faultless form." + +[Illustration: The Country Around Washington and Richmond.] + +The result of the interview was the surrender of General Lee and his army. +When this took place General Grant showed clearly his great kindness of +heart and his delicate feeling. He issued orders that all the Confederates +who owned horses and mules should be allowed to take them home. "They will +need them for the spring ploughing," he said. He also had abundant food at +once sent to the hungry Confederate soldiers. Never did General Grant +appear more truly great than on the occasion of Lee's surrender. + +He was indeed a remarkable man in many ways. While in the army he seemed +to have wonderful powers of endurance. He said of himself: "Whether I +slept on the ground or in a tent, whether I slept one hour or ten in the +twenty-four, whether I had one meal or three, or none, made no difference. +I would lie down and sleep in the rain without caring." This, as you +remember, he did at Pittsburg Landing. + +Yet his appearance did not indicate robust health. He was only five feet +eight inches tall, round-shouldered, and not at all military in bearing or +walk. But his brown hair, blue eyes, and musical voice gave a pleasing +impression. He was of a sunny disposition and of singularly pure mind. +Never in his life was he known to speak an unclean word or tell an +objectionable story. In manner he was quiet and simple, and yet he was +always ready for the severest ordeal he might have to face. + +While the two great commanders, Grant and Lee, were much unlike in +personal appearance, they had certain qualities in common, for they were +both simple-hearted and frank and men of deep and tender feelings. + +April 9 was a sad day for General Lee. As he stepped out of the door of +the house where the terms of surrender had been agreed upon and stood in +silence, waiting for his horse to be brought to him, he clasped his hands +together as if in deep pain and looked far away into the distance. Then, +mounting his steed, he rode back to the Confederate camp, where his +officers and men awaited his coming. + +[Illustration: General Lee on His Horse, Traveller.] + +On his approach they crowded about their beloved chief in their eagerness +to touch him, or even his horse. Looking upon his veteran soldiers for the +last time, Lee said, with saddened voice: "We have fought through the war +together; I have done the best I could for you. My heart is too full to +say more." Then he silently rode off to his tent. + +These simple, heartfelt words to his "children," as he called his +soldiers, were like the man who spoke them. For during the entire war he +was always simple in his habits. Rarely did he leave his tent to sleep in +a house, and often his diet consisted of salted cabbage only. He thought +it a luxury to have sweet potatoes and buttermilk. + +The gentleness and kindness of General Lee was seen also in his fondness +for animals. When the war was over his iron-gray horse, Traveller, which +had been his faithful companion throughout the struggle, was very dear to +him. Often, when entering the gate on returning to his house, he would +turn aside to stroke the noble creature, and often the two wandered forth +into the mountains, companions to the last. + +Within a year after the close of the war General Lee was elected President +of Washington College, at Lexington, Virginia--now called Washington and +Lee University. There he remained until his death, in 1870. His +countrymen, in all sections of the Union, think of him as a distinguished +general and a high-minded gentleman. + +Three years after the close of the war (1868) General Grant was elected +President of the United States and served two terms. Upon retiring from +the presidency, he made a tour around the world, a more unusual thing in +those days than now. He was everywhere received, by rulers and people +alike, with marked honor and distinction. + +His last days were full of suffering from an illness which proved a worse +enemy than ever he had found on the field of battle. After nine months of +brave struggle, he died on July 23, 1885. Undoubtedly he was one of the +ablest generals of history. + +The war, in which these two distinguished commanders had led opposing +sides, had cost the nation not only thousands of men, the vast majority in +the prime of their young manhood, but millions of dollars. But it had two +striking results: it preserved the Union, for it was now clear that no +State could secede at will; and it put an end to slavery. The Emancipation +Proclamation had set free only those slaves in the States and parts of +States which were under the control of Union armies; but after the war the +Thirteenth Amendment set free all the slaves in all the States in the +Union for all time. These were the benefits purchased by the terrible +sacrifice of life. + +If we count those who were slain on the field of battle and those who died +from wounds, disease, and suffering in wretched prisons, the loss of men +was equal to seven hundred a day during the four long years of the war. + +When it was over, a wave of intense relief swept over the country. In many +homes were glad reunions; in others, saddened memories. But at least a +united nation was cause for a new hope, and a patriotism which in time was +to bind all sections into closer union. + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. Tell what you can about Lincoln's early life. What kind of boy was he? + +2. What was the Emancipation Proclamation? Why did not Lincoln set the +slaves free when he became President? What do you admire about him? + +3. Why did Lee go with Virginia when this State seceded? + +4. Tell as much as you can about Lee, Jackson, Stuart, Sherman, and +Sheridan. + +5. What kind of boy was Grant? What kind of man? What do you admire about +him? + +6. What were some of the important results of the Civil War? + +7. When did this war begin, and when did it end? + +8. Are you locating every event upon the map? + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +FOUR GREAT INDUSTRIES + + +COTTON + +Thus far we have been considering mainly the men engaged in exploration, +in invention, or in the great national struggles through which our country +has passed. But while only a small fraction of the people, as a rule, take +an active and prominent part in the stirring events of history, many more +work hard and faithfully to furnish all with food, clothing, and other +things needful in every-day living. What these many laborers accomplish in +the fields of industry, therefore, has a most important bearing upon the +life and work of men, leaders and followers alike, in other fields of +action. With this thought in mind, let us take a brief glance at a few of +our great industries. + +First, go with me in thought to the South, where the cotton, from which we +make much of our clothing, is raised. Owing to the favorable climate of +the Southern States, it being warm and moist, the United States produces +more cotton and cotton of a better quality than any other country in the +world. + +No crop, it is said, is so beautiful as growing cotton. The plants are +low, with dark-green leaves, the flowers, which are yellow at first, +changing by degrees to white, and then to deep pink. The cotton-fields +look like great flower-gardens. + +As the blossoms die they are replaced by the young bolls, or pods, which +contain the seeds. From the seeds grow long vegetable hairs, which form +white locks in the pods. These fibres are the cotton. When the pods become +ripe and open, the cotton bursts out and covers them with a puff of soft, +white down. + +[Illustration: Cotton-Field in Blossom.] + +The height of the picking season is in October. As no satisfactory machine +for picking cotton has been invented, it is usually done by hand, and +negroes for the most part are employed. Lines of pickers pass between the +rows, gathering the down and crowding it into wide-mouthed sacks hanging +from their shoulders or waists. At the ends of the rows are great baskets, +into which the sacks are emptied, and then the cotton is loaded into +wagons which carry it to the gin-house. + +If damp, the cotton is dried in the sun. The saw-teeth of the cotton-gin, +as we have seen, separate the cotton fibre from the seeds. Then the cotton +is pressed down by machine presses and packed into bales, each usually +containing five hundred pounds, after which it is sent to the factory. + +Various processes are employed to free the cotton from dirt and to loosen +the lumps. When it is cleaned, it is rolled out into thin sheets and taken +to the carding-machine. This, with other machines, prepares the cotton to +be spun into yarn, which is wound off on large reels. The yarn is then +ready to be either twisted into thread or woven into cloth on the great +looms. + +The United States produces an average of eleven million bales of cotton +every year, and this is nearly sixty-seven per cent of the production of +the whole world. Cotton is now the second crop in the United States, the +first being Indian corn. + + +WHEAT + +Another great industry is the growing of wheat, which is the foundation of +much of our food. Wheat is a very important grain and is extensively +cultivated. + +There are a great many varieties, the two main kinds found in the United +States being the large-kernel winter wheat, grown in the East, and the +hard spring wheat, the best for flour-making, which is grown in the West. + +Minnesota is the largest wheat-producing State, and I will ask you to go +in thought with me to that Middle-West region. The farms there are very +level, and also highly productive. The big "bonanza" farms, as they are +called, range in size from two thousand to ten thousand acres. Some of +these are so large that even on level ground one cannot look entirely +across them--so large, indeed, that laborers working at opposite ends do +not see one another for months at a time. + +[Illustration: A Wheat-Field.] + +During the planting and harvesting seasons temporary laborers come from +all over the country. They are well housed and well fed. The farms are +divided into sections, and each section has its own lodging-house, +dining-hall, barns, and so on. Even then, dinner is carried to the workers +in the field, because they are often a mile or two from the dining-hall. +The height of the harvest season is at the end of July. + +In the autumn, after the wheat has been harvested, the straw is burned and +the land is ploughed. In the following April when the soil is dry enough +to harrow, the seeds, after being carefully selected and thoroughly +cleaned, are planted. For the harvesting a great deal of new machinery is +purchased every year. One of these huge machines can cut and stack in one +day the grain from a hundred acres of land. Then the grain is threshed at +once in the field, before the rain can do it harm. + +[Illustration: Grain-Elevators at Buffalo.] + +Through the spout of the thresher the grain falls into the box wagon, +which carries it to the grain-elevator, or building for storing grain. +Here it remains until it is loaded automatically into the cars, which take +it to the great elevator centres. The wheat is not touched by hands from +the time it passes into the thresher until it reaches private kitchens in +the form of flour. + +The great elevator centres are Duluth, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Chicago, and +Buffalo. Some elevators in these centres can store as much as a million or +more bushels each. They are built of steel and equipped with steam-power +or electricity. The wheat is taken from grain-laden vessels or cars, +carried up into the elevator, and deposited in various bins, according to +its grade. On the opposite side of the elevator the wheat is reloaded into +cars or canal-boats. + +In 1914 the United States produced nine hundred and thirty million +bushels, or between one-fourth and one-fifth of all the wheat produced in +the world. + + +CATTLE-RAISING + +The third great industry is that of cattle-raising. To find the ranches we +will go a little farther west, perhaps to Kansas. A wide belt stretching +westward from the one-hundredth meridian to the foot-hills of the Rocky +Mountains is arid land. It includes parts of Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, the +Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Although the rainfall here is +mostly too light to grow corn and wheat without irrigation, these dry +plains have sufficient growth to support great herds of sheep and cattle, +and supply us with a large part of our beef. Cattle by the hundred +thousand feed on these vast unfenced regions. + +On the great ranches of this belt, which, we are told, are fast +disappearing, there are two important round-ups of the cattle every year. +Between times they roam free over vast areas of land. In the spring they +are driven slowly toward a central point. Then the calves are branded, or +marked by a hot iron, with the owner's special brand. These brands are +registered and are recognized by law. This is done in order that each +owner may be certain of his own cattle. In July or August the cattle are +rounded up again, and this time the mature and fatted animals are selected +that they may be driven to the shipping-station on the railroad and loaded +on the cars. + +[Illustration: Cattle on the Western Plains.] + +The journey to the stock-yards often requires from four to seven days. +Once in about thirty hours the cattle are released from the cars in order +to be fed and watered. Then the journey begins again. + +At the stock-yards the cattle are unloaded and driven into pens. From +there the fat steers and cows are sent directly to market. The lean ones +go to farmers in the Middle West who make a specialty of fattening them +for market, doing it in a few weeks. + +In the year 1910 there were ninety-six million six hundred and fifty-eight +thousand cattle in the United States. This means that there was one for +every human being in the whole country. But the number of beef-cattle is +decreasing, as the larger ranches where they graze are disappearing, as we +have said, and are being divided into small farms. + + +COAL + +By means of these three industries--cotton, wheat, and cattle--we are +provided with food and clothing. But besides these necessaries, we must +have fuel. We need it both for heat in our households and for running most +of our engines in factories and on trains. Our chief fuel is coal. + +To see coal-mining, western Pennsylvania is a good place for us to visit. +Were you to go into a mine there you might easily imagine yourself in a +different world. In descending the shaft you suddenly become aware that +you are cut off from beautiful sunlight and fresh air. You find that to +supply these every-day benefits, which you have come to accept as +commonplace, there are ventilating machines working to bring down the +fresh air from above, and portable lamps, which will not cause explosion, +to supply light, and that, where there is water, provision has been made +for drainage. + +The walls of the mine, also, have to be strongly supported, in order that +they may not fall and crush the workers or fill up the shaft. In +deep-shaft mines, coal is carried to the surface by cages hoisted through +the shaft. It is sorted and cleaned above ground. + +One of the largest uses of coal is found in the factories where numerous +articles of iron and steel are made. The world of industry depends so much +upon iron that it is called the metal of civilization. + +[Illustration: Iron Smelters.] + +The iron and coal industries are closely related, for coal is used to make +iron into steel. If you stay in Pennsylvania you may catch a glimpse of +the process by which iron is made usable. + +As it comes from the mine it is not pure, but is mixed with ore from which +it must be separated. In the regions of iron-mines you will see towering +aloft here and there huge chimneys, or blast-furnaces, at times sending +forth great clouds of black smoke and at times lighting the sky with the +lurid glow of flames. In these big blast-furnaces, the iron ore and coal +are piled in layers. Then a very hot fire is made, so hot that the iron +melts and runs down into moulds of sand, where it is collected. This +process is called smelting. + +The iron thus obtained, though pure, is not hard enough for most purposes. +It must be made into steel. Steel, you understand, is iron which has again +been melted and combined with a small amount of carbon to harden it. + +At first this was an expensive process, but during the last century ways +of making steel were discovered which greatly lowered its cost. As a +result, steel took the place of iron in many ways, the most important +being in the manufacture of rails for our railroad systems. Since steel +rails are stronger than iron, they make it possible to use larger +locomotives and heavier trains, and permit a much higher rate of speed and +more bulky traffic. All this means, as you can easily see, cheaper and +more rapid transportation, which is so important in all our industrial +life. + +Steel has an extensive use, also, in the structure of bridges, of large +buildings, of steamships and war vessels, as well as in the making of +heating equipment, tools, household utensils, and hundreds of other +articles which we are constantly using in our daily life. If you should +write down all the uses for this metal which you can think of, you would +be surprised at the length of your list. + +These four great industries give us a little idea of how men make use of +the products of the farm, the mine, and the factory in supplying human +needs. Each fulfils its place, and we are dependent upon all. That means +that we are all dependent upon one another. There would be little in life +for any one if he were to do without all that others have done for him. + +[Illustration: Iron Ore Ready for Shipment.] + +There is something which each member of a community can do to make life +better for others. If he does this willingly and well, he co-operates with +his fellow men and assists in the great upbuilding of the nation. And the +amount of _service_ the man or woman, boy or girl can render those about +him is the measure of his worth to his neighborhood, his State, or his +country. + +It is good for us to ask ourselves this question: How can I be helpful in +the community where I live, which has done so much for me? If we try to +give faithful service, working cheerfully with others, we are truly +patriotic. Are you a patriot? + + +SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT + +1. What are the four great industries taken up in this chapter? Can you +tell in what ways each of these is of special value to us? + +2. Use your map in locating the cotton region; the wheat-growing region; +the cattle-raising region. + +3. In what ways are coal, iron, and steel especially useful? + +4. How are we all dependent upon one another? How may we be truly +patriotic? + + + + +THE END + + + + +INDEX + + Adams, John + Adams, Samuel + Alamo + Anna, Santa + Antietam, battle of + Appomattox Court House, Lee's surrender at + Atlanta, capture of + + Backwoodsmen, life among + Barlow, Joel + Bon Homme Richard (bo-nom'-re-shar') + Boone, Daniel + Boone, Squire + "Boston Tea Party" + Brandywine Creek + Bull Run, battle of + Bunker Hill, battle of + Burgoyne (ber-goin'), General, his invasion + + Cabinet, the President's + Calhoun, John C. + Camden, battle of + Carson, Kit + Cattle-raising + Cedar Creek, battle of + Cherokee Indians + Civil War + Clark, George Rogers + Clark, William + Clay, Henry + Clermont + Clinton, DeWitt + Coal + Colonies become States + Compromise, Missouri + Compromise of 1850 + Concord, battle of + Confederate States of America, organization of + Congress, Continental, first meeting of + second meeting of + Congress, United States + Continental Army + Cornwallis, General + Cotton + Cotton-gin, invention of + Cowpens, battle of + Creek Indians + Custis, Mrs. Martha + + Davis, Jefferson + Dawes, William + Declaration of Independence + Donelson, Fort + Dorchester Heights + Douglas, Stephen A. + + Early, General, at Cedar Creek + Emancipation Proclamation + Erie Canal + + Ferguson, Major + Fitch, John + Flatboat + Florida, purchase of + France aids the Americans + Franklin, Benjamin + Fremont, John C. + French villages, old, life in + Fulton, Robert + + Gage, General + Gates, General + George III + Gettysburg, battle of + Gold, discovery of, in California + Grant, Ulysses + Greene, Nathanael + Guilford Court House, battle of + + Hale, Nathan + Hamilton, Alexander + Hamilton, Colonel + Hancock, John + Hayne, Senator + Henderson, Richard + Henry, Fort + Henry, Patrick + Hessians + Houston, Sam + Howe, General + Hutchinson, Governor + + Independence of the United States + Iron + + Jackson, Andrew + Jackson, Thomas J. ("Stonewall") + Jay, John + Jefferson, Thomas + Johnston, Albert Sydney + Johnston, Joseph E. + Jones, John Paul + + Kaskaskia (Kas-kas'-ki-a) + Kentucky + King's Mountain, battle of + Knox, Henry + + La Fayette (Lae f[=a]-yet) + Lee, Robert E. + Lewis and Clark's Expedition + Lewis, Meriwether + Lexington, battle of + Lincoln, Abraham; + and slavery; + and the Emancipation Proclamation; + assassinated + Lincoln, General + Livingston, Chancellor + Livingston, Robert R. + Long Island, battle of + Louisiana Purchase + + McClellan, General + Mandan Indians + Marion, Francis + Meade, General + Mexican Cession + Mexican War + Minutemen + Missouri Compromise + Mohawk Valley + Monroe, James + Morgan, Daniel + Morse, Samuel F.B. + + Napoleon I + National Road + Negroes + New Orleans in 1803 + Nullification + + Old North Church + Old South Church + + Pack-horse + Partisan warfare in the South + Pitcairn, Major + Pitt, William + Pittsburg Landing, battle of + Prescott, Samuel + Prescott, William + Protective tariff + Provincial Congress + Putnam, General + + Railroad + Randolph, Edmund + Republican Party + Revere, Paul + Revolution, causes of + Robertson, James + Rotch, Benjamin + Rowe, John + Rumsey, John + + Scott, General + Secession of South Carolina and ten more slave States + Seminole Indians + Serapis (se-ra-pis) + Sevier, John + Shelby, Isaac + Shenandoah Valley, Sheridan in + Sheridan, Philip H. + Sherman, William Tecumseh + Sherrill, Kate + Shiloh, battle of + Slavery + Smith, Colonel + Sons of Liberty + South Carolina + Stamp Act + Steamboat + Steel + Stephens, Alexander H. + Stuart, J.E.B. + Sutter, Captain + + Tariff + Taxation of the Colonies + Tea, tax on + Telegraph + Tennessee + Texas + Tories + Treaty at close of Revolution + Trenton, victory at + + Valley Forge, sufferings at + Vicksburg, capture of + Vincennes + + Warren, Joseph + Washington, D.C., made the national capital + Washington, George, in the Revolution + as President + Watauga + Webster, Daniel + West, Benjamin + Wheat + Whitney, Eli + Wilderness Road + + Yorktown, Cornwallis's surrender at + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES OF LATER AMERICAN HISTORY*** + + +******* This file should be named 18618.txt or 18618.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/8/6/1/18618 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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