many, especially of the latter, with their families and personal effects. While this tumult was going on the Americans looked on in silence from their batteries on Dorchester Heights, without firing a shot.

"It was lucky for the inhabitants, now left in Boston, that they did not," said a British officer, "for I am informed everything was prepared to set the town in a blaze had they fired one cannon."

Washington, on March 20th, entered the town, where he was joyfully welcomed. He beheld sad traces of the devastation caused by the bombardment. There were evidences, also, of the haste with which the British had retreated-pieces of ordnance with their trunnions knocked off; others hastily spiked; others thrown off the wharf. "General Howe's retreat," writes Washington, "was precipitate beyond anything I could have conceived.

"The destruction of the stores at Dunbar's camp, after Braddock's defeat, was but a faint image of what was to be seen at Boston; artillery carts cut to pieces in one place, gun carriages in another; shells broken here, shots buried there and everything carrying with it the face of disorder and confusion, as also of distress."

WASHINGTON THANKED BY CONGRESS.

On motion of John Adams, who had first moved Washington's nomination as Commander-in-Chief, a unanimous vote of thanks was passed in Congress; and it was ordered that a gold medal be struck, commemorating the evacuation of Boston, bearing the effigy of Washington as its deliverer.

The great aim of the British, at present, was to get possession of New York and the Hudson, and make them the basis of military operations. This they hoped to effect on the arrival of a powerful armament, hourly expected, and designed for operations on the seaboard. June 28th four British ships of war appeared in New York Bay; forty arrived the next day. They were ships from Halifax, bringing between nine and ten thousand of the troops recently expelled from Boston, together with six transports filled. with Highland troops, which had joined the fleet at sea.

At sight of this formidable armament standing into the harbor, Washington sent notice of its arrival to Colonel Clinton, who had command of the posts in the Highlands, and urged all possible preparations to give the enemy a warm reception should they push their frigates up the river.

Other arrivals swelled the number of ships in the bay of New York to one hundred and thirty men-of-war and transports. The British made no

movement to ascend the Hudson, but anchored off Staten Island, where they landed their troops, and the hillsides were soon whitened with their tents.

Washington beheld the gathering storm with an anxious eye, aware that General Howe only awaited the arrival of his brother, the admiral, to commence hostile operations. He wrote to the President of Congress, urging a call on the Massachusetts government for its quota of continental troops and the formation of a flying camp of ten thousand men, to be stationed in the Jerseys as a central force, ready to act in any direction as circumstances might require.

On the 2d of July the General Congress at Philadelphia unanimously passed a resolution declaring "that these united colonies," etc., which history has designated as the Declaration of Independence. It was formally adopted on July 4th.

After the failure of negotiations between Lord Howe and Washington ten thousand British troops were sent to Long Island, the Americans having eight thousand or so near Brooklyn.

FIERCE ENGAGEMENT ON LONG ISLAND.

They met on the morning of August 27th, and the Americans were badly beaten, losing nearly one thousand men in killed, wounded and missing.

A cannonade from a British ship upon the battery at Red Hook contributed to distract the attention of the Americans. Seeing no likelihood of an immediate attack upon New York City, Washington hastened over to Brooklyn in his barge and galloped up to the work. He arrived there. in time to witness the catastrophe for which all the movements of the enemy had been concerted.

The thundering of artillery in the direction of Bedford had given notice they had turned the left of the Americans. The Hessians had come up, and now commenced a scene of confusion, consternation and slaughter. Hemmed in and entrapped between the British and Hessians, and driven from one to the other, the Americans fought for a time bravely and desperately.

Some were cut down and trampled by the cavalry, others bayoneted without mercy by the Hessians. Some rallied in groups and made a brief stand with their rifles from rocks or behind trees. The whole was a scene of carnage, resounding with the clash of arms, the tramp of horses, the volleying of firearms and the cries of the combatants, with now and then the dreary braying of the trumpet.

All spoke with horror of the sanguinary fury with which the Hessians plied the bayonet. At length some of the Americans, by a desperate effort, cut their way through the host of foes and effected a retreat to the lines, fighting as they went.

Others took refuge among the woods and fastnesses of the hills, but a great part were either killed or taken prisoners. Among the latter was General Sullivan. Washington had heard the din of the battle in the woods and seen the smoke rising among the trees; but a deep column of the enemy was descending from the hills on the left; his choicest troops were all in action, and he had none but militia to man the works.

His solicitude was awakened for the safety of General Stirling and his corps, who had been fighting all the morning. Stationed on a hill within the lines he saw the enemy's reserve, under Cornwallis, marching down by a crossroad to get in their rear and thus place them between two fires.

General Stirling thought to effect a circuitous retreat to the lines by crossing the creek which empties into Gowanus Cove, near the Yellow Mills, but was suddenly checked by the appearance of Cornwallis and his grenadiers. Washington supposed Stirling and his troops, finding their case desperate, would surrender, but, on the contrary, he boldly attacked. More. than two hundred and fifty Americans perished in this deadly struggle.

The enemy now concentrated their forces within a few hundred yards of the redoubts. Washington expected they would storm the works, but the British commander was unwilling to risk the loss of life.

The British acknowledged their loss was three hundred and eighty. The success of the enemy was attributed, in some measure, to the doubt in which Washington was kept as to the nature of the intended attack, and at what point it would chiefly be made.

Washington withdrew from Long Island the night of the 29th. Never did retreat require greater secrecy and circumspection. Nine thousand men, with all the munitions of war, were to be withdrawn from before a victorious army, encamped so near that every stroke of spade and pickax from their trenches could be heard.

The retreating troops, moreover, were to be embarked and conveyed across a strait three-quarters of a mile wide, swept by rapid tides. The least alarm of their movements would bring the enemy upon them and produce a terrible scene of confusion and carnage at the place of embarkation.

AMERICANS EVACUATE NEW YORK.

Washington, protected by the fog, succeeded in getting his men over, much to the surprise of the enemy. On September 14th Washington evacuated the City of New York, it being impossible to hold it longer. On the 23d he was at White Plains, the British following him, but, after many days of manoeuvering the British withdrew. Fort Washington, however, fell into the hands of the British after a desperate resistance on the part of the Americans.

Washington saw the assault upon the fort from the opposite side of the Hudson. The worst sight of all was to behold his men cut down and bayoneted by the Hessians while begging quarter. The only terms granted them were that the men should retain their baggage and the officers their swords.

Fort Lee was next lost, and Washington's army was reduced to three thousand men. He retreated into New Jersey, first to Princeton and then to Trenton. By the 9th of December, 1776, he had crossed the Delaware, a feat Cornwallis could not duplicate.

Everything showed careless confidence on the part of the enemy. Howe was in winter quarters at New York. His troops were loosely cantoned about the Jerseys, from the Delaware to Brunswick. The Hessians were in advance, stationed along the Delaware, facing the American lines, which were along the west bank. Washington had between five and six thousand men fit for service. With these he meditated to cross the river at night, at different points, and make simultaneous attacks upon the Hessian advance posts.

The Hessians had rendered themselves the horror of the Jerseys by brutality and heartlessness. At first their military discipline inspired awe, but they had become careless and unguarded. A brigade of three Hessian regiments was stationed at Trenton. Colonel Rahl had the command of the post in consequence of the laurels he had gained at White Plains and Fort Washington.

Early on the evening of December 25th twenty-four hundred Americans, with twenty small cannon, were at McKonkey's Ferry, ready to cross the river as soon as it was dark. It was three o'clock before the artillery was landed, and nearly four before the troops took up their line of march. Trenton was nine miles distant, and not to be reached before daylight. To

surprise it, therefore, was out of the question. There was no making a retreat without being discovered, and harassed in repassing the river.

WASHINGTON BEATS THE BRITISH AT TRENTON.

Besides, the troops from the other points might have crossed, and co-operation was essential to their safety. Washington resolved to push forward and trust to Providence. It was about eight o'clock when Washington's column arrived in the vicinity of the village. The storm, which had rendered the march intolerable, had kept everyone within doors, and the snow deadened the tread of the troops and the rumbling of the artiliery. He swept everything before him, and the British and Hessians were soon in full flight. Many were killed and wounded, while the Americans did not lose a man. About one thousand British and Hessian prisoners were taken also.

Lord Howe awoke from his stupor and soon had a large force near Trenton. On January 2d, 1777, Washington's men met a part of them at Princeton, and the British loss was nearly four hundred. The Americans lost twenty-eight.

This year witnessed the grand invasion of New York from Canada by ten thousand British, Canadians and Hessians, under General Burgoyne. General Philip Schuyler, the American commander in the north, had about four thousand men. At Bennington, Vermont, a battle was fought, the British losing eight hundred men; two battles were fought, near Saratoga, N. Y., in which the English lost twelve hundred or more, and on October 17th he surrendered at Saratoga to General Gates five thousand seven hundred and ninety-one officers and men. Among the prisoners were six members of the English Parliament.

In July General Howe, with eighteen thousand men, left New York to attack Philadelphia. Washington, with less than twelve thousand, met him at the Brandywine River, lost nearly a thousand men; Howe not more than six hundred. September 26th Howe took Philadelphia, and Congress adjourned to York, not far from there. October 3d Washington attacked Howe at Germantown, but was repulsed. On the other hand the Americans had full control of the Delaware River.

THE AMERICANS AT VALLEY FORGE.

Washington established his camp and headquarters for the winter of 1777-8 at Valley Forge, New Jersey. Sad and dreary was the march to