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assailed by the militiamen, and their starting on the return march to Boston was the signal for a general attack, which continued until the survivors gained the protection of the guns of the men-of-war anchored off Charlestown. Instead of returning home, the colonists encamped at Cambridge and began the siege of Boston. The time for constitutional opposition was now at an end. The rightfulness of the colonial theories must be tested by war, or, to use the phrase of that time, "by an appeal to God."

CHAPTER III.

The Colon

ists in 1775.

REVOLUTION.

THE fifteen years covering the events described in the last chapter (1760-1775) were years of growth in population and in material resources without parallel in the colonial period. The total population increased from sixteen hundred thousand in 1760 to nearly two and one-half million souls in 1775. The slaves formed about one-fifth of this total-numbering in 1775 nearly half a million to about four hundred thousand in 1760. The increase in slave population was confined to the South, and was made up largely of fresh importations from Africa. The total populations of the North and South were nearly equal, in the proportion of about thirteen to eleven; but the white population of the colonies, north of Mason and Dixon's line, far outnumbered that of the colonies to the southward. A further examination of the statistics will enable one better to understand the greater capacity for resistance displayed by the North in the coming conflict. For instance, the two largest colonies, Virginia and Massachusetts, contained respectively five hundred and fifty thousand and three hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. The white population of the two colonies, however, was in the proportion of four to three and one-half. The next

largest colony was Pennsylvania, containing three hundred thousand inhabitants, nearly all white. In South Carolina, the negroes formed nearly two-thirds of the total of two hundred thousand. On the other hand, Connecticut, with about the same total population, contained hardly any blacks, slave or free. The fighting strength of the colonies having large slave populations was reduced nearly in the proportion of the blacks to the whites.

Material

1765-75.

Notwithstanding the disputes as to the enforcement of the trade laws and the complaints made by the colonies, it appears to be well ascertained that prosperity, commerce and trade had flourished to an extraordinary degree. Manufacturing had been extended, and, although it was still on a small scale, the Revolution found the colonists nearly self-supporting. Munitions of war were no doubt lacking, and at first there seemed to be no way to replenish them within the colonies. Gunpowder was soon manufactured there, however, and a lead mine in Virginia furnished material for bullets until the vein gave out in 1781. But the greater part of the supplies of war-materials were either captured from the British or procured from the French.

Capacity of the Colonists for war.

Experience

The younger men among the colonists knew little of actual warfare. But everywhere there were veterans of the French wars, Washington and Prescott, for instance, who soon infused a knowledge of military methods into the masses of raw recruits. showed that time had not diminished the fighting qualities of the race which disputed the fields of Naseby, Worcester and Dunbar. The descendants of Cavaliers and Ironsides fought side by side in the American armies. With them might often have been discovered the grandchildren of the brave defenders of Limerick and Londonderry. In fact, the most venturesome of all parties in the great contests of the Stuart period had either emigrated or had been deported to the colonies.

Washington, Greene, and Lafayette.

The Americans were peculiarly fortunate in their leaders. As a man, and as a leader of men, George Washington occupies an unique position among historic personages of ancient and modern times. Other men have been more brilliant than he; but in no other man have considerable abilities been combined with absolute honesty and steadfastness of purpose as they were in him. Always serious, as if conscious of his own greatness, he never for one moment faltered. As a strategist and tactician, he was not the equal of some of his subordinates. It must not be supposed, however, that Washington did not know when to strike and how to strike hard. The return of the offensive at Trenton and the rescue of the army at Monmouth will for ever remain among the most instructive operations of war. More important for a man in his position, he was able to wait, and feared not the reproach of the moment. Cold and impassive in bearing, he yet inspired his men with confidence and respect. The greatest soldier, as a soldier, on the American side, was Nathanael Greene. Born of Quaker stock, in the little colony of Rhode Island, he taught himself the art of war, buying and borrowing books on that subject far and wide. Marching at the head of the Rhode Island troops, at the summons sent forth from Lexington, he at once gained a position to which neither his age, his experience, nor the force at his back entitled him. Washington, one of the wealthiest of the Virginia aristocrats, confided in the military insight of this son of the most democratic colony, as he confided in that of no other man. In the beginning, Greene made many mistakes; but a few lessons in real fighting, combined with his theoretical training, made him a very efficient commander of a division or an independent force. Another soldier, worthy of mention with Washington and Greene, was Anthony Wayne, whose impetuosity in attack earned for him the sobriquet of "Mad Anthony." stable in character and ignorant of strategy, Wayne executed

orders in a splendid manner. Of another officer one would wish to speak here. In military sagacity, bravery, and enthusiasm Benedict Arnold was a great soldier. His faults, leading to presumption and extravagance in living, hindered his advancement, and finally drove him to commit treason. But as the leader of a division in a hardly contested fight, few men have stood higher than he. Among the foreign officers who gathered beneath the standard of the young republic, Lafayette was first in place and merit. Like Washington, he was a man of means and of high social position. Although very young at this time, he never failed to justify the confidence which intrusted him with important commands. Another foreigner, Steuben, a Prussian veteran, who was appointed Inspector-General, made the Continental Line-as the more permanent American forces were termed an efficient body of troops. Many foreign officers were given positions which they could not sustain. Charles Lee, a renegade Englishman, committed treason many times; and of Horatio Gates, a recent immigrant to Virginia, it is difficult to speak with calmness. He was self-sufficient and cowardly; and he treated his subordinates with a spirit of unfairness and jealousy hardly to be conceived.

Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne.

It is not necessary to say much concerning the British commanders. Gage's reputation was so shattered at Bunker Hill that no one has ever tried to rehabilitate it. Sir William Howe, Gage's successor, commanded in the field on that memorable occasion, and ever afterwards evinced the greatest caution in assailing works defended by the colonists. He was also fond of luxury and ease. At all events, he threw away every opportunity of crushing his enemy in 1776, the most critical year for the colonists. Burgoyne might have done well on the open fields of Europe, but in the woods of northern New York he was surely out of place. Sir Henry Clinton seems to have had

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