major Pitcairn cried in a loud voice, Disperse rebels, lay down arms, and disperse.' The provincials did not obey, upon which he sprung from the ranks, discharged a pistol, and, brandishing his sword, ordered his soldiers to fire. The provincials retreated; the English continuing their fire, the former faced about to return it.

Meanwhile, Hancock and Adams retired from danger; and it is related, that while on the march, the latter, enraptured with joy, exclaimed, 'Oh! what an ever glorious morning is this!' considering this first effusion of blood as the prelude of events which must secure the happiness of his country. The soldiers advanced towards Concord. The inhabitants assembled, and appeared disposed to act upon the defensive, but seeing the numbers of the enemy, they fell back, and posted themselves on the bridge, which is found north of the town, intending to wait for reenforcements from the neighboring places; but the light infantry assailed them with fury, routed them, and occupied the bridge, whilst the others entered Concord, and proceeded to the execution of their orders. They spiked two pieces of twenty-four pound cannon, destroyed their carriages, and a number of wheels for the use of the artillery; threw into the river, and into wells, five hundred pounds of bullets, and wasted a quantity of flour deposited there by the provincials. These were the arms and provisions which gave the first occasion to a long and cruel war!

But the expedition was not yet terminated; the minute-men arrived, and the forces of the provincials were increased by continual accessions from every quarter. The light infantry who scoured the country above Concord, were obliged to retreat, and on entering the town a hot skirmish ensued. A great number were killed on both sides. The light infantry having joined the main body of the detachment, the English retreated precipitately towards Lexington; already the whole country had risen in arms, and the militia, from all parts, flew to the succour of their own. Before the British

detachment had arrived at Lexington, its rear guard and flanks suffered great annoyance from the provincials, who, posted behind the trees, walls, and frequent hedges, kept up a brisk fire, which the enemy could not return. The soldiers of the king found themselves in a most perilous situation.

General Gage, apprehensive of the event, had despatched, in haste, under the command of Lord Percy, a reenforcement of sixteen companies, with some marines, and two field pieces. This corps arrived very opportunely at Lexington, at the moment when the royal troops entered the town from the other side, pursued with fury by the provincial militia.

It appears highly probable, that, without this reenforcement, they would have been all cut to pieces, or made prisoners; their strength was exhausted, as well as their ammunition. After making a considerable halt at Lexington, they renewed their march towards Bos

ton, the number of the provincials increasing every moment, although the rear guard of the English was less molested, on account of the two field pieces, which repressed the impetuosity of the Americans. But the flanks of the column remained exposed to a very destructive fire, which assailed them from all the points adapted to serve as coverts. The royalists were also annoyed by the heat, which was excessive, and by a violent wind, which blew a thick dust in their eyes. The enemy's marksmen, adding to their natural celerity a perfect knowledge of the country, came up, unexpectedly through cross roads, and galled the English severely, taking aim especially at the officers, who, perceiving it, kept much on their guard. Finally, after a march of incredible fatigue, and a considerable loss of men, the English, overwhelmed with lassitude, arrived at sunset in Charlestown. Independently of the combat they had sustained, the ground they had measured that day was above five and thirty miles. The day following they crossed over to Boston.

Such was the affair of Lexington, he first action which opened the civil war. The English soldiers, and especially their officers, were filled with indignation at the fortune of the day; they could not endure, that an undisciplined multitude, that a flock of Yankees, as they contemptuously named the Americans, should not only have maintained their ground against them, but even forced them to show their backs, and take refuge behind the walls of a city. The provincials, on the contrary, felt their courage immeasurably increased, since they had obtained a proof that these famous troops were not invincible, and had made so fortunate an essay of the goodness of their arms.

Both parties were at great pains to prove that their adversaries had been the aggressors. The English insisted, that the Americans had fired first from the houses of Lexington, and that this provocation had forced the British troops to fire also, and to march thence to Concord. The Americans denied the fact, and affirmed very positively, that major Pitcairn had commanded his detachment to fire, when, on their part, they continued to observe a perfect calm; and many judicial certificates and solemn depositions were made to this effect. Certain it is, that licutenant-colonel Smith, was much displeased that his troops had fired; and it seems probable, that general Gage had given orders not to fire, except in case of a real attack on the part of the provincials. If it be true, therefore, as there is much reason to believe, that the first firing came from the soldiers of the king, this ought to be imputed rather to the imprudence of major Pitcairn than to any other order or cause.

The two parties also reciprocally accused each other, as it usually happens in civil wars, of many and horrible cruelties. The Americans pretended that the English had burnt and plundered several houses, destroying what they were unable to carry away, and that

they had even massacred several individuals without defence. The English, on the contrary, affirmed, that several of their comrades, made prisoners by the rebels, had been tortured and put to death with savage barbarity. They even related, a thing horrible to repeat, that one of the wounded English, being left behind, and endeavoring, with great efforts, to rejoin his corps, was assailed by a young American, who ferociously split open his skull with an axe, and forced out the brains, for his sport. We dare not affirm the truth of this abominable fact; although we find it related, as not doubtful, by authors worthy of credit; but we can at least attest the falsehood of a report which had at the time much currency. It was rumored, that the inhabitants of New England, imitating, in their fanatical rage, the barbarity of the savages, their neighbors, had severed the scalp, torn out the eyes, and cut off the ears of many English soldiers, both wounded and dead. It is pleasing to think, and authorities are not wanting to affirm, that these imputations are excessively exaggerated, both on the one part and on the other; and if any excesses were committed in the heat of battle, it is certain that after the action was over, humanity recovered its rights. It is known with perfect assurance, that the wounded, who fell into the hands of the provincial militia, were treated with all the cares and attentions in use among the most civilised nations. The Americans even gave notice to general Gage, that he was at liberty to send surgeons to dress and attend the wounded that were found in their hands.

This first feat of arms had two results; the first was to demonstrate how false and ridiculous were the vaunts of those Gascons, who, within parliament as well as without, had spoken in such unworthy terms of American courage; from this moment the English nation, and especially its soldiers, persuaded themselves that the struggle would be far more severe and more sanguinary, than had been at first believed. The second effect of this combat was, to increase astonishingly the confidence of the colonists, and their resolution to defend their rights. It should be added, also, that the reports of the cruelties committed by the British troops, which, whether true or false, the leaders never failed to propagate and exaggerate, in every place, repeating them with words of extreme vehemence, and painting them in the most vivid colors, had produced an incredible fermentation, and a frantic rage in the minds of the inhabitants. To give, if it were possible, still greater activity to these transports of hatred and fury, the obsequies of the slain were celebrated with every mark of honor, their eulogies were pronounced, they were styled the martyrs of liberty; their families were the object of universal veneration. They were continually cited as the models to be imitated in the arduous contest which America was forced into, by the injustice and the pride of English supremacy.

The provincial congress of Massachusetts was then in session at Watertown, ten miles distant from Boston. Upon the news of the battle of Lexington, it addressed a long letter to the English people, containing the most circumstantial details of this event; the congress endeavored to prove that the royal troops had been the first to engage battle, by firing upon the peaceable militia; and by committing at Concord, as well as at Lexington, many excesses, absolutely unworthy of the British name. They entreated the English nation to interfere, and avert the ulterior calamities which were about to fall upon the colonies and Great Britain; they declared and protested their loyalty; at the same time they affirmed it was their firm and irrevocable resolution not to submit to any species of tyranny; they appealed to heaven for the justice of a cause for which they were prepared to sacrifice their fortunes, and, if necessary, existence itself.

But, not content with words, and desirous of giving a regular direction to the war, and to the movements of the people, who assembled every where in tumultuary crowds, they assigned a fixed pay to the officers and soldiers; they made regulations for organising and disciplining the militia. In order to be able to meet the expenses, which were rendered necessary by circumstances, the congress issued a certain quantity of bills of credit, which were to be received as money, in all payments; and for the guaranty of which, they pledged the faith of the province. They declared that general Gage, having sent armed soldiers to destroy what existed in the public magazines in the town of Concord, a violence which had occasioned the illegal and barbarous death of a great number of the inhabitants of the province, was no longer entitled to receive any obedience, but ought, on the contrary, to be regarded as an enemy to the country.

The congress also resolved, that a levy should be made in the province, of thirteen thousand six hundred men, and chose for their general, colonel Ward, an officer of much reputation. This militia was designed to form the contingent of Massachusetts; the provinces of New Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, were invited to furnish theirs, in order to complete an army of thirty thousand men, to be commanded by general John Thomas, an officer of great experience. Connecticut despatched immediately a considerable corps, under the command of colonel Putnam, an old officer, who, in the two late wars, had often given proof of courage and intelligence. The other provinces were not slow in causing their standards to move, and, in a short time, an army of thirty thousand men was found assembled under the walls of Boston. So great and so universal was the ardor produced among the inhabitants by the battle of Lexington, that the American generals were obliged to send back to their homes many thousand volun

teers. Putnam took his station at Cambridge, and Thomas at Roxbury, upon the right wing of the army, to cut off entirely the communication of the garrison, by the isthmus, with the adjacent country. Thus, a few days after the affair of Lexington, the capital of the province of Massachusetts was closely besieged; thus, a multitude assembled in haste, of men declared rebels, and mean spirited cowards, held in strict confinement, not daring to sally forth even to procure food, many thousands of veteran troops, commanded by an able general, and combating under the royal standard. Such was the situation of troops which had been sent from Europe with the firm expectation that they would only have to show themselves, in order to drive before them all the inhabitants of a country, infinitely more vast and more difficult to traverse than England itself. But, in all times, regular troops have regarded with disdain the militia of an insurgent people; and often has this militia baffled all the efforts of regular armies.

END OF BOOK FOURTH.