XXXI. southern colonies in which slaves were numerous, and CHAPTER where the level surface and ease of water communication facilitated military movements. Fortunately for Amer- 1775. ica, the first collision had occurred with the yeomanry of New England, freeholders who fought for their farms and firesides, simple in their habits, inured to toil, but intelligent, not without education, and full of the spirit and energy of freemen. A similar yeomanry, though less homogeneous, less intelligent, and less energetic, formed, in the middle colonies, the bulk of the inhabitants. Even in the south, except in the tide-water counties, where cultivation was carried on by slaves, the population, though still less intelligent and less energetic, yet partook, to a great degree, of the same general character. Such a population, in such a country, if tolerably united, it was next to impossible to subdue by force. In the midst of these commotions, far off in the western woods, by some of these same hardy yeomen an embryo state began to be formed. Richard Henderson, a North Carolina lawyer and speculator, elevated from very humble life by his own energy and talent, had been induced, by reports of the fertile region on the banks of the Lower Kentucky, to purchase from the Cherokees, March for a few wagon loads of goods, a great tract south of that river. He associated some others with him in the proprietorship; and the adventurous Boone, who had been present at the treaty, was soon afterward sent to mark out a road and to commence a settlement. Though he encountered several parties of hostile Indians, Boone persevered in the enterprise, and built a palisadoed fort April. or "station" at Boonesborough, the first permanent English lodgment within the limits of the present state of Kentucky. Harrod, an equally bold backwoodsman, founded Harrodsburg about the same time. CHAPTER XXXI. Regardless of a proclamation issued by Dunmore previous to his flight from Williamsburg, denouncing Hen1775. derson's purchase as illegal and void, and offering the March 17. western lands for sale under authority of the crown, delegates from Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and two other May 23. settlements presently met at Boonesborough, and organized themselves as the Assembly of TRANSYLVANIA. Henderson presided on behalf of the proprietaries. A compact was entered into between the proprietaries and the settlers. Courts and a militia were organized, and laws were enacted among other purposes, for preserving game, and punishing profane swearing and Sabbath breaking. Sept. 25. The proprietaries of Transylvania presently held a meeting at Oxford, in Granville county, North Carolina, and appointed James Hogg as a delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. Hogg proceeded thithOct. 22. er; but, though he was favorably received by several of the members, the claim of Virginia to that country, as being within her charter, proved an obstacle to the recognition of the new colony. About the same time, a not less adventurous party set out from Connecticut to colonize the banks of the Lower Mississippi. After eleven years' solicitation in England, greatly broken in mind and body, General Lyman, agent of the "Military Adventurers," as they called themselves, had at last obtained a grant in the province of West Florida. He proceeded to Natchez, laid out a number of townships in that vicinity, and was presently followed by four hundred families from Con1776. necticut, who descended, in the space of six weeks, from the head of the Ohio. The state of feeling in Connecticut heightened the disposition of these Loyalist emigrants to seek homes elsewhere. They were destined, however, to great sufferings. CHAPTER XXXII. THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES. CAMP BEFORE BOSTON. ON the reassembly of the Continental Congress, the CHAPTER Georgia delegates having taken their seats, the style was assumed of THE THIRTEEN UNITED COLONIES. XXXII. 1775. One of the first subjects to be considered was the Sept. 5. alarming scarcity of ammunition and military stores. Washington had found, in the camp before Boston, scarcely nine rounds of powder to a man. Active op erations were completely paralyzed by this deficiency. A council of war, called to consider the expediency of Sept. 8. an attack on Boston, advised against it. Besides measures entered into by the public at large with great zeal for promoting the discovery of lead mines and the manufacture of saltpeter, a secret committee of Congress was instituted to import powder and lead from Sept. 18. the West Indies. The non-importation agreement was also suspended in favor of all vessels bringing powder and warlike stores. Some of the powder seized by the South Carolinians was presently forwarded to Washington's camp. Dr. Church, the head of the hospital department, was detected, soon after his appointment, in a secret correspondence with Gage. Its extent or object did not clearly appear; but as Church was known to be very much involved in his pecuniary circumstances, the worst was CHAPTER suspected. Tried by a court martial, he was found XXXII. guilty of criminal correspondence with the enemy." In 1775. spite of a very ingenious defense before the bar of the Oct. 3. Massachusetts House of Representatives, of which he was Oct. 27. a member, he was expelled; and presently, by order of Congress, was confined a close prisoner in Connecticut, being debarred the use of pen, ink, and paper. After an imprisonment of several months, his health failing, he was suffered to embark for the West Indies; but the vessel in which he sailed was never afterward heard of. Church was succeeded at the head of the army medical department by Dr. John Morgan, a professor in the medical school of Philadelphia, of which, indeed, he had been one of the founders. A constant alarm was kept up by British cruisers which hovered on the coast of New England, and landed occasionally to obtain supplies. Lieutenant Mowatt, who commanded one of these cruisers, chased a vessel from the West Indies into Gloucester harbor. The boats sent to take her being repulsed by the townspeople, Mowatt Aug. 13. fired upon the town, and attempted to land. But he Oct. 7. was again repulsed, with the loss of his boats, and thirtyfive men taken prisoners. Narraganset Bay was much annoyed by a squadron of British cruisers, and Bristol was bombarded to frighten the inhabitants into furnishing a supply of provisions. Mowatt was presently sent to Falmouth (now Portland), where, a few months before, the loading of a royal mast ship had been obstructed, and Mowatt himself arrested and treated with some rudeness. On the refusal of the inhabitants to give up their arms, after allowing two hours for the removal of Oct. 18. the women and children, a bombardment was commenced, and that rising town of five hundred houses was presently in flames. The townspeople, not to be so fright XXXII. ened, stood to their arms, and defeated Mowatt's attempt CHAPTER to land. Such useless outrages did but exasperate feelings already sufficiently inflamed. 1775. It was not long before the colonists tried their hands also at maritime warfare. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut equipped each an armed vessel or two. In Massachusetts a law was passed to authorize and en- Nov. 10. courage the fitting out of privateers, and a court was established for the trial and condemnation of prizes. Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina each had their navy boards and armed vessels, and so did Pennsylvania for the defense of the Delaware. Five or six armed vessels, fitted out by Washington, cruised to intercept the supplies received at Boston by sea. Most of the officers of these vessels proved incompetent, and the men mutinous; but Captain Manly, of the schooner Lee, furnished a brilliant exception. In the midst of storms he kept the hazardous station of Massachusetts Bay, and, among other prizes, captured an ordnance brig laden with heavy guns, mortars, and working tools-a most acceptable supply to the Continental army. Under instructions from the Assembly of Rhode Island, the delegates of that colony called the attention of the Continental Congress to the subject of a navy. A Marine Committee was appointed, and four armed vessels were ordered to be fitted out at continental expense. All ships of war employed in harassing the colonies, and all vessels bringing supplies to the British forces, were declared lawful prize. Privateering was authorized, and Nov. 25 the colonies were requested to establish courts for the trial of captures, reserving an appeal to Congress. Rules and Regulations for the Navy were adopted; and the Naval Committee were presently authorized to fit out Dec. 13. thirteen frigates, of from twenty-four to thirty-two guns. |