But here let us pause. It has been a terrible winter at Valley Forge. While the British at Philadelphia, twenty miles away, have been living in luxury, our Washington and his men have suffered bitterly with hunger and cold; and out of a list of eleven thousand men, three thousand at Valley Forge lay sick at one time. But at last the spring has come and Washington has now been nearly three years in service. Listen! The order has gone forth! At 10:30 o'clock comes the signal, and the firing of a cannon sees all men under arms! At 11:30 o'clock the second signal is given and the march begins. It is May 7, 1778, and Washington is assembling his men. Great news has come and it is fitting to return thanks to Divine Providence--so reads his proclamation.
Now comes the third signal, the firing of thirteen cannon! Another signal! and the whole army breaks into a loud huzza "Long live the King of France!" followed by a running fire of guns.
On this same day in the afternoon, Washington gives a banquet to his officers, aides, and guests, to which they march arm-in-arm, thirteen abreast. What does it mean? It means that Benjamin Franklin has been heard from, and that an alliance with France, England's bitterest enemy, has been made. Some day when you are in Washington, you may see directly in front of the White House, Lafayette Park, and, knowing the story of the Revolution, you understand why it is there. You also understand why Washington's army on that May morning shouted, "Long live the King of France."
But it is not our purpose here to tell the whole story: we can only touch the high points. Again the army moves to White Plains and on to Middlebrook and New Windsor; and Washington spends the winter (1781) at Morristown, N. J. The end is approaching. He joins Lafayette at Yorktown, Va., and on October 19th, Cornwallis, the British general, surrenders to George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American Army. Thus the conflict begun in one English settlement is ended in the other. Massachusetts marks the beginning and Virginia the ending of the War of the Revolution.
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The War of 1812-1815
The War of 1812 was a naval war. It was a battle for rights--the rights of our sailors, the rights of our commerce. American ships and cargoes were being confiscated. France and England and the Barbary pirates were engaged in a profitable war on our commerce, and last but not least twenty thousand American seamen had been pressed into service and were slaves on ships that were foreign, England especially claiming the right to search American ships and press into service all men found on board who were English by birth, though American by choice and adoption.
"Once a subject always a subject," said Great Britain, but our answer in 1812 was as it is now: any foreigner after five years' residence within our territory, who has complied with our naturalization laws and taken the oath of allegiance to our flag, becomes one of our citizens as completely as if he were native born.
This war is sometimes spoken of as a "leaderless war," but great leaders came out of it. The names of Hull, Perry, and Lawrence are memorable in its history; it was the war which made Andrew Jackson, known as "Old Hickory," President of the United States in 1828. You will read the story of his great victory in the Battle of New Orleans.
Some day you will read the life story of David Glasgow Farragut of whom it is said that, with the exception of Nelson, the great English admiral, "he was as great an admiral as ever sailed the broad or narrow seas." Although the great work of Farragut was in the Civil War, the story of his life began in the War of 1812 when he was but ten years old. Admiral Farragut is reported as giving this explanation, in the late years of his life, of his success in the service of his country