He was one of several delegates chosen to represent Virginia in the General Congress, which was held at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. There were fifty-two members, the ablest men of all the colonies. Someone asked Patrick Henry who was the greatest man among them and he said, "Colonel Washington, if you speak of solid information and sound judgment." These men met, not as members of separate colonies, but as Americans with one country and one cause. Each meeting was opened with a prayer. Not often, in the whole history of the world, have men had to decide more important and difficult questions.
For almost two months, they discussed all the points in which they believed they were wronged by England. They were careful and just in all that they said. They wanted to keep peace. None of them wished to be independent of England. Neither were they willing to submit to injustice and the loss of their rights and privileges. They wrote a petition to the King and letters to the people of England and of Canada. These papers were very fair and wise and showed the noble minds and loyal hearts of these early great Americans. They were not rebelling, they were simply declaring their rights. In reply, England only passed more unjust laws. The spirit of revolt spread through the colonies. Militia was organized; some were called "Minute Men" because they promised to leave everything and go to war at a minute's notice. Months passed in active preparations. Military stores were collected. The patriots were determined to face death rather than submit longer to British oppression.
Meanwhile, the British General Gage, stationed in Boston with four thousand British soldiers, decided to surprise and take, by night, the supplies of the militia in Concord, twenty miles away. Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the patriots, heard of it and secretly sent Paul Revere galloping out of Boston on a fast horse to awaken the people along the way and carry the alarm to Concord. When the British reached Lexington (about nine miles from Boston), they found seventy or eighty citizens armed and waiting for them in the darkness!
Early in the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, the first battle of the great American Revolution was fought (the Battle of Lexington). The trained soldiers of England soon scattered the handful of patriots at Lexington and Concord, but, as the day wore on, they were joined by other patriots, and by the night of April 20th, General Gage found himself besieged in Boston by a rustic army of 16,000 men. The news of the battle spread rapidly and spurred the colonies to instant and bitter war. Washington said that the once happy America must be drenched in blood, or inhabited by slaves, and that no true man could hesitate to choose death for himself rather than slavery for his country. He was at Mount Vernon when the sad news came, getting ready to attend the second Congress.
Israel Putnam
CHAPTER III
BEGINNING OF THE REVOLUTION—WASHINGTON MADE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY—BRITISH FORCED TO LEAVE BOSTON—1775-1776