The two divisions approaching from opposite sides were to attack the fort at the same moment. Before it was reached, the pickets discovered them and opened fire. The garrison was aroused, and, hurrying to their posts, cried out tauntingly:
"Come on, you rebels! we're waiting for you!"
"We'll be there," was the reply; and the patriots kept their word, carrying matters with such a rush that the flag was speedily lowered. While leading his men, Wayne was struck in the forehead by a musket-ball and fell to the ground. Believing himself mortally wounded, he asked to be carried forward that he might die within the fort. While his men were assisting him, it was found that he had only been stunned. He recovered a moment later and was among the first to enter the defenses.
The American loss was slight, and they secured nearly six hundred prisoners, with a lot of valuable stores. The fort was destroyed before they left, the ruins being occupied some days later by a British force.
THE INFANT AMERICAN NAVY.
Thus far we have had nothing to tell about the infant American navy. At the beginning of the war, in 1775, Washington sent several privateers to cruise along the New England coast, and Congress established a naval department. Thirteen ships were fitted out and two battalions of seamen enlisted. The opportunity of capturing prizes from the enemy was very alluring to the skillful American seamen, and so many dashing privateers started forth in quest of them that in the course of three years fully five hundred ships, sailing under the English flag, were captured. Some of the daring cruisers did not hesitate to enter British waters in search of the enemy.
GREAT NAVAL VICTORY OF PAUL JONES.
No braver man than John Paul Jones ever trod the quarter-deck. On the first chance he displayed so much courage and skill that he was made a captain. He was cruising off Solway Firth near his birthplace one night, when he rowed ashore on the coast of Cumberland, with only thirty-one volunteers, and burned three vessels in the harbor of Whitehaven and spiked a number of cannon in the guard-room of the fort. England was alarmed, declared him a pirate, and put forth every effort to capture him.
In 1779, Paul Jones, as he is more generally known, put to sea in command of the Bon Homme Richard, and accompanied by two consorts, the Alliance and the Pallas. The Richard was an old East Indiaman, given him by the king of France and named in compliment to Franklin, who had published "Poor Richard's Almanac" for so many years that he was often identified with the publication.