The Battle of Lexington—The War of the Revolution Begun—Fort Ticonderoga Taken—Second Continental Congress—George Washington Appointed Commander-in-chief—Battle of Bunker Hill—Last Appeal to King George—The King Hires Hessian Mercenaries—The Americans Invade Canada—General Montgomery Killed—General Howe Evacuates Boston—North Carolina Tories Routed at Moore's Creek Bridge—The Declaration of Independence—The British Move on New York—Battle at Brooklyn—Howe Occupies New York City—General Charles Lee Fails to Support Washington —Lee Captured—Washington's Victory at Trenton—The Marquis De Lafayette Arrives.
General Gage, military governor of Massachusetts, received orders in April, 1775, to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams and send them to England to be tried for treason. The two patriots were at the house of a friend in Lexington when Gage, on the evening of April 18, sent eight hundred British soldiers from Boston to seize military stores at Concord, and to arrest Adams and Hancock at Lexington. Paul Revere, a patriotic engraver, rode far in advance of the troops to warn the people of their coming. When the soldiers reached Lexington at sunrise they were confronted by armed yeomanry drawn up in battle array. The British fired, killing seven men. The War of the Revolution was begun. From near and far the farmers hastened to attack the troops. Every wall concealed an enemy of the British; from behind trees and fences a deadly fire was poured into their ranks. Their track was blazed with dead and wounded, as they hurried back from Concord, disappointed in the objects of their mission. Gage heard of the rising, and hurried reinforcements to the assistance of his decimated and almost fugitive soldiery, and with a loss of nearly three hundred men they re-entered Boston. From all parts of Massachusetts, from Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, the provincials hastened to face the invaders, and an army of sixteen thousand men of all sorts, conditions and colors, but most of them hardy New Englander farmers, besieged Governor Gage in Boston. Joseph Warren, John Stark, Israel Putnam and Benedict Arnold were among the leaders of the patriot forces. Ethan Allen, chief of the "Green Mountain Boys," demanded and obtained the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga "by the authority of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress" (May 10) and Seth Warner captured Crown Point two days later.
The second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia the same day that Fort Ticonderoga was taken. The Congress chose for its president John Hancock, whom the British government wanted to try for treason, assumed direction of the troops encamped at Cambridge, and called upon Virginia and the middle colonies for recruits. George Washington was appointed to command the American forces.
The battle of Bunker Hill proved to the British that the skill and courage which had been displayed with signal success against the French could be used with equal effect against British troops. General Gage had determined to seize and fortify points in the neighborhood of Boston in order to strengthen his hold upon the city, and to enable him to resist a siege. This purpose of the British commander becoming known to the Massachusetts Committee of Safety, the Committee ordered Colonel William Prescott, with one thousand men, including a company of artillery with two field-pieces, to occupy and fortify Bunker Hill. The force ascended Breed's Hill, much nearer Boston, on the evening of June 16. They worked all night under the direction of an engineer named Gridley, and in the morning the British on their vessels in the Charles River were surprised to see on a hill which had been bare the previous day a redoubt about eight rods square, flanked on the right by a breastwork which extended in a northerly direction to some marshy land, and which commanded both the city and the shipping. The guns of the fleet were quickly turned on the bold provincials, and the roar of cannon awoke the citizens of Boston to behold a conflict in which they had the deepest interest. The Americans continued to work under the shower of shot and shell, strengthening their fortifications for the desperate struggle they felt was at hand. General Artemas Ward, who commanded the colonial army, was not as prompt as he ought to have been in sending reinforcements to Breed's Hill, but at length Stark's New Hampshire regiment and Colonel Reed's regiment were permitted to join the men in the redoubt. The British sent 3000 of their best troops to carry the works by assault. Thousands of the people of Boston and neighborhood, many of whom had fathers, sons, brothers and husbands in the patriot lines, looked from hill and housetop and balcony as the regulars marched steadily to the attack. At the redoubt all was silent, although the British ships and a battery on Copp's Hill hurled shots at the Americans. Nearer and nearer marched the British. They were almost close enough for the final charge, when suddenly at the word "Fire!"—up sprang 1500 Americans and poured a storm of bullets into the advancing enemy. Down went the British platoons as before the scythe of death. Whole companies were swept away. The survivors could not stand before the deadly hail, and back they fell to the shore. Some shots had been fired at the British from houses in Charlestown, and General Gage gave orders to fire that place. The British advanced again, the flames from the burning town adding to the terror of the scene. Again the hurricane of bullets drove them back to the shore. Strengthened by fresh troops the British marched up a third time to the hillside now scattered with their dying and their dead. British artillery planted as near as possible to the Americans swept the redoubt and the patriots, their ammunition failing at this critical time, were obliged to give way before the overwhelming charge of the grenadiers. The Americans escaped in good order across Charlestown Neck, losing General Joseph Warren, who fell when leaving the redoubt. Colonel Prescott was in command throughout the engagement, although both General Warren and General Israel Putnam had taken a gallant part in the battle, but without any command. The fight lasted about two hours, and the British lost 1054 killed and wounded out of about 3000 troops engaged, and the provincials lost 450 killed and wounded. The British ministry looked on the result as virtually a defeat for their troops.
Washington reached Cambridge on the second of July. He found the spirit of the troops admirable, but their discipline wretched, and the leaders divided by dissension in regard to the commands. He labored assiduously and successfully to bring order out of comparative chaos. The Congress made another effort to prevent a conflict with Great Britain by sending a respectful statement of America's case in a petition to the King. He refused to receive it, and issued a proclamation calling for troops to put down the rebellion in America. King George showed how little he regarded humanity in dealing with his revolted subjects by appealing to semi-barbarous Russia for troops to use against the colonists. The Empress Catharine refused to sell her people for such a purpose, and the British monarch then turned to the petty princes of Germany, where he bought 20,000 soldiers like so many cattle for the American war. As many of these were from Hesse Cassel, they were known as Hessians. It being now evident that a peaceable arrangement, short of abject surrender, could not be hoped for, the Continental Congress prepared to push the war with vigor, and if possible to secure a union of all British America against the enemy of American liberty.
The invasion of Canada in the latter part of 1775 by American expeditions under command of General Richard Montgomery and Colonel Benedict Arnold, was prompted by expectation that the French inhabitants of that region would gladly espouse the cause of the colonists, for whom they had shown sympathy when the people Of Boston were in distress on account of the closing of their port. Only a few Canadians rallied to the American standard; the majority remained indifferent. Montgomery captured Montreal, but in the attack on Quebec he was slain, and Arnold wounded in the leg, and the Americans were defeated with a loss of about four hundred killed, wounded and prisoners. The death of Montgomery was a severe blow to the American cause. He was one of the ablest commanders in the service at a time when the colonists were much in need of practiced military men, and even in England he was held in high regard. "Curse on his virtues," said Lord North; "they've undone his country."