A Brief History of the United States

by Joel Dorman Steele

The effect upon the Americans of this first regular battle was that of a victory. Their untrained farmer soldiers had put to flight the British veterans. All felt encouraged, and the determination to fight for liberty was intensified.

CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA (May 10).—Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold led a small company of volunteers to surprise this fortress. As Allen rushed into the sally-port, a sentinel snapped his gun at him and fled. Making his way to the commander's quarters, Allen, in a voice of thunder, ordered him to surrender. "By whose authority?" exclaimed the frightened officer. "In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress!" shouted Allen. No resistance was attempted. Large stores of cannon and ammunition, just then so much needed by the troops at Boston, fell into the hands of the Americans, without the loss of a single man. Crown Point was soon after as easily taken. (Map opp p. 120.)

[Footnote: Ethan Allen was a native of Connecticut. With several of his brothers he emigrated to what is now known as Vermont. At that time a dispute had arisen between the colony of New York, on the one hand, and the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, on the other, with reference to the territory. The governor of New Hampshire, regardless of the claims of New York, issued grants of land so extensively that the region became known as the New Hampshire grants. New York having obtained a favorable decision of the courts, endeavored to eject the occupants of the land. Ethan Allen became conspicuous in the resistance that ensued. The "Green Mountain Boys" made him their colonel, and he kept a watchful eye on the officers from New York, who sought by form of law to dispossess the settlers of farms which had been bought and made valuable by their own labor. The Revolutionary War caused a lull in these hostilities, and the Green Mountain Boys turned their arms upon the common enemy. Allen afterward aided Montgomery in his Canadian expedition, but, in a fool-hardy attempt upon Montreal, was taken prisoner and sent to England. After a long captivity he was released, and returned home. Generous and frank, a vigorous writer, loyal to his country and true to his friends, he exerted a powerful influence on the early history of Vermont.]

THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS (May 10) met at Philadelphia in the midst of these stirring events. It voted to raise twenty thousand men, and appointed General Washington commander-in-chief. A petition to the king was also prepared, which he refused to receive. This destroyed all hope of reconciliation.

[Illustration: RUINS OF FORT TICONTEROGA.]

CONDITION OF THE ARMY—On Washington's arrival before Boston, he found the army to number but fourteen thousand men. Few of them were drilled; many were unfit for service; some had left their farms at the first impulse, and were already weary of the hardships of war; all were badly clothed and poorly armed, and there were less than nine cartridges to each soldier. Washington at once made every exertion to relieve their wants, and in the meantime kept Gage penned up in Boston.

EXPEDITION AGAINST CANADA—Late in the summer General Montgomery, leading an army by way of Lake Champlain, captured St. John's and Montreal, and then appeared before Quebec. Here he was joined by Colonel Arnold with a crowd of half-famished men, who had ascended the Kennebec and then struck across the wilderness.

Attack upon Quebec.—Their united force was less than one thousand effective men. Having besieged the city for three weeks it was at last decided to hazard an assault. In the midst of a terrible snow-storm they led their forces to the attack. Montgomery advancing along the river, lifting with his own hands at the huge blocks of ice, and struggling through the drifts, cheered on his men. As they rushed forward a rude blockhouse appeared through the blinding snow. Charging upon it, Montgomery fell at the first fire, and his followers, disheartened, fled. Arnold, mean while, approached the opposite side of the city. While bravely fighting he was severely wounded and borne to the rear. Morgan, his successor, pressed on the attack, but at last, unable either to retreat or advance against the tremendous odds, was forced to surrender. The remnant of the army, crouching behind mounds of snow and ice, maintained a blockade of the city until spring. At the approach of British reinforcements the Americans were glad to escape, leaving all Canada in the hands of England.

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1776.