The British marched on to Concord, but the farmers had carried away most of the stores and buried them in the woods. Then the red-coats started back, and a terrible march they had of it. For all along the road were farmers with guns in their hands, firing on the troops from behind trees and stone walls. Some of the soldiers got back to Boston, but many of them lay dead in the road. The poor fellows killed at Lexington were terribly avenged.
Far and wide spread the news, and on all sides the farmers left their plows and took down their rifles, and thousands of them set out along the roads to Boston. Soon there were twenty thousand armed men around the town, and the British were shut up like rats in a trap. The American people were in rebellion against the king and war had begun.
It was to be a long and dreadful war, but it led to American liberty, and that was a thing well worth fighting for. While the people were laying siege to Boston, Congress was in session at Philadelphia, talking about what had best be done. One good thing they did was to make George Washington commander-in-chief of the army and send him to Boston to fight the British there. They could not have found a better soldier in all America.
The next good thing took place a year later. This was the great event which you celebrate with fireworks every 4th of July. Congress decided that this country ought to be free, and no longer to be under the rule of an English king. So a paper was written by a member from Virginia named Thomas Jefferson, with the help of Benjamin Franklin and some others. The paper is known by the long name of "Declaration of Independence." It declared that the American colonies were free from British rule, and in future would take care of themselves. It was on the 4th of July, 1776, that this great paper was adopted by Congress, and on that day the Republic of the United States of America was born. That is why our people have such a glad and noisy time every 4th of July.
Everywhere the people were full of joy when they heard what had been done. In the state house at Philadelphia rang out the great bell on which the words, "Proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all the inhabitants thereof." In New York the statue of King George was pulled down and thrown into the dust of the street. The people did not know what dark days lay before them, but they were ready to suffer much for the sake of liberty, and to risk all they had, life and all, for the freedom of their native land.
CHAPTER XII
FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM
ANY of my readers who are true, sound-hearted Americans, and I am sure all of them are that, would have been glad to see how the New England farmers swarmed around Boston in April, 1775. Some of them had fought in the French War, and brought with them their old rusty muskets, which they knew very well how to use. And most of them were hunters and had learned how to shoot. And all of them were bold and brave and were determined to have a free country. The English red-coat soldiers in Boston would soon find that these countrymen were not men to be laughed at, even if they had not been trained in war.