One morning the English woke up and rubbed their eyes hard, for there, on a hill that overlooked the town, was a crowd of Americans. They had been at work all night, digging and making earthworks to fight behind, and now had quite a fort. The English officers did not like the look of things, for the Americans could fire from that hill—Bunker Hill, they called it—straight down into the town. They must be driven away or they would drive the troops away.
I can tell you that was a busy and bloody day for Boston. The great war-ships in the harbor thundered with their cannon at the men on the hill. And the soldiers began to march up the hill, thinking that the Yankees would run like sheep when they saw the red-coats coming near. But the Yankees were not there to run.
"Don't fire, boys, till you see the whites of their eyes," said brave General Prescott.
So the Yankee boys waited till the British were close at hand. Then they fired and the red-coats fell in rows, for the farmers did not waste their bullets. Those that did not fall scampered in haste down the hill. It was a strange sight to see British soldiers running away from Yankee farmers.
After a while the British came again. They were not so sure this time. Again the Yankee muskets rattled along the earthworks, and again the British turned and ran—those who were able to.
They could never have taken that hill if the farmer soldiers had not run out of powder. When the red-coats came a third time the Yankees could not fire, and had to fight them with the butts of their guns. So the British won the hill; but they had found that the Yankee farmers were not cowards; after that time they never liked to march against American earthworks.
Not long after the battle of Bunker Hill General Washington came to command the Americans, and he spent months in drilling and making soldiers out of them. He also got a good supply of powder and muskets and some cannon, and one dark night in March, 1776, he built a fort on another hill that looked down on Boston.
I warrant you, the British were alarmed when they looked up that hill the next morning and saw cannon on its top and men behind the cannon. They would have to climb that hill as they had done Bunker Hill, or else leave Boston. But they had no fancy for another Bunker Hill, so they decided to leave. They went on board their ships and sailed away, and Washington and his men marched joyfully into the town. That was a great day for America, and it was soon followed by the 4th of July and the glorious Declaration of Independence. Since that 4th of July no king has ever ruled over the United States.
We call this war the American Revolution. Do you know what a revolution is? It means the doing away with a bad government and replacing it with a better one. In this country it meant that our people were tired of the rule of England and wished to govern themselves. They had to fight hard for their freedom, it is true, but it was well worth fighting for.
The war was a long and dreadful one. It went on for seven long years. At one time everything seemed lost; at other times all grew bright and hopeful. And thus it went on, up and down, to the end. I cannot tell you all that took place, but I will give you the important facts.