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loss such as few battles show. The ministry were so CHAPTER little satisfied with the accounts sent them of this transaction, that Gage was superseded in command. The 1775. provincial loss was four hundred and fifty; but among the slain was General Warren. Ardent, sincere, disinterested, and indefatigable, his death was deeply deplored. He left an infant family, with small means of support; for whom, by the zeal and perseverance of Arnold, the Continental Congress was at last pushed to make some provision. The battle of Bunker Hill figures in history as having tested the ability of the provincials to meet a British army in the field. That, however, was a point on which the provincials themselves never had any doubts, and the battle, at the moment, was less thought of than now. Nor were the men engaged in it all heroes. The conduct of several officers on that day was investigated by court martial, and one, at least, was cashiered for cowardice.

Heath was appointed major general in Warren's place, June 20 and a similar commission was given to Frye, both colonels in the Massachusetts army, and Frye commander-inchief of the Massachusetts forces at the unfortunate capture of Fort William Henry. But these commissions, and the other previous ones, were soon superseded by the new continental appointments. About a fortnight after the battle of Bunker Hill, Washington, attended by sev- July 2 eral ardent young men from the southern provinces, arrived in the camp and assumed the command. He found there excellent materials for an army, but great deficiencies of arms and ammunition, and great defects of discipline and organization. To prevent the British, not greatly inferior in numbers, and perfectly armed, equipped, and disciplined, from penetrating into the country, it was necessary to guard a circuit of eight or nine

CHAPTER miles.

Washington established his head-quarters t XXXI. Cambridge. Ward, in command of the right wing, was 1775. stationed at Roxbury; and Lee, with the left, on Prospect Hill. Joseph Trumbull, a son of the governor of Connecticut, and commissary for the troops of that prov ince, was appointed commissary general of the consolidated army. The post of quarter-master general was given by Washington, under authority from Congress, to Mifflin, who had followed him from Philadelphia as an aid-de-camp. The post of secretary to the commanderin-chief was bestowed on Joseph Reed, another Philadelphian; but, on Reed's return to Philadelphia a few months afterward, Washington selected for that important and confidential duty Robert H. Harrison a lawyer of Maryland, with whom he had formerly had business relations, and who continued for several years to discharge its responsible duties very much to the general's satisfaction. Edmund Randolph, a nephew of Peyton Randolph, but whose father, the attorney general of Virginia, was a decided Royalist, had accompanied the commander-in-chief to Boston, and acted for a while as aid-de-camp. But he was presently recalled to Virginia by his uncle's sudden death.

The camp was soon joined by some companies of riflemen from Maryland, Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania, enlisted under the orders of Congress. One of the Virginia companies was led by Daniel Morgan, formerly a wagoner, in which capacity he had been wounded at Braddock's defeat. A man of Herculean frame and indomitable energy, his qualities as a partisan soon made him distinguished. Otho H. Williams, lieutenant of one of the Maryland companies, rose ultimately to the rank of brigadier. These new auxiliaries, most of whom were

XXXL.

Irishmen, did not make themselves very agreeable to the CHAPTER New England troops.

While Washington was engaged in organizing the 1775. army, the Continental Congress was busy with measures for its support, pay, and government. In conformity with the suggestions of the New York Provincial Congress, it was voted to issue two millions of dollars in con- June 23. tinental bills of credit. Articles of War were agreed to, June 30. and a Declaration was issued, setting forth the "causes July 6. and necessity for taking up arms." "Our cause is just," said this declaration; "our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great; and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable." Any intention, however, to dissolve the union with Great Britain was emphatically disclaimed. "We have not raised armies with the ambitious design of separating from Great Britain and establishing independent states." "In defense of the freedom that is our birthright we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed." A petition to the king, firm but respectful, drawn by Dickinsonthe last attempt at reconciliation on the part of the colonists--was adopted and signed by all the members. July 8 An Address to the Inhabitants of Great Britain re-stated the chief points of the controversy, and called upon the British people, as "men, countrymen, and brethren," not to countenance proceedings as dangerous to British as they were to American liberty. As a pendant to this address, a letter of thanks was sent to the mayor and livery of London for their spirited opposition to the oppressive and ruinous ministerial system of colonial administration. These documents were intrusted to Richard Penn, then about to visit England, a grandson of the

CHAPTER founder of Pennsylvania, late governor of the province: XXXI. and brother of the present governor, for many years past 1775, a resident in America. An Address to the People of July 21. Ireland, returning hearty thanks for the sympathy exhibited for the colonies, significantly alluded to the griev ances under which that island labored. A letter to the July 25. Assembly of Jamaica returned thanls also for their sympathy. "The peculiar situation of your island forbids your assistance. But we have your good wishes. From the good wishes of the friends of liberty and mankind we shall always derive consolation."

Five

The importance of keeping on good terms with the Indians was not overlooked. Three boards were constituted for Indian affairs: one for the Six Nations and other northern tribes; a second for the Cherokees and Creeks; and a third for the intervening nations. hundred dollars were voted for the education of Indian youth at Wheelock's school, recently established at Hanover, in New Hampshire. In the camp before Boston, Massachusetts already had a body of Stockbridge Indians, the last remains of the tribes of Western New England. Overtures had also been made to the Six Nations through Kirkland, a missionary to the Oncidas, whose support was presently assumed by Congress. But Kirkland, and all the other dissenting missionaries, were soon ordered out of the country by Guy Johnson, the British Indian agent, whose hostile attitude occasioned some apprehensions. John Adams, dining some time after at Cambridge with Mifflin, the quarter-master, found at table some Indians of the Cagnawagas, or French Mohawks, who made a savage feast of it." Louis, head chief of the Cagnawagas, half blood of the negro and Indian, was complimented with a commission as colonel, and faith fully adhered to the American cause.

XXXI.

Ever since Franklin had been dismissed from his office CHAPTER of post-master, William Goddard had been traveling from colony to colony, exerting himself to get up a "constitu- 1775 tional post-office" in opposition to the royal mail, which by this time was nearly broken down from failure of postages. Congress now established a post-office system of its own, and appointed Franklin post-master general. July 26. An army hospital was also organized, the directorship July 27. of which was given to Dr. Benjamin Church, a physician of Boston, who had almost rivaled Warren in his zeal for the colonial cause. Washington was authorized to keep up in Massachusetts such a body of troops as he might think necessary, not exceeding twenty-two thousand men.

To meet increasing expenses, another million in bills of credit had already been authorized. Two joint treas- July 17 urers were also appointed, George Clymer and Michael Hillegas, the latter of whom remained in office as long as the confederation lasted. The liability for the three millions of bills already out was distributed among the July 20 colonies, subject, however, to future revision, in the ratio of their supposed "number of inhabitants, of all ages, including negroes and mulattoes;" the bills to be redeemed in four annual installments, to commence at the end of

four years.

While the Continental Congress was thus busy with the common interests, the local conventions and committees were by no means idle. In Massachusetts, agreeably to the advice given by Congress, a House of Representatives was presently chosen, as if under the charter, and an election for counselors was had as usual, the July 19 members of the last-chosen council being present to vote. By the terms of the charter, in the absence of the gov ernor and lieutenant governor, the executive authority