A Brief History of the United StatesMcMaster, John Bach
History
A Brief History of the United States
McMaster, John Bach
United States -- History
To the Continental army mean time came troops from Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and of course from the four New England colonies, commanded
by men who were destined to rise to high positions during the war. There
was Daniel Morgan of Virginia, with a splendid band of sharpshooters, and
Israel Putnam of Connecticut, John Stark and John Sullivan of New
Hampshire, Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island, Henry Knox of Boston, Horatio
Gates of Virginia, and Benedict Arnold and Charles Lee who later turned
traitors.
THE HESSIANS.--When King George III heard of the fight at Bunker Hill, he
issued a proclamation declaring the colonists rebels, closed their ports
to trade and commerce, [8] and sought to hire troops from Russia and
Holland. Both refused, whereupon he turned to some petty German states and
hired many thousand soldiers who in our country were called Hessians. [9]
[Illustration: HESSIAN HAT. Now in Essex Hall, Salem.]
CANADA INVADED.--Now that the war was really under way, Congress turned
its attention to Canada. It was feared that the British governor there
might take Ticonderoga, enter New York, and perhaps induce the Indians to
harry the New England frontier as they did in the old French wars. In the
summer of 1775, therefore, two expeditions were sent against Canada. One
under Richard Montgomery went down Lake Champlain from Ticonderoga and
captured Montreal. Another under Benedict Arnold sailed from Massachusetts
to the mouth of the Kennebec River, arid forced its way through the dense
woods of Maine to Quebec. There Montgomery joined Arnold, and on the night
of December 31, 1775, the American army in a blinding snowstorm assaulted
the town. Montgomery fell dead while leading the attack on one side of
Quebec, Arnold was wounded during the attack on the other side, and
Morgan, who took Arnold's place and led his men far into the town, was cut
off and captured. Though the attack on Quebec failed, the Americans
besieged the place till spring, when they were forced to leave Canada and
find shelter at Crown Point.
BOSTON EVACUATED.--During the winter of 1775-76, some heavy guns were
dragged over the snow on sledges from Ticonderoga to Boston. A captured
British vessel provided powder, and in March, 1776, Washington seized
Dorchester Heights, fortified them, and by so doing forced Howe, who had
succeeded Gage in command, to evacuate Boston, March 17.
WHIGS AND TORIES.--During the excitement over the Stamp Act, the Townshend
Acts, and the tea tax, the people were divided into three parties. Those
who resisted and--finally rebelled were called Whigs, or Patriots, or
"Sons of Liberty." Those who supported king and Parliament were called
Tories or Loyalists. [10] Between these two extremes were the great mass
of the population who cared little which way the struggle ended. In New
York, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas the Tories were numerous and active,
and when the war opened, they raised regiments and fought for the king.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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