In June Gage dissolved the general court, and the patriots organized a government of their own. Largely through the influence of Samuel Adams, it was resolved that representatives of the colonies should meet in Philadelphia to discuss affairs. He went as the representative of Massachusetts, which was suffering most from British oppression, having her port closed and an army stationed on her soil. We are told that Adams rode to Philadelphia on a borrowed horse, wearing a coat presented to him “to enable him to make a decent appearance.” Delegates from eleven colonies met in this Congress in September, 1774, and discussed their situation. Among the delegates was a traitor who gave the royalists a full account of the meetings. This man said, “Samuel Adams eats little, drinks little, sleeps little, and thinks much. He is most decisive and indefatigable in the pursuit of his object. He is the man who, by his superior application, manages at once the factions in Philadelphia and the factions of New England.” The people were now getting ready to fight. Minute men were being drilled, firearms and powder and ball were being collected. Samuel Adams encouraged all these preparations. One night lights in the belfry of the North Church at Boston--a system of signals agreed upon--informed the patriots that British troops were leaving the city. They were going to seize the military stores collected at Concord and Worcester by the patriots. Longfellow’s poem, “Paul Revere,” tells in stirring phrase how the patriot-messenger galloped forth to give the alarm. In Medford he roused John Hancock and Samuel Adams, two leaders whom Gage was anxious to capture. The minute men sprang to arms. When the British soldiers, eight hundred in number, reached the village of Lexington about four o’clock on the morning of April 19, 1775, they found sixty or seventy men collected on the green. “Disperse, you rebels!” said the English officer. “Lay down your arms.” The men stood firm. Captain Parker had already given his orders: “Stand your ground! Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean war let it begin here.” The British fired and the shots of the Americans rang out in answer; eight Americans lay dead on the green. The War of the Revolution was begun. Adams and Hancock heard the shots as they galloped from Medford. “Oh, what a glorious morning for America this is,” said Adams. At Concord the minute men assembled and put the British to flight. From there to Boston, sixteen miles away, they fired on the British from behind trees and stone walls. Finally, the British broke and ran. On the northwest Boston was commanded by Bunker Hill and Breed’s Hill. A force of Americans under Colonel Prescott occupied Breed’s Hill one night and threw up earthworks to protect the city. The British soldiers marched forth to attack them and the American troops formed behind the earthworks and on the edge of Bunker Hill.