Congress now made Colonel Washington general, and sent him to Cambridge, a town just outside of Boston, to take command of the American army. It was called the Continental Army because it was raised, not to fight for the people of Massachusetts, but for all the Americans on the continent, north and south. Washington took command of the army under a great elm, which is still standing. There, six months later, he raised the first American flag.[17] [Illustration: THE NORTHERN STATES IN THE REVOLUTION.] [Footnote 17: See a picture of this and the other flags of the Revolution in paragraph 142.] 136. American sharpshooters;[18] Washington's need of cannon and powder; the attack on Canada; the British driven out of Boston.--Men now came from all parts of the country to join the Continental Army. Many of them were sharpshooters. In one case an officer set up a board with the figure of a man's nose chalked on it, for a mark. A hundred men fired at it at long distance, and sixty hit the nose. The newspapers gave them great praise for their skill and said, "Now, General Gage, look out for _your_ nose." [Illustration: "NOW, GENERAL GAGE, LOOK OUT FOR _your_ NOSE."] Washington wanted to drive General Gage and the British soldiers out of Boston, but for months he could not get either cannon or powder. Benjamin Franklin said that we should have to fight as the Indians used to, with bows and arrows. While Washington was waiting, a number of Americans marched against the British in Canada; but the cold weather came on, and they nearly starved to death: our men would sometimes take off their moccasins[19] and gnaw them, while they danced in the snow to keep their bare feet from freezing. At last Washington got both cannon and powder. He dragged the cannon up to the top of some high land overlooking Boston harbor. He then sent word to General Howe, for Gage had gone, that if he did not leave Boston he would knock his ships to pieces. The British saw that they could not help themselves, so they made haste to get on board their vessels and sail away. They never came back to Boston again, but went to New York. [Footnote 18: Sharpshooters: men who can fire and hit a small mark with a bullet at a long distance.] [Footnote 19: Moccasins (mok'ka-sins): Indian shoes made of deerskin.] 137. The Declaration of Independence; "Down with the king!" Washington is driven from New York and across the Delaware River.--Washington got to New York first. While he was there, Congress,[20] on the 4th of July, 1776, declared the United States _independent_--that is, entirely free from the rule of the king of England. There was a gilded lead statue of King George the Third on horseback in New York. When the news of what Congress had done reached that city, there was a great cry of "Down with the king!" That night some of our men pulled down the statue, melted it up, and cast it into bullets. [Illustration: "DOWN WITH THE KING!"]