XXXIV.

CHAP. These were the considerations which swayed the continental congress in the policy which it dictated 1775. to New York. They also induced John Jay of that colony to make the motion in congress for a second petition to the king.

May.

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE REVOLUTION EMANATES FROM THE PEOPLE.

MAY, 1775.

XXXV.

May

THE motion of Jay was for many days the subject CHAP. of private and earnest discussion; but the temper of the congress was still irresolute, when on the 1775. eighteenth of May they received the news of the 18. taking of Ticonderoga. The achievement was not in harmony with their advice to New York; they for the time rejected the thought of invading Canada, and they were inclined even to abandon the conquest already made; though as a precaution they proposed to withdraw to the head of Lake George all the captured cannon and munitions of war, which on the restoration of peace were to be scrupulously returned.

For many days the state of the union continued to engage the attention of congress in a committee of the whole. The bolder minds, yet not even all the delegates from New England, discerned the tendency of events towards an entire separation of the colonies from Britain. In the wide division of opinions the decision appeared for a time to rest on South

CHAP. Carolina; but the delegates from that province, no XXXV. less than from the others of the south, like the central 1775. colonies, nourished the hope of peace, for which they May. desired to make one more petition.

21.

Vain illusion! The unappeasable malice of the supporters of the ministry was bent on the most desperate and cruel efforts, while every part of the continent rung the knell of colonial subjection. A new nation was bursting into life. Boston was so strictly leaguered, that it was only from the islands in and near the harbor that fodder, or straw, or fresh meat could be obtained for the British army. On Sunday May morning, the twenty-first of May, about sunrise, it was discovered, that they were attempting to secure the hay on Grape Island. Three alarm guns were fired; the drums beat to arms; the bells of Weymouth and Braintree were set a ringing; and the men of Weymouth, and Braintree, and Hingham, and of other places, to the number of two thousand, swarmed to the sea side. Warren, ever the bravest among the brave, ever present where there was danger, came also. After some delay, a lighter and a sloop were obtained; and the Americans eagerly jumped on board. The younger brother of John Adams was one of the first to push off and land on the island. The English retreated, while the Americans set fire to the hay.

May

25.

On the twenty-fifth of May, Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne, arrived with reinforcements. They brought their angling rods, and they found themselves pent up in a narrow peninsula; they had believed themselves sure of taking possession of a continent with a welcome from the great body of the

XXXV.

people, and they had no reception but as enemies, CHAP. and no outlet from town but by the sea.

Noddle's Island, now East Boston, and Hog Island were covered with hay and cattle, with sheep and horses. About eleven in the morning of the twentyseventh, twenty or thirty men passed from Chelsea to Hog Island and thence to Noddle's Island, and drove off or destroyed a great deal of stock. A schooner and a sloop, followed by a party of marines in boats, were sent from the British squadron to arrest them. The Americans retreated to Hog Island and cleared it of more than three hundred sheep, besides cows and horses. They then drew up on Chelsea Neck, and by nine in the evening received reinforcements, with two small four pounders. Warren was among his countrymen, of whom Putnam took the command. Cheered on by the presence of such leaders, they kept up an attack till eleven at night, when the schooner was deserted. At daybreak it was boarded by the provincials, who carried off four fourpounders and twelve swivels, and then set it on fire. The English lost twenty killed and fifty wounded; the provincials had but four wounded, and those slightly.

The New Englanders were so encouraged by these successes, that they stripped every island between Chelsea and Point Alderton of cattle and forage; and the light-house at the entrance of Boston harbor was burned down. They were as ready for partisan enterprises on the water as on land; if they could only get gunpowder, they were confident of driving off the British.

The same daring prevailed on the northern fron

1775.

May

27.

CHAP. tier.

XXXV.

1775.

The possession of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the fortresses round which hovered the chief May. American traditions and recollections of military service, inflamed the imagination and stimulated the enterprise of the brave settlers of Vermont. A schooner, called for the occasion, "Liberty," was manned and armed; and Arnold, who had had experience at sea, took the command. With a fresh southerly wind he readily passed the lake; early on May the morning of the eighteenth, at the head of a party in boats, he surprised a sergeant and twelve men, and captured them, their arms, two serviceable brass field pieces, and a British sloop which lay in the harbor of St. John's. In about an hour the wind suddenly shifted, and, with a strong breeze from the north, Arnold returned with his prizes.

18.

Ethan Allen, who desired not to be outdone, thought with one hundred men to take possession of St. John's. The scheme was wild, and he was compelled to retire before a superior force; but preserving his boastful courage, he wrote to congress: “Had I but five hundred men with me, I would have marched to Montreal."

The whole population west of the Green Mountains was interested to keep possession of Ticonderoga. Every man within fifty miles was desired by Arnold to repair to that post or to Crown Point with intrenching tools and all the powder and good arms that could be found. At the rumor of the proposed abandonment of their conquest, a loud protest was uttered unanimously by the foresters. "It is bad policy," said Ethan Allen, "to fear the resentment of an enemy." "Five hundred families," wrote Ar