THE WORLD showing the UNITED STATES and its Outlying Possessions

Copyright, 1909, by Rand, McNally & Company.

THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS

[Pg i]

A
Beginner's History

by

WILLIAM H. MACE

Formerly Professor of History in Syracuse University, Author of
"Method in History," "A Working Manual of American
History," "A School History of the United
States," "Lincoln: The Man of the
People," and "Washington:
A Virginia Cavalier"

Illustrated by
HOMER W. COLBY

Portraits by
JACQUES REICH, P. R. AUDIBERT, and B. F. WILLIAMSON

RAND McNALLY & COMPANY

Chicago New York London

[Pg ii]

Mace's Primary History
Copyright, 1909,
By William H. Mace
All rights reserved
Mace's Elementary History
Copyright, 1914,
By William H. Mace
Mace's Beginner's History
Copyright, 1914,
By William H. Mace
Copyright, 1916,
By William H. Mace
Copyright, 1921,
By William H. Mace

The Rand-McNally Press

Chicago

[Pg iii]

THE PREFACE

The material out of which the child pictures history lies all about him. When he learns to handle objects or observes men and other beings act, he is gathering material to form images for the stories you tell him, or those he reads. So supple and vigorous is the child's imagination that he can put this store of material to use in picturing a fairy story, a legend, or a myth.

From this same source—his observation of the people and things about him—he gathers simple meanings and ideas of his own. He weaves these meanings and ideas, in part, into the stories he reads or is told. From the cradle to the grave he should exercise this habit of testing the men and institutions he studies by a comparison with those he has seen.

The teacher should use the stories in this book to impress upon the pupil's mind the idea that life is a constant struggle against opposing difficulties. The pupil should be able to see that the great men of American history spent their lives in a ceaseless effort to conquer obstacles. For everywhere men find opponents. What a struggle Lincoln had against the twin difficulties of poverty and ignorance! What a battle Roosevelt waged with timidity and a sickly boyhood! And what a tremendously courageous and vigorous man he became!

In the fight which men wage for noble or ignoble ends the pupil finds his greatest source of interest. Here he forms his ideas of right and wrong, and deals out praise and blame among the characters. Hence the need of presenting true Americans—patriotic Americans—for his study.

This book of American history includes the stirring scenes of the world's greatest war. It shows how a vast nation, loving peace and hating war, worked to get ready to fight,[Pg iv] how it trained its soldiers and planned a great navy, and how, when all was ready, it hurled two million men against the Germans and helped our brave allies to crush the cruelest foe that war ever let loose.

With the knowledge of American men and events which the study of our history should give him, the pupil is ready to ask where the first Americans came from. To answer that question, and many others, we must go to European history. We must look at the great peoples of the world's earlier history, and see how their civilization finally developed into that which those colonists who pushed across the Atlantic to America brought with them.

But the civilization brought to this country by earlier or by later comers must not cease to grow. America has her part to add to its development. With the close of the World War we must not forget one fact which that conflict brought out—the vast number of people in the United States almost untouched by the spirit of American institutions. Teachers of history, the subject-matter of which is the story of American institutions and American leaders, can do much to change such conditions. This need for more thorough Americanization they can help to fill by teaching in their classes not a mechanical patriotism but a loyal understanding of American ideals.

William H. Mace

Syracuse University

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THE TABLE OF CONTENTS

MACE'S BEGINNER'S HISTORY

THE NORTHMEN DISCOVER THE NEW WORLD

LEIF ERICSON, WHO DISCOVERED VINLAND

1. The Voyages of the Northmen. The Northmen were a bold seafaring people who lived in northern Europe hundreds of years ago. Some of the very boldest once sailed so far to the west that they reached the shores of Iceland and Greenland, where many of them settled. Among these were Eric the Red and his son Leif Ericson.

Now Leif had heard of a land to the south of Greenland from some Northmen who had been driven far south in a great storm. He determined to set out in search of it. After sailing for many days he reached the shore of this New World (A. D. 1000). There he found vines with grapes on them growing so abundantly that he called the new land Vinland, a country of grapes.

Leif's discovery caused great excitement among his people. Some of them could hardly wait until the winter was over, and the snow and ice broken up, so as to let their ships go out to this new land.

This time Thorvald, one of Leif's brothers, led the expedition. On reaching land, as they stepped ashore, he exclaimed: "It is a fair region and here I should like[Pg 2] to make my home." But Thorvald was killed in a battle with the Indians and was buried where he had wanted to build his home. The Northmen continued to visit the new land, but finally the Indians became so unfriendly that the Northmen went away and never came again.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

EARLY EXPLORERS IN AMERICA

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE FIRST GREAT MAN IN AMERICAN HISTORY

2. Old Trade Routes to Asia. More than four hundred fifty years ago Christopher Columbus spent his boyhood in the queer old Italian town of Genoa on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea. Even in that far-away time the Mediterranean was dotted with the white sails of ships busy in carrying the richest trade in the world. But no merchants were richer or had bolder sailors than those of Columbus' own town.

Genoa had her own trading routes to India, China, and Japan. Her vessels sailed eastward and crossed the Black Sea to the very shores of Asia. There they found[Pg 3] stores of rich shawls and silks and of costly spices and jewels, which had already come on the backs of horses and camels from the Far East. As fast as winds and oars could carry them, these merchant ships hastened back to Genoa, where other ships and sailors were waiting to carry their goods to all parts of Europe.

THE BOY COLUMBUS

After the statue by Giulio Montverde in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Every day the boys of Genoa, as they played along the wharves, could see the ships from different countries and could hear the stories of adventure told by the sailors. No wonder Christopher found it hard to work at his father's trade of combing wool; he liked to hear stories of the sea and to make maps and to study geography far better than he liked to comb wool or study arithmetic or grammar. He was eager to go to sea and while but a boy he made his first voyage. He often sailed with a kinsman, who was an old sea captain. These trips were full of danger, not only from storms but from sea robbers, with whom the sailors often had hard fights.

While Columbus was growing to be a man, the wise and noble Prince Henry of Portugal was sending his sailors to brave the unknown dangers of the western coast of Africa to find a new way to India. The Turks, by capturing Constantinople, had destroyed Genoa's overland trade routes.

The bold deeds of Henry's sailors drew many seamen[Pg 4] to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Columbus went, too, where he was made welcome by his brother and other friends. Here he soon earned enough by making maps to send money home to aid his parents, who were very poor.

A SEA FIGHT BETWEEN GENOESE AND TURKS

The Genoese were great seamen and traders. When the Turks tried to ruin their trade with the Far East by destroying their routes many fierce sea fights took place

Columbus was now a large, fine-looking young man with ruddy face and bright eyes, so that he soon won the heart and the hand of a beautiful lady, the daughter of one of Prince Henry's old seamen. Columbus was in the midst of exciting scenes. Lisbon was full of learned men, and of sailors longing to go on voyages. Year after year new voyages were made in the hope of reaching India, but after many trials, the sailors of Portugal had explored only halfway down the African coast.

THE HOME OF COLUMBUS, GENOA

It is said that one day while looking over his father-in-law's maps, Columbus was startled by the idea of reaching[Pg 5] India by sailing directly west. He thought that this could be done, because he believed the world to be round, although all people, except the most educated, then thought the world flat. Columbus also believed that the world was much smaller than it really is.

The best map of that time located India, China, and Japan about where America is. For once, a mistake in geography turned out well. Columbus, believing his route to be the shortest, spent several years in gathering proof that India was directly west. He went on long voyages and talked with many old sailors about the signs of land to the westward.

Finally Columbus laid his plans before the new King of Portugal, John II. The king secretly sent out a ship to test the plan. His sailors, however, became frightened and returned before going very far. Columbus was[Pg 6] indignant at this mean trick and immediately started for Spain (1484), taking with him his little son, Diego.

3. Columbus at the Court of Spain. The King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, received him kindly; but some of their wise men did not believe the world is round, and declared Columbus foolish for thinking that countries to the eastward could be reached by sailing to the westward. He was not discouraged at first, because other wise men spoke in his favor to the king and queen.

COLUMBUS SOLICITING AID FROM ISABELLA

From the painting by the Bohemian artist, Vaczlav Brozik, now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York

It was hard for these rulers to aid him now because a long and costly war had used up all of Spain's money. Columbus was very poor and his clothes became threadbare. Some good people took pity on him and gave him money but others made sport of the homeless stranger and insulted him. The very boys in the street,[Pg 7] it is said, knowingly tapped their heads when he went by to show that they thought him a bit crazy.

LA RABIDA CONVENT NEAR PALOS

At this monastery, on his way to France, Columbus met the good prior

4. New Friends of America. Disappointed and discouraged, after several years of weary waiting, Columbus set out on foot to try his fortunes in France. One day while passing along the road, he came to a convent or monastery. Here he begged a drink of water and some bread for his tired and hungry son, Diego, who was then about twelve years of age. The good prior of the monastery was struck by the fine face and the noble bearing of the stranger, and began to talk with him. When Columbus explained his bold plan of finding a shorter route to India, the prior sent in haste to the little port of Palos, near by, for some old seamen, among them a great sailor, named Pinzón. These men agreed with Columbus, for they had seen proofs of land to the westward.

COLUMBUS AT THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA

Columbus explaining his plan for reaching India to the prior and to Pinzón, the great sailor

The prior himself hastened with all speed to his[Pg 8] good friend, Queen Isabella, and begged her not to allow Columbus to go to France, for the honor of such a discovery ought to belong to Isabella and to Spain. How happy was the prior when the queen gave him money to pay the expenses for Columbus to visit her in proper style! With a heart full of hope, once more Columbus hastened to the Spanish Court, only to find both king and queen busy in getting ready for the last great battle of the long war. Spain won a great victory, and while the people were still rejoicing, the queen's officers met Columbus to make plans for the long-thought-of voyage. But because the queen refused to make him governor over all the lands he might discover, Columbus mounted his mule and rode away, once more bent on seeking aid from France.

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS

From the portrait by Antonis van Moor, painted in 1542, from two miniatures in the Palace of Pardo. Reproduced by permission of C. F. Gunther, Chicago

Some of the queen's men hastened to her and begged her to recall Columbus. Isabella hesitated, for she had but little money in her treasury. Finally, it is said, she declared that she would pledge her jewels, if necessary, to raise the money for a fleet. A swift horseman overtook Columbus, and brought him back. The great man cried with joy when[Pg 9] Isabella told him that she would fit out an expedition and make him governor over all the lands he might discover.

COLUMBUS BIDDING FAREWELL TO THE PRIOR

From the painting by Ricardo Balaca

Columbus now took a solemn vow to use the riches obtained by his discovery in fitting out a great army which should drive out of the holy city of Jerusalem those very Turks who had destroyed the greatness of his native city.

5. The First Voyage. Columbus hastened to Palos. What a sad time in that town when the good queen commanded her ships and sailors to go with Columbus on a voyage where the bravest seamen had never sailed! When all things were ready for the voyage, Columbus' friend, the good prior, held a solemn religious service, the sailors said good-by to sorrowing friends, and the little fleet of three vessels and ninety stout-hearted men sailed bravely out of the harbor, August 3, 1492.

Columbus commanded the Santa Maria, the largest[Pg 10] vessel, only about ninety feet long. Pinzón was captain of the Pinta, the fastest vessel, and Pinzón's brother of the Niña, the smallest vessel. The expedition stopped at the Canary Islands to make the last preparations for the long and dangerous voyage. The sailors were in no hurry to go farther, and many of them broke down and cried as the western shores of the Canaries faded slowly from their sight.

THE SANTA MARIA, THE FLAGSHIP OF COLUMBUS

From a recent reconstruction approved by the Spanish Minister of Marine

After many days, the ships sailed into an ocean filled with seaweed, and so wide that no sailor could see the end. Would the ships stick fast or were they about to run aground on some hidden island and their crews be left to perish? The little fleet was already in the region of the trade winds whose gentle but steady breezes were carrying them farther and farther from home. If these winds never changed, they thought, how could the ships ever make their way back?

The sailors begged Columbus to turn back, but he encouraged them by pointing out signs of land, such as flocks of birds, and green branches floating in the sea. He told them that according to the maps they were near Japan, and offered a prize to the one who should first see land. One day, not long after, Pinzón shouted, "Land! Land! I claim my prize." But he had seen only a dark bank of clouds far away on the horizon. The sailors,[Pg 11] thinking land near, grew cheerful and climbed into the rigging and kept watch for several days. But no land came into view and they grew more downhearted than ever. Because Columbus would not turn back, they threatened to throw him into the sea, and declared that he was a madman leading them on to certain death.

THE ARMOR OF COLUMBUS

Now in the Royal Palace, Madrid

6. Columbus the Real Discoverer. One beautiful evening, after the sailors sang their vesper hymn, Columbus made a speech, pointing out how God had favored them with clear skies and gentle winds for their voyage, and said that since they were so near land the ships must not sail any more after midnight. That very night Columbus saw, far across the dark waters, the glimmering light of a torch. A few hours later the Pinta fired a joyful gun to tell that land had been surely found. All was excitement on board the ships, and not an eye was closed that night. Overcome with joy, some of the sailors threw their arms around Columbus' neck, others kissed his hands, and those who had opposed him most, fell upon their knees, begged his pardon, and promised faithful obedience in the future.

On Friday morning, October 12, 1492, Columbus, dressed in a robe of bright red and carrying the royal flag of Spain, stepped upon the shores of the New World. Around him were gathered his officers and sailors, dressed in their best clothes and carrying flags, banners, and crosses. They fell upon their knees, kissed the earth, and with tears of joy, gave thanks. Columbus then[Pg 12] drew his sword and declared that the land belonged to the King and Queen of Spain.

THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS

From the painting by Dioscoro Puebla, now in the National Museum, Madrid

7. How the People Came to be Called "Indians." When the people of this land first saw the ships of Columbus, they imagined that the Spaniards had come up from the sea or down from the sky and that they were beings from Heaven. They, therefore, at first ran frightened into the woods. Afterwards, as they came back, they fell upon their knees as if to worship the white men.

Columbus called the island on which he landed San Salvador and named the people Indians because he believed he had discovered an island of East India, although he had really discovered one of the Bahama Islands, and, as we suppose, the one known to-day as San Salvador. He and his men were greatly disappointed at the appearance of these new people, for[Pg 13] instead of seeing them dressed in rich clothes, wearing ornaments of gold and silver, and living in great cities, as they had expected, they saw only half-naked, painted savages living in rude huts.

8. Discovery of Cuba. After a few days Columbus sailed farther on and found the land now called Cuba, which he believed was Japan. Here his own ship was wrecked, leaving him only the Niña, for the Pinta had gone, he knew not where. He was now greatly alarmed, for if the Niña should be wrecked he and his men would be lost and no one would ever hear of his great discovery. He decided to return to Spain at once, but some of the sailors were so in love with the beautiful islands and the kindly people that they resolved to stay and plant the first Spanish colony in the New World. After collecting some gold and silver articles, plants, animals, birds, Indians, and other proofs of his discovery, Columbus spread the sails of the little Niña for the homeward voyage, January 4, 1493.

9. Columbus Returns to Spain. On the way home a great storm knocked the little vessel about for four days. All gave up hope, and Columbus wrote two accounts of his discovery, sealed them in barrels, and set them adrift. A second storm drove the Niña to Lisbon, in Portugal, where Columbus told the story of his great voyage. Some of the Portuguese wished to imprison Columbus, but the king would not, and in the middle of March the Niña sailed into the harbor of Palos.

What joy in that little town! The bells were set ringing and the people ran shouting through the streets to the wharf, for they had long given up Columbus and his crew as lost. To add to their joy, that very night[Pg 14] when the streets were bright with torches, the Pinta, believed to have been lost, also sailed into the harbor.

Columbus immediately wrote a letter to the king and queen, who bade him hasten to them in Barcelona. All along his way, even the villages and the country roads swarmed with people anxious to see the great discoverer and to look upon the strange people and the queer products which he had brought from India, as they thought.

THE RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA

From the celebrated painting by the distinguished Spanish artist, Ricardo Balaca

As he came near the city, a large company of fine people rode out to give him welcome. He entered the city like a hero. The streets, the balconies, the doors, the windows, the very housetops were crowded with happy people eager to catch sight of the great hero.

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COLUMBUS IN CHAINS

After the clay model by the Spanish sculptor, Vallmitjiana, at Havana

In a great room of the palace, Ferdinand and Isabella had placed their throne. Into this room marched Columbus surrounded by the noblest people of Spain, but none more noble looking than the hero. The king and queen arose and Columbus fell upon his knees and kissed their hands. They gave him a seat near them and bade him tell the strange story of his wonderful voyage.

When he finished, the king and queen fell upon their knees and raised their hands in thanksgiving. All the people did the same, and a great choir filled the room with a song of praise. The reception was now over and the people, shouting and cheering, followed Columbus to his home. How like a dream it must have seemed to Columbus, who only a year or so before, in threadbare clothes, was begging bread at the monastery near Palos!

10. The Second Voyage. But all Spain was on fire for another expedition. Every seaport was now anxious to furnish ships, and every bold sailor was eager to go. In a few months a fleet of seventeen fine ships and fifteen hundred people sailed away under the command of Columbus (1493) to search for the rich cities of their dreams. After four years of exploration and discovery among the islands that soon after began to be called the West Indies, Columbus sailed back to Spain greatly disappointed. He had found no rich cities or mines of gold and silver.

[Pg 16]

THE HOUSE IN WHICH COLUMBUS DIED

This house is in Valladolid, Spain, and stands in a street named after the great discoverer

11. The Third and Fourth Voyages. On his third voyage (1498) Columbus sailed along the northern shores of South America, but when he reached the West Indies the Spaniards who had settled there refused to obey him, seized him, put him in chains, and sent him back to Spain. But the good queen set Columbus free and sent him on his fourth voyage (1502). He explored the coast of what is now Central America, but afterward met shipwreck on the island of Jamaica. He returned to Spain a broken-hearted man because he had failed to find the fabled riches of India. He died soon afterward, not knowing that he had discovered a new world.

In 1501 Amerigo Vespucci made a voyage to South America. He was sent out by Portugal. It was thought that Vespucci had discovered a different land than that seen by Columbus. Without intending to wrong Columbus, the country he saw, and afterward all land to the northward, was called America.

Spain was too busy exploring the new lands to give proper heed to the death of the man whose discoveries would, after a few years, make the kingdom richer even than India. But it was left to the greatest nation in all the western world to do full honor to the memory of Columbus in the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago (1892-1893).

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PONCE DE LEON, WHO SOUGHT A MARVELOUS LAND AND WAS DISAPPOINTED

12. Ponce de Leon. When the Spaniards came to America they were told many strange stories by the Indians about many marvelous places. Perhaps most wonderful of all was the story of Bimini, where every day was perfect and every one was happy. Here was also the magic fountain which would make old men young once more, and keep young men from growing old.

When Columbus sailed to America for the second time he brought with him a brave and able soldier, named Ponce de Leon. De Leon spent many years on the new continent fighting for his king against the Indians. After a while he was made governor of Porto Rico. While thus serving his country he too heard the story of this wonderful land which no white man had explored. Like most Spaniards, he loved adventure. Also he was weary of the cares of his office, and soon resolved to find this land and to explore it.

In the spring of 1513 De Leon set sail with three ships from Porto Rico. Somewhere to the north lay this land of perfect days. Northward he steered for many days, past lovely tropical islands. At last, on Easter Sunday, an unknown shore appeared. On its banks were splendid trees. Flowers bloomed everywhere, and clear streams came gently down to the sea. De Leon named the new land Florida and took possession of it for the King of Spain.

Various duties kept him away from the new land for eight years after its discovery. In 1521 he again set out from Porto Rico, with priests and soldiers, and amply provided with cattle and horses and goods. He wrote[Pg 18] to the King of Spain: "Now I return to that island, if it please God's will, to settle it." He was an old man then and hoped to found a peaceful and prosperous colony of which he was to be governor. But Indians attacked his settlement and sickness laid low many of his men. He had been in Florida only a short time when he himself was wounded in a fight with the Indians. Feeling that he would soon die, he hastily set sail with all his men for Cuba, where he died shortly after.

De Leon had failed to find the wonderful things of which the Indians had told him. He had failed even to establish the colony of which he was to be governor. But De Leon did discover a new and great land which now forms one of the states of the Union. To him also goes the honor of having been the first man to make a settlement in what is now a part of the United States.

CORTÉS, WHO FOUND THE RICH CITY OF MEXICO

THE ARMOR OF CORTÉS

Now in the museum at Madrid

13. Cortés Invades Mexico. Columbus died disappointed because he had not found the rich cities which everybody believed were somewhere in India. Foremost among Spanish soldiers was Hernando Cortés, who, in 1519, sailed with twelve ships from Cuba to the coast of what is now Mexico. His soldiers and sailors were hardly on land before he sank every one of his ships. His men now had to fight. They wore coats of iron, were armed with swords and guns, and they had a few cannon and horses. Every few miles they saw villages and now and then cities. The Indians wore cotton clothes, and in their ears and around their necks and their ankles they had gold and silver ornaments. The Spaniards could hardly keep their hands off these ornaments, they[Pg 19] were so eager for gold. They were now sure that the rich cities were near at hand, which Columbus had hoped to find, and which every Spaniard fully believed would be found.

The people of Mexico had neither guns nor swords, but they were brave. Near the first large city, thousands upon thousands of fiercely painted warriors wearing leather shields rushed upon the little band of Spaniards. For two days the fighting went on, but not a single Spaniard was killed. The arrows of the Indians could not pierce iron coats, but the sharp Spanish swords could easily cut leather shields. The simple natives thought they must be fighting against gods instead of men, and gave up the battle.

HOUSE OF CORTÉS, COYOACAN, MEXICO

Over the main doorway are graven the arms of the Conqueror, who lived here while the building of Coyoacan, which is older than the City of Mexico, went on

Day after day Cortés marched on until a beautiful valley broke upon his view. His men now saw a wonderful sight: cities built over lakes, where canals took the place of streets and where canoes carried people from place to place. It all seemed like a dream. But they hastened forward to the great capital city. It, too, was built over a lake,[Pg 20] larger than any seen before, and it could be reached only along three great roads of solid mason work.

GUATEMOTZIN

The nephew of Montezuma and the last Indian emperor of Mexico. After the statue by Don Francisco Jimenes

These roads ran to the center of the city where stood, in a great square, a wonderful temple. The top of this temple could be reached by one hundred fourteen stone steps running around the outside. The city contained sixty thousand people, and there were many stone buildings, on the flat roofs of which the natives had beautiful flower gardens.

AN INDIAN CORN BIN, TLAXCALA

These are community or public bins, stand in the open roadway, and are still fashioned as in the days of Cortés

Montezuma, the Indian ruler, received Cortés and his men very politely and gave the officers a house near the great temple. But Cortés was in danger. What if the Indians should rise against him? To guard against this danger, Cortés compelled Montezuma to live in the Spanish quarters. The people did not like to see their beloved ruler a prisoner in his own city.

But no outbreak came until the Spaniards, fearing an attack, fell upon the Indians, who were holding a religious festival, and killed hundreds of them. The Indian council immediately chose Montezuma's brother to be their ruler and the whole city rose in great fury to drive out the now hated Spaniards. The streets and even the housetops were filled with angry warriors. Cortés[Pg 21] compelled Montezuma to stand upon the roof of the Spanish fort and command his people to stop fighting.

HERNANDO CORTÉS

From the portrait painted by Charles Wilson Peale, now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia

But he was ruler no longer. He was struck down by his own warriors, and died in a few days, a broken-hearted man. After several days of hard fighting, Cortés and his men tried to get out of the city, but the Indians fell on the little army and killed more than half of the Spanish soldiers before they could get away.

14. Cortés Conquers Mexico. Because of jealousy a Spanish army was sent to bring Cortés back to Cuba. By capturing this army Cortés secured more soldiers. Once more he marched against the city. What could bows and arrows and spears and stones do against the terrible horsemen and their great swords, or against the Spanish foot soldiers with their muskets and cannon? At length the great Indian city was almost destroyed, but thousands of its brave defenders were killed before the fighting ceased (1521). From this time on, the country gradually filled with Spanish settlers.

15. Cortés Visits Spain. After several years, Cortés longed to see his native land once more. He set sail, and reached the little port of Palos from which, many[Pg 22] years before, the great Columbus had sailed in search of the rich cities of the Far East. Here, now, was the very man who had found the splendid cities and had returned to tell the wonderful story to his king and countrymen. All along the journey to the king the people now crowded to see Cortés as they had once crowded to see Columbus.

CORTÉS BEFORE MONTEZUMA

After the original painting by the Mexican artist, J. Ortega; now in the National Gallery of San Carlos, Mexico

Cortés afterwards returned to Mexico, where he spent a large part of his fortune in trying to improve the country. The Spanish king permitted great wrong to be done to Cortés and, like Columbus the discoverer, Cortés the conqueror died neglected by the king whom he had made so rich. For three hundred years the mines of Mexico poured a constant stream of gold and silver into the lap of Spain.

[Pg 23]

PIZARRO, WHO FOUND THE RICHEST CITY IN THE WORLD

ROUTES OF THE CONQUERORS, CORTÉS AND PIZARRO

Their conquests of Mexico and of Peru brought untold stores of riches to Spain

16. Pizarro's Voyages. Another Spaniard, Francisco Pizarro, dreamed of finding riches greater than De Leon or Cortés had ever heard of. He set out for Peru with an army of two hundred men. Reaching the coast, he started inland and in a few days came to the foot of the Andes. They crossed the mountains and, marching down the eastern side, the Spaniards came upon the Inca, the native ruler, and his army. By trickery they made the Inca a prisoner, put him to death, and then subdued the army. The Spaniards then marched on to Cuzco, the capital of Peru, where they found enormous quantities of gold and silver. Never before in the history of the world had so many riches been found. This great wealth was divided among the Spaniards according to rank. But the greedy Spaniards fell to[Pg 24] quarreling and fighting among themselves, and Pizarro fell by the hand of one of his own men.

CORONADO, WHO PENETRATED SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES BUT FOUND NOTHING BUT BEAUTIFUL SCENERY

17. Coronado's Search for Rich Cities. Stories of rich cities to the north of Mexico led Francisco Coronado with a thousand men into the rocky regions now known as New Mexico and Arizona. They looked with wonder at the Grand Cañon of the Colorado, but they found no wealthy cities or temples ornamented with gold and silver.

They pushed farther north into what is now Kansas and Nebraska, into the great western prairies with their vast seas of waving grass and herds of countless buffalo. "Crooked-back oxen" the Spaniards named the buffalo.

But Coronado was after gold and silver, and cared nothing for beautiful and interesting scenes. Disappointed, he turned southward and in 1542, after three years of wandering, reached home in Mexico. He reported to the King of Spain that the region he had explored was too poor a place for him to plant colonies.

DE SOTO, THE DISCOVERER OF THE MISSISSIPPI

18. The Expedition to Florida. While Coronado and his men were searching in vain for hidden cities with golden temples, another band of men was wandering through the forests farther to the eastward. Hernando de Soto had been one of Pizarro's bravest soldiers. The news that this bold adventurer was to lead an expedition to Florida stirred all Spain. Many nobles sold their lands to fit out their sons to fight under so great a leader.

HERNANDO DE SOTO

After an engraving to be found in the works of the great Spanish historian, Herrera

The Spanish settlers of Cuba gave a joyful welcome[Pg 25] to De Soto and to the brave men from the homeland. After many festivals and solemn religious ceremonies, nine vessels, carrying many soldiers, twelve priests, six hundred horses, and a herd of swine, sailed for Florida (1539).

What a grand sight to the Indians as the men and horses clad in steel armor landed! There were richly colored banners, beautiful crucifixes, and many things never before seen by the Indians. But this was by far the most cruel expedition yet planned.

Wherever the Spaniards marched Indians were seized as slaves and made to carry the baggage and do the hard work. If the Indian guides were false, they were burned at the stake or were torn to pieces by bloodhounds. Hence the Indians feared the Spaniards, and Indian guides often misled the Spanish soldiers on purpose to save the guides' own tribes from harm.

De Soto fought his way through forests and swamps to the head of Apalachee Bay, where he spent the winter. In the spring a guide led the army into what is now Georgia, in search of a country supposed to be rich in gold and ruled by a woman. The soldiers suffered and grumbled, but De Soto only turned the march farther northward.

The Appalachian Mountains caused them to turn[Pg 26] south again until they reached the village of Mavilla (Mobile), where the Indians rushed on them in great numbers and tried to crush the army. But Spanish swords and Spanish guns won the day against Indian arrows and Indian clubs. De Soto lost a number of men, at least a dozen horses, and the baggage of his entire army, yet he boldly refused to send to the coast for the men and supplies waiting for him there.

19. The Discovery of the Mississippi. Again De Soto's men followed him northward, this time into what we know as northern Mississippi, where the adventuring army spent the second winter in a deserted Indian village. In the spring, in 1541, De Soto demanded two hundred Indians to carry baggage, but the chief and his men one night stole into camp, set fire to their own rude houses, gave the war whoop, frightened many horses into running away, and killed a number of the Spaniards.

THE ROUTES OF CORONADO AND DE SOTO

Following these pathways, the soldier-explorers discovered the Grand Cañon of the Colorado and the great Mississippi River

[Pg 27]

DE SOTO DISCOVERS THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI

The army then marched westward for many days, wading swamps and wandering through forests so dense that at times they could not see the sun. At last, a river was reached greater than any the Spaniards had ever seen. It was the Mississippi, more than a mile wide, rushing on at full flood toward the Gulf.

On barges made by their own hands, De Soto and his men crossed to the west bank of the broad stream. There they marched northward, probably as far as the region now known as Missouri, and then westward two hundred miles. Nothing but hardships met them on every hand. In the spring of 1542, the little army came upon the Mississippi again.

De Soto was tiring out. He grew sad and asked the Indians how far it was to the sea. But it was too far for the bold leader. A fever seized him, and after a few days he died. At dead of night his companions buried him in the bosom of the great river he had discovered.

20. Only Half the Army Returns to Cuba. There were bold leaders still left in the army. They turned westward again, but after finding neither gold nor silver, they returned to the Mississippi and spent the winter on its banks. There they built boats, and then floated down to the Gulf. Only one half of the army returned[Pg 28] to tell the sad tales of hardships, battles, and poverty.

Thus it came about that Coronado and De Soto proved that northward from Mexico there were no rich cities, such as Columbus had dreamed about, and such as Cortés and Pizarro had really found. Hence it was that the King of Spain and his brave adventurers took less interest in that part of North America which is now the United States, and more in Mexico and in South America.

MAGELLAN, WHO PROVED THAT THE WORLD IS ROUND

FERDINAND MAGELLAN

From the portrait designed and engraved by Ferdinand Selma in 1788

21. Magellan's Task. Columbus died believing that he had discovered a part of India. But he had not proved that the earth is round by sailing around it. This great task was left for Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese sailor. Columbus' great voyage had stirred up the Portuguese. One of their boldest sailors, Vasco da Gama, had reached India in 1498 by rounding Africa, and Magellan had made voyages for seven years among the islands of the East.

MAGELLAN'S FIRST VIEW OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN

Beyond the stormy strait he found the waters of the ocean smooth and quiet; hence its name Pacific, meaning peaceful

After returning to Portugal, Magellan sought the king's aid, but without success; then, like Columbus, he went to Spain, and in less than two years his fleet of five vessels sailed for the coast of South America (1519).[Pg 29] Severe storms tossed the vessels about for nearly a month. Food and water grew scarce. The sailors threatened to kill Magellan, but the brave captain, like Columbus, kept boldly on until he reached cold and stormy Patagonia.

It was Easter time, and the long, hard winter was already setting in. Finding a safe harbor and plenty of fish, Magellan decided to winter there. But the captains of three ships refused to obey, and decided to kill Magellan and lead the fleet back to Spain. Magellan was too quick for them. He captured one of the ships, turned the cannon on the others, and soon forced them to surrender.

There were no more outbreaks that winter. One of the ships was wrecked. How glad the sailors were when, late in August, they saw the first signs of spring! But they were not so happy when Magellan commanded the ships to sail still farther south in search of a passage to the westward.

In October, his little fleet entered a wide, deep channel and found rugged, snow-clad mountains rising high on both sides of them. Many of the sailors believed they[Pg 30] had at last found the westward passage, and that it was now time to turn homeward.

But Magellan declared that he would "eat the leather off the ship's yards" rather than turn back. The sailors on one ship seized and bound the captain and sailed back to Spain. Magellan with but three ships sailed bravely on until a broad, quiet ocean broke upon his sight. He wept for joy, for he believed that now the western route to India had indeed been found. This new ocean, so calm, so smooth and peaceful, he named the Pacific, and all the world now calls the channel he discovered the Strait of Magellan.

No man had yet sailed across the Pacific, and no man knew the distance. Magellan was as bold a sailor as ever sailed the main, and he had brave men with him. In November (1520) the three little ships boldly turned their prows toward India. On and on they sailed. Many of the crew, as they looked out upon a little island, saw land for the last time. Many thousand miles had yet to be sailed before land would again be seen. After long weeks their food supply gave out and starvation stared them in the face. Many grew sick and died. The others had to eat leather taken from the ship's yards like so many hungry beasts.

How big the world seemed to these poor, starving sailors! But the captain never lost courage. Finally they beheld land. It was the group of islands now known as the Marianas (Ladrones). Here the sailors rested and feasted to their hearts' content.

Then Magellan pressed on to another group of islands which were afterwards called the Philippines, from King Philip of Spain.

[Pg 31]

Here in a battle with the inhabitants, while bravely defending his sailors, Magellan was killed. Their great commander was gone and they were still far from Spain. Sadly his sailors continued the voyage, but only one of the vessels, with about twenty men, ever reached home to tell the story of that wonderful first voyage around the world.

MAGELLAN'S ROUTE AROUND THE WORLD

Magellan, the bold Portuguese sailor, discovered the strait that bears his name and planned the first successful trip made around the world

Thus Magellan proved that Columbus was right in thinking the world round and that India could be reached by sailing west, while other men like Cortés and Pizarro found rich cities like those Columbus had dreamed of finding.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

THE MEN WHO MADE AMERICA KNOWN TO ENGLAND AND WHO CHECKED THE PROGRESS OF SPAIN

JOHN CABOT ALSO SEARCHES FOR A SHORTER ROUTE TO INDIA AND FINDS THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA

CABOT TAKING POSSESSION OF NORTH AMERICA FOR THE KING OF ENGLAND

On the spot where he landed Cabot planted a large cross and beside it flags of England and of St. Mark

22. Cabot's Voyages. When the news of Columbus' great discovery reached England, the king was sorry, no doubt, that he had not helped him. The story is that Columbus had gone to Henry VII, King of England, for aid to make his voyage. But England had a brave sailor of her own, John Cabot, an Italian, born in Columbus' own town of Genoa, who also had learned his lessons in voyages on the Mediterranean. Cabot had gone to live in the old town of Venice. Afterward he made[Pg 35] England his home and lived in the old seaport town of Bristol, the home of many English sailors.

JOHN CABOT AND HIS SON SEBASTIAN

From the statue modeled by John Cassidy, Manchester, England

He, too, believed the world to be round, and that India could be reached by sailing westward. King Henry VII gave Cabot permission to try, providing he would give the king one fifth of all the gold and silver which everybody believed he would find in India.

Accordingly, John Cabot, and it may be his son, Sebastian, set out on a voyage in May, 1497. After many weeks, Cabot discovered land, now supposed to be either a part of Labrador or of Cape Breton Island. He landed and planted the flag of England, and by its side set up that of Venice, which had been his early home.

Later, he probably saw parts of Newfoundland, but nowhere did he see a single inhabitant. He did, however, find signs that the country was inhabited, but he found no proof of rich cities or of gold and silver. In the seas all around Cabot saw such vast swarms of fish that he told the people of England they would not need to go any more to cold and snowy Iceland to catch fish.

How John Cabot was treated by the king and people of England when he came back is seen in an old letter written from England by a citizen of Venice to his friends at home. "The king has promised that in the spring[Pg 36] our countryman shall have ten ships, armed to his order. The king has also given him money wherewith to amuse himself till then, and he is now at Bristol with his wife, who is also a Venetian, and with his sons. His name is John Cabot, and he is called the great admiral. Vast honor is paid to him; he dresses in silk, and the English run after him like mad people, so that he can enlist as many of them as he pleases, and a number of our own rogues besides. The discoverer of these places planted on his new-found land a large cross, with one flag of England and another of St. Mark, by reason of his being a Venetian."

THE FINDING OF AMERICA

The first voyages of Columbus, the discoverer of the New World, and of Cabot, the first man to reach the mainland of North America

Again, in May, 1498, John Cabot started for India by sailing toward the northwest. This time the fleet was larger, and filled with eager English sailors. But Cabot could not find a way to India, so he altered his[Pg 37] course and coasted southward as far as the region now called North Carolina.

Now because of these two voyages of Cabot, England later claimed a large part of North America, for he had really seen the mainland of America before Columbus. Spain also claimed the same region, but we have seen how Mexico and Peru drew Spaniards to those countries.

If England had been quick to act and had made settlements where Cabot explored, she would have had little trouble in getting a hold in North America. But she did not do so. Henry VII was old and stingy. Cabot had twice failed to find India with its treasures of gold and silver, so little attention was given to the new lands.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, THE ENGLISH "DRAGON," WHO SAILED THE SPANISH MAIN AND WHO "SINGED THE KING OF SPAIN'S BEARD"

23. The Quarrel between Spain and England. After John Cabot failed to find a new way to India, King Henry did nothing more to help English discovery. His son, Henry VIII, got into a great quarrel with the King of Spain. He was too busy with this quarrel to think much about America. But during this very time, Cortés and Pizarro were doing their wonderful deeds. Spain grew bold, seized English seamen, threw them into dungeons, and even burned them at the stake. Englishmen robbed Spanish ships and killed Spanish sailors in revenge.

24. Sir Francis Drake. A most daring English seaman was Sir Francis Drake. From boyhood days he had been a sailor. His cousin, Captain Hawkins, gave him command of a ship against Mexico, but the Spaniards fell upon it, killed many of the sailors, and took all they had. Drake came back ruined, and eager to take revenge.[Pg 38] Besides, he hated the Spaniards because he thought they were plotting to kill Elizabeth, the Queen of England.

In 1573 Drake returned to England with his ship loaded with gold and precious stones, captured from the Spaniards on the Isthmus of Panama.

25. Drake's Voyage around the World. After four years Drake, with four small but fast vessels, sailed direct for the Strait of Magellan. He was determined to sail the Pacific, which he had seen while on the Isthmus of Panama. In June his fleet entered the harbor of Patagonia where Magellan had spent the winter more than fifty years before.

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE

From the original portrait attributed to Sir Antonis van Moor, in the possession of Viscount Dillon, at Ditchly Park, England

After destroying his smallest vessel, which was leaky, Drake sailed to the entrance of the Strait. Here he changed the name of his ship from the Pelican to the Golden Hind, with ceremonies fitting the occasion.

The fleet passed safely through the Strait, but as it sailed out into the Pacific a terrible storm scattered the ships. One went down, and one returned to England, believing that Drake's ship, the Golden Hind, had been destroyed.

But Drake had a bold heart, good sailors, and a stout ship. After the storm he sailed north to Valparaiso, where his men saw the first great treasure ship. The Spanish sailors jumped overboard, and[Pg 39] left four hundred pounds of gold to Drake and his men. Week after week Drake sailed northward until he reached Peru, the land conquered by Pizarro.

DRAKE'S CHAIR, OXFORD UNIVERSITY

It was made from the timbers of the "Golden Hind"

Another great treasure ship had just sailed for Panama. Away sped the Golden Hind in swift pursuit. For a thousand miles, day and night, the chase went on. One evening, just at dark, the little ship rushed upon the great vessel, and captured her. What a rich haul! More than twenty tons of silver bars, thirteen chests of silver coin, one hundredweight of gold, besides a great store of precious stones.

The little ship continued northward. Hoping for a northeast passage to the Atlantic, Drake sailed along the coast as far as what was afterward known as the Oregon country. But the increasing cold and fog and the strong northwest winds made him turn southward again. Sailing close inshore, he found a small harbor, just north of the great bay of San Francisco. Here his stout little ship came to anchor. The natives believed that Drake and his men were gods, and begged them to remain with them always. Drake named the country New Albion and took possession in the name of the queen, Elizabeth. When he had refitted his ship for the long voyage home, Drake set sail, to the great sorrow of the natives.

Week after week went by, until he saw the very islands where Magellan had been. He made his way among the islands and across the Indian Ocean until the Cape of Good Hope was rounded, and the Golden Hind spread her sails northward toward England.

[Pg 40]

Drake reached home in 1580, the first Englishman to sail around the world. The people, who had given him up as lost, shouted for joy when they heard he was safe. Queen Elizabeth visited his ship in person, and there gave him a title, so that now he was Sir Francis Drake. Years after, a chair was made from the timbers of the famous Golden Hind and presented to Oxford University, where it can now be seen.

QUEEN ELIZABETH MAKING DRAKE A NOBLEMAN

After the drawing by Sir John Gilbert. It pictures the scene that took place on board the "Golden Hind" at the close of the great voyage. Queen Elizabeth visited Drake in his ship and conferred knighthood on him for his great services to England

26. Drake Again Goes to Fight the Spaniards. Drake soon took command of a fleet of twenty-five vessels and two thousand five hundred men, all eager to fight the Spaniards (1585). He sailed boldly for the coast of[Pg 41] Spain, frightened the people, and then went in search of the Gold Fleet, which was bringing shipload after shipload of treasure from America to the King of Spain.

THE SPANISH ARMADA

More than one hundred twenty-five vessels sailed from Lisbon to conquer England, but only about fifty returned to the home port

No sooner had Drake missed the fleet than he made direct for the West Indies, where he spread terror among the islands. The Spaniards had heard of Drake, the "Dragon." He attacked and destroyed three important towns, and intended to seize Panama itself, but the yellow fever began to cut down his men, so he sailed to Roanoke Island, and carried back to England the starving and homesick colony which Raleigh had planted there.

The Spanish king was angry. He resolved to crush England. More than one hundred ships, manned by thousands of sailors, were to carry a great army to the hated island. Drake heard about it, and quickly gathered thirty fast ships manned by sailors as bold as himself. His fleet sailed right into the harbor of Cadiz, past cannon and forts, and burned so many Spanish ships that it took Spain another year to get the great fleet[Pg 42] ready. Drake declared that he had "singed the King of Spain's beard."

27. The Spanish Armada. The King of Spain was bound to crush England at one mighty blow. In 1588 the Spanish Armada, as the great fleet was called, sailed for England. There were scores of war vessels manned by more than seven thousand sailors, carrying nearly twenty thousand soldiers. Almost every noble family in Spain sent one or more of its sons to fight against England.

When this mighty fleet reached the English Channel, Drake and other sea captains as daring as himself dashed at the Spanish ships, and by the help of a great storm that came up, succeeded in destroying almost the whole fleet. No such blow had ever before fallen upon the great and powerful Spanish nation.

From that time on her power grew less and less, while England's power on the sea grew greater and greater. Englishmen could now go to America without much thought of danger from Spaniards.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH, THE FRIEND OF ELIZABETH, PLANTS A COLONY IN AMERICA TO CHECK THE POWER OF SPAIN

28. Sir Walter Raleigh. Born (1552) near the sea, Raleigh fed his young imagination with stories of the wild doings of English seamen. He went to college at Oxford at the age of fourteen, and made a good name as a student.

In a few years young Raleigh went to France to take part in the religious wars of that unhappy country. At the time he returned home all England was rejoicing over Drake's first shipload of gold. When Queen Elizabeth sent an army to aid the people of Holland against the Spaniards, young Raleigh was only too glad to go.

[Pg 43]

THE BOYHOOD OF RALEIGH

After the painting by Sir John E. Millais

On his return from this war he went with his half-brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on two voyages to America, at the very same time Drake was plundering the Spanish treasure ships in the Pacific Ocean. Afterward Raleigh turned soldier again and, as captain, went to Ireland, where Spain had sent soldiers to stir up rebellion. Thus, before he was thirty years old, he had been a seaman and a soldier, and had been in France, Holland, America, and Ireland.

At this time Raleigh was a fine-looking man, about six feet tall, with dark hair and a handsome face. He had plenty of wit and good sense, although he was fond, indeed, of fine clothes. He was just the very one to catch the favor of Queen Elizabeth.

One day Elizabeth and her train of lords and ladies were going down the roadway from the royal castle to the river. The people crowded both sides of the road to see their beloved queen and her beautiful ladies go by. Raleigh pressed his way to the front.

SIR WALTER RALEIGH

From the original portrait painted by Federigo Zuccaro

As Elizabeth drew near, she hesitated about passing over a muddy place. In a moment the feeling that every true gentleman has in the presence of ladies told Raleigh what to do, and the queen suddenly saw his beautiful red velvet cloak lying in the mud at her feet.[Pg 44] She stepped upon it, nodded to its gallant owner, and passed on. From this time forward Raleigh was a great favorite at the court of Queen Elizabeth.

29. Trying to Plant English Colonies. In 1584 Raleigh caused a friend to write a letter to the queen, explaining that English colonies planted on the coast of North America would not only check the power of Spain but would also increase the power of England. That very year the queen gave him permission to plant colonies. Thus a better way of opposing Spain was found than by robbing treasure ships and burning towns.

Raleigh immediately sent a ship to explore. The captain landed on what is now Roanoke Island. The Indians came with a fleet of forty canoes to give them a friendly welcome. After a few days an Indian queen with her maidens came to entertain the English. "We found the people most gentle, loving, and faithful, void of all guile and treason," said Captain Barlow. His glowing account of the land and people so pleased Elizabeth that she named the country Virginia, in honor of her own virgin life.

Raleigh next sent out a kinsman, Sir Richard Grenville, with a fleet of seven vessels and one hundred settlers, under Ralph Lane as governor. But the settlers[Pg 45] were bent on finding gold and silver, instead of making friends with the Indians.

An Indian stole a silver cup from the English. Because of this theft Lane and his men fell upon the Indian village, drove out men, women, and children, burned their homes, and destroyed their crops. This was not only cruel but also foolish, for the story of his cruelty spread to other tribes, and after that wherever the English went they were always in danger from the Indians.

INDIAN CORN

When Drake came along the next spring with his great fleet, the settlers were only too glad to get back to England, and be once more among friends. They took home from America the turkey and two food plants, the white potato and Indian corn—worth more to the world than all the gold and silver found in the mines of Mexico and Peru!

Although Raleigh had already spent thousands of dollars, he would not give up. He immediately sent out a second colony of one hundred fifty settlers, a number of whom were women. John White was governor. Roanoke was occupied once more, and there, shortly afterwards, was born Virginia Dare, the first white child of English parents in North America. Before a year went by, the governor had to go to England for aid.

[Pg 46]

A WILD TURKEY

But Raleigh and all England had little time to think of America. The Armada was coming, and every English ship and sailor was needed to fight the Spaniards. Two years went by before Governor White reached America with supplies. When he did reach there practically no trace of the colony could be found. Not a settler was left to tell the tale.

POTATO PLANT AND TUBERS

The only trace of Raleigh's "lost colony" was the word "Croatoan" cut in large letters on a post. Croatoan was the name of an island near by. White returned home, but Raleigh sent out an old seaman, Samuel Mace, to search for the lost colony. It was all in vain. Many years later news reached England that a tribe of Indians had a band of white slaves, but the mystery of the lost colony never was cleared up.

Raleigh had now spent his great fortune. But he did not lose heart, for he said that he would live to see Virginia a nation. He was right. Before he died a great colony had been planted in Virginia, and a ship loaded with the products of Virginia had sailed into London port and an Indian "princess" had married a Virginian and had been received with honor by the King and Queen of England.

[Pg 47]

EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND

30. The Death of Raleigh. But the great Elizabeth was dead, and an unfriendly king, James I, was on the throne. He threw Raleigh into prison, and kept him there thirteen years. The Spaniards urged the king to put Raleigh to death. He had been a life-long enemy of Spain and they knew they were not safe if he lived.

At last Spanish influence was too strong, and Sir Walter faced death on the scaffold as bravely as he had faced the Spaniards in battle.

Thus died a noble man who gave both his fortune and his life for the purpose of planting an English colony in America.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

[Pg 49]

THE MEN WHO PLANTED NEW FRANCE IN AMERICA, FOUNDED QUEBEC, EXPLORED THE GREAT LAKE REGION, AND PENETRATED THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE

31. The French in North America. France was the slowest of the great nations in the race for North America. Not until 1534 did Jacques Cartier, a French sea captain searching for a shorter route to India, sail into the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. He reached an Indian village where Montreal now stands and took possession of the country for his king.

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN

From the portrait painting in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

One year after Jamestown was settled, and one year before the Half Moon sailed up the Hudson, Samuel de Champlain laid the foundations of Quebec (1608). Champlain was of noble birth, and had been a soldier in the French army. He had already helped found Port Royal in Nova Scotia.

Wherever he went, Champlain made fast friends with the Algonquin Indians, who lived along the St. Lawrence. He gave them presents and bought their skins of beaver and of other animals. In the fur trade he saw a golden stream flowing into the king's[Pg 50] treasury. Champlain certainly made a good beginning in winning over these Indians, but he also made one great blunder out of which grew many bitter enemies among other Indian tribes.

THE SITE OF QUEBEC

Here, 1608, on a narrow belt of land at the foot of the high bluff, Champlain laid out the city of Quebec

32. Champlain and the Indians. The Algonquins were bitter foes of the Iroquois or Five Nations. One time they begged Champlain and his men, clad in steel and armed with the deadly musket, to join their war party (1609). This he did. They made their way up the St. Lawrence to the mouth of the Richelieu, and up that river to the falls. The Indians then carried the canoes and the baggage around the falls.

What must have been Champlain's feelings when they glided out of the narrow river into the lake now bearing his name! A lake no white man had ever seen, and greater than any in his beloved France! On the left he saw the ridges of the Green Mountains, on the right the pine-clad slopes of the Adirondacks, the hunting grounds of the hated Iroquois.

One evening, near where the ruins of Ticonderoga now stand, they saw the war canoes of their enemies. That night the hostile tribes taunted each other and boasted of their bravery. On the shores of the lake the next day they drew up in battle array. The Iroquois chiefs wore[Pg 51] tall plumes on their heads, and their warriors carried shields of wood or hide.

All at once the Algonquins opened their ranks and Champlain, in full armor, walked forth. The Iroquois gazed in wonder on the first European soldier they had ever seen. Champlain leveled his musket and fired. Two chiefs fell. Then another report rang through the woods, and the boldest warriors in North America broke and fled in confusion. The Algonquins, yelling like demons, ran after them, killing and capturing as many as possible.

There was great rejoicing among the victors, and Champlain was their hero. But there must have been great sorrow and vows of revenge among the Iroquois.

THE ROUTES FOLLOWED BY CHAMPLAIN

The next year Champlain joined another Algonquin war party, and helped win another victory from the Iroquois. Again, in 1615, he joined a party of more than five hundred fiercely painted warriors. They traveled to the shore of Lake Ontario and boldly crossed to the other side in their bark canoes. They hid their boats and then silently marched into the country of the Iroquois.

[Pg 52]

THE DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS AT LAKE CHAMPLAIN

After an engraving of Champlain's published in 1613

Some miles south of Oneida Lake they came upon a fortified Indian town. For several days Champlain and his Indians tried to break into or burn the fort, but had to give it up. These campaigns made the Iroquois hate the French almost as much as they did the Algonquins.

A FRENCH FUR TRADER ON SNOWSHOES

For this reason Frenchmen found it safer to go west by traveling up the Ottawa River and crossing over to Lake Huron than by paddling up the St. Lawrence and through lakes Ontario and Erie. The result was that the French discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Superior long before they ever saw Lake Erie. On the other hand, we are soon to see how the Dutch made friends with the Iroquois.

Champlain remained many years in Canada, always working for the good of New France, as the country was called. He helped on the work of the missionaries, made peace between hostile tribes of Indians, and encouraged the fur trade and[Pg 53] the coming of new settlers. Worn out with toil and travel, far away from kindred and native land, Champlain died at Quebec on Christmas Day, 1635.

JOLIET AND MARQUETTE, FUR TRADER AND MISSIONARY, EXPLORE THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY FOR NEW FRANCE

33. French Explorers in the Northwest. Year after year, traders and missionaries, returning to Montreal and Quebec from the west, told strange stories of a great river larger than any the French had yet seen. In May, 1673, Joliet, a fur trader, and Marquette, a missionary, were sent out by Count Frontenac, governor of the French settlements in Canada, to explore this river.

With five others they paddled in canoes along the north shore of Lake Michigan, through Green Bay, up the Fox River, and then crossed overland to the beautiful Wisconsin. Quietly and rapidly their boats passed down the Wisconsin until they reached a great valley several miles in width and a great river.

Following the current, they passed the mouth of the gently flowing Illinois, then the rushing and muddy Missouri, the slow and clear Ohio, and finally, in July, they reached the mouth of the Arkansas. Convinced that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of Mexico, they set out on the return trip of two thousand miles.

Joliet reached Quebec in safety, but Marquette fell ill and remained among the Indians. The next spring while preaching in Illinois near where Ottawa now stands, he fell ill again, and died. The Indians showed their love and respect by bearing his remains by canoe to Mackinac, where he was buried beneath the chapel floor of his own mission house.

[Pg 54]

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

WHAT THE DUTCH ACCOMPLISHED IN THE COLONIZATION OF THE NEW WORLD

HENRY HUDSON, WHOSE DISCOVERIES LED DUTCH TRADERS TO COLONIZE NEW NETHERLAND

34. Hudson's Explorations. One year after the men of New France had founded the city of Quebec the Dutch began the colony which became the Empire State. About the time John Smith was working hard for Jamestown, his friend Henry Hudson was sailing for some Dutch merchants in search of a northern sea route to India (1609).

One bright fall day Hudson sailed into the mouth of the great river which now bears his name. He hoped that he had entered the arm of the sea which might carry him to India. He turned the prow of his vessel, the Half Moon, up stream.

[Pg 55]

HENRY HUDSON

From the painting by Count Pulaski in the Aldermanic Chamber of the City Hall, New York

Soon the beauty of the river, the rich colors of the great forests, the steep sides of the palisades, the slopes of the highlands, the strange Indians in their bark canoes, so took the attention of Hudson and his crew that, for a time, they forgot all about a route to India.

What a flutter of excitement the Half Moon must have caused among the Indians! They came on board to give welcome and presents to Hudson and his men.

On the return, probably near the present city of Hudson, an old chief came on board and invited Hudson to visit the little village of wigwams located on the river. There these Dutchmen saw beautiful meadows, fields of corn, and gardens of pumpkins, grapes, and plums.

The chief showed Hudson his palace of bark, and spread a feast of roasted pigeons and other Indian food before him. In spite of such kind treatment, Hudson would not stay over night with the Indians, who even broke their bows and arrows and then threw them into the fire to prove that they meant no harm to the white man, but Hudson and his men were still afraid.

Indeed, Hudson had every reason to fear the Indians, for he had treated them badly and his men had even murdered some. In less than a month, Indian friendship had been turned into Indian hatred.

INDIANS WELCOMING THE "HALF MOON," HUDSON'S SHIP

The next year Hudson sailed in an English vessel in[Pg 56] search of the long-wished-for passage. On he went, far to the northward, past Iceland and Greenland, into the great bay which bears his name. In this desolate region, surrounded by fields of ice and snow, Hudson and his men spent a fearful winter.

In the spring his angry sailors threw him and a few faithful friends into a boat and sent them adrift. Nothing more was ever heard of them. In Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" the story tells of nightly scenes in the Catskills in which the ghosts of Hudson and his friends were the actors.

35. Dutch Traders and the Indians. Just as soon as the news of Hudson's first voyage reached Holland, the Dutch merchants claimed all the region explored by Hudson and his men and hastened to open up trade with the Indians. As early as 1614 a trading post was established on Manhattan Island—the beginning of a great city, New York.

Other posts were soon located: one up the Hudson became Fort Orange, another on the Delaware was named Fort Nassau, and a fourth was placed where Jersey City now stands. Later the Dutch traders went as far east as the Connecticut Valley.

The Dutchmen treated the Indians kindly and early made a great treaty with the Iroquois, or Five Nations.[Pg 57] The chiefs of many tribes came to Fort Orange dressed for the event. Their bows and arrows and tomahawks were decorated, their garments tasseled and fringed, and on their heads they wore nodding plumes of many sorts, while their faces were hideous with paint. A peace belt of deer skin covered with beads was held at one end by the chiefs and at the other by the Dutch traders. They "smoked the pipe of peace, buried the tomahawk," and made vows of everlasting friendship.

THE TREATY BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS AT FORT ORANGE

The Indians liked the Dutch, who often visited them in their wigwams and sat around their camp fires. The fur trade grew rapidly. The Indians hunted and trapped as never before. They paddled up the Hudson, and crossed over to lakes George and Champlain. They went up the Mohawk far beyond where Schenectady now is, plunged deeper into the unbroken forests, and even climbed the mountains in search of fur-coated animals. The favorite fur-bearing animal was the beaver. Besides, the otter, mink, and weasel were hunted.

When the fur pack was made up the dusky hunters from every direction made their way to the nearest trading post. There they traded their furs for guns, powder, and ball, and for whatever else the white trader had that pleased[Pg 58] Indian fancy. Great Dutch ships came every year to carry to Amsterdam and other Dutch cities rich cargoes of furs.

THE HOME OF A PATROON

The old Van Rensselaer House at Greenbush, New York

36. The Settlement of New Netherland. Already a great company of Amsterdam merchants were sending settlers, as well as fur traders, to the new colony, which now was called New Netherland. Peter Minuit, the first governor, bought the island of Manhattan from the Indians for twenty-four dollars' worth of glass beads and other trinkets, built a town of log cabins on the end of the island, and named it New Amsterdam.

THE SALE OF MANHATTAN TO THE DUTCH

Peter Minuit, who made the trade with the Indians, is known as the founder of New York City

But settlers did not come rapidly enough, so the company offered its members large tracts of land and the title of "patroon" or "patron," on the condition that they plant colonies at their own expense. Each patroon was to govern the people on his own land.

CHILD'S CHAIR AND CRADLE

Furniture used by the patroons

The greatest of the patroons was Van Rensselaer,[Pg 59] whose plantation in the region of Fort Orange included one thousand square miles. The farmers and servants on these plantations looked upon the patroon as being much above them in authority and social position.

Every year the farmers and their families came with their wagons filled with what they had raised to pay the patroon for the use of the land. He set them a great feast, and there was merrymaking all day long.

The growth of New Netherland attracted bad men as well as good men. Some mean traders robbed and murdered a number of Indians not of the Five Nations. The Indians robbed and murdered in return. War broke out, and before it ended many settlements were broken up, and hundreds of settlers killed.

Parties of Indians roved day and night over Manhattan Island, killing the Dutch even in sight of Fort Amsterdam. The people blamed their governor, Kieft, and threatened to arrest him and send him to Holland. He finally made peace with the Indians just before the new governor arrived.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

FAMOUS PEOPLE IN EARLY VIRGINIA

JOHN SMITH THE SAVIOR OF VIRGINIA, AND POCAHONTAS ITS GOOD ANGEL

37. The First Permanent English Settlement. Raleigh had made it impossible for Englishmen to forget America. They sent out ships every year to trade with the Indians. In 1606 a great company was formed of London merchants and other rich men to plant a colony in Virginia.

THE SITE OF JAMESTOWN

After a drawing made early in the nineteenth century by an English traveler, Catherine C. Hopley

King James gave them a charter, ministers preached sermons about Virginia, and poets sang her praises. At Christmas time one of Raleigh's old sea captains, Newport, sailed with a colony of more than one hundred settlers. They[Pg 61] went by way of the West Indies, and the Spaniards, although watching, did not dare to attack them.

JOHN SMITH

From an engraving made by Simon van Pass, in 1614, on the margin of Smith's map of "New England" in "A Description of New England." This shows him at the age of thirty-seven

In the spring, when Virginia is in her gayest dress, the ships sailed up Chesapeake Bay into the James River, and landed on a peninsula. Here they began to plant Jamestown, named in honor of their king, the first permanent English settlement in the New World.

They first built a fort to protect them from any attacks of Indians and Spaniards. But most of the settlers wanted to get rich quick, go back to England, and spend the rest of their days in ease. Therefore, instead of building comfortable houses and raising something to eat, they spent their time in searching for gold.

The result was that most of them fell sick and food grew scarce. Within a few months more than half of the settlers were dead, and the others were discouraged and homesick. Would this colony fail, too, as Raleigh's colony had?

38. John Smith. There was one man, however, in the colony who could make Jamestown a success. He bore the plain name of John Smith. But he was no common man. John Smith had already had as wonderful adventures as the knights of old.

While yet a young man he went to the land of dikes and windmills to help the brave Hollanders fight against the Spaniards. But he grew tired of seeing Christians[Pg 62] fighting one another, and resolved to go and fight the Turks. On his way he was robbed in France and left half dead in a great forest, but was rescued and made his way to the sea. Then he sailed with a colony of pilgrims going to the Holy Land. After many adventures John Smith found himself in eastern Europe. He was made captain of a troop of cavalry and was soon fighting the Turks. In three hand-to-hand combats, Captain Smith slew his enemies, cut off their heads, and presented them to his commander.

The Christian army looked on Smith as a hero, and the ruler of the land gave him a shield with three Turks' heads painted on it as a coat of arms. The Turks afterwards captured Smith and made a slave of him. His master's cruelty was so great that Smith slew him, mounted his horse, and rode away to Russia. He finally returned to England in time to talk with Captain Newport about America. Just such a man was needed in founding Jamestown.

The king had made Smith an officer of the new colony, but the other officers would not permit him to take part in governing Virginia. John Smith was not a man to sulk and idle his time away, but resolved to do something useful, by visiting the Indians and gathering food for the colony.

While on an expedition up the Chickahominy, Smith's party was attacked by two hundred Indians. Smith seized his Indian guide, tied him in front for a shield, and with his gun was able to hold the Indians at bay until he fell into a swamp and had to surrender.

SMITH SHOWING HIS POCKET COMPASS TO THE INDIANS

He immediately showed the red men his ivory pocket compass. They saw the little needle tremble on its pivot,[Pg 63] but could not touch it. He wrote a letter to Jamestown. An Indian took it and returned with the articles asked for in the letter. This was still more mysterious than the compass.

The Indians marched him from one village to another to show off their prisoner. This gave Smith a chance to learn a great deal about the Indians. Some of them lived in houses made of the bark and branches of trees; others had rude huts to shelter them. Now and then a wigwam was seen large enough to hold several families.

The Indian warriors painted their bodies to make themselves look fierce. They carried bows and arrows and clubs as weapons, for they had no guns at that time. The men did the hunting and fighting, but in other things they were lazy. The Indian women not only cared for the children, did the cooking, and made the clothes, but also gathered wood, tilled the soil, and built the wigwams. The Indian wife was the warrior's drudge.

AN INDIAN WARRIOR

Smith saw a more wonderful sight still, when he was led to the village where lived Powhatan. The old chief had prepared a real surprise for this Englishman. Powhatan, tall, gaunt, and grim, was wrapped in a robe of[Pg 64] raccoon skins. He sat upon a bench before the wigwam fire. His wives sat at his side. Along the walls stood a row of women with faces and shoulders painted bright red, and with chains of white shells about their necks. In front of the women stood Powhatan's fierce warriors. This council of Indians was to decide the fate of Smith.

Two big stones were rolled in front of Powhatan, and a number of powerful warriors sprang upon Smith, dragged him to the stones, and forced his head upon one of them. As the warriors stood, clubs in hand, ready to slay Smith, Pocahontas, the beautiful twelve-year-old daughter of Powhatan, rushed forward, threw her arms around the prisoner, and begged for his life.

Pocahontas had her way. Powhatan adopted Smith as a son and set him to making toys for the little maid. This was strange work for the man who had fought the Spaniards and slain the Turks, and who was to save a colony. This story is doubted by some people, but is believed by many good historians.

After a time Smith returned to Jamestown only to find the settlers facing starvation, and the officers planning to escape to England in the colony's only vessels. He promptly arrested the leaders and restored order. In a few days a band of Indians, led by Pocahontas, entered the fort. They were loaded down with baskets of corn.

[Pg 65]

The fear of starvation was now gone, because every few days the little maiden came with food for the settlers. Ever afterwards they called her "the dear blessed Pocahontas." She was the good angel of the colony.

When winter came on, Smith resolved to secure another supply of corn. But Powhatan had noticed the increase of settlers and the building of more houses. He feared that his people might be driven from their hunting grounds. Smith knew that Powhatan's women had raised plenty of corn, so immediately sailed up the river to the old chief's village.

Powhatan bluntly told Smith he could have no corn unless he would give a good English sword for each basketful. Smith promptly refused, and compelled the Indians to carry the corn on board his boat. That very night, at the risk of her life, Pocahontas stole through the woods to tell Smith of her father's plot to kill his men. They kept close watch all night, and next morning sailed safely away.

But Smith needed still more corn, and stopped at another Indian town. Suddenly he found himself and his men surrounded by several hundred Indian warriors. A moment's delay, and all would have been over. Smith rushed into the chief's wigwam, seized him by the scalp-lock, dragged him out before his astonished warriors, pointed a pistol at his breast, and demanded corn. He got it; and the English sailed back to Jamestown with three hundred bushels of corn on board.

When spring came Smith resolved that the settlers must go to work. He called them together and made a speech declaring that "he that will not work shall not eat. You shall not only gather for yourself, but for those that[Pg 66] are sick. They shall not starve." The people in the colony not only planted more grain, but repaired the fort and built more and better houses. Thus they grew happier and more contented with their home in the Virginia woods.

Unfortunately for the colony, Smith was wounded so badly by an explosion of gunpowder that he had to return to England for medical treatment. The settlers again fell into idleness after he left, and many of them died. Still the colony had gained such a foothold that it was strong enough to live.

Some years later, Smith sailed to America again, explored the coast from Penobscot Bay to Cape Cod, drew a map of it, and named the region New England. This was his last visit to America.

39. Pocahontas. After John Smith left, Pocahontas did not visit the English any more. One time she was seized by an Englishman, put on board a vessel, and carried weeping to Jamestown.

JAMESTOWN BAPTISMAL FONT

From this font, now in Bruton Parish Church, Va., it is said Pocahontas was baptized

Before long an English settler, John Rolfe, fell in love with her and she with him. What should they do? Did not this beautiful maiden of eighteen years have a strange religion? But she was anxious to learn about the white man's religion, so the minister at Jamestown baptized her and gave her the Christian name of Rebecca.

THE MARRIAGE OF ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS

After the painting by Henry Brueckner

The wedding took place in the little wooden church. No doubt it was made bright with the wild flowers of Virginia and that all the settlers crowded to see[Pg 67] the strange event. Powhatan gave his consent, but would not come to the wedding himself. But we may be sure that the sisters and brothers and the Indian friends of Pocahontas were there.

It was a happy day in Jamestown, for all the people, white and red, loved Pocahontas. The marriage of Pocahontas and John Rolfe was taken to mean the uniting of the Indians and settlers by ties of peace and friendship. For several years white men and red men lived as good neighbors. Rolfe took Pocahontas to England, where she was received "as the daughter of a king." The fine people, lords and ladies, called on her; and the king and queen received her at court as if she were a princess of the royal blood.

How different the rich clothes, the carriages, and the high feasting from her simple life in the woods of Virginia! Here, too, she met her old friend, John Smith. He called her "Lady Rebecca," as did everybody. But the memory of other days and other scenes came before her mind. She covered her face with her hands for a moment, and then said he must call her "child," and that she would call him "father." Smith must have thought of the days when she brought corn to Jamestown to feed his starving people.

[Pg 68]

POCAHONTAS

After the engraved portrait by Simon van Pass, known as the Bootan Hall portrait and now at Scalthorpe Hall, Norfolk

When about to sail for her native land, Pocahontas became ill and died (1617). Her son, Thomas Rolfe, was educated in England by his father's brother, but later he returned to the land of his mother. He became the ancestor of many noted Virginians; among these the best known was the famous orator and statesman, John Randolph of Roanoke.

So ended the life of one who had indeed been a good and true friend of the people of Virginia. Her name, Pocahontas, meant "Bright Stream between Two Hills."

LORD BALTIMORE, IN A PART OF VIRGINIA, FOUNDS MARYLAND AS A HOME FOR PERSECUTED CATHOLICS (1634) AND WELCOMES PROTESTANTS

40. A Colony of Catholics and Protestants. When the people of England began to change their religion, some became Puritans, others members of the English Church, and still others Catholics. Great disputes arose among the religious sects. There was much persecution. To escape this, many English people fled to the New World. The Puritans settled in New England, and[Pg 69] the Cavalier members of the English Church found new homes in Virginia.

George Calvert desired to find a home for his people, the Catholics. He had studied at Oxford University, and had been secretary to one of Queen Elizabeth's great statesmen. When James I became king, he made Calvert Baron of Baltimore.

His successor, Charles I, was also Baltimore's friend, and when the latter asked the king for permission to found a colony of Catholics in America, Charles gave him the whole of what is now Maryland. He also declared that the colony should bear the name of Maryland in honor of his queen, Henrietta Maria.

Lord Baltimore immediately began to gather a colony of emigrants. He welcomed Protestants as well as Catholics, for it was decided that in the colony of Maryland all Christians were to have the same rights. Very few nations in the world at that time permitted people to worship as they pleased.

Lord Baltimore died before the expedition was ready, and according to the custom of England, Cecil Calvert, his eldest son, fell heir to his estate and titles. The new Lord Baltimore sent more than three hundred persons in two ships, the Ark and the Dove. The long voyage had a happy ending; the immigrants reached the mouth of the Potomac in the springtime, when Maryland is at the height of its beauty (1634).

Governor Calvert, in the Dove, sailed up the Potomac. He decided to locate his little village, which was to be called St. Mary's, on land occupied by the Indians. He paid for the land on which the wigwams and cornfields stood, and the Indians invited the settlers to live with[Pg 70] them until their log cabins could be built. This good feeling lasted a long time, and these settlers escaped the savage wars from which many of the colonists suffered in the early days.

Many Puritans came into Maryland and settled a town afterwards named Annapolis. A number of interesting events took place there in the early days. Later the city became the home of the famous training school for the American navy, the United States Naval Academy.

GOVERNOR CALVERT LOCATING THE VILLAGE OF ST. MARY'S

Once Baltimore's authority was taken away because there were some disputes with a Virginian high in authority. The Puritans joined him and overthrew Baltimore's rule. Later, however, his authority was restored and religious freedom reëstablished.

Baltimore, named after the founder of the colony, and afterward the most important town of Maryland, was settled in 1720.

[Pg 71]

INDUSTRIES, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF FIRST SETTLERS OF VIRGINIA

41. How the Virginia Colonists Lived. After the first hardships the colony grew and prospered. Ships continued to bring settlers from England and other countries of Europe. In a few years the little settlement at Jamestown was surrounded on all sides by newly cleared farms.

To any one living to-day the old colony would seem strange indeed. There were practically no towns; almost every one lived on a large farm, called a plantation. On these plantations were great fields of tobacco, whose broad leaves in summer almost concealed the ground. Here and there a field of corn could be seen, but little else was grown. After a time the owners, or planters, built themselves great houses and kept an army of servants to grow the crops and do the work about the house. The planters did no work with their hands, but looked after their estates and enjoyed such pleasures as hunting and horseback riding. Many of these old places were the scenes of brilliant dinners and balls at which the fine ladies and gentlemen of the colony gathered.

Many poor people in England wanted to come to America, but had no money. To pay for the cost of bringing them over, these people were forced to work for the planters, often for six years or more. During this time they were almost slaves, but at the end of their service they became free. Then negroes were brought from Africa, and soon most of the work was done by black slaves.

Tobacco supported the colony and made the planters wealthy. It bought the food, clothes, and luxuries, and paid the taxes. It was even used as money, and people reckoned the value of an article in pounds of tobacco,[Pg 72] as we do in dollars and cents. Most of the crop was shipped to England. The plantations lay along creeks or rivers up which boats could sail from the sea. When the tobacco was cured, it was packed in hogsheads, which were then rolled on board ship.

42. Blackbeard the Pirate. The streams on which the planters shipped their goods also served as hiding places for pirates. When these sea robbers had plundered a ship on the open sea, they would hide away in a bend of one of the wooded streams. Most famous of these lawless men was Blackbeard. For years his very name was a terror to sailors along the coast. He plundered scores of merchant ships before he was run down and captured.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

PILGRIMS AND PURITANS IN NEW ENGLAND

MILES STANDISH, THE PILGRIM SOLDIER, AND THE STORY OF "PLYMOUTH ROCK"

43. The Pilgrims. Persecuted for their religion in England, the Pilgrims first went to Holland. There they wandered from place to place, finally settling in the city of Leiden. But they saw that they could not keep their own language and customs among the Dutch, so they decided to go to America and found a colony of their own. John Carver, William Bradford, William Brewster, and Edward Winslow were the leaders of the little band that had chosen to go on the long and dangerous journey. The parting was sad. Eyes were wet with weeping and voices were choked with sorrow as the last words were spoken before going on board the Speedwell. Even the Dutch bystanders were moved to tears. Listen to the words of Bradford: "So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place nearly twelve years; but they knew they were Pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lifted up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits."

The Speedwell carried them across to England, where they found the Mayflower.

[Pg 74]

In August, 1620, the two ships spread their sails for America. Twice they were forced to return—once after they had sailed three hundred miles—because the Speedwell was leaking, and her captain declared she would sink before reaching America.

Finally the Mayflower, with one hundred two Pilgrims on board, started alone. Not many days passed before great storms overtook her. The waves rolled over her deck and threatened to swallow her. For many days the passengers had to spend nearly all the time below deck, not knowing what moment would be their last. Strained by the storm, the Mayflower also began to leak, but the stout-hearted Pilgrims would not turn back.

EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS

After the original painting by Charles West Cope

44. Landing of the Pilgrims in America. For days at a time, during the storm, the ship[Pg 75] could not use her sails and was driven far out of her course, to the northward. The Pilgrims had intended to land near the mouth of the Hudson, but on November 20, 1620, the little band of exiles found themselves looking with glad hearts upon the sandy but heavily-wooded shores of Cape Cod. How they poured out their hearts in gratitude that they had crossed the stormy sea in safety! The men all gathered in the little cabin of the Mayflower to sign a compact or an agreement in regard to the government of the colony. Then they elected John Carver their first governor.

THE "MAYFLOWER" AND THE "SPEEDWELL" IN DARTMOUTH HARBOR

It was to this harbor the Pilgrims returned to repair the leak in the "Speedwell"

Everybody was now anxious to get on shore. Captain Miles Standish, with an exploring party of sixteen men, each armed with a sword and a musket and equipped with a corselet, waded ashore through the ice-cold water and disappeared in the dark forest in search of a good place to plant the colony.

[Pg 76]

For three days they tramped through forests, up and down hills, and along the sandy coast, but found no suitable place. They found springs, however, and ponds of fresh water, and some Indian mounds containing stores of corn. What should they do, take the corn, or leave it and run the risk of starvation? They decided to take only enough to plant in the spring. They afterwards paid the owners double for what they had taken.

Everywhere they saw flocks of wild fowl, good for food, and the tracks of wild deer. While Bradford was examining an Indian snare set for game he found himself suddenly swinging by one leg in the air. They had a hearty laugh, and learned a new lesson in the art of catching game!

READING THE COMPACT ON BOARD THE "MAYFLOWER"

Twice again Standish led his little company to search out a place. On the third trip, as they were at breakfast, their ears were suddenly filled with the most fearful shouts. A shower of arrows fell near them. It was an Indian attack. Captain Standish and his men seized their guns and fired at the red men as fast as they could. Happily, the Indians, frightened by the roar and smoke of English muskets, ran away before any one was killed on either side.

[Pg 77]

On this trip they found the harbor of Plymouth, which John Smith had explored and named several years before. Its shore was now to become their home. They immediately hastened back to the ship to tell the good news, and in a few days the Mayflower carried the Pilgrims into Plymouth Harbor. The little party landed on December 21, 1620, and that day is still celebrated as "Forefathers' Day." The story is that when they landed they stepped on a large stone—a bowlder, itself a "pilgrim"—brought there by the mighty ice sheet ages ago. This bowlder is called "Plymouth Rock," and may still be seen in Plymouth.

45. Their Home in the Forest. Although it was winter, the men immediately began to chop down trees and build a great log storehouse which could be used for a hospital and for worship.

Then they began building their own homes. They cut down the trees, sawed off the logs, hewed them roughly, and then dragged them by hand to the place where the house was to stand. When the logs were ready the men lifted them up by hand, or when the walls grew too high for lifting they slid them up "skids."

The roof was made of boards which had been split from logs of wood. These were held in place by smaller logs. The wind and rain were kept out by "chinking" or daubing the cracks between the logs with mortar. The windows were few and small, for they had no glass and used oiled skins instead.

This first winter in America was the saddest the Pilgrims had ever seen. Their storehouse was turned into a hospital. They had been used to the gentler winters of England and Holland. Before the warm days of spring came, one half of the little band had perished,[Pg 78] among them Governor Carver. But the Pilgrims bore brave hearts, and not a man or woman among those left went back to England when the Mayflower sailed.

MILES STANDISH

From a portrait now in possession of Mrs. A. M. Harrison, Plymouth

46. Friendship with the Indians. Brave Miles Standish kept his little army—what was left of it—ready for any danger. He built a fort on a hill, and mounted the cannon brought over in the Mayflower.

But the Indians were not so bad after all, for had it not been for them, the Pilgrims would have had a much harder time. One day while the leaders were talking over military affairs, they saw a fine-looking Indian coming toward them. He called out in the English language, "Welcome! Welcome!" This was a double surprise. The Indian was Samoset, who had already saved the lives of two white men taken by the Indians.

In a few days Samoset brought other Indians, dressed in deer and panther skins. They made the Pilgrims think of gypsies seen in Holland. Their long black hair was braided and ornamented with feathers and foxtails. They sang and danced for the Pilgrims.

When Samoset came again, he brought Squanto, an Indian who had been captured and carried to London, and who could speak English. They gave the news that the great Indian chief, Massasoit, was coming to visit his strange neighbors.

POUNDING CORN TO MAKE MEAL

A messenger was sent to welcome him and to give him[Pg 79] presents. Massasoit, and twenty other Indians without bows and arrows, were met by Captain Standish, and escorted into the presence of Bradford, the longtime governor of Plymouth. They agreed not to harm each other, and to be friends forever.

Squanto taught the Pilgrims many new things. He showed them how to raise corn by putting dead fish in the hill when planting corn, how to hoe the corn while growing, and how to pound the corn to make meal. Indian corn proved to be the Pilgrims' best food crop.

INDIANS TEACHING THE PILGRIMS HOW TO CATCH EELS

They had no means of fishing, but Squanto taught them how to catch eels by wading into shallow water, and treading them out with their feet. From the Indians the white men also learned how to make Indian shoes or moccasins, and snowshoes, birch-bark canoes, and other useful things.

GOVERNOR CARVER'S LAMP

The first summer was now over and the Pilgrims' first harvest had been gathered. Their houses had been repaired, and the health[Pg 80] of the settlers was good. Fish and wild game were plentiful. They decided that the time for rejoicing and thanksgiving had also come, and invited Massasoit and his warriors to join them in the celebration.

For three days the games, military movements, feastings, and rejoicing went on, and at the end the Pilgrims and Indians were better friends than before. This was the beginning of our custom of having a day of thanksgiving each year.

For a whole year the Pilgrims had not heard a word from the great world across the sea. How eager they must have been for just one word from their old homes! One day the Indians sent runners to tell them that a ship was in sight. The cannon boomed on the hilltop. Captain Standish and his men ran for their guns and stood ready to defend the colony against Spaniards or French. But it was a ship with news and friends from Leiden and England.

After a few weeks this ship returned to England loaded with furs, clapboards, and sassafras to pay those English merchants who had furnished the Pilgrims the Mayflower to bring them to America.

WEDDING SLIPPER WORN BY A MAYFLOWER BRIDE

An Indian chief, not far away, decided that he would rather fight with the Englishmen than be friendly with them. So he sent a bundle of arrows, wrapped in a rattlesnake's skin, to the governor of Plymouth. Squanto told the Pilgrims that this was an Indian's challenge to war.

[Pg 81]

The Pilgrims were men of peace, but they were not cowards. Governor Bradford filled the skin with powder and shot and sent it back to the hostile chief. But the Indians would not touch it and the chief would not permit it to be left in his wigwam an hour, but sent it from place to place, until it again reached Plymouth.

Thus the Pilgrims went on year by year, living in peace when they could, but fighting when they must. Every year or so new settlers came from their old homes, and the colony grew slowly, but steadily.

After a few years the new King of England was so hard upon the Puritans in England that thousands of them followed the example of the Pilgrims and came to America, and planted many other colonies in New England. But none have held so warm a place in the hearts of Americans as the little band brought to the New World by the Mayflower.

JOHN WINTHROP, THE FOUNDER OF BOSTON; JOHN ELIOT, THE GREAT ENGLISH MISSIONARY; AND KING PHILIP, AN INDIAN CHIEF THE EQUAL OF THE WHITE MAN

47. The Puritans. While the Pilgrims were planting their home on the lonely American shore, the Puritans in England were being cruelly persecuted by Charles I. So great became their sufferings and dangers that the Puritan leaders decided to go to America, where they could worship as they pleased. Charles I, fortunately, gave them a very good charter. But even before this, some of the Puritans had already planted a colony at Salem.

JOHN WINTHROP

From a portrait painted by John Singleton Copley; reproduced by permission of the trustees of Harvard University

48. John Winthrop. The Puritan leaders elected John Winthrop governor of the new colony. In the spring[Pg 82] of 1630, nearly ten years after the Mayflower sailed, more than seven hundred Puritans, in eleven ships, bade good-by to their beautiful English homes, crossed the ocean, and settled in what is now Boston.

John Winthrop, the leader and governor of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, the name given to the Salem and Boston settlements, was then about forty years old, and had been in college at Cambridge, in England. He was a man of high social position.

The Puritans who came with Winthrop were people of property, and not only parted from friends and kindred when they came to the wild shores of America, but both men and women gave up lives of comfort and pleasure for lives of suffering and hardship. In America, the men had to cut down trees, work in the fields, and fight Indians. Only brave men and women act in this way. But no one among them gave up more or was willing to suffer more than their leader. The people elected him governor almost every year until his death, in 1649.

John Winthrop was a firm man with many noble qualities, and not once, while governor, did he do anything merely to please the people if he thought it wrong.

When a leading man in the colony sent him a bitter letter, he returned it saying that he did not wish to keep[Pg 83] near him so great a cause of ill feeling. This answer made the writer Winthrop's friend. When food was scarce in the colony, Winthrop divided his last bit of bread with the poor, and worked with his laborers in the fields.

While Winthrop was ruling the colony, hundreds of settlers came and settled many other towns around Boston, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony grew large in the number of its people. Later the old Plymouth Colony was united with it to form one colony. But these settlers did not always agree, especially in regard to religion and government.

JOHN ELIOT, A SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARY TO THE INDIANS

THE NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENTS

49. John Eliot. The treatment of the Indians by the colonists was generally just and kind. Trading with the white man had brought the Indians better food and clothing. Schools were being set up to give them some of the white man's education, and many preachers tried to teach them to become Christians. One man who spent his whole life in this work was John Eliot. His first care was to learn the language of the Indians of Massachusetts. He succeeded so well that he was able to translate the[Pg 84] entire Bible into the Indian language and to preach to the Indians in their native tongue.

The converts that he made he gathered together into communities which settled near the English towns. These converts were taught how to build themselves log cabins and to live and dress like the English. The principal village established by Eliot was at Natick, Massachusetts. Others quickly followed Eliot's example, and several other Christian Indian villages sprang up. These communities flourished, and in a few years Eliot could count as many as four thousand converts among the Indians of Massachusetts.

Eliot continued to preach until his death in 1690. Even the fierce King Philip's War could not check his success.

KING PHILIP, INDIAN CHIEF AND HATER OF WHITE MEN

50. King Philip. After the death of old Massasoit the friendship between Pilgrims and Indians soon came to an end. More and more white settlers came in and built homes. The Indians began to fear that they would be crowded out of the country which belonged to them and to their fathers before them. No longer were they treated with respect as at first. They were a proud people, and grew bitter because they saw that they were despised.

One of the proudest of the race was Philip, son of Massasoit and ruler of his people. Several times the governor of Plymouth forced him to do things against his will. This hurt the pride of Philip, and he began to hate the English. His own people also came to him frequently with complaints against the white men. Philip grew surly, while the colonists began to distrust him.

[Pg 85]

The bad feeling grew on both sides, and gradually both Indians and colonists came to believe all the evil stories that were told of each other. Both sides collected arms, powder, and lead. After a short while war with all its horrors began. The Indians burned many villages and massacred hundreds of white men, women, and children.

There was much fighting, and finally the Indians were completely defeated. Most of the braves were killed; those who were captured were sold as slaves. Philip's family was killed or captured. He himself fled to a swamp, where he met death at the hands of one of his own people.

INDUSTRIES, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS

51. How the New England Colonists Lived. The Puritans and the Pilgrims had a hard struggle in their new homes. The winters were long and colder than in England. For the cold weather they had to build warm houses and barns, and store up much grain, hay, and provisions. The summers were cool and short; tobacco and even corn did not ripen so well as in Virginia. Most of the land was hilly and stony and hard to cultivate. But these things did not discourage the settlers, who merely worked so much harder. Soon they raised all the corn, wheat, cattle, and sheep they needed, and even had some left to sell. Where the streams had waterfalls they built mills with big water wheels. In these they ground their flour and meal and sawed their lumber.

While the men farmed the land, or ran mills, or fished, the women also did their share of the work. They made butter and cheese, spun and wove the wool into cloth, and made many other things which now we buy from stores.

[Pg 86]

Unlike the Virginia colonists, many people of New England lived in towns and villages. They built churches, schools, and town halls. All the people went to church. Most of the children attended school. Whenever any question arose in which every one was interested, they talked it over at the town meeting. In these ways the New England colonists differed from the Virginians.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

[Pg 87]

THE MEN WHO PLANTED COLONIES FOR MANY KINDS OF PEOPLE

PETER STUYVESANT, THE GREAT DUTCH GOVERNOR

52. Peter Stuyvesant. This sturdy son of Holland was born at a time when his country was fighting hard against Spain for independence. His father was a minister, who, it may be supposed, brought up young Peter after the strict manner common to Dutch boys.

THE DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

Peter early began to study Latin. He was vain of his knowledge, and later took pride in showing it off to the settlers of New Amsterdam.

When he left school young Peter joined the army. He found plenty of hard work; but he performed his duties as a soldier more quickly and better than some of his comrades, and before many years was given command over a Dutch colony in the West Indies.

[Pg 88]

PETER STUYVESANT

From a seventeenth-century portrait at present in the collection of the New York Historical Society

In an attack on a Portuguese fort Stuyvesant lost a leg and had to return to Holland. As soon as he was well the Dutch West India Company sent him to New Netherland (1647) to save that colony from the Indians.

The arrival of Stuyvesant, with his little army and fleet of four vessels, brought great joy to the discouraged settlers and fur traders. He said to the people: "I shall reign over you as a father over his children." But he ruled the colony far more like a king than a father. He was not only commander in chief of the army, but was also lawmaker, judge, and governor, all in one.

The new laws made by Stuyvesant showed that he intended to keep order in the colony. He forbade Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, the sale of drink to the Indians or to any one else after the nine o'clock bell had rung. He ordered the owners of all vacant lots in New Amsterdam to improve them, and tried to fix the location of all new buildings. He taxed traders, whether they shipped goods to Europe or brought goods into New Netherland.

Stuyvesant did, indeed, restore order to the colony, but he stirred up the people until they demanded a voice in the government. He finally agreed that they might select nine of their wisest men to advise with him. They were called the council. He had no idea of following[Pg 89] anybody's advice unless it agreed with his own notions, but the people had gained something.

At the same time Stuyvesant was just as busy with his neighbors' affairs. He quarreled with the English in New England, as well as with the patroons in his own colony.

Stuyvesant claimed all the region now included in New Jersey, a large part of that in the states of New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and also a part of the territory of New England.

The colony grew in numbers. New towns sprang up along the Hudson and on Long Island. But the increase in the number of the towns only made the call for a government by the people still louder.

For several years the dispute between the people and the governor went on until, one day in 1664, news came that a fleet of English war vessels was in sight. Although England and Holland were at peace, the English king had given New Netherland to his brother, the Duke of York, and the English fleet had come to take it for the duke.

A VIEW OF THE CITY AND HARBOR OF NEW AMSTERDAM (NEW YORK), 1656

Governor Stuyvesant was resolved to defend the colony to the last. But he was surprised to find that his people[Pg 90] were not willing to fight for a governor who had given them so little share in governing themselves.

The commander of the fleet sent a letter to Stuyvesant offering very favorable terms of surrender. The council wanted the governor to surrender, but he grew angry, tore the letter to pieces, and declared he would never give up. The council put the pieces of the letter together and read it to the people. The minister of his own church begged the governor not to fight, and leading citizens, and mothers with their children, pleaded with Stuyvesant to surrender. Now what could the brave old Dutchman do? He could not fight a whole fleet alone. He turned sadly away, saying, "I would rather go to my grave than to surrender the city."

A DUTCH COTTAGE AND STREET SCENE IN NEW YORK, 1679

53. The Dutch Surrender to the English. The English took possession, and the colony of New Netherland became the colony of New York, and at the same time the town of New Amsterdam became the town of New York. Fort Orange became Albany. English governors came to rule instead of Dutch governors. A few years later a Dutch fleet recaptured the colony; but, by a treaty at the close of the war, Holland returned it to England. When William and Mary came to the throne of England (1689) they gave New York a representative assembly.

[Pg 91]

A DUTCH SOLDIER

Although Dutch rule was gone forever, the Dutch people and Dutch ideas and customs remained. They were given no cause to regret the change. Peter Stuyvesant himself had become so attached to the colony that he came back from Holland and spent his last years on his great farm, or bowery, as the Dutch called it.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF NEW NETHERLAND

54. Life in New Netherland. The Dutch colonists brought with them the quaint and simple ways of their old home in Holland—the land of dikes and windmills. Even long years after the colony had passed into the hands of the English, many places in New York remained Dutch in customs and appearance.

New Amsterdam looked for all the world like a city back in Holland. The houses were built solidly. They stood close to the street and had high, steep roofs with gable ends that were like series of steps. On the front of each house large iron numerals told the year in which it was built. On the roof were curious weathervanes.

About the fireplace the family gathered in the evening. The burgher would tell jovial stories to the children as he smoked his long pipe. The good wife, resting from her day's work, found some needlework to busy her fingers.

[Pg 92]

The Dutch wives were famous housekeepers and prided themselves on their spotless homes. They scoured and scrubbed from morning to night. But they also knew how to make doughnuts and crullers and to cook good dishes that made their husbands round and good-natured and their children rosy and plump.

The Dutch liked merrymaking and good times far better than did their Puritan neighbors. The big brass knocker on the door—shaped generally like the head of some animal—was kept busy in the afternoon by people coming to drink tea or coffee. A great copper kettle, hung in the fireplace, furnished enough to drink for every one, and sweet cookies were always on hand. They celebrated many holidays. At Christmas we still look for old Santa Claus, whom the Dutch first brought to this country.

In Holland the burghers had been good farmers and shrewd merchants. When they came to this country they continued to make their living chiefly in these two ways. On Long Island and along the Hudson River were fine farms with well-kept fields and large gardens. The merchants mostly lived at New Amsterdam, which soon became a busy seaport. Here many sailing vessels lay at anchor and exchanged their cargoes for the products of the Dutch farms and of the Indian trade. From the small beginnings made by these Dutch merchants has grown the largest city of the western world.

WILLIAM PENN, THE QUAKER, WHO FOUNDED THE CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE

55. William Penn. One day Thomas Loe, a Quaker preacher, ventured into the old university town of Oxford. He talked with the students and explained to[Pg 93] them the beliefs of the Quakers. He declared that all men were equal, and he refused to recognize rank or title. He taught men to live and worship in simplicity.

A few students believed his teachings and resolved to become members of the hated sect of Quakers. Among them was William Penn, the son of a great naval officer, Admiral Penn. What a buzzing there was in that old college town when the news spread that William Penn, the fine scholar, the skilled oarsman, the all-round athlete, had become a Quaker!

Some of his comrades would not believe it. But when they saw him put off the cap and gown of his college, which some of the greatest men in English history had worn with pride, and put on the plain garb of the Quakers, they gave up! The college officers were also convinced when Penn and other Quakers tore off the gowns of fellow students. The authorities promptly expelled these young and over-enthusiastic Friends.

What more disgraceful thing could happen to the family of Admiral Penn? To have a son expelled from Oxford was bad enough, but to have him become a Quaker was a disgrace not to be borne—so thought his family. The stern old admiral promptly drove him from home. But William resolutely refused to give up his Quaker views, and the admiral decided to try the plan of sending him to Paris, where life was as un-Quaker-like as it could be.

William Penn himself looked little like a Quaker. He was then eighteen years old, fine looking, with large eyes and long, dark, curly hair reaching to his shoulders.

Young Penn, however, did not entirely waste his time in the gay life of Paris. He attended school and traveled in Italy. At the end of two years he came back.

[Pg 94]

It was not long before the admiral again saw Quaker signs in his son and hastened him off to Ireland to cure him entirely. But who should be preaching in Ireland but Thomas Loe. William went to hear his old preacher, and this time became a Quaker forever. No suffering was great enough to cause him ever to waver again, although fines were heaped on him and at four different times he was thrown into foul jails to be the companion of criminals.

WILLIAM PENN

At the age of 22, from a painting in the rooms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, presented by his grandson, Granville Penn of Stoke Poges

Penn's family now felt the disgrace very keenly, but his father promised to forgive him if he would take off his hat to the king, to the king's brother, and to his father. One day, the story goes, King Charles, the merry monarch, met William Penn and others. All hats were promptly removed except the king's and Penn's. Presently the king, too, removed his hat. Whereupon, Penn said: "Friend Charles, why dost thou remove thy hat?" The king replied: "Because, wherever I am, it is customary for but one to remain covered."

Penn's father[Pg 95] would not permit such conduct toward his royal friends. He therefore drove his son from his home a second time.

THE MEETING BETWEEN WILLIAM PENN AND KING CHARLES

But Penn's mother finally made peace between the father and the son before the admiral died. William Penn, then but twenty-six years old, came into possession of a fortune. Once more he stood "where the roads parted." He could now be a great man and play the part of a fine English gentleman who would always be welcome at court, or he could remain a Quaker.

We do not know that he even thought of forsaking his Quaker comrades. On the contrary, he resolved to devote his fortune and his life to giving them relief. Like Winthrop for the Puritans and Baltimore for the Catholics, Penn thought of America for his persecuted Friends. With other Quaker leaders, he became an owner of West Jersey, part of New Jersey.

A WEATHER VANE

Set above their mill by Penn and two partners in 1699, to show which way the wind might blow

56. The Founding of Pennsylvania. King Charles II[Pg 96] owed Penn's father about eighty thousand dollars. William Penn asked him to pay it in American land. Charles was only too glad to grant this request of the son of his old sea captain. The land he gave to Penn is the present great state of Pennsylvania. Penn wanted the colony called Sylvania, meaning woodland, but the king declared it should be called Pennsylvania in memory of Admiral Penn.

By means of letters and pamphlets Penn sent word to the Quakers throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. He told them of Quaker homes across the sea, where jails would not trouble them.

There was great rejoicing among them over Penn's "Holy Experiment," as his plan was called.

A QUAKER

Penn even visited Europe, especially the country along the Rhine, and told the persecuted and oppressed about the new colony where every sort of Christian was to find a hearty welcome, and where no one was to be punished for religion's sake.

Hundreds of settlers hastened to the new colony. When Penn reached Newcastle on the Delaware in the fall of 1682 he met a hearty welcome from scores of happy people who were already enjoying their long-wished-for religious freedom.

[Pg 97]

One of Penn's first acts was to call a meeting of the colonists to talk over their government. This pleased the people greatly, for although the land was Penn's he not only gave them land for their houses and farms, but he also gave them the right to choose their own rulers and to make their own laws.

WILLIAM PENN'S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS

After the painting by Benjamin West, which hangs in Independence Hall, Philadelphia

Penn next turned his attention to founding the great Quaker city to which he gave the name Philadelphia, signifying brotherly love—a name truly expressing Penn's feeling toward other men. He marked off the streets right in the midst of a great forest, and called them Walnut, Mulberry, Chestnut, and so on, after the trees that grew there. Some of the streets in Philadelphia are still so named.

But the settlers came faster than houses could be built, and some families had to live in caves dug in the banks[Pg 98] along the river. Philadelphia grew faster than the other colonial towns, and soon led them all.

William Penn won the love and the respect of the Indians of Pennsylvania. He visited them in their own towns and ate with them. He even took part in their athletic games and outran them all. Like Roger Williams, he believed that the Indians should be paid for their lands. Accordingly, he made them rich gifts and entered into solemn treaties with the chiefs.

At a treaty under a great elm tree on the banks of the Delaware, Penn said to the Indians: "We are the same as if one man's body were divided into two parts: We are all one flesh and one blood." In return the Indians said: "We will live in love with William Penn and his children as long as the moon and the sun shall endure." If the Indians admired a white man they said: "He is like William Penn."

The news of the establishment of free government and free religious worship brought crowds of settlers from Germany. Hundreds of German families in the valleys of the Rhine and the Neckar escaped to "Penn's Woods," and there their children's children are to be found to-day under the name of the "Pennsylvania Dutch." Without boasting, William Penn could say that no other one man, at his own expense, had planted so great a colony in the wilds of America as he had. Few nobler men ever lived than William Penn. He died July 30, 1718.

QUAKER WAYS IN OLD PENNSYLVANIA

57. How Quakers Differed from other Colonists. The people who formed Penn's colony were unlike those of any of the other settlements. They did not wear[Pg 99] gorgeous clothes and jewelry like the Virginia cavaliers. The men carried no swords or pistols. They were not stern like the Puritans. Games and social pleasures were not to be seen among them as in Dutch New Netherland.

These people wore clothes of the plainest cut, made from dull gray or brown cloth. They were gentle and soft-spoken, and did not fight or quarrel among themselves. People who did not understand or like them called them Quakers, because some of them were so carried away at religious meetings that they fell to quaking. They themselves took the name of the Society of Friends. And Friends is a much better name, for they were friends to every man.

The customs of the Quakers grew out of their religious views. Above all, they believed that every one should be free to do as his own conscience taught him. Their religious meetings were as simple as their own lives. They did not think it necessary to have ministers or priests. The men sat in one part of the church, the women in another. All was silence until some Friend felt called to speak. Some days no one spoke, and then they all sat in silence until the meeting was over. As a rule, not even a hymn was sung.

The Quakers have always believed that war is unnecessary and wrong, and only a few of them have ever carried arms. Because Friends speak only the truth, they do not take an oath. In the courts of law their simple word is as good as an oath. They have always been quick to help the poor and oppressed. The Quakers were the first to oppose slavery, and they did much to end it both in this country and in the English colonies. It is strange[Pg 100] that these kind, gentle people should ever have been so cruelly persecuted.

While the Quakers were strongly religious, they also took good heed of the things of this world. At first they cleared and planted farms in the fertile Schuylkill and Delaware valleys. Soon groups of them took up townships of five thousand acres each and built villages at their centers. The swift streams which tumbled down the mountain slopes they used to turn mills. In these they ground flour, sawed lumber, made paper, and wove woolen cloth.

The rich land and good climate of Pennsylvania and its liberal government attracted many people from outside. After a short time the Quakers were outnumbered by the other settlers, and to-day the Quakers are but a handful in that great state.

JAMES OGLETHORPE, THE FOUNDER OF GEORGIA AS A HOME FOR ENGLISH DEBTORS, AS A PLACE FOR PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS, AND AS A BARRIER AGAINST THE SPANIARDS

58. A Friend of the Unfortunate. James Oglethorpe was an Englishman. At an early age he went to Oxford to study, but he was drawn away from college by the clash of arms. Oglethorpe was a soldier for many years. Later he became a member of Parliament.

A friend of Oglethorpe's died in a debtor's prison, which aroused his sympathies for the poor. He examined English jails, and found them so dirty and dark and damp that strong-bodied men, to say nothing of women and children, soon sickened and died in them. Besides, he found that the jailers were often bad men, who whipped[Pg 101] the prisoners on their bare backs and stole their food.

JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE

From an original portrait painted by Simon Francois Ravenet, from a mezzotint by Burford in the print room at the British Museum

The prison was a poor place for a man in debt, anyway. How could a man pay his debts while he was shut up in prison?

Oglethorpe, like many other noble men before him, thought of America as a place of refuge for the unfortunate. King George II gave him a charter for the land between the Savannah and the Altamaha, and made his heart glad by declaring that all Protestants should be tolerated there.

When the debtors heard the news that Oglethorpe was to plant a colony for them there was great excitement among them. But he carefully selected his settlers, so that no lazy man might be found among them. Arms and tools with which to work on the farms were given to the settlers.

When the time came, thirty families were ready to sail. Oglethorpe carried them direct to Charleston, South Carolina. When they landed, in 1733, the people of Charleston were only too glad to have a colony south of them as a "buffer" against the Spaniards who occupied Florida, and who had already attacked South Carolina.

Therefore, the people of Charleston, to give the new[Pg 102] colony a good start, presented the settlers with one hundred head of cattle, a drove of hogs, and fifteen or twenty barrels of rice. Rejoicing in their new supplies, the colony sailed to the Savannah River, and not far from its mouth, on a beautiful bluff, Oglethorpe marked out the streets of the new city. The settlers went to work with a will, cutting down trees and making them into cabins. They soon had comfortable homes, although very different from what they had known in England.

Soon other colonists came to Savannah. Among these was a company of Italians who had come to raise the silkworm and to manufacture silk.

OGLETHORPE SURVEYING THE SITE OF SAVANNAH

In the next year after Oglethorpe planted the settlement a band of sturdy German Protestants arrived. These settlers built their homes to the north of Savannah, and called the colony "Ebenezer," which means "the Lord hath helped us." Between these two settlements a band of pious Moravian immigrants founded a colony. Then followed the settlement of Augusta, far up the Savannah River and well out among the Indians, which served as a sort of outpost.

To these were added a colony on the Altamaha River. This colony was settled by a company of brave Highlanders from Scotland.

OGLETHORPE'S STRONGHOLD

Standing on a bold rocky bluff overlooking a beautiful bay, it guarded the entrance to Frederica

In the meantime, Oglethorpe had gone to England, but[Pg 103] he soon returned with more than two hundred English and German immigrants, who came to Georgia to better their condition. With these immigrants came John and Charles Wesley, who were soon to awake all England with a revival of religion.

While in England Oglethorpe was made a colonel. He saw that trouble with Spain must soon come. From the beginning of the settlement of Georgia Oglethorpe had been careful to treat the Indians well. He had made treaties with them and had paid them for their lands. He now went to visit the Creek and the Cherokee Indians.

On an island at the mouth of the Altamaha Oglethorpe planted a town to serve as an outpost against the Spaniards. He fortified it, and made it very strong. This town was called Frederica.

In 1742 a Spanish fleet of fifty-one vessels and five thousand men attacked Frederica. Oglethorpe beat them off, and thereafter Georgia was left in peace. He went back to England and became a general. Oglethorpe lived to a good old age. He died in 1785.

INDUSTRIES, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE SOUTHERN PLANTERS

59. The Carolina and Georgia Planters. The colonial farms south of Virginia lay mostly in a narrow strip near the sea. Inland were the "pine barrens," a poor,[Pg 104] sandy country grown up in pine woods. Inland also were strong and fierce tribes of Indians like the Cherokees and Creeks.

The younger colonies could not live by growing tobacco. Virginia was nearer to the English market, and supplied it with most of the tobacco needed. They did raise corn and cattle for their own use. One day a ship captain from the Orient sailed into Charleston with some rice. The story runs that he gave a few handfuls of this to the governor as a curiosity. The wise old governor heard that this rice had been grown in swamps, and he thought of the swamps all along the coast of Carolina and Georgia. He had some of it planted in this wet land, and it grew beyond all hopes. In a few years rice was produced in such quantity that it could be shipped to England, where it was thought the best on the market.

Some one else discovered that the low, wet land would also grow indigo, a plant used for making a brilliant and valuable blue dye. Indigo soon brought the settlers as much money as did the rice.

The great pine woods furnished lumber that was sent to Europe by the boatload. From the sap of the pine trees the colonists also learned to make turpentine and rosin. By heating or distilling the wood itself they produced tar. To this day one of the most striking sights in these states are the great sawmills and the stills, where negroes are making turpentine much as it was made a century and a half ago.

When Georgia was settled Oglethorpe did not permit slaves to be brought in, and the colonists had to do all their own work. But later there were as many slaves in Georgia as in the Carolinas or Virginia.

[Pg 105]

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

ROBERT CAVELIER DE LA SALLE, WHO FOLLOWED THE FATHER OF WATERS TO ITS MOUTH, AND ESTABLISHED NEW FRANCE FROM CANADA TO THE GULF OF MEXICO

LA SALLE PUSHED FORWARD THE WORK BEGUN BY JOLIET AND MARQUETTE

60. Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. While Joliet and Marquette were on their long journey, Frontenac was making use of another fur trader, La Salle, and of another missionary, Hennepin. La Salle belonged to a rich French family, and had left home at the age of twenty-three (1666) for the wild life in the American forests.

He first built a fort-like post just above Montreal and named it Lachine, because he supposed it was located on the route to China. In 1673 he helped build Fort Frontenac where the Canadian city of Kingston now stands.

[Pg 107]

LA SALLE

Reproduced from a design based on an old engraving

La Salle returned home, and the king received him with honor and made him governor of the region around Fort Frontenac. He came back and built a great stone fort. Settlers soon came and built their cabins around the fort, making a little frontier village.

Here the fur trader came each season with his pack, and here the faithful missionary said good-by before plunging into the wilds of the unknown wilderness, perhaps never to return.

La Salle was growing rich, but he longed to make good his country's right to the richer soil and to the milder climate of the Mississippi Valley. Once more he returned to France, and the king gave him permission to explore the great valley and to build forts along the way.

La Salle came back bringing sailors, carpenters, anchors, and cables, for he intended to build a ship on the lakes. But best of all, he brought Tonti, his faithful Italian friend and helper. Hennepin, the missionary, carried an altar so made that he could strap it on his back and set it up for worship wherever he chose.

La Salle had resolved to build his first fort at the mouth of the Niagara River, but the Iroquois permitted him to build only a large storehouse. They were greatly displeased when he set about building a ship above Niagara to sail the Great Lakes to the west, and threatened to burn it.

[Pg 108]

ROUTES OF THE FRENCH MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS WHO EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

When the new ship, the Griffin, was ready to sail, they towed her up the Niagara River and then into Lake Erie. There was great rejoicing over the Griffin. Amid the firing of cannon and the singing of songs she spread her sails, the first to whiten the waters of Lake Erie.

On they sailed, through sunshine and storm, up Lake Huron until the mission town where Marquette was buried came into view. When the Griffin fired her cannon, all was astir in that town of fur traders, missionaries, and Indians. La Salle's men landed with great show. They marched to the little chapel and knelt before the altar.

La Salle then sailed through the straits and to the head of Green Bay, where some of his men, sent out many months before, had collected a great quantity of furs. Laden with these, the Griffin[Pg 109] sailed for the storehouse on the Niagara, but La Salle never saw again this first ship of the lakes.

61. Exploring the Mississippi Valley. With fourteen men in four large canoes, La Salle set out for the Illinois River. They passed southward along the Wisconsin shore, sometimes living only on parched corn and wild berries, but at other times feasting on the wild game killed by their Indian hunter.

FRENCH FUR TRADERS BARTERING WITH THE INDIANS

They passed the spot where Chicago stands, and reached the mouth of the St. Joseph River. Here another fort was built while waiting for the return of Tonti, who had gone to find the Griffin. Three months had passed since the ship sailed. Tonti finally came, but brought no word of the ill-fated Griffin.

Disappointed, but still brave, La Salle with a party[Pg 110] of thirty men and fourteen canoes paddled up the St. Joseph River to where South Bend now is. From this point the party, carrying canoes and baggage, made its way over to the headwaters of the Illinois. They were glad to reach the region near the present site of Ottawa, where Marquette had been a few years before. They saw Buffalo Rock and Starved Rock, high bluffs renowned in Indian history.

Just as the little fleet was passing through Peoria Lake, some one saw the smoke of an Indian camp. At once every Frenchman dropped his paddle, seized his gun, and sprang ashore. The Indians ran about in wild excitement, but La Salle talked peace to the chiefs while Hennepin tried to quiet the children.

LA SALLE AND HENNEPIN SURPRISING THE INDIANS ON THE SHORES OF PEORIA LAKE

The Indians told La Salle of fierce warriors farther on[Pg 111] who would kill them, and of great monsters ready to eat them. These stories frightened some of La Salle's men and they ran away.

LA SALLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI

La Salle decided to build a fort on the bluff overlooking the river and remain there through the winter (1680). They named it Fort Crèvecœur, meaning that the builders had grieved until their hearts were broken.

La Salle returned to Fort Frontenac. In the meantime he ordered Tonti to fortify Starved Rock, and Hennepin to explore the Illinois and the upper Mississippi rivers.

While La Salle was gone, a great army of fierce Iroquois destroyed the villages of the Illinois Indians, "the children of Count Frontenac."

La Salle's heart was indeed full of grief when he returned and saw the awful desolation where once stood the villages of his Indian friends. But worse still, he could not find Tonti. With a sad but brave heart the great leader resolved to bring all the Illinois tribes into a union that should be a match for the Iroquois. He went from tribe to tribe, and night after night he sat around the council fires with the chiefs.

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Before he could unite them he heard that Tonti was safe at Mackinac. He hastened to meet his long-lost friend, and there he and Tonti once more planned the exploration of the lower Mississippi. He returned to Fort Frontenac, collected supplies, and was soon crossing the portage between the Chicago and Illinois rivers. On they went, till early in February their canoes floated out upon the bosom of the "Father of Waters" (1682).

Down the river they floated, passing the Missouri, the Ohio, and the Arkansas, where Joliet and Marquette had turned back. With the kindly help of new guides, they passed on until they found the Mississippi branching into three streams. La Salle divided his party, and each took a stream to the Gulf.

On shore, just above the mouth, a cross was raised and La Salle took possession of all the country he had explored "in the name of Louis the Great, King of France." The company shouted, "Long live the king!" La Salle's first great object had been accomplished.

Then the party began the slow journey up stream. La Salle finally reached Mackinac, and there again began to lay great plans. The first thing he did was to go to Starved Rock and build a fort for the protection of his union of Indian tribes.

Starved Rock is a rough cliff which rises one hundred thirty-five feet high, right out of the valley. Its sides are almost perpendicular. La Salle and his men cut away the trees on top and built storehouses, log huts, and a palisade. They named it Fort St. Louis. In the valley below, hundreds of Indians came and built their wigwams that they might be safe from their enemies, the Iroquois. Tonti was put in command of the fort.

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STARVED ROCK ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER

Many interesting Indian legends are connected with this rock, which stands one hundred thirty-five feet above the river below

La Salle's next step was to return to France and ask the king to plant a colony of Frenchmen at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The king agreed, and La Salle set sail for the Gulf of Mexico with a fleet of four ships and a colony of more than one hundred fifty persons (1684). But he missed the Mississippi and landed at Matagorda Bay in Texas. The colonists blamed La Salle. He tried in vain to find the Mississippi.

Suffering and discontent increased until a party of La Salle's men lay in ambush and shot him, and left his body in the woods. More than a year went by before the faithful Tonti at Starved Rock heard of the sad fate of the great leader.

The French king refused to send aid to the starving colonists in Texas, but the brave and heroic Tonti, though saddened by the death of La Salle, resolved to rescue them. His rescuing party suffered awful hardships. They deserted Tonti on the lower Mississippi, and he was at last forced to return to Starved Rock.

THE MEN OF NEW FRANCE

62. Life of the Trapper, Jesuit Missionary, and Soldier of New France. For more than a hundred years after[Pg 114] the explorations of Joliet and La Salle the French in Canada sent trappers, missionaries, and soldiers into the new territory. The trappers lived on friendly terms with the Indians. They took shelter in the Indian wigwam and sat at the Indian camp fire. Together they searched the forest for game, and paddled up and down the rivers and lakes in the Indian canoes. They joined in the Indian sports, lived as the Indians lived, and often married the Indian maidens.

The lives of the missionaries who went to preach among the Indians were full of self-sacrifice. They had great difficulties to overcome. The Indians were ignorant and hard to teach, but they treated the missionaries with respect and loved them for their kind deeds.

From the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico the soldiers of New France built many forts. Their chief danger was from the Iroquois Indians, who sided with the English in the long years of war. Many times their settlements were destroyed, their forts burned. But they were courageous and determined. They went on with their work of establishing New France in America, fighting the English and the Indians, until 1759. Then Wolfe captured Quebec and New France became English territory.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE FIRST GENERAL AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

THE "FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY"

63. George Washington as a Boy. When Washington was born, February 22, 1732, in the old colony of Virginia, the early settlements had grown into towns, and planters had prospered. His father's house stood upon a gentle hill slope which ran down to the lazily flowing Potomac. Across the river one could see the wooded Maryland shore, broken with a few great farms and plantations.

Washington's father owned more than one plantation, and had many negro slaves. He was also a partner in some iron mines, and once had been captain of a ship carrying iron ore to London. It was in London that he had fallen in love with Mary Ball, called, on account of her beauty, the "Rose of Epping Forest." She, too, was a Virginian, and she married Augustine Washington, and became the greatly revered mother of George.

When George was but three years old his parents moved to the plantation on the Rappahannock. Across the river, in the old town of Fredericksburg, George went to a school taught by the church sexton. Both teachers[Pg 116] and schools were scarce in Virginia then because the people lived miles apart on their great plantations.

THE BOYHOOD HOME OF WASHINGTON

Here on the site of the farmhouse, a slope on the river bank, stands the first monument erected to Washington, the bricks from the great chimney forming its foundation

In Washington's day the plantations were usually located on the rivers or bays. The rivers were the best roadways in those old times. Besides, the planter was glad to have the yearly ship from London stop at his door.

The coming of the ship brought happy days to the young people, for it often brought furniture for the house and fine clothes for the family. Sometimes, too, it brought back some long-absent son or daughter, or letters from relatives in the old English home. Then there were the stories such as only sailors can tell.

When all the stores of tobacco and grain had been loaded, once more the great ship spread her wings and sailed away. Then many a Virginia boy longed to go on board and sail away, too.

George's father died and left him, at the age of eleven, to the care of his mother. Mary Washington was a wise, firm mother, and always held the love and admiration of her children.

According to the custom of those old Virginia days, the eldest son, Lawrence Washington, received the beautiful plantation on the Potomac, which he named Mount Vernon in honor of Admiral Vernon, an English naval[Pg 117] officer under whom he had fought in the West Indies.

To George fell a smaller plantation on the Rappahannock. He could hardly hope to go to England to study, but went to a school near his birthplace. Here he studied hard, mastering mathematics, and business papers of all sorts. The book into which he copied business letters, deeds, wills, and bills of sale and exchange shows how careful he was and how he mastered everything he undertook.

At school, George was a spirited leader in all outdoor sports. He outran, outjumped, as well as outwrestled all his comrades. He could throw farther than any of them. The story is told that he once threw a stone across the Rappahannock, and that at another time he threw a stone from the valley below to the top of the Natural Bridge, a distance of more than two hundred feet.

WASHINGTON DREAMING OF A SEAMAN'S LIFE

Washington was captain when the boys played at war. Every boy among them expected to be a soldier some day. George listened to the stories told by his brother Lawrence, who had been a captain in the West Indies.

WASHINGTON'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS

As a boy George Washington also learned many useful things outside of school. He became a skillful horseback rider, for every Virginia[Pg 118] plantation had fine riding horses. People lived so far apart that they had to ride horseback when they visited each other and when they went to church or to town. Whether George rode a wild colt to "break" it, or whether he rode with his neighbors through woods and fields, jumping fences or swimming streams, or in a wild chase after the fox, he always kept his seat.

Even while a boy Washington was learning the ways of a woodsman. With only a gun and a dog for companions, he made long trips into the deep, dark Virginia forests, where no road or path showed the way. He could cross rivers without bridge or boat, could build a shelter at night, could trap, and shoot, and cook over the fire by the side of which he slept. All this knowledge was soon put to use by Washington.

WASHINGTON AS A WOODSMAN

When George was fourteen it was decided that he might "go to sea." No doubt he dreamed of the time when he should be a seaman, or perhaps an officer on one of the king's great war ships. But when all was ready, he gave up his plans to please his mother and went back to school. He now studied surveying, and was soon able to mark off the boundaries of farms and lay out roads.

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George was now more and more at Mount Vernon, where he met many fine people. Among these visitors he admired most an old English nobleman, Lord Fairfax, who had come to spend the rest of his days beyond the Blue Ridge in the beautiful valley of the Shenandoah.

64. Washington as Surveyor. Lord Fairfax was pleased with Washington, who was then tall, strong, active, and manly looking, although but sixteen years old. Accordingly, one spring Washington, with a number of companions, started over the mountains to survey the wild lands of Lord Fairfax.

THE SURVEYING PARTY AT AN INDIAN WAR DANCE

The trip was full of danger. There were no roads, bridges, or houses after the party reached the mountains; but deep rivers, wild animals, and savage Indians were plentiful. Some nights they slept in rude huts, other nights in tents, but more often under the stars and around the camp fire. One night they saw a party of Indians dance their wild war dance to the music of a rude drum, made by stretching a hide over a pot, and to the noise of a rattle, made by putting shot in a gourd.

WASHINGTON SURVEYING LORD FAIRFAX'S LANDS

Within a month Washington was back with maps and figures showing what lands[Pg 120] belonged to Lord Fairfax. Few men could have done better, and a warm friendship grew up between this white-haired English nobleman and the young Virginian. Lord Fairfax immediately built a great hunting lodge in the Shenandoah, near where Winchester is, and named it Greenway Court. It became a favorite visiting place for many Virginians.

Washington had done his work so well that Lord Fairfax had him made a public surveyor, and invited him to make Greenway Court his headquarters.

For three years Washington was hard at work in that western wilderness marking out the lands of settlers. It was a rough but health-giving life and made his bones and muscles strong. He had to take many risks and face many dangers.

Once he wrote to a friend: "Since you received my letter in October I have not slept above three or four nights in a bed; but, after walking a great deal all the day, I have lain down upon a little hay, straw, fodder, or a bear skin, whichever was to be had, with man, wife, and children, like dogs and cats, and happy is he who gets the berth nearest the fire."

But the young surveyor was often at Greenway Court taking part in its pastimes, or spending his time in sober[Pg 121] conversation with Lord Fairfax, or in reading the books on history which were found in his friend's library.

65. Washington as a Soldier against the French. Suddenly Washington's whole life was changed. His brother Lawrence died and left to George the beautiful Mount Vernon home and the care of his only daughter. At the age of twenty Washington found himself at the head of two large plantations. But he had hardly begun his new duties before he was called to serve his governor and the king.

The French in Canada were building a chain of outposts from Lake Erie into Pennsylvania to the headwaters of the Ohio River so that they might have a shorter route to their trading posts on the Mississippi. Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia had sent orders for them to get out of the country, but his messenger did not get within a hundred miles of the French soldiers.

GREENWAY COURT, THE VIRGINIA HOME OF LORD FAIRFAX

Surmounting the broad, sweeping roof, pierced by dormer windows, were two belfries, doubtless designed for bells to call the settlers together when an Indian uprising was feared

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It was probably Lord Fairfax who said to the governor: "Here is the very man for you; young and daring, but sober minded and responsible, who only lacks opportunity to show the stuff that is in him."

In October, 1753, Washington, not then twenty-two, set out with servants, horses, and two companions for the French posts. One companion was the old Dutch soldier who had taught Washington to use the sword, and the other was the famous backwoodsman, Christopher Gist. They pushed on through deep forests, over the mountains, across swift rivers, to the Indian village near where Pittsburgh now stands. From there Washington hurried on to the fort on French Creek.

The French commander received him with great politeness, and tried to keep him many days. But Washington saw that the French were really preparing to fight to hold this "gateway to the West."

The Frenchmen very politely said that they intended to hold that region at all hazard. Washington and his party at once started back with the answer.

Washington's party traveled through rain and snow, hurrying through dense forests where savages lurked ready to scalp them. An Indian shot at Washington, but missed him. Their horses gave out, and Washington and Gist plunged into the forest alone, on foot, anxious to lose no time. At last they reached Williamsburg.

WASHINGTON ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE FRENCH POSTS

War now seemed certain, and the governor hurried Washington forward with about one hundred fifty men to cut a road through the forests and over the mountains. But the French had already reached and built Fort Duquesne, where the Ohio is formed, and were then hurrying forward a party to look for the English. Just[Pg 123] after Washington's men crossed the mountains they surprised the French scouts, killed their commander, and took the rest prisoners. Young Washington wrote home that he had heard the whistle of bullets and liked the music.

Although Washington's company soon grew to three hundred fifty men, he built Fort Necessity, for a French force numbering four times his own was now close upon him. A battle followed. Standing knee deep in mud and water, the English fired all day at the hidden foe. Their ammunition was about gone, and their men were falling. Washington surrendered the fort, and the little army, with sad hearts, started home along their newly made road.

66. Washington and Braddock. But these were stirring times in Virginia, for an English general, Braddock, had come up the Potomac; and soldiers, cannon, and supplies were passing right by the doors of Mount Vernon. Every day Washington looked upon the king's soldiers, and saw the flash of sword and bayonet. How could he keep out of it? General Braddock liked the young Virginian, and made him an officer on his staff.

Braddock was a brave man, but he had never made war in the woods, or against Indians. One day Washington suggested that a long train of heavily loaded wagons would make the march very, very slow. He was thinking[Pg 124] of Indians. Braddock only smiled, as if to say that a young backwoodsman could not teach him how to fight.

Benjamin Franklin, a very wise man from Philadelphia, was also troubled when he thought of how the Indians and French would cut to pieces that long line of troops as they marched through the deep, dark forests. Braddock smiled again, and said: "These savages may be dangerous to the raw American militia, but it is impossible that they should make any impression on the king's troops."

A VIRGINIA RIFLEMAN

The army, over two thousand strong, slowly crossed the mountains, and by July had almost reached Fort Duquesne. One day nearly one thousand French and Indians swarmed on both sides of the road, and from behind the safe cover of trees poured a deadly fire upon Braddock's men. "God save the king!" cried the British soldiers, as they formed in line of battle.

Washington urged Braddock to permit the English to take to the trees and fight Indian fashion, as the Virginians were doing, but Braddock forced his men to stand and be shot down by the unseen foe. Braddock himself was mortally wounded. Washington had two horses shot under him and his clothes pierced by four bullets. The British regulars soon ran madly back upon the soldiers in the rear. They threw away guns and left their cannon and wagons, while the[Pg 125] Virginians under Washington kept the Indians back. The British army retreated to Philadelphia, but Washington returned to Virginia, where he received the thanks of the Burgesses. He at once collected troops, and hastened into the Shenandoah Valley to protect the settlers from the French and Indians.

WASHINGTON AND THE VIRGINIANS SAVE BRADDOCK'S ARMY

The next year (1756) Washington journeyed on horseback to Boston. He wore his colonel's uniform of buff and blue, with a white and scarlet cloak over his shoulders. At his side hung a fine sword. With him rode two aids in uniform, besides two servants. Many an admiring eye was turned toward this stately young cavalier. After this journey he returned to the frontier, near Greenway Court, and remained there a year or two more.

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THE OLD BLOCK HOUSE, PITTSBURGH

Still standing to-day in the heart of the city, formed part of Fort Pitt

67. Washington Meets his Future Wife. One day while on his way to Williamsburg with war dispatches, Washington halted at a plantation to take dinner with a friend. There he was introduced to Mrs. Martha Custis, a charming young widow of his own age.

After dinner the conversation with her was too interesting for the young officer to see the horses being led back and forth near the window. The horses were stabled again. After supper Washington was not yet ready to mount. Not until late in the afternoon next day did he mount and ride away with all speed for the capital. On his return he visited Mrs. Custis at her own beautiful plantation, and did not leave until he had her promise of marriage.

Great armies were already gathering. William Pitt, who sent Wolfe to capture Quebec, also ordered General Forbes to march against Fort Duquesne. But it was November before the army reached the Ohio. The French and Indians had nearly all gone to fight on the St. Lawrence, and the place was easily captured. It is said that Washington himself ran up the English flag. The fort's name was changed to Fort Pitt.

68. Old Days in Virginia. Washington now hastened home to claim his bride. To the wedding came the new royal governor in scarlet and gold, and the king's officers in bright uniforms. There, too, came the great planters[Pg 127] with their wives dressed in the best that the yearly ship could bring from London. The bride rode home in a coach drawn by six beautiful horses, while Washington, well mounted, rode by the side of the coach, attended by many friends on horseback.

The hardy settlers of the frontier, grateful to their brave defender, had already elected him to represent them in the House of Burgesses. He was proud to take his young wife to the meeting of the Burgesses when the old capital town was at its gayest, and when the planters came pouring in to attend the governor's reception.

A RECEPTION AT THE GOVERNOR'S

At these receptions gay cavaliers and high-born ladies trod the stately minuet or danced the famous Virginia reel

Washington had already taken his seat among the Burgesses when the speaker arose and, in a very eloquent speech, praised him and presented him the thanks of the[Pg 128] House for his gallant deeds as a soldier. Washington was so confused to hear himself so highly praised that, when he arose to reply, he could not say a word. "Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the speaker, "your modesty is equal to your valor, and that surpasses any language that I possess."

Washington took his young bride to Mount Vernon, and there began the life that he enjoyed far more than the life of a soldier. He felt a deep interest in everything on the plantation. Early every morning he visited his stables and his kennel, for he liked horses and dogs very much. He then mounted a spirited horse and rode over his plantation to look at the growing fields of tobacco or wheat, or at the work of his slaves.

When the king's inspectors in the West Indies and in London saw barrels of flour marked "George Washington, Mount Vernon," they let them pass without examining them, for they were always good. He looked after his own and his wife's plantations so well that in a few years he was one of the richest men in America.

FOX HUNTING IN VIRGINIA

In some sections of our country this popular sport of the Virginia colonists is still followed as in the days of George and Martha Washington

SCENE AT MOUNT VERNON IN THE DAYS OF WASHINGTON

But besides such duties, there were many simple pleasures to be enjoyed at Mount Vernon. Here his soldier friends always found a warm welcome. Lord Fairfax[Pg 129] and other Virginia gentlemen went often to Mount Vernon to enjoy a fox chase. Sometimes Mrs. Washington and the ladies rode with dash and courage after the hounds. Now and then boating parties on the wide Potomac were the order of the day. Many times the halls and grounds of Mount Vernon rang with the shouts and laughter of younger people, guests, who had come from miles around, for George and Martha Washington were young in spirit.

69. The Mutterings of War. One day in June, 1765, Washington came back from Williamsburg and told his family and neighbors about the bold resolutions and fiery speech of a rustic-looking member named Patrick Henry. He said that many of the older members opposed Henry. Washington took Henry's side, but his friends, the Fairfaxes, took the king's side in favor of the Stamp Act.

When the king put a tax on tea, Washington and many of his neighbors signed an agreement not to buy any more tea of England until the tax was taken off. When he heard that Samuel Adams and the "Mohawks" had thrown the tea into Boston Harbor, he knew that exciting times would soon be at hand.

The very next year the king ordered more soldiers to go to Boston and put in force the Boston Port Bill and other unjust laws. The colonies saw the danger, and[Pg 130] sent their best men to hold the first Continental Congress at Philadelphia. Virginia sent George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and other great men. Washington, however, was not an orator, and made no speech in the Congress, as others did. He was a man of deeds. His time had not yet come.

WASHINGTON DRILLING HIS VIRGINIANS

Many persons were surprised to find him so young, for twenty years before they had heard of his deeds against the French, and how he had saved the broken pieces of Braddock's army. A member of Congress declared that "if you speak of solid information, and of sound judgment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on the floor."

The Congress, among other things, resolved to stand by Boston, if General Gage should make war on that town. Washington knew what that meant. He was not at home many months before he was busy drilling his brave Virginians, many of whom had been with him in the French and Indian War.

70. Washington Made Commander of the American Armies. In the last days of April, 1775, the news of the fight at Lexington and Concord was spreading rapidly southward. Washington, dressed in the buff and blue uniform of a Virginia colonel, hurried to Philadelphia to the meeting of the second Continental Congress. His[Pg 131] day had come. It was now a time for deeds. The American army that surrounded Gage in Boston must have a head. John Adams arose in Congress and said that for the place of commander he had "but one gentleman in mind—a gentleman from Virginia—whose skill and experience as an officer, whose independent fortune, great talents, and excellent universal character would command the approbation of all America, and unite the colonies better than any other person in the Union."

Before all these words were spoken, Washington, much moved, had left the room. Congress elected him unanimously to be commander in chief of its armies. When he accepted the honor, he said: "I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in this room, that I this day declare, with the utmost sincerity, I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with."

Washington wrote immediately to his wife: "You may believe me, my dear Patsey, that so far from seeking this appointment, I have used every endeavor in my power to avoid it, not only from my own unwillingness to part from you and the family, but from the consciousness of its being a trust too great for my capacity." Great men are often the most modest.

Washington was soon on the way to Boston by the very route he had gone nearly twenty years before. But how different the journey! Then he was a Virginia colonel. Now he was the honored commander of all the American armies. Then only a few friends were with him. Now congressmen, citizens of Philadelphia, and great crowds cheered him on the way. Only twenty[Pg 132] miles out from Philadelphia, they met the news from Bunker Hill. When Washington heard how the Americans faced the British bayonets, and twice forced the Redcoats to retreat, he exclaimed: "The liberties of the country are safe!"

Through New Jersey he was hailed by the people with delight. A military procession escorted him through New York City, where he appointed that noble general, Philip Schuyler, to take command in New York. The students at Yale gave him a real college welcome—a parade with a band and student songs.

On Cambridge Common, under the famous Harvard Elm, on July 3, 1775, Washington drew his sword and took command of the Continental army. There was a great task before him. He had to drill the troops, collect cannon from Ticonderoga, which Americans had captured, and get ready to drive the British out of Boston.

A COLLEGE WELCOME AT YALE

It took all winter to do these things. One night in[Pg 133] March, 1776, Washington secretly sent some of his best troops to build a fort on Dorchester Heights. The next morning Howe, the new British general, saw Washington's cannon pointing down on his army and ships. He immediately put his army on board and sailed away. This was a victory without a fight.

WASHINGTON TAKING COMMAND OF THE ARMY

Washington took his army to New York, and built a fort on Long Island to protect the city. He was none too quick, for Howe came with thirty thousand men and many war ships.

In the battle on Long Island a part of Washington's army was defeated. General Howe planned to capture the defeated troops next day, but Washington was too shrewd. In the night he collected all the boats in that region and rowed his army over to New York before the British knew what he was doing.

ENTERTAINING GENERAL HOWE AND HIS OFFICERS

At Murray Hill, then a great farmstead, now the heart of New York City, Mrs. Murray entertained them so delightfully two hours slipped away, and the Americans were out of reach

The great British army and fleet took the city, but by the help of a patriotic lady, Mrs. Murray, who entertained General Howe and his officers too long for their[Pg 134] own good, all of Washington's regiments got away safely up the Hudson. During the fall of 1776, General Howe tried to get above Washington's army and capture it. But he did neither, for Washington's troops defeated the British both at Harlem Heights and at White Plains.

While at Harlem Heights Washington felt that he must learn some secrets about the enemy. Nathan Hale, a young officer, volunteered to bring General Washington the information he wanted; but Hale was caught by the British and hanged. "I only regret," he said, "that I have but one life to lose for my country."

Howe then turned back as if to march against Philadelphia and capture Congress. Washington quickly threw a part of his army across the Hudson into New Jersey, but he had to retreat. The British followed in a hot chase across New Jersey. Washington crossed the Delaware, and took with him all the boats for many miles up and down the river. The British decided to wait till they could cross on the ice. Some of their generals thought the war was about over, and hastened back to New York to spend the Christmas holidays.

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71. The People Did Not Know Washington. Those were, indeed, dark days for the Americans. Hundreds of Washington's soldiers had gone home discouraged, and many other faint-hearted Americans thought the cause lost, and were again promising obedience to George III. But the people did not yet know Washington.

On Christmas night, with two thousand five hundred picked men, Washington took to his boats, and crossed the Delaware in spite of the floating ice. Nine miles away, in Trenton, lay the Hessians, those soldiers from Hesse-Cassel, in Europe, whom George III had hired to fight his American subjects, because Englishmen refused to fight Americans.

SCENE OF WASHINGTON'S CAMPAIGNS IN THE NORTH

On went the little army in spite of the biting cold and the blinding snow. During this fearful night two men froze to death and many others were numb with cold.

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WASHINGTON ON THE MARCH TO TRENTON

An early morning surprise

"Our guns are wet," said an officer. "Then use the bayonet!" replied Washington. There was a sudden rush of tramping feet and the roar of cannon in the streets. The Hessian general was killed, and one thousand of his men surrendered.

All night, thinly clad, many without shoes and with bleeding feet, over the frozen ground, on marched the shivering men, bringing at daybreak disaster to the Hessians asleep after their Christmas revels

These were a strange lot of prisoners. Not one could speak a word of English or cared a thing for George III. No doubt they wished themselves at home on that morning. But the Hessians were not more surprised than the British generals in New York.

HESSIAN FLAG

From a photo of the flag taken by Washington from the Hessians at Trenton and now in the museum at Alexandria

Cornwallis, the British commander, hurried forward with troops to capture Washington, but rested his army at Trenton. That night Washington's army stole away, and Cornwallis awoke in the morning to hear the booming of Washington's cannon at Princeton, where[Pg 137] Washington was defeating another part of the British army. Cornwallis hastened to Princeton. It was too late. Washington was safe among the heights of Morristown, where Cornwallis did not dare attack him.

These two victories turned the tide and aroused the Americans. Reënforcements and supplies made Washington's army stronger and more comfortable.

The next spring (1777) General Howe decided to capture Philadelphia. But Washington boldly moved his army across Howe's line of march. Howe did not want to fight, so he put his army on board his ships, sailed around into the Chesapeake, landed, and marched for the "rebel capital," as the British called Philadelphia.

KNEE BUCKLES WORN BY GENERAL WASHINGTON

At Brandywine Creek, south of Philadelphia, Washington faced him. A severe battle was fought. Each side lost about one thousand men. The Americans slowly retreated. In this battle Lafayette, a young French nobleman, was wounded. Lafayette had heard in France how the American farmers had beaten the king's regulars at Lexington, and he had made up his mind to go to help them. On his arrival Congress had made Lafayette a general in the Continental army.

72. The Winter at Valley Forge. After the battle at Brandywine Creek the British slowly made their way to[Pg 138] Philadelphia. Washington took post for the winter at Valley Forge, on the Schuylkill River, twenty miles northwest of Philadelphia. There, in the deep woods among the hills, and in log huts built by their own hands, the American forces passed a winter so full of suffering that it makes one shudder to read the story.

When the army marched into Valley Forge, "their route could be traced on the snow by the blood that oozed from their bare, frost-bitten feet." Washington wrote to Congress that nearly three thousand of his men were "barefoot or otherwise naked."

A part of the army had no bread for three days, and for two days no meat. Hundreds had no beds, and gladly slept on piles of straw. Others had no blankets, and sat up nights before the fire to keep from freezing. Many sickened and died. But in Philadelphia the well-fed British soldiers had a gay season, with balls and banquets.

CAMP AT VALLEY FORGE

Washington grieved over the suffering of his men, but never lost heart. All the long winter through, with the aid of General Steuben, a noble German officer, he drilled his men. In the spring when the British started back to New York, he gave them such a bayonet charge at Monmouth, New Jersey (1778), they were glad to escape that night, instead of stopping to rest and bury their dead.

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73. The Crowning Victory at Yorktown. For the next three years the British army remained in New York, not daring to come out and attack Washington.

GEORGE WASHINGTON

From the Gibbs-Channing portrait painted by Gilbert Stuart, the first portrait of Washington, now in the possession of Samuel P. Avery of New York

Finally, in the summer of 1781, General Lafayette, who had now recovered from his wound, and had fought with the Americans at Monmouth, was sent to Virginia by Washington to watch the British army there. Lafayette sent Washington word that Cornwallis had come up from the Carolinas, and had taken post at Yorktown. After receiving more soldiers, Lafayette followed Cornwallis to Yorktown and stationed his army near that place. Washington also got word that a large French war fleet was coming to the coast of Virginia to aid the Americans. This fleet had been sent to aid the Americans by the King of France. Washington also had six thousand fine French troops under the command of General Rochambeau. This aid had been secured through the influence of Lafayette, who had visited his home in France in 1779.

Washington now saw his chance. He ordered Lafayette to watch Cornwallis while he himself took two thousand ragged Continentals and four thousand French troops in bright uniforms, and slipped away from New York. He was almost in Philadelphia before the British or his own soldiers could guess where he was going.

At Yorktown, Washington and his army found both[Pg 140] Lafayette and the French fleet keeping watch. Day and night the siege went on amid the roar of cannon. When all was ready, then came the wild charge of the Americans and the French in the face of British cannon and over British breastworks. The outer works were won, and Cornwallis saw that he must surrender. Seven thousand of the king's troops marched out and gave up their arms.

THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS

After the painting by John Trumbull which hangs in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington

The victory at Yorktown made all Americans happy, and they rang bells, fired cannon, built bonfires, and praised Washington and Lafayette. But England was now tired of war, and many of her great men declared in favor of peace, which was soon made, in 1783.

WASHINGTON'S RESIGNATION

After the painting by Trumbull in the Capitol at Washington

74. Washington Bids Farewell to his Officers and to Congress. Washington bade farewell to his brave soldiers, with whom he had fought so long. The parting with his officers in Fraunces' Tavern, New York, was[Pg 141] a touching scene. With tears in his eyes, and with a voice full of tenderness, he embraced each one as he bade him good-by. It was like the parting of a father from his sons.

MOUNT VERNON, THE HOME OF WASHINGTON

Washington now journeyed to Annapolis, Maryland, where Congress was then held, to give back the authority of commander in chief which Congress had bestowed on him eight years before. How unselfish had been the conduct of Washington in refusing pay for his services! How noble was the act of giving up his power over an army which idolized him, and which he might have used to make himself king! But he did not think of these things as he hastened to his beautiful Mount Vernon to enjoy Christmas time once more with his loved ones.

But what a change had come to Virginia! Eight years before George III was king over all the Thirteen Colonies, and Virginia was ruled by one of his governors. Now the people were ruling themselves, and[Pg 142] had elected one of Washington's neighbors, Benjamin Harrison, to be their governor. He missed some old friends. Some had died on the field of battle; others, like Lord Fairfax, had gone back to England, where they could be ruled by George III. Soon visitors began to come—old soldiers, beloved generals, and great statesmen from America, as well as distinguished people from Europe. They all wanted the honor of visiting the man who had led the American armies to victory, but who, again, was only a Virginia planter.

75. Lafayette Visits Washington. The year after peace was made Lafayette came back to America to visit General Washington. There were great times at Mount Vernon. Washington, Lafayette, and other noble men sat around the table and there told stories of their struggles and of their triumphs.

LAFAYETTE AT MOUNT VERNON

After a painting by Rossiter and Mignot

[Pg 143]

Lafayette visited many other places and received a warm welcome wherever he went; he had taken active part in many battles of the Revolution; his blood had flowed for the American cause. At Monmouth he had saved the Americans from retreat by sending for Washington. He had had an important part in the crowning victory at Yorktown. The Americans loved and admired him, and did all in their power to show their gratitude. Many years after, on another visit to America, Congress voted him two hundred thousand dollars and twenty-four thousand acres of land as a reward for his great services.

76. Washington Elected First President. The American people would not let Washington long enjoy Mount Vernon, for when they met to make a new constitution, or plan of government, he was chairman of the meeting, and when that government was to go into operation they would have no other man for their first president than George Washington.

In 1789 he once more bade Mount Vernon and his aged mother good-by, and began the journey to New York, which was at that time the capital of the new nation. What a journey! It was almost one continual procession and celebration! At every town and roadside the people came to show their love for Washington, whom they rightly called the "Father of his Country." School children scattered flowers in his way and beautiful young women sang patriotic songs as he passed under decorated arches. When he reached New York Harbor the bay was white with the sails of many nations. Crowds thronged the streets, cannon boomed, and flags were thrown to the breeze to welcome him.

On April 30, 1789, standing on the balcony of Federal[Pg 144] Hall in Wall Street, Washington took the oath of office, and pledged himself to govern the people according to the Constitution they had just made. He reverently bent and kissed the Bible, and became the first President of the United States. From the street, from doors and windows, and from the housetops, the people cried out: "Long live George Washington, President of the United States!"

His new office was almost as hard a task as the Revolution had been. He was now in charge of the affairs of the country. He had to see to it that laws were made to protect the rights of every one. Then he had to see that these laws were carried out. He could not guide himself by what another president had done, for there had been none before him.

WASHINGTON'S GRAND ENTRY INTO NEW YORK CITY, 1789

From a chromo-lithograph after an original drawing by Alphonse Bigot

[Pg 145]

WASHINGTON'S TOMB, MOUNT VERNON

But Washington directed the new ship of state so that it suffered no harm. When it looked as though we should have another war with England, he wisely preserved peace. So well were the people satisfied that they made him president a second time. When they offered him the office for a third term he refused. Thousands gathered to see him leave the capital. As he gave them his final farewell, tears rolled down his cheeks, and men cried like children.

He was glad to get back to Mount Vernon, for he had grown old and weary in serving his country. He spent his remaining years among the scenes he loved so well. There he died in 1799, mourned as a father by the whole people.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

THE MAN WHO HELPED WIN INDEPENDENCE BY WINNING THE HEARTS OF FRENCHMEN FOR AMERICA

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, THE WISEST AMERICAN OF HIS TIME

77. Benjamin Franklin, the Boy Printer. When Franklin was born in Boston (1706) there were men still living who had seen John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts, and Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island.

Franklin's father was a poor but hard-working man. He made soap and candles. Benjamin's nine brothers had learned trades, but his parents had decided that he should be the "scholar of the family." At eight he went to school to prepare for college and was soon at the head of his class.

But it was hard to feed and clothe a family of seventeen, and Benjamin was sent to another school where he could fit himself for business. But he did poorly in arithmetic, and at ten was taken out of school and put to work with his father.

In the port of Boston Franklin saw the ships and sailors of all nations, and longed to go to sea, but his father took him to visit the shops, where he saw men busy at work with all kinds of tools. Although Benjamin liked to[Pg 148] work with tools, he liked to read better, and spent all his little earnings in buying books. He borrowed books when he could not buy them.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

From the original portrait by Joseph Siffrein Duplessis, in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Finally Franklin's parents decided that since he loved books so well he might be a printer, and put him to learn the trade with an older brother. Benjamin was to serve his brother for his board and clothes until he was twenty-one. He worked hard at his trade, and read more books than before. He improved his own language by writing out in his own words what he had read, and then comparing his account with the author's.

He now offered to take half the money that his board cost, and board himself. His brother agreed to this plan, and Benjamin saved money and bought more books.

He longed to write something for his brother's paper. He did so, and put it at night under the door, but he did not dare sign his name to what he had written. His brother showed it to his friends. They praised it, and it was printed. It was fun for Benjamin to hear people guessing that the writer must be some great man in Boston. Franklin wrote several other articles, and called them the "Dogood Papers," but his brother was angry when he learned who wrote them.

Franklin was now only seventeen, but because of his[Pg 149] brother's cruelty he sold his books and took a boat for New York without saying good-by to his parents. He afterwards said that leaving home in this way was a great mistake.

No one in New York wanted a printer, so young Franklin took a boat for Perth-Amboy, New Jersey, on his way to Philadelphia. His ship was caught in a storm, and the passengers were wet and hungry when they landed.

Franklin set out on foot across the state for Burlington. For nearly three days he walked in the rain along muddy roads, looking so rough people thought he was a runaway servant. He was tired and homesick. But he took boat again, and reached Philadelphia on Sunday morning, landing at the foot of Market Street.

FRANKLIN AND DEBORAH REED

The first meeting of Franklin and the young girl who was to be his wife

He was so hungry, he thought more of something to eat than of dressing up for Sunday. He was in a sorry plight. With his pockets stuffed with soiled shirts and stockings, and a roll of bread under each arm and one in his hand, Franklin walked up Market Street, and passed the home of his future wife, Deborah Reed. No wonder she laughed at him. She would have laughed more if some one had said: "There goes a boy who will some day become[Pg 150] your husband and the greatest man in Philadelphia."

Franklin found work in a printing office, saved his money, and bought books to study. He got acquainted with other young people who also loved books, and he often spent his evenings with them.

To the surprise of Franklin and his brother printers, one day Sir William Keith, the governor of Pennsylvania, called at the shop to see Franklin. Governors did not then pay much attention to poor printers. The governor, who was dissatisfied with Philadelphia printers, promised to send him to England to buy a printing press.

PRINTING PRESS

From a photo of the press used by Franklin when in London, and now in the National Museum, Washington, D.C.

Franklin, with the governor's letter in his pocket, hastened back to Boston in order to get his father's help to go to London. How happy were parents, brothers, and sisters to see the long-absent son and brother! But his father could give him no aid, and the young printer returned to Philadelphia. The governor, however, promised to pay his expenses, and Benjamin took ship for England.

The governor had not even given him letters of introduction, to say nothing of money, and Franklin found himself a stranger in one of the largest cities in the world.

He did not whine or spend his time grumbling, but went bravely to work in a printing office. He set a good example to his beer-drinking comrades by[Pg 151] drinking only water and proving he was stronger and able to do more work and do it better than any of them.

A FRANKLIN STOVE

After a model in the rooms of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia

The next year a Philadelphia merchant persuaded Franklin to return to America to become his clerk. But in a few years he went to work again at his old trade as printer, and in a short time became the editor of the Pennsylvania Gazette.

Franklin had already married Miss Reed, the young lady who had laughed at him for making a show of himself on his first day in Philadelphia.

78. A Rising Young Man. He was now a rising young man in the old Quaker city. From year to year he did many things to help others. He started a circulating library, the first in America, out of which has grown the Philadelphia Public Library. He founded a school which has become the great University of Pennsylvania, and a society, called the American Philosophical Society, which still holds important meetings.

Franklin improved the heating of houses by inventing the "Franklin stove," but refused to take out a patent and thus make himself rich at other people's expense. He also formed the first "fire department" in any American town.

Who has not heard of Poor Richard's Almanac? Franklin printed it, and the people liked it so well that he sometimes printed ten thousand copies. Here are a few of the quaint and true sayings: "A word to the wise[Pg 152] is enough." "God helps those who help themselves."

Franklin and his young wife kept these rules faithfully. She worked in the printing office as well as in the house. They hired no servants: Their furniture, dress, and food were plain. He ate his breakfast of bread and milk out of a wooden bowl with a pewter spoon. Mrs. Franklin surprised him one day by giving him a china bowl and a silver spoon. She said her husband deserved such things as well as other men.

The people of Philadelphia admired Benjamin Franklin more and more. At the age of thirty he was chosen clerk of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, and afterward was elected a lawmaker in the Assembly. Every year for ten years his neighbors elected him to help make the laws of the colony.

MILESTONE, LYME, CONN.

This milestone, still standing at Lyme, marks the distance on a road surveyed by Franklin

In a few years Franklin was made deputy postmaster-general for all the colonies by the king. He surprised the people by declaring that the mail should be carried from Philadelphia to Boston every week! He was postmaster-general for more than twenty years.

In 1754 Franklin was sent by the colony of Pennsylvania to Albany, New York, to meet men from other colonies to make a treaty with the Iroquois, and to[Pg 153] plan a union of the Thirteen Colonies. While George Washington was still a surveyor, before Wolfe captured Quebec, and when Patrick Henry was yet a boy, Franklin wrote out a plan of union which pointed the way toward that greater Union, the United States of America.

Franklin was now becoming famous outside of Pennsylvania. Yale College honored him with the degree of Master of Arts. The old University of Cambridge, England, gave him the same degree.

All the wise men in England and France were excited by news of an experiment made by Benjamin Franklin. He had made electricity by using glass tubes, and he had seen the lightning flash in the storm cloud. He decided to prove, if he could, that lightning and electricity are the same. No one had yet done this.

He made a kite out of silk, to which he fastened a small iron rod. Then he tied a hempen string to the kite and the rod. To the lower end of the string he tied a silken cord to protect his hand from the electricity. On the string he tied a key.

One day when the storm clouds came rolling up, Franklin sent his kite high up among them, while he waited. Soon the loose fibers on the hempen string moved. Franklin placed his knuckles close to the key, and sparks came flying at his hand.

When the news of this experiment was published some very wise men smiled; others said it was a trick. The great universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, however, gave him the doctor's degree, and societies of wise men in England, France, and Spain elected him a member. He was now the most famous American.

[Pg 154]

FRANKLIN'S CLOCK

79. Franklin's Part in the Revolution. Already we have seen that England and her colonies were beginning to quarrel. What wiser man could be sent to England to defend the colonies by tongue and pen than Benjamin Franklin? He made friends for America among the great men of England.

When the Stamp Act was passed the members of Parliament asked him nearly two hundred questions about the effects of the Stamp Act on America. He wrote many letters to great men, and long articles to the English newspapers, explaining how the Stamp Act injured America. Both England and America rejoiced when the king and Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, and Franklin sent his wife a fine London gown in honor of the event.

For eight years more, while America was busy opposing the tax on tea, Franklin was in England trying to get Parliament and the king to give the Americans better treatment. But it was all in vain. He often talked with William Pitt, the great friend of America, who introduced into Parliament a plan for making friends between the two countries. But the plan was defeated.

Franklin saw that war would come, and hastened back to his beloved America, where he arrived just after the battle at Lexington and Concord (1775).

Pennsylvania sent him to the Congress of 1775, which,[Pg 155] sitting in Philadelphia, made George Washington general of the Continental army. Franklin saw that if the thirteen scattered colonies were to defeat Great Britain they must unite. So he introduced into Congress a plan of union, but the other members were not ready for it.

Franklin was one of five men who were named by Congress to write the Declaration of Independence (1776).

Soon after, Congress sent him to France to influence the king and the people of that country to aid America in winning independence. The French hated the English, but admired Benjamin Franklin. The king gave money secretly, and many French officers came to serve in the American army.

In 1778 Franklin influenced the King of France to take sides openly with the Americans. French warships and French soldiers by thousands now came to help fight our battles.

INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, IN THE DAYS OF FRANKLIN

From an old print

After helping to make the treaty of peace with England in 1783, Franklin came home with many honors. Though[Pg 156] nearly eighty years old, the people of Pennsylvania immediately elected him governor.

FRANKLIN AT THE COURT OF FRANCE

Franklin did one more great work for his country. In 1787 the states sent their wisest men to Philadelphia to make a constitution, or plan of government. Pennsylvania chose Franklin, with others, to meet with these men in Independence Hall.

George Washington, as we have seen, was the president of this meeting. Many speeches were made, and there was debating for many weeks. The meeting was always glad to hear Franklin speak, for he was a very wise man. As he had helped to make, and had signed, the Declaration of Independence, so now, after helping make the Constitution, he signed it. Many persons did not like the[Pg 157] Constitution. Franklin said there were some things in the new plan which he did not like, but declared that he signed it because of the good things it did contain. He showed his wisdom, for it is one of the best plans of government ever made.

Franklin spent his last days with his daughter, and, surrounded by his grandchildren, died in 1790, at the age of eighty-four.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

PATRICK HENRY AND SAMUEL ADAMS, FAMOUS MEN OF THE REVOLUTION, WHO DEFENDED AMERICA WITH TONGUE AND PEN

PATRICK HENRY, THE ORATOR OF THE REVOLUTION

PATRICK HENRY

After the painting by Thomas Sully, owned by William Wirt Henry, the orator's grandson, Richmond, Virginia

80. The Stamp Act. The surrender of Quebec and the fall of New France caused great rejoicing among the thirteen colonies. But the long, hard war had left both England and her colonies deeply in debt. King George III, however, thinking only of England's debt, decided that England ought to tax the colonies to pay for an army which he wished to keep in America.

PATRICK HENRY SPEAKING IN THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES

From an engraving after the original painting by Rothermal

So the Parliament of England passed a law that all[Pg 159] licenses to marry, all deeds to property, licenses to trade, newspapers, almanacs, and other pamphlets had to be printed on stamped paper. This paper ranged in value from a few cents to many dollars.

Leading men in every one of the thirteen colonies spoke and wrote against the Stamp Act. Of all the men who did so, Patrick Henry, of Virginia, was the most eloquent and fiery. He had been elected by the people of his county to go up to Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, to help make the laws. There were many able men in that old House of Burgesses, but none of them wished to take the lead in opposing the king's plan of a stamp tax.

One day young Henry, although a new member, snatched a blank leaf from a law book and wrote down a set of resolutions declaring that only the Virginia Assembly could tax Virginians, and that any one who asserted the contrary was an enemy of the colony.

He backed up these resolutions with a speech that stirred the Burgesses. He was so fiery and bold that men almost held their breath while they listened to the young orator. He closed by declaring that George III was acting like a tyrant, and that "Caesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third—"[Pg 160] "Treason! treason!" shouted the Speaker of the House. Waiting a moment till the noise ceased, the orator, with a calm and steady voice, added, "may profit by their example. If this be treason, make the most of it."

Henry's resolutions were passed, and were printed in almost every newspaper in the colonies. They made the people more determined than ever not to buy stamped paper.

Who was this young lawyer that stirred these dignified Virginia gentlemen in powdered hair, knee breeches, and silver buckles?

81. The Orator of the Revolution. Patrick Henry was born in Virginia (1736). His father was a well-educated Scotchman, who taught school and became a lawyer. His mother was of Welsh blood. Young Patrick went to school, but he liked to hunt and fish far better than to study. He was a puzzle to his parents.

By the time he was eighteen he had failed as a student, as a clerk, and as a storekeeper. He then married. The parents on both sides helped them to start farming with a few slaves. In two years Patrick Henry was forced to sell. Once more he tried keeping a country store. In three years the store closed its doors and Patrick Henry, aged twenty-three, was without an occupation.

He now turned to the study of law. Although not in love with school when a boy, he loved to read the Bible. He also had a strong liking for history, and, in his youth, read the histories of Greece, of Rome, of England, and of the colonies. By a few months of hard study of the law he passed the examination. He succeeded from the first, and in less than four years had been engaged in more than one thousand cases.

[Pg 161]

82. The Parsons' Case. In 1763 Patrick Henry set all Virginia to talking about him as a lawyer. This colony had paid its clergymen from the beginning. Each one received a certain number of pounds of tobacco for his salary. But the price was now high and now low. A dispute arose because of this and was taken into court. But no great lawyer would take the people's side. Patrick Henry did. The courthouse was filled with people, many clergymen among them. In the judge's chair sat Patrick's own father.

PEOPLE OF THE COURT CARRYING PATRICK HENRY ON THEIR SHOULDERS AROUND THE GREEN

Henry began his speech in an awkward way. The clergymen felt encouraged, while his friends and father felt uneasy. Soon he began to warm up. His words came more freely, and his gestures grew more graceful. The people began to listen, and then to lean forward spellbound by the charm of his eloquence and the power of his argument. The clergy grew angry and left the room. His father, forgetting that he was judge, cried for joy. When Henry finished, the people seized him and carried him on their shoulders from the court room and around the yard, shouting and cheering all the while.

Patrick Henry was now the people's hero. At the election the following year his friends chose him to go to[Pg 162] the House of Burgesses, and there, in 1765, he made his stirring speech against the Stamp Act.

ON THE WAY TO THE GREAT CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA

Many great Englishmen, such as William Pitt and Edmund Burke, opposed the Stamp Tax. Finally, King George and his Parliament repealed the unpopular act. The Americans were happy when they heard of its repeal.

ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND

83. New Taxes. As if the king and Parliament could learn nothing, they passed a Tea Tax the very next year, placing a tax on all the tea imported into the colonies. Then the Americans everywhere refused to buy the tea and pay the tax. When the tea ships came to America the people of New York and Philadelphia sent them back, and the "Sons of Liberty" at Annapolis burned a ship full of tea. The king's governor at Boston refused to permit the ships to carry the[Pg 163] tea back to England, but the people, one night, threw the tea into the sea. King George grew angry at such "tea parties," and had laws passed to punish Boston. More British soldiers were sent there to force the people to obey these detested laws.

THE STOVE IN THE HOUSE OF THE BURGESSES

This stove is now in the State Library of Virginia

The colonies, more excited than ever, decided to hold a great Congress in Philadelphia (1774). Virginia, like the others, sent her best men. There in Carpenter's Hall, a building still standing, Henry made friends of leading men of other colonies. There he met Samuel Adams, who was doing with his pen what Henry was doing with his tongue, and they became life-long friends.

One day, when speaking in favor of united action, Patrick Henry declared: "The distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American."

As Patrick Henry talked with men from other colonies and heard how the king's troops were acting at Boston, he was convinced that war must come. He went home and urged the people of Virginia to arm for the coming struggle. The king's governor refused to permit meetings in the old capitol at Williamsburg, so they were held in St. John's Church, Richmond, a church still standing.

[Pg 164]

DECLAIMING PATRICK HENRY'S FAMOUS SPEECH

As a favorite declamation this great speech still rouses the spirit of patriotism in America

Here Patrick Henry offered resolutions declaring that Virginia should arm herself for the coming war. It was a serious time, and these were serious resolutions. Should the thirteen colonies go to war with one of the greatest nations in the world? Would it not be wise to send more petitions to the king? Some of the ablest men in Virginia opposed Henry's resolutions.

THE FLAG OF THE VIRGINIA MINUTEMEN

84. Patrick Henry Defends his Resolutions. Patrick Henry listened to the speeches with smothered excitement. When he rose to defend his resolutions his face was pale and his voice was trembling. But soon his audience forgot what other men had said. They leaned forward and listened as if no other man had spoken. He stirred their deepest feelings when he declared: "We must fight! I repeat it, Sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and the God of Hosts is all that is left to us. They tell us, Sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week or the next year? Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of Nature hath placed in our[Pg 165] power. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery. Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable, and let it come! I repeat it, Sir: Let it come!—The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brothers are already in the field! Why stand we here idle! Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."

OLD POWDER HOUSE, WILLIAMSBURG

The removal of the powder from this house to a British man-of-war caused the first uprising of the Virginians

One who heard this speech says that when the orator spoke the words "chains and slavery," he stood like a slave with his body bent, his wrists crossed, as if bound by chains, and that his face looked like that of a hopeless slave. After a solemn pause he raised his eyes and chained hands toward heaven, and said, as if in prayer: "Forbid it, Almighty God!" He then slowly bent his body still nearer the floor, looking like a man oppressed, heart-broken, and helpless, and said: "I know not what course others may take." Then, rising grandly and proudly, with every muscle strained, as if he would break his imaginary chains, he exclaimed: "Give me liberty, or give me death!"

PATRICK HENRY

From the bronze figure of the Washington monument by Crawford at Richmond

The men who heard this great speech never forgot it. The people of[Pg 166] Virginia now pushed forward the work of arming her men. And when her own Washington went to take command of the army at Boston he found Virginia soldiers there wearing on their hunting shirts the words "Liberty or death!"

From this time on Patrick Henry was in the forefront of the struggle with England. Virginia sent him to Congress, then she made him an officer in the army, and finally not only made him the first governor after independence was declared, but elected him to that office three times in succession, and offered him the same office three times more.

After independence was won Patrick Henry opposed the adoption of our constitution, although Washington, Madison, and many of his friends were in favor of it. When, however, he saw that the new constitution was a good one, he gave his support to his friend, President Washington.

Patrick Henry finally retired to his plantation and refused all offers of office. Many old friends and many great strangers went to visit him in his old age as one of the great men of the American Revolution. In the year of his death (1799), when some danger threatened Virginia, Patrick Henry came forth at Washington's request, old and feeble as he was, and aroused the people once[Pg 167] more with his burning words. They elected him to the House of Burgesses by a great majority, but he did not live to take office.

SAMUEL ADAMS, THE FIREBRAND OF THE REVOLUTION

85. Samuel Adams. While Patrick Henry was stirring the feelings of the people by his fiery eloquence, Samuel Adams was stirring them by strong arguments in his writings, to oppose the acts of king and of Parliament.

SAMUEL ADAMS

From the original painting by John Singleton Copley, representing Adams in 1771, now hanging in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Samuel Adams was born in Massachusetts (1722). While he loved school and books he cared very little for spending his time in outdoor amusements. At eighteen Samuel was graduated from Harvard College. His parents hoped that he would be a minister, but he began to study law. His mother was so opposed to his becoming a lawyer that he gave up the study and turned to business. He set up in business for himself, but, like Patrick Henry, soon lost all. He next went into business with his father, but in that, too, he failed. Finally Samuel Adams turned to politics.

While a student in Harvard he had debated the question whether it was right to resist the king to save the country from ruin. He took an active part in debating clubs and very soon began to write for the newspapers, encouraging resistance.[Pg 168] He never hesitated to take what he thought the right side of any question.

Speaking before a meeting of Boston people, Samuel Adams boldly declared that if England could tax the business of the colonies, then, "why not tax our lands and everything we possess or make use of?" Such taxes, he said, would make the colonists slaves.

In a short time the people of Boston were reading in the papers the fiery resolutions and the still more fiery speech of Patrick Henry. Samuel Adams seized his pen and also began to pour hot shot into the Stamp Act.

The Boston people elected him to be their representative in the Massachusetts Assembly. More and more he took the lead in the movement against the Stamp Act. He went about the shops, into the stores, wherever he found people to listen to him.

He helped them form a society, called the Sons of Liberty, which destroyed the hated stamps as soon as they arrived. He talked with the merchants, and they signed a pledge not to buy any more goods from England until the Stamp Act was repealed. At this the British merchants felt the loss of trade and joined in the cry against the Stamp Act.

86. The Tea Tax. We have seen that Parliament, after the Stamp Act was repealed, passed the famous Tea Act. The Americans were angry again, and the Sons of Liberty declared that no tea should be landed. The merchants took the pledge again to buy no more English goods, and patriotic women began to make tea out of the leaves of other plants.

SAMUEL ADAMS WRITING THE FAMOUS CIRCULAR LETTER

Samuel Adams again sharpened his pen, and wrote the famous old "Circular Letter," which urged all the[Pg 169] colonies to unite and stand firm in opposing the tax on tea. This letter made King George very angry, but Samuel Adams only wrote the more.

Night after night as the people passed his window they saw by his lamp that he was busy with his pen, and said to one another: "Samuel Adams is hard at work writing against the Tories." People in England and America who took the king's side in these disputes were called Tories.

The king now sent two regiments of soldiers to Boston to force the people to pay the Tea Tax. There were frequent quarrels between the soldiers and the people. One evening in a street quarrel the soldiers killed three men and wounded eight others (1770). Immediately the fire bells rang and great crowds of angry people filled the streets. The next day they filled to overflowing Faneuil Hall, the "Cradle of Liberty." A still larger meeting in the Old South Church cried out that both regiments of soldiers must leave town.

Adams and other leaders were sent to the king's officers to tell them what the people had said. Before the governor and the general, backed by the king's authority and by two regiments, stood plain Samuel Adams, with only the voice of the people to help him.

[Pg 170]

The governor, unwilling to obey the demand of the people, said he would send one regiment away. But Samuel Adams stood firm, and said: "Both regiments or none!" The governor finally gave up, and Samuel Adams, the man of the people, was a greater leader than ever before.

The king now tried to trick the Americans into paying the tax by making tea cheaper in America than in England, but leaving on the tax. But the people everywhere declared that they did not object to the price, but to the tax.

87. The Boston Tea Party. When the ships carrying this cheaper tea arrived in Boston, Samuel Adams set a guard of armed men to keep the tea from being landed.

THE BOSTON MASSACRE

Town meeting followed town meeting. On December 16, 1773, the greatest one of all was held. Early that morning hundreds of country people started for Boston.[Pg 171] They found the shops and stores closed and people standing on the street corners talking earnestly.

THE BOSTON TEA PARTY ABOARD THE TEA SHIP IN THE HARBOR

At ten o'clock the people met in the Old South Church, and voted that the tea should never be landed. They also sent the owner of the ships to the governor for permission to take the tea ships out of the harbor.

In the afternoon still greater crowds pushed and jammed into the seats, aisles, and galleries of that famous church. Samuel Adams was chairman. He made a speech. Other leaders spoke. One stirred the audience by asking "how tea would mix with salt water." Evening came, and candles were lighted. The owner of the tea vessels returned and said the governor would not give him the permission.

Immediately Samuel Adams arose and said: "This meeting can do nothing to save the country!" In a moment the war whoop of the "Mohawks" sounded outside. The crowd rushed out and found the people following a band of men disguised as Indians down where the tea ships lay at anchor. The "Mohawks" went on board, brought up the boxes of tea, broke them open, and threw the tea into the sea.

[Pg 172]

That very night Samuel Adams sent fast riders to carry the news to the country towns. The next day, with letters to the leaders in other colonies in his saddlebags, Paul Revere, the great courier of the Revolution, started on his long ride to New York and Philadelphia. As he went from town to town and told the story of the Tea Party the people cheered him, spread dinners for him, built bonfires, and fired cannon. He saw thousands of people gather in New York and Philadelphia, and heard them declare that they would stand by Boston.

Boston soon needed help, for the king and Parliament passed a law that no ship could enter or leave Boston Harbor, and another which forbade town meetings. Other hard laws were also passed, and an army was sent to Boston to force the people to obey them.

88. The First Continental Congress. We have seen a call go forth for a Congress at Philadelphia (1774). The Massachusetts legislature chose Samuel Adams and his cousin, John Adams, with two others to go to the Congress.

ASSEMBLY ROOM IN CARPENTER'S HALL

Here met the first Continental Congress of the colonies

But Samuel Adams was very poor and could not afford to dress in a style suited to meet the rich merchants of New York and Philadelphia and the great planters of the southern colonies. One evening while the family was at tea, in came the most fashionable tailor of the town to take[Pg 173] his measure. Next came a hatter, and then a shoemaker. In a few days a new trunk at his door told the story, for in it were a suit of clothes, two pairs of shoes, silver shoe buckles, gold knee buckles, a cocked hat, a gold-headed cane, and a fashionable red cloak. What proof of the people's love for their neighbor!

CARPENTER'S HALL, PHILADELPHIA

Although Samuel Adams was a very poor man, George III did not have offices enough to bribe him or gold enough to buy his pen. Several times the king's officers had tried to do both, but they did not succeed.

In a carriage drawn by four horses, the delegates to Congress were escorted by their friends right by the king's soldiers. The people of the large towns met them, escorted them, rang bells, fired cannon, feasted them at banquets, and talked of the Congress.

At New York Samuel Adams and his friends were kept nearly a week. Many persons in carriages and on horseback came out to welcome them to Philadelphia, the city of William Penn. People were anxious to see the man who had written the "Circular Letter," who had driven the king's regiments out of Boston, who had planned the Tea Party, and whom the king could not bribe. Here, in Carpenter's Hall, for the first time, he met George Washington, Patrick Henry, and Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, Christopher Gadsden, who was called the "Samuel Adams of South Carolina," and many other noble men who became his life-long friends.

[Pg 174]

PAUL REVERE ALARMING THE MINUTEMEN

The old Hancock House, where, guarded by the minutemen, Samuel Adams and John Hancock lay sleeping when Paul Revere rode by, still stands in Lexington

Soon Paul Revere came riding into Philadelphia with the news that the patriots of Boston were in danger of being attacked by the British. The Congress immediately declared that if the British made war on Boston, it was the duty of every colony to help her people fight. It now looked as if war might come at any moment.

When Congress was over, Samuel Adams hastened home to help form, in all the Massachusetts towns, companies of minutemen ready to fight at a moment's warning. The next spring the news got out that British soldiers were going to Concord to destroy the powder and provisions collected there by the minutemen, and also to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock and send them to England to be tried for treason. Paul Revere agreed to alarm the minutemen the moment the soldiers left Boston.

89. Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. Standing by his horse across the river from Boston, one April evening, waiting for signals, Paul Revere saw two lanterns flash their light from the tower of the Old North Church. He mounted and rode in hot haste toward Lexington,[Pg 175] arousing the sleeping villages as he cried out: "Up and arm, the regulars are coming!" Soon he heard the alarm gun of the minutemen and the excited ringing of the church bells. He knew the country was rising.

At Lexington minutemen who guarded the house where Samuel Adams and John Hancock were sleeping ordered Revere not to make so much noise. "You will soon have noise enough," he shouted. "The regulars are coming!" And he rode on toward Concord.

90. The Battle at Lexington and at Concord Bridge. As the British soldiers reached Lexington at sunrise, April 19, 1775, the captain of the minutemen gave the command: "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have war, let it begin here!" A bold speech for a captain of only about sixty men when facing as brave soldiers as Europe had ever seen! The minutemen stood their ground till seven were killed and nine wounded—nearly one third of their number. Then they retreated.

The British pushed on to Concord. But the minutemen, now coming from every direction, made a stand at Concord Bridge. Their musket fire was so deadly that the British started back, running at times to escape with their lives. At Lexington they fell upon the ground, tired out with the chase the minutemen gave them, and were met by fresh troops from Boston.

Soon the British soldiers were forced to run again, for minutemen by hundreds were gathering, and they seldom missed their aim. From behind rocks, trees, fences, and houses they cut down the tired redcoats. Nearly three hundred British soldiers were killed or wounded before Boston was reached that night.

[Pg 176]

91. The Battle of Bunker Hill. Day and night for weeks minutemen from other New England colonies, and even from as far south as Virginia, marched in hot haste to Boston. The British general soon found his army in Boston entirely cut off from the mainland. He resolved to fortify Bunker Hill, but what was his surprise to wake one morning (June 17) and find the Americans under Colonel Prescott already building breastworks on the hill.

THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

That afternoon three thousand picked troops, in solid columns and with bayonets gleaming, marched up the hill to storm that breastwork. "Don't fire till you can see the whites of their eyes!" said the commander of the minutemen. On came the lines of red, with banners flying and drums beating. From the breastworks there ran a flame of fire which mowed the redcoats down like[Pg 177] grass. They reeled, broke, and ran. They rested. Again they charged; again they broke and ran. They were brave men, and, although hundreds of their companions had fallen, a third time the British charged, and won, for the Americans had used up their powder, and they had no bayonets. More than one thousand British soldiers fell that day. The Americans did not lose half that number. But among the killed was brave General Joseph Warren.

92. The Second Continental Congress. Just as the British were marching into Lexington on that famous April morning, Samuel Adams, with John Hancock, was leaving for Philadelphia, where Congress was to meet again. As he heard the guns of the minutemen answer the guns of the regulars, Adams said to Hancock: "What a glorious morning is this!"

The members from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York were escorted across the Hudson to Newark, New Jersey, and entertained at a great dinner, with speeches. Near Philadelphia a large procession of armed men and carriages met and escorted them into the city, where bells told of their coming.

When this Congress met, Samuel Adams seconded the motion of his cousin, John Adams, that George Washington, of Virginia, be made the general of all the American troops. He saw his own neighbor, John Hancock, made president of the Congress.

93. The Declaration of Independence. For more than a year Samuel Adams worked hard to get the Congress to make a Declaration of Independence. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, introduced a motion into the Congress for independence. The Declaration[Pg 178] was made, July 4, 1776, and Samuel Adams, as a great leader of the Revolution, had done his work.

AN OLD QUILL PEN

But, with other noble men, he still labored with all his powers, in Congress and at home, to help America win her independence.

After independence had been won, Samuel Adams still served his state, and was elected governor of Massachusetts only a few years before his death, which occurred in 1803, at the age of eighty-one.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

THE MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE WITH GUN AND SWORD

NATHAN HALE

94. Nathan Hale, the Martyred Patriot. Nathan Hale was born in Connecticut in 1755. He was brought up by his Puritan parents in the fear of God and in obedience to duty. At the age of sixteen Nathan left his native farm to enter Yale University. Here he soon became well liked for his gentle nature, lively spirit, and studious habits. In spite of his youth he was a leader in the affairs of his class and in all athletic sports. He graduated from college with honor and then taught school for almost two years. These were quiet days for the active young man.

[Pg 180]

At this time the people were talking a great deal about their troubles with Great Britain. In secret, bands of young men were even forming companies of militia. Suddenly the news of the fight at Lexington came to the place where Nathan Hale was teaching. The citizens gathered in meeting and he made a speech, in which he said: "Let us march immediately and never lay down our arms until we obtain our independence." The next day he and many others enrolled to fight for liberty.

NATHAN HALE

From the statue by William Ordway Partridge

Washington was in command of the Continental army at Boston and soon sent for Hale's company. None worked harder than he at drills, or did more to keep the men cheerful in hardships. On New Year's day, 1776, Congress made him captain for his bravery and faithfulness.

In the following spring Washington moved his army to New York. One night Nathan Hale and a small band of men slipped out into the harbor where a British sloop lay. They boarded the ship gently, locked the sailors in before they knew what had happened, then they sailed their prize past a British man-of-war and over to the American side. It was a brave feat, well carried out.

[Pg 181]

Soon after, the American troops were badly defeated in the battle of Long Island. The army was half starved and losing hope. The British general, Howe, was preparing to attack again. If Howe should win, the American cause would be lost. Washington saw that it was necessary to find out the British plans, or he would be caught and his army destroyed. A brave man was needed to go into the British camp to spy out their plans. No one was willing to go. Hale had been sick, but when he heard of his country's need he offered himself. Friends pleaded with him in vain.

The young officer took off his uniform and put on the clothes of a schoolmaster. Under cover of night he was rowed to a place near the British camp. This was the last his friends saw of him. He spent several days with the British troops and got the needed information. On his return he passed safely through the whole British army. He went to the spot where the boat was to come for him. There he waited until the boat came into view and then walked down to the water's edge to meet it. A dozen muskets were leveled at him; instead of fellow-soldiers he found himself in the hands of the British!

Hale was sent to New York immediately and placed before General Howe, to whom he said frankly that he was a spy. The British general wrote out his death warrant, "to be hanged to-morrow morning at sunrise." Not even the death of a soldier was to be his. His brutal guard refused to let him send a last letter to his people. Alone he spent the night, without the comfort of friend or minister. At daybreak he was dragged forth to execution. A crowd of strange people had gathered to see him die. It is said that the officer asked[Pg 182] him if there was anything he wished to say. Brave to the last, Nathan Hale answered: "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." Thus, at the age of twenty-two, died Nathan Hale, who held his country dearer than his own life.

GENERALS GREENE, MORGAN, AND MARION, THE MEN WHO HELPED WIN THE SOUTH FROM THE BRITISH

95. The War in the South. Early in the Revolutionary War British vessels made an attack on Charleston, South Carolina (1776). But Colonel Moultrie, from his rude fort of palmetto logs, gave them such a welcome that they were glad to get away, and for two years the British gave the southern colonies little trouble.

NATHANAEL GREENE

From a painting by Charles Wilson Peale, once owned by Mrs. William Brenton Greene, Jr., Princeton, New Jersey, and now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia

But in 1778 another British army captured Savannah, Georgia. In 1780 the city of Charleston, South Carolina, with General Lincoln's entire army, surrendered to Cornwallis. Congress hastened General Gates to the South to check the British, but Cornwallis surprised Gates and cut his army to pieces near Camden.

GREENE'S GUN

Now in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Association

96. Nathanael Greene, the Quaker General. Washington now chose Nathanael Greene, the "Quaker general," to go south, take command of the American army,[Pg 183] and to watch Cornwallis, who had just defeated Gates. Greene was born in Roger Williams' old colony, and was ten years younger than Washington. His father was a farmer, a miner, and a blacksmith on week days, and a Quaker preacher on Sundays.

As a boy Nathanael had plenty of hard work to do, and at thirteen could "only read, write, and cipher." But he was hungry for more knowledge, and began to study Latin, mathematics, philosophy, and history. Besides, he made iron toys, and sold them to buy books. His family got into a lawsuit, and Nathanael took up the study of law. He was called the "learned blacksmith."

GREENE CONCEALING THE MUSKET IN HIS WAGON

When Greene saw that King George was likely to force the Americans to fight, he joined the militia and went to Boston to buy a musket, a very unusual thing for a man in Quaker dress to do. He hid the gun in his wagon. There he watched General Gage drilling British soldiers. He persuaded one of them to go with him to drill his company of minutemen.

When the stirring news from Lexington reached him, Greene was[Pg 184] among the first to start for Boston, and there Washington found him when he arrived to take command of the army.

Greene was made one of Washington's generals, and followed his great commander till Washington sent him to the South to win back that part of the country from Cornwallis.

SCENE OF THE CAMPAIGNS IN THE SOUTH

He found only a small army in North Carolina, but he knew the southern men would fight if they had a chance, for the backwoodsmen had just killed or captured one thousand British soldiers at Kings Mountain.

Besides, he had some of the bravest and ablest leaders in America to help him, among them Daniel Morgan, Francis Marion, William Washington (a cousin of General Washington), Henry Lee (called "Light Horse Harry"), and Thomas Sumter.

MORGAN'S ESCAPE FROM THE INDIANS

Greene divided his army into two parts. He took one thousand men and marched into northeastern South Carolina, where Marion and Lee, with[Pg 185] small bands of cavalry, stole upon the British outposts. In broad daylight they charged pellmell into Georgetown, captured the officer in command there, and got safely away before the British were over their fright.

Greene sent General Morgan and Colonel William Washington with nine hundred men into northwestern South Carolina to threaten some British posts, and to encourage the patriots in the mountains. Very shortly after this, Washington and his cavalry swooped down on a party of British soldiers and captured two hundred fifty of them.

Cornwallis was now thoroughly roused, and resolved to put an end to such events. He therefore ordered his favorite cavalry officer, Colonel Tarleton, to take eleven hundred picked soldiers and capture Morgan and his men.

97. General Morgan. But Morgan was not the kind of man to be caught napping. When a young man, he had fought the French and Indians on the Virginia frontier.

He was at Braddock's defeat. He had once knocked a British officer down for striking him. In an Indian fight he had been shot through the neck and thought himself dying, but, to escape being scalped, locked his arms tightly around his horse's neck, while the horse ran wildly through the woods.

[Pg 186]

DANIEL MORGAN

From a miniature painted by John Trumbull now in the Art Gallery of Yale University

At the head of a company of ninety-six Virginia backwoodsmen, Morgan had marched six hundred miles in twenty-one days, and joined Washington at Boston.

Later, Washington sent him to join in the capture of Burgoyne, at Saratoga. His men did such splendid fighting that Burgoyne said to Morgan: "Sir, you command the finest regiment in the world!" Fighting in the woods of America, such a man was likely to be a match for any British officer.

When Morgan heard of Tarleton's approach he retreated to a good place for fighting, called the Cowpens. On the top of a long, rising slope he placed the Continental troops—men trained to fight. In the rear he hid Colonel Washington and his cavalrymen.

Some distance in front of the Continentals he placed the militia with orders not to retreat till they had fired twice. In front of the militia Morgan hid a company of deadly sharpshooters in the woods on the right and another company in the woods on the left.

As soon as Tarleton's men came in sight they charged pellmell, thinking victory an easy matter. The militia and sharpshooters poured in their fire not twice, but several times, and retreated behind the Continentals, who now poured deadly volleys into the ranks of the on-coming British, and then made at them with their bayonets.

[Pg 187]

Just at this moment, Colonel Washington's cavalry dashed out and struck the right flank of the redcoats. In another moment the militia, which had reformed and reloaded, rushed out and struck their left flank. Most of Tarleton's men threw down their guns and surrendered on the spot. Only two hundred seventy redcoats got away. Tarleton barely escaped after being wounded in a hand-to-hand sword fight with Colonel Washington.

Tarleton was not permitted to forget his defeat. In conversation one day he remarked that he had never seen Colonel Washington. A patriotic lady present replied: "If you had only looked behind you at the battle of Cowpens, you would have had that pleasure."

THE BATTLE OF THE COWPENS

Where General Morgan, in one of the most brilliant battles of the war, defeated the brave but overconfident General Tarleton, destroying the famous legion Tarleton boasted could not be defeated

THE LAST SALUTE TO MORGAN

On another occasion it is told that Tarleton said to a lady, in a sneering way, that he understood Colonel Washington was so ignorant he could not even write his[Pg 188] own name. This lady looked at Tarleton's wounded hand, and said: "You certainly carry proof that he can at least 'make his mark.'"

The defeat of Tarleton at the Cowpens roused Cornwallis. He destroyed all his heavy baggage, and started in hot haste after Morgan. But Morgan knew a thing or two, and marched for the fords of the Catawba River as soon as the battle was over.

There Greene joined him, and away the armies went for the Yadkin River. Greene had brought along boats on light wheels, and had no trouble in crossing, but Cornwallis had to march up the river until his army could wade across. Greene was already on his way to the Dan, which he crossed into southern Virginia.

General Morgan, now broken in health by long years of hard fighting, retired to his home, "Soldiers' Rest," in the Shenandoah Valley. After the war was over his neighbors elected him to Congress, where he gave hearty support to President Washington.

When Daniel Morgan died he was followed to the grave by the largest procession that the valley had yet seen. The people, who had come from near and far, witnessed a touching sight. They saw seven gray-haired veterans, with old rifles in their hands, stand beside the grave of the hero, and fire a military salute. They[Pg 189] were the last of that hardy band of ninety-six which had marched with Morgan to Boston to join Washington, nearly thirty years before. This was their last military farewell!

98. The Battle of Guilford Court House. General Greene won a great victory by retreating. He and his army were still among friends, and his army was growing. Cornwallis was hundreds of miles from his supplies and from reënforcements. After a few weeks, Greene crossed back into North Carolina and fiercely attacked Cornwallis at Guilford Court House, and killed or wounded one fourth of his army.

Cornwallis claimed the victory, but instead of attacking Greene he marched his army rapidly to Wilmington, on the seacoast, and from there marched into Virginia, where Washington and Lafayette caught him in a trap at Yorktown.

Greene turned back to South Carolina, where the British still held Charleston and a few other towns. The British lost so many men at Hobkirks Hill and at Eutaw Springs, their last important battles in the South, that they were compelled to retreat to Charleston, where they were when the news from Yorktown put an end to serious fighting.

General Greene's work as a soldier was done. Besides the medal presented to him by Congress for the battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, as a token of affection, gave him a large sum of money, and the state of Georgia a beautiful plantation on the Savannah River, where he died in 1786. Greene's fame as a soldier of the Revolution stands next to that of Washington.

99. Francis Marion. Of all the brave men who[Pg 190] helped Greene win back the South, none was braver than General Francis Marion, whom the British named the "Swamp Fox." Marion was born in the same year as Washington. He was of French parentage. He was so very small in size that people wondered how he could be so great a soldier.

Marion's "Brigade," as his company was called, was made up of only a handful of men, usually less than one hundred. But they owned and rode the swiftest horses, carried their own guns, and wore their own swords, hammered out of old saws by country blacksmiths.

FRANCIS MARION

After the portrait in the painting by T. Stothard, R.A.

Marion and his men seldom were two successive nights in the same place. The night was their time for work. At sundown they swung into their saddles, and were soon riding for the enemy's camp. When near, they quietly surrounded the camp, took aim by the light of the fires, fired, and then rushed upon the frightened British or Tories, and cut them down with their terrible broadswords.

Before daybreak, Marion and his men were hiding safely in some distant swamp or other safe place. If the British chased him too closely his men scattered in different directions, but always made their way to the common hiding place. In a few days they were ready to strike again.

ONE OF MARION'S MEN

Just after Cornwallis defeated Gates, near Camden,[Pg 191] Marion pounced upon a guard of British soldiers that was taking one hundred fifty prisoners to Charleston, captured them all, and set the prisoners free.

At last Cornwallis ordered Colonel Tarleton to get "Mr. Marion," as he called him. But before Tarleton could act Marion had fallen on a large party of Tories going to join Cornwallis, and killed, captured, or scattered the entire party. Tarleton chased Marion for twenty-five miles, only to find a large swamp through which he could see neither road nor path. He gave up the chase in disgust, declaring he would pursue the "Swamp Fox" no farther.

When Greene returned to the last campaign in South Carolina he found no better, bolder, or more vigilant helpers than Marion and his "Brigade." Greene gave Marion high praise, and Congress gave him a vote of thanks.

Marion was the true soldier of liberty. He cared nothing for display, only for the success of the patriot cause. Marion thought of his men before himself. He was watchful, patient, and silent. He always struck his foes where and when they did not look for him. If they were too strong for him he vanished like smoke in a brisk breeze.

Marion was as true and gentle as he was bold and brave. He was never cruel to prisoners, and was greatly opposed[Pg 192] to punishing the Tories after the war was over. Marion's neighbors often elected him to high office and in many other ways showed that they admired him, even if some did not agree with him.

"MARION AND HIS MEN" SURPRISE THE BRITISH

Dashing out of the swamp, Marion fell upon the guard of a band of patriot prisoners, killed or captured the British, then set the prisoners to guarding the redcoats

During the war a British officer was invited to take dinner with Marion. What was his surprise to see only sweet potatoes, baked in the ashes, set before him. After this feast the officer resigned, saying it was useless trying to defeat such soldiers.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

[Pg 194]

THE MEN WHO HELPED WIN INDEPENDENCE BY FIGHTING ENGLAND ON THE SEA

JOHN PAUL JONES, A SCOTCHMAN, WHO WON THE GREAT VICTORY IN THE FRENCH SHIP, "BON HOMME RICHARD"

100. John Paul. In 1747, in far-away Scotland, on the arm of the sea called Solway Firth, a great sailor was born. John Paul played along the seashore, saw tall ships, and heard wonderful stories of a new land called America, whose ships filled with tobacco came into the firth.

John Paul did not get much schooling, and at the age of thirteen he went as a sailor lad on the Friendship to America. The ship sailed into Chesapeake Bay and up the Rappahannock River to the town of Fredericksburg, where he found his brother William living on a plantation. In the very same town where George Washington had just been to school, John Paul also went to school. He studied hard to make up for lost time, and left a great name among the boys.

He afterward returned to Scotland, and at the age of nineteen sailed as an officer on a slave-trading ship to Africa, and carried a load of negroes away from their native land. Many people did not then think it wrong to do this, but John Paul hated the cruel business, and left the slave ship as soon as he reached Jamaica.

On his way back to Scotland the officers of the ship died, and John Paul, although but twenty years old, had to take charge. The owners of the vessel were so pleased with the way he handled it that they made him captain, and he went on many voyages to different countries.

JOHN PAUL JONES

From a painting by Charles Wilson Peale in Independence Hall, Philadelphia

After a time John Paul went to Virginia to take care[Pg 195] of his dead brother's plantation. While he was living in Virginia he watched the quarrel between England and her colonies break out in open war.

101. John Paul Jones Enters the American Navy. He hastened to Philadelphia and offered his services to Congress. He knew England would send thousands of soldiers to America; and that she would send her war ships along our seacoasts and up and down our bays and rivers, to capture and burn our towns. He also knew that the Congress did not own a single war ship when the war began.

Congress ordered war ships to be built. While these were being made, Congress ordered trading vessels to be fitted with cannon and sent out to capture British ships.

When John Paul went to Philadelphia he gave his name as Paul Jones, probably in honor of Willie Jones, a friend who lived in North Carolina. Some have thought that he did not want the British to know him, if they should capture him in a sea fight.

THE FIRST AMERICAN ENSIGN

This, the first flag to float above an American man-of-war, was raised by John Paul Jones

Although Paul Jones really knew more about war ships than most of the men in Philadelphia, Congress gave him a very low office. But that made no difference to him, for he really wanted to get into a sea fight. In 1775 he[Pg 196] was made a lieutenant, and joined an expedition to capture cannon and powder from the British in the West Indies. He did so well that Congress made him captain and gave him a ship. He then went on a cruise to the West Indies, where in six weeks he captured sixteen prizes and destroyed a number of small vessels.

Congress afterward gave him command of the ship Ranger, and sent him to carry letters to Benjamin Franklin, who was in France trying to get the king to take sides with the Americans.

Franklin planned for Jones to take the Ranger to the coast of England, and show that American as well as English ships could burn, destroy, and fight. He captured two vessels, made straight for his old town of Whitehaven, "spiked" the cannon in the fort, set some ships on fire, and escaped without harm.

Near by this place, his sailors took all the silver from the home of a rich lady. This robbery troubled him so much that, afterward, at great expense to himself, he returned the silver to its owner.

"Look out for Paul Jones, the pirate!" the people said; and the Drake, carrying two more cannon than the Ranger, was sent to capture her. Five boatloads of people went to see the pirate captured. The fight lasted more than an hour. When the Drake surrendered, her captain and forty-two men had been killed.[Pg 197] The Ranger had lost only two men. After this fight the English towns were still more afraid of Paul Jones.

MARINE CANDLESTICK

From man-of-war "Constitution"

There was great joy in France when Paul Jones sailed into port. The king, who was now making war on England, promised him a larger fleet of war vessels. So, in 1779, he found himself captain of a large ship armed with fifty cannon. He called the ship the Bon Homme Richard in honor of Franklin's Almanac, the "Poor Richard." Three smaller vessels joined him, and he again set sail for the English coast. The news of his coming caused great alarm.

102. A Great Sea Fight and a Great Victory. As Paul Jones sailed along the British coasts he captured many trading ships and frightened the people. At last he came upon two British war ships. Just at dark the Richard attacked a larger English ship, the Serapis. At the first fire two of Jones' cannon burst, tearing up the deck and killing a dozen of his own men.

NAVAL PITCHER

This was made in commemoration of the American Navy, 1795

The fight went on for an hour, when the Serapis came near, and Jones ran the Richard into her. "Have you struck your colors?" called out the English captain. "I have not yet begun to fight!" replied Captain Jones. When the ships came together again Paul Jones himself seized a great rope and tied them together. Now the fighting was terrific. The cannon tore huge holes in the sides of the ships.

THE CAPTURE OF THE SERAPIS

Because of this victory three nations, France, Russia, and Denmark, bestowed special honors upon John Paul Jones as "the valiant assertor of the freedom of the sea"

A great explosion on the Serapis[Pg 198] killed twenty of her men. Both ships were on fire, and the Richard began to fill with water. The men on each ship had to fight fire. It was ten o'clock at night.

The British prisoners on the Richard had to help pump out water to keep the ship from sinking.

Only a few cannon on each ship could be fired. The decks of both ships were covered with dead and wounded, but neither captain would give up. Finally Paul Jones, with his own hands, pointed two cannon at the great mast of the Serapis. Just as it was about to fall, the English captain surrendered.

All night Jones and his men were kept busy fighting fire and pumping water, while the wounded were removed to the Serapis. The Good Man Richard sank the next day at ten o'clock. Paul Jones sailed to France with his two English ships, where he was praised and rewarded by the King of France. He was a great hero in the eyes of the French people, and in the eyes of the Americans, too.

After the war Paul Jones was an officer in the Russian navy. He died in France in 1792. His grave was forgotten for many years, but was discovered in 1905, and his bones were brought to America with great honor, and buried at Annapolis, Maryland.

[Pg 199]

JOHN BARRY, WHO WON MORE SEA FIGHTS IN THE REVOLUTION THAN ANY OTHER CAPTAIN

103. John Barry. Although born on a farm in Ireland (1745), John Barry wanted to be a sailor lad. While still young he was put to service on board a merchant ship. Here young Barry learned more than being a mere sailor. Between voyages he studied hard, and soon gained a useful education. At the age of fifteen he came to Philadelphia, and was so pleased with the country and the people that he resolved to make America his home.

He rose rapidly as a sailor and, when the news of the first bloodshed between England and her colonies came, he offered his services to Congress.

JOHN BARRY

From the portrait painted by Colin Campbell Cooper after the Stuart painting, now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia

In 1776 Congress made him captain of the ship Lexington, the first Continental vessel to sail from William Penn's old city. Barry immediately put to sea, and met and captured the Edward after a fierce fight. Thus the Lexington was the first ship to bear the American flag to victory.

Congress, pleased with the result, put him in charge of a larger ship, called the Effingham. The British, however, bottled up the Effingham in the Delaware.

But Barry was not idle. Arming four boatloads of men, with muffled oars he rowed down the Delaware at night.

[Pg 200]

Just as the sun was rising Barry saw a British vessel of ten guns. With this ship were four transports loaded with forage for the British army. Barry's boats made for the British ship. His men climbed on board with guns and swords in hand. The British soldiers threw down their arms and ran below. Barry fastened down the hatchways, and then turned his attention to the four transports, which quickly surrendered. Barry then took his five prizes across the river to an American fort.

BARRY'S BOATS ATTACKING THE BRITISH

In 1778 Congress promoted John Barry to the command of the Raleigh. He set sail for Boston, and on his way met a British ship carrying thirty-two guns. His sailors had taken an oath never to surrender. They fought bravely, and had every hope of winning, when a British 64-gun ship came in sight. To keep their oaths, they ran the Raleigh ashore, and set her on fire. The British put out the fire and saved the ship.

104. Barry Given Command of the "Alliance." In 1781 Barry was placed in command of the Alliance, a[Pg 201] ship whose name was given in honor of France's helping America in this war. In May the Alliance met two British ships, and a hard battle followed. Barry was badly wounded, but would not surrender. He fought on and forced the British ships to strike their colors.

In 1783 Barry, in the Alliance, sailed on his last voyage of the Revolution. His companion ship was the Luzerne. Three British ships discovered the Americans and quickly gave chase. The Luzerne was slow and threw her guns overboard.

Another vessel came into view; it was a French ship of fifty guns. With her aid Barry immediately decided to fight. He made a speech urging the men not to fire until ordered. A terrific battle with the foremost British ship followed. After fifty minutes' fighting, the British showed signals of distress. The remaining British ships now came up to rescue her, and the Alliance sailed away. The French ships took no part in the battle.

After the war was over, Congress provided for a navy, and General Knox, Washington's Secretary of War and of the Navy, named John Barry as first commodore. He served as the senior commander of the American navy until his death, in 1803. The people of Philadelphia have erected a monument to his memory (1907).

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

THE MEN WHO CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS, DEFEATED THE INDIANS AND BRITISH, AND MADE THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER THE FIRST WESTERN BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES

DANIEL BOONE, THE HUNTER AND PIONEER OF KENTUCKY

105. A Famous Frontier Hero. Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania in 1735. He was only three years younger than Washington. While yet a boy he loved the woods, and often spent days deep in the forest with no companion but his rifle and dog.

[Pg 203]

Boone's parents moved to North Carolina, and settled on the Yadkin River. There he married at the early age of twenty, and, pioneer-like, moved farther into the forest, where people were scarcer and game more plentiful. He built a log cabin for his bride, and made a "clearing" for raising corn and vegetables. But his trusty rifle furnished their table with all kinds of wild meat, such as bear, deer, squirrel, and turkey.

In 1760 Boone with a friend crossed the mountains to the Watauga in east Tennessee, on a hunting expedition, where he killed a bear, and cut the date of the event on a beech tree, which still stands on Boone's Creek in east Tennessee.

BOONE AND HIS BEAR TREE

One of Boone's hunter friends came back from a journey across the Cumberland Mountains and told of the beauty of the land beyond—its hills and valleys, its forests and canebrakes, full of game. Boone was anxious to go. Too many people were settling near him. But Kentucky was a dangerous country, even if beautiful. It was called "No-man's-land," because not even Indians lived there, and also the "dark and bloody ground," because the tribes from the[Pg 204] north and from the south met there in deadly conflict.

106. Boone Goes to the Land of Canebrakes and Blue Grass. While the people along the seacoast were disputing with the king, Boone and five companions, after climbing over mountains, fording rivers, and making their way through pathless forests, reached Kentucky, the land of salt springs, canebrakes, and blue grass.

They built a log camp and spent several months enjoying the wild life so dear to the hunter. But it was full of danger. Sometimes it was a battle with a father and a mother bear fighting for their little ones. The sneaking panther or the lurking wildcat threatened their lives. Now and then, hundreds of buffaloes came rushing through the canebrakes.

But danger from the Indians was present every moment. Day and night, sleeping in their camp or tramping through the woods, the hunters had to be ready for the death grapple. One day Boone and a companion named Stewart were off their guard. The Indians rushed upon them and captured them.

Boone and his companion understood the ways of the Indians, and won their confidence. One night, as the savages slept around the camp fire, Boone arose and quietly awoke Stewart. They stole silently from the camp and hastened by night and day back to their old camp, only to find it destroyed and their comrades gone.

One day Daniel Boone saw his brother coming through the woods. What a happy meeting five hundred miles from home! The brother brought good news from kindred and friends.

BOONE FIGHTING OVER THE BODY OF HIS SON

Stewart was shot by the Indians, but Boone and his brother remained all winter in Kentucky. Powder, lead,[Pg 205] and salt were growing scarce. What should be done? Boone's brother returned home for supplies, but Daniel remained without even a dog for a companion. He very seldom slept twice in the same place for fear of the Indians.

He wandered to the banks of the Ohio, and was charmed with all he saw. He then decided that some day he would make Kentucky his home.

Boone's brother returned in the spring, bringing supplies on two pack horses. After further explorations the two brothers returned to their home on the Yadkin and told their neighbors of the wonders of the new land.

In the fall of 1773 several families, with cattle and horses, bade farewell to their friends and started for Kentucky, a "second Paradise," as Boone called it. Before they reached the new land Indians fell upon them and killed six. Among the killed was Boone's eldest son. The party returned for a time to a settlement in Virginia.

Richard Henderson, a rich planter, claimed a great tract of land in Kentucky, and put Boone at the head of thirty brave men to cut and blaze a road from the Holston River over the mountains, through Cumberland Gap to the Kentucky River. The result was the famous "Wilderness Road," the first road across the[Pg 206] mountains, and over which hundreds of pack horses and thousands of settlers made their way.

FORT BOONESBORO IN WINTER

After the plan by Colonel Henderson in Collins' "Historical Collections of Kentucky"

When the road was finished to the banks of the Kentucky River, Daniel Boone built Fort Boonesboro. The fort was about two hundred sixty feet long, and one hundred fifty feet wide. At each corner of it stood a two-story blockhouse with loopholes, through which the settlers could shoot at Indians. Cabins with loopholes were built along the sides of the fort. Between the cabins a high fence was made by sinking log posts into the ground. Two heavy gates were built on opposite sides of the fort. Every night the horses and cattle were driven inside the fort.

107. Boone Takes His Family to Kentucky. When the fort was finished Boone brought his family, and several others, over the mountains to his "second Paradise." Other settlers came, and Boonesboro began to grow. Some of the bolder settlers built cabins outside of the fort, where they cut away and burned the trees to raise corn and vegetables.

To the Indian all this seemed to threaten his hunting ground. The red men were anxious, therefore, to kill and scalp these brave pioneers. One day Boone's daughter and two girl friends were out late in a boat[Pg 207] near the shore opposite the fort when the Indians suddenly seized the girls and hastened away with them. The people heard their screams for help, but too late to risk crossing the river.

What sorrow in the fort that night! Had the Indians scalped the girls, or were they hastening to cross the Ohio with them? The next day Boone with eight men seized their guns, found the Indian trail, and marched with all speed. What if the Indians should see the white men first! On the second day Boone's party came upon the Indians building a fire, and fired before they were seen. Two of the Indians fell, and the others ran away, leaving the girls behind, unharmed, but badly frightened.

BOONE AND HIS MEN TRAILING THE INDIANS

The War of the Revolution was already raging east of the mountains, and the Indians were taking the side of the British. In April, 1777, a small army of Indians crossed the Ohio and attacked Boonesboro. The little fort made a bold fight. The Indians retreated, but returned on the Fourth of July in large numbers, to destroy the fort and scalp the settlers. For two days and nights the battle went on. The fierce war cry of the[Pg 208] Indians filled the woods around the fort. The white men took deadly aim. The women aided by melting lead into bullets. The Indians again failed, and finally retreated.

While making salt at the "Blue Licks," Boone and twenty-seven of his men were captured by the Indians and marched all the way to Detroit, the headquarters of the British army in the Northwest. The British offered the Indians five hundred dollars for Boone, but the savages were too proud of their great prisoner, and marched him back to their towns in what is now Ohio.

Here he was adopted by an Indian chief. They plucked out all of Boone's hair except a "scalp lock," which they ornamented with feathers. They painted and dressed him like an Indian. His new parents were quite proud of their son. Sometimes he went hunting alone, but the Indians counted his bullets and measured his powder. But Boone was too shrewd for them. He cut the bullets in two, and used half charges of powder.

One day he saw four hundred fifty painted warriors getting ready to march against Boonesboro. He went hunting that day, but he did not come back. What excitement in that Indian town! Soon the woods were full of Indians hunting for Boone. In five days—with but one meal—he reached Boonesboro.

All hands fell to repairing the fort. The horses, cattle, and provisions were brought inside the fort, and water was brought from the river.

The Indians came, and Boone's Indian "father" called on him to surrender. Boone asked for two days to think about it, but he used this time in getting ready to fight. At the end of the two days Boone told him that his men would fight to the last.

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DANIEL BOONE

From a portrait made in 1819 when Boone was 85 years old, painted by Chester Harding, and now in possession of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, Massachusetts

The Indians then proposed that twelve from each side meet to make a treaty of peace. Boone took his strongest men. While parleying, each Indian suddenly seized a white man. The white men broke away, and ran for the fort. Boone's riflemen were ready, and poured a hot fire into the Indians.

The Indians climbed into trees to shoot down into the fort. They tried to set the fort on fire, but failed. They then tried to dig a tunnel under the fort, but failed in that also.

After nine days of failure, and after losing many warriors, the Indians gave up the fight and recrossed the Ohio. Although the settlers had to keep a daily watch for Indians, and had to fight them in other parts of Kentucky, they never attacked Boonesboro again.

During the Revolutionary War other brave men came as pioneers into Kentucky, and built forts, and defended their settlements against the Indians. As the settlements grew thicker, game grew scarcer. Boone resolved once more to move farther west. When asked why, he replied: "Too much crowded. I want more elbow room."

At the age of sixty, while Washington was still president, and after he had seen Kentucky become a state, Daniel Boone and his faithful wife made the long journey to the region beyond the Mississippi, into what is now[Pg 210] Missouri. There he lived and hunted. He saw this region pass from Spain to France, and from France to the United States (1803). He was still a hunter at eighty-two, and saw Missouri preparing to enter the Union as the twenty-fourth state.

He died in 1820 at the age of eighty-six. Years afterward, remembering the noble deeds of the great pioneer, Kentucky brought his body to the capital city and buried it with great honors.

108. Life in the Mississippi Valley. When Boone led his brave men into Kentucky, white men had been living for years in the Mississippi Valley, farther west. These were the French of Louisiana, as they called their country. Their chief settlement was St. Louis.

These people came at first to dig lead from the old Indian mines of southern Missouri and to trade for furs. They were a quiet people who knew little and cared less about the rest of the world. They did not work hard, and they loved good times. A traveler who visited them says they were "the happiest people on the globe."

JOHN SEVIER, "NOLICHUCKY JACK"

109. A Famous Indian Fighter. John Sevier was born in the Shenandoah Valley in 1745. His mother taught him to read, but he obtained most of his schooling in Washington's old school town, Fredericksburg. He quit school at sixteen. He built a storehouse on the Shenandoah and called it Newmarket. He lived there, selling goods and fighting Indians, until, at the early age of twenty-six, he was a wealthy man. He had already made such a name as an Indian fighter that the governor made him captain in the militia of which George Washington was then colonel.

[Pg 211]

Sevier was a fine-looking man. He was tall, slender, erect, graceful in action, fair skinned, blue eyed, and had pleasing manners, which had come to him from his French parents. He charmed everybody who met him, from backwoodsmen up to the king's governor at Williamsburg.

A most promising future opened before him in Virginia. But hearing of a band of pioneers on the Watauga, he rode over one day to see them and resolved to cast in his lot with them.

JOHN SEVIER

After an engraving from a miniature now in possession of one of his descendants at New York

During the Revolutionary War, British agents went among the Cherokee Indians and gave them guns and ammunition. Indian-like, they planned to take Fort Watauga by surprise. They came creeping up to the fort one morning just at daybreak. Forty deadly rifles suddenly blazed from portholes and drove them back to the woods. During the siege of three weeks, food grew scarce at the fort, and the men became tired of being cooped up so long. Some of them ventured out and were shot or had very narrow escapes from death.

KATE SHERRILL RACING FOR LIFE

The story is told that Sevier, during the siege, fell in love with the beautiful, tall, brown-haired Kate Sherrill. One day[Pg 212] she ventured out of the fort. It was a daring act, for four men had lost their lives in this way. The Indians tried to catch the girl, for they did not want to kill her. But she could run like a deer, and almost flew to the fort. Sevier was watching, and shot the Indian nearest her. The gate was closed, but she jumped with all her might, seized the top of the stockade, drew herself up, and sprang over into the arms of Sevier. Not long after she became his wife.

In 1778 Sevier heard that the Indians were coming again. He quickly called his men together, took boats, and paddled rapidly down the Tennessee to the Indian towns. He burned the towns, captured their store of hides, and marched home on foot. How surprised the Indians were when they returned!

110. Nolichucky Jack. The Watauga Settlement was growing in numbers, and Sevier went to live on the Nolichucky, a branch of the French Broad River. There he built a large log house, or rather two houses, and joined them by a covered porch. Outside were large verandas, while inside were great stone fireplaces.

Here Sevier gave hearty welcome to friend and stranger, no matter how poor, if they were honest. The settlers far and wide, and new settlers from over the mountains, partook of his cider, hominy, corn bread, and of wild[Pg 213] meat of many kinds. Sometimes he invited them with their families to a barbecue. Whether people came for advice or to call him to arms against the Indians, no one was turned away. "Nolichucky Jack," as his neighbors loved to call him, held a warm place in every settler's heart.

In 1780 Cornwallis, then victorious in South Carolina, sent Colonel Ferguson with one thousand British soldiers into western North Carolina to punish the backwoodsmen. Ferguson grew bold, and sent word across the mountains, threatening to punish Sevier and his brave riflemen. This was enough. Colonel Shelby of Kentucky and Sevier resolved to rouse the frontiersmen, cross the mountains, and teach Colonel Ferguson a lesson. Colonel Campbell with his men from the Holston, in Virginia, joined them. A thousand well-mounted backwoodsmen, with their long rifles, fringed hunting shirts, and coonskin caps, began the march from the Watauga across the mountains. Once across they were joined by several hundred Carolinians. Ferguson retreated to Kings Mountain, too steep on one side to be climbed. He felt safe behind his thousand gleaming bayonets.

The backwoodsmen picked nine hundred men to make the charge up the mountain in face of the bayonets, although among themselves there was not a bayonet. Three divisions, one for each side, marched up the mountain. Down the mountain side came the flashing bayonets. The backwoodsmen in the center retreated from tree to tree, firing steadily all the time. The British, now shot at from both sides as well as in front, turned and charged at one side. Then one division fired into their backs and the other on their side. What could bayonets do in the midst of trees?

[Pg 214]

The backwoodsmen kept to the trees and their rifles seldom missed their aim. The British retreated to the top of the mountain. Colonel Ferguson was killed and his entire army was killed or captured. This victory caused great rejoicing among the Americans and prepared the way for the work of Greene and Morgan.

Sevier and Campbell hastened back over the mountains, for the Indians were scalping and burning again. With seven hundred riflemen, they marched against the Indian towns and burned a thousand cabins and fifty thousand bushels of corn. This was a hard blow, but the Indians kept fighting several years longer.

Sevier, in all, fought thirty-five battles. He was the most famous Indian fighter of his time.

THE BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN

Where 900 frontiersmen attacked and totally destroyed 1,000 British soldiers entrenched and better armed

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"NOLICHUCKY JACK'S A-COMING"

Sevier welcomed by the congregation of the country church

When Tennessee became a state the people elected him governor. They reëlected him till he had held the office for twelve years. The people of Tennessee almost worshiped the bold pioneer. He had spent all his time and all his wealth in their service. And while he was governor, and living in Knoxville, the early capital, one or more of his old riflemen were always living at his home. Even the Indian chiefs often came to visit him. When the people of Tennessee were debating questions of great importance, they always asked: "What says the good old governor?"

One Sunday, when all the people of a backwoods settlement were at the country church, a bareheaded runner rushed in and shouted, "Nolichucky Jack's a-coming!" The people rushed out to see their governor. As he came near, he greeted one of his old riflemen, put his hand upon the head of the old soldier's son, spoke a kindly word, and rode on. The boy looked up at his father and said: "Why, father, 'Chucky Jack' is only a man!"

Sevier died in 1815, while acting as an officer in marking the boundary line between Georgia and the Indian lands. Only a few soldiers and Indians were present. There he lies, with only the name "John Sevier" cut on a simple[Pg 216] slab. But for generations the children of the pioneers went on repeating to their children the story of the courage and goodness of "Nolichucky Jack." His name is yet a household word among the people of eastern Tennessee. Their children are taught the story of his life. In the courthouse yard at Knoxville stands a monument erected to his memory.

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, THE HERO OF VINCENNES

111. A Successful Leader against the Indians and the British. George Rogers Clark was born in Virginia in 1752. From childhood Clark liked to roam the woods. He became a surveyor and an Indian fighter at the age of twenty-one. Like Washington, with chain and compass, and with ax and rifle, he made his way far into the wild and lonely forests of the upper Ohio.

INDIANS ATTACKING A FORT

Again and again, when a surprise was not possible, the Indians from safe hiding places picked off the men in a garrison

Clark was a scout for the governor of Virginia in the expedition which defeated the great Shawnee chief Cornstalk at the mouth of the Kanawha.

Two years later Clark made his way alone over the mountains and became a leader in Kentucky, along with Boone. The Kentucky hunters chose Clark to go to Virginia as their lawmaker.

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GEORGE ROGERS CLARK

From a painting on wood by John Wesley Jarvis, now in the State Library at Richmond, Virginia

He told Governor Patrick Henry that if Kentucky was not worth defending against the Indians, it was not worth having. At this the Virginian lawmakers made Kentucky into a Virginia county and gave Clark five hundred pounds of powder, which he carried down the Ohio River to Kentucky.

Clark lived at Harrodsburg where, for more than a year, he was kept busy helping the settlers fight off the Indians. This was the very time when Boonesboro and other settlements were so often surrounded by Indians who had been aroused by the British officers at Detroit. These officers paid a certain sum for each scalp of an American the Indians brought them.

After having seen brave men and women scalped by the Indians, Clark decided to strike a blow at the British across the Ohio. But where could he find money and men for an army? Kentucky did not have men enough. Clark thought of that noble patriot across the mountains, Patrick Henry. He mounted his horse and guided some settlers back to Virginia, but kept his secret. In Virginia he heard the good news that Burgoyne had surrendered.

Governor Henry was heart and soul for Clark's plan.[Pg 218] He made Clark a colonel, gave him six thousand dollars in paper money, and ordered him to raise an army to defend Kentucky.

112. The Campaign against Old Vincennes. In May, 1778, Clark's little army of about one hundred fifty backwoodsmen, with several families, took their flatboats and floated down the Monongahela to Fort Pitt. Clark did not dare tell the riflemen where they were going, for fear the British might get the word. Here they took on supplies and a few small cannon.

On they floated, in the middle of the river to keep away from the Indians who might be hiding in the deep, dark forests on the river banks. At the falls of the Ohio, on Corn Island, Clark landed his party. He built a blockhouse and cabins, and drilled the riflemen into soldiers while the settlers planted corn. This was the beginning of the city of Louisville.

One day Clark called his men together and told them the secret—he was really leading them against the British forts on the Illinois and the Wabash rivers.

A few of the men refused to go so far from home—a thousand miles—but the rest were willing to follow their leader.

In June, Clark's boats "shot the falls" and were soon at the mouth of the Tennessee, where a band of hunters joined the party. There Clark hid the boats and began the long march through tangled forests and over grand prairies. But they did not know what minute the Indians might attack, or some British scout discover them and carry the news to General Hamilton at Detroit.

They reached the old French town of Kaskaskia at dusk on July 4. They did not dare give a shout or fire[Pg 219] a gun, for the British officer had more men than Clark.

Clark sent part of his men silently to surround the town, while he led the others to the fort, where they heard the merry music of the violin and the voices of the dancers.

CLARK'S SURPRISE AT KASKASKIA

Clark himself slipped into the great hall, folded his arms, and looked in silence on the dimly lighted scene. An Indian lying on the floor saw Clark's face by the light of the torches. He sprang to his feet, and gave the terrible war whoop. Instantly the dancing ceased, the women screamed, and the men rushed toward Clark. But Clark simply said: "Go on with your dance, but remember that you dance under Virginia and not under Great Britain!" The British general surrendered, and the French inhabitants trembled, when they learned that the backwoodsmen had captured the town. They[Pg 220] sent their priest, Father Gibault, and other chief men to beg for their lives. Imagine their surprise and joy when Clark told them that not only were their lives safe, but that the new republic made war on no church, and protected all from insult.

He also told them that the King of France had made a treaty with the United States and was sending his great war ships and soldiers to help America. The town of Cahokia also surrendered.

Father Gibault went to Vincennes to tell the French settlers about the doings of Clark and to give them the news that France had taken sides with the Americans. The people rejoiced, and ran up the American flag. Clark sent Captain Helm to command the fort.

General Hamilton at Detroit was busy planning to attack Fort Pitt and to encourage the Ohio Indians to kill and scalp Kentuckians.

How astonished he was when he heard that the forts on the Illinois and the Wabash had fallen! He gathered a mixed army of British, Canadians, and Indians, crossed Lake Erie to the mouth of the Maumee, and "poled" and paddled up that river to the portage. Down the Wabash they floated, five hundred strong. Vincennes surrendered without a blow. Hamilton decided to stay there for the winter and march against Clark in the spring. This was a blunder. He did not yet know Clark and his backwoodsmen.

"I must take Hamilton or Hamilton will take me," said Clark, when he heard the news. He immediately set to work to build a rude sort of gunboat, which he fitted out with his cannon and about forty men. He sent the Willing, as it was called, down the Mississippi,[Pg 221] around into the Ohio, and up the Wabash to meet him at Vincennes.

All was excitement in the French towns. Forty or fifty French joined Clark's riflemen. Father Gibault gave them his blessing, and the march overland to Vincennes began.

CLARK'S MEN ON THEIR WAY THROUGH THE DROWNED LANDS OF THE WABASH VALLEY

Clark divided his men into parties. Each, in its turn, did the hunting, and at night invited the others to sit around great camp fires to feast on "bear ham, buffalo hump, elk saddle, and venison haunch." They ate, sang, danced, and told stories. No doubt they often talked of their loved ones far away in the cabins of Virginia and Kentucky.

On they pushed till they came to the "drowned lands of the Wabash," and there they saw miles and miles of muddy water. They made a rude boat to carry[Pg 222] them over the deepest parts. The horses had to swim.

THE BIG TROOPER CARRIED THE DRUMMER BOY

Soon they were near enough Vincennes to hear the "morning gun" at the fort, but they did not dare fire a gun themselves for fear of being discovered by parties of hunters. Food grew scarce, game was hard to find, and starvation threatened them.

Sometimes, after wading all day, they could hardly find a dry spot to camp for the night. Some grew too weak to wade and were carried in boats. The stronger sang songs to keep up the courage of the weak. When they finally reached the opposite shore of the Wabash many fell, worn out—some lying partly in the water.

Those who were well built great fires and warmed and fed the faint ones on hot deer broth. But these brave men soon forgot their hardships and again were full of fight.

Clark now decided to take a bold course. He sent a letter to the people of Vincennes telling them that he was about to attack the town. He advised all friends of America to remain quietly in their homes, and asked all friends of the British to go to the fort and join the "hair buyer," as the backwoodsmen called Hamilton.

At dark, Clark's men charged into the town and attacked the fort. The fight went on all night. As soon as it was daylight the backwoodsmen fired through[Pg 223] the portholes and drove the gunners from the cannon.

Clark's men begged to storm the fort. Only one American had been wounded, but several British soldiers had been killed and others wounded. In the afternoon Hamilton surrendered and once more the Stars and Stripes floated over "old Vincennes."

The Willing appeared in a few days. Her men were deeply disappointed because they were too late to take part in the fight.

EXPEDITIONS TO THE WEST AND THE SCENE OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S CAMPAIGN

Clark put men in the forts at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes, and made peace with the Indians round[Pg 224] about. But he was never able to march against Detroit, as once he had planned to do.

Virginia rewarded the brave men who had followed Clark by giving to each three hundred acres of land in southern Indiana. The land was surveyed and is known to-day as "Clark's Grant."

Clark and his men had performed one of the greatest deeds of the Revolutionary War. They made it possible for the United States to have the Mississippi River for her western boundary when England acknowledged our independence.

George Rogers Clark was never properly rewarded. He spent his last days in poverty at the falls of the Ohio, on Corn Island, and died in 1818. In 1895 a monument was erected in honor of his memory in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW REPUBLIC

ELI WHITNEY, WHO INVENTED THE COTTON GIN AND CHANGED THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH

113. What a Boy's Love of Tools Led to. Before the Revolution there lived in a Massachusetts village a boy named Eli Whitney. His father had a farm, on which there was also a tool shop. This was the most wonderful place in the world to young Eli. Whenever he had a moment to spare, he was sure to be working away with his father's lathe or cabinet tools. At the age of twelve he made a good violin. After that people with broken violins came to him to have them mended.

One day, when his father had gone to church, Eli got Mr. Whitney's fine watch and took it all apart. He then showed his wonderful mechanical ability by putting it together again, and it ran as smoothly as before. During the war he made quite a bit of money as a nail-smith. At college he helped pay his expenses by mending things and doing a carpenter's work.

[Pg 227]

If Eli Whitney were living to-day he would surely have been an engineer. But there were no engineers in those days, so he decided to teach. He found a position in far-off Georgia, and took passage on a ship to Savannah. On board ship he found the widow of the old war hero, General Nathanael Greene, whom he had met a short time before. She liked the young man for his friendly nature and his intelligence. He had a very pleasant voyage. But sad was his disappointment when he arrived at Savannah! The people who had asked him to come had engaged another tutor, and he was left without a position.

He was in a strange place, without money, and did not know what to do. Just then came an invitation to visit at Mulberry Grove, where Mrs. Greene lived. He went gladly and was treated very kindly. He made many new friends. The men liked the interest he took in their farms and their work. The children were his friends because he made for them wonderful toys of all sorts.

One day some visitors were talking with Mrs. Greene about cotton. This plant was little grown at that time. People knew that it had a fine soft fiber which could be made into excellent cloth. But the fiber had to be separated from the seed before it could be spun. In those days the seeds were taken out by hand, and even a skillful slave could clean only about a pound a day. Think of working a whole day for a handful of cotton! Because of this difficulty, cotton was very expensive, more so even than wool or linen. Only well-to-do people could wear cotton clothes.

ELI WHITNEY WORKING ON HIS COTTON GIN

114. The Cotton Gin Invented. One of the visitors said that a machine ought to be invented which would[Pg 228] clean the cotton. Mrs. Greene thought of Whitney. She had seen him make many wonderful things. She believed he could make such a machine, and asked him to try. He thought about it, and believed he could make iron fingers do the work that the fingers of the slaves had done.

Whitney got a basketful of cotton and fixed up a shop. Then he went to work. He had a good deal of trouble, but he kept on. One day he called in Mrs. Greene and her overseer and proudly showed them his little machine, made of rollers and wires and brushes. Into this he poured the cotton just as it came from the field. When he turned a crank the soft, clean cotton came tumbling out of one side and the seeds out of another. This was the cotton gin, which in a few years was to change the entire life of the South.

A few years before Whitney made the cotton gin a vessel came to Liverpool with cotton from the United States. The people in Liverpool were astonished. They did not know that cotton grew in America! As soon as Whitney began to sell his new machines, all the South became a great cotton field. In 1825, the year of Whitney's death, the South shipped abroad thirty-seven million dollars' worth of cotton, more than that of all other goods exported from this country!

Before this time many planters had thought that[Pg 229] slavery was unnecessary. But when Whitney's gin made cotton growing so profitable, they had to have many more laborers to raise this new crop. Thousands of black slaves were sold to the cotton-growing parts of the South. The planters then believed they could not grow cotton without slaves, and it took a terrible war to settle the great question of slave labor.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, WHO WROTE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, FOUNDED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, AND PURCHASED THE LOUISIANA TERRITORY

WHERE JEFFERSON WENT TO SCHOOL BEFORE HE WENT TO WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE

115. The Early Years of Jefferson. The author of the Declaration of Independence was born in 1743, near Charlottesville, Virginia. Like most other Virginia boys, Thomas Jefferson lived on a large plantation, and spent much time in hunting, fishing, and horseback riding. While yet a boy, and throughout his long life, Jefferson loved books and studied hard every subject that came before his mind.

When seventeen years old he rode away to Williamsburg to attend the College of William and Mary, the second oldest college in America.

[Pg 230]

THE OLD CAPITOL, WILLIAMSBURG

Here Jefferson heard Patrick Henry make his famous Caesar-Charle the First speech

Although Williamsburg was the capital of the largest and oldest of all the colonies, it had scarcely more than two hundred houses, and not more than a thousand people. But it was a wonderful town in Jefferson's eyes, although it had but one main street. The capitol stood at one end of the street and the college at the other. It was the first town Thomas Jefferson had ever seen.

At the opening of the House of Burgesses, Jefferson saw the best people in the Old Colony come pouring in. The planters came in fine coaches drawn by beautiful horses. The wives and daughters came to attend the governor's reception, and to enjoy meeting their old friends.

Jefferson became acquainted with the great men of his colony, and with many young men who were to be the future leaders in America. Here he met Patrick Henry, a student in a law office. Jefferson liked the fun-making Henry, and the two young men enjoyed many happy hours together, playing their violins.

After his graduation Jefferson remained in his old college town to study law in the office of one of Virginia's ablest lawyers. Henry often lodged in Jefferson's rooms when he came to attend the meetings of the Burgesses. When Henry made his stirring speech against the Stamp[Pg 231] Act, Jefferson stood in the doorway of the House and listened spellbound to his friend's fiery eloquence.

In a few years Jefferson himself was honored with a seat in the House of Burgesses. He immediately took a leading part in opposing the tax on tea. The king's governor became angry and sent the members of the House of Burgesses home. But before they went, the bolder ones met and signed a paper which pledged the people of Virginia to buy no more goods from England.

JEFFERSON AND HIS WIFE AT MONTICELLO

The next important event in Jefferson's life was his falling in love, and his marriage to a young widow. She was beautiful in looks, winning in her manner, and rich in lands and slaves. Jefferson took his young wife to a handsome mansion which he had built on his great plantation. He called the home Monticello. Here these two Virginians, like Washington and his wife at Mount Vernon, spent many happy days.

Jefferson, with his wife's estate added to his own, was a very wealthy man. Together they owned at this time nearly a hundred thousand acres of land and three hundred slaves.

THE RALEIGH TAVERN, WILLIAMSBURG

When barred from the House of the Burgesses the Committee of Correspondence met in this tavern

But stirring events took Jefferson away from the quiet[Pg 232] life at Monticello. After his marriage, he went to the meeting of the Burgesses, and there with other leaders formed a Committee of Correspondence. This committee wrote to the other colonies to get news of what the leaders were doing, and to tell them what the men in Virginia were planning to do. Each of the other colonies appointed committees of correspondence. They kept the news going back and forth as fast as rapid horsemen could carry it. These committees had a strong influence in uniting the colonies against England.

116. Writes the Declaration of Independence. In 1775 the Burgesses chose Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, and Benjamin Harrison as delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. In this Congress Richard Henry Lee made a motion declaring that the thirteen colonies were free and independent of Great Britain.

The Congress appointed Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York, to draw up a Declaration of Independence.

When these great men met to talk over the Declaration, the others urged Jefferson to do the writing, for he was able to put his thoughts on paper in plain, strong words. How important that the Declaration should be well[Pg 233] written, and should contain powerful reasons for breaking away from England and setting up an independent government! A large number of people in America were opposed to separating from England. Besides, good reasons must be given to those brave Englishmen who, like Pitt and Burke, had been our defenders in Parliament.

When Jefferson showed what he had written, the others liked it so well only a few words were changed. Even after several days' debate in Congress, only a few more words were changed. Then it was signed by the members of the Congress and sent out for all the world to see why America was driven to fight for independence.

SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

From the first historical painting of John Trumbull, now in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington

John Hancock, the president of the Congress, was the first to sign the Declaration, and he did so in large letters, saying that George III might read his name without[Pg 234] spectacles. He also said: "We must all hang together in this matter." "Yes," replied Franklin, "we must all hang together, or we shall hang separately."

Jefferson returned to Virginia, and later became governor, on the resignation of Patrick Henry.

After the war was over and England had taken her armies home, Congress sent Thomas Jefferson as minister to France (1785). The French people liked Jefferson very much, because, like Franklin, he was very democratic, and treated all men alike. The French people were just beginning to overthrow the power of their king, and plan a republic. Jefferson told them how happy the Americans were since they had broken away from George III.

JEFFERSON WELCOMED BACK TO MONTICELLO BY HIS NEGROES

After five years Jefferson returned home. When his negro slaves heard that he was coming back to Monticello they went several miles to greet him. When the carriage reached home they carried him on their shoulders into the house. The slaves were happy for Jefferson, like Washington, was a kind master, and hoped for the day to come when slavery would be no more.

Washington had just been elected the first President of the United States (1789), and was now looking for a good man to be his adviser on questions relating to foreign[Pg 235] nations. He chose Thomas Jefferson to do that work and gave him the office of Secretary of State.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

From a painting by Rembrandt Peale, now in the possession of the New York Historical Society, New York City

Congress disputed and debated over the best ways of paying the Revolutionary War debt, and also over the question as to whether America should take sides with France in the great war between that country and England. The people also disputed over these questions, and formed themselves into two parties. One, the Democratic-Republican, was led by Thomas Jefferson, and the other, the Federalist party, was led by Alexander Hamilton.

117. Jefferson President. In 1800 the people elected Jefferson president. He was very popular because he was a friend of the poor as well as of the rich people. He declared that the new national government should in every way be plain and simple, instead of showy like the governments of Europe.

Presidents Washington and Adams had had fine receptions, where people wore wigs, silver shoe buckles, and fine lace. When Jefferson became president he did away with all this show and style.

Jefferson also pleased the people by reducing the expenses of the government. He cut down the number[Pg 236] of government clerks, soldiers in the army, and sailors in the navy. He spent just as little money as possible in running the government.

One of Jefferson's most important acts while president was the purchase of Louisiana. Thanks to George Rogers Clark and his brave men, England had been forced to give the United States the Mississippi as our western boundary.

In 1800 Napoleon, the great French general, forced Spain to give France all the region then known as Louisiana, which extended from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain, a weak country, had already refused to permit American boats to use the mouth of the Mississippi. What if Napoleon should send his victorious army to Louisiana and close the Mississippi entirely? Jefferson saw the danger at once, and sent James Monroe to Paris to help our minister, Robert R. Livingston, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, buy New Orleans and a strip of land on the east side of the Mississippi River near its mouth.

Napoleon was about to enter on a terrible war with England, and needed money badly. He was only too glad to sell all of Louisiana for fifteen million dollars (1803). This was more than Livingston was told to buy, but he and Monroe accepted his offer.

If you will count the number of great states which have been carved out of the "Louisiana Purchase," and look at the great cities and the number of towns which have grown up within "old Louisiana," you will understand why great honor is given to the men who purchased this vast region.

[Pg 237]

In the very next year Jefferson sent out an expedition under the command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this vast country of Louisiana. With white men, Indians, and boats they made their way slowly up the Missouri, across the mountains, and down the Columbia River to the Pacific coast.

THE UNITED STATES IN 1803, AFTER THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE

The wonderful stories told by Lewis and Clark gave Americans their first real knowledge of parts of the Louisiana Purchase and of the Oregon region. In 1904, America, with the help of all the great nations of the world, celebrated at St. Louis the buying of this region by holding the Louisiana Purchase Exposition.

In 1804 Jefferson was elected president again by a greater majority than before. After serving a second term, he, like Washington, refused to be president for a third time. He retired to Monticello, where he spent his last days pleasantly and where hundreds of friends from[Pg 238] all parts of America and Europe came to consult him. The people called him the "Sage of Monticello."

Jefferson lived to see the first two great states, Louisiana and Missouri, carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. He died at Monticello, July 4, 1826. On the same day, at Quincy, Massachusetts, died his longtime friend, John Adams. These two patriots, one the writer the other the defender of the Declaration of Independence, died just half a century after it was signed.

LEWIS AND CLARK, AMERICAN EXPLORERS IN THE OREGON COUNTRY

118. Discovery of the Columbia River. The purchase of the Louisiana territory by Jefferson opened up a great new field for settlers. It was necessary to know something about the new territory. It was a vast unexplored country stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rockies. The Pacific shore had already been visited by explorers. Boston merchants had sent Captain Robert Gray to the Pacific coast to buy furs of the Indians. He did not try to find an overland route, but sailed around South America and up the coast to Vancouver Island, where he obtained a rich cargo of furs. He then made his way across the Pacific to China, and came back to Boston by way of the Cape of Good Hope—the first American to carry the Stars and Stripes around the world.

On a second voyage to the same region, in the good ship Columbia, Gray discovered the mouth of a great river (1792). Up this river he went for nearly thirty miles, probably the first white man to sail upon its waters. Captain Gray named the river the Columbia after his vessel. The Indians had called it the Oregon.

[Pg 239]

CAPTAIN MERIWETHER LEWIS

From the original painting by Charles Wilson Peale in Independence Hall, Philadelphia

119. The Lewis and Clark Expedition. The next important step in finding a route to the Oregon country was the great expedition undertaken while Thomas Jefferson was yet president.

Lewis and Clark were two young men chosen by Jefferson to explore the region known as the Louisiana Purchase and to make their way across the Rocky Mountains to the Oregon country and to the Pacific. They chose forty-two men to go with them—some as soldiers, others as servants, and still others as hunters. From the little French village of St. Louis they began their adventurous journey in boats in the spring of 1804.

Up the Missouri River they slowly made their way against the current of the muddy, rushing stream. At one time it was so swift that they could not force boats against it, and at another time the brushwood that came down the river broke their oars.

Near where the city of Council Bluffs now stands, Lewis and Clark held a great meeting with the Indians. They told the Indians that the people of the United States and not the people of France were now the owners of this great land. Together they smoked the "pipe of peace," and the Indians promised to be friendly.

On they went till the region near the Black Hills was reached. It was the fall of the year and the trees were[Pg 240] bright with color, and the wild ducks and geese in large numbers were seen going southward.

The company spent the winter on an island sixteen hundred miles from St. Louis. The men built rude homes and fortified them. The Indians were friendly and the explorers spent many evenings around the wigwam fires listening to stories of the country the Indians had to tell them.

In the spring they bade the Indians good-by, passed the mouth of the Yellowstone, and traveled on till the Rocky Mountains with their long rows of snow-covered peaks came into view.

On the thirteenth day of June they beheld wonderful pictures of the "Falls of the Missouri." The water tore through a vast gorge a dozen miles or more in length.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARK

From the original painting by Charles Wilson Peale in Independence Hall, Philadelphia

120. The Way over the Mountains. On they went until their boats could go no farther. They had reached rough and rugged hills and mountains. They climbed the heights as best they could. From now on the suffering was very great indeed.

One day Captain Lewis went ahead with three men to find Indian guides for the party. They climbed higher and higher until finally they came to a place where the Missouri River takes its rise. They went on and at last came to the western slope of the mountains, down which flowed a stream toward the Pacific Ocean.

[Pg 241]

STATUE OF SACAJAWEA

This Indian woman, as interpreter and guide, was a great aid to the exploring party

Finally Captain Lewis came upon a company of Indian women who could not get away. They all bowed their heads as if expecting to be killed. They led the white men to a band of Indians, who received them with all the signs of kindness they could show.

Now they all turned back to find Clark and his party. When they reached Clark the Indians smoked the "pipe of peace" and Lewis and Clark told the Indians why the United States had sent them out.

They were the first white men these Indians had ever seen. They looked the men over carefully and took a deep interest in their clothing, their food, and in their guns.

The mountains were now rough and barren and the streams ran through deep gorges. The explorers took an old Indian guide and crossed the Bitter Root Mountains into a valley of the same name. They followed an Indian trail over the mountains again and into the Clearwater. They suffered for want of food and on account of the cold. When they reached a tribe of the Nez Percé (Pierced Nose) Indians they ate so much they were all ill.

121. On Waters Flowing into the Pacific. In five log boats, which they had dug out of trees, they glided down the Clearwater to where it meets the Snake River. They camped near the spot where now stands the present town of Lewiston, Idaho. Then they embarked on the[Pg 242] Snake River and floated down to where it joins the mighty Columbia.

They were among the Indians again, who had plenty of dried fish, for here is the home of the salmon, a fish found in astonishing numbers. The men had never seen so many fish before.

The number of Indians increased as they went toward the Pacific. Finally the party of explorers passed through the Cascade Mountains and were once more on the smooth current of the Columbia. They soon beheld the blue waters of the Pacific.

During their five months' stay on the Pacific, Captain Clark made a map of the region they had gone through. They repaired their guns and made clothes of the skins of elk and of other game.

The Indians told them of a shorter route to the Falls of the Missouri, and Captain Lewis and nine men went by this route while Captain Clark with others retraced the old route. They saw nothing of each other for two months, when they all met again in August on the banks of the Missouri.

They reached St. Louis September 23, 1806. The people of the United States were glad to hear of the safe return of the exploring party, for they had long thought the men were dead.

Both President Jefferson and Congress put great value upon the useful information that the expedition gathered. Congress rewarded every one connected with the expedition. Each man was granted double pay for the time he spent and was given three hundred acres of land. To Captain Lewis was given fifteen hundred acres and to Captain Clark a thousand acres. Lewis was appointed first[Pg 243] governor of Louisiana Territory and Clark was made the governor of Missouri Territory.

122. Fur Traders and Missionaries Lead the Way. Soon after this expedition the fur traders pushed their way across the Rocky Mountains from St. Louis to the Pacific. They found the "gateway of the Rockies," called the South Pass, which opened the way to the Oregon country (1824).

LEWIS AND CLARK ON THEIR WAY DOWN SNAKE RIVER

After the fur traders came the missionary, Nathaniel Wyeth, a New Englander who led a party to the Columbia and established a post (1832). Five missionaries followed him and began to work among the Indians. Very soon Parker and Whitman went out to the Nez Percé Indians, who came over the mountains to meet them near the headwaters of the Green River. Parker returned with the Indians and visited Walla Walla, Vancouver, and[Pg 244] the Spokane and Colville regions. Whitman returned East, was married, and found a missionary, Spaulding, and his wife, and the party went out to the Oregon country to work among the Indians.

123. The Boundary Established. During this time fur traders from Canada and Great Britain were occupying the Oregon country as far as the Columbia River. The United States and Great Britain made a treaty by which they agreed to occupy the country together. This treaty lasted till settlers from the United States made it necessary to have a new treaty. In 1846 a new treaty was made and the present northern boundary was established.

OLIVER HAZARD PERRY, VICTOR IN THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE

124. A Young Man Who Captured a British Fleet. Perry was born in Rhode Island in 1785. He went to the best schools, and learned the science of navigation. At fourteen years of age he was a midshipman on his father's vessel, and before he was twenty-one he had served in a war against the Barbary pirates.

When young Perry returned to his home the British were seizing American ships, claiming the right to search them for British sailors. Perry was very bitter toward the British for these insults to his country, and when war was declared he was eager to fight. A fleet of vessels was being built on Lake Erie, and Perry was sent as commandant to take charge of their construction. He promptly set to work, and in a few weeks the ships were ready for battle.

OLIVER HAZARD PERRY

After an engraving by Edwin made in 1813 from the Waldo picture

He immediately set sail for Put-In-Bay, where the British fleet was stationed. There he arranged his ships[Pg 245] for battle and raised a banner containing the last words of Captain Lawrence, who had been killed earlier in the war while bravely fighting. "Don't give up the ship!" were the words the flag showed as it was unfurled to the breeze.

Driving his flagship, the Lawrence, right in among the enemy's ships, Perry made them turn all their cannon against it. The loss of life was dreadful, but Perry kept cool. When the last gun of the Lawrence could no longer be fired, he ordered a boat to be lowered and with some brave men rowed through a storm of shot and shell to the Niagara, another of Perry's large ships. Then he drove this ship into the midst of the fight. In fifteen minutes the two largest British ships struck their colors. The remainder of the fleet then surrendered.

This victory broke the British power in the West. Congress voted resolutions in praise of Perry and ordered a gold medal struck in his honor. Wherever he went the people paid him great attention, and at his home he was given a royal welcome.

ANDREW JACKSON, THE VICTOR OF NEW ORLEANS

125. How a Poor Boy Began to Rise. Andrew Jackson was born of Scotch-Irish parents who had[Pg 246] emigrated from Ireland to South Carolina. His father died and his mother moved to North Carolina to be among her own people. Here, a few days after his father's death, in the same year in which England passed the Tea Act (1767), Andrew was born.

Schools were few and poor. In fact, Andrew was too poor himself to do anything but work. He learned far more from the pine woods in which he played than from books. At nine he was a tall, slender, freckle-faced lad, fond of sports, and full of fun and mischief. But woe to the boy that made "Andy" angry!

When thirteen, he learned what war meant, for it was in the days of the Revolution when Colonel Tarleton came along and killed more than a hundred and wounded one hundred fifty of Jackson's neighbors and friends. Among the killed was one of the boy's own brothers. Andrew never forgave the British.

JACKSON REFUSES TO SHINE THE OFFICER'S BOOTS

At fourteen he was taken prisoner by the British. "Boy," shouted an officer, "clean these boots!" "I will not," replied Jackson. "I am a prisoner of war, and claim to be treated as such." The officer drew his sword and struck Jackson a blow upon the head, and another upon the hand. These blows left scars which Jackson carried to his grave. He was taken a prisoner to Camden, where smallpox killed his remaining brother and left Andrew poor[Pg 247] and sickly looking. His mother had come to Camden to nurse her sons. A little later she lost her life in caring for American prisoners on British ships in Charleston Harbor, so Jackson was now an orphan of the Revolution.

THE HERMITAGE NEAR NASHVILLE

This historic house, the home of Andrew Jackson, is now owned by the state of Tennessee

After the Revolutionary times had gone by, Jackson studied law and at the age of twenty was admitted to practice in the courts of the state.

But stories of the beautiful country that were coming over the mountains from Tennessee, stirred his blood. He longed to go, and in company with nearly a hundred men, women, and children, Jackson set out for the goodly land.

They crossed the mountains into east Tennessee, where was the town of Jonesboro, not far from where Governor Sevier lived.

Jackson and the others rested awhile before taking up their march to Nashville. From Jonesboro to Nashville they had to look out for Indians. Only once were they troubled. One night, when men, women, and children were resting in their rude tents, Jackson sat at the foot of a tree smoking his corncob pipe. He heard "owls" hooting near by. These were Indian signals. "A little too natural," thought Jackson. He aroused the people,[Pg 248] and silently they marched away. Another party, coming an hour or two later, stopped in the same place, and were massacred by Indians.

Arriving in Nashville, Jackson began the practice of law. To reach the court, he sometimes had to ride miles and miles, day after day, through thick forests where the Indians might lie in wait.

When Tennessee was made a territory, Jackson became district attorney. He had many "ups and downs" with the bad men of the frontier. Jackson himself had a bad temper, and woe to the man who made him angry. He either got a sound thrashing or had to fight a duel.

When Tennessee became a state, Jackson was elected to Congress. A year or so afterward (1797) he was appointed a United States senator to fill a vacancy. But such a position did not give him excitement enough, so he resigned the next year and returned to Nashville. He was a frontier judge for a time, then he became a man of business.

126. How Jackson Won a Great Victory. When the War of 1812 broke out there was a call to arms! The British will capture New Orleans! Twenty-five hundred frontiersmen rallied to Jackson's call. He was just the man to lead them. They decided to go to New Orleans by water.

Down the Cumberland to the Ohio in boats! Down the Ohio to the Mississippi, and down the Mississippi to Natchez! Here they stopped, only to learn that there were no British near.

The twenty-five hundred men marched the long, dreary way home. Jackson was the toughest one among them. He could march farther and last longer without[Pg 249] food than any of them. The soldiers nicknamed him "Old Hickory."

Once more he was at home, where he now was a great man among his friends. About this time Jackson had a fierce fight with Thomas H. Benton and received a pistol shot in the shoulder. Before he was again well the people who suffered from the Fort Mims massacre were calling loudly for help. Tecumseh had stirred up the Creeks to murder five hundred men, women, and children at this fort in Alabama.

JACKSON SHARES HIS ACORNS WITH THE HUNGRY SOLDIER

Twenty-five hundred men answered Jackson's call. They marched south through a barren country. Food was scarce. His army, almost starved, threatened to go home. A half-starved soldier saw Jackson sitting under a tree and asked him for something to eat. Looking up, Jackson said: "It has always been a rule with me never to turn away a hungry man. I will cheerfully divide with you." Then he drew from his pocket a few acorns, saying: "This is the best and only fare I have."

But Jackson soon received reënforcements, and then, in spite of all these drawbacks, he broke the power of the Creeks in the great battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa[Pg 250] River in Alabama. After that the Indians were only too glad to cease fighting and sue for peace.

A BREASTWORK OF COTTON BALES

Jackson was hardly home again before President Madison made him a major-general, and sent him with an army to guard New Orleans from the British.

After attacking and capturing Pensacola, a Spanish fort which the English occupied, he hurried his army on to New Orleans. Nothing had been done to defend the city. Jackson immediately declared martial law. He threw himself with all the energy he had into getting New Orleans ready, for the British troops were already landing.

A LITTLE BREASTWORK OF SUGAR BARRELS

The British general had twelve thousand veterans, fresh from their victory over the great Napoleon. Jackson had only half as many men. But nearly every man was a sharpshooter. They were riflemen from the wilds of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and every man was burning with an ardent desire to fight and defeat the redcoats.

Jackson had not long to wait. On came the British[Pg 251] in solid column, with flags flying and drums beating. The fog was breaking away. Behind the breastworks stood the Americans with cannon loaded to the muzzle and with deadly rifles primed for the fight.

THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

Won by Jackson after peace was made, this battle helped to make him president and to change history

The cannon were the first to fire, but the redcoats closed up their shattered ranks, and moved on. Those lines of red! How splendid and terrible they looked! The Americans gave three cheers. "Fire!" rang out along the line. The breastworks were instantly a sheet of fire. Along the whole line it blazed and rolled. No human being could face that fire. The British soldiers broke and fled.

ANDREW JACKSON

From a painting by Thomas Sully which hangs in the rooms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia

Once more they rallied, led by General Pakenham, a relative of the great Duke of Wellington. But who could withstand that fire? Pakenham was slain, and again his troops fled. The battle was over. The British[Pg 252] had lost two thousand six hundred men and the Americans only twenty-one! This victory was won after peace had been made between England and America. A ship was then hurrying to America with the glad news.

Everywhere the people rejoiced greatly over the victory of New Orleans. Jackson was a great hero, and wherever he went crowds followed him, and cried out, "Long live the victor of New Orleans!"

For several years Jackson remained at the head of the army in the South. The Seminole War was fought, and those Indians were compelled to make peace.

127. The People's President. The people of the United States elected Jackson president in 1828, and reëlected him in 1832 by a greater majority than before, showing that he was very popular.

President Jackson had a quarrel with the men who were managing the United States Bank. This bank kept the money for the government. He ordered that the money of the government be taken out of this bank and put in different State Banks which were called "pet" banks. In the Senate of the United States at this time were three men of giant-like ability—Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun. They joined together to oppose President Jackson in his fight against the United States Bank. These men made many[Pg 253] long and very bitter speeches against the president.

The Senate finally passed a resolution blaming President Jackson for taking the money away from the United States Bank. President Jackson was furious. He wrote a protest and sent it to the Senate. The people in the states took sides, and the excitement spread to all parts of the country.

In the Senate was another great man, Thomas H. Benton of Missouri. Although Jackson and Benton had once fought a terrible duel in Nashville, they now were good friends. Benton attacked Clay, Webster, and Calhoun in powerful speeches and defended President Jackson in every way he could. At last, after several years, he succeeded in getting the Senate to expunge, or take away, from their records the resolution blaming President Jackson.

THE SCENE OF JACKSON'S CAMPAIGNS

There was great rejoicing among Jackson's friends, and Senator Benton was the hero of the day. President Jackson gave a great dinner party in Washington in Benton's honor.

For a long time South Carolina and other southern states had been complaining about the high tariff which Congress had passed. In 1832 South Carolina declared in a state convention that her people should not pay the tariff any longer. She resolved to[Pg 254] fight rather than obey the law and pay the tariff. This act of the convention was called nullification.

THE TOMB OF ANDREW JACKSON

President Jackson was very angry when he heard of this act of South Carolina. He told General Scott to take soldiers and war vessels to Charleston, and enforce the law at all hazards. The president published a letter to the people of South Carolina, warning them not to nullify a law of Congress.

These acts made President Jackson very popular at the North, where the people all believed the president had saved the Union from breaking up.

In 1837 his second term as president expired and he retired from public life after having seen his good friend, Martin Van Buren of New York, made president.

Jackson returned to Tennessee, greatly beloved by the people. There, in his home, called the Hermitage, he spent the rest of his life. He died in 1845, at the age of seventy-eight.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

THE MEN WHO MADE THE NATION GREAT BY THEIR INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES

ROBERT FULTON, THE INVENTOR OF THE STEAMBOAT

128. The Invention of the Steamboat. Once there were no steam engines to drive boats. On sea and river they were driven by wind, and on canals they were pulled along by horses.

James Rumsey on the Potomac, John Fitch on the Delaware, and William Longstreet on the Savannah had each invented and tried some kind of steamboat, before Robert Fulton.

Fulton was born of Irish parents, in New Britain, Pennsylvania, in 1765. At the age of three he lost his father. Young Fulton had a great taste for drawing, painting, and inventing.

[Pg 258]

ROBERT FULTON

After the painting by Benjamin West

He went to Philadelphia, then the largest city in the Union, when he was twenty, and engaged in painting and drawing. His first savings were given to his widowed mother to make her comfortable.

Fulton finally decided to be an artist, and went to England to make his home with Benjamin West, a great painter who once lived at Philadelphia.

There he became acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater, who influenced him to become a civil engineer. Fulton now met James Watt, who had greatly improved the steam engine. At one time the young man aided Watt in building an engine.

Fulton next went to France, where he became interested in plans for inventing diving boats, torpedoes, and steamboats. Here he met Robert R. Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, then United States Minister to France. Livingston took a deep interest in his experiments in driving boats by steam, and furnished him the means to make them.

Fulton made a "model" boat, which he left in France. Shortly afterward, he built a boat twenty-six feet long and eight feet wide. In this vessel he put a steam engine. The trial trips proved beyond a doubt that steamboats could be made.

Livingston believed in Fulton and his steamboat.[Pg 259] When he returned to New York, Livingston obtained from the legislature the right to navigate the waters of the state by steam for twenty years. The one condition was that the boat should go against the current of the Hudson at the rate of four miles an hour.

Fulton got his engine from the inventors, Watt and Boulton, in England—the only place where suitable engines could be found. The engine came in 1806. A boat called the Clermont was built to carry it. She was one hundred thirty feet long and eighteen feet wide. She had a mast with a sail. At both ends she was decked over, and in the middle the engine was placed. Two large side-wheels dipped two feet into the water.

SCENE ON A CANAL

129. The "Clermont" Moves. At one o'clock in the afternoon of August 7, 1807, a great crowd gathered to see the first voyage of the Clermont. Many people did not expect to see the vessel go. They believed Fulton[Pg 260] and Livingston had spent their money for nothing. Fulton gave his signal from the deck of the Clermont. The people looked on in astonishment as the boat moved steadily up the pathway of the Hudson.

The Clermont kept on going till out of sight, and the crowds of wondering people went home hardly believing the evidence of their eyes. Up the river, against the current of the mighty Hudson, she made her way till Albany was reached. She had gone one hundred fifty miles in thirty-two hours, and won a great victory for Fulton and Livingston.

When winter came the Clermont was taken out of the water and rebuilt. They covered her from stem to stern with a deck. Under the deck they built two cabins, with a double row of berths. Everything was done to make her attractive in the eyes of the people. They changed her name to the North River. In the spring she made her trips regularly up and down the Hudson.

THE "CLERMONT"

130. Steamboats on All the Rivers. In 1809 a steamboat was built on Lake Champlain, another on the Raritan, and a third on the Delaware. From this time forward, steamboats, carrying passengers and freight from place to place, began to appear on all the great rivers in the settled portions of the United States.

[Pg 261]

WATCHING THE "CLERMONT" ON ITS FIRST VOYAGE UP THE HUDSON

In 1811 a steamboat was built on the Ohio River at Pittsburgh. It started on its trip down the beautiful Ohio. People gathered on the banks of the river to see it go by. The steamboat, at first, made a frightful noise. Hence when it came to places where news traveled slowly, the people were sometimes frightened, and the negroes, terror stricken, ran crying into the woods.

In 1814 a steamboat carried supplies to General Jackson at New Orleans, and helped him to win the great battle fought there.

Seven steamboats were running on the Ohio and the Mississippi at the close of the War of 1812. Before another year went by, a steamboat had made its way from New Orleans against the currents of the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers to Louisville, laden with goods from Europe.

The steamboat had now won a place on the American rivers. It aided in the rapid settlement of the country. It made travel quick and easy, and it carried the goods of settlers up and down the rivers.

Robert Fulton died in 1815, deeply mourned by all his countrymen, and was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York City.

[Pg 262]

131. The Erie Canal. Before Fulton invented the steamboat, supplies had been carried to the western settlers over the mountains from the East. Now, however, steamboats puffed up the Mississippi from New Orleans loaded down with goods that had been brought all the way from Europe. The settlers could get all the supplies they wanted and at a much lower cost. For this reason the merchants of New York and the East were in danger of losing all their trade with the settlers. They saw that they must have some connection with the West by water, and so they planned the Erie Canal. It took seven years to dig. When it was finished it was three hundred sixty-three miles long, forty feet wide, and four feet deep. The depth was later increased to seven feet. It stretched straight across the state of New York from Lake Erie to the Hudson River.

In the autumn of 1825, when the canal was finished, there was a great celebration. A "fleet" of canal boats carried Governor Clinton of New York and a number of other distinguished men across the state.

The merchants of the East were no longer afraid of the Mississippi route, for they had a route of their own. The canal became the great highway of commerce from the East to the West and from the West to the East. New York recovered her trade, and flourishing cities grew up along the canal.

But there were cities in the East that could not use the canal. Farther south they could not dig a canal across the mountains. All their goods had to be carried over the Cumberland Gap on the backs of horses. But a new means of travel and transportation had been invented, which was to far surpass the steamboat and[Pg 263] which was to help every city no matter where located.

132. Railroad Building. The first railroad in America was a very rude affair. There were no "palace cars" or steel rails, nor did the trains run at a speed of sixty miles an hour. Instead, cars that looked like huge wagons ran on wooden rails and were dragged along by horses.

But George Stephenson had thought out a plan for a machine that would pull the cars along by steam. He called his engine "Puffing Billy." He kept at work always improving it. In 1825, after eleven years of hard work, he made an engine that could pull both passengers and freight.

In 1828 the first long railroad in America was started. A great ceremony took place. It was a very solemn occasion. Charles Carroll, the only living signer of the Declaration of Independence, drove the first spade into the ground where the first rail was to be laid. As he did so he said, "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to that of signing the Declaration of Independence." This railroad was the famous Baltimore & Ohio.

Inventors continued to improve the locomotive. In 1831 an American company built one which ran at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. At that time that was considered a very rapid rate.

Since then railroad building and transportation have improved wonderfully. By 1842 one could travel by rail from Boston to Buffalo. But it was not until ten years later that Chicago was connected by rail with the East.

Gradually the railroads spread a network over the country. In 1857 St. Louis and Chicago were connected.[Pg 264] A railroad to the Pacific coast was much needed, and Congress voted an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the work. By 1869 the great work was completed. Other lines to the coast were started, and to-day many railroads cross the mountains, connecting the Pacific with the North, South, and Atlantic regions.

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH

133. The Coming of the Telegraph. Samuel Morse was born in Massachusetts (1791). His father was a Presbyterian minister. Young Morse went to the common schools and to Yale College.

MORSE WORKING ON HIS MACHINE

In college he used his spare time in painting, and after graduation he went to England and studied under the best artists. He came home and for a time painted portraits for a living.

After having spent some years abroad, in work and study, Morse was again returning home from France when the idea of sending news by electricity first came to him.

THE FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT

"Why can't it be?" said Morse to a friend, who answered, "There is great need of sending news by[Pg 265] electricity." He began, then and there, to plan a machine and to invent an alphabet. This was all done on shipboard. When he reached land he went to work with a will at his new-found problem.

For a long time the work went on very slowly, for inventors must eat and sleep and pay their way in the world. While Morse was struggling over his machine and trying to make himself master of the strange force called electricity, he was very often hungry and at times even on the point of starvation.

Now came a bright spot in his career. A young man named Alfred Vail, an excellent mechanic, saw Morse's telegraph instruments, and immediately believed they would be successful. Young Vail borrowed money and became Morse's assistant in the great work. For what he did he deserves credit next to Morse himself.

A patent must now be had and the telegraph must be so improved that they could show it to a committee of Congress. It was arranged that Vail and a mechanic by the name of Baxter should do the work behind locked doors. For, if some one should happen to see the instruments, and obtain a patent first, then Morse and Vail would be ruined.

In the locked shop the two men worked steadily day after day. Vail made many improvements. Among these was the new "dot and dash" alphabet. At last, one day in January, 1838, everything was in complete[Pg 266] working order. Baxter, hatless and coatless, ran for Mr. Vail's father to come at once and see the telegraph work.

MORSE SHOWING HIS COMPLETED WORK

At one end of the wire stood young Vail, and at the other stood Morse. This wire was stretched around the room so that it was three miles in length. The elder Vail wrote: "A patient waiter is no loser." He said to his son: "If you can send this message, and Mr. Morse can read it at the other end, I shall be convinced." It was done, and there was great rejoicing. The invention was hurried to Washington, and young Vail took out a patent in the name of Morse.

MORSE LISTENING TO CONGRESS MAKING FUN OF HIS INVENTION

Morse obtained permission to set up his telegraphic instruments in rooms in the capitol. These rooms were filled with congressmen watching the strange business. Members in one room would carry on witty conversations with persons in the[Pg 267] other room. This was great fun for those looking on. But it was slow work talking with members of Congress and winning their help.

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE

From a photograph taken by Abraham Bogardus, New York City

134. The Government Aids. Finally Morse asked for thirty thousand dollars to build a line from Washington to Baltimore. The bill met opposition, one member moving that a part of the money be used in building a railroad to the moon, another that it be used in making experiments in mesmerism.

Morse stood leaning against the railing which separated the outsiders from the members. He was greatly excited, and turning to a friend, said: "I have spent seven years and all that I have in making this instrument perfect. If it succeeds, I am a made man; if it fails, I am ruined. I have a large family, and not money enough to pay my board bill when I leave the city."

It was ten o'clock, March 3, 1843, the last night of that Congress. Morse gave up and went to his hotel. In the morning a friend met and congratulated him on the action of Congress in granting thirty thousand dollars for his telegraph line—the last thing Congress did that night. Morse was surprised. The telegraph line to Baltimore was built and the first dispatch was ready to send. Morse called the young woman who had been the first to congratulate him, to send this first message: "What hath God wrought."

[Pg 268]

THE TELEPHONE

The success of Morse was slow at first, but he lived to see the day when his instrument was used in Europe. He visited Europe again, was given gold medals, and received other rewards and honors from many of the rulers of the different European countries.

He died in 1872 at the good old age of eighty-one. Congress and state legislatures paid tribute to his memory.

135. A Wider Use for Electricity. Samuel Morse was hardly in his grave before a wonderful invention was made which called electricity into far wider use in carrying news. This new invention was the telephone, and two men, Bell and Gray, applied for patents on it at almost the same time.

The instruments are wonderful conductors of sound, carrying, as they do, the actual words and tones of the voice.

But Marconi has gone beyond them all in his invention. He sends the electric wave forth without the aid of a wire, thus giving rise to wireless telegraphy.

CYRUS WEST FIELD, WHO LAID THE ATLANTIC CABLE BETWEEN AMERICA AND EUROPE

136. The Atlantic Cable. Cyrus W. Field was born in Massachusetts in 1819. His grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier. Cyrus went to school in his native town of Stockbridge, and at fifteen was given a[Pg 269] place in a New York store at fifty dollars a year. Before he was twenty-one he went into business for himself. At the end of a dozen years he was the head of a prosperous firm. In 1853 he retired from active business.

Field became interested in a man who was joining Newfoundland with the mainland by means of a telegraph line. "Why not make a telegraph line to span the Atlantic?" thought Field. He went to work, and put his schemes before Peter Cooper and other generous men. They believed in them.

Field next went abroad and laid his plan before a number of Englishmen. He pleaded so eloquently that they, too, were convinced. He returned to America to lay the matter before Congress and ask that body to vote him a sum of money.

Congress was very slow about it, and the bill did not pass until the last days of that session. President Pierce signed it the last day of his term as president.

PRESIDENT PIERCE SIGNING THE FIELD BILL

Field returned to England and watched over the making of his "cable." In August, 1857, everything was ready. The cable lay coiled on shipboard, ready to be let out in the Atlantic. The great ship started, and everything went well till three hundred thirty-five miles of the cable had been let out, when it broke in two. It was the same as losing half a million dollars.

Field went back to England and began promptly to prepare for a second trial. He then came to America and made arrangements to use[Pg 270] the Niagara, a large vessel. The British ship, Agamemnon, was also taken to help in this second trial. The ships started in mid-ocean, one going one way and one going the other way. This time only one hundred eleven miles were laid, when the cable again parted.

Field hastened to London to meet the men who had backed him in his undertaking with their money. It was a council of war after a terrible defeat! But Mr. Field did not believe in surrender, even to the sea.

On the seventeenth of July, 1858, the ships again set sail for mid-ocean. They "spliced" the cable, and the Niagara with Mr. Field on board sailed away for Newfoundland. The British ship went the other way. This time they were successful. Both countries were excited. Queen Victoria flashed a message under the sea to President Buchanan.

CYRUS W. FIELD

From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London

Great was the rejoicing in New York, the home of Mr. Field. A religious service, expressive of the deep interest of the people in the success of his work, was held in Trinity Church, at which two hundred clergymen in gowns appeared; national salutes were fired, a great procession was formed, an address was made by the mayor of the city and, at a very late hour, a grand banquet was held. While the banquet was going on, the cable gave its last throb, and parted.

LAYING THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE

The very day that a whole city rose up to do honor to[Pg 271] the Atlantic telegraph and its author, it gave its last flash and then went to sleep forever in its ocean grave.

After five years of slow and toilsome work, caused by the fact that the Civil War was raging in the United States, Cyrus W. Field was again ready. When the vessel, bearing the cable, was within six hundred miles of land, the cable broke again.

137. The Final Success. An Anglo-American Telegraph Company was now formed. Mr. Field subscribed $50,000, Daniel Gooch $100,000, and another person promised to bear a part of the expense. On a Friday they set out and on another Friday they reached America with the cable safely laid. Mr. Field sent this message to England:

"Hearts Content, July 27, 1866. We arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank God, the cable is laid, and is in perfect working order."

The success of this undertaking, after so many years of failure, produced a great effect throughout the civilized world. Mr. Field was the center of all rejoicing. Congress voted him a gold medal. England did honor to his name. The Paris Exposition of 1867 gave him the highest medal it had to bestow. From Italy he received a decoration. States and chambers of commerce in all parts of the nation passed resolutions in praise of his great work.

[Pg 272]

Finally he took a trip around the world and received honors from many nations. Mr. Field lived at Tarrytown, New York. He died in New York City in 1892, at the age of seventy-three.

CYRUS H. M^cCORMICK, INVENTOR OF THE REAPER

138. Making Bread More Plentiful for Millions. It was only natural that Cyrus H. McCormick should be interested in inventions. His father, Robert McCormick, had fitted up many labor-saving devices for use on his farm. He tried to make a reaper, but it was a failure.

One hundred years ago the common method of harvesting in this country was by "cradling" the grain. For this, a scythe with prongs on its handle was used. The prongs caught the grain and laid it in rows, ready to tie.

CYRUS HALL M^cCORMICK

Cyrus Hall McCormick was born at Walnut Grove, West Virginia, in 1809. The boy was always interested in inventing. When fifteen, he invented a better grain cradle. At twenty-one he made a hillside plow that surpassed his father's. His great invention, the reaper, was made the following year. His friends all laughed at his machine, but he went on perfecting it. All his life Cyrus McCormick had to meet ridicule or bitter competition. But he came of Scotch-Irish fighting stock. He had the determination which battles its way to success.

[Pg 273]

THE FIRST M^cCORMICK REAPER

After a model of the original reaper

In 1834 the reaper was patented. It was shown at the World's Fair in London in 1851. It won a prize as the most valuable thing in the whole fair.

Cyrus H. McCormick started to manufacture his machine at Chicago in 1847. The demand for reapers grew rapidly. When the Civil War called out one man in three from the North, there were enough reapers in use to equal the labor of one million slaves. The North not only fed itself but sent great quantities of grain to England. Cyrus McCormick's great invention did much to help the North abolish slavery.

HARVESTING WITH MODERN MACHINERY

139. Reapers for the West. The invention of the reaper made it possible for the West to be quickly settled. Before, farmers raised only the few acres they could be sure of harvesting. Grain is lost, if not cut a few days after it is ripe. The wide prairies of the West could not[Pg 274] be harvested by the old methods. Now on these great plains huge reapers drawn by engines sometimes cut forty-eight feet of grain in a single swathe.

Because of the labor it saves, McCormick's invention has made the cost of bread low for millions of people. With hand-reaping half the people of the country would be busy producing nothing but bread. In the past most nations were never free from the danger of starvation. Now the world produces enough for all.

A noted French society, when it elected McCormick a member, said that he had "done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living man."

ELIAS HOWE, INVENTOR OF THE SEWING MACHINE

ELIAS HOWE

140. A Time-Saving Invention. Elias Howe was a poor boy who won great riches through his invention, but spent most of his years in a long, dreary struggle with poverty.

Elias was born in Massachusetts in 1819. His father was a poor man. He worked in his father's mill and then in the cotton mills of New England until he came to have a thorough knowledge of machinery. When he was twenty-four he began his great invention, the sewing machine.

Sewing machines using a chain stitch had already been invented in England and France, but a chain stitch ravels[Pg 275] easily. Howe invented a lock stitch machine. Like earlier machines, it had a needle with an eye in its point to bring a loop of thread through the cloth. In chain stitching the needle at the next stitch passes through this loop. Howe instead passed a shuttle carrying a second thread through the loop. This made a firm lock stitch.

HOWE'S FIRST SEWING MACHINE

Howe tried to get tailors to buy his machine. He proved that it would sew seven times as fast as the best needleworkers. But they were afraid it would take work away from their men, and would have nothing to do with it.

After patenting his machine, Howe took it to England, but there he remained as poor and unknown as before.

Returning to New York he heard that unscrupulous men had stolen or "pirated" his ideas, and that the sale of sewing machines was now a thriving business. But Howe was determined to uphold his rights. In 1859, after a battle of many years in the law courts, he secured the full and complete title to his invention.

141. A Turn in Fortune. The man who had faced poverty and rebuffs all his days now came into great wealth. His income each year would be equal to-day to at least a million dollars.

Sewing machines have now become almost a necessity in all American homes. It is hard to realize the amount of close, slow, exacting work from which Howe's machine has released women everywhere. The work of the most skillful needlewomen is not to be compared in speed and[Pg 276] evenness with machine stitching. Garments now can be produced in vastly greater quantities than by hand work, and machine stitching is much more durable.

When the Civil War came, Howe's sewing machine made tents, shoes, and uniforms for the great Union army which would not have had them in time otherwise. Howe himself enlisted as a private and served while his health lasted. He died in 1867 when only forty-eight years old.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

[Pg 277]

THE MEN WHO WON TEXAS, THE OREGON COUNTRY, AND CALIFORNIA

SAM HOUSTON, HERO OF SAN JACINTO

142. Sam Houston. Young Houston was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in Virginia (1793). His father had fought under General Morgan in the Revolution. Sam Houston did not have much schooling, and when but thirteen his family moved to east Tennessee. Made angry by his older brother, he left home and went to live with the Cherokee Indians. He liked the wild life of the Indians and took part with the Indian boys in their pastimes of hunting, fishing, and playing at games.

THE BATTLE OF HORSESHOE BEND

Here Houston, under Jackson in the victory over the Creeks, won great distinction

He was now eighteen. He returned home and went to school a term at Marysville Academy. In the war of 1812 General Jackson called the men of Tennessee to arms. Young Houston responded to the call, and fought against the Indians in the great "Battle of Horseshoe Bend."[Pg 278] After doing heroic deeds, he was dangerously wounded. Houston was a long time in getting well.

SAM HOUSTON

From a photograph by Matthew B. Brady in the collection of the War Department, Washington, D.C.

At twenty-five he began to study law in Nashville and in six months—just a third of the time said to be necessary—he was ready to practice. Houston's rise in the law and in the favor of the people was rapid. He went from one position to another until the people elected him to Congress.

He was in Congress four years. He won many friends by his gracious behavior. The people of Tennessee made him their governor. But suddenly, without warning, Houston resigned as governor, and forsook his home and friends. He sailed down the Mississippi River to the Arkansas, and up this river several hundred miles to the land of his early friends, the Cherokees, whom the United States government had sent to that far-away country.

Here Houston found the old chief—now the head of his tribe—who had adopted him as a son years before on the banks of the Tennessee. The chief threw his arms around him in great affection and said: "My son, eleven winters have passed since we met. My heart has wondered often where you were; and I heard you were a great chief among your people.... I have heard that a dark cloud had fallen on the white path you were walking, and when it fell ... you turned[Pg 279] your thoughts to my wigwam. I am glad of it,—it was done by the Great Spirit.... My wigwam is yours, my home is yours, my people are yours,—rest with us."

When Andrew Jackson became President of the United States Houston went, in his Indian dress, on a visit to Washington. He was warmly received by his old friend from Tennessee.

Once more he turned his face toward the wilderness. He stopped in Tennessee and was warmly greeted by old friends. He did not stay long in Tennessee.

Neither did he stay long with the Cherokees, but hastened to Texas, where the people were already murmuring against the treatment they were receiving from Mexico.

The people of Texas finally issued a declaration of independence. Thereupon the Mexicans resolved to send a large army into Texas and force the revolutionists into submission to the government.

THE ALAMO, SAN ANTONIO

Of its defense by Travis, Crockett, and their few men it was said, "Thermopylae had her messenger of woe—the Alamo had none"

A most important event of this war was the capture, by a large Mexican force, of an old mission building used as a fortress, called the Alamo. It was defended by one hundred forty men, among them the famous "Davy" Crockett, Colonel Travis, and Colonel Bowie—the inventor of the bowie knife. Only six Texans were alive after the capture of the fortress.[Pg 280] These heroic men died, fighting the Mexicans to the last.

THE FLAG OF THE TEXAS REPUBLIC

"Remember the Alamo!" became the war cry of every Texan. The Mexicans were approaching, five thousand strong, under General Santa Ana. General Houston commanded the Texans, about seven hundred in all.

Suddenly the news came that General Fannin and his men, five hundred in number, had been massacred by the Mexicans at Goliad. The cause of Texan independence looked dark indeed.

HOUSTON AT SAN JACINTO

Where his battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" won Texas independence from Mexico

Houston began a retreat of two hundred fifty miles to the eastward. Santa Ana followed closely after him, but scattered his men, just as Houston wanted him to do, until he had with him only eighteen hundred men. They were now on the banks of the San Jacinto.

Houston waited till the Mexicans were a bit careless, then seven hundred Texans charged the breastworks of the Mexicans. After the first fire they clubbed their guns and went at it,[Pg 281] pioneer fashion, with the cry, "Remember the Alamo!" The right and the left wings of the Mexicans gave way first, and then the center.

SCENE OF HOUSTON'S CAMPAIGN

They retreated, expecting to cross a deep, narrow bayou or stream on a log bridge, but Houston had had the bridge destroyed. The slaughter was terrific. The stream was choked with Mexicans and their horses.

Santa Ana was captured and was turned over to the Texan government. Many thought he ought to die because of the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad, but Houston, generous toward the beaten man, sent him on to visit Washington.

Houston had been badly wounded, and sailed to New Orleans for medical care. He returned to be elected first president of the "Lone Star Republic," as Texas was called. He was reëlected for a second term and served his country well.

Houston wanted Texas made a part of the United States. This was afterwards done, and war followed with Mexico.

In 1845 Texas sent Houston to the United States Senate, where he served his state for fourteen years. He was devoted to our national Union. He died in 1863.

[Pg 282]

DAVID CROCKETT, GREAT HUNTER AND HERO OF THE ALAMO

143. A Brave Backwoodsman. At the close of the Revolution, Tennessee was still largely a wilderness. Here David Crockett was born in 1786. In those days schools on the frontier were few and poor, and young "Davy" found most of his schooling in the backwoods. He learned to know the woods and streams and the animals that lived in them. As a boy he spent most of his time hunting and trapping. As a young man he was one of the most famous rifle shots in the United States.

When the Creek War broke out, he enlisted under Andrew Jackson to march against the Indians. The young rifleman fought so well under "Old Hickory" that Tennessee made him a colonel.

He had become a famous hunter and fighter. He thought he would try politics next. Instead of making political speeches, he went about from place to place telling stories. The people liked both him and his stories so well that they elected him to the legislature. A few years later they sent him to Congress.

By and by Crockett grew tired of civilization. He wanted to get back to the wilderness. His old home was too well settled to suit him. So he wandered to Texas. Here he heard that the Mexicans were surrounding the Americans at San Antonio. "Davy" Crockett loved a good fight too well to stay away. He hastened to join the small band of brave men who were defending the Alamo. All could have escaped had they chosen to do so, but with iron courage these hundred and forty stayed and defied Santa Ana's thousands.

MAP OF THE WEST AFTER THE WAR WITH MEXICO

Showing the territory added to the United States after the Louisiana Purchase

For several days the Mexicans were held at a distance.[Pg 283] They dared not bring their cannon close to the building, for the concealed sharpshooters picked off the men who tried to man the guns. Old Crockett himself laid low five men in charge of one cannon.

The fall of the Alamo was however merely a question of time. Little by little the walls were battered down, and finally the Mexicans were ready to storm. On they came, a great charging mass. The American riflemen shot them down by scores, but when one Mexican fell another took his place. One by one the fearless defenders fell. The last man to go down was Davy Crockett.

It is said that he stood with his back to the wall, fighting to the last, and that the Mexicans, afraid to meet him hand to hand, shot him down from a distance.

JOHN C. FREMONT, THE PATHFINDER OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

144. A Great Explorer. Fremont's father was a Frenchman who was driven to America by the terrible French Revolution. John Charles Fremont was born at[Pg 284] Savannah (1813) while his parents were on a journey through the South. His father died soon after, and his mother went to live in Charleston, South Carolina.

After a time at a good school, Fremont entered the junior class in Charleston College (1828). After leaving college he spent two and a half years on a voyage to South America.

On his return he joined a company of engineers sent by the governor to explore the mountains between South Carolina and Tennessee, in order to find a suitable place for a railroad. This work was through a region rough, wild, and full of beauty. It gave young Fremont a taste for exploration which never left him.

Fremont's longing for a wild life was gratified when he was made assistant to a famous Frenchman who was exploring the wild region between the upper Missouri River and Canada.

THE PATHWAYS OF THE EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE WEST

After this work Fremont returned to Washington and[Pg 285] later married Jessie Benton, the daughter of the senator from Missouri. Thomas H. Benton was a great friend of President Jackson.

JOHN C. FREMONT

After a photograph from life

Fremont was now related to a powerful man who was deeply interested in the growth of the "Great West." Benton's repeated speeches on the "West" and on the "Oregon Country" called attention to the importance of the Pacific slope.

In 1842 Fremont, now a lieutenant of engineers, received permission from the government to explore the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. With a party made up largely of French Canadians, and assisted by that famous guide, Kit Carson, he passed up the Kansas River, crossed to the Platte, went up this river, and thus reached the South Pass.

145. On the Watershed. Standing on the watershed of a continent, he saw the beginnings of rivers that flow into the Atlantic, and of others that stretched away through unknown regions to the Pacific. He took four men and climbed what has since been called Fremonts Peak, one of the highest of the Rockies, about 13,800 feet above the sea. At the top Fremont unfurled the Stars and Stripes in all its glory!

146. A Pathway to the Pacific. Fremont reported his discovery at Washington and immediately applied for orders to make an expedition to discover a more southerly route to California and Oregon.

[Pg 286]

GAZING OUT AT THE BEGINNINGS OF RIVERS

He left the little town of Kansas City with his guide, Kit Carson, in May, 1843. In September, after traveling seventeen hundred miles, the little party beheld the shores of Great Salt Lake. What feelings must have stirred the breasts of men shut in for months by mountains, at seeing what appeared to be an ocean, here in the midst of a continent! Little did they dream of that hardy band of immigrants, so soon to follow, who would make the shores of this sea blossom like a garden. Fremont wrote: "As we looked over that vast expanse of water and strained our eyes along the silent shores, over which hung so much doubt and uncertainty, I could hardly repress the almost irresistible desire to continue our exploration."

FREMONT'S MEN BUILDING A FIRE IN THE SNOW

After making preparations, the party crossed over to a branch of the Columbia River. Down this stream they traveled until Fort Vancouver was reached on November 4. Here Fremont was the guest of the governor of the British Hudson Bay Company.

FREMONT'S EXPEDITION REACHING SUTTER'S FORT, CALIFORNIA

November 10, on the way home, the little party started[Pg 287] to make the circuit of the Great Basin, a vast depression beyond the east wall of the Sierra Nevada. But very soon they found deep snow on the mountains. Turning to the west at about the latitude of San Francisco, Fremont determined to cross the Sierra Nevada into the valley of the Sacramento. The river was not many miles distant.

But what miles! Up and down, up and down that snowy mountain range, which the Indians told him no man could cross in winter, with snow lying upon it as deep as the dark forest trees were high, and places where, if a man slipped off, he would fall half a mile without stopping!

They attempted to cross without a guide, in the dead of winter. In forty days the men and the surviving horses—a woeful procession crawling along one by one, skeleton men leading skeleton horses—arrived at Sutter's Fort (Sacramento) in the beautiful valley of the Sacramento. Here genial warmth, trees in foliage, grassy ground, and flowers made a fairy contrast to the famine and freezing they had met on the mountains they had climbed.

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After enjoying the hospitality of Colonel Sutter, Fremont again crossed the mountains farther to the south, where the beautiful San Joaquin River makes a gap or pass.

When he reached the top of the pass Fremont beheld the plains of the Mohave Desert. An Indian said to him: "There is neither water nor grass—nothing; every animal that goes upon them dies."

Pushing forward with great energy, he reached Utah Lake, thus having nearly made the circuit of the Great Basin.

Fremont hastened to Washington with the story of his discoveries. General Scott now recommended that he be made captain.

Fremont's third expedition, with Carson as a helper, began in the spring of 1845, and aimed to explore the Great Basin and the coast of California and Oregon.

THE UNFURLING OF THE AMERICAN FLAG IN CALIFORNIA

The Stars and Stripes were raised for the first time in California near Monterey in 1846

147. In the Mexican War. Little did Fremont—or any of his men—think what fortune had in store for them. On his way to the Oregon Country Fremont received news that the Mexicans were planning to kill all the Americans in the Sacramento Valley. War had[Pg 289] already broken out between the United States and Mexico, but he did not know it. He returned, reaching the valley in May, 1846. The settlers rushed to join him, and in one month northern California was declared independent.

Fremont then marched to Monterey and joined Commander Sloat, who had raised the American flag there, July 7, 1846. This practically finished the conquest of all California in sixty days.

148. Becomes a Private Citizen. Soon after this event Fremont returned to Washington, gave up his place in the regular army, and went to live in California. His journey to California made up his fourth expedition. But the people would not let him long remain in private. The state elected him to the United States Senate. Fremont was not long in Congress, but was of great service in giving advice concerning the long-talked-of railroad to the Pacific.

Early in 1848 gold was discovered in the sand near the American River at Sutter's Mill, the site now occupied by Coloma. As the news spread, great excitement arose, and everybody wanted to dig gold. This was the "gold fever" of 1848 and 1849. The rush to the coast was tremendous. It made the building of a railroad urgent. Fremont made his fifth expedition to survey three routes to the Pacific. After great hardships he returned to Washington to report what he had found.

He now took up his residence in New York City and became a member of the party opposed to the extension of slavery. The new party, the Republican, nominated him as its first candidate for president (1856). He was defeated after a most exciting time, yet he carried all the northern states but four.

[Pg 290]

During the Civil War he was made a major-general, but after a year or two he resigned. He was talked of for president in 1864, but did not make the race.

After the war was over he was interested in a great continental railroad. From 1878 to 1881 he was governor of Arizona. Congress voted him a pension just before he died in 1890.

SPANISH MISSIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST

149. How the Franciscans Ruled the Southwest. Centuries before Fremont or Kit Carson or any other American had seen the wonders of our western country, Spaniards made their homes there. Before the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, Spanish missionaries had built many churches in the Southwest and had baptized thousands of Indians into the Christian faith.

The story of the Spaniards in New Mexico, Arizona, and California is not of victories won by the sword, but by the cross. The men who ruled this country were not soldiers, but pious Franciscan friars.

Many years ago there lived in Italy a godly man, St. Francis, who looked upon all poor and oppressed people as his children and devoted his life to their care. His followers, who are called Franciscan friars, have gone into all parts of the world to be missionaries to the poor and the heathen.

Greatest of the Franciscans who worked in the Southwest was Junipero Serra. One warm day in 1769 he came riding into San Diego on mule-back, a tall, thin figure, wrapped in a long gown. There were no missionaries at this time in California. He had come from Mexico with a small party to convert the Indians.[Pg 291] At San Diego he saw "valleys studded with trees, wild vines covered with grapes, and native roses as fair and sweet as those of Castile."

Here was just the place to build a mission. First he set up a great wooden cross and said mass. There was no organ music, so the soldiers fired their arms instead. The simple Indians stood by in wonder and awe. Junipero Serra was a man of energy and action, and in a short time he had his first mission built. From San Diego he went northward and planted mission after mission as far north as San Francisco. When he died the Franciscan missions controlled practically all of southern California.

Wherever the friars built a mission they made sure the soil was good and that there was plenty of water near by. For in much of that country little rain falls and many crops grow only when watered by irrigation. Having found a suitable place, they would then build a church. This was always the largest building of the mission. Some of the churches were very beautiful. Around the church clustered the houses of the friars and the huts of the Indians. Each mission was surrounded by beautiful gardens and orchards. A little farther away were the fields in which the grain was grown. All of these were watered by irrigation ditches that drew their water from some mountain stream. Beyond the cultivated land lay the ranches on which cattle and sheep grazed in great numbers.

All the Indians in the neighborhood were made to live at the mission, and here they were taught the Christian religion. They were also taught many useful occupations. The men were shown how to farm, to make saddles, work at the forge and the carpenter bench, and other useful[Pg 292] trades. The women were instructed in spinning and weaving.

In the morning the angelus called every one to mass. After breakfast the day's work began and each Indian was sent to his task. Some cultivated the fields, some took care of the stock, some worked in the shops. Each one had to do his share of the work, and was punished if he disobeyed. He had to work, pray, and live as the friars told him.

When Mexico freed itself of Spanish rule, California became a part of Mexico. The new government put an end to the missions. The friars were forced to leave, and the Indians drifted back into their old wild life.

To-day nothing remains of the work of the friars except the old mission buildings. Most of them are in ruins, but they still tell of the quiet by-gone days when the gentle Franciscans ruled in California.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

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THE THREE GREATEST STATESMEN OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD

HENRY CLAY, THE FOUNDER OF THE WHIG PARTY AND THE GREAT PACIFICATOR

150. The Rise of Henry Clay. Henry Clay was born in Virginia in the year of Burgoyne's surrender (1777). His father was a Baptist preacher, with a fine voice and a graceful way of speaking. He died when Henry was four years old.

Little Henry lived near the "Slashes," the name given to a low, flat region, and went to school in a log cabin. When not at school he worked on the farm, helping to do his share in support of the family. He could be seen walking barefooted behind the plow, or riding the horse with a rope bridle to mill. From this he was called the "Mill boy of the Slashes."

Henry was a raw-boned and awkward lad. The other boys laughed at him, but he read books when not at work, and soon could speak far better than the boys who made fun of him.

THE "MILL BOY OF THE SLASHES"

At fourteen he was a clerk in a store. But he seemed made for other things. He was put in the office of a famous lawyer who was clerk in one of Virginia's courts.

HENRY CLAY IN CONGRESS

Urging war in 1811, with England or France or even both if necessary

The Chancellor of Virginia, a great judge, liked him and took him to be his private secretary. For four years Clay wrote down the[Pg 295] judge's law decisions. The great man often talked with Clay on important subjects and advised him about the kind of books to read.

After studying law for a year, Clay began to practice in Richmond. He had plenty of time, so he formed a debating club, in which he was easily the leader.

Finally he made up his mind to go to Lexington, Kentucky, and try his fortune in the West. There his rise in the law was rapid. His fame grew, and he became known as the lawyer who seldom lost a case.

He married a well-to-do young lady and lived near Lexington on a beautiful estate called Ashland.

Henry Clay's first work in politics was to favor the gradual abolition of slavery in Kentucky. Although beaten, he was always proud of his stand on this question.

When too young, according to the Constitution, to take his seat, he was made a senator of the United States. But nobody called the attention of the Senate to his age. After his term as senator was out he was elected to the legislature of Kentucky, and was immediately made Speaker.

INKSTAND USED BY HENRY CLAY

Born during the Revolution, Henry Clay, like most Americans of his time, grew up with hatred toward England[Pg 296] in his heart. He was sent to Congress in 1811, and was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. As Speaker, he did much to bring on a declaration of war with Great Britain, in 1812.

Clay made speeches in Congress and over the country, stirring up the war spirit. "On to Canada!" was his cry. But the capture of Canada was not so easy. Many generals failed, and only Harrison and Perry made much headway in defeating the British in Canada.

When the time for peace came President Madison sent Henry Clay and other noted Americans to Ghent, in Belgium, to meet the British agents. After many months of talking and disputing, they finally agreed on a treaty. This treaty has since been called the "Treaty of Ghent." Great Britain and America were both glad that peace had come.

From 1819 to 1821 Congress was debating over the admission of Missouri as a slave state. The North opposed, and the South favored, the admission of Missouri. The excitement spread to the state legislatures and to the people. Many meetings were held. Resolutions strongly favoring, or strongly opposing, the admission of Missouri as a slave state, were drawn up and voted upon.

Wise men thought the Union was in danger and Henry Clay, by his eloquence, succeeded in getting Congress to pass the famous Missouri Compromise. This resolution provided that Missouri should be admitted as a slave state, but that no other slave state north of the[Pg 297] line of 36 degrees 30 minutes should ever be admitted. Both sides were pleased and the excitement died out.

We have seen how South Carolina threatened to refuse to pay the tariff in 1832, and how President Jackson hurried the army and the navy there to make her people pay it, as the people of the other states were obliged to do.

Henry Clay came forward again and introduced the Compromise Tariff Law. It was called a compromise because it gave each side a part of what it wished. Calhoun and other Carolinians favored it, because by this law the tariff was reduced very greatly. It was carried through Congress. The law made unnecessary the warlike preparations of both the president and South Carolina, and again Henry Clay was hailed by the people as "pacificator" or peacemaker.

HENRY CLAY

From a daguerreotype owned by Garrett Brown, Jr., Chicago

151. Henry Clay the Founder of the Whig Party. But Henry Clay was not only a peacemaker. He was now a great statesman, and like Hamilton and Jefferson he led in forming a part of the people into a political party. It was called the Whig party.

In 1824, before there was a Whig party, Clay ran for president, but was beaten. Again in 1832, just as the new party was being formed, he ran a second time. Although he was beaten for the presidency by Andrew Jackson, he was the life and soul[Pg 298] of his party. It was his eloquence, the music of his words, that made men Whigs.

On one occasion Clay spoke on the question of the abolition of slavery. Some one said that this might hurt his chances of being president. Clay replied: "I had rather be right than be president."

Finally, in 1844, he was again the Whig candidate, but he was defeated for the third time. When the Whig party had a good chance of electing a president, they nominated somebody else. When they had a poor chance they nominated Henry Clay!

War with Mexico had come, and with it a great victory for the American army. The treaty of peace with Mexico, in 1848, gave the United States all the territory then known as Alta (Upper) California and New Mexico. But the North and South disputed over this territory. The North said it must be free. The South said it must be open to slavery. The quarrel grew so bitter that many men thought the Union would be destroyed.

Henry Clay was now an old man. He had left the Senate, and had gone home to his beloved Ashland for a few years of rest before the final summons.

152. The Aged Peacemaker Returns to the Senate. Kentucky was greatly excited by the threats of disunion. Her legislature sent Clay back to the United States Senate by a unanimous call, Democrats as well as Whigs joining in the vote. It was a proud moment for the old man.

Now in the Senate, he offered the Compromise of 1850. This bill contained a number of points in favor of the slave states, and a number in favor of the free states.

One day Clay made a great speech in favor of his[Pg 299] Compromise. He had to walk to the capitol that day on the arm of a friend. He was too weak to climb the steps alone.

HENRY CLAY BEING CONGRATULATED

In 1850 on his great plea before the Senate for the Federal Union

When he arose to speak, he saw before him an audience that had come from distant parts of the nation to hear his thrilling words once more. The people filled the Senate to overflowing. Outside they crowded the corridors. When Clay arose the audience broke into applause, a strange thing for the Senate to do. The people were not disappointed. For two days the ringing words flowed on. Under the excitement he was young again.

He pleaded with the North to give up some things for the love of the Union; he pleaded with the South for peace. He told them that all the territory the United States had purchased had been purchased for all of them. "War and the dissolution of the Union are identical."

On the second day some one suggested that he rest, and the Senate adjourn. But he refused; he might not be able to go on the next day. After he had finished his speech, a great crowd rushed forward to congratulate him. No such scene ever had been witnessed before in the Senate.

[Pg 300]

The debate went on. Now and then Clay took part in it. On one occasion he said: "I believe from the bottom of my soul that this measure is the reunion of the Union."

On another occasion he said: "The honorable Senator speaks of Virginia being my country. This Union is my country. But even if ... my own state ... should raise the standard of disunion ... I would go against her. I would go against Kentucky, much as I love her."

Congress finally passed the Compromise. Both political parties pledged themselves to obey it. Public meetings in all parts of the nation resolved to abide by it, and the country rested for a time from the slavery question.

Henry Clay's work was done. His body was worn out, but his mind still clung to the Union. On June 29, 1852, Henry Clay died in Washington, the place of so many of his triumphs.

A great monument at Lexington, Kentucky, testifies the people's love for "Harry" Clay.

DANIEL WEBSTER, THE DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION

153. A College Boy and a Young Lawyer. Daniel Webster was born of good Puritan stock, in 1782, in New Hampshire. He was a very weakly child. No one dreamed that one day he would have an iron-like body. Daniel spent much of his time playing in the woods and fields. He loved the birds and beasts that he found there. He went to school, but the schoolmasters were not very learned, and Daniel could read better than most of them. The teamsters, stopping to water their horses, were glad to hear him read. He went to work in an old-fashioned[Pg 301] sawmill, but he read books even there in odd moments of time.

One day in spring his father took him to Exeter Academy to prepare for college. The boys laughed at his rustic dress and manners. The timid little fellow was greatly hurt by their scorn.

He finally entered Dartmouth College at the age of fifteen. He was simple, natural, and full of affection.

Webster was the best student at Dartmouth. He still kept the reading habit. The students liked him. They had a feeling that he would amount to something some day. At this time he was tall and thin, with high cheek bones. His eyes were deep set, and his voice was low and musical in its tones. He loved to speak, even then.

At the age of eighteen Webster gave the Fourth of July oration in his college town. The speech was full of the love of country and of the Union, then in its first days of trial.

HOUSE AT ELM FARMS

The birthplace of Daniel Webster. The site is now occupied by the New Hampshire State Orphans Asylum

He never forgot his father's sacrifice in sending him to college. After he had finished at Dartmouth, Webster taught school in order that he might help his parents send his elder brother to college. He afterwards studied law. But he longed to finish his law studies in Boston. Finally good fortune put him in the office of Christopher Gore, a wise man, a great lawyer, and a statesman. In[Pg 302] his office Daniel Webster studied until he was given the right to practice law.

Within a few years, he was earning enough to enable him to take a life partner, the beautiful and accomplished Grace Fletcher, the daughter of a minister. She made a delightful home for him and their children.

Webster was gaining name and fame as a lawyer, but the approach of the War of 1812 drew him into politics. He was elected to Congress, and took his seat in 1813. Henry Clay was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Webster's most important speech was in favor of a war carried on by the navy: "If the war must be continued, go to the ocean. There the united wishes and exertions of the nation will go with you. Even our party divisions cease at the water's edge."

SCENE OF THE FOURTH OF JULY ORATION

Daniel Webster asserting the dignity of patriotism at Dartmouth, July 4, 1800

After the war, Webster left Congress for a number of years. He was now a great man. When he entered a room, by his mere look and presence he drew all eyes toward him, and all conversation hushed. In size, he looked larger and broader than he really was. His forehead was broad and massive. It towered above his large, dark, deep-set eyes. His hair was black and glossy as a raven's wing. He looked[Pg 303] thus in 1830 in the Senate, when he made his famous speech in reply to Senator Hayne of South Carolina.

SCENE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE

Daniel Webster defending the Federal Constitution against Hayne's idea of nullification

DANIEL WEBSTER

From a daguerreotype taken in 1850 by J. J. Hawes of Boston

154. The Greatest Statesman of his Time. Hayne had spoken against a protective tariff and in favor of nullification. Webster felt called upon to reply. He denied the right of a state to nullify a law of Congress, and said that nullification was another name for secession. He closed his great speech with these words: "When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union ... but may I see our flag with not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured ... but everywhere spread[Pg 304] all over in characters of living light, blazing on its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land ... that sentiment, dear to every American heart—Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!"

This speech made Daniel Webster immortal. It did more; it fired the heart of every lover of his country.

We saw how South Carolina went on toward nullification, and how Clay's Compromise Tariff settled the difficulty. Webster strongly opposed this compromise, and said that South Carolina should get out of the difficulty the best way she could.

President Jackson was delighted, and praised Webster in public and in private.

When Harrison captured the presidency, after the greatest campaign ever seen up to that time, he wanted the best men in the Whig party to advise him, so he made Daniel Webster Secretary of State.

It was a sad day when President Harrison died, after being in office just one month. John Tyler, of Virginia, the vice-president, became the president. But he would not accept measures which Congress had passed. Daniel Webster left the cabinet after a time because he disliked[Pg 305] the way Tyler was doing. He went back to the United States Senate, where he joined Clay, supporting the great Compromise of 1850.

On March 7, Webster made his speech on the Compromise, entitled "For the Union and the Constitution." It was an appeal to all persons to stand by the Constitution and the Union. In blaming both the North and the South, much to the surprise of everybody, he blamed the North more than the South.

Because he did this, many of his supporters in the North, especially those in New England, turned their backs upon him. Webster was an old man now. Ever since 1832 he had looked forward to being nominated for the presidency, but his party always took some other man. His last days were made bitter and unhappy by the thought that some old friends had forsaken him.

THE UNITED STATES IN 1850

One bright spot for Webster lay in the fact that President[Pg 306] Fillmore invited him to be Secretary of State again. After two years of service, he went back to Boston. He was received with joy by some of his friends and neighbors, and was hailed with shouts by the multitude. This must have made his heart leap with gratitude, for the praise of friends is pleasant. But men saw he was not like his former self. He went to his home at Marshfield, where he died, October 24, 1852, the greatest figure in American politics in his day.

JOHN C. CALHOUN, THE CHAMPION OF NULLIFICATION

155. The Champion of the War of 1812. John C. Calhoun was born in the same year as Webster (1782) in South Carolina. His parents were Scotch-Irish. His father, a Revolutionary patriot, died soon after John was born. John spent his early years roaming in the fields and woods. He learned more there than from books, and he learned to think before the thoughts of other people filled his memory.

At eighteen he began to prepare for college, under the care of his brother-in-law, a Presbyterian minister. In two years he entered Yale College. When in college he studied hard, and was graduated with high honors.

Calhoun studied law diligently for three years, a year and a half of the time in his native state, and a year and a half in Connecticut. He began to practice law in South Carolina, but did not have great success. Perhaps it was because the law was too dry for him, or perhaps because he was soon elected to the legislature of his state.

JOHN C. CALHOUN

From a photograph by Matthew B. Brady in the collection of the War Department, Washington, D.C.

In 1811 he was married, and was elected to Congress—two great events in his life. Henry Clay, as Speaker,[Pg 307] immediately put Calhoun on an important committee. He quickly sounded a bugle call to war, declaring that it was the duty of "Congress to call forth the patriotism and resources of the country."

During the War of 1812 he worked hard in Congress for the success of the American army. After the war he favored a tariff to keep English goods out of the country.

President Monroe made him Secretary of War. He found the office in the utmost confusion, but, by hard and careful work, he left the war office a model for future secretaries.

156. Calhoun Favors Nullification. He was elected vice-president in 1824, and again in 1828. In the last-named year he wrote a paper called the "South Carolina Exposition." In this letter, and in others that he wrote, he told the people of South Carolina there would always be differences between the North and the South. He said the southern people, using slave labor, would raise more tobacco and cotton than they needed, and that the tariff was hurtful to the South. That the northern people, using free labor, would manufacture all kinds of things, and that the tariff would be helpful to them. This document took the ground that between the North and the South there always would be a conflict of interests. The South was devoted to agriculture, and the[Pg 308] North to manufacturing. The South had slave and the North free labor.

Therefore, Calhoun concluded that to protect the South from the North a state has the right to nullify a law of Congress. A state has this right, because the state is above the nation. The states made the Constitution. He believed that nullification was a means of saving the country from secession.

South Carolina took the fatal step, and nullified the tariffs. This decision was to take effect February 1, 1833, provided the United States did not do something before that time to lower the tariff.

President Jackson warned the citizens of South Carolina against the men who had led them to take this step. He hinted that the tariff would be collected by the use of force, if necessary.

We have seen how Henry Clay rushed his Compromise Tariff through Congress. At the same time another bill was passed by Congress, which gave President Jackson the right to use the army and navy in forcing a collection of the tariff. South Carolina stopped her nullification, and the excitement passed away.

157. Opposed to the Abolitionists. The people who wished to do away with slavery entirely were called Abolitionists. The Abolitionists stirred Calhoun deeply by petitions in favor of abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia. He declared that "the petitions are a foul slander on nearly one half of the states of the Union.... The object is to humble and debase us in our own estimation ... to blast our reputation. This is the (manner) in which they are (trying) abolition ... and now is the time for all opposed to them to meet the attack.

[Pg 309]

"We love and cherish the Union. We remember with kindest feelings our common origin ... but origin (is) to us as nothing compared with this question.

"The relation which now exists between the two races in the slave-holding states has existed for two centuries.... We will not, we cannot, permit it to be destroyed.... Should it cost every drop of blood and every cent of property, we must defend ourselves.... It is not we, but the Union, which is in danger."

THE HOME AND OFFICE OF CALHOUN, AT FORT HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA

Not many in the Senate agreed with Calhoun then. In 1837 Calhoun went much farther in the defense of slavery than any of the other slaveholders would go. He declared in a great speech in the Senate that "slavery is a good, a positive good."

This was not the belief of the majority of even the slaveholders in Congress or in the nation. Much less had it been the view of the men who had fought out[Pg 310] the Revolution, and who had made our Constitution.

The majority of slaveholders still looked upon slavery, at best, as a necessary evil and one to be gotten rid of sometime and somehow. Calhoun's view that "slavery is a good, a positive good," was an entirely new view of slavery.

Calhoun was made Secretary of State under President Tyler, and succeeded in annexing Texas to the United States. For this reason Mexico made war with the United States.

MONUMENT TO CALHOUN AT CHARLESTON, S.C.

From a photograph of the monument, which was designed by A. E. Harnisch

The result of the war with Mexico was the gaining of territory in the West and in the Southwest. Over this territory arose the great dispute that sent the aged Henry Clay back to the Senate with the Compromise of 1850.

Calhoun opposed that Compromise. He was too ill to speak, and a friend read his address to a hushed and listening Senate. He declared that the Union was in danger because the Abolitionists had stirred up strife. He wanted all agitation against slavery stopped. In the second place, he wanted an equal division of territory between the North and South. "If you of the North will not do this, then let[Pg 311] our southern states separate, and depart in peace."

"Having faithfully done my duty to the best of my ability, both to the Union and my section ... I shall have the consolation ... that I am free from all responsibility."

On March 31, 1850, he breathed his last words: "The South! The poor South! God knows what will become of her!"

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

[Pg 313]

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE LIBERATOR AND MARTYR

A POOR BOY BECOMES A GREAT MAN

THE BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN

158. The Backwoodsman Who Became President. Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, February 12, 1809. His parents were so poor that they hardly knew that they were poor. When he was seven years old his family crossed the Ohio River and settled in Indiana. There they found a place in the deep, dark forest, in the southern part of the state, and began to build a cabin for a home. Abe worked hard to help build it. It was not much of a house—only fourteen feet square. One side was left out, and here they built the fire. It was not very warm in winter and not very cool in summer. The hard ground was the floor.

The father was a sort of carpenter, and out of rough timbers he made a table and some three-legged stools. He also made the bedsteads, which consisted of poles driven into the wall.

In the loft of the cabin Abe made himself a bed of leaves. Every night he climbed into the loft by means of wooden pins driven into the wall. He was busy helping cut down trees and burning them to make room for a patch of corn and pumpkins.

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THE GRAVE OF NANCY HANKS LINCOLN

The lad and his sister roasted the ears of young corn over the fire. The ripe corn was ground into meal from which corn bread was made. This was baked in the ashes or on a board in front of a bed of red-hot coals.

The woods, great thick woods for miles on all sides of them, were broken only here and there by a "clearing." In these forests Abe went hunting with a gun on his shoulder. He often came back laden with squirrels, wild turkeys, and other game.

They were living in the cabin when Abe's mother sickened and died. He was broken-hearted. She had taught him what little he knew. Her last words to him were: "Try to live as I have taught you and to love your Heavenly Father."

Many years after, when he became famous, he said: "All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." She was put in a coffin roughly cut out of logs by the same tools that had made their furniture, and laid to rest in a corner of the clearing. Long years afterward a good man put a stone over the grave, with this inscription: "Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of President Lincoln, died October 5, A.D. 1818, aged 35 years."

After a year his father went back to Kentucky to look about for a wife. He found a widow, named Sarah Bush Johnston, and married her. He had known her before he met Nancy Hanks. She was thrifty and[Pg 315] industrious, and her bedding and other household goods filled a four-horse wagon.

Before winter came she made her husband put a good floor, and a door, and windows in the cabin. She took charge of Abe and his sister, and made them "look a little more human." She put good clothes on the children and put them to sleep in comfortable beds.

159. Lincoln Educates Himself. Schools were scarce in that new country, and Abe never had more than a year at school. His stepmother encouraged him in every way to study at home.

LINCOLN READING BY THE LIGHT OF THE OPEN FIRE

After a painting by Eastman Johnson

When Abe got a taste for reading it was hard to satisfy it. He read the Bible, Æsop's Fables, Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress, a history of the United States, and Weem's Life of Washington. He borrowed the Revised Statutes of Indiana. These were all solid books, good for a young boy to read. When a sentence pleased him, he read and reread it. If he did not own the book, he took many notes, filling his copy book with choice sentences.

John Hanks, a boy brought up with Lincoln, says: "When Abe and I returned to the house from work, he would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn bread, sit down, take a book, cock his legs up as high as his head, and read." He read, wrote, and ciphered incessantly.

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FASHIONS IN THE DAYS OF LINCOLN'S BOYHOOD

Young Lincoln was soon able to do a "man's labor," although only a boy. He was strong and powerful, and a great favorite. In that family of brothers, sisters, and cousins, his good-natured jokes and stories kept peace. Abe was the great story-teller of the family.

At the age of nineteen Lincoln reached his full height of six feet four inches. By that time he had read every book he could find, and could "spell down" the whole country. "He could sink an ax deeper into the wood than any man I ever saw," said a neighbor.

When Abe was twenty-one, the entire family started for Illinois. Along forest roads, and across muddy prairies, for two weeks they traveled till they came to the Sangamon River.

They built a cabin on the north fork of the river. With the help of John Hanks, young Lincoln plowed fifteen acres, planted it in corn, and split the rails from the tall walnut trees on the ground and fenced it.

160. Tries to be a Business Man. The next year he was hired to take a flatboat to New Orleans. The boat was loaded with hogs, pork, and corn. The wages of the trip were fifty cents a day, and twenty dollars besides for each man.

They "poled" and rowed their slow way down the Ohio and the Mississippi. At New Orleans, Lincoln first saw a slave auction. He saw men and women sold. As he turned away he said to a friend: "If ever I get a chance to hit that thing, I'll hit it hard." He did not[Pg 317] then dream of the mighty blow he would one day strike. After his return from New Orleans, he became a clerk in a store.

One day a woman gave Lincoln six cents too much. That very evening he walked several miles to find her and give back the money. At another time Lincoln found that he had not given a woman as much tea as she paid for. He went in search of her and gave her the rest of the tea.

About this time Lincoln joined a company of soldiers going to the Black Hawk War. An Indian chief named Black Hawk was on the "war path." All the frontier was up in arms against him and his band of braves.

LINCOLN SPLITTING RAILS TO FENCE IN THEIR FARM

Lincoln was well pleased when nearly all the men in his company walked over and stood by his side. This was their way of electing a captain. No election in later days gave him greater pleasure.

Little fighting was done by Lincoln's company, but sitting around the camp fires in the evening, he became famous as a story-teller, and he made many friends.

161. Makes a Success in Politics. On his return from the war, though he was only twenty-three years old, he became a candidate for the state legislature, but was defeated.

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A little later he was again a candidate. This time he won. After the election, he said to a friend: "Did you vote for me?" "I did," replied the man. "Then you must lend me two hundred dollars." Lincoln needed a suit of clothes and money to pay the expenses for traveling in a stagecoach to the capital!

LINCOLN AS A CIRCUIT RIDER

In 1837 the legislature passed a set of resolutions in favor of slavery and condemning the Abolitionists. Lincoln could not stand this. He and one other man signed a protest declaring that slavery was founded on "injustice and bad policy."

Lincoln was reëlected to the legislature seven times. He generally got more votes than other men on the ticket because the people liked his quaint sayings and his unpretending manner.

In the meantime, after three or four years of study, he was given a license to practice law. He made it a rule never to take[Pg 319] a case which he believed to be wrong. He was a successful lawyer, but the road to fame by way of the law was a slow one. It gave Lincoln a chance to engage in politics, as we have already seen.

He liked "stump speaking." He liked to go about the country from one speaking place to another, or to travel from one county to another to meet the different sessions of the courts. He spoke for what he believed to be the truth. He was always in earnest, and made his hearers feel that he was sincere.

In 1840 he was one of Harrison's orators, and in 1844 he threw all his power and influence in favor of Henry Clay, his favorite among the great men, for the presidency.

In 1846 the Whigs of Springfield, where he was then living, put Lincoln forward for Congress, and succeeded in getting him elected. He was not in favor of the war with Mexico, then going on, and was not selected to run again. Lincoln returned to Springfield, and began the practice of law with greater success than ever before.

When Senator Douglas of Illinois, in 1854, carried the Kansas-Nebraska Bill through Congress, anti-slavery men all over the nation raised a storm of indignation. This bill repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had stood for thirty years, and threw the territories open to slavery.

Douglas spoke at the state fair, held in Springfield. He tried to explain why he favored the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. Lincoln made a speech four hours in length, ably answering the argument of Douglas. This speech made him the champion for the anti-slavery people in the state against Douglas.

WHALE-OIL LAMP

From Lincoln's log cabin

The same question was fought out between them at[Pg 320] Peoria, a little later. Again Lincoln met Douglas' arguments. People began to talk of Lincoln as the next United States senator. More and more, popular opinion in the state began to turn toward Lincoln.

Accordingly, in 1858, at Springfield, the Republicans in convention named Lincoln for United States senator. He made a speech to the Republicans in which he said that this country cannot remain half slave and half free—that it must become all slave or all free.

This called every man to face a new question. No greater question could be raised. Some friends of Lincoln pleaded with him not to say that the country could not remain half slave and half free. "I had rather be defeated with that expression in my speech than to be victorious without it," said Lincoln.

162. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates. Douglas attacked this speech, and Lincoln challenged him to hold several joint debates before the people of Illinois. Seven debates were arranged, in which Douglas insisted upon opening and closing four.

The people of Illinois were mainly farmers in 1858. They traveled long distances to hear these giants debate the question of slavery. Some of them were several days coming and going—in wagons, on horseback, or on foot. The newspapers in the larger cities sent men to listen to these debates, and take down the words used by Lincoln and Douglas. The editors knew the people were anxiously waiting to read what these men had to say about slavery.

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"Can the people of a ... Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen ... exclude slavery?" Lincoln asked. "Yes," said Douglas. That was a fatal answer. For, by this answer, Douglas lost the support of the Democrats of the South, although he held the Democrats of Illinois. He could still be senator, but he could never be president.

The debates went on. "I do not perceive," said Lincoln, "that because the white man is to have the superior position, the negro should be denied everything ... there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights [named] in the Declaration of Independence ... I agree with Judge Douglas, he [the negro] is not my equal in many respects—certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowments. But, in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal, and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man."

These debates made Lincoln widely known. He accepted invitations to speak in Ohio, New York, and New England.

In May, 1860, the Republicans of Illinois met in state convention. Lincoln was there. The people picked him up, lifted him over their heads, and placed him on the platform. The cheering was loud. Just at this moment John Hanks came into the hall carrying two fence rails, with the Stars and Stripes mounted between them, bearing in large words the following: "Taken from a lot made by Abraham Lincoln and John Hanks in the Sangamon Bottom in the year 1830." The people stood up and cheered, and threw their hats high and[Pg 322] shouted for Lincoln, the "rail-splitter." He made them a speech. The convention then and there named him as the choice of the Republican party of Illinois for the next President of the United States.

163. Lincoln President. A few weeks later Abraham Lincoln was nominated in Chicago by the National Convention of the Republican party for the presidency. Just as the passage of Douglas' Kansas-Nebraska Bill killed the old Whig party, so the debates between Lincoln and Douglas split the Democratic party into a northern and a southern wing.

LINCOLN SPEAKING IN THE STATE CONVENTION

Douglas was nominated by the northern wing, and Breckenridge by the southern wing. This division in the Democratic party resulted in the election of Lincoln to the presidency, in November, 1860.

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During the fall and winter, seven southern states left the Union, and set up a government called the "Confederate States of America." They had their government all in running order before Lincoln left Springfield.

In February, 1861, Lincoln said good-by to the people of Springfield, and started for Washington to take his seat as president. The people were bound to see him and hear his voice and shake his hand. Along the route there were cheers, bonfires, and military parades with miles of marching men. At Philadelphia he raised a flag over Independence Hall. He made a touching speech in regard to the men of the Revolution who had sat in that hall, and pledged himself to abide by the principles of the Declaration of Independence.

On March 4, with soldiers guarding the capitol, Lincoln read his inaugural address and took the oath of office which all presidents before him had taken. This speech was listened to with the greatest interest. It was now plain to everybody that Lincoln meant to fight, if fighting were necessary to save the Union.

In April Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. After awful hardships, Colonel Anderson and his men surrendered the fort to the Confederate troops.

Lincoln immediately sent forth the call for seventy-five thousand men. He made it a call to save the Union which Jackson, Webster, and Clay had done so much to save. War had come—civil war, the most dreadful kind of war. Four more states left the Union, and joined the Confederate States. But the slave states of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri remained with the Union.

While the Union troops were gathering and drilling[Pg 324] in Washington, Lincoln declared a blockade of the ports of the Confederate States. He saw that if he closed the ports of the South he could prevent the shipment of cotton to Europe and so keep the Confederacy from getting supplies in exchange for the cotton. This was a heavy blow to the Confederates.

THE CONFEDERATE STATES

The South depended on the Merrimac to break the blockade. The Merrimac was a wooden war vessel which had been covered with a double coat of iron. It had a great iron beak with which it could ram wooden vessels. The Merrimac moved to attack the Union fleet, which was stationed in Hampton Roads. The shot fired from the Union vessels and from the shore batteries had no more effect on the iron coat of the Merrimac than hail on a tin roof. She sank one wooden war vessel and set another on fire. What was to hinder her from going up the Potomac and bombarding Washington?

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

From a rare photograph taken by Alexander Hesler in Chicago, 1860, and loaned by the Chicago Photogravure Company, who own the original

But Lincoln placed his hope in the Monitor. This[Pg 325] strange craft, "looking like a cheese box on a raft," reached Hampton Roads that night and took position to defend the Union fleet from the Merrimac. The next morning the two ironclads met in battle. It was a battle of giants. "Why do you stop firing?" asked an officer of one of the gunners on the Merrimac. "I can do her as much damage by snapping my thumb at her every two minutes and a half," was the reply.

It was a drawn battle. Washington was safe. The South could not break the blockade. This battle between the Merrimac and the Monitor changed the navies of the world. Wooden war vessels now gave place to iron vessels.

Meantime great battles were also being fought on land. In the East the Union army under General McClellan had been hurled back in an attack on Richmond. The Confederates under General Lee, in an attempt to invade the North, had been forced to retreat.

In the West events of equal importance were taking place. The Union troops under General Grant defeated the Confederates in many battles in Kentucky and Tennessee. Then with the aid of the Union fleet under Captain David Farragut, Grant captured the[Pg 326] Confederate strongholds along the Mississippi River, and so cut the Confederacy in two.

Lincoln had declared the war was to be fought to save the Union and not to get rid of slavery. But as the war went on, the slavery question would keep coming up. The Confederates used the slaves to build forts, cook for the army, and to do other work. Thus the slave took the place of the white soldier. Other slaves raised food supplies and cared for the women. In this way the slaves were constantly being used to help fight against the Union.

THE STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO

By Augustus St. Gaudens

The time had come to destroy slavery. Lincoln now saw that by freeing the slaves he could strike a heavy blow at the Confederacy. So as commander in chief of the Union armies he issued the Proclamation of Emancipation January 1, 1863.

The war, however, continued more than two years longer. The long list of dead and wounded on both sides saddened Lincoln. Day by day the lines in his kindly face grew deeper.

Finally the news came that General Grant had hammered General Lee's lines to pieces, and that Jefferson Davis and his cabinet were leaving Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy.

Early in April President[Pg 327] Lincoln went to visit the city of Richmond. Here he saw a city on fire, and a mob breaking into houses.

Courtesy of Youth's Companion

LINCOLN TOWER OF CHRIST CHURCH, SOUTHWARK, LONDON

The cost of this tower was met by contributions half in English sixpences and half in American dimes

Grant was pursuing Lee's army. He overtook it, and on April 8 offered terms of surrender. Lee accepted. The president's heart was filled with gratitude that no more lives were to be sacrificed on either side.

164. President Lincoln Assassinated. The evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to Ford's Theater in Washington to rest his body and mind. As he sat in a box, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, shot him in the back of the head. Booth sprang upon the stage, flourished his revolver, and escaped.

Abraham Lincoln died the next day. Thus the nation lost a great man. He was truly a man "with malice toward none, with charity for all."

Many monuments have been built to honor the name of this great man. The most unique one is in Edinburgh, Scotland—a life-size statue with one hand holding the Emancipation Proclamation and with the other striking the chains from a half-rising slave. Another interesting monument is the Lincoln Tower of Christ Church, London. High on this tower in red, white, and blue tiles, is the American flag. The largest memorial is at Springfield, Illinois, the home of Lincoln and where he lies buried. One of the most celebrated is the St. Gaudens statue in Lincoln Park, Chicago.

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ANDREW JOHNSON

From a photograph taken in 1865, by A. Gardner, Washington, D. C.

165. Andrew Johnson as President. Before the war Lincoln had begun the reconstruction of the South. He did not admit that the Confederate states had ever really left the Union. Whenever one-tenth of the voters in a state would take an oath of loyalty to the Union, he allowed them to set up a new government. Lincoln then recognized this as the regular state government.

Lincoln did not live to apply his wise and moderate rule to more than a few states. Even here he met with opposition from Congress. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded him as President, was a Southerner, though a stout Unionist. He was honest, but rude and harsh in his behavior.

Johnson tried to carry out Lincoln's plans for reconciling the defeated states. But he did not consult Congress before he began. Congress felt that the President was trying to override its power. It made much more harsh conditions for re-admitting the southern states.

The quarrel between the President and Congress ended in an impeachment trial. Johnson retained his presidency by only one vote. Whether or not this trial was deserved may be a question. There can be no doubt, however, but that in dealing with foreign countries Andrew Johnson's motives were wise and patriotic as well.

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Mexico had long owed certain debts to England, France, and Spain. The French emperor, Napoleon III, determined to make these debts an excuse for extending his power. He sent soldiers to Mexico, and used them to set up an Austrian archduke, Maximilian, as Emperor of Mexico. President Johnson sent American soldiers to the Rio Grande, and the French forces were withdrawn. Maximilian had now no support and later was shot.

In 1867 Johnson purchased Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000. Thus one more European power gave up its possessions in the New World.

166. The Progress of Reconstruction. Contentment of mind and regular, peaceful growth of trade and business did not return to the South until long after Johnson's presidency. Congress had little understanding of the difficulties with which it was faced. Under its reconstruction the life of the South was for a time cruelly unsettled. At last the old southern leaders themselves restored order. Then they governed much as before.

Lincoln had earned the respect of the South, for he was a leader great enough to be generous in victory. He might have checked the misrule which nearly ruined the industries of the South, and created more lasting bitterness than the war. The South suffered as great a loss as the North in the death of Lincoln.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

TWO FAMOUS GENERALS

ULYSSES S. GRANT, THE GREAT GENERAL OF THE UNION ARMIES

167. A Poor Boy Becomes a Great Man. Ulysses Simpson Grant was born in 1822, in Ohio, at a place called Point Pleasant. When he was a year old his[Pg 332] parents removed to Georgetown, Ohio, and there a few years later he attended school. He was taught little besides reading, writing, and arithmetic. As he grew up he helped his father and mother by hauling wood, plowing, and doing other useful work. He did not like the leather business, his father's occupation, but he found great pleasure in farm work because he was very fond of horses.

Young Grant liked to travel. When the news came that he had been appointed a cadet at the United States Military Academy, he was glad because of the journey to West Point but not because of any other opportunities it offered. He did not like West Point, and studied only to please his father.

THE BIRTHPLACE OF GENERAL GRANT, POINT PLEASANT, OHIO

After his graduation Grant fought in the Mexican War as lieutenant under General Taylor and later under General Scott. After peace was restored he served in California as a captain, but very soon resigned, and when the Civil War broke out in 1861 he was working as a clerk in his father's store at Galena, Illinois.

ULYSSES S. GRANT

From a photograph taken in 1866 by F. Gutekunst, Philadelphia

168. A Great General. When Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men startled the country, Grant was made chairman of a meeting at Galena called to raise a company of soldiers. He then went to Springfield,[Pg 333] where the governor set him to work drilling soldiers and getting them ready for the war. After a time he became colonel of a regiment. A further promotion followed which made him a brigadier-general in command of several regiments. Later still he rose to be major-general, in command of an army.

Early in the war it was seen that in order to conquer the Confederacy it must be split in two by gaining possession of the Mississippi River. As a part of the great campaign with this end in view, we find Brigadier-General Grant directing the attacks on Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. These places were less than ten miles apart, in western Tennessee.

With the help of Commodore Foote and his gunboats, Grant easily captured Fort Henry. To take Fort Donelson was not so easy. The Confederates tried to break through the right wing of Grant's army. After hard fighting they were driven back, and General Buckner asked what terms Grant would give if they surrendered. To this General Grant replied that he would consider "no terms but an unconditional and immediate surrender ... I propose to move immediately upon your works." This answer has become famous.

The surrender of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson forced[Pg 334] the Confederates to move back their line of defense. After winning the two days' battle at Pittsburg Landing, General Grant turned his attention to the Mississippi River. As long as the Mississippi remained open to the southern forces, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas could send food supplies to the Confederates on the east side of the river. This General Grant wanted to stop, so, early in 1863, he moved southward to take Vicksburg. He beat the Confederates in the field and drove them into Vicksburg. The siege of the city lasted seven weeks. No one could slip in or out. Meat and bread grew scarce. The houses were knocked to pieces by cannon balls, and people found shelter in cellars and caves.

THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING, TENNESSEE

On the Fourth of July, 1863, Vicksburg, with Pemberton's army of more than thirty thousand men, surrendered. There was great happiness throughout the North. President Lincoln sent a message of thanks to General Grant, and Congress voted that he be given a medal.

SCENE OF GRANT'S CAMPAIGNS IN THE WEST

During this campaign in the lower Mississippi country[Pg 335] a large Confederate army had marched north from Virginia, across Maryland into Pennsylvania. This army, under General Robert E. Lee, had won its way as far as Gettysburg. Here, at the end of a great three days' battle, the Confederates were decisively beaten; this defeat came on July 3, and on the very next day came the news that far-away Vicksburg had surrendered to Grant. After defeating the Confederates at Murfreesboro, General Rosecrans was in turn defeated at Chickamauga, and then cooped up in the town of Chattanooga by General Bragg. General Grant was sent to rescue the Union army, which he did in the battles of Lookout Mountain, led by Hooker, and Missionary Ridge, led by Sherman.

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169. Great Commander of the Union Armies. President Lincoln saw that General Grant was a great soldier. He sent for him to come to Washington and made him lieutenant-general in command of all the armies of the United States.

Grant took command at once. His first great object was to capture Lee's army. The shortest way to Lee's army lay through the "Wilderness," a part of the country lying south of the upper part of the Rapidan, in Virginia, and covered with a thick forest of tangled underbrush. The route was dangerous. But into the "Wilderness" Grant plunged with his great army. General Lee was there with his troops. The fighting began. For a month it was almost constant charging, back and forth, and there were long lists of dead and wounded. Grant moved his army southward and nearer Richmond. Lee met him in the bloody battles of Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor.

Then Grant crossed the James River, south of Richmond, and began the attack on Petersburg. This place was taken in the spring of 1865.

General Lee told the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, that he could hold Richmond no longer. He tried to get his army away, but the men were weak from hard fighting, and Sheridan, with his cavalry, was too quick for him.

General Grant wrote to General Lee suggesting that he surrender, and thus prevent the loss of more lives. Lee agreed, and the papers were signed April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House. No more generous terms were ever given than those granted to Lee and his men.

After the war was over General Grant served for a[Pg 337] time in the cabinet of President Johnson, who had become president at Lincoln's death.

THE GRANT MONUMENT, RIVERSIDE PARK, NEW YORK

170. President of the United States. In 1868 Grant was elected President of the United States. He was elected again in 1872. Late in life he made a tour of the world, and everywhere was received with great honor.

He died July 23, 1885, at Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, New York. His body rests in Riverside Park, New York City, where a magnificent monument has been built to his memory.

ROBERT EDWARD LEE, THE MAN WHO LED THE CONFEDERATE ARMIES

171. The Great General of the Confederacy. Robert E. Lee was born in Virginia in 1807. He went to school at Alexandria, where George Washington once lived, and became a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

In the war with Mexico Lee earned honor and fame. He rose rapidly in rank. Starting as captain, he became major, lieutenant-colonel, and then colonel. When the Mexican War was over, he took charge of the Military Academy at West Point. After three years, he decided[Pg 338] to give up the work at West Point and go West to fight the Indians.

About this time the people began to insist that, in the United States, slavery must be given up. Even the army officers and men quarreled about it. Lee believed in the Union and did not want the South to leave it. But when Virginia followed other slave states out of the Union and into the Confederacy, Lee went with his native state.

When the war began, Lee, as general, had command of the Virginia troops. After the battle of Fair Oaks, in which General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded, General Lee took charge of the army defending Richmond.

172. Lee Fights Battle after Battle. Lee at once attacked the Union army which was trying to take Richmond. In a seven days' battle he forced McClellan, the Union general, to retreat. He then struck the army of Pope a fatal blow and marched with his victorious soldiers into Maryland. A great battle was fought at Antietam (1862) and Lee returned to Virginia. He won two great victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. In the latter battle he lost Stonewall Jackson, his best general. After this, his army rested and ranks filled, General Lee moved rapidly through Maryland and into Pennsylvania. The North became alarmed, but a great Union army was already hurrying to meet the Confederate forces.

The two armies met at Gettysburg, and there for three days was fought the greatest battle of the Civil War. On the last day General Pickett made his famous charge. Fifteen thousand southern soldiers charged across the valley—more than a mile wide—right up to the muzzles[Pg 339] of the Union guns. But the help they expected from another direction did not arrive, and they had to retreat. Lee's army was defeated. More than fifty thousand men—including the killed, wounded, and missing on both sides—were lost at Gettysburg.

PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG

This heroic assault marked the turn of the Confederate tide

173. Facing a Powerful Army. General Lee then went back across the Potomac, never to invade the North again. From then onward, little was done until, in 1864, General Grant took command of all the Union forces. Then followed three great battles—the "Wilderness," so called because it was fought in a thick forest of tangled underbrush lying in Virginia just south of the upper portion of the Rapidan; Spottsylvania, fought near the Spottsylvania courthouse a little farther southward, and Cold Harbor, fought a few miles northeast of Richmond.

[Pg 340]

General Lee's troops were wearing out. There were no more men to take the places of those killed and wounded. Food and clothing became scarce, and other supplies were hard to get. General Lee was now made commander in chief over all the Confederate armies. He immediately put Joseph E. Johnston back in command of his old army in the West, but it was too late.

SCENE OF WAR AROUND WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND

Lee decided in 1865 that Richmond must be given up. He wanted to take his army to Danville, Virginia, on the way to join the army of General Joseph E. Johnston, in North Carolina, but at Appomattox his troops met General Sheridan's cavalry.

174. The Confederacy Was Lost. General Lee received a letter from General Grant asking him to surrender. The two generals met at a farmhouse and agreed upon terms. Grant gave the officers and men permission[Pg 341] to take their horses home "to do their spring plowing."

ROBERT EDWARD LEE

From a portrait painted by Browne, now in the Westmoreland Club, Richmond, Virginia

The next morning Lee, surrounded by his sorrowing men, mounted his horse, Traveler, and rode slowly away to his home in Richmond. The other Confederate armies surrendered one by one.

After the war General Lee was elected president of Washington College at Lexington, Virginia, now Washington and Lee University. He greatly enjoyed his work of building up the young manhood of the South. He died at Lexington in 1870. A monument to the memory of this great man has been erected at Richmond, and another at Lexington.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

MEN WHO DETERMINED NEW POLITICAL POLICIES

RUTHERFORD B. HAYES

175. A Wise and Independent President. In 1822 a baby boy was born in the old college town of Delaware, Ohio. His parents named the boy Rutherford B. Hayes. As a youngster he loved his books and his playmates.

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RUTHERFORD B. HAYES

From a photograph by Pach Bros., New York City

At an early age he entered Kenyon College, Ohio. Here he was a leader among his fellows, not only in college affairs, but in his daily work in the classroom. He graduated with first honors in his class.

For his after-college work Hayes decided to choose the law, and graduated from Harvard Law School. He was just beginning to win success when Lincoln's call to arms aroused the men of the North. It seemed terrible for northern men and southern men to fight against each other, but it had to be done to save the Union.

Hayes volunteered and was made a major in command. By his fine work as an officer in caring for his men and in bravery on the field of battle, he won the title of general. While he was still fighting, the people at home, looking for a high-minded, honorable man for congress, nominated Hayes.

His supporters sent for him to come home and canvass for votes. He would not go. He said: "An officer fit for duty who, at such a time as this, would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress, ought to be scalped." Hayes remained at his post and was elected by a large majority.

Hayes had become known to all the people of his state and they wanted him for governor. So friendly was he toward all whether high or low, so honest was he that three times the people chose him to be their governor.

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In 1876 the Republicans of the nation selected him to be their candidate for the high office of president. The Democratic candidate was a man of very high reputation, Samuel J. Tilden of New York. He was known as a fighter for honesty and against wrongdoing in public office.

Unfortunately, the politicians aroused bitter feeling between the North and the South in this campaign. When it was seen that Hayes was winner by only one vote, there were threats of "civil war." But luckily Tilden did not lose his head, and his party, following his advice, accepted the result.

Hayes decided to take the Union soldiers out of the South. The radical Republicans opposed this action, but the majority of the people in the North favored it. The southern people were happy, because now they might manage their elections to suit themselves.

President Hayes also placed a southern man in his cabinet, and this, too, helped along the good feeling between the North and the South.

We can see now that the return of good feeling between the North and the South was necessary, but it was not so easily seen then. Now we can say that President Hayes was a noble and far-seeing statesman when he offered the "olive branch" to the South.

Lucy Hayes, his wife, was a brave woman. She startled society at Washington and in the country at large by issuing a decree that no strong drink should be used in the White House. The temperance people were happy, but others were not, especially the ministers of foreign countries who had always been in the habit of using wine on social occasions. A great cry was raised throughout the country, but Lucy Webb Hayes stood her ground.

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JAMES A. GARFIELD AND CHESTER A. ARTHUR

JAMES A. GARFIELD

After a photograph by E. Bierstadt

176. The Towpath that Led to the Presidency. Like Lincoln, the second of our "martyr Presidents" started life in a log cabin. Garfield was born near Cleveland, Ohio (1831). His parents were poor and his father died while Garfield was yet an infant. Garfield's mother was brave and held her little family together. The children did not have much chance to go to school. Life to them was a hard struggle.

When James reached the age of fifteen, he began driving mules on the towpath of a canal running from Cleveland to Portsmouth. This was the time when canal boats carried both freight and passengers. The towpath was a hard "school," but had many good lessons for a boy wise enough to keep out of mischief.

He had his heart set on an education. He went to school long enough to be able to teach school. He shared his earnings with his mother. Teaching only sharpened his appetite for an education. For a time he went to Hiram College and afterward became a teacher there. He loved Hiram College because it was supported by the Church of the Disciples, of which he was a member. He finished his education at Williams College.

When Lincoln called for men for the war, Garfield, like[Pg 346] thousands of others, volunteered. He became an officer and did his work so well that he was promoted to be major general. Like Hayes, he was elected to Congress while in the army, fighting its battles. Again and again, the people of his district sent him to Congress, and finally in 1880 the legislature of his native state made him a United States senator.

Garfield was a wonderful orator. Before the Republicans, gathered in Chicago, he placed the name of John Sherman in nomination for the presidency. So great was this speech that the convention turned from all the men who were before it, and nominated Garfield himself.

Garfield won the presidency before he had a chance to take his seat as United States senator. After delivering his inaugural address to the vast crowd gathered, he turned and kissed his mother.

The Republicans had promised to make new rules about men appointed to office. They declared that men should not hold office just because they had worked for the party in power, but that they should pass an examination to find out whether or not they were fit for the position.

While Garfield was leaving Washington to attend the Fourth of July celebration at Williams College, he was shot by a half-crazy, disappointed office seeker. He lived until September. Few young people can now understand how the American people felt during this time. They learned to hate the "spoils system." Garfield's death sealed its fate.

177. Arthur Becomes President. Chester A. Arthur was thought to be a "politician" merely, but he proved to be a good president. He began to build up a strong navy and started the movement for the reform of the civil service.

[Pg 347]

CHESTER A. ARTHUR

From a photograph by Sarony

Since the days of the Civil War, we had been too busy with affairs at home to think much about the need of a navy. But beginning with President Arthur's administration we have increased its size from time to time, until during the war with Spain, our people came to feel the navy's value.

Under Arthur the spoils system received its first deadly blow when Congress passed and Arthur signed a bill establishing the merit system. By this system, men are appointed to office only after they have proved their fitness by an examination. Under it men cannot be turned out of office except for just cause.

GROVER CLEVELAND

178. A Man Who Was Twice President. Grover Cleveland saw the light of day in the old state of New Jersey in 1837. While he was yet a boy his parents moved to central New York. Here he received a common school education. He was a good pupil and made friends with boys who loved honesty and fair play. His parents were poor and could not send him to college. He was always sorry for this and tried to make up for it by hard study. The lives of men great in history and literature were what he liked best to read.

GROVER CLEVELAND

From a photograph by Bell

After going to Buffalo, young Cleveland entered upon[Pg 348] the study of law. He studied long upon the fine points of the law. In time he became one of the ablest lawyers, not only in Buffalo, but in the State of New York. The fact that young Cleveland was chosen sheriff of Erie County shows that a great many people already looked upon him as a courageous man.

When Buffalo needed a mayor who was not afraid to do his duty, the people elected this man who had been a good sheriff.

The people of the State of New York wanted a man of the Cleveland type for governor. He carried the state by a great majority. He was a great governor as he had been a great mayor. He was honest and straightforward, and treated all men alike. Long before his time as governor was up, the people began to talk of him for president.

Cleveland ran against a widely known and popular man, James G. Blaine of Maine. But the Republicans split and Cleveland won. The Democrats were happy over the result, for this was the first time they had elected a president since 1856.

The Republicans had kept a high tariff ever since the Civil War. The result was that our treasury at Washington was full of money. Cleveland sent a message to Congress asking that the tariff be cut down, but the high-tariff Democrats joined the Republicans in supporting it.

[Pg 349]

Cleveland had made many enemies in his own party by refusing to appoint unfit men to office. When, therefore, he ran for president again in 1888, he was beaten by Senator Harrison of Indiana.

But four years later, in 1892, he defeated Harrison and again became president.

179. The Panic of 1893. Cleveland had hardly taken his seat as President when hard times struck the country. Business men and laborers suffered greatly. They could not pay their debts. Men, women, and children suffered for want of bread.

The Pullman Car Company of Chicago cut down the wages of its workmen. The men called a strike which finally extended over half the states of the Union.

Chicago was the center of the strike. Hundreds of cars were burned and lives were threatened. It was impossible to carry the United States mail or freight from one state to another. Grover Cleveland ordered United States soldiers to Chicago to keep the mails going and the freight running. This broke the back of the strike. Cleveland had shown how to settle strikes in a new way.

Cleveland served twice as President and after his second term of office he moved to Princeton, New Jersey, the seat of Princeton University. Here he became famous for his lectures given before the student body.

BENJAMIN HARRISON

BENJAMIN HARRISON

From a photograph by L. Alman

180. A General Who Became President. Early in our national history it had happened that the son of a President of the United States had also become President. In 1833 a boy was born in Ohio, the grandson of a President, who was also to gain this high position.[Pg 350] His grandfather was William Henry Harrison, who was elected President in the stirring campaign of 1840. His parents named him Benjamin.

Young Harrison, a happy and well-born boy, received his education in the public schools. He entered Miami University at an early age and graduated at eighteen.

Harrison, like so many of our other presidents, studied law. He was very soon admitted to the bar, and in 1854 he went to live in the Hoosier State at Indianapolis.

He answered the call to arms. He was made a lieutenant, but had hardly learned his duties before he was promoted to be captain of a company of one hundred men. Hardly a month passed before an order came making him a colonel of a regiment of a thousand men. He led this regiment until the last days of the war, and the boys were proud of "Colonel Ben."

For personal bravery and for skill in handling his men in one of the battles in Georgia, he was made major general.

After the war Harrison returned to the law. In political campaigns he was much sought after to speak in all parts of the state.

He did not accept office until he was elected United States senator in 1881. Senator Harrison was nominated[Pg 351] for the presidency in 1888. He set the example of making speeches "on his front porch" to admiring crowds who came from different states.

In this campaign the Democrats pointed to Harrison as a man who wore his "grandfather's hat." The Republicans made this campaign like that of 1840. There was great enthusiasm, big wagons carrying log cabins with raccoons and barrels of hard cider, great balls rolling on, and happy songs. Tippecanoe clubs were formed in all parts of the country. The result was the election of Harrison.

Under President Harrison a tariff law was passed with a reciprocity agreement. By this arrangement, the United States agreed to reduce its tariff if other nations would reduce theirs. President Harrison had a warm spot in his heart for the old soldiers, and he signed with pleasure a new pension law.

The farmers and the silver men of the West were becoming dissatisfied with the action of Congress. In 1890 their forces elected several new Congressmen, and in the next year formed the People's party. Most of the votes of this party were drawn from the Republican side, hence in the next campaign Harrison was defeated by Cleveland.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

THE BEGINNING OF EXPANSION ABROAD

WILLIAM McKINLEY AND THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR

WILLIAM McKINLEY

From a photograph by Courtney, taken at Canton, Ohio

181. William McKinley. William McKinley was born in Ohio in 1843. As a boy his chief delight was to roam the fields and woods surrounding Niles, his home[Pg 353] town, or to fish in the fine streams near by. When he was about nine years old his parents moved to Poland, Ohio, where there were good schools for children. McKinley studied hard, and at seventeen years of age entered Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania. But his health had never been very good and he fell ill from hard study. He returned to Poland, and there a little later he taught school.

In 1861 Lincoln's call for troops to save the Union fired the whole North with patriotism. McKinley, though then only eighteen years of age, enlisted at once. Under fire at Antietam and in later battles of the war, he won praise and promotion for his heroic deeds. The active army life was good for him, and when the war was over he was a strong and healthy man. He enlisted as a private and came out as a major. All his promotions were for merit and bravery.

He returned to Poland and took up the study of the law. But his means were small and he had a hard struggle. In 1867 McKinley was admitted to the bar and opened an office in Canton, Ohio.

Like many another young lawyer he had numerous difficulties and disappointments, but he worked hard and in time became a successful lawyer. He was a good speaker and soon was much in demand in political campaigns.

[Pg 354]

The people admired him. They felt that he could be trusted. They sent him, for seven terms, to represent them in Congress at Washington, and twice they made him governor of Ohio. In 1896 he was elected president of the United States.

182. Spanish Persecution in Cuba. Since the earliest days of Spanish rule, Cuba had been discontented and had engaged in frequent wars with Spain because of heavy taxation and bad government. Again and again the Cubans revolted, but they were not strong enough to succeed and Spanish oppression continued. In 1895 the people rose in a last desperate effort to free themselves. To crush them Spain sent a large army under a cruel general. Large numbers of unarmed Cubans—men, women, and children—were gathered into camps guarded by Spanish soldiers and cut off from food and other supplies. Thousands died of starvation and disease.

HOW THE CUBANS FOUGHT

Lying in ambush for the advancing column of the enemy

These and other harsh things done in an attempt to break the spirit of the Cubans filled the American people with bitter indignation. On the recommendation of President McKinley, Congress voted fifty thousand dollars for relief work. Money,[Pg 355] by private contribution, also flowed in from all parts of the country. The Red Cross Society, led by Clara Barton, hastened to the island to relieve the awful conditions of hunger and disease.

GEORGE DEWEY

From a photograph taken in 1900 by Francis B. Johnston, Washington, D.C.

The American people were aroused. They demanded that the United States interfere in behalf of the suffering Cubans, who were fighting to be free. They were eager to take up arms for freedom and humanity.

Indignation was brought to its highest pitch when, on February 15, 1898, the United States battleship Maine was sunk in Havana Harbor, two hundred sixty of the crew perishing. What was the cause of the explosion has never been found out, but Americans then believed it to be the work of the Spaniards.

In April the United States demanded that the Spanish troops be taken from Cuba and the Cubans be given their independence. Spain was given three days in which to reply. She immediately declared war against the United States.

183. A War for the Sake of Humanity. The war had hardly begun before Admiral George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet and pounded to pieces the shore batteries in Manila Bay, Philippine Islands. Dewey, with his[Pg 356] fleet, sailed under orders from Hong-kong, China, entered the bay, and did his work without the loss of a man. This deed made him the naval hero of the war.

Thousands of men, North and South, rallied to the call of President McKinley. The states of the far West responded with noble enthusiasm. California, largest in population and wealth, led in the number of its volunteers.

SCENE OF THE SPANISH WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES

The land forces in Cuba were under the command of General Shafter. They stormed El Caney and San Juan and marched on Santiago. But the "Rough Riders," a regiment raised from the mountains and plains, attracted the most attention. Colonel Leonard Wood had command of them, aided by Theodore Roosevelt. When Wood was made a general, Roosevelt became their colonel, and fought through the war with them.

A large fleet[Pg 357] sent from Spain under Admiral Cervera had kept out of the way of the American fleet under Rear-Admiral Sampson and Commodore Schley and was now hidden in Santiago Harbor. When the Americans captured El Caney and San Juan, the Spanish admiral decided that Santiago would soon be in American hands. To escape being taken prisoner he made a bold dash from the harbor.

THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY

The American naval forces were on the watch, and soon the entire Spanish fleet was destroyed or captured—July 3, 1898.

The occupation by the Americans of the city of Manila, in the Philippines, in August (1898), brought peace proposals from Spain. These were accepted, the treaty being signed on the tenth of December.

This war was fought for the sake of humanity and freedom and not for gain or glory. The United States had taken the side of an oppressed people struggling for independence but she did not claim these countries as the spoils of war. She paid Spain twenty million dollars in gold for the Philippines, and at once set to work to establish schools, build good roads, help the farmers,[Pg 358] and improve living conditions by making the government more stable and humane.

It had long been felt, especially by the people of the Pacific States, that for both commercial and military reasons the Hawaiian Islands should belong to us. These islands—eight in all—were annexed in 1898.

Steps were taken at once to give the people of Cuba a government of their own. The island was made a republic. The constitution, drawn up somewhat like our own, was adopted by the people of Cuba, February 21, 1902. The United States did much to help the people before it withdrew from the island in 1902 and left the Cubans to rule themselves. Conditions have rapidly improved. In 1894, under Spanish rule, there were only about 900 public schools, and, even including the 700 private schools, only about 60,000 pupils were on the rolls. Six years later, under American rule, there were 3,550 public schools, with 172,000 pupils enrolled. By the conduct of their government the Cubans are justifying the confidence the American people had in them.

THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO

[Pg 359]

As a result of the war Guam and Porto Rico also became American possessions. This was the beginning of American territorial expansion. The United States took its place among the great world powers, and has since played an important part in the affairs of nations.

184. McKinley Assassinated. President McKinley did not live to see the results of self-government in Cuba. Shortly after his election to a second term as president, he was shot by an anarchist, while the guest of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo in September, 1901. After a week of patient suffering, watched with painful anxiety by the people, William McKinley, our third martyr president, passed away.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

THE MAN WHO WAS THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY

THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THE TYPICAL AMERICAN

185. Theodore Roosevelt as a Boy. Although the son of a rich man, Roosevelt both as boy and man was most democratic. One of his forefathers, Klaes Martensen van Roosevelt, came from Holland to New York in the steerage of a sailing vessel, a most lowly way to travel.[Pg 361] This was long ago, before Peter Stuyvesant was governor of New Netherland, as New York colony was then called.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

From a photograph by Bell

Young Roosevelt had learned a few words of an old Dutch baby-song. When in South Africa, he pleased the Dutch settlers by repeating the few words he still remembered. The settlers still teach this song to their children, though their forefathers left Holland for that country more than two hundred and fifty years ago.

Roosevelt's mother was a charming southern woman, who was true to the South in the Civil War; her brothers were in the Confederate Navy. One night, as she was putting the children to bed, Theodore broke out into a rather loud prayer for the Union soldiers. The mother only smiled.

The father stood for the Union and for Lincoln. He helped fit out regiments and cared for the widow and the orphan. But there was no quarreling in this home over these differences. What a fine example to set before children! No wonder Roosevelt could refer with pride, when a man, to the heroic deeds of the Blue and the Gray.

Theodore was a sickly boy. Hence he was sent to a private school or had a tutor. The children spent their[Pg 362] summers among the delights of a country home. They had all sorts of frolicsome games. They had pets: cats, dogs, rabbits, woodchucks, crows, and a Shetland pony. They ran barefoot and joined their elders in playing at haying, harvesting, and picking apples. In the fall they climbed the hickory and the chestnut trees in search of nuts. Sometimes they played "Indians," in real fashion, by painting hands and faces with pokeberry juice!

But the children thought that by far the happiest time was Christmas. Roosevelt declares that he never knew another family to have so jolly a time at that season of the year.

Roosevelt makes a statement I wish every boy could make: "My father was the best man I ever knew." Roosevelt, the father, did not permit his children to become selfish. Each was taught to divide his gifts—not always an easy thing for older folks to do. In this home the children were taught to avoid being cruel and to practice kindness. Idleness was forbidden. The children were kept busy doing interesting things. Neither was young Roosevelt permitted to play the coward. He was taught to face unpleasant things like a man. His father could never stand a lie, even if it were only a "white" one. There was no room in that home for the coward or the bully.

At fifteen, after a year or more spent in Egypt, Palestine, and Germany, Theodore came home a more enthusiastic American than ever. He now began to prepare for college. He entered Harvard in 1876. He made a good but not a brilliant student. Throughout his course he taught a mission Bible class. He would not be without something to do even on Sunday.

[Pg 363]

He graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Yet he was not a "bookworm," but fond of all college sports. He was a genuine sportsman without being "sporty," as a boxing match once proved. One day Roosevelt and another student were having a hard fight. Students crowded around. The battle was hot. Time was called. Roosevelt promptly dropped his hands, while the other fellow landed a smashing blow on Roosevelt's nose. "Foul! foul!" shouted the students. "No! He did not hear," cried Roosevelt, and warmly shook hands with the offending student. How many boys can stand a blow in the face and not get angry? Roosevelt could.

Roosevelt had a resolute will, and he determined to make himself stronger, so far as he could. He took boxing lessons, and became skilled in this art. He rode horseback in the chase. He took long tramps into the dark woods of Maine. In the summer he went on canoe trips, and in winter on long hikes on snowshoes.

This frail boy, through his determination, became a man noted for his ruggedness and ceaseless energy. He had a keen love of adventure. As a rancher, hunter and explorer he met constant hardship and danger. But Roosevelt welcomed it all as part of the game.

186. Enters Politics. He joined a local Republican association in New York. His rich friends laughed at him for joining hands with saloonkeepers and "ward heelers." They would not do it, but this young democrat did. He was nominated for the assembly. He must now show his mettle. He began canvassing the saloon vote. A saloonkeeper declared his license too high. Roosevelt declared it too low; he said if elected he would make it higher. In spite of opposition he won.

[Pg 364]

Before he got through at Albany he learned that no man could be a fearless leader whose moral character was weak. Another lesson he learned was that a man must act in office as if he were never to hold another. He was elected three times to the assembly and made a name for himself in fighting bad laws and demanding good ones.

187. Western Life. After this, Roosevelt spent a number of years in the great Northwest. These years added to his strength and helped him become finely developed both physically and morally. In the time he spent on the ranches of this wild region and on a Dakota ranch of his own, he lived as a cowboy. He was a young man then, and with all the enthusiasm of youth he hunted the big game of the Rockies, rode the "bucking broncho," and slept with his saddle for a pillow in the "round-up."

This life tested courage as well as endurance, but Roosevelt was equal to the test. One day a drunken fellow with pistols in his belt ordered him to treat the crowd. Roosevelt knocked him down and took his guns from him.

Another time a boat was stolen, and Roosevelt, with two other men, started down the river in pursuit. They caught the three thieves, but an ice jam prevented them from going farther. Through days of bitter cold the whole party followed the slowly moving jam. After while there was nothing left to eat but bread made with the brown river water. But Roosevelt was a deputy sheriff. He was determined to punish the lawbreakers.

Finally provisions and a wagon were found. Leaving his men, Roosevelt started with his prisoners on a two-days' overland trip. He had a driver, but he himself tramped through the mud with his gun, behind the wagon.[Pg 365] At last after a one hundred and fifty mile trip, the lawbreakers were landed in jail.

In this big young country where bravery and manliness meant so much, the people thought there was no one like him.

188. Returns to Politics. He was surprised just before he left for the east to find that he was to be nominated for mayor of New York, at the early age of twenty-eight. He was defeated.

He served as Civil Service Commissioner for four years under President Harrison and for two years under Grover Cleveland, a Democrat. He was not head of the commissioners, but he worked so hard and fought the "spoilsman" so boldly that everybody called it Roosevelt's Commission. He had to fight Republicans and Democrats alike, for they were bent on turning all men out of office simply because the positions were needed for their party workers.

In 1895 Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner for New York City. As head of the Police Board he was on the Health Board, too. He took special delight in looking after playgrounds for the children of the slums. He was aided by Jacob Riis, who wrote How the Other Half Lives. Roosevelt's idea was to take children from the streets and put them in playgrounds to prevent them from becoming "toughs." A Washington city editor said, "Roosevelt is the biggest man in New York City. I saw a steady stream of people go up and down the stairs which led to police headquarters. He has more visitors than the President." The truth is, as police commissioner for all New York he was commander-in-chief of an army.

[Pg 366]

A policeman before could not get promoted without a "pull." But Roosevelt changed this. A Civil War veteran who had served for a long time as a policeman and had no "influence" rescued twenty-eight men and women from drowning. Congress had given him two medals, but New York City did nothing. Roosevelt came. The veteran, one night, plunged into the icy river and rescued a woman. Roosevelt showed his appreciation by promoting him. Every man on the force did his best now, for he knew promotion would come.

Roosevelt was called to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy, under President McKinley. He built up the navy and sent Dewey with the fleet to the Pacific. The war with Spain came (1898). Roosevelt resigned from his office, raised the Rough Riders, and took command with Colonel Wood.

189. Congress Orders Medal. For bravery in leading the Rough Riders in a gallant charge up San Juan Hill in the face of a murderous fire he was promoted, and a medal was ordered for him.

He went back to New York with his Rough Riders. They fairly worshiped him. "He knows everybody in the regiment," said one. "He is as ready to listen to a private as a major-general," said another. The boys presented him with a statue of the "Broncho Buster." Tears ran down the sun-tanned faces as a comrade made a touching speech. Roosevelt now was a real hero.

On his return from war he was elected governor of New York. He told the leaders of his party that he would be controlled by no man or set of men. He said that he would gladly talk with all classes of men, but must be permitted to make up his own mind. This was[Pg 367] plain talk for the "bosses." "He just plays the honesty game," said a Tammany politician.

But he had the same old battles as in the days when he was a young man in the assembly. He tried to run the government of the state in a businesslike manner, and his fight for cleaner politics was so determined that it caught the interest of the entire country.

COLONEL ROOSEVELT AND A GROUP OF ROUGH RIDERS

After two years he was nominated for the vice-presidency. The New York "bosses" were glad because they knew that as president of the Senate he could do very little to disturb them. But he had set a good example, and the great man who brought notice of his nomination said, "There is not a young man in the United States who has not found your life and influence an incentive to better things and higher ideals."

He made a whirlwind campaign. He spoke for eight weeks, in twenty-four states, traveling more than twenty thousand miles, making nearly seven hundred speeches to three million citizens.

In just six months President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt became President.

[Pg 368]

190. At Height of Ambition. The young man who had made himself strong, who cherished the memory of his father and mother, who had taught the mission class while in college, who had joined the Republican Club against the advice of his friends, who had fought against spoilsmen in state and national politics, who battled for the right of children to a breathing place in New York City, who had led the Rough Riders up San Juan Hill, who had stood as governor of New York against wrongdoing in high as well as low places, who was made Vice-President against his will, for the good of his party, now stood at the height of political power in America.

The people loved him so well that they called him to be President a second time; and that, too, by the largest majority ever given to any President. He was the youngest President ever elected.

His motto as President was "a square deal for everybody." He did many wonderful things as President: he stopped men from stealing public lands in the West; he built great dams in the dry regions to hold the water for raising crops; he established national parks containing millions of acres of woodland; he kept millions of acres of coal lands from falling into the hands of private companies; he established fifty-one national reservations where birds might nest and live protected from harm. How he did enjoy saving what nature had given men!

Down to his time, Roosevelt was the most learned man ever President. He knew more subjects and knew them better than most men. He was a great writer. For a long time he thought that writing was to be his career. It turned out to be only a small part of his crowded life, yet he wrote over thirty books—more than any other President.

[Pg 369]

He wrote histories, books on hunting, essays on American life and ideals, and lives of famous men. His story of his own life is well known. In his book, "The Strenuous Life," he tries to rouse other people to as active and fearless a life as he himself lived. He wrote always in vigorous, stirring language. Nearly every one agrees that Roosevelt's books alone would have made him famous.

191. President Taft, an Advocate of Peace. Roosevelt was President nearly two whole terms. He refused another term, and worked for the nomination of his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft.

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT

Taft was well fitted for his new tasks as President. He had held many public offices. He had made a very wise and successful governor of the Philippines.

President Taft was deeply interested in the need of world peace. He submitted to the Senate wide-reaching treaties to uphold peace with France and Great Britain, and also a reciprocity treaty with Canada. Under this last agreement the two countries were to treat each other's trade alike, and some things were to be free of duty. The outcome was disappointing. Canada failed to accept the reciprocity treaty, and the Senate passed the British and French peace treaties only after changing them greatly.

[Pg 370]

The passage of a new tariff bill caused a sharp division among the Republicans. The tariff was much criticized; but President Taft defended it. This was one reason why, in the second half of his term, the lower house of Congress became Democratic.

A divided Congress could not easily agree on any needed laws. Yet many good laws were passed during Taft's presidency. One was a Parcel Post measure. Two others proposed constitutional amendments for the taxation of incomes, and the election of United States senators directly by the people. Two new states, New Mexico and Arizona, were admitted to the Union.

The growing differences between the two wings of the Republicans in 1912 led to the nomination of both Taft and Roosevelt. Both were defeated by Woodrow Wilson.

After he left the presidency, Mr. Taft became professor of law at Yale. But he now worked more earnestly than ever in behalf of world peace. His sincere and generous efforts in this cause won him increased influence and respect throughout the nation.

192. Roosevelt's Active Life as Ex-President. Roosevelt, after his defeat in 1912, started out to explore a Brazilian river. Four years before he had also made a hunting trip through the tropical wildernesses of Africa.

Now Roosevelt and his party went into a jungle where no white man had been before. They were faced with tremendous hardships of all kinds.

The trip was longer than they expected, and there was little food in the jungle. They ate palm cabbages, and were glad to find a bit of wild honey or shoot a monkey.

Most of the party became ill with fever. But they scarcely dared halt. With their few provisions they were[Pg 371] in danger of starving. Roosevelt begged the party to leave him behind, but no one would hear of it. So with his party Roosevelt pushed on to civilization, at grave risk to his life. The Brazilian government renamed the six-hundred-mile river he explored Rio Roosevelt.

In the great World War, Roosevelt stood for the Allies from the first. He opposed our neutrality and our failure to get ready for the war which he saw coming.

When America declared war he begged to take an army to Europe. Although for some reason he was not sent, he did send four sons. Two of them, Theodore and Archie, were wounded, and Quentin gave his life flying and fighting inside the German lines.

In January, 1919, Theodore Roosevelt died. No other man carried the love and admiration of the boys and girls as did Roosevelt. The friendly name "Teddy" was the children's name for this great man.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

WESTWARD EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT

THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF POPULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

193. The New West. We have seen how the discovery of gold in the sand near the American River over one hundred miles from San Francisco started the tremendous rush to the Pacific coast. The gold seekers[Pg 373] went by three routes: by ship all the way around the Horn, the longest and stormiest way; by ship to Panama and beyond, a way beset by danger from fever in crossing the isthmus; and by long overland trails on which travelers suffered untold hardships from losing their way on the sandy plains or among the mountains. Many hundreds perished from sickness and hunger. In 1858, ten years later, gold was discovered near Pike's Peak; in 1859, silver was found in what is now southern Nevada. People streamed westward in ever-increasing numbers. Long lines of covered wagons, called "prairie schooners," filled with fortune seekers toiled over the plains and mountain trails. "Way stations" sprang up along the routes of travel, to supply the needs of immigrants. These supply stations soon grew into towns. Then came the discovery of gold in what is now Idaho and Montana, and in the Black Hills of the Dakotas. The westward tide of population broadened. It filled the bounds of the United States from the Dakotas to Texas; but it was the lure of gold and silver that caused all this early development.

194. A Faster Means of Travel. The demand for means of rapid communication with the new West became strong. It was necessary to bind the new country firmly with the old. The "pony express" and the overland stage were too risky and too slow.

The number of people in California was increasing steadily. In 1850, two years after the discovery of gold, California with about one hundred thousand inhabitants was admitted as a state. The Homestead Law of 1862, by which settlers could easily obtain land, brought great numbers of farmers to the western plains.

A CALIFORNIA MINING CAMP OF '49

The first railway engine in the United States was built[Pg 374] in 1830. Such engines had been in use in England for some time. The earliest railroads were very short. Seven companies owned the parts of the first line from Albany, New York to Buffalo. Now in the same number of great systems is included two-thirds of the mileage of the United States.