the house in Lexington where Hancock and Adams were asleep, a man on guard cried out to him, "Don't make so much noise." "Noise," shouted Revere, "you'll have noise enough before long; the 'regulars' are coming.”

1

Just before daybreak of April 19 the "regulars" marched on to the village green of Lexington where a number of "minute men" had collected. "Disperse, ye rebels," shouted Pitcairn, the British commander. No one moved; then Pitcairn cried, "Fire!" a volley blazed out, and seven Americans fell dead. Advancing to Concord, the soldiers destroyed such military stores as they could find; at Concord Bridge they were met by the patriots. Both fired, it was the true opening battle of the Revolution, – several men fell on each side. There the first British blood was shed; there the first British graves were dug. The "regulars" then drew back, leaving the Americans in possession of the bridge, and began their march toward Boston.2

But the whole country was now aroused. The enraged farmers fired at the British from behind every wall, bush, and tree. The march became a retreat, the retreat something like a run. When the "regulars" got back to Lexington, where Lord Percy met them with reinforcements, they dropped panting on the ground, their tongues hanging out like those of tired dogs. From Lexington the "minute men" chased the British all the way to Charlestown. Nearly three hundred of the "red-coats," as the Americans nicknamed the English soldiers, lay dead or dying on the road.

Percy had marched gaily out of Boston to the tune of "Yankee Doodle," played in ridicule of the Americans, but it was noticed that his band did not play it on re-entering the town-they had had quite enough of all that was "Yankee" for that day.

1 The soldiers of the regular British army.

2 When the news of the attack on Lexington and Concord reached England, a number of friends of the Americans and their cause made up a purse of $500 which they sent to Benjamin Franklin to distribute among the wounded patriots, and the wives and mothers of those who were killed by the British.

The next morning the British army found themselves shut up in Boston. The Americans had surrounded it on the land side; they dared the British to come out and fight- the siege of Boston had begun.*

162. Meeting of the Second Continental Congress; Ethan Allen's Victories. The Second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia, on May 10, 1775. It recognized George III. as the "rightful sovereign" of the American colonies, but it voted to raise 15,000 men to defend the liberties of the country. On the very day that Congress met, Ethan Allen, a "Green Mountain Boy,' ,"1 surprised the sentinel on duty and got entrance with his men to Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. It was early in the morning and the garrison was asleep. Allen burst into the commandant's room and demanded the immediate and unconditional surrender of the fort. "By what authority?" asked the astonished officer. "In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental Congress," thundered Allen." The commandant surrendered; the Americans got possession of cannon, arms, and military stores which they sorely needed. Crown Point, a little fortress on the lake, north of Ticonderoga, was taken the next day.

163. Washington appointed Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army; Battle of Bunker Hill. —Not long after this exploit, Congress appointed Washington commander-in-chief of the army around Boston. General Gage had received reinforcements from England under the command of General Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne. He now had a force of about eight thousand men. Near the middle of June (1775), he planned. an expedition to seize Bunker Hill. This hill is in Charlestown, and overlooks part of Boston. Gage was afraid that the Americans might get possession of it; if so, they could fire into his camp and make him very uncomfortable.

1 Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut (1737), but early removed to Bennington, Vermont, the "Green Mountain State." *See Map, page 160. these words, but it is admitted that he used One thing is certain: the British commander †The name Breed's Hill did not then exist.

2 It is now denied that Allen used some that were even more emphatic. understood him, and gave up the fort.

What then was his surprise when he found on the morning of the 17th of June that the "rebels" had got the start of him

and had actually seized and fortified the hill. During the night, while the British commander was peacefully sleeping, Colonel Prescott, aided later by General Putnam of Connecticut and General Warren of Boston, had entrenched himself there with about fifteen hundred men. General Gage saw that he must drive the Americans from Bunker Hill or they would drive him out of Boston. He sent

Howe to make the attack with three thousand British "regulars." The American officers ordered their men to wait - they had but little powder and that little was very precious. The word was: "Don't fire till you see the white of their eyes." They obeyed; when they did fire the destruction of life was terrible. The smoke lifted and there lay "The "red-coats' stretched in windrows as a mower rakes his hay."

1

The British fell back; rallied, made a second attack and again fell back. A third time Howe led his men up the hill. This time he was successful. The Americans had fired their last round of ammunition, and fighting desperately with the butt ends of their muskets - they had no bayonets-—and even with clubs and stones, they slowly retreated-driven back not because they had been defeated, but because they no longer had the means to continue the battle.

In an hour and a half the British lost over a thousand men, out of three thousand. The American loss was also very heavy ;'

1 See O. W. Holmes's fine poem, "Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill."

2 Our loss was 449, that of the British, 1054. When the English government got the news of the battle, Gage was ordered to return to England, and the command of all the British forces in the colonies was given to General Howe.