The Century Book of the American Revolution. The story of the pilgrimage of a party of young people to the battlefields of the American Revolution ... Illustrated

Front matter

©tbcr boosts fit tbe eame serlee anD bg tbc same author. THE CENTURY BOOK FOR YOUNG AMERICANS. The Story of the Government. Issued under the auspices of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. With introduction by GENERAL HORACE PORTER, President-General of the Society. THE CENTURY BOOK OF FAMOUS AMERICANS. The Story of a Young People's Pilgrimage to Historic Homes. Issued under the auspices of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. With introduction by Mrs. ADLAI E. STEVENSON, President-General of the Society. Uniform with this book in she and style. Each containing 250 pages and nearly as many illus trations. Price of each, $/.jo. THE BATTLE OF LEXINGTON. FOUGHT "PATRIOT'S DAY," APRIL 19, 1775. FROM THE PAINTING BY HENRY SANDHAM, NOW IN THE CARY MEMORIAL BUILDING, LEXINGTON.

ISSUED UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE EMPIRE STATE SOCIETY OF THE SONS OF THE AMERICAN RESOLUTION THE CENTURY BOOK OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION THE STORY OF THE PILGRIMAGE OF A PARTY OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO THE BATTLE FIELDS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BY ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS AUTHOR OF "THE CENTURY BOOK FOR YOUNG AMERICANS," "THE CENTURY BOOK OF FAMOUS AMERICANS," " A BOY OF THE FIRST EMPIRE," "HISTORIC BOYS." "CHILDREN'S LIVES OF GREAT MEN" SERIES, ETC. WITH AN

Introduction

BY CHAUNCEY M. DEPEW ILLUSTRATED LONDON, fc PI&UEB UNWIN THE CENTURY CO., NEW YORK Copyright, 1897, by The Century Co. The DeVjnne Press.

INTRODUCTION.

Office of the President of the Empire State Society, Sons of the American Revolution. New York, May n, 1897. A FEW years ago the suggestion was made to The Century Company by Mr. John Winfield Scott, a member of the Executive Committee of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, appointed a committee of one for the Executive Committee, that The Century Company should issue a book in which should be set forth in a manner attractive to young people "the principles contended for in the American Revolution, and a description of the institutions of the Govern ment." The result of this suggestion was embodied in " The Century Book for Young Americans," the story of the trip of a party of young people to the city of Washington, written by Elbridge S. Brooks and richly illustrated from the great store of material which the publishers possessed.

The book was issued in the autumn of 1894, indorsed by the National Society, and with an introduction by General Horace Porter, President-General. Its success has been great, both as a book for children at home and for supplemental reading in schools, and in 1896 it was followed by "The Century Book of Famous Americans," written also by Mr. Brooks, telling of the adventures of the same young people and their well-posted uncle on a journey to the homes of historic Americans, Washington, Hamilton, Webster, Clay, Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln, Grant, and others. It was issued under the auspices of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The same publishers purpose offering to the public a volume in which the story of the American Revolution, from Lexington to Yorktown, shall be told in such a way as will interest young readers, and, at the same time, possess valuable information for old as well as young in its descriptions of the historic scenes made famous during the struggle of our forefathers for their independence.

The book will have a living and personal interest because it takes the form of a journey to each of these historic places by the same party of young people and their guide. The illustrations, which include many photographs taken especially for this book, will add both to the attractiveness and the value of the work. The Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution is not respon sible for the statements in the book and has no pecuniary interest in its publication. Individually, I take pleasure in commending the volume both in its scope and execution. r.HATTNnrv M Df.pfw Chauncey M. Depew, President. vri TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE I In Cambridge with Patriots and Poets i A Visit to Cambridge — Uncle Tom's Enthusiasm — Three Great Poets and Three Historic Houses — A City of Memorials — From the Vikings to the Boys in Blue — Uncle Tom's Suggestion — An Object- Lesson in America's Revolu tionary Story.

II On Lexington Common 17 On the Road to Lexington — Changed Condition of the Country — The Stone Cannon — Lexington Village and Its Famous Common — The Story of the Fight — 77/<? Monument — 77/r? Memorials and the Old Houses — Uncle Tom's Sum ming-up. Ill Among the Embattled Farmers 35 How They Came to Concord — Dr. Prescott' s Ride — Where the Congress Met — At Concord Fight — The Old Monument — The Statue of the Minute man — The Story of the Retreat — Dr. Hale's Poem — Sites and Scenes in a Famous Old Town. IV On Bunker Hill 55 Climbing the Monument — The View from the Top — Tracing the Battle-ground — 77/i? Redoubt — Colonel Prescott — Warren and Putnam — The Story of the Assault — Victory or Defeat ? — Webster's Oration — The Tablet on Dorchester Heights — The First American Victory. V In Greater New York 73 Along the Shore Line — Historic Towns — 77/,?

British Plan — Ticonderoga and Quebec — In Old Neiv York — The Battle of Long Island — The Great Retreat — Harlem Heights and White Plains — The Fall of Fort Washington. VI Along the Delaware 95 Where Washington Crossed — The Wintry March — The Dash on Trenton — A Turning Point in the War — Princeton's Battle-ground — In " The Lair of the Tiger!" X TABLE OF CONTENTS VII ON THE SCHUYLKILL AND THEREABOUTS 115 By Brandywine Creek — Old-time Obstacles — The Fight at the Ford and on the Hill — Where Lafayette was Wounded — The Chew House — The Street Fight at Germantown — A Baffling Fog — At Valley Forge — An Object-lesson in Self-sacrifice — At Monmouth Court-house — The Monument at Freehold — A Gallant Foeman. VIII Up the Hudson 139 The Hudson as a Historic Waterway — Its Great Beacon-lights — The Neutral Ground — 77/,?

Cow-Chase — Dobbs Ferry — Andre's Fate — Stony Point — Newburgh and West Point — Washington' s Noblest Deed. IX Promenading with Burgoyne 159 At the Springs — Burgoyne 's Promenade — Oriskany and Bennington — Schuyler and Gates — 77/i? u Lone Tree" of Walloomsac — 77/i? Bennington Alonument — Across Country to Schuylerville — Freeman's Farms and Bemis Heights — The Saratoga Monument — 77/<? Vacant Niche — The Surrender Spot. X From the Sea to the Sand-hills 175 By Sea to Savannah — Where the British Landed — The Siege of Savannah — A City of Monuments — Fascinating Charleston — 77/<? Defense of Fort Moultrie — The Battle of Eutaw Springs. XI Among the Carolina Highlands 193 The Balmy Breezes of Camden — An Old-time Hill-town — The Battle of Camden — Gates the Blunderer — 77/,? Deserted Village — De Kalb's Monument — The Hogback of Hobkirk's Hill — King's Mountain and its Hero-story — A Monui?ient on a Hilltop.

XII In a Region of Rivers 2II From King's Mountain to Cowpens — Why Cowpens? — Morgan vs. Tarleton The Old Monument — The Statue in Spartanburg — The Hornets' Nest A Land of Liberty — A Splendid Battle-park — The Field of Guilford — A Most Important Battle. XIII On the Heights Above York 229 The Sun on the Monument — After Guilford — Marion's Men — Cornwallis at Bay — 77/<? French Alliance — 77/,? Last Assault— The Surrender — Old York town — Home Again. THE CENTURY BOOK OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION "THE BROAD STONE SEAT OF THE LONGFELLOW MEMORIAL." In the distance is seen Craigie House, which was Washington's headquarters and Longfellow's home. T 1 THE CENTURY BOOK OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Chapter I In Cambridge With Patriots And Poets

A Visit to Cambridge — Uncle Toms Enthusiasm — Three Great Poets and Three Historic Houses — A City of Memorials — From the Vikings to the Boys in Blue — Uncle Tom's Suggestion — An Object-Lesson in Americas Revolutionary Story. HAT a spot this is, boys and girls ! " Uncle Tom Dunlap exclaimed, with an impressive sweep of the hand. "The atmosphere is fairly charged with patriotism ; the air throbs with memories. I know of no spot in the whole country that is more absolutely a center of American interest than this old town of Cambridge. I know of none better calculated to make you young people proud of America and of what America has done." Uncle Tom spoke with more than his customary enthusiasm, It was evident that he felt all that he said. He sat with his young people on the broad stone seat of the Longfellow Memorial in the old college town of Cambridge in Massachusetts.

It was the same group of boys and girls that had gathered about him, as, on their personally conducted trip to Washington, he helped them study the gov ernment of the United States of America in its own house and home ; it was the same group of eager young people that had taken, with him, the tour of inspection among the homes of great and famous Americans. Once again they had all met in Boston — Jack and Marian Dunlap, their cousin, Albert Upham, and Marian's "best friend," Christine Bacon. Uncle Tom Dunlap, as usual, had taken charge of them, and that morning they had welcomed, at their hotel, their boy friend of the " Hub,' Roger Densmore. Their first trip had been to Cambridge. "We did n't see half enough when we were there before," Bert com plained. "That 's so," Roger admitted. "We ought to give more time to it.

There 's lots to see there, you know ; and besides, it 's a good place to start from if you want to see more things. Is n't that so, Uncle Tom?" Uncle Tom emphatically indorsed this statement, and they were speed ily flying in "the electrics" through that wonderful piece of modern engi neering, the big underground "Subway," out through Boston's stately Back Bay, and across the graceful Harvard Bridge, to what Uncle Tom called "the classic shades" of Cambridge. Roger, as a prospective Harvard boy, had been their guide through the beautiful University town ; and even Jack, who was preparing for Yale, and Bert, whose educational future still lay unsettled between Princeton, Yale, and Cornell, were forced to admit that Harvard and its surroundings were, as Jack declared with characteristic emphasis, "Just great!"

ONE OF THE NEW GATES AT HARVARD, Under Roger's guidance they had " done " the colleges from the beautiful gates to the dormitories and the "gym," from Memorial Hall to the Agassiz Museum, and from the Fogg Art Museum and the Library to the tennis-courts on Jarvis Field, the " tree " in the quadrangle where the class day scramble is held, and— what especially interested the girls— the rounded walls of Radcliffe. From here, after reading the tablet under the decrepit Washington elm, they had wandered up Brattle Street, and, entering the green little park known as the Longfellow Memorial, they had dropped upon its broad granite seat to rest and look about them. LEIF ERICSON, THE NORSEMAN This statue, by Miss Whitney, is located on Commonwealth Avenue, in Boston, just above where that boulevard is crossed by Massachusetts Avenue, which extends for nearly twenty miles to Lexington and Concord.

Then it was that Uncle Tom uttered his exclamation. So suggestive was the spot that the boys and girls unconsciously echoed his sentiments ; though Bert, ever ready with his query of investigation, tacked to his appreciative "that 's so!" his inevitable "but why?" " I '11 tell you why, Mr. Bert," his uncle replied. " Stand up, all of you, while I box the patriotic compass. Before you, if certain over-confident antiquarians are to be believed, lie the beginnings of historic America." "What! over there in the swamp?" asked Jack. "The marsh, if you please, sir," corrected Roger. "The idea of calling Longfellow's beloved marshes a swamp ! " " Yes, there, through its marshes, winds the historic Charles River, upon whose banks, almost against the Cambridge Hospital yonder, Pro fessor Horsford claimed to have discovered the cellar of Leif Ericson's fish-house — the first stone house, so he declared, built by Europeans in America, almost five hundred years before the caravels of Columbus tacked across the 'herring-pond.'" " Leif Ericson !

" exclaimed Marian. " Was n't his the beautiful statue we saw on Commonwealth Avenue ? " " Yes," Uncle Tom assented. " Oh, but he 's just a ' fake,' " Jack declared. " My teacher said so." "You don't really believe that story, do you, Uncle Tom?" queried Bert, with a tinge of skepticism. " I 11 discuss that question with you later, boys — say at Norumbega Tower?" Uncle Tom replied, with a non-committal shrug. " Oh ! what 's Norumbega Tower ? " Christine asked, attracted by the rhythm of the name. It 's a stone tower on the Charles River, ten miles above here," Roger ex plained. "Professor Horsford put it up, on the very rocks which, so he said, were part of the fort and city of Norumbega, built by Leif Ericson the Norseman in the year one thousand and one. It 's an awfully nice place for a picnic, girls.

And the canoeing ! — well, you must just see it before you go home." "Which — the town or the canoe ing ? " laughed Marian. "Both," replied Roger, gallantly, "one is historic and you '11 make the other so." " And there we '11 have our dis cussion over Leif Ericson," said Uncle Tom. "Just now I wish to consider other things with you. Only, permit me to remark, ladies and gentlemen, the singular coincidence that places Leif Ericson's stone house here, on the Charles, within sight of the house of the great poet who wrote ' The Skeleton in Armor.' " NORUMBEGA TOWER. Erected on a knoll above the river. The tablet set in its face tells the whole story. A flight of stone steps within leads to the outlook on the top. LONGFELLOW'S HOME AT CAMBRIDGE. The famous Craigie House, used by Washington for his headquarters in Cambridge.

The room on the right of the front door was Washington's office and Longfellow's study. The chamber over it was the General's bedroom "That's so!" cried Jack. "Perhaps that sad old sea-dog stood right here where we stand to-day, and shouted I am a viking bold ! My deeds, though manifold, No skald in song has told, No saga taught thee ! Take heed that in thy verse Thou dost the tale rehearse, Else dread a dead man's curse — For this I sought thee ! ' Look out! Marian; he may be right behind you now," and Jack ended his quotation with so shrill a viking's "skoal!" that Marian jumped aside in terror, and everybody else laughed. " Let the viking rest, Jack," said Uncle Tom. " True or not, here is the beginning of the story, and, perhaps, though scholars scoff at the idea, the beginnings of the white man in America.

Let me get on with my com pass. Behind you, rising above its tall green hedge, is Longfellow's house, i* —a Mecca for Cambridge pilgrims. There he wrote 'The Skeleton in Armor'; there he wrote 'Paul Reveres Ride'; there he wrote 'The Build ing of the Ship'— that splendid poem that drew tears from President Lin coln in the dreary war-days, and which, with its stirring closing lines, has thrilled countless Americans for over forty years. And in that very house, long before Longfellow was born, George Washington lived, when, here in Cambrido-e, he took command of the American army." LONGFELLOW'S STUDY. Occupied by Washington as his military office. Behind it is the poet's library, which was used as a staff-room by General Washington. " Under that big elm, you know," put in Roger, " that you saw in front of Radcliffe College.

They say it 's over three hundred years old." "What — the college?" said Jack. "The college !" echoed Marian, scornfully; "the elm, of course. What a goose you are, Jack Dunlap ! Don't you know the girls' college is some thing new ? " " Oh, is it?" said Jack. " I did n't suppose there was anything new in Cambridge. I thought the flavor of antiquity covered everything here, — Leif Ericson, Washington, Radcliffe, and Harvard's last base-ball victory over Yale." Uncle Tom paid no attention to Jack's rather flippant remarks, but took up the thread of his broken discourse. "To your right," he said, "there, beyond the trees of the Common, stood, until a few years ago, next to what is now the fine Law School building, the old-fashioned, roomy, gambrel-roofed house where lived the boy Oliver Wendell Holmes, who afterward wrote 'Old Ironsides' there."

" Nail to the mast that tattered flag, Set every threadbare sail, And give her to the god of storms, The lightning and the gale," spouted Jack. "Only they did n't, you know," said Roger. "The frigate Constitution — 'Old Ironsides,' as she was called — was built here in Boston, and is scheduled to drop anchor this year at the Navy Yard, at the mouth of this very Charles River." "Just think of it," said Chris tine, "what lots of things of that sort there are around Boston ! " " Why not ? It 's the Hub of the Universe — eh, Roger?" Jack said, in what the Boston boy de clared to be " the regular New York tone." " Well, right here is where the American Revolution commenced, so why is n't it the hub ? " de manded Bert. " Why not ? " was Uncle Tom's comment. "And in the old Holmes house near the Law School, of which I told you, the Committee of Safety held its meeting-s when the American Rev olution was beg-inning.

There, too, at the opening of the fight, STAIRWAY IN THE OLD HOLMES MANSION. To the right, at the foot of the stairs, was the room in which the occupation of Bunker Hill was planned. were held the first councils of war, for that home was the headquarters of the first American commander-in-chief, General Artemas Ward." "What! Artemus Ward, the funny man ?" cried Jack. "Was he a general in the Revolution ? " " No, no, Jack; how mixed up you do get ! " said Roger. " Why, my father heard Artemus Ward lecture; so he could n't have been a general in the Revolution." ' ' That 's only a make believe name — what you call a nom de plume," Bert explained. "Your Artemus Ward, Jack, was America's first funny man; his real name was Browne. Uncle Tom's Artemas Ward was America's first major-general — the commander-in-chief before Washington took command.

ELMWOOD, THE HOME OF JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL. Here Benedict Arnold and his Connecticut Volunteers were quartered just after the battle of Lexington. The house was used as a hospital after Bunker Hill. Is n't that so, Uncle Tom?" "That 's about it, Bert," his uncle replied, with his smile of approval " It 's just another coincidence, the same as Longfellow and the viking's house, I suppose," said Marian. " Go on, Uncle Tom ; Jack does break in so." " Over here to your left, across the tree-tops," Uncle Tom went on, "stands Elmwood, the house in which James Russell Lowell lived, and where he wrote what, I think, is America's noblest poem — his splendid ' Commemoration Ode.' " " Oh, yes, is n't that fine ! " said Christine. " Don't you remember how it ends ? I had to learn those lines at school. ' O Beautiful ! my Country ! ours once more !

Smoothing thy gold of war-disheveled hair O'er such sweet brows as never other wore, And letting thy set lips, Freed from wrath's pale eclipse, The rosy edges of their smile lay bare, What words divine of lover or of poet Could tell our love and make thee know it, Among the nations bright beyond compare ? What were our lives without thee ? What all our lives to save thee ? We reck not what we gave thee; We will not dare to doubt thee, But ask whatever else, and we will dare " Grand, is it not, boys and girls ? " Uncle Tom exclaimed, baring his head to that magnificent sentiment of the poet. "And that 's where Lowell wrote it — over there at Elmwood, is it?" said Jack. " Seems to me there must be something in the Cambridge air that just sets poetry a-sprouting; who knows what might happen if I should come here to Harvard, eh, Roger ?

" Jack a poet! The idea was so funny that they all fell to laughing, much to Jack's disgust. When they had sobered down, Uncle Tom went to boxing his compass again "The Elmwood house is very much like Longfellow's home, and has, like Longfellow's, a Revolutionary history. It was the mansion of Andrew Oliver, the Tory Lieuten ant-Governor of Massachu setts, and it was mobbed by the angry patriots be cause Oliver took charge of the hated British stamps that brought about the row. After Oliver left the country the house became the home of Elbridge Gerry, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence." "Well, well; Cambridge was 'right in it,' from the start, was n't it ? " said Jack. "I told you it was a center of American inter ests," said Uncle Tom. THE WADSWORTH HOUSE. Built in 1726 for the president of the college.

A British shell just grazed it, and Washington, who had occupied it, removed to safer quarters in the Craigie House. " Now, just keep still for a moment, will you, and let me try to give you the steps in American history that we can lay our fingers on, right here in Cam bridge-town. There, on the Charles, the Norsemen, so it is said (let us grant, for the sake of historic steps, that they did), built the first house in America. In those college buildings, in Harvard Square, or in the older ones that these have replaced, have gone to school men who built them- NEIGHBORS ON "TORY ROW," IN CAMBRIDGE, TALKING OVER THE TROUBLES. selves and their memories into the history of the republic. Here met the Provincial Congress, the Committee of Safety, and the council of war in the days that precipitated the American Revolution.

Yonder is the old church whose organ-pipes the rebel soldiers melted into bullets for Bunker Hill. Wadsworth House in the College yard, and the Longfellow house, upon which we are looking, were both occupied by Washington when he came here to Cambridge to organize revolution. Along Brattle Street, in cluding the Longfellow house, stood the fine old loyalist mansions that gave the street its nickname of " Tory Row." Under that old elm by Radcliffe, General George Washington took command of the American army, and upon the Common, beyond it, that army was drawn up for review. On that Common, Roger showed you the sturdy young elm grown from a shoot of the old elm and planted there in the centennial year of 1875. Close by the young elm rises the tall monument, topped by a splendid soldier-figure, in memory of the men of Cambridge who rallied to the defense of the flag in the Civil THE WASHINGTON ELM.

Under this tree Washington took command of the American Army, July 3, 1775. Radcliffe College is on the right i; the picture. Cambridge Common, with the growing shoot from the old elm, is at the left. War. Across the trees, overlooking all Cambridge, rises the imposing tower of Memorial Hall, an honor in stone paid by the great University to all her brave sons who fell in defense of the Union ; and, just across the river, stretches the wide meadow upon which the college boys meet in the glorious tussle for mastery in base-ball and foot-ball. It is called Soldiers' Field, a gift to the college, and perpetuating by its name, as does Memorial Hall, the brave boys in blue who marched to defend what Americans in Cam bridge, a century before, first strove for and attained. Was I not right when I told you the atmosphere hereabouts was charged with patriotism, that it just throbbed with memories?

And, of these memories, two stand out above all others — the two so singularly linked by that old square, yellow house across the way, in which these two men lived and labored for America, though in such different fashion — Washington the soldier, and Longfellow the poet ; the man whose sword and the man whose pen have inscribed imperishable names in the history of the republic that so loves and honors them." "Somehow, Uncle Tom," said Christine, just a bit dreamily, as she leaned against the stone coping of the Longfellow Memorial and looked across the street to what had so long been the poet's home, " I keep thinking of what Long fellow himself wrote after he had stood, one morning, before Lowell's gate at Elmwood. Does n't it fit both the great men who have lived over the way, and the others, too, who PAUL REVERE. have made Cambridge famous?

I wonder if I can remember the last lines : ' Sing to him, say to him, here at his gate, Where the boughs of the stately elms are meeting, Some one hath lingered to meditate And send him unseen this friendly greeting ; ' That many another hath done the same, Though not by a sound was the silence broken; The surest pledge of a deathless name Is the silent homage of thoughts unspoken.' " "That 's awfully nice, Christine, of course," said Jack, while all the others nodded approval, "only I call it rather rough on Uncle Tom, after he 's been spouting away here for half an hour." Christine colored up at Jack's bit of sarcasm. " You don't understand what I mean, Jack," she said. "But Uncle Tom does," and, with a confident smile, she slipped her hand into that of their "guide, philosopher, and friend," as Bert loved to call his uncle.

As for that young gentleman, he was trying to dovetail history and poetry into a fixed fact. For Longfellow's name and Revolutionary sur- OLD NORTH CHURCH, SALEM STREET, BOSTON. From which, on the night of April 18, 1775, Revere's signal-lights were hung. It is now known as Christ Church. The spire is a new one, built since 1804. A tablet on the front gives the story of the lanterns. roundings had recalled to Bert's mind the poet's stirring ballad of a certain famous gallop that had set the fires of liberty ablaze. " Let 's see, Uncle Tom ; Paul Revere did n't ride through Cambridge, did he ? " Bert inquired. " No, his route lay through Charlestown and Medford. But Cambridge had its ' fate-of-a-nation ' rider in William Dawes. He was Paul Revere's double, and he set out for Concord even before Paul Revere started.

Of course," continued Uncle Tom, "you know the story, and why Revere rode with news. The people were restless ; they were angry with the King of England for his tyranny, and were ready to protest in something more than words. The Kine's men in Boston were watchful and active; they knew the spirit of the, people, and hastened to possess themselves of the war-stores the people were gathering at different points about Boston. Their spies were abroad ; they knew where the muni tions of war were stored ; they set out to destroy them. One expedition cleared them out at Salem ; another successfully raided the old powder house at Winter Hill." " That old powder-house is still standing, you know," broke in Roger. " The city of Somerville has made a public park of the hill on which it stands. I want you to see it before you go."

"We must, Roger," said Uncle Tom. " It is one of the few really Rev olutionary relics left us hereabouts. Well, the Committee of Safety was sitting in Cambridge; a watch was set OLD POWDER-HOUSE, SOMERVILLE. Formerly a mill. Here in September, 1774, British soldiers seized and carried off the colony's store of powder. to keep an eye on the King's men, and when William Dawes rode through the little college town with word that the regulars were to march to Con cord next day to destroy the stores collected there, the minute-men gath ered, and from Cambridge and all the near-by towns marched toward Con cord to help save the powder and stores upon which their success depended. Some of the men belonging to this section gathered here for their work, and, as they straggled past the Holmes house, where, years after, the poet was born, the Cambridge minister stood in the doorway and bade his neighbors Godspeed on their errand.

Next day — the historic nineteenth of April, 1775 — came that famous fight." . " Oh, Uncle Tom, can't we go to Lexington and see where the battle was fought ? " cried Marian, full of enthusiasm to find herself so near the scene of that world-renowned conflict. "Why not?" said Uncle Tom. "I think it would be an excellent plan for us to ride to Lexington and Concord, to-morrow, and recall the story of the fight on the very spot. What do you say, Roger ? " " I say yes," Roger replied, catching the spirit of the suggestion. " If you say so, I '11 get a wagonette and we '11 start from here bright and early." "A patriotic picnic, eh?" said Jack. " I vote for it with both hands." The plan was unanimously agreed to. And so it came to pass that, next day, Uncle Tom and his tourists, coming out from Boston after an early breakfast, rode from Cambridge along the very road over which, so many years before, the British red-coats had marched on their hostile errand.