The Beginner's American History Part 15

[Footnote 27: Burgoyne (Bur'goin).]

140. The war at the South; Jasper; Cowpens; Greene and Cornwallis.--While these things were happening at the north, the British sent a fleet of vessels to take Charleston, South Carolina.

They hammered away with their big guns at a little log fort under command of Colonel Moultrie. In the battle a cannon-ball struck the flag-pole on the fort, and cut it in two. The South Carolina flag fell to the ground outside the fort. Sergeant[28] William Jasper leaped down, and, while the British shot were striking all around him, seized the flag, climbed back, fastened it to a short staff, and raised it to its place, to show that the Americans would never give up the fort. The British, after fighting all day, saw that they could do nothing against palmetto logs[29] when defended by such men as Moultrie and Jasper; so they sailed away with such of their ships as had not been destroyed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SERGEANT JASPER AND THE FLAG.]

Several years later, Charleston was taken. Lord Cornwallis then took command of the British army in South Carolina. General Greene, of Rhode Island, had command of the Americans. He sent Daniel Morgan with his sharpshooters to meet part of the British army at Cowpens;[30] they did meet them, and sent them flying. Then Cornwallis determined to either whip General Greene or drive him out of the state. But General Greene worried Cornwallis so that at last he was glad enough to get into Virginia. He had found North and South Carolina like two hornets' nests, and the further he got away from those hornets, the better he was pleased.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SOUTHERN STATES IN THE REVOLUTION.]

[Footnote 28: Sergeant (sar'jent): a military officer of low rank.]

[Footnote 29: Palmetto logs: the wood of the palmetto tree is very soft and spongy; the cannon-b.a.l.l.s, when they struck, would bury themselves in the logs, but would neither break them to pieces nor go through them.]

[Footnote 30: Cowpens: see map in this paragraph.]

141. Cornwallis and Benedict Arnold; Lafayette; Cornwallis shuts himself up in Yorktown.--When Lord Cornwallis got into Virginia he found Benedict Arnold waiting to help him. Arnold had been a general in the American army; Washington gave him the command of the fort at West Point, on the Hudson River,[31] and trusted him as though he was his brother. Arnold deceived him, and secretly offered to give up the fort to the British. We call a man who is false to his friends and to his country a traitor: it is the most shameful name we can fasten on him. Arnold was a traitor; and if we could have caught him, we should have hanged him; but he was cunning enough to run away and escape to the British. Now he was burning houses and towns in Virginia, and doing all that he could--as a traitor always will--to destroy those who had once been his best friends. He wanted to stay in Virginia and a.s.sist Cornwallis; but that general was a brave and honorable man: he despised Arnold, and did not want to have anything to do with him.

A young n.o.bleman named Lafayette[32] had come over from France on purpose to help us against the British. Cornwallis laughed at him and called him a "boy"; but he found that General Lafayette was a "boy" who knew how to fight. The British commander moved toward the seacoast; Lafayette followed him; at length Cornwallis shut himself up with his army in Yorktown.[33]

[Footnote 31: West Point: see map in paragraph 135.]

[Footnote 32: Lafayette (Lah-fay-et').]

[Footnote 33: Yorktown: see map in paragraph 140.]

142. Washington marches against Yorktown, and takes it and the army of Cornwallis.--Washington, with his army, was then near New York City, watching the British there. The French king had done as he agreed, and had sent over warships and soldiers to help us; but so far they had never been able to do much. Now was the chance. Before the British knew what Washington was about, he had sent the French war-ships down to Yorktown to prevent Cornwallis from getting away by sea. Then, with his own army and some French soldiers besides, Washington quickly marched south to attack Yorktown by land.

When he got there he placed his cannon round the town, and began battering it to pieces. For more than a week he kept firing night and day. One house had over a thousand b.a.l.l.s go through it. Its walls looked like a sieve. At last Cornwallis could not hold out any longer, and on October 19th, 1781, his army came out and gave themselves up as prisoners.

The Americans formed a line more than a mile long on one side of the road, and the French stood facing them on the other side. The French had on gay clothes, and looked very handsome; the clothes of Washington's men were patched and faded, but their eyes shone with a wonderful light--the light of victory. The British marched out slowly, between the two lines: somehow they found it pleasanter to look at the bright uniforms of the French, than to look at the eyes of the Americans.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FLAGS OF THE REVOLUTION.[34]]

[Footnote 34: The flag with the large crosses on it, on the left, is the English flag at the time of the American Revolution. The flag on the right is that which Washington raised at Cambridge, Ma.s.sachusetts, January 2d, 1776. He simply took the English flag, and added thirteen stripes to represent the union of the thirteen English colonies. The flag in the centre, with its thirteen stars and thirteen stripes representing the thirteen states, is the first American _national_ flag. It was adopted by Congress June 14th, 1777, not quite a year after we had declared ourselves independent of Great Britain. Beneath this flag is Washington's coat of arms with a Latin motto, meaning "The event justifies the deed." It is possible that the stars and stripes on our national flag came from the stars and stripes (or bars) on this ancient coat of arms, which may be seen on the tombstone of one of the Washington family, buried in 1583, in the parish church at Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, England.]

143. How the news of the taking of Yorktown was carried to Philadelphia; Lord Fairfax.--People at a distance noticed that the cannon had suddenly stopped firing. They looked at each other, and asked, "What does it mean?" All at once a man appears on horseback.

He is riding with all his might toward Philadelphia, where Congress is. As he dashes past, he rises in his stirrups, swings his cap, and shouts with all his might, "Cornwallis is taken! Cornwallis is taken!" Then it was the people's turn to shout; and they made the hills ring with, "Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "CORNWALLIS IS TAKEN!"]

Poor Lord Fairfax,[35] Washington's old friend, had always stood by the king. He was now over ninety. When he heard the cry, "Cornwallis is taken!" it was too much for the old man. He said to his negro servant, "Come, Joe; carry me to bed, for I'm sure it's high time for me to die."

[Footnote 35: See paragraph 126.]

144. Tearing down the British flag at New York; Washington goes back to Mount Vernon; he is elected President; his death; Lafayette visits his tomb.--The Revolutionary War had lasted seven years,--terrible years they were, years of sorrow, suffering, and death,--but now the end had come, and America was free. When the British left New York City, they nailed the British flag to a high pole on the wharf; but a Yankee sailor soon climbed the pole, tore down the flag of England, and hoisted the stars and stripes in its place. That was more than a hundred years ago. Now the English and the Americans have become good friends, and the English people see that the Revolution ended in the way that was best for both of us.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HOISTING THE STARS AND STRIPES AT NEW YORK.]

When it was clear that there would be no more fighting, Washington went back to Mount Vernon. He hoped to spend the rest of his life there. But the country needed him, and a few years later it chose him the first President of the United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S COACH.]

Washington was made President in New York City, which was the capital of the United States at that time. A French gentleman who was there tells us how Washington, standing in the presence of thousands of people, placed his hand on the Bible, and solemnly swore that with the help of G.o.d he would protect and defend the United States of America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRESIDENT WASHINGTON TAKING THE OATH.]

Washington was elected President twice. When he died many of the people in England and France joined America in mourning for him; for all men honored his memory.

Lafayette came over to visit us many years afterward. He went to Mount Vernon, where Washington was buried. There he went down into the vault, and, kneeling by the side of the coffin, covered his face with his hands, and shed tears of grat.i.tude to think that he had known such a man as Washington, and that Washington had been his friend.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LAFAYETTE AT WASHINGTON'S COFFIN.]

145. Summary.--George Washington, the son of a Virginia planter, became the leader of the armies of the United States in the war of the Revolution. At the close of the war, after he had made America free, he was elected our first President. His name stands to-day among those of the greatest men in the history of the world.

When and where was George Washington born? What did he learn at school? What did he write in one of his writing-books? Tell about his sports and games at school. What is said of "Captain George"?

Tell the story about the colt. What did George's mother say? Tell about George's visit to his brother and to the Fairfaxes. What is said of Lord Fairfax? What did he hire Washington to do? Tell about his surveying and his life in the woods. Tell about the Indian war-dance. What did the governor of Virginia do when Washington returned? What is said of Washington at the age of twenty-one? Tell about his journey to the French forts and his return. What is said about the Indian guide? What about the raft? What did the governor of Virginia do when Washington returned? What did the governor order him to do? What about Fort Necessity? Tell about General Braddock, and about what happened to Washington. What is said about the end of the war? What did King George the Third determine to do? What did the king want the Americans to do? How did they feel? What did the king say? What did the Americans say to that? What did some of the greatest men in England say? What did the king then try to do? Tell about the tea-ships. What happened in Boston? What was done to Boston? What help did the people of Boston get? What did the colonies now do? What did the people now begin to call themselves? What did they call the English troops?

Who commanded the British soldiers in Boston? What did he do? What about Paul Revere? What did Captain Parker of Lexington say to his men? What happened at Lexington and at Concord? Tell about the battle of Bunker Hill. What did many Englishmen refuse to do? Where was Colonel Washington living? What did Congress do? Where did Washington take command of the army? Tell about the sharpshooters.

Tell about the march to Canada. How did Washington take Boston? Where did the British go? Where did Washington go? What did Congress do on July 4th, 1776? What happened in New York? What about the battle of Long Island? What did Cornwallis do? Tell about the victory at Trenton. What happened at Princeton? What city did the British take?

Where was Washington's army? What happened at Saratoga? What did the king of France do? What happened at the south? Tell about Sergeant Jasper. What is said about General Greene? What did Cornwallis do?

Where did he go? What is said about Benedict Arnold? What about Lafayette? Where did Cornwallis shut himself up with his army? What did Washington do? Tell about the surrender of Cornwallis. How was the news carried to Philadelphia? What is said of Lord Fairfax? How long had the war lasted? What was done at New York? What is said of General Washington after the war? Tell how he was made President.

What happened when he died? What is said of Lafayette?

DANIEL BOONE (1734-1820).

146. Daniel Boone; what the hunters of the west did; Boone's life in North Carolina.--Before Washington began to fight the battles of the Revolution in the east, Daniel Boone and other famous hunters were fighting bears and Indians in what was then called the west.

By that war in the woods, these brave and hardy men helped us to get possession of that part of the country.

Daniel Boone was born in Pennsylvania.[1] His father moved to North Carolina,[2] and Daniel helped him cut down the trees round their log cabin in the forest. He ploughed the land, which was thick with stumps, hoed the corn that grew up among those stumps, and then,--as there was no mill near,--he pounded it into meal for "johnny-cake."

He learned how to handle a gun quite as soon as he did a hoe. The unfortunate deer or c.o.o.n that saw young Boone coming toward him knew that he had seen his best days, and that he would soon have the whole Boone family sitting round him at the dinner-table.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BOONE POUNDING CORN.]

[Footnote 1: He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.]

[Footnote 2: He settled near Wilkesboro, on the banks of the Yadkin River. See map in paragraph 150.]