Elsie Yachting with the Raymonds

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XV.

  To the great delight of the young people on board the "Dolphin" the sunshone in a clear sky the next morning.

  Soon after breakfast they were all on deck, as usual in pleasantweather, enjoying the breeze, the sight of passing vessels, and adistant view of the land.

  The Captain and Violet sat near together with the two little onesplaying about them, while Grandma Elsie, in a reclining chair, at nogreat distance, seemed absorbed in a book.

  "Mamma is reading something sad, I know by the look on her face," saidWalter, hurrying toward her, the others following. "What is it you arereading, Mamma, that makes you look so sorry?" he asked, putting an armabout her neck, and giving her a kiss. "Oh, that's Bancroft's History!"

  "Yes," she said, "I was just looking over his account of the battles ofLexington and Concord, and some things he tells do make me sad thoughthey happened more than a hundred years ago."

  "Oh, please read them to us!" pleaded several young voices, allspeaking at once.

  "I will give you some passages," she said; "not the whole, because youhave already been over that ground. It is what he tells of Isaac Davisthat particularly interests me," and she began reading.

  "At daybreak the minute-men of Acton crowded, at the drum-beat, to the house of Isaac Davis, their captain, who 'made haste to be ready.' Just thirty years old, the father of four little ones, stately in his person, a man of few words, earnest even to solemnity, he parted from his wife, saying, 'Take good care of the children;' and while she gazed after him with resignation, he led off his company.

  "Between nine and ten the number of Americans on the rising ground above Concord Bridge had increased to more than four hundred. Of these there were twenty-five minute-men from Bedford, with Jonathan Wilson for their captain; others were from Westford, among them Thaxter, a preacher; others from Littleton, from Carlisle, and from Chelmsford. The Acton company came last and formed on the right. The whole was a gathering not so much of officers and soldiers as of brothers and equals, of whom every one was a man well known in his village, observed in the meeting-house on Sundays, familiar at town meetings and respected as a freeholder or a freeholder's son.... 'The Americans had as yet received only uncertain rumors of the morning's events at Lexington. At the sight of fire in the village, the impulse seized them to march into the town for its defence.' But were they not subjects of the British king? Had not the troops come out in obedience to acknowledged authorities? Was resistance practicable? Was it justifiable? By whom could it be authorized? No union had been formed, no independence proclaimed, no war declared. The husbandmen and mechanics who then stood on the hillock by Concord river were called on to act, and their action would be war or peace, submission or independence. Had they doubted they must have despaired. Prudent statesmanship would have asked for time to ponder. Wise philosophy would have lost from hesitation the glory of opening a new era on mankind. The train-bands at Concord acted and God was with them.

  "The American revolution grew out of the soul of the people, and was an inevitable result of a living affection for freedom, which set in motion harmonious effort as certainly as the beating of the heart sends warmth and color through the system. The rustic heroes of that hour obeyed the simplest, the highest, and the surest instincts, of which the seminal principle existed in all their countrymen. From necessity they were impelled toward independence and self-direction; this day revealed the plastic will which was to attract the elements of a nation to a centre, and by an innate force to shape its constitution.

  "The officers, meeting in front of their men, spoke a few words with one another, and went back to their places. Barrett, the colonel, on horseback in the rear, then gave the order to advance, but not to fire unless attacked. The calm features of Isaac Davis, of Acton, became changed; the town school-master of Concord, who was present, could never afterward find words strong enough to express how deeply his face reddened at the word of command. 'I have not a man that is afraid to go,' said Davis, looking at the men of Acton, and drawing his sword, he cried, 'March!' His company, being on the right, led the way toward the bridge, he himself at their head, and by his side Major John Buttrick, of Concord, with John Robinson, of Westford, lieutenant-colonel in Prescott's regiment, but on this day a volunteer, without command.

  "These three men walked together in front, followed by minute-men and militia, in double file, trailing arms. They went down the hillock, entered the byroad, came to its angle with the main road, and there turned into the causeway that led straight to the bridge. The British began to take up the planks; to prevent it, the Americans quickened their step. At this the British fired one or two shots up the river; then another, by which Luther Blanchard and Jonas Brown were wounded. A volley followed, and Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer fell dead. Three hours before, Davis had bid his wife farewell. That afternoon he was carried home and laid in her bedroom. His countenance was pleasant in death. The bodies of two others of his company, who were slain that day, were brought to her house, and the three were followed to the village graveyard by a concourse of the neighbors from miles around. Heaven gave her length of days in the land which his self-devotion assisted to redeem. She lived to see her country reach the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific; when it was grown great in numbers, wealth, and power, the United States in Congress bethought themselves to pay honors to her husband's martyrdom, and comfort her under the double burden of sorrow and of more than ninety years."

  "Ninety years!" exclaimed Walter. "Oh what an old, _old_ woman she was!I think they ought to have given it to her a great deal sooner,--don'tyou, Mamma?"

  "I do, indeed," she replied. "What a dreadful time it was! The Britishsoldiery behaved like savages or demons,--burning houses, murderinginnocent unarmed people. One poor woman--a Mrs. Adams, ill in bed, witha baby only a week old--was driven out of her bed, out of her house,and had to crawl almost naked to a corn-shed with her little one in herarms, while the soldiers set fire to her house.

  "They shot and killed an idiot perched on a fence looking at them asthey passed; and they brutally murdered two aged, helpless, unarmed oldmen, stabbing them, breaking their skulls and dashing out their brains."

  "I don't wonder the Americans shot down as many of them as they could!"exclaimed Max, in tones of hot indignation. "Men that did such thingswere not brave soldiers, but worse savages than the Indians. Oh, how Iwish our people had had the abundance of good weapons and powder andballs that we have now! Then they'd have taught the insolent Britisha good lesson; they would soon have driven Gage and all his savagesoldiery into the sea."

  "I presume they would," said Mrs. Travilla; "but poor fellows! theywere very destitute of such needed supplies. This is what Bancroftsays about it:--

  "All the following night, the men of Massachusetts streamed in from scores of miles around, old men as well as young. They had scarce a semblance of artillery or warlike stores, no powder, nor organization, nor provisions; but there they were, thousands with brave hearts, determined to rescue the liberties of their country.

  "The night preceding the outrages at Lexington there were not fifty people in the whole colony that ever expected any blood would be shed in the contest; the night after, the king's governor and the king's army found themselves closely beleaguered in Boston."

  "Did the news fly very fast all over the country, Mamma?" asked Walter.

  "Very fast for those times," she replied; "you must remember thatthen they had neither railroads nor telegraph, but as Bancroft says,'Heralds by swift relays transmitted the war messages from hand tohand, till village repeated it to village; the sea to the backwoods;the plains to the highlands; and it was never suffered to droop till ithad been borne north and south, east and west, throughout the land.'"

  "But there wasn't any more fighting till the battle of Bunker Hill, wasthere, Mamma?" asked Walter.

  "Yes," she replied, "there was the taking of Ticonderoga and CrownPoint early in May, by a party under the command of Ethan Allen; therew
ere about a hundred 'Green Mountain Boys' and nearly fifty soldiersfrom Massachusetts besides the men of Connecticut. The thing wasplanned in Connecticut, and the expense borne there.

  "Allen marched in the night to the shore of the lake opposite toTiconderoga. A farmer named Beman offered his son Nathan as a guide,saying that he (the lad) had been used to playing about the fort withthe boys of the garrison, and knew of every secret way leading into it.

  "Allen accepted the offer, but there was a difficulty about gettingboats in which to cross the lake. They had but few and day began todawn. If the garrison should be aroused their expedition was likely tofail, for a great deal depended upon taking them by surprise; so Allendecided not to wait for the rear division to cross, but to make theattempt with the officers and eighty-three men who were already on thatside. He drew up his men in three ranks on the shore and made them alittle speech in a low tone: 'Friends and fellow-soldiers, we must thismorning quit our pretensions to valour, or possess ourselves of thisfortress; and inasmuch as it is a desperate attempt, I do not urge iton, contrary to will. You that will undertake voluntarily, poise yourfirelock.'

  "Instantly every firelock was poised. 'Face to the right!' he cried,putting himself at their head, Benedict Arnold close at his side, andthey marched quietly and steadily up to the gate.

  "The sentinel there snapped his fusee at Allen, but it missed fire,and he retreated within the fort. The Americans rushed in after him,another sentinel made a thrust at one of them, but they ran upon theguard, raising the Indian war-whoop, Allen giving the sentinel a blowupon the head with his sword that made him beg for quarter.

  "Of course the shout of our men had roused the garrison; and theysprang from their beds, and came rushing out only to be made prisoners.

  "Then young Beman guided Allen to the door of the sleeping apartment ofDelaplace, the commander. The loud shout of the Americans had waked himand his wife, and both sprang to the door as Allen gave three loud rapsupon it with his sword and thundered out an order for the commander toappear if he wouldn't have his whole garrison sacrificed.

  "Delaplace threw open the door, showing himself only half dressed, inshirt and drawers, with his pretty wife standing behind him peeringover his shoulder. He immediately recognized Allen, for they were oldfriends, and assuming an air of authority, demanded his errand.

  "Allen pointed to his men and said sternly, 'I order you instantly tosurrender.'

  "'By what authority do you demand it?' asked Delaplace.

  "'In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress,'thundered Allen, and raising his sword over his prisoner's head,commanded him to be silent and surrender immediately.

  "Delaplace saw that it was useless to refuse, so surrendered, orderedhis men to parade without arms, and gave them up as prisoners. Therewere forty-eight of them; and they, with the women and children, weresent to Hartford as prisoners of war."

  "And what did our men get besides the soldiers and women and children,Mamma?" asked Walter.

  "Cannon, and guns of various kinds, other munitions of war, a quantityof provisions and material for boat building, and so forth, besides thefortress itself, which Bancroft says had 'cost the British nation eightmillions sterling, a succession of campaigns, and many lives, yet waswon in ten minutes by a few undisciplined volunteers, without the lossof life or limb.'"

  "Oh, that was the very best of it, I think," said Gracie. "War wouldn'tbe so very, very dreadful if it was all like that,--would it, GrandmaElsie?"

  "No dear," Mrs. Travilla replied, smiling lovingly upon the littlegirl, and softly smoothing her golden curls.

  "Was there any other fighting before the battle of Bunker Hill, Mamma?"queried Walter.

  "Yes," she said, "there were some encounters along this New Englandcoast."

  "And Crown Point was taken too,--wasn't it, Mamma?" asked Rosie.

  "Ah, yes! I had forgotten that part of my story," replied her mother."It was taken two days later than Ticonderoga, also without anybloodshed. About the same time that Ticonderoga was taken, there wasa British ship called the 'Canceaux' in the harbour of Portland. Thecaptain's name was Mowat. On the 11th of May he and two of his officerswere on shore, when a party of sixty men from Georgetown seized them.

  "The officer who had been left in command of the vessel threatened whathe would do if they were not released, and even began to bombard thetown. Mowat was released at a late hour, but felt angry and revengeful,and succeeded in rousing the same sort of feeling in the admiral of thestation.

  "A month later the people of a town called Machias seized the captainof two sloops that had come into their harbour to be freighted withlumber, and convoyed by a king's cutter called the 'Margaretta.' Thelumber was for the British army at Boston, and they, the Americans,got possession of the sloops, after taking the captain, whom theyseized in the 'meeting-house.' The 'Margaretta' didn't fire on thetown, but slipped away down the harbour in the dark that night, and thenext morning sailed out to sea.

  "Then forty men, under the command of Capt. Jeremiah O'Brien, pursuedher in one of the captured sloops, and as she was a dull sailer, soonovertook her. An obstinate sea-fight followed; the captain of thecutter was mortally wounded, six of his men not so badly, and after anhour's fight the 'Margaretta's' flag was struck. It was the first timethe British flag was struck on the ocean to Americans."

  "But not the last by any means!" cried Max, exultantly; "whatever maybe said of our land forces, America has always shown herself superiorto Great Britain on the sea. I'm very proud of the fact that though atthe beginning of the last war with England we had but twenty vessels(exclusive of one hundred and twenty gun-boats), while England had tenhundred and sixty, we whipped her."

  "Quite true, Max," Mrs. Travilla said, smiling at the boy's ardentpatriotism, "and I am as proud of the achievements of our navy as youcan be; but let us give all the glory to God who helped the oppressedin their hard struggle against their unjust and cruel oppressor."

  "Yes, ma'am, I know," he answered; "America was most shamefullyoppressed, and it was only by God's help that she succeeded in puttinga stop to the dreadful treatment of her poor sailors. Just to think ofthe insolent way the British naval officers used to have of boardingour vessels and carrying off American-born men, who loved their owncountry and wanted to serve her, and forcing them even to serveagainst her, fairly makes my blood boil!" Max had in his excitementunconsciously raised his voice so that his words reached his father'sear.

  The captain looked smilingly at Violet, "My boy is an ardent patriot,"he said in a pleased tone. "Should we ever have another war (whichHeaven forbid!), I hope he will do his country good service."

  "I am sure he will if he lives to see that day," returned Violet; "butI agree with you in hoping the need of such service will never arise."

  "But let us always remember," Evelyn said in reply to Max, "thatthose cruel, unjust deeds, and the feelings that prompted them, werenot those of the English people, but of their Government and thearistocracy,--I suppose because of their hatred of republicanism, theirdesire to keep the masses of the people down, and themselves rich andpowerful."

  "Yes," said Rosie, "it was just pure pride and selfishness. They didn'tlike the doctrine of our Declaration of Independence that 'all men arecreated equal.'"

  Mrs. Travilla was turning over the leaves of her book again.

  "Mamma," said Walter, "haven't you something more to read to us?"

  "Yes," she replied, and began at once.

  "On the ninth (of June) the 'Falcon,' a British sloop of war, was seen from Cape Ann in chase of two schooners bound to Salem. One of these was taken; a fair wind wafted the other into Gloucester harbor. Linzee, the captain of the 'Falcon,' followed with his prize, and, after anchoring, sent his lieutenant and thirty-six men in a whale-boat and two barges to bring under his bow the schooner that had escaped.

  "As the barge men boarded her at her cabin windows, men from the shore fired on them, killing three and wounding the lieutenant i
n the thigh. Linzee sent his prize and a cutter to cannonade the town. They did little injury; while the Gloucester men, with the loss of but two, took both schooners, the barges, and every man in them, Linzee losing half his crew."

  "How vexed he must have been!" laughed Lulu. "Did he ever go back totake revenge, Grandma Elsie?"

  "No, I think not," she said, "though Gage and the British admiralplanned to do so, and also to wreak vengeance on the people ofPortland,--then called Falmouth,--where, as you probably remember,Mowat had been held prisoner for a few hours in May of that same year.

  "On the morning of the 16th of October Mowat again appeared in theirharbour in command of a ship of sixteen guns, attended by three othervessels, and at half-past nine in the morning began firing upon thetown.

  "In five minutes several houses were in a blaze; then a party ofmarines landed and spread the conflagration. He burned down aboutthree fourths of the town,--a hundred and thirty dwelling-houses, thepublic buildings, and a church,--and shattered the rest of the houseswith balls and shells. The English account makes the destruction stillgreater. So far north winter begins early, and it was just at thebeginning of a severe one that he thus turned the poor people of thattown out of house and home into the cold, in poverty and misery."

  "That was a Christian deed worthy of a Christian king," remarked Rosie,scornfully.

  "Bancroft says," continued her mother, "that the indignation ofWashington was kindled by 'these savage cruelties, this new exertion ofdespotic barbarity.' General Green said, 'Death and destruction markthe footsteps of the enemy; fight or be slaves is the American motto.'"

  "And who wouldn't rather fight and die fighting, than be a slave?"cried Max, his eyes flashing. "Grandma Elsie," he said, "you haven'ttold us a word about the American navy. Didn't they begin one aboutthat time?"

  "I think they did, Max," was her reply; "but suppose we call upon yourfather to tell us about it. He is doubtless better informed than I ineverything relating to that branch of the service."

  "Papa, will you?" asked the lad, turning toward the Captain and raisinghis voice a little.

  "Will I do what, my son?"

  "Tell us about the doings of the navy in Revolutionary times, sir,"replied Max, "as Grandma Elsie has been telling of the fights on land."

  "Oh, do, Papa; won't you?" pleaded Lulu, hastening to his side, theother girls and Walter following, while Max gallantly offered to moveGrandma Elsie's chair nearer to his father and Violet, which sheallowed him to do, thanking him with one of her rarely sweet smiles.