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Title: A Beginner's History
Author: Mace, William H.
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A Beginner's History" ***
[Illustration: THE WORLD showing the UNITED STATES and its Outlying
Possessions
_Copyright, 1909, by Rand, McNally & Company._]
[Illustration: THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS]
_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
[Illustration]
RAND McNALLY & COMPANY
_Chicago_ _New York_ _London_
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
[Illustration]
The Rand-McNally Press
_Chicago_
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, 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_
THE TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
THE NORTHMEN DISCOVER THE NEW WORLD
Leif Ericson, Who Discovered Vinland 1
EARLY EXPLORERS IN AMERICA
Christopher Columbus, the First Great Man in American
History 2
Ponce de Leon, Who Sought a Marvelous Land and Was
Disappointed 17
Cortés, Who Found the Rich City of Mexico 18
Pizarro, Who Found the Richest City in the World 23
Coronado, Who Penetrated Southwestern United States but
Found Nothing but Beautiful Scenery 24
De Soto, the Discoverer of the Mississippi 24
Magellan, Who Proved that the World Is Round 28
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 34
Sir Francis Drake, the English "Dragon," Who Sailed the
Spanish Main and Who "Singed the King of Spain's
Beard" 37
Sir Walter Raleigh, the Friend of Elizabeth, Plants a Colony
in America to Check the Power of Spain 42
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 49
Joliet and Marquette, Fur Trader and Missionary, Explore
the Mississippi Valley for New France 53
WHAT THE DUTCH ACCOMPLISHED IN THE COLONIZATION OF THE
NEW WORLD
Henry Hudson, Whose Discoveries Led Dutch Traders to
Colonize New Netherland 54
FAMOUS PEOPLE IN EARLY VIRGINIA
John Smith the Savior of Virginia, and Pocahontas its Good
Angel 60
Lord Baltimore, in a Part of Virginia, Founds Maryland as a
Home for Persecuted Catholics and Welcomes Protestants 68
Industries, Manners, and Customs of First Settlers of Virginia 71
PILGRIMS AND PURITANS IN NEW ENGLAND
Miles Standish, the Pilgrim Soldier, and the Story of "Plymouth
Rock" 73
John Winthrop, the Founder of Boston; John Eliot, the
Great English Missionary; and King Philip, an Indian
Chief the Equal of the White Man 81
Industries, Manners, and Customs 85
THE MEN WHO PLANTED COLONIES FOR MANY KINDS OF PEOPLE
Peter Stuyvesant, the Great Dutch Governor 87
Manners and Customs of New Netherland 91
William Penn, the Quaker, Who Founded the City of
Brotherly Love 92
Quaker Ways in Old Pennsylvania 98
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 100
Industries, Manners, and Customs of the Southern Planters 103
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 106
The Men of New France 113
GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE FIRST GENERAL AND FIRST PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES
The "Father of His Country" 115
THE MAN WHO HELPED WIN INDEPENDENCE BY WINNING THE
HEARTS OF FRENCHMEN FOR AMERICA
Benjamin Franklin, the Wisest American of His Time 147
PATRICK HENRY AND SAMUEL ADAMS, FAMOUS MEN OF THE REVOLUTION,
WHO DEFENDED AMERICA WITH TONGUE AND PEN
Patrick Henry, the Orator of the Revolution 158
Samuel Adams, the Firebrand of the Revolution 167
THE MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE WITH GUN
AND SWORD
Nathan Hale 179
Generals Greene, Morgan, and Marion, the Men Who Helped
Win the South from the British 182
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_ 194
John Barry, Who Won More Sea Fights in the Revolution
than Any Other Captain 199
THE MEN WHO CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS, DEFEATED THE INDIANS
AND BRITISH, AND MADE THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER THE
WESTERN BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES
Daniel Boone, the Hunter and Pioneer of Kentucky 202
John Sevier, "Nolichucky Jack" 210
George Rogers Clark, the Hero of Vincennes 216
DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW REPUBLIC
Eli Whitney, Who Invented the Cotton Gin and Changed
the History of the South 226
Thomas Jefferson, Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence,
Founded the Democratic Party, and Purchased the
Louisiana Territory 229
Lewis and Clark, American Explorers in the Oregon Country 238
Oliver Hazard Perry, Victor in the Battle of Lake Erie 244
Andrew Jackson, the Victor of New Orleans 245
THE MEN WHO MADE THE NATION GREAT BY THEIR INVENTIONS
AND DISCOVERIES
Robert Fulton, the Inventor of the Steamboat 257
Samuel F. B. Morse, Inventor of the Telegraph 264
Cyrus West Field, Who Laid the Atlantic Cable between
America and Europe 268
Cyrus McCormick, Inventor of the Reaper 272
Elias Howe, Inventor of the Sewing Machine 274
THE MEN WHO WON TEXAS, THE OREGON COUNTRY, AND CALIFORNIA
Sam Houston, Hero of San Jacinto 277
David Crockett, Great Hunter and Hero of the Alamo 282
John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains 283
Spanish Missions in the Southwest 290
THE THREE GREATEST STATESMEN OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD
Henry Clay, the Founder of the Whig Party and the Great
Pacificator 294
Daniel Webster, the Defender of the Constitution 300
John C. Calhoun, the Champion of Nullification 306
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE LIBERATOR AND MARTYR
A Poor Boy Becomes a Great Man 313
Andrew Johnson and the Progress of Reconstruction 328
TWO FAMOUS GENERALS
Ulysses S. Grant, the Great General of the Union Armies 331
Robert Edward Lee, the Man Who Led the Confederate
Armies 337
MEN WHO HELPED DETERMINE NEW POLITICAL POLICIES
Rutherford B. Hayes 342
James A. Garfield 345
Chester A. Arthur 346
Grover Cleveland 347
Benjamin Harrison 349
THE BEGINNING OF EXPANSION ABROAD
William McKinley and the Spanish-American War 352
THE MAN WHO WAS THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY
Theodore Roosevelt, the Typical American 360
William Howard Taft 369
WESTWARD EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT
The Westward Movement of Population and the Development
of Transportation 372
George Washington Goethals, Chief Engineer of the Panama
Canal 376
MEN OF RECENT TIMES WHO MADE GREAT INVENTIONS
Thomas A. Edison, the Greatest Inventor of Electrical
Machinery in the World 380
Two Inventions Widely Used in Business 386
Automobile Making in the United States 388
Wilbur and Orville Wright, the Men Who Gave Humanity
Wings 390
John P. Holland, Who Taught Men to Sail Under the Sea 395
HEROINES OF NATIONAL PROGRESS
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, Who Were
the first to Struggle for the Rights of Women 400
Julia Ward Howe, Author of "The Battle Hymn of the
Republic," and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Who Wrote _Uncle
Tom's Cabin_ 404
Frances E. Willard, the Great Temperance Crusader; Clara
Barton, Who Founded the Red Cross Society in America;
and Jane Addams, the Founder of Hull House Social
Settlement in Chicago 408
RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES OF OUR COUNTRY
How Farm and Factory Helped Build the Nation 416
Mines, Mining, and Manufactures 421
AMERICA AND THE WORLD WAR
Early Years of the War 424
America Enters to Win 431
The Conclusion of the War 437
WHERE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THEIR CIVILIZATION CAME FROM
Introduction 445
The Oldest Nations 446
Greece, the Land of Art and Freedom 450
How the Greeks Taught Men to be Free 456
Spread of Greek Civilization 461
When Rome Ruled the World 464
Hannibal Tries to Conquer Rome 467
Rome Conquers the World, but Grows Wicked 469
The Roman Republic Becomes the Roman Empire 471
What Rome Gave to the World 473
The Downfall of Rome 476
The Angles and Saxons in Great Britain 478
Charles the Great, Ruler of the Franks 479
The Coming of the Northmen 483
Alfred the Great 484
The Norman Conquest 488
The Struggle for the Great Charter 490
_A Pronouncing Index_ xi
_The Index_ xv
MACE'S BEGINNER'S HISTORY
THE NORTHMEN DISCOVER THE NEW WORLD
LEIF ERICSON, WHO DISCOVERED VINLAND
[Sidenote: =The Northmen discover Iceland and Greenland=]
=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 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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ The Northmen, bold sailors, settled
Iceland and Greenland. _2._ Leif Ericson reached the shores of
North America and called the country Vinland. _3._ The Northmen
continued to visit the new land, but finally ceased to come on
account of the Indians.
=Study Questions.= _1._ In what new countries did the Northmen
settle? _2._ Tell the story of Leif Ericson's voyage. _3._ What did
he call the new land, and why?
=Suggested Readings.= THE NORTHMEN: Glascock, _Stories of
Columbia_, 7-9; Higginson, _American Explorers_, 3-15; _Old South
Leaflets_, NO. 31.
EARLY EXPLORERS IN AMERICA
CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE FIRST GREAT MAN IN AMERICAN HISTORY
[Sidenote: =Boyhood of Columbus=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Why Columbus learned to like the sea=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Prince Henry's work=]
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.
[Illustration: THE BOY COLUMBUS
_After the statue by Giulio Montverde in the Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston_]
[Sidenote: =Columbus goes to Lisbon=]
The bold deeds of Henry's sailors drew many seamen 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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Sailors hope to reach India=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Columbus' new idea=]
It is said that one day while looking over his father-in-law's maps,
Columbus was startled by the idea of reaching 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.
[Illustration: THE HOME OF COLUMBUS, GENOA]
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.
[Sidenote: =A tricky king=]
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 indignant at this mean trick and immediately started for Spain
(1484), taking with him his little son, Diego.
[Sidenote: =What the Spaniards thought of Columbus=]
=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.
[Illustration: COLUMBUS SOLICITING AID FROM ISABELLA
_From the painting by the Bohemian artist, Vaczlav Brozik, now in the
Metropolitan Museum, New York_]
[Sidenote: =Some thought him crazy=]
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, it is said, knowingly tapped their
heads when he went by to show that they thought him a bit crazy.
[Illustration: LA RABIDA CONVENT NEAR PALOS
_At this monastery, on his way to France, Columbus met the good prior_]
[Sidenote: =Begs bread for his son=]
=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.
[Illustration: COLUMBUS AT THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA
_Columbus explaining his plan for reaching India to the prior and to
Pinzón, the great sailor_]
[Sidenote: =The prior goes to Queen Isabella=]
The prior himself hastened with all speed to his 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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Why Columbus did not go to France=]
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 Isabella told him that she would fit out an expedition and make
him governor over all the lands he might discover.
[Illustration: COLUMBUS BIDDING FAREWELL TO THE PRIOR
_From the painting by Ricardo Balaca_]
[Sidenote: =Columbus' unselfish vow=]
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.
[Sidenote: =First voyage begun=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The stop at the Canary Islands=]
Columbus commanded the _Santa Maria_, the largest 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.
[Illustration: 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?
[Sidenote: =The sailors lost heart, but Columbus grew hopeful=]
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, 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.
[Illustration: THE ARMOR OF COLUMBUS
_Now in the Royal Palace, Madrid_]
[Sidenote: =Land at last discovered=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Taking possession of the country for Spain=]
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 drew his sword and declared that
the land belonged to the King and Queen of Spain.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =Columbus and his men disappointed=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =First Spanish colony planted in the New World=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The homeward voyage=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The joy 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
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.
[Illustration: THE RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA
_From the celebrated painting by the distinguished Spanish artist,
Ricardo Balaca_]
[Sidenote: =The people's reception=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Reception by the king and queen=]
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.
[Illustration: COLUMBUS IN CHAINS
_After the clay model by the Spanish sculptor, Vallmitjiana, at Havana_]
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!
[Sidenote: =Fails to find rich cities=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Death of Columbus=]
=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.
[Illustration: THE HOUSE IN WHICH COLUMBUS DIED
_This house is in Valladolid, Spain, and stands in a street named after
the great discoverer_]
[Sidenote: =Naming the country=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Honor to his memory=]
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).
PONCE DE LEON, WHO SOUGHT A MARVELOUS LAND AND WAS DISAPPOINTED
[Sidenote: =A magic fountain=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =De Leon sets out to find Bimini=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The first settlement in America founded=]
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 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
[Sidenote: =Cortés sank his ships=]
[Sidenote: =Spaniards saw signs of riches=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Difference in Spanish and Indian ways of fighting=]
[Illustration: THE ARMOR OF CORTÉS
_Now in the museum at Madrid_]
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.
[Illustration: 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, larger than
any seen before, and it could be reached only along three great roads
of solid mason work.
[Sidenote: =A great Indian City=]
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.
[Illustration: GUATEMOTZIN
_The nephew of Montezuma and the last Indian emperor of Mexico. After
the statue by Don Francisco Jimenes_]
[Sidenote: =Cortés makes Montezuma a prisoner=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =The Spaniards driven out of the 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 compelled Montezuma to stand upon the roof of
the Spanish fort and command his people to stop fighting.
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.
[Illustration: HERNANDO CORTÉS
_From the portrait painted by Charles Wilson Peale, now in Independence
Hall, Philadelphia_]
[Sidenote: =The great Indian city almost destroyed=]
=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 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.
[Illustration: CORTÉS BEFORE MONTEZUMA
_After the original painting by the Mexican artist, J. Ortega; now in
the National Gallery of San Carlos, Mexico_]
[Sidenote: =Cortés shares Columbus' fate=]
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.
PIZARRO, WHO FOUND THE RICHEST CITY IN THE WORLD
[Sidenote: =Pizarro finds great riches in Peru=]
[Illustration: 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 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.
[Sidenote: =Coronado finds no gold or silver=]
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.
The Spanish settlers of Cuba gave a joyful welcome 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).
[Sidenote: =The settlers of Cuba welcome De Soto=]
[Illustration: HERNANDO DE SOTO
_After an engraving to be found in the works of the great Spanish
historian, Herrera_]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Spaniards' cruelty to the Indians=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Attacked by Indians=]
The Appalachian Mountains caused them to turn 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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =They reached a great river=]
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =Burial of De Soto=]
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 to tell the sad tales of
hardships, battles, and poverty.
[Sidenote: =What Coronado and De Soto proved to the King of Spain=]
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
=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.
[Illustration: FERDINAND MAGELLAN
_From the portrait designed and engraved by Ferdinand Selma in 1788_]
[Sidenote: =Magellan, too, goes to Spain=]
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). 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.
[Sidenote: =His sailors rebel=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
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 had at last found the westward passage, and
that it was now time to turn homeward.
[Sidenote: =Magellan's bold resolution=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The first voyage across the Pacific begins=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Visits the Philippines=]
Then Magellan pressed on to another group of islands which were
afterwards called the Philippines, from King Philip of Spain.
[Sidenote: =Magellan loses his life for his men=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =What the voyage proved=]
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 Leading Facts.= _1._ Columbus was born near the shores of the
Mediterranean and trained for the sea by study and by experience.
_2._ The people of Europe traded with the Far East, but the Turks
destroyed their trade routes. _3._ Columbus was drawn to Portugal
because of Prince Henry's great work. _4._ Columbus thought he
could reach the rich cities of the East by sailing west. _5._ After
many discouragements he won aid from Isabella and discovered the
Bahama Islands, Cuba, and Haiti. _6._ The king and queen of Spain
received Columbus with great ceremony. _7._ Columbus made three
more voyages, but was disappointed in not finding the rich cities
of India. _8._ Ponce de Leon sailed from Porto Rico to find a land
of which strange stories had been told of riches and of a fountain
of eternal youth. _9._ He reached Florida on Easter Sunday, 1513.
_10._ Eight years later he returned to found a settlement. _11._ He
was attacked by the Indians, wounded, and forced to return to Porto
Rico, where he died of his wounds. _12._ His is the distinction
of being the first white man to plant a settlement in the United
States after the discovery of America by Columbus. _13._ Cortés
marched against a rich city, afterward called Mexico, captured
the ruler, and fought great battles with the people. _14._ Cortés
captured the city and ruled it for several years. _15._ From this
time on Mexico gradually filled with Spanish settlers. _16._
Pizarro invaded Peru, the richest of all countries, and captured
and put to death the ruler. _17._ Pizarro was killed by his own
men. _18._ Coronado marched north from Mexico into Arizona and
New Mexico, but found no rich cities. _19._ He wandered into the
great prairies and the rocky country of Colorado but finally turned
back in disappointment. _20._ De Soto wandered over the country
east of the Rocky Mountains in search of rich cities, but found a
great river, the Mississippi, and later was buried in its waters.
_21._ Hence the Spaniards, eager for gold, went to Mexico and South
America rather than farther to the north. _22._ Columbus thought
the world was round, but Magellan proved it. _23._ Magellan sailed
around South America into the Pacific Ocean, and across this new
sea to the Philippine Islands, where he was killed. _24._ His ship
reached Spain--the first to sail around the world.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Make a list of articles which the caravans
(camels and horses) of the East brought to the Black Sea. _2._
What studies fitted Columbus for the sea? _3._ Why were there so
many sailors in Lisbon? _4._ How did Columbus get his idea of the
earth's shape? _5._ What did men in Portugal and Spain think of
this idea? _6._ Tell the story of Columbus in Spain. _7._ What is
the meaning of the vow taken by him? _8._ Make a picture in your
mind of the first voyage of Columbus. Read the poem "Columbus," by
Joaquin Miller. _9._ Shut your eyes and imagine you see Columbus
land and take possession of the country. _10._ Why was Columbus so
disappointed? _11._ How did the people of Palos act when Columbus
returned? _12._ Picture the reception of Columbus by the people,
and by the king and queen. _13._ Why was Columbus disappointed
in the second expedition? _14._ What did Columbus believe he had
accomplished? _15._ What had he failed to do that he hoped to do?
_16._ Why did Ponce de Leon go in search of the new land? _17._
What was the strange tradition about the country? _18._ What did
Ponce de Leon set out to do on his second trip? _19._ Did he
succeed? _20._ What is his distinction? _21._ Why did Cortés sink
his ships? _22._ How were Spaniards armed and how were Indians
armed? _23._ Describe the city of Mexico. _24._ Who began the war,
and what does that show about the Spaniards? _25._ How did Cortés
get more soldiers? _26._ How did the people and king receive Cortés
in Spain? _27._ How was he treated on his return to Mexico? _28._
What did Pizarro find in Peru? _29._ How did he treat the Inca?
_30._ What was Pizarro's fate? _31._ What was Coronado searching
for, and why were the Spaniards disappointed? _32._ What things
did the Spaniards see that they never before had seen? _33._ What
report did Coronado make? _34._ Why were De Soto's Indian guides
false? _35._ Show that De Soto was a brave man. _36._ How far north
did the Spaniards go both east and west of the Mississippi? _37._
Tell the story of De Soto's death and burial. _38._ What proof can
you give to show that the Spaniards were more cruel than necessary?
_39._ What part of the problem of Columbus did Magellan solve?
_40._ What was Magellan's preparation? _41._ Where is Patagonia,
and how could there be signs of spring late in August? _42._ What
did Magellan's voyage prove, and what remained of Columbus' plans
yet to be accomplished? _43._ Who accomplished this?
=Suggested Readings.= COLUMBUS: Hart, _Colonial Children_, 4-6;
Pratt, _Exploration and Discovery_, 17-32; Wright, _Children's
Stories in American History_, 38-60; Higginson, _American
Explorers_, 19-52; Glascock, _Stories of Columbia_, 10-35; McMurry,
_Pioneers on Land and Sea_, 122-160; Brooks, _The True Story of
Christopher Columbus_, 1-103, 112-172.
PONCE DE LEON: Pratt, _Explorations and Discoveries_, 17-23.
CORTÉS: McMurry, _Pioneers on Land and Sea_, 186-225; Hale,
_Stories of Adventure_, 101-126; Ober, _Hernando Cortés_, 24-80,
82-291.
PIZARRO: Hart, _Colonial Children_, 12-16: Towle, _Pizarro_,
27-327.
CORONADO: Griffis, _Romance of Discovery_, 168-182; Hale, _Stories
of Adventure_, 136-140.
DE SOTO: Hart, _Colonial Children_, 16-19; Higginson, _American
Explorers_, 121-140.
MAGELLAN: McMurry, _Pioneers on Land and Sea_, 186-225;
Butterworth, _Story of Magellan_, 52-143; Ober, _Ferdinand
Magellan_, 108-244.
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
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =The effect in England of Columbus' discovery=]
=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 England his home
and lived in the old seaport town of Bristol, the home of many English
sailors.
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.
[Illustration: JOHN CABOT AND HIS SON SEBASTIAN
_From the statue modeled by John Cassidy, Manchester, England_]
[Sidenote: =What John Cabot discovered=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The king and people pay honor to Cabot=]
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 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."
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Cabot's second voyage=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Why England was slow in settling America=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Their sailors take up the quarrel=]
[Sidenote: =Why Drake hated the Spaniards=]
=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. 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.
[Sidenote: =Begins his most famous voyage=]
=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.
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.
[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE
_From the original portrait attributed to Sir Antonis van Moor, in the
possession of Viscount Dillon, at Ditchly Park, England_]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Capturing treasure ships on the Pacific coast=]
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.
[Illustration: DRAKE'S CHAIR, OXFORD UNIVERSITY
_It was made from the timbers of the "Golden Hind"_]
[Sidenote: =The "Golden Hind" winters in California=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Drake crosses the Pacific and Indian oceans=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Drake given a title by Queen Elizabeth=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =He goes to find the Gold Fleet=]
=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 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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =In the West Indies=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Singeing the King of Spain's beard=]
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 ready. Drake declared that he had "singed the King of
Spain's beard."
[Sidenote: =Spain aims to crush England, but is badly defeated=]
=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
[Sidenote: =Raleigh, student, soldier, seaman=]
=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.
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.
[Illustration: THE BOYHOOD OF RALEIGH
_After the painting by Sir John E. Millais_]
[Sidenote: =Raleigh when thirty years old=]
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.
[Sidenote: =How he won the favor of the queen=]
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. 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.
[Sidenote: =Raleigh's plan for checking the power of Spain=]
=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.
[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH
_From the original portrait painted by Federigo Zuccaro_]
[Sidenote: =The Indians welcome the English=]
[Sidenote: =Why the land was named Virginia=]
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 were bent on finding gold and silver, instead of
making friends with the Indians.
[Sidenote: =Why the Indians became hostile=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Indian corn and the white potato taken to England=]
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!
[Illustration: INDIAN CORN]
[Sidenote: =Raleigh tries again=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: A WILD TURKEY]
[Sidenote: =The "lost colony"=]
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.
[Illustration: POTATO PLANT AND TUBERS]
[Sidenote: =Raleigh's money gives out, but not his hope=]
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.
=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.
[Sidenote: =Raleigh bravely meets death=]
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.
[Illustration: EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ John Cabot, trying for a short route to
India, discovered what is supposed to be Labrador, or Cape Breton.
_2._ On a second voyage he coasted along eastern North America as
far south as the Carolinas. _3._ Later, England claimed all North
America. _4._ Francis Drake sailed to the Pacific in the _Pelican_
and then turned northward after the Spanish gold ships. _5._ He
wintered in California, and then started across the Pacific--the
first Englishman to cross. _6._ Drake reached England, and was
received with great joy. _7._ Once more Drake went to fight the
Spaniards, until the Great Armada attacked England. _8._ Walter
Raleigh, a student, a soldier, and a seaman, won the favor of the
queen. _9._ He hated the Spaniards, and planted settlements in what
is now North Carolina. _10._ What was Raleigh's prophecy?
=Study Questions.= _1._ Tell the story of John Cabot before he came
to England. _2._ What did Cabot want to find when he sailed away
and what did he find? _3._ How was Cabot treated by King Henry VII,
according to a "Citizen of Venice," after he returned? _4._ Why was
little attention given to the new lands by the English?
_5._ Prove that Spanish and English sailors did not like each
other. _6._ Who was Francis Drake? _7._ What was Magellan after
and what was Drake after? _8._ Find out why Drake renamed his ship
the _Golden Hind_. _9._ Tell the story of Drake's voyage from
Valparaiso to Oregon. _10._ Tell the story of the voyage across the
Pacific and how he was received at home. _11._ What did Drake do
when he missed the "Gold Fleet"? _12._ What did Drake mean when he
said he had "singed the King of Spain's beard"? _13._ What became
of the Spanish Armada, and what effects did its failure produce?
_14._ What other brave man went to America before the Armada was
destroyed? _15._ Give the early experiences of Raleigh before he
was thirty. _16._ Make a mental picture of the cloak episode. _17._
Explain how kind the Indians were; how did the English repay the
Indians? _18._ What did the colonists take home with them? _19._
Who was the first white child of English parents born in America?
_20._ How did the destruction of the Armada affect Englishmen who
wanted to go to America? _21._ Read in other books about Raleigh's
death. _22._ How did the English treatment of the Indians compare
with that of the Spaniards?
=Suggested Readings.= CABOT: Hart, _Colonial Children_, 7-8;
Griffis, _Romance of Discovery_, 105-111.
DRAKE: Hart, _Source Book of American History_, 9-11; Hale,
_Stories of Discovery_, 86-106; Frothingham, _Sea Fighters_, 3-44.
RALEIGH: Hart, _Colonial Children_, 165-170; Pratt, _Early
Colonies_, 33-40; Wright, _Children's Stories in American History_,
254-258; Higginson, _American Explorers_, 177-200; Bolton, _Famous
Voyagers_, 154-234.
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
[Sidenote: =Cartier, 1534=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Champlain founded Quebec, 1608=]
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.
[Illustration: SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN
_From the portrait painting in Independence Hall, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania_]
[Sidenote: =Made friends and foes among the Indians=]
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 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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =An Indian war party=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Discovery of Lake Champlain=]
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 tall
plumes on their heads, and their warriors carried shields of wood or
hide.
[Sidenote: =Why the Iroquois came to hate the French=]
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.
[Illustration: THE ROUTES FOLLOWED BY CHAMPLAIN]
[Sidenote: =Champlain and the Algonquins invade the Iroquois country=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: THE DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS AT LAKE CHAMPLAIN
_After an engraving of Champlain's published in 1613_]
[Sidenote: =Iroquois make St. Lawrence unsafe for French=]
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.
[Illustration: A FRENCH FUR TRADER ON SNOWSHOES]
[Sidenote: =Champlain true to king and country=]
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 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
[Sidenote: =Stories of a new country=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Joliet and Marquette find the Mississippi=]
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.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Champlain laid the foundations of New
France at Quebec, and made a treaty with the Indians on the St.
Lawrence. _2._ Joliet and Marquette were sent out from Canada to
explore the Mississippi River. _3._ Joliet returned to tell the
story of their discoveries and Marquette remained among the Indians
in Illinois.
=Study Questions.= _1._ What part of North America did France
first settle? _2._ Who was Champlain? _3._ Tell the story of his
first battle with the Iroquois. _4._ What things in New France did
Champlain help? _5._ What was Champlain's blunder? _6._ Who were
Joliet and Marquette? _7._ Tell the story of Joliet and Marquette.
_8._ How did they get back to Canada? Near what place in Illinois
did Marquette preach?
=Suggested Readings.= CHAMPLAIN: Wright, _Children's Stories in
American History_, 269-280; McMurry, _Pioneers on Land and Sea_,
1-34.
JOLIET and MARQUETTE: McMurry, _Pioneers of the Mississippi
Valley_, 1-15; Thwaites, _Father Marquette_.
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).
[Sidenote: =The discovery of the Hudson by the Dutch=]
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.
[Sidenote: =What Hudson and his men saw=]
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.
[Illustration: HENRY HUDSON
_From the painting by Count Pulaski in the Aldermanic Chamber of the
City Hall, New York_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Indians kind but Hudson cruel=]
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.
The next year Hudson sailed in an English vessel in 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.
[Illustration: INDIANS WELCOMING THE "HALF MOON," HUDSON'S SHIP]
[Sidenote: =Fate of Hudson and his men=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A trading post on Manhattan=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =A lasting Indian treaty=]
The Dutchmen treated the Indians kindly and early made a great treaty
with the Iroquois, or Five Nations. 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.
[Sidenote: =The Indians liked the Dutch=]
[Sidenote: =The fur trade=]
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.
[Illustration: THE TREATY BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND THE INDIANS AT FORT
ORANGE]
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 Indian fancy. Great Dutch ships came every year to
carry to Amsterdam and other Dutch cities rich cargoes of furs.
[Sidenote: =Peter Minuit bought Manhattan Island for twenty-four
dollars=]
=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.
[Illustration: THE HOME OF A PATROON
_The old Van Rensselaer House at Greenbush, New York_]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =The patroons and their way of living=]
The greatest of the patroons was Van Rensselaer, 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.
[Illustration: CHILD'S CHAIR AND CRADLE
_Furniture used by the patroons_]
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.
[Sidenote: =A wicked Indian war=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Henry Hudson, searching for a shorter
route to India, discovered the river which now bears his name. _2._
Dutch traders built trading posts throughout the region, made a
treaty with the Indians, purchased Manhattan Island, and built the
town of New Amsterdam.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Tell the story of Henry Hudson and the
_Half Moon_. _2._ What was the fate of Hudson? _3._ When was a
trading post planted on Manhattan? _4._ Make a mental picture of
the treaty with the Indians. _5._ How did the Dutch treatment of
the Indians compare with the Spanish? _6._ What three things did
Peter Minuit do? _7._ Who were the patroons?
=Suggested Readings.= HUDSON: Williams, _Stories from Early New
York History_, 1-4, 32-36; Wright, _Children's Stories in American
History_, 292-299; Griffis, _Romance of Discovery_, 233-245.
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.
[Illustration: THE SITE OF JAMESTOWN
_After a drawing made early in the nineteenth century by an English
traveler, Catherine C. Hopley_]
[Sidenote: =Raleigh's wish comes true=]
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 went by way of the West Indies, and the
Spaniards, although watching, did not dare to attack them.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Jamestown settled, 1607=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Settlers still hunt for gold=]
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.
[Sidenote: =John Smith, a soldier=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Smith wins a queer coat of arms=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Fails to gain his position but works instead of sulking=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Taken prisoner by the Indians=]
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.
He immediately showed the red men his ivory pocket compass. They saw
the little needle tremble on its pivot, 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.
[Illustration: SMITH SHOWING HIS POCKET COMPASS TO THE INDIANS]
[Sidenote: =Smith learns how Indians live=]
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.
[Sidenote: =An Indian council tries Smith=]
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 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.
[Illustration: AN INDIAN WARRIOR]
[Sidenote: =Smith's rescue by Pocahontas=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Pocahontas proves a friend in need=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Powhatan refuses to give any more corn=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Pocahontas shows her friendship=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Smith induces the settlers to go to work=]
[Sidenote: =Industry brings contentment=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Smith returns to England=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: JAMESTOWN BAPTISMAL FONT
_From this font, now in Bruton Parish Church, Va., it is said
Pocahontas was baptized_]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Pocahontas marries John Rolfe=]
[Illustration: THE MARRIAGE OF ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS
_After the painting by Henry Brueckner_]
[Sidenote: =Settlers and Indians become good friends=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lady Rebecca treated like a princess=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Pocahontas dies in England=]
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.
[Illustration: POCAHONTAS
_After the engraved portrait by Simon van Pass, known as the Bootan
Hall portrait and now at Scalthorpe Hall, Norfolk_]
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
[Sidenote: =Religious disputes drove people to America=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Charles I gives Baltimore a part of Virginia=]
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.
[Sidenote: =All permitted to worship as they pleased=]
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).
[Sidenote: =The Indians are friendly=]
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
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.
[Sidenote: =Annapolis founded=]
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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =Baltimore settled=]
Baltimore, named after the founder of the colony, and afterward the
most important town of Maryland, was settled in 1720.
INDUSTRIES, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF FIRST SETTLERS OF VIRGINIA
[Sidenote: =The Jamestown colony prospers=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The planters grow rich=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Negro slaves are brought to Virginia=]
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, 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.
[Sidenote: =A famous robber and trader=]
=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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ London merchants carried out Raleigh's
idea by planting a colony in Virginia. _2._ John Smith saved
the colony by putting the settlers to work, by trading with
the Indians, and by winning the friendship of Pocahontas. _3._
Lord Baltimore, a Catholic, got permission to plant a colony in
Virginia; he named it Maryland, and the first settlement, St.
Mary's. _4._ Protestants as well as Catholics were welcomed in the
new colony. _5._ Negroes were brought to Virginia as slaves.
=Study Questions.= _1._ How long did it take Captain Newport to
reach Virginia? _2._ How long does it take a ship to cross the
Atlantic now? _3._ Why were the settlers afraid of the Indians and
Spaniards? _4._ Why did the Virginia settlers hunt for gold instead
of raising something to eat? _5._ What did Smith learn about the
Indians? _6._ Show how Pocahontas was a friend of the colony. _7._
Tell the story of George Calvert, Lord Baltimore. _8._ How was the
colony different from that at Jamestown? _9._ Picture the settlers
at St. Mary's. _10._ What town did the Puritans establish? _11._
When was the richest and most important town in Maryland settled,
and after whom was it named? _12._ Why were slaves brought to
Virginia? _13._ Tell the story of Blackbeard.
=Suggested Readings.= SMITH: McMurry, _Pioneers on Land and
Sea_, 68-102; Hart, _Source Book_, 33-37; Higginson, _American
Explorers_, 231-246.
BALTIMORE: Pratt, _Early Colonies_, 132-137; Smith and Dutton, _The
Colonies_, 39-50; Sparks, _American Biography_, 5-229.
PILGRIMS AND PURITANS IN NEW ENGLAND
MILES STANDISH, THE PILGRIM SOLDIER, AND THE STORY OF "PLYMOUTH ROCK"
[Sidenote: =They board the "Speedwell"=]
[Sidenote: =The Pilgrims' dearest country=]
=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_.
[Sidenote: =The "Mayflower" carried the Pilgrims to America=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Storms did not drive them back=]
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.
[Illustration: EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS
_After the original painting by Charles West Cope_]
[Sidenote: =How they missed the Hudson=]
[Sidenote: =Signing the compact=]
=44. Landing of the Pilgrims in America.= For days at a time, during
the storm, the ship 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =Miles Standish and his men explore the region=]
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.
[Sidenote: =They learn to set snares=]
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!
[Illustration: READING THE COMPACT ON BOARD THE "MAYFLOWER"]
[Sidenote: =Their first Indian battle=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Plymouth Harbor chosen=]
[Sidenote: ="Plymouth Rock"=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Building a town in the woods=]
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, 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.
[Sidenote: =True courage=]
=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_.
[Illustration: MILES STANDISH
_From a portrait now in possession of Mrs. A. M. Harrison, Plymouth_]
[Sidenote: =Samoset introduces them to the Indians=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Massasoit visits 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.
A messenger was sent to welcome him and to give him 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.
[Sidenote: =What the Pilgrims learned from Squanto=]
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.
[Illustration: POUNDING CORN TO MAKE MEAL]
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.
[Illustration: INDIANS TEACHING THE PILGRIMS HOW TO CATCH EELS]
The first summer was now over and the Pilgrims' first harvest had
been gathered. Their houses had been repaired, and the health 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.
[Illustration: GOVERNOR CARVER'S LAMP]
[Sidenote: =The first American Thanksgiving=]
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.
[Sidenote: =More Pilgrims from Holland and England=]
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.
[Illustration: WEDDING SLIPPER WORN BY A MAYFLOWER BRIDE]
[Sidenote: =An Indian's challenge to war=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Bradford's answer=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Pilgrims the most famous of all the Puritans in
America=]
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
[Sidenote: =Colony at Salem=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =John Winthrop founded Boston, 1630=]
=48. John Winthrop.= The Puritan leaders elected John Winthrop governor
of the new colony. In the spring 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.
[Illustration: JOHN WINTHROP
_From a portrait painted by John Singleton Copley; reproduced by
permission of the trustees of Harvard University_]
[Sidenote: =What the Puritans gave up=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Character of Winthrop=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Many new towns in Massachusetts=]
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.
[Illustration: THE NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENTS]
JOHN ELIOT, A SUCCESSFUL MISSIONARY TO THE INDIANS
[Sidenote: =Eliot translates the Bible=]
=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 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
[Sidenote: =The Indians are persecuted=]
=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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Philip is defeated and killed=]
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
[Sidenote: =The Pilgrims have a hard struggle=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The Pilgrims build towns and villages=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ The Puritans first migrated to Holland to
gain religious freedom. _2._ Later they decided to go to America,
where they planted the colony of Plymouth, made peace with the
Indians, and began to worship in their own way. _3._ John Winthrop
founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 700 Puritans. _4._ He was
such a good governor that he was elected almost every year until
his death. _5._ John Eliot converted many Indians and established
several Christian Indian communities. _6._ King Philip was goaded
into a war with the whites of Massachusetts. _7._ He was defeated
and treacherously killed.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Why did the Pilgrims decide to leave
England? _2._ What new danger threatened them in Holland? _3._
Picture the _Mayflower_ in a storm at sea. _4._ Tell the story of
Miles Standish and his little army. _5._ What useful things did the
Pilgrims learn from the Indians? _6._ Why would putting dead fish
in the hill help the corn to grow? _7._ Why have Americans loved
the Pilgrims so well? _8._ How did the Pilgrims' treatment of the
Indians compare with that of the Spaniards? _9._ Tell the story of
John Winthrop and the Puritans. _10._ Tell the story of John Eliot.
_11._ What did he do before he began to teach the Indians? _12._
Tell the story of King Philip.
=Suggested Readings.= PILGRIMS AND PURITANS: Pumphrey, _Pilgrim
Stories_; Warren, _The Little Pioneers_; Hart, _Colonial Children_,
136-140, 177-182; Glascock, _Stories of Columbia_, 69-81; Pratt,
_Early Colonies_, 113-123; Drake, _Making of New England_,
67-87, 149-186; Hart, _Source Book_, 45-48; Higginson, _American
Explorers_, 341-361.
JOHN ELIOT: Tappan, _American Hero Stories_, 59-72, 84-96.
THE MEN WHO PLANTED COLONIES FOR MANY KINDS OF PEOPLE
PETER STUYVESANT, THE GREAT DUTCH GOVERNOR
[Sidenote: =Young Peter Stuyvesant=]
=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.
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.
[Illustration: THE DUTCH SETTLEMENTS]
[Sidenote: =Becomes a soldier=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Goes to New Netherland=]
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.
[Illustration: PETER STUYVESANT
_From a seventeenth-century portrait at present in the collection of
the New York Historical Society_]
[Sidenote: =What Stuyvesant said to the settlers=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Strict order in New Amsterdam=]
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
anybody's advice unless it agreed with his own notions, but the people
had gained something.
[Sidenote: =Stuyvesant and his neighbors=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Government by the people demanded=]
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.
[Illustration: 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 were not willing to fight for
a governor who had given them so little share in governing themselves.
[Sidenote: =What Stuyvesant learned after it was too late=]
[Sidenote: =Brave to the last=]
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."
[Illustration: A DUTCH COTTAGE AND STREET SCENE IN NEW YORK, 1679]
[Sidenote: =New Netherland becomes New York=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Dutch ideas and customs remain=]
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.
[Illustration: A DUTCH SOLDIER]
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.
[Sidenote: =The colonists built houses like those in Holland=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =The Dutch liked merrymaking=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =William Penn converted=]
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!
[Sidenote: =Why Penn was expelled from college=]
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.
[Sidenote: =What Penn's family and friends thought=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Penn in Paris=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Returns more of a Quaker than ever=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Penn refuses to lift his hat=]
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."
[Illustration: 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 father would not permit such conduct toward his royal friends.
He therefore drove his son from his home a second time.
[Illustration: THE MEETING BETWEEN WILLIAM PENN AND KING CHARLES]
[Sidenote: =William Penn makes a noble choice=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Turns to America=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The king pays an old debt=]
[Sidenote: =Penn's Woods=]
=56. The Founding of Pennsylvania.= King Charles II 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.
[Illustration: A WEATHER VANE
_Set above their mill by Penn and two partners in 1699, to show which
way the wind might blow_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Penn invited all persecuted people=]
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.
[Illustration: A QUAKER]
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.
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.
[Illustration: WILLIAM PENN'S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS
_After the painting by Benjamin West, which hangs in Independence Hall,
Philadelphia_]
[Sidenote: =The founding of 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.
[Sidenote: =Some settlers lived in caves=]
But the settlers came faster than houses could be built, and some
families had to live in caves dug in the banks along the river.
Philadelphia grew faster than the other colonial towns, and soon led
them all.
[Sidenote: =Penn visits the Indians=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Kind treatment produced kind treatment=]
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."
[Sidenote: =The coming of the "Pennsylvania Dutch"=]
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
[Sidenote: =Believed in simple things=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Quakers called themselves the Society of Friends=]
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.
[Sidenote: =All religions welcomed by the Friends=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Opposed war and slavery=]
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 that these kind, gentle people should ever
have been so cruelly persecuted.
[Sidenote: =The colony prospered=]
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
[Sidenote: =Oglethorpe a soldier=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =English jails and jailers=]
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 the prisoners on their
bare backs and stole their food.
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?
[Sidenote: =King George II grants a charter=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =A select body of emigrants=]
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.
[Sidenote: =At Charleston=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Savannah laid out=]
Therefore, the people of Charleston, to give the new 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.
[Sidenote: =Italians=]
Soon other colonists came to Savannah. Among these was a company of
Italians who had come to raise the silkworm and to manufacture silk.
[Sidenote: =German Protestants=]
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.
[Illustration: OGLETHORPE SURVEYING THE SITE OF SAVANNAH]
[Sidenote: =Highlanders=]
To these were added a colony on the Altamaha River. This colony was
settled by a company of brave Highlanders from Scotland.
[Sidenote: =The Wesleys come=]
In the meantime, Oglethorpe had gone to England, but 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.
[Illustration: OGLETHORPE'S STRONGHOLD
_Standing on a bold rocky bluff overlooking a beautiful bay, it guarded
the entrance to Frederica_]
[Sidenote: =Oglethorpe foresees war=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Frederica fortified=]
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
[Sidenote: =Farms near the sea=]
=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, sandy country grown up in pine woods. Inland
also were strong and fierce tribes of Indians like the Cherokees and
Creeks.
[Sidenote: =Rice becomes an important product=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Indigo also grown=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lumber, tar, and turpentine=]
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.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Peter Stuyvesant was sent out by the
Dutch West India Company as Governor of New York. _2._ He ruled the
colony in his own way and gave the people very little power. _3._
The council surrendered the colony to the English against the will
of Stuyvesant. _4._ New Netherland became the colony of New York.
_5._ The Dutch kept up the customs of their native country. _6._
William Penn, son of a great English naval officer, became a Quaker
while a student at Oxford. _7._ He founded a colony in America on
a tract of land given him in payment of the king's debt to his
father. _8._ Penn gave the colonists the right to choose their own
rulers and to make their own laws. _9._ He gave a free constitution
and made friends with the Indians. _10._ He founded the city of
Philadelphia, which grew faster than the other colonial towns.
_11._ The Quakers were gentle and friendly to everybody. _12._
All religions were welcomed in the colony. _13._ When a friend of
Oglethorpe's died in a debtors' prison, Oglethorpe determined to do
something for the unfortunates shut up in jail for debt. _14._ He
obtained a charter from the king for some land in Georgia. _15._ In
his selection of settlers no lazy men were allowed. _16._ The town
was built near the mouth of the Savannah River. _17._ The Savannah
colony flourished, and many other settlers came to Georgia. _18._
Oglethorpe built Frederica to keep back the Spaniards. _19._ The
colonies south of Virginia thrived on the production of rice,
indigo, lumber, tar, and turpentine.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Tell the story of Peter Stuyvesant until
the time he became governor. _2._ What reforms did Stuyvesant
bring to the colony? _3._ How did he rule? _4._ What part did the
nine men play in the government? _5._ What were they called? _6._
Why were the people glad when the English fleet came? _7._ What
did William and Mary do for the colony? _8._ Tell what you know
about the way the Dutch lived. _9._ Why should the students at
Oxford be surprised to hear that William Penn had turned Quaker?
_10._ Why did his father drive him from home? _11._ What shows
that William Penn did not waste his time in Paris? _12._ Who made
peace between Penn and his father? _13._ What was William Penn's
noble resolution? _14._ How did Penn come into possession of
Pennsylvania? _15._ Prove that Penn was a very generous man. _16._
Why did William Penn call his town the "city of brotherly love"?
_17._ Make a picture of the great treaty under the elm. _18._ Tell
the story of Oglethorpe. _19._ Why did Charleston lend a helping
hand to Oglethorpe's colony? _20._ Where did the settlers of
Georgia come from? _21._ What did Oglethorpe build Frederica for?
_22._ What did the colonists south of Virginia raise?
=Suggested Readings.= STUYVESANT: Williams, _Stories from Early New
York History_, 21-32; Smith and Dutton, _The Colonies_, 189-202.
PENN: Pratt, _Early Colonies_, 158-165; Hart, _Colonial Children_,
144-148, Dixon, _William Penn_, 11-273.
OGLETHORPE: Smith and Dutton, _The Colonies_, 78-89; Pratt, _Early
Colonies_, 173-176; Hart, _Source Book_, 71-73; Cooper, _James
Oglethorpe_.
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.
[Sidenote: =Fort Frontenac built=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: LA SALLE
_Reproduced from a design based on an old engraving_]
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.
[Sidenote: =La Salle not content to get rich only=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Hennepin and his altar=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The first ship on the Great Lakes=]
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.
[Illustration: ROUTES OF THE FRENCH MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS WHO
EXPLORED THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY]
[Sidenote: =The visit to Mackinac=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The "Griffin" sails for the storehouse=]
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_ 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.
[Illustration: FRENCH FUR TRADERS BARTERING WITH THE INDIANS]
[Sidenote: =The journey by canoe to the Illinois River=]
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_.
[Sidenote: =They reach Starved Rock=]
Disappointed, but still brave, La Salle with a party 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.
[Sidenote: =Surprising an Indian camp=]
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.
[Illustration: LA SALLE AND HENNEPIN SURPRISING THE INDIANS ON THE
SHORES OF PEORIA LAKE]
The Indians told La Salle of fierce warriors farther on 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.
[Sidenote: =The fort of the broken heart=]
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.
[Illustration: LA SALLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI]
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.
[Sidenote: =Iroquois destroy villages of the Illinois=]
While La Salle was gone, a great army of fierce Iroquois destroyed the
villages of the Illinois Indians, "the children of Count Frontenac."
[Sidenote: =A union of Indian tribes proposed=]
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.
[Sidenote: =La Salle journeys to the mouth of the Mississippi=]
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.
[Sidenote: =La Salle takes possession of new country=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Builds Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock=]
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.
[Sidenote: =La Salle misses the mouth of the Mississippi=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =La Salle's death=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The heroic Tonti=]
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
[Sidenote: =Men of New France lived as the Indians lived=]
=62. Life of the Trapper, Jesuit Missionary, and Soldier of New
France.= For more than a hundred years after 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.
[Sidenote: =Long years of war=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ La Salle was sent to complete the
exploration of the Mississippi. _2._ La Salle made his way to the
Gulf of Mexico and later built the fort at Starved Rock. _3._ The
French sent trappers, missionaries, and soldiers into New France to
strengthen it against the English. _4._ The French trappers lived
on intimate terms with the Indians. _5._ With the fall of Quebec,
England won New France.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Why was La Salle not satisfied merely to
get rich? _2._ Describe the first voyage on the Lakes. _3._ Find
on the map the places named, from Mackinac to Fort Crèvecœur. _4._
How did La Salle reach the Mississippi? _5._ Picture Tonti's fort
on Starved Rock. _6._ Tell the story of the fate of La Salle. _7._
What Indian tribe sided with the English? _8._ What was the effect
of the fall of Quebec?
=Suggested Readings.= LA SALLE: Wright, _Children's Stories in
American History_, 316-330; Pratt, _Later Colonial Period_, 1-28.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE FIRST GENERAL AND FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES
THE "FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY"
[Sidenote: =Washington's birthday and birthplace=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The mother of Washington=]
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.
[Sidenote: =School in Fredericksburg=]
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 and schools were scarce in Virginia then because the
people lived miles apart on their great plantations.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =The yearly ship from London=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Mary Washington=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The eldest son in Virginia=]
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 officer under whom he had fought in the West Indies.
[Sidenote: =George studied hard and played hard=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Playing war=]
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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON DREAMING OF A SEAMAN'S LIFE]
[Sidenote: =A horseback rider=]
As a boy George Washington also learned many useful things outside
of school. He became a skillful horseback rider, for every Virginia
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.
[Sidenote: =A woodsman=]
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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON AS A WOODSMAN]
[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS]
[Sidenote: =Washington wanted to be a sailor=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lord Fairfax=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A surveyor at sixteen=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Life in the Shenandoah in 1748=]
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.
[Illustration: THE SURVEYING PARTY AT AN INDIAN WAR DANCE]
[Sidenote: =Work well done=]
Within a month Washington was back with maps and figures showing what
lands 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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON SURVEYING LORD FAIRFAX'S LANDS]
[Sidenote: =A public surveyor=]
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."
[Sidenote: =At Greenway Court=]
But the young surveyor was often at Greenway Court taking part in
its pastimes, or spending his time in sober conversation with Lord
Fairfax, or in reading the books on history which were found in his
friend's library.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Heavy responsibility at twenty=]
=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.
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."
[Sidenote: =George Washington sent to order the French out of Virginia
territory=]
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."
[Sidenote: =The trip back to Virginia=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Washington cuts a road over the mountains=]
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 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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON ON HIS WAY BACK FROM THE FRENCH POSTS]
[Sidenote: =He wins one battle, and loses another=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Washington joins Braddock's army=]
=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 of Indians. Braddock only smiled, as if to say that a young
backwoodsman could not teach him how to fight.
[Sidenote: =Braddock too vain to take good advice=]
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."
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.
[Illustration: A VIRGINIA RIFLEMAN]
[Sidenote: =A great defeat=]
[Sidenote: =Washington thanked for his bravery by the Burgesses=]
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 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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON AND THE VIRGINIANS SAVE BRADDOCK'S ARMY]
[Sidenote: =Colonel Washington visits Boston=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Washington introduced to Martha Custis=]
=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.
[Illustration: THE OLD BLOCK HOUSE, PITTSBURGH
_Still standing to-day in the heart of the city, formed part of Fort
Pitt_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Wolfe made it easy to capture Fort Duquesne=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A Virginia wedding=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Elected to the House of Burgesses=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Too confused to make a speech=]
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 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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Old Mount Vernon days=]
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 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.
[Illustration: SCENE AT MOUNT VERNON IN THE DAYS OF WASHINGTON]
[Sidenote: =Washington took sides with Patrick Henry=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Sent to the Continental Congress=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =A youthful colonel=]
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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON DRILLING HIS VIRGINIANS]
[Sidenote: =In Congress again=]
[Sidenote: =What John Adams said=]
=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 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."
[Sidenote: =What Washington said to Congress and wrote to his wife=]
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.
[Sidenote: =On the way to take command=]
[Sidenote: =News from Bunker Hill=]
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 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!"
[Sidenote: =Took command of the army, July 3, 1775=]
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.
[Illustration: A COLLEGE WELCOME AT YALE]
[Sidenote: =A bloodless victory=]
It took all winter to do these things. One night in 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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON TAKING COMMAND OF THE ARMY]
[Sidenote: =Washington outwits Howe=]
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.
[Sidenote: =New York captured=]
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 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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Heroic Nathan Hale=]
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."
[Sidenote: =Washington retreats, but fights=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Americans discouraged=]
=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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON ON THE MARCH TO TRENTON
_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.
[Sidenote: =Washington outwits another English general=]
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 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.
[Illustration: HESSIAN FLAG
_From a photo of the flag taken by Washington from the Hessians at
Trenton and now in the museum at Alexandria_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Washington and Howe meet at the Brandywine=]
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.
[Illustration: KNEE BUCKLES WORN BY GENERAL WASHINGTON]
[Sidenote: =Valley Forge=]
=72. The Winter at Valley Forge.= After the battle at Brandywine Creek
the British slowly made their way to 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.
[Sidenote: =What the soldiers suffered for independence=]
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.
[Illustration: CAMP AT VALLEY FORGE]
[Sidenote: =Steuben helps drill the men=]
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.
=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.
[Sidenote: =Good news from Lafayette=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Washington again outwits Cornwallis=]
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 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.
[Illustration: THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS
_After the painting by John Trumbull which hangs in the rotunda of the
Capitol at Washington_]
[Sidenote: =Cornwallis surrenders=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A touching scene=]
=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 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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S RESIGNATION
_After the painting by Trumbull in the Capitol at Washington_]
[Sidenote: =A noble act=]
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.
[Illustration: MOUNT VERNON, THE HOME OF WASHINGTON]
[Sidenote: =How the war had changed things=]
[Sidenote: =Many people visit Washington=]
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 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.
[Illustration: LAFAYETTE AT MOUNT VERNON
_After a painting by Rossiter and Mignot_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Another call to duty=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =A triumphal procession from Mount Vernon to New York=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Washington takes the oath as first president=]
On April 30, 1789, standing on the balcony of Federal 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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S GRAND ENTRY INTO NEW YORK CITY, 1789
_From a chromo-lithograph after an original drawing by Alphonse Bigot_]
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.
[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S TOMB, MOUNT VERNON]
[Sidenote: =Death in 1799=]
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 Leading Facts.= _1._ Washington was born on the Potomac,
spent his early days on the Rappahannock, and went to school at
Fredericksburg. _2._ He learned many things outside of school,
such as horseback riding, fox hunting, and how to find his way in
the deep forests. _3._ He became a surveyor in the Shenandoah for
Lord Fairfax. _4._ Governor Dinwiddie sent Washington to order
the French to leave the Ohio. _5._ Washington joined Braddock's
campaign against the French, and in the battle tried to save the
army. _6._ Washington married young Mrs. Martha Custis, and was
elected to the House of Burgesses. _7._ Heard Patrick Henry's fiery
speech, went to first Continental Congress, and the second Congress
made him commander over the Continental army. _8._ Washington
drove the British out of Boston, outwitted them around New York,
retreated across the Jerseys, and then beat them at Trenton and
Princeton, _9._ He fought at Brandywine, suffered at Valley Forge,
penned the British up in New York, and finally captured Cornwallis
at Yorktown. _10._ Washington gave up his command and retired to
Mount Vernon, but was called to be the first president of the new
republic.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Who was Washington's father and where did
he meet Washington's mother? _2._ What was a plantation and why so
large? _3._ What things did Washington love to do besides study?
_4._ Why did George make a good captain? _5._ Picture the yearly
ship from London at Mount Vernon. _6._ Who was Lord Fairfax and
what did he engage Washington to do? _7._ What did Washington do at
Greenway Court? _8._ Why was Washington chosen for the mission to
the French, and what was the result? _9._ What were the preliminary
events before the great war? _10._ Picture Braddock's defeat.
_11._ How old was Washington when he first visited Boston? _12._
How did he become so rich? _13._ What news did Washington bring
back to Mount Vernon in 1765? _14._ Who went to Congress with
George Washington, and how did a member speak of him? _15._ What
did he learn at Congress? _16._ Picture the scene in the second
Congress. _17._ Describe the trip to Boston. _18._ What task did
he set before himself, and how did he accomplish it? _19._ How
did Washington outwit Howe? _20._ Who was Nathan Hale? _21._ What
discouraged the Americans? _22._ Picture the surprise and capture
of the Hessians. _23._ How did Washington outwit Cornwallis? _24._
What effect did these victories have? _25._ What sort of a time did
the soldiers spend at Valley Forge? _26._ Who was Steuben, and what
did he do? _27._ How did Lafayette aid Washington? _28._ Picture
the surrounding and capture of Cornwallis. _29._ What changes had
the war made in Virginia? _30._ In what way did Congress honor
Lafayette? _31._ Picture Washington's journey to New York.
=Suggested Readings.= WASHINGTON: Cooke, _Stories of the Old
Dominion_, 94-139; Blaisdell and Ball, _Hero Stories from American
History_, 62-76, 123-155; Hart, _Camps and Firesides of the
Revolution_, 239-255, 261-266, 307-309; Glascock, _Stories of
Columbia_, 101-113; Baldwin, _Four Great Americans_, 9-68; Hart,
_How our Grandfathers Lived_, 45-47; Mabie, _Heroes Every Child
Should Know_, 274-288; Hawthorne, _Grandfather's Chair_, 186-191;
Magell, _Stories from Virginia History_, 56-78, 79-94; Brooks,
_True Story of Lafayette_; Wister, _The Seven Ages of Washington_;
Mace, _George Washington: A Virginia Cavalier_.
THE MAN WHO HELPED WIN INDEPENDENCE BY WINNING THE HEARTS OF FRENCHMEN
FOR AMERICA
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, THE WISEST AMERICAN OF HIS TIME
[Sidenote: =Born in colonial times=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The scholar of the family=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Put to work=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Longs for the sea=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =How he improved his language=]
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.
[Illustration: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
_From the original portrait by Joseph Siffrein Duplessis, in the Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Writes for his brother's paper=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Leaves home=]
Franklin was now only seventeen, but because of his 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.
[Sidenote: =From New York to Philadelphia=]
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.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN AND DEBORAH REED
_The first meeting of Franklin and the young girl who was to be his
wife_]
[Sidenote: =His sorry plight=]
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 your husband and the greatest man in Philadelphia."
[Sidenote: =Good books and good company=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A call from the governor=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Returns home before going to London=]
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.
[Illustration: PRINTING PRESS
_From a photo of the press used by Franklin when in London, and now in
the National Museum, Washington, D.C._]
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.
[Sidenote: =In a London printing office=]
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 drinking only water and proving he was stronger and able
to do more work and do it better than any of them.
[Sidenote: =Returns to Philadelphia and marries=]
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.
[Illustration: A FRANKLIN STOVE
_After a model in the rooms of the American Philosophical Society,
Philadelphia_]
[Sidenote: =Founds three great institutions=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Invents a stove=]
[Sidenote: =Forms the first fire department=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Poor Richard's sayings=]
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 is enough." "God helps those who help themselves."
"Early to bed and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."
[Sidenote: =Economy is the road to wealth=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Elected to office=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Deputy postmaster-general=]
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.
[Illustration: MILESTONE, LYME, CONN.
_This milestone, still standing at Lyme, marks the distance on a road
surveyed by Franklin_]
[Sidenote: =Franklin plans a union of the colonies=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Fame begins to come=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Proves that lightning and electricity are the same=]
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.
[Sidenote: =More honors=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Sent to England to defend the colonies=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =How Franklin helped the English understand the Stamp Act=]
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.
[Illustration: FRANKLIN'S CLOCK]
[Sidenote: =Franklin and Pitt=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Hastens home=]
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).
[Sidenote: =Franklin plans union=]
Pennsylvania sent him to the Congress of 1775, which, 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.
[Sidenote: =Helps write the Declaration of Independence=]
Franklin was one of five men who were named by Congress to write the
Declaration of Independence (1776).
[Sidenote: =Franklin in France=]
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.
[Sidenote: =France sends aid=]
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.
[Illustration: INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, IN THE DAYS OF FRANKLIN
_From an old print_]
[Sidenote: =Treaty with England=]
After helping to make the treaty of peace with England in 1783,
Franklin came home with many honors. Though nearly eighty years old,
the people of Pennsylvania immediately elected him governor.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =Helps make our Constitution=]
[Sidenote: =Franklin signs the Constitution=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Died in 1790=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Franklin's parents were poor, had
seventeen children; hence Benjamin, though a studious fellow,
was put to the printer's trade. _2._ Franklin wrote the "Dogood
Papers." Left home for New York, but went on to Philadelphia.
_3._ Persuaded to go to London. He returned and married. _4._
Franklin started a circulating library, a school which became the
University of Pennsylvania, and a society called the American
Philosophical Society. _5._ He invented a stove, founded the
first fire department in America, and printed _Poor Richard's
Almanac_. _6._ Wrote the first plan of an American Union, and won
degrees from English and Scotch universities. _7._ Franklin was
one of the committee to write the Declaration of Independence.
_8._ Was sent to France, where he won the help of France in the
War of the Revolution. _9._ Franklin was governor of the state of
Pennsylvania, was a delegate to help make the Constitution, and
died at the age of 84.
=Study Questions.= _1._ How long ago was Franklin born? _2._ Tell
of his school experiences. _3._ Why did Franklin not go to sea?
_4._ Tell the story of his bargain with his brother. _5._ What did
Franklin hear about the "Dogood Papers"? _6._ Tell the story of the
"runaway printer." _7._ How did he save his time in Philadelphia?
_8._ How did he happen to go to London the first time? _9._ What
good example did he set to London printers? _10._ Why did he return
to Philadelphia? _11._ What three great institutions did he found?
_12._ Why did the people like _Poor Richard's Almanac_? _13._ What
public offices did he hold? _14._ Picture Franklin proving that
electricity and lightning are the same. _15._ What did he go to
England a second time for? _16._ How did Franklin aid in the repeal
of the Stamp Act? _17._ In what great events did he have a part?
_18._ What was his work in France? _19._ What was his last great
work? _20._ How did he spend his last days? _21._ Point out the
obstacles he overcame all along in his career.
=Suggested Readings.= FRANKLIN: Baldwin, _Four Great Americans_,
71-122; Hart, _Camps and Firesides of the Revolution_, 158-162;
Hart, _Colonial Children_, 197-199, 210-214; Wright, _Children's
Stories of Great Scientists_, 71-89; Bolton, _Famous American
Statesmen_, 38-66; Brooks, _Century Book of Famous Americans_,
65-76.
PATRICK HENRY AND SAMUEL ADAMS, FAMOUS MEN OF THE REVOLUTION, WHO
DEFENDED AMERICA WITH TONGUE AND PEN
PATRICK HENRY, THE ORATOR OF THE REVOLUTION
[Sidenote: =Why the king wished to tax America=]
=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.
[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY
_After the painting by Thomas Sully, owned by William Wirt Henry, the
orator's grandson, Richmond, Virginia_]
[Sidenote: =What the Stamp Act was=]
So the Parliament of England passed a law that all 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.
[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY SPEAKING IN THE HOUSE OF BURGESSES
_From an engraving after the original painting by Rothermal_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Patrick Henry in the House of Burgesses=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Patrick Henry's famous speech=]
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--" "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?
[Sidenote: =Patrick as a boy=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Early failures=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Liked to study history and law=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Succeeded as a lawyer=]
[Sidenote: =Patrick's father the judge=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Henry's first great speech=]
[Sidenote: =The people overjoyed=]
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.
[Illustration: PEOPLE OF THE COURT CARRYING PATRICK HENRY ON THEIR
SHOULDERS AROUND THE GREEN]
[Sidenote: =Elected a lawmaker=]
Patrick Henry was now the people's hero. At the election the following
year his friends chose him to go to the House of Burgesses, and there,
in 1765, he made his stirring speech against the Stamp Act.
[Sidenote: =The Stamp Act repealed=]
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.
[Illustration: ON THE WAY TO THE GREAT CONGRESS AT PHILADELPHIA]
[Illustration: ST. JOHN'S CHURCH, RICHMOND]
[Sidenote: =The Americans angry over the Tea Tax=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Patrick Henry meets Samuel Adams at the great Congress=]
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.
[Illustration: THE STOVE IN THE HOUSE OF THE BURGESSES
_This stove is now in the State Library of Virginia_]
[Sidenote: =A new sentiment=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Patrick Henry's new resolutions=]
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.
[Illustration: DECLAIMING PATRICK HENRY'S FAMOUS SPEECH
_As a favorite declamation this great speech still rouses the spirit of
patriotism in America_]
[Sidenote: =Patrick Henry's greatest speech=]
[Sidenote: =War is inevitable=]
=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 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."
[Illustration: THE FLAG OF THE VIRGINIA MINUTEMEN]
[Sidenote: =What a listener in St. John's Church saw and heard=]
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!"
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =What Washington saw in Boston in 1775=]
The men who heard this great speech never forgot it. The people of
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!"
[Sidenote: =Patrick Henry loved by Virginians=]
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.
[Illustration: PATRICK HENRY
_From the bronze figure of the Washington monument by Crawford at
Richmond_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Patrick Henry in his old age=]
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 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
[Sidenote: =Samuel Adams the pen 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.
[Sidenote: =A student=]
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.
[Illustration: SAMUEL ADAMS
_From the original painting by John Singleton Copley, representing
Adams in 1771, now hanging in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston_]
[Sidenote: =Early love for 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. He never hesitated to take what he
thought the right side of any question.
[Sidenote: =Why Adams opposed the Stamp Act=]
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.
[Sidenote: =How he opposed 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.
[Sidenote: =Samuel Adams writes the "Circular Letter"=]
Samuel Adams again sharpened his pen, and wrote the famous old
"Circular Letter," which urged all the 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.
[Illustration: SAMUEL ADAMS WRITING THE FAMOUS CIRCULAR LETTER]
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.
[Sidenote: =Conflicts between people and soldiers=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Samuel Adams and the people drive the soldiers out of
Boston=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =The tea ships guarded while town meetings are held=]
=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.
[Illustration: 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. They found the shops and stores closed and people
standing on the street corners talking earnestly.
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.
[Illustration: THE BOSTON TEA PARTY ABOARD THE TEA SHIP IN THE HARBOR]
[Sidenote: =Permission to return tea denied=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Boston Tea Party=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Paul Revere's first ride=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Boston Port Bill=]
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.
[Illustration: ASSEMBLY ROOM IN CARPENTER'S HALL
_Here met the first Continental Congress of the colonies_]
[Sidenote: =Strange visitors=]
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
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!
[Illustration: CARPENTER'S HALL, PHILADELPHIA]
[Sidenote: =Poor but loyal=]
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.
[Sidenote: =What Samuel and John Adams saw on the way to Philadelphia=]
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.
[Sidenote: =New and noble friends=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Other colonies to help Boston=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Minutemen=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Alarming the minutemen=]
=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, 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.
[Sidenote: =The first conflict of the minutemen=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The retreat of the British=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Many redcoats fall=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775=]
=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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL]
[Sidenote: =Three fierce charges=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Adams and Hancock on the way to the second Congress=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Samuel Adams among the first to favor independence=]
=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 was made, July 4, 1776,
and Samuel Adams, as a great leader of the Revolution, had done his
work.
But, with other noble men, he still labored with all his powers, in
Congress and at home, to help America win her independence.
[Sidenote: =Governor of Massachusetts=]
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.
[Illustration: AN OLD QUILL PEN]
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ The French and Indian War put both
England and her colonies in debt, but the king thought only of
England's debt. _2._ Great opposition to the Stamp Act in all
the colonies. _3._ Patrick Henry made a great speech against the
Virginia parsons, and a second on the Stamp Act. _4._ He went to
the first Continental Congress and made many friends; came home and
made a great speech saying that war would come. _5._ Made governor
of Virginia many times. _6._ Samuel Adams studied hard, failed in
several occupations, and went into politics. _7._ Led the patriots
against the soldiers, the Stamp Act, and planned the Tea Party.
_8._ Samuel Adams sent to Continental Congress, where he made many
friends. _9._ Urged a Declaration of Independence in 1776. _10._
Made governor of Massachusetts.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Why were the colonists happy because
England defeated France? _2._ What was the Stamp Act, and why did
men in America oppose this act? _3._ What did Patrick Henry say
in his resolution and in his speech? _4._ Picture the scene while
Patrick Henry spoke and afterwards. _5._ Why did not the Americans
like the Tea Tax? _6._ Why did not the king like the American "Tea
Parties"? _7._ What is a Congress; and why should Patrick Henry
and Samuel Adams become good friends? _8._ Commit to memory a
part of Henry's famous "liberty or death" speech. _9._ How did
the people trust Patrick Henry? _10._ What did Samuel Adams do
against the Stamp Act? _11._ What was the Circular Letter and why
should the king be angry about it? _12._ Tell how Samuel Adams
drove two regiments out of Boston. _13._ What caused a Congress?
_14._ Tell what Samuel and John Adams saw and did on their way
to Philadelphia. _15._ Why were people glad to see Samuel Adams?
_16._ What made war seem likely to happen at any time? _17._ Read
Longfellow's poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." _18._ Give
an account of the Battle of Lexington. _19._ Picture the retreat
from Concord to Boston. _20._ Picture the charge of the British
soldiers at Bunker Hill. _21._ What did Samuel Adams see on his way
to the second Continental Congress? _22._ Who introduced the motion
for independence into the Congress?
=Suggested Readings.= PATRICK HENRY: Cooke, _Stories of the Old
Dominion_, 158-180; Brooks, _Century Book of Famous Americans_,
93-101; Magill, _Stories from Virginia History_, 116-128.
SAMUEL ADAMS: Dawes, _Colonial Massachusetts_, 42-72; Brooks,
_Century Book of Famous Americans_, 10-30; Hart, _Camps and
Firesides of the Revolution_, 162-166; Hawthorne, _Grandfather's
Chair_, 153-189, 205, 206.
THE MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE WITH GUN AND SWORD
NATHAN HALE
[Sidenote: =Hale a leader in class affairs and athletic sports=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Enrolled to fight for liberty=]
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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =Captures a British war vessel=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Offers to find out the British plans=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Passes the British lines safely=]
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!
[Sidenote: =Hale sentenced to death=]
[Sidenote: =Gives his life for his country=]
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 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
[Sidenote: =Moultrie repulses attack on Charleston=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Charleston surrenders to Cornwallis=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
[Sidenote: =Greene goes south to watch Cornwallis=]
=96. Nathanael Greene, the Quaker General.= Washington now chose
Nathanael Greene, the "Quaker general," to go south, take command of
the American army, 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.
[Sidenote: =The "learned blacksmith"=]
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."
[Illustration: GREENE'S GUN
_Now in the possession of the Rhode Island Historical Association_]
[Sidenote: =He buys a musket=]
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.
[Illustration: GREENE CONCEALING THE MUSKET IN HIS WAGON]
[Sidenote: =News from Lexington sends Greene to Boston=]
When the stirring news from Lexington reached him, Greene was 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.
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.
[Illustration: SCENE OF THE CAMPAIGNS IN THE SOUTH]
[Sidenote: =Men who helped Greene in the South=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Greene divides his army=]
Greene divided his army into two parts. He took one thousand men and
marched into northeastern South Carolina, where Marion and Lee, with
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.
[Illustration: MORGAN'S ESCAPE FROM THE INDIANS]
[Sidenote: =Morgan goes to northwestern South Carolina=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Tarleton sent to capture him=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Morgan's training=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: DANIEL MORGAN
_From a miniature painted by John Trumbull now in the Art Gallery of
Yale University_]
[Sidenote: =Burgoyne's compliment=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Morgan places his men=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A brilliant victory=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Stories of Tarleton=]
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."
[Illustration: 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_]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Greene's great march=]
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.
[Sidenote: =General Morgan retires=]
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.
[Illustration: THE LAST SALUTE TO MORGAN]
[Sidenote: =A touching scene=]
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 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!
[Sidenote: =Greene's "victory"=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Greene drives the British to Charleston=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Congress, South Carolina, and Georgia honor Greene=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The "Swamp Fox"=]
=99. Francis Marion.= Of all the brave men who 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.
[Sidenote: =Marion's "Brigade"=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =How they escaped=]
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.
[Illustration: FRANCIS MARION
_After the portrait in the painting by T. Stothard, R.A._]
[Sidenote: =One hundred fifty prisoners set free=]
Just after Cornwallis defeated Gates, near Camden, 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.
[Illustration: ONE OF MARION'S MEN]
[Sidenote: =Tarleton cannot catch Marion=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Congress gives Marion a vote of thanks=]
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.
[Sidenote: =After the war=]
Marion was as true and gentle as he was bold and brave. He was never
cruel to prisoners, and was greatly opposed 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.
[Illustration: "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_]
[Sidenote: =A potato feast=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ When Hale heard the news of the fight at
Lexington he hastened to the front. _2._ He went inside the British
lines to learn their plans, was caught, and executed. _3._ Greene
went to Boston, saw the British army, returned home and prepared
his minutemen. _4._ Washington sent him to the Carolinas after the
defeat of Gates. _5._ In the retreat of the American army after the
battle of Cowpens, Greene turned and fought the battles of Guilford
Court House, Hobkirks Hill, and Eutaw Springs. _6._ Daniel Morgan
with ninety-six men marched from the Shenandoah Valley to Boston to
join Washington. _7._ He won the battle of Cowpens against Colonel
Tarleton. _8._ Francis Marion's "Brigade" was made up of a small
number, mounted on their own horses, and armed with their own
guns and swords. _9._ He was called the "Swamp Fox," because his
men, attacking after nightfall, usually escaped to a swamp before
daylight.
=Study Questions.= _1._ What was Hale doing when war broke out?
_2._ Why did he go within the British lines? _3._ Where was Greene
born, and why was he called "the learned blacksmith"? _4._ How
did he get his company of minutemen drilled? _5._ What leaders
did Greene have to help him? _6._ Who was General Morgan? _7._
What did Burgoyne say to Morgan? _8._ Explain how Morgan prepared
for the battle of Cowpens. _9._ Picture the battle. _10._ What
anecdotes are told of Tarleton? _11._ Picture the scene at General
Morgan's burial. _12._ How did Greene win a victory by retreating?
_13._ What became of Cornwallis after the battle of Guilford Court
House? _14._ What other battles did Greene fight? _15._ What proofs
of affection did South Carolina and Georgia give? _16._ What is
the rank of Greene as a general? _17._ How many were in Marion's
"Brigade," how were they armed, and how did they fight? _18._ Why
did Tarleton call Marion the "Swamp Fox"? _19._ Who praised General
Marion? _20._ Read _The Song of Marion's Men_, by William Cullen
Bryant.
=Suggested Readings.= NATHAN HALE: Brown, _Nathan Hale, the Martyr
Spy_.
NATHANAEL GREENE: Fiske, Irving's _Washington_, 430-456; Francis V.
Greene, _General Greene_, 1-22, 94-105, 160-262; Frost, _Heroes of
the Revolution_, 27-75.
DANIEL MORGAN: Blaisdell and Ball, _Hero Stories from American
History_, 105-122; Brooks, _Century Book of the American
Revolution_, 168-173; Frost, _Heroes of the Revolution_, 76-89.
FRANCIS MARION: McCrady, _South Carolina in the Revolution_,
568-572, 577-652, 660-672, 748-752, 816-881.
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"
[Sidenote: =John Paul born in Scotland=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Sails on the "Friendship" to America=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Returns and sails for Africa=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Made captain=]
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.
[Sidenote: =In Virginia again=]
After a time John Paul went to Virginia to take care 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.
[Sidenote: =Offers his services to Congress=]
=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.
[Illustration: JOHN PAUL JONES
_From a painting by Charles Wilson Peale in Independence Hall,
Philadelphia_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Changes his name=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Really wants to fight=]
[Sidenote: =What he could do=]
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 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.
[Illustration: THE FIRST AMERICAN ENSIGN
_This, the first flag to float above an American man-of-war, was raised
by John Paul Jones_]
[Sidenote: =Sent to France=]
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.
[Sidenote: =With the "Ranger" at Whitehaven=]
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.
[Sidenote: ="Paul, the Pirate"=]
"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. The _Ranger_ had lost only
two men. After this fight the English towns were still more afraid of
Paul Jones.
[Sidenote: =The "Good Man Richard"=]
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.
[Illustration: MARINE CANDLESTICK
_From man-of-war "Constitution"_]
[Sidenote: =The "Richard" and the "Serapis"=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The great sea fight=]
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.
[Illustration: NAVAL PITCHER
_This was made in commemoration of the American Navy, 1795_]
A great explosion on the _Serapis_ 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.
[Illustration: 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"_]
The British prisoners on the _Richard_ had to help pump out water to
keep the ship from sinking.
[Sidenote: =A great victory=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A great naval hero=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Finally buried in America=]
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.
JOHN BARRY, WHO WON MORE SEA FIGHTS IN THE REVOLUTION THAN ANY OTHER
CAPTAIN
[Sidenote: =Barry visits America=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Offers his services to Congress=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Made captain of the "Lexington"=]
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.
[Illustration: JOHN BARRY
_From the portrait painted by Colin Campbell Cooper after the Stuart
painting, now in Independence Hall, Philadelphia_]
But Barry was not idle. Arming four boatloads of men, with muffled oars
he rowed down the Delaware at night.
[Sidenote: =He captures a British vessel and four transports=]
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.
[Sidenote: =He takes command of the "Raleigh"=]
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.
[Illustration: BARRY'S BOATS ATTACKING THE BRITISH]
[Sidenote: =Wounded, but forces the British to strike their colors=]
=104. Barry Given Command of the "Alliance."= In 1781 Barry was placed
in command of the _Alliance_, a 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.
[Sidenote: =On his last voyage of the Revolution=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Named first commander of a navy=]
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 Leading Facts.= _1._ John Paul was born a sailor in Scotland
and went to America. _2._ He was in America when war broke out;
offered his service and was made lieutenant. _3._ Congress sent
him to France, and Franklin sent him to prey on English commerce.
_4._ Paul Jones won the great sea fight in the _Bon Homme Richard_.
_5._ John Barry was born in Ireland, and went to sea early. _6._
Congress made him captain in 1776, in charge of the _Lexington_.
_7._ Barry set the country talking by capturing a war vessel and
four transports. _8._ John Barry won more naval victories in the
Revolutionary War than any other office. _9._ Named first commodore
in 1794 by the Secretary of the Navy.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Give an account of John Paul's boyhood.
_2._ What of his first visit to America? _3._ How did Paul happen,
at so early an age, to have full charge of a vessel? _4._ Why did
he go to Virginia a second time? _5._ Why did he hasten to Congress
as soon as war began? _6._ How did Paul Jones prove his right to
be captain? _7._ Tell the story of the battle between the _Drake_
and the _Ranger_. _8._ Picture the battle between the _Bon Homme
Richard_ and the _Serapis_. _9._ What rewards came to Paul Jones?
_10._ Where is he buried? _11._ Give an account of John Barry's
youth. _12._ When the war came, what was Barry's action? _13._ What
was the first victory on the part of the navy? _14._ What was the
outcome of the battle on the _Raleigh_? _15._ What were Barry's
experiences in the _Alliance_? Picture Barry's last battle.
=Suggested Readings.= PAUL JONES: Beebe, _Four American Naval
Heroes_, 17-68; Abbot, _Blue Jackets of '76_, 83-154; Frothingham,
_Sea Fighters_, 226-266; Hart, _Camps and Firesides of the American
Revolution_, 285-289; Hart, _How Our Grandfathers Lived_, 217-219;
Seawell, _Paul Jones_.
JOHN BARRY: Griffin, _Commodore John Barry_, 1-96.
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
[Sidenote: =Boone born in Pennsylvania=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Moved to the Yadkin=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Crossed the mountains in 1760=]
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.
[Illustration: BOONE AND HIS BEAR TREE]
[Sidenote: =News from across the Cumberland=]
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 north and from the south met
there in deadly conflict.
[Sidenote: =Boone and companions go to Kentucky=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Danger from animals=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Danger from Indians ever present=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Captured but escapes=]
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.
[Sidenote: =News from the old home=]
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.
[Sidenote: =His brother returns home for supplies=]
Stewart was shot by the Indians, but Boone and his brother remained all
winter in Kentucky. Powder, lead, 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.
[Illustration: BOONE FIGHTING OVER THE BODY OF HIS SON]
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.
[Sidenote: =Brings supplies and both go 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.
[Sidenote: =An Indian attack=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Making the "Wilderness Road"=]
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 mountains, and over which
hundreds of pack horses and thousands of settlers made their way.
[Illustration: FORT BOONESBORO IN WINTER
_After the plan by Colonel Henderson in Collins' "Historical
Collections of Kentucky"_]
[Sidenote: =Fort Boonesboro=]
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.
[Sidenote: =His family in the "second Paradise"=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Three girl prisoners=]
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
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.
[Illustration: BOONE AND HIS MEN TRAILING THE INDIANS]
[Sidenote: =The chase and the capture=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Kentucky in the War of the Revolution=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =The prize prisoner=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Adopted by an Indian family=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Steals away to Boonesboro=]
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.
[Sidenote: =An Indian trick spoiled=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Indians cannot capture Boone's fort=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Boone's reason for again moving west=]
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."
[Sidenote: =Moves to Missouri=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Died in 1820=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Louisiana country and the French=]
=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"
[Sidenote: =Sevier born in Virginia=]
[Sidenote: =Early life in the Shenandoah=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Fine looking=]
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.
[Sidenote: =He goes to the Watauga=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Tennessee in the Revolution=]
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.
[Illustration: JOHN SEVIER
_After an engraving from a miniature now in possession of one of his
descendants at New York_]
[Sidenote: =The story of Jack Sevier and Kate Sherrill=]
The story is told that Sevier, during the siege, fell in love with the
beautiful, tall, brown-haired Kate Sherrill. One day 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.
[Illustration: KATE SHERRILL RACING FOR LIFE]
[Sidenote: =Sevier acts quickly=]
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!
[Sidenote: =Moves to the Nolichucky=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Welcomes rich and poor=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =British challenge=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The plan of battle=]
[Sidenote: =Battle of Kings Mountain=]
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?
[Sidenote: =The result=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A deadly blow=]
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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF KING'S MOUNTAIN
_Where 900 frontiersmen attacked and totally destroyed 1,000 British
soldiers entrenched and better armed_]
Sevier, in all, fought thirty-five battles. He was the most famous
Indian fighter of his time.
[Sidenote: =Governor of Tennessee many times=]
[Sidenote: =Indians trusted him=]
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?"
[Illustration: "NOLICHUCKY JACK'S A-COMING"
_Sevier welcomed by the congregation of the country church_]
[Sidenote: =The boy's disappointment=]
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!"
[Sidenote: =Died in 1815=]
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 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
[Sidenote: =Clark born in Virginia=]
[Sidenote: =A surveyor=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =A scout=]
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.
[Illustration: 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_]
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.
[Sidenote: =In Kentucky=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Life at Harrodsburg=]
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.
[Illustration: GEORGE ROGERS CLARK
_From a painting on wood by John Wesley Jarvis, now in the State
Library at Richmond, Virginia_]
[Sidenote: =Turns to Patrick Henry in time of need=]
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. He made Clark a
colonel, gave him six thousand dollars in paper money, and ordered him
to raise an army to defend Kentucky.
[Sidenote: =A colonel with a secret=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Floating down the beautiful Ohio=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Clark tells his secret=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A long march begun=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Kaskaskia, July 4, 1778=]
They reached the old French town of Kaskaskia at dusk on July 4. They
did not dare give a shout or fire a gun, for the British officer had
more men than Clark.
[Sidenote: =Surrounds the town=]
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.
[Illustration: CLARK'S SURPRISE AT KASKASKIA]
[Sidenote: =Virginia, not Great Britain=]
[Sidenote: =The French settlers alarmed=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =The treaty with France=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Vincennes surrenders=]
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.
[Sidenote: =General Hamilton stirred up=]
[Sidenote: =Stays in Vincennes until spring=]
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, around
into the Ohio, and up the Wabash to meet him at Vincennes.
[Sidenote: =Clark begins the march=]
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.
[Sidenote: =On the march=]
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.
[Illustration: CLARK'S MEN ON THEIR WAY THROUGH THE DROWNED LANDS OF
THE WABASH VALLEY]
[Sidenote: =The drowned lands=]
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 them over the deepest parts. The horses had to swim.
[Sidenote: =The morning gun=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Terrible suffering=]
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.
[Illustration: THE BIG TROOPER CARRIED THE DRUMMER BOY]
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.
[Sidenote: =Clark's letter=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The attack=]
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 the portholes and drove the gunners from the cannon.
[Sidenote: =Hamilton surrenders=]
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.
[Illustration: 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 about. But he was never able to
march against Detroit, as once he had planned to do.
[Sidenote: =Clark's Grant=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Clark unrewarded=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Boone loved the woods, crossed the
mountains into east Tennessee, and later went to Kentucky. _2._
He wintered alone in Kentucky; his brother returned home for
supplies. _3._ Boone built the "Wilderness Road," and also built
Fort Boonesboro. _4._ Boone took part in the War of the Revolution,
was captured by the Indians, carried to Detroit, but escaped. _5._
Years after his death his remains were taken to Frankfort, Kentucky.
_6._ John Sevier studied at Fredericksburg; fought Indians in the
Shenandoah. _7._ He went over to the settlement on the Watauga;
helped defend it against the Indians. _8._ Sevier helped win the
great victory at Kings Mountain. _9._ He was many times governor of
Tennessee.
_10._ George Rogers Clark loved the woods; was a surveyor and an
Indian fighter at twenty-one. _11._ Moved to Kentucky, saw men and
women scalped, and resolved to capture the British posts north
of the Ohio. _12._ Clark received permission from Patrick Henry,
collected his little army, and floated down the Ohio to the falls.
_13._ He drilled his men; set out for Kaskaskia, which he captured.
_14._ Clark marched for Vincennes through the drowned lands;
attacked and captured Vincennes. _15._ Clark was not rewarded
by the government, but the state of Indiana has erected a great
monument to his memory.
=Study Questions.= _1._ What did Boone do that was pioneer-like?
_2._ What was the country doing in 1760? _3._ Why did Boone wish to
leave North Carolina? _4._ What were the early names of Kentucky,
and what did these names mean? _5._ Tell the story of Boone's first
visit to Kentucky. _6._ Picture the capture and escape of Boone
and Stewart. _7._ Find the places on the map which are named on
Boone's Wilderness Road. _8._ Picture the scene in Boonesboro the
night of the capture of the girls and also their rescue and return
home. _9._ Go with Boone to Blue Licks and help make salt. _10._
Be captured, and tell of the long journey to Detroit, what you
saw there, and how and why Boone made his escape. _11._ Tell the
story of the last attack on Boonesboro. _12._ Why did Boone move to
Missouri?
_13._ What famous men went to school at Fredericksburg? _14._ What
famous men have lived a part of their time in the Shenandoah? _15._
What changed Sevier's career? _16._ Tell what happened to Sevier at
the siege of Fort Watauga. _17._ Why did Sevier leave Watauga, and
what sort of life did he lead on the Nolichucky? _18._ Tell of the
gathering of the clans, and picture the battle of Kings Mountain.
_19._ Why did the people of Tennessee love Sevier? _20._ Why was
the boy disappointed?
_21._ What were Clark's surroundings in boyhood? _22._ When was
he a scout? a leader in Kentucky? _23._ What made Clark learn
to hate the British? _24._ Tell the story of his secret. _25._
Picture the voyage to the falls of the Ohio. _26._ What did Clark
do here? _27._ Tell the story of events from the falls of the
Ohio till he reached Kaskaskia. _28._ Picture the scene of the
dance at Kaskaskia. _29._ What news did Clark give Father Gibault?
_30._ Where were the British, and what did they do? _31._ Picture
Clark's march to Vincennes. _32._ Be one of the soldiers of Clark
and tell what was seen, heard, and done the night of the attack on
Vincennes and the next day. _33._ Where was Clark's Grant? _34._
Why do we call Clark's conquest of Kaskaskia and Vincennes one of
the greatest events in American history? _35._ Where is a monument
erected to his memory? _36._ Find on the map the places mentioned
in the campaign.
=Suggested Readings.= DANIEL BOONE: Wright, _Children's Stories of
American Progress_, 1-40; Glascock, _Stories of Columbia_, 138-147;
Hart, _Camps and Firesides of the Revolution_, 101-116; McMurry,
_Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley_, 68-83.
JOHN SEVIER: Blaisdell and Ball, _Hero Stories from American
History_, 90-104; McMurry, _Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley_,
104-123; Phelan, _History of Tennessee_, 57-66, 241-257.
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK: McMurry, _Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley_,
124-149; Blaisdell and Ball, _Hero Stories from American History_,
1-17; Eggleston, _Tecumseh and the Shawnee Prophet_, 41-51;
Roosevelt, _The Winning of the West_, II, 31-85.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW REPUBLIC
ELI WHITNEY, WHO INVENTED THE COTTON GIN AND CHANGED THE HISTORY OF THE
SOUTH
[Sidenote: =Eli at work in his father's tool shop=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Goes to Georgia to teach=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Invited to Mulberry Grove=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Cotton fiber separated from seed by hand=]
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.
=114. The Cotton Gin Invented.= One of the visitors said that a machine
ought to be invented which would 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.
[Illustration: ELI WHITNEY WORKING ON HIS COTTON GIN]
[Sidenote: =Whitney sets to work=]
[Sidenote: =Invents cotton gin=]
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!
[Sidenote: =More slaves brought into the South=]
Before this time many planters had thought that 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
[Sidenote: =Jefferson born in Virginia=]
[Sidenote: =A lover of books from boyhood=]
=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.
[Illustration: WHERE JEFFERSON WENT TO SCHOOL BEFORE HE WENT TO WILLIAM
AND MARY COLLEGE]
[Sidenote: =Goes to William and Mary College=]
When seventeen years old he rode away to Williamsburg to attend the
College of William and Mary, the second oldest college in America.
[Sidenote: =A wonderful old town=]
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.
[Illustration: THE OLD CAPITOL, WILLIAMSBURG
_Here Jefferson heard Patrick Henry make his famous Caesar-Charle the
First speech_]
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.
[Sidenote: =He knew great men=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Studies law=]
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 Act, Jefferson stood in the doorway of the House and listened
spellbound to his friend's fiery eloquence.
[Sidenote: =Jefferson a member of the House of Burgesses=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Marries and begins life 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.
[Sidenote: =A rich man=]
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.
[Illustration: JEFFERSON AND HIS WIFE AT MONTICELLO]
[Sidenote: =Committee of Correspondence=]
But stirring events took Jefferson away from the quiet 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.
[Illustration: THE RALEIGH TAVERN, WILLIAMSBURG
_When barred from the House of the Burgesses the Committee of
Correspondence met in this tavern_]
[Sidenote: =In the Continental Congress=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Jefferson writes the 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 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.
[Sidenote: =The other members liked what Jefferson wrote=]
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.
[Illustration: 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 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.
[Sidenote: =Minister to France=]
[Sidenote: =Helps France become a republic=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Greeted by his slaves=]
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.
[Illustration: JEFFERSON WELCOMED BACK TO MONTICELLO BY HIS NEGROES]
[Sidenote: =First Secretary of State=]
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 nations. He chose Thomas Jefferson to do
that work and gave him the office of Secretary of State.
[Sidenote: =Leader of the Democratic-Republican party=]
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.
[Illustration: THOMAS JEFFERSON
_From a painting by Rembrandt Peale, now in the possession of the New
York Historical Society, New York City_]
[Sidenote: =Elected president=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Reduces expenses=]
Jefferson also pleased the people by reducing the expenses of the
government. He cut down the number 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.
[Sidenote: =Napoleon forces Spain to give France Louisiana=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Sells Louisiana to America=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The greatness of the purchase=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Lewis and Clark expedition=]
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.
[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1803, AFTER THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE]
[Sidenote: =Louisiana Purchase Exposition=]
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.
[Sidenote: =President a second time=]
[Sidenote: =Friends visit him at Monticello=]
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 all
parts of America and Europe came to consult him. The people called him
the "Sage of Monticello."
[Sidenote: =Died July 4, 1826=]
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
[Sidenote: =A vast unexplored country=]
[Sidenote: =Gray visits the Pacific=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Discovers the mouth of the Columbia=]
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.
=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.
[Sidenote: =Expedition leaves St. Louis=]
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.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN MERIWETHER LEWIS
_From the original painting by Charles Wilson Peale in Independence
Hall, Philadelphia_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Smoked the "pipe of peace"=]
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 bright with color, and the
wild ducks and geese in large numbers were seen going southward.
[Sidenote: =Spent the winter with the Indians=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Rocky Mountains=]
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.
=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.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARK
_From the original painting by Charles Wilson Peale in Independence
Hall, Philadelphia_]
[Sidenote: =The source of the Missouri=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Indians are friendly=]
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.
[Illustration: STATUE OF SACAJAWEA
_This Indian woman, as interpreter and guide, was a great aid to the
exploring party_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Explorers suffer from hunger and cold=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Reach the Columbia River=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Explorers reach the Pacific=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lewis and Clark travel different routes=]
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.
[Sidenote: =All return to St. Louis=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Rewarded by Congress=]
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 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).
[Illustration: LEWIS AND CLARK ON THEIR WAY DOWN SNAKE RIVER]
[Sidenote: =The coming of the missionaries=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =The treaty of 1846=]
=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
[Sidenote: =A Rhode Islander=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Perry bitter toward the British=]
[Sidenote: =Ready for battle=]
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.
He immediately set sail for Put-In-Bay, where the British fleet was
stationed. There he arranged his ships 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.
[Illustration: OLIVER HAZARD PERRY
_After an engraving by Edwin made in 1813 from the Waldo picture_]
[Sidenote: =Drives the "Lawrence" into the British fleet=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Broke British power in the West=]
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
[Sidenote: =Jackson a Scotch-Irishman=]
=125. How a Poor Boy Began to Rise.= Andrew Jackson was born of
Scotch-Irish parents who had 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.
[Sidenote: =Learns from the woods=]
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!
[Sidenote: =Learns to hate the British=]
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.
[Illustration: JACKSON REFUSES TO SHINE THE OFFICER'S BOOTS]
[Sidenote: =A prisoner of war=]
[Sidenote: =Loses his mother=]
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 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.
[Illustration: THE HERMITAGE NEAR NASHVILLE
_This historic house, the home of Andrew Jackson, is now owned by the
state of Tennessee_]
[Sidenote: =A lawyer before twenty=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Follows the settlers over the mountains=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Outwits the Indians=]
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, and silently they marched away. Another party,
coming an hour or two later, stopped in the same place, and were
massacred by Indians.
[Sidenote: =Practicing law on the frontier=]
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.
[Sidenote: =In Congress=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A call to arms=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =How he won the name "Old Hickory"=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Another call to arms=]
[Sidenote: =Jackson and 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."
[Illustration: JACKSON SHARES HIS ACORNS WITH THE HUNGRY SOLDIER]
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 River in Alabama. After that the
Indians were only too glad to cease fighting and sue for peace.
[Illustration: A BREASTWORK OF COTTON BALES]
[Sidenote: =A third call to arms=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The two armies=]
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.
[Illustration: A LITTLE BREASTWORK OF SUGAR BARRELS]
Jackson had not long to wait. On came the British 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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS
_Won by Jackson after peace was made, this battle helped to make him
president and to change history_]
[Sidenote: =The beginning of the battle=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The battle in earnest=]
[Sidenote: =The victory after the treaty=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Jackson a hero=]
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.
[Illustration: ANDREW JACKSON
_From a painting by Thomas Sully which hangs in the rooms of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia_]
[Sidenote: =Elected president=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Quarrels with the bank=]
[Sidenote: =Great men oppose Jackson=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Jackson and Benton friends=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: THE SCENE OF JACKSON'S CAMPAIGNS]
[Sidenote: =Nullification=]
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 fight rather than obey
the law and pay the tariff. This act of the convention was called
nullification.
[Sidenote: =President Jackson's proclamation=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Jackson a Union man=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Death at the Hermitage=]
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.
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF ANDREW JACKSON]
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts.
_2._ As a boy he was very much interested in tools, and worked in
his father's shop with all kinds of mechanical contrivances. _3._
He earned his way through college doing carpenter work. _4._ After
graduation he set out to teach in Savannah. _5._ He failed to
get the situation, and went to visit a friend who had taken much
interest in him. _6._ The South needed a machine to separate the
cotton fiber from the seed. _7._ Whitney set to work to make one,
at the suggestion of his friend, Mrs. Greene. _8._ The cotton gin
revolutionized the South. _9._ It made cotton raising the chief
industry, and brought thousands of slaves into the country.
_10._ Thomas Jefferson, born in Virginia, loved books; while in
college he met Patrick Henry. _11._ Went to the Burgesses and
planned the committees of correspondence. _12._ Jefferson was sent
to the Congress of 1776 and wrote the Declaration of Independence.
_13._ After the war Jefferson was sent as Minister to France.
_14._ Washington chose him as Secretary of State, and he founded
the Democratic-Republican party. _15._ Jefferson was popular as
president. _16._ He cut down expenses, and with his savings in
running the government purchased Louisiana.
_17._ The Columbia River was discovered by Gray. _18._ The way to
the Oregon country was made known by Lewis and Clark. _19._ The
Indians received them with kindness along the route. _20._ They
followed the Columbia until they reached the Pacific; Clark made a
map of the region they had gone through. _21._ As a reward, Lewis
was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory and Clark of the
Missouri Territory. _22._ Fur traders and missionaries soon found
their way to the Oregon country.
_23._ Perry went to serve against the pirates, was eager to fight
the English when war broke out, and was appointed commandant at
Lake Erie. _24._ Perry built a fleet and won a famous victory over
the English. _25._ A gold medal was struck in his honor by Congress.
_26._ Andrew Jackson was born of poor parents; learned from the
woods more than from books. _27._ Jackson was captured by the
British. _28._ His mother died nursing American soldiers. _29._
He studied law, went over the mountains to Nashville, and was
elected to Congress. _30._ He also served as United States senator.
_31._ Jackson defeated the Indians, captured Pensacola, and won
a brilliant victory at New Orleans. _32._ Jackson was elected
president and was opposed in his policy by Clay, Webster, and
Calhoun. _33._ Threatened South Carolina over nullification. _34._
Died at the Hermitage in 1845.
=Study Questions.= _1._ What did Whitney like to do as a boy?
_2._ How did he help himself through college? _3._ Why did he
go to Savannah? _4._ Whom did he meet on the way? _5._ Describe
how cotton was then separated from the seed. _6._ Describe the
action of the machine made by Whitney. _7._ What was the effect
of his invention? _8._ How did the value of cotton shipped out of
the country compare with other goods? _9._ What effect did the
invention have on negro slavery in the South?
_10._ Name some things boys did on a Virginia plantation in
Jefferson's time. _11._ Name some of Virginia's great men whom
Jefferson knew. _12._ Explain how the committees of correspondence
worked. _13._ Who were the men appointed to make a Declaration of
Independence? _14._ Why did Jefferson write the Declaration? _15._
Why did French people like Jefferson? _16._ Picture Jefferson's
return home. _17._ How was Jefferson fitted for Secretary of State?
_18._ What were the people then disputing about, and who were their
leaders? _19._ Why did Jefferson want the government to be plain
and simple? _20._ Who wanted it different? _21._ Tell the story of
the buying of Louisiana. _22._ Why did Americans think the buying a
great event? _23._ Why did Jefferson not become president a third
time? _24._ What can you tell of the friendship of John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson? _25._ Describe the trip of Lewis and Clark up the
Missouri River. _26._ How did the Indians on the way receive them?
_27._ How did they return home? _28._ What offices were given Lewis
and Clark?
_29._ What important command was given to Perry? _30._ Tell what he
did when his ships were ready for the "Battle of Lake Erie." _31._
Picture the battle. _32._ What honors were given to Perry?
_33._ Where was Andrew Jackson born? _34._ Name some other boys who
learned more from the woods than from books. _35._ Mention some
early experiences Jackson had with the British soldiers. _36._
What other experiences did he have in the war? _37._ What led
him to go to Nashville? _38._ Explain how Jackson outwitted the
Indians. _39._ What did he do as a young lawyer? _40._ Tell the
story of Jackson's first call to arms. _41._ Give a full account
of Jackson's second call to arms. _42._ Imagine yourself one of
Jackson's soldiers, and tell what you saw and heard at the battle
of New Orleans. _43._ Give an account of Jackson's fight against
the United States Bank. _44._ Who was Thomas H. Benton, and why
did he defend President Jackson? _45._ What action did South
Carolina take in 1832, and what did the president do? _46._ Where
did Jackson live after his last term as president?
=Suggested Readings.= ELI WHITNEY: Brooks, _The Story of Cotton_,
90-99; Southworth, _Builders of Our Country_, Vol. II, 108-116;
Shillig, _The Four Wonders_, 1-32.
JEFFERSON: Wright, _Children's Stories of American Progress_,
55-85; Cooke, _Stories of the Old Dominion_, 180-192; Hart, _How
Our Grandfathers Lived_, 317-320; Butterworth, _In the Days of
Jefferson_, 32-168, 175-206, 216-264.
PERRY: Beebe, _Four American Naval Heroes_, 71-130; Wright,
_Children's Stories of American Progress_, 130-144; Hart, _How
Our Grandfathers Lived_, 241-242, 248-249; Glascock, _Stories of
Columbia_, 172-174.
JACKSON: Brooks, _Century Book of Famous Americans_, 162-172;
Blaisdell and Ball, _Hero Stories from American History_, 185-198;
Hart, _How Our Grandfathers Lived_, 284-291; Barton, _Four American
Patriots_, 133-192; Frost, _Old Hickory_.
THE MEN WHO MADE THE NATION GREAT BY THEIR INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES
ROBERT FULTON, THE INVENTOR OF THE STEAMBOAT
[Sidenote: =How boats were driven=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Inventors before Fulton=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Studied under Benjamin West=]
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.
[Illustration: ROBERT FULTON
_After the painting by Benjamin West_]
[Sidenote: =Influenced to become an engineer=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Meets Livingston in France=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Fulton's trial boats=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Twenty years' rights=]
Livingston believed in Fulton and his steamboat. 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.
[Sidenote: =Gets engine in England=]
[Sidenote: =The "Clermont"=]
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.
[Illustration: 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 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.
[Sidenote: =A great victory for Fulton and Livingston=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Name of boat changed to "North River"=]
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.
[Illustration: THE "CLERMONT"]
[Sidenote: =Steamboats appear on different rivers=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =People along the Ohio frightened=]
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.
[Illustration: WATCHING THE "CLERMONT" ON ITS FIRST VOYAGE UP THE
HUDSON]
[Sidenote: =A steamboat helped Jackson=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Robert Fulton dies, 1815=]
Robert Fulton died in 1815, deeply mourned by all his countrymen, and
was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York City.
[Sidenote: =Steamboats carry goods up the Mississippi=]
[Sidenote: =Erie Canal across New York=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =New York recovered her trade=]
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 which was to help every city no matter
where located.
[Sidenote: =The first railroad=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Stephenson's "Puffing Billy"=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The first long railroad=]
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.
[Sidenote: =By rail from Boston to Buffalo=]
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.
[Sidenote: =To the Pacific coast=]
Gradually the railroads spread a network over the country. In 1857 St.
Louis and Chicago were connected. 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
[Sidenote: =Morse, 1791=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Paints portraits=]
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.
[Illustration: MORSE WORKING ON HIS MACHINE]
[Sidenote: =The idea came to him of sending news by electricity=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A machine and an alphabet=]
"Why can't it be?" said Morse to a friend, who answered, "There is
great need of sending news by 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.
[Sidenote: =The hungry inventor=]
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.
[Illustration: THE FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT]
[Sidenote: =Alfred Vail=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Getting ready for Congress=]
[Sidenote: =Behind locked doors=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The dot and dash alphabet=]
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 working
order. Baxter, hatless and coatless, ran for Mr. Vail's father to come
at once and see the telegraph work.
[Illustration: MORSE SHOWING HIS COMPLETED WORK]
[Sidenote: =The final test=]
[Sidenote: =Patented in Morse's name=]
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.
[Illustration: MORSE LISTENING TO CONGRESS MAKING FUN OF HIS INVENTION]
[Sidenote: =Congressmen watch the instruments=]
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 other room. This was great fun for
those looking on. But it was slow work talking with members of Congress
and winning their help.
[Sidenote: =Congress makes fun of the idea=]
=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.
[Illustration: SAMUEL F. B. MORSE
_From a photograph taken by Abraham Bogardus, New York City_]
[Sidenote: =Morse ruined if bill does not pass=]
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."
[Sidenote: =Telegraph line to Baltimore built=]
[Sidenote: =The first message=]
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."
[Sidenote: =Honors heaped on the inventor=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Morse dies, 1872=]
He died in 1872 at the good old age of eighty-one. Congress and state
legislatures paid tribute to his memory.
[Illustration: THE TELEPHONE]
[Sidenote: =The telephone=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Marconi beats them all=]
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
[Sidenote: =Cyrus W. Field, 1819=]
[Sidenote: =In business for himself=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Why not span the Atlantic?=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Englishmen also approve the plan=]
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.
[Sidenote: =President Pierce signs the bill=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Half a million dollars gone=]
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.
[Illustration: PRESIDENT PIERCE SIGNING THE FIELD BILL]
[Sidenote: =A second trial=]
[Sidenote: =Breaks again=]
Field went back to England and began promptly to prepare for a second
trial. He then came to America and made arrangements to use 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.
[Sidenote: =A council of war=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Success=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A great day in New York=]
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.
[Illustration: CYRUS W. FIELD
_From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London_]
[Sidenote: =The cable parts the third time=]
The very day that a whole city rose up to do honor to the Atlantic
telegraph and its author, it gave its last flash and then went to sleep
forever in its ocean grave.
[Illustration: LAYING THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE]
[Sidenote: =After a wait of five years=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The money subscribed=]
=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:
[Sidenote: ="Hearts Content"=]
"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."
[Sidenote: =Effect on the civilized world=]
[Sidenote: =Great honor for Mr. Field=]
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.
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. MᶜCORMICK, 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.
[Illustration: CYRUS HALL MᶜCORMICK]
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.
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.
[Illustration: THE FIRST MᶜCORMICK REAPER
_After a model of the original reaper_]
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.
[Illustration: 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 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
=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.
[Illustration: ELIAS HOWE]
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 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.
[Illustration: 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
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Fulton's invention greatly increased
commerce before the coming of railroads. _2._ Congress granted
Morse money to build a telegraph line, after many delays. _3._ Bell
and Gray invented the telephone. _4._ Marconi invented wireless
telegraphy. _5._ Cyrus Field after many failures laid a permanent
cable across the Atlantic in 1866. _6._ McCormick's reaper hastened
the settlement of the West. _7._ Howe became rich through the
invention of the sewing machine.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Tell of early attempts to build steamboats.
_2._ Give the story of the _Clermont_. _3._ Give an account of the
steps by which Morse won success. _4._ How many attempts did Field
make before a permanent cable was laid? _5._ What was the great
importance of McCormick's reaper? _6._ Describe Howe's first sewing
machine.
=Suggested Readings.= ROBERT FULTON: Glascock, _Stories of
Columbia_, 186-188; Wright, _Children's Stories of American
Progress_, 104-120; Thurston, _Robert Fulton_.
SAMUEL F. B. MORSE: Trowbridge, _Samuel Finley Breeze Morse_;
Mowry, _American Inventions and Inventors_, 270-277; Holland,
_Historic Inventions_, 168-188.
BELL AND GRAY: Holland, _Historic Inventions_, 215-232.
CYRUS WEST FIELD: Judson, _Cyrus W. Field_; Doubleday, _Stories
of Inventors_, 3-16; Mowry, _American Inventions and Inventors_,
278-285.
CYRUS H. MCCORMICK: Brooks, _The Story of Corn_, 218-220; Forman,
_Stories of Useful Inventions_, 91-96; Sanford, _The Story of
Agriculture in the United States_, 144-149.
ELIAS HOWE: Hubert, _Inventors_, 99-110.
THE MEN WHO WON TEXAS, THE OREGON COUNTRY, AND CALIFORNIA
SAM HOUSTON, HERO OF SAN JACINTO
[Sidenote: =Houston among the Cherokees=]
=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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF HORSESHOE BEND
_Here Houston, under Jackson in the victory over the Creeks, won great
distinction_]
[Sidenote: =Returns home=]
[Sidenote: =Wounded in battle=]
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." After
doing heroic deeds, he was dangerously wounded. Houston was a long time
in getting well.
[Illustration: SAM HOUSTON
_From a photograph by Matthew B. Brady in the collection of the War
Department, Washington, D.C._]
[Sidenote: =Elected to Congress=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Governor of Tennessee=]
[Sidenote: =Forsakes his home=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Returns to the Cherokees=]
[Sidenote: =The old chief's welcome=]
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 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."
[Sidenote: =Visits Washington=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Visits 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.
[Sidenote: =Hastens to Texas=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Texas declares independence=]
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.
[Illustration: 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.
These heroic men died, fighting the Mexicans to the last.
[Sidenote: ="Remember the Alamo!"=]
"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.
[Illustration: THE FLAG OF THE TEXAS REPUBLIC]
[Sidenote: =Massacre of Goliad=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Houston's retreat=]
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.
[Illustration: HOUSTON AT SAN JACINTO
_Where his battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" won Texas independence
from Mexico_]
[Sidenote: =Battle of 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, pioneer fashion, with the
cry, "Remember the Alamo!" The right and the left wings of the Mexicans
gave way first, and then the center.
[Sidenote: =Retreat of the Mexicans=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Santa Ana captured and sent to visit Washington=]
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.
[Illustration: SCENE OF HOUSTON'S CAMPAIGN]
[Sidenote: =Houston elected president of Texas=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Annexation of Texas=]
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.
DAVID CROCKETT, GREAT HUNTER AND HERO OF THE ALAMO
[Sidenote: =Crockett found his schooling in the woods=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Elected to Congress=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Returns to the wilderness=]
[Sidenote: =Joins the fight at the Alamo=]
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.
For several days the Mexicans were held at a distance. 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.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE WEST AFTER THE WAR WITH MEXICO
_Showing the territory added to the United States after the Louisiana
Purchase_]
[Sidenote: =David Crockett fights to the last=]
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
[Sidenote: =His father a French refugee=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Goes to South America=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Becomes a civil engineer=]
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.
[Illustration: THE PATHWAYS OF THE EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE WEST]
[Sidenote: =Marries Senator Benton's daughter=]
After this work Fremont returned to Washington and later married
Jessie Benton, the daughter of the senator from Missouri. Thomas H.
Benton was a great friend of President Jackson.
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.
[Illustration: JOHN C. FREMONT
_After a photograph from life_]
[Sidenote: =Receives permission to explore South Pass=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Unfurls the Stars and Stripes on Fremonts Peak=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Beholds Great Salt Lake=]
[Illustration: 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."
[Illustration: FREMONT'S MEN BUILDING A FIRE IN THE SNOW]
[Sidenote: =Reaches Fort Vancouver=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Travel in deep snow=]
[Sidenote: =Crossing the Sierra Nevada=]
November 10, on the way home, the little party started 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.
[Illustration: FREMONT'S EXPEDITION REACHING SUTTER'S FORT, CALIFORNIA]
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!
[Sidenote: =In the Valley of the Sacramento=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Sees the Mohave Desert=]
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."
[Sidenote: =End of second expedition=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Third expedition=]
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.
[Illustration: THE UNFURLING OF THE AMERICAN FLAG IN CALIFORNIA
_The Stars and Stripes were raised for the first time in California
near Monterey in 1846_]
[Sidenote: =War breaks out=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Conquest of California=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Fourth expedition=]
[Sidenote: =Elected to United States Senate=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Nominated for president=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A major-general in the Civil War=]
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
[Sidenote: =Spanish missionaries baptize Indians=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Franciscan friars friends of the oppressed=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Serra builds a mission at San Diego=]
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. 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.
[Sidenote: =Mission buildings surrounded by gardens=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Indians taught useful occupations=]
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
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.
[Sidenote: =Missions fall to ruin=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Houston had little schooling and went to
live with the Cherokee Indians. _2._ Wounded at Horseshoe Bend;
studied law in Nashville; was sent to Congress for four years;
and was elected governor of Tennessee. _3._ Went to live with
the Cherokees again, and then went to Texas. _4._ Houston won
the battle of San Jacinto; was made president of the republic of
Texas; and later elected to the United States Senate. _5._ David
Crockett was born in Tennessee, had little schooling, and became an
expert rifle shot. _6._ He fought the Indians under Andrew Jackson.
_7._ Won an election to the legislature by telling stories; later
elected to Congress. _8._ Crockett grew tired of civilization
and returned to the wilderness. _9._ Fought against the Mexicans
at the Alamo, where he was killed with all his companions. _10._
Fremont went to school in Charleston, but left for a voyage to
South America. _11._ He worked for exploring parties; married, and
thus became related to a great man interested in the Far West.
_12._ Fremont explored the South Pass on his first expedition; on
his second, saw Great Salt Lake, and crossed the mountains with
great suffering. _13._ Fremont crossed a third time, and aided in
conquering California; was made a United States senator, and became
first candidate of the Republican party for the presidency. _14._
Franciscan friars, long before the landing of the Pilgrims, entered
what is now New Mexico, Arizona, and California. _15._ They taught
the Indians the Christian religion and many useful occupations.
=Study Questions.= _1._ What was peculiar in Houston's early life?
_2._ What had he done before he began to study law? _3._ What
made people like him? _4._ Where was the battle of Horseshoe Bend
fought? _5._ How did the Cherokee chief welcome him? _6._ Why
did Houston go back to Tennessee? _7._ What drew him to Texas?
_8._ What were the first bad defeats of the Texans? _9._ Tell the
story of San Jacinto. _10._ What kind of a general, a president,
and a senator did Houston make? _11._ Where did Crockett spend
his boyhood, and what fame did he gain? _12._ How did he win his
way to the legislature? _13._ What made Crockett go back to the
wilderness? _14._ Describe the fight at the Alamo. _15._ Who was
John Charles Fremont? _16._ What of his youthful days? _17._ What
experience in early days after college prepared him for his great
work? _18._ Who was Kit Carson? _19._ Describe Fremont's journey to
the South Pass. _20._ Tell what was seen and what was done there.
_21._ What expedition did he now plan? _22._ Picture the scene on
the discovery of the Great Salt Lake. _23._ Picture his exploration
of the Great Basin and crossing the mountains. _24._ What was the
contrast at Sutter's Fort? _25._ Describe the Digger Indians.
_26._ At what was Fremont's third expedition aimed, and what did
it really accomplish? _27._ Who was St. Francis? _28._ Describe
Serra's arrival at San Diego. _29._ Why did he build a mission at
San Diego? _30._ Describe life at a Spanish mission. _31._ What
happened when Spanish rule was ended in California?
=Suggested Readings.= HOUSTON: Bruce, _Life of General Houston_.
DAVID CROCKETT: Crockett, _Life of Davy Crockett_; Lodge and
Roosevelt, _Hero Tales from American History_, 171-181.
FREMONT: Bigelow, _Life of John Charles Fremont_, 1-216, 319-373,
379-466.
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.
[Sidenote: =The "Mill boy of the Slashes"=]
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."
[Sidenote: =Read books when other boys played=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: THE "MILL BOY OF THE SLASHES"]
The Chancellor of Virginia, a great judge, liked him and took him to be
his private secretary. For four years Clay wrote down the judge's law
decisions. The great man often talked with Clay on important subjects
and advised him about the kind of books to read.
[Sidenote: =Leader in a debating club=]
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.
[Illustration: HENRY CLAY IN CONGRESS
_Urging war in 1811, with England or France or even both if necessary_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Favors gradual abolition of slavery=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Too young to be a senator=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Speaker of the House of Representatives=]
Born during the Revolution, Henry Clay, like most Americans of his
time, grew up with hatred toward England 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.
[Illustration: INKSTAND USED BY HENRY CLAY]
[Sidenote: =The War of 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.
[Sidenote: =The Treaty of Ghent=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The conflict over Missouri=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Missouri Compromise=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =The Compromise Tariff Law=]
[Sidenote: =Henry Clay as a peacemaker again=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The founder of the Whig party=]
=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.
[Illustration: HENRY CLAY
_From a daguerreotype owned by Garrett Brown, Jr., Chicago_]
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 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."
[Sidenote: =Unfortunate Henry Clay=]
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!
[Sidenote: =Dispute over the new territory=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Retires to Ashland=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A unanimous call=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Walks to the capitol on the arm of a friend=]
One day Clay made a great speech in favor of his 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.
[Sidenote: =His audience=]
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.
[Illustration: HENRY CLAY BEING CONGRATULATED
_In 1850 on his great plea before the Senate for the Federal Union_]
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."
[Sidenote: =A remarkable scene=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The reunion of the Union=]
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."
[Sidenote: ="This Union is my country"=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Died in Washington in 1852=]
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
[Sidenote: =Daniel Webster, 1782=]
[Sidenote: =Loves the woods and fields=]
[Sidenote: =A good reader=]
=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 sawmill, but he
read books even there in odd moments of time.
[Sidenote: =Webster at Exeter Academy=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The best student at Dartmouth=]
[Sidenote: =He loved public speaking=]
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.
[Illustration: HOUSE AT ELM FARMS
_The birthplace of Daniel Webster. The site is now occupied by the New
Hampshire State Orphans Asylum_]
[Sidenote: =Teaches school and studies law=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Elected to Congress=]
[Sidenote: =Favors a naval war=]
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."
[Illustration: SCENE OF THE FOURTH OF JULY ORATION
_Daniel Webster asserting the dignity of patriotism at Dartmouth, July
4, 1800_]
[Sidenote: =Webster's appearance=]
[Sidenote: =His battle with Hayne=]
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 thus in 1830 in the
Senate, when he made his famous speech in reply to Senator Hayne of
South Carolina.
[Illustration: SCENE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE
_Daniel Webster defending the Federal Constitution against Hayne's idea
of nullification_]
[Sidenote: =Denies the right of nullification=]
[Sidenote: ="Liberty and Union, one and inseparable"=]
=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 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!"
[Illustration: DANIEL WEBSTER
_From a daguerreotype taken in 1850 by J. J. Hawes of Boston_]
This speech made Daniel Webster immortal. It did more; it fired the
heart of every lover of his country.
[Sidenote: =Opposes Clay's Compromise Tariff=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Jackson praises Webster=]
President Jackson was delighted, and praised Webster in public and in
private.
[Sidenote: =Harrison makes him Secretary of State=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Webster back in the Senate=]
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 the
way Tyler was doing. He went back to the United States Senate, where he
joined Clay, supporting the great Compromise of 1850.
[Sidenote: =His speech on the Compromise=]
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.
[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1850]
[Sidenote: =Boston welcomes Webster=]
[Sidenote: =Death at Marshfield, 1852=]
One bright spot for Webster lay in the fact that President 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
[Sidenote: =John C. Calhoun, 1782=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Entered Yale College as a junior=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A lawyer=]
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.
In 1811 he was married, and was elected to Congress--two great events
in his life. Henry Clay, as Speaker, 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."
[Sidenote: =Works hard for the success of the army=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Secretary of War=]
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.
[Illustration: JOHN C. CALHOUN
_From a photograph by Matthew B. Brady in the collection of the War
Department, Washington, D.C._]
[Sidenote: =Twice elected vice-president=]
[Sidenote: =Calhoun's "South Carolina Exposition"=]
=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 North to manufacturing. The South had slave and the North free
labor.
[Sidenote: =South Carolina passes ordinance of nullification=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Jackson warns South Carolina=]
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.
[Sidenote: =She withdraws her ordinance=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Speech on the purpose of the Abolitionists=]
=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.
"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.
[Sidenote: =The Union in danger=]
"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."
[Illustration: THE HOME AND OFFICE OF CALHOUN, AT FORT HILL, SOUTH
CAROLINA]
[Sidenote: =Goes beyond most slaveholders=]
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."
[Sidenote: =The Revolutionary fathers did not agree with Calhoun=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Calhoun aids the annexing of Texas=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Dispute over territory=]
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.
[Illustration: MONUMENT TO CALHOUN AT CHARLESTON, S.C.
_From a photograph of the monument, which was designed by A. E.
Harnisch_]
[Sidenote: =Calhoun opposed 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 our southern states
separate, and depart in peace."
[Sidenote: =Farewell words to the Senate=]
"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."
[Sidenote: =His last words=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Clay's father was a Baptist preacher.
Young Henry went to school in a log cabin, and rode his horse
to mill with a rope bridle. _2._ He studied law, and went to
Lexington, Kentucky, to practice. _3._ Clay won his way to the
hearts of the people; was elected to the House of Representatives
for a great many years. _4._ He favored the War of 1812; induced
Congress to pass the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise Tariff
of 1833. _5._ Clay ran three times for president. He was author
of the great Compromise of 1850. _6._ Webster was a weakly child,
played in the woods, and read books. _7._ He was graduated at
Dartmouth, taught school, studied law, and was opposed to the War
of 1812. _8._ Webster replied to Hayne, opposed the nullification
of South Carolina, and was made Secretary of State by Harrison.
_9._ Supported Clay's Compromise of 1850, and was made Secretary
of State by Fillmore. _10._ John C. Calhoun was born in South
Carolina, and studied law. _11._ He went to Congress, favored
the War of 1812, and was afterwards made Secretary of War. _12._
Calhoun thought that a state had the right to nullify an act of
Congress. _13._ He opposed Abolitionists and the Compromise of 1850.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Who was the "Mill boy of the Slashes"?
_2._ Name some of our great men besides Clay who loved books. _3._
What could Clay do better than the other boys? _4._ What help did
he get from the Chancellor of Virginia? _5._ Why did Henry Clay
form a debating club? _6._ Where was Ashland? _7._ What was Clay's
first great work in Kentucky? _8._ What is a Speaker of the House
of Representatives? _9._ What did Clay do in stirring up the war
spirit? _10._ Why did Clay speak for the Missouri Compromise? _11._
What was the Compromise Tariff? _12._ Why call Clay a peacemaker?
_13._ How many times did Henry Clay run for president? _14._ Why
was Clay sent back to the United States Senate in 1850? _15._
Picture the scene when Clay made his last great speech.
_16._ Who was Webster? _17._ Why did he play in the woods? _18._
What proof that he loved books too? _19._ Why were Daniel Webster's
feelings hurt at Exeter? _20._ Why did students like Webster? _21._
How did he reward his parents for sending him to college? _22._
What was Webster's view of the War of 1812? _23._ Picture Webster
in 1830. _24._ Quote something from his speech in reply to Hayne.
_25._ Who praised Webster for his speech against nullification?
_26._ Do you think Harrison selected the best man for Secretary of
State? _27._ Why did his friends in the North blame Webster for
the Seventh of March speech? _28._ How were Webster's last days
affected by public opinion?
_29._ Who was Calhoun and what did roaming in the woods and fields
do for him? _30._ Where did he go to college and when did he reach
Congress? _31._ What position did he take in the War of 1812? _32._
Why did he favor the tariff and later favor the nullification of
the tariff? _33._ What office did President Monroe give him? _34._
What effect had the "South Carolina Exposition"? _35._ What did
South Carolina do? _36._ How was a clash averted? _37._ What did
Calhoun say of the Abolitionists? _38._ What did he say of the
Union? _39._ What did he say of slavery? _40._ What was Calhoun's
position on the Compromise of 1850? _41._ What were his last words?
=Suggested Readings.= HENRY CLAY: Wright, _Children's Stories
of American Progress_, 159-178; Brooks, _Century Book of Famous
Americans_, 145-155; Anderson, _United States Reader_, 281-285;
Frost, _The Mill Boy of the Slashes_.
DANIEL WEBSTER: Baldwin, _Four Great Americans_, 125-186; Brooks,
_Century Book of Famous Americans_, 37-48; Hart, _How Our
Grandfathers Lived_, 341-344; Bolton, _Famous American Statesmen_,
177-229.
JOHN C. CALHOUN: Brooks, _Century Book of Famous Americans_,
140-144; Rogers, _The True Henry Clay_, 248-254.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE LIBERATOR AND MARTYR
A POOR BOY BECOMES A GREAT MAN
[Sidenote: =Abraham Lincoln, 1809=]
[Sidenote: =Moves to Indiana at the age of seven=]
=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.
[Illustration: THE BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN]
[Sidenote: =Lincoln's father makes the furniture=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: THE GRAVE OF NANCY HANKS LINCOLN]
[Sidenote: =As a hunter=]
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.
[Sidenote: =His mother's death=]
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."
[Sidenote: =Lincoln's tribute to his mother=]
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."
[Sidenote: =Lincoln gets a new mother=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =Abe's education=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =A taste for reading=]
[Sidenote: =He copies down what pleases him=]
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.
[Illustration: LINCOLN READING BY THE LIGHT OF THE OPEN FIRE
_After a painting by Eastman Johnson_]
[Sidenote: =Lincoln reads while he eats=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A great story-teller when a boy=]
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.
[Sidenote: =At nineteen years of age=]
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.
[Illustration: FASHIONS IN THE DAYS OF LINCOLN'S BOYHOOD]
[Sidenote: =Moves to Illinois=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A trip to New Orleans=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =A slave auction=]
[Sidenote: =Clerk in a store=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =The Black Hawk War=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lincoln elected captain=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Fame as a story-teller spreads=]
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.
[Illustration: LINCOLN SPLITTING RAILS TO FENCE IN THEIR FARM]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Elected to the legislature=]
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!
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."
[Illustration: LINCOLN AS A CIRCUIT RIDER]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lincoln licensed to practice law=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =His taste for public speaking=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Speaks for Harrison and for Henry Clay=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lincoln in Congress=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The champion against Douglas=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Public opinion points toward Lincoln=]
The same question was fought out between them at 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.
[Illustration: WHALE-OIL LAMP
_From Lincoln's log cabin_]
[Sidenote: =Nominated for United States senator=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lincoln challenges Douglas=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =People come from far away to hear the debates=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The fatal answer=]
"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."
[Sidenote: =Lincoln made famous by the debates=]
These debates made Lincoln widely known. He accepted invitations to
speak in Ohio, New York, and New England.
[Sidenote: =Lincoln the rail-splitter=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =The candidate of the Republican party=]
=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.
[Illustration: LINCOLN SPEAKING IN THE STATE CONVENTION]
[Sidenote: =Lincoln elected=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Bound for Washington=]
[Sidenote: =At Independence Hall=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The inauguration=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The call for men=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Blockade of Confederate States=]
While the Union troops were gathering and drilling 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.
[Sidenote: =The "Merrimac" and the "Monitor"=]
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?
[Illustration: THE CONFEDERATE STATES]
[Sidenote: =Battle between ironclads=]
But Lincoln placed his hope in the _Monitor_. This 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.
[Illustration: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
_From a rare photograph taken by Alexander Hesler in Chicago, 1860, and
loaned by the Chicago Photogravure Company, who own the original_]
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.
[Sidenote: =McClellan in the East=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Grant in the West=]
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 Confederate strongholds
along the Mississippi River, and so cut the Confederacy in two.
[Sidenote: =Slavery question to the front=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Proclamation of Emancipation=]
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.
[Illustration: THE STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO
_By Augustus St. Gaudens_]
Early in April President Lincoln went to visit the city of Richmond.
Here he saw a city on fire, and a mob breaking into houses.
[Sidenote: =Lee surrenders=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lincoln shot=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Dies April 15, 1865=]
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."
[Illustration:
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_]
[Sidenote: =Monuments to his memory=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lincoln and the South=]
=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.
[Illustration: ANDREW JOHNSON
_From a photograph taken in 1865, by A. Gardner, Washington, D. C._]
[Sidenote: =Johnson a Southerner=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The President and Congress quarrel=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Maximilian "Emperor of Mexico"=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Alaska Purchase=]
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.
[Sidenote: =What Lincoln's death meant to the South=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Lincoln, born of poor parents in the
state of Kentucky, went over to Indiana at seven years of age.
_2._ Helped build a cabin and clear the forest and went hunting.
_3._ Lincoln lost his mother, and his father married again. _4._
His stepmother took good care of Abe and his young sister. _5._
Lincoln had little schooling, but read a few books thoroughly.
_6._ He was physically strong at twenty-one, and he had read so
much that he could "spell down" the whole country. _7._ The family
moved to Illinois, and Abe was hired to take a flatboat down the
Mississippi. _8._ He saw a slave auction at New Orleans. _9._
Lincoln was elected captain in the Black Hawk War; elected to the
legislature for four terms. _10._ He studied law and was elected
to Congress. _11._ Attacked Douglas for the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
_12._ Lincoln and Douglas held joint debates. _13._ Nominated for
the presidency by the Republicans in convention at Chicago. _14._
Douglas displeased the South and the Democratic party was split.
_15._ Lincoln was elected president, the South seceded, and Douglas
stood by the Union. _16._ The battle between the _Merrimac_ and
the _Monitor_ ushered in the age of the ironclad war vessel. _17._
Grant defeated Lee, and Lee surrendered. _18._ Lincoln went to the
Ford Theater in Washington, and was assassinated. _19._ Johnson
started to carry out Lincoln's plans for reconstruction, but
Congress interfered, and tried to impeach him. _20._ Johnson caused
the French to withdraw from Mexico, and bought Alaska from Russia
in 1867 for $7,200,000. _21._ The South was slow in recovering from
the effects of the war.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Describe Lincoln's early surroundings. _2._
Picture Abe and his sister. _3._ How did Abe help get their meat?
_4._ What did he owe to his mother? _5._ What did Abe's new mother
do for him? _6._ What books did Abe read and how did he read them?
_7._ Why was Abe liked in the family? _8._ How tall was Lincoln?
How old was he when the family started for Illinois? _9._ What
did he do soon after going to Illinois? _10._ What did he see in
New Orleans that was new to him? _11._ Prove Lincoln was honest.
_12._ Prove that the men of the countryside had confidence in
Lincoln. _13._ How old was Lincoln when he ran for the legislature?
_14._ Tell the story of Lincoln's experiences in running for the
legislature. _15._ What was his success as a lawyer? _16._ Why did
Lincoln love public speaking? _17._ Why was Lincoln not elected to
Congress again? _18._ How did Lincoln become the champion speaker
against Douglas? _19._ What was the effect of the debate? _20._
What new declaration did Lincoln make in his Springfield speech?
_21._ Why did Lincoln challenge Douglas? _22._ How did Lincoln
become widely known? _23._ What was the fatal question put to
Douglas by Lincoln? _24._ To what rights did Lincoln say the black
man is entitled? _25._ Picture the scene in the state convention
of 1860. _26._ What was the effect of the Lincoln-Douglas
debates on the Democratic party? _27._ Why did this result in
Lincoln's election to the presidency? _28._ Give an account of
the demonstrations made in honor of Lincoln. _29._ Who fired the
first shot in the Civil War, and where was it fired? _30._ How many
slave states in all remained loyal to the Union cause? _31._ What
kind of a war did Lincoln make of this war? _32._ Tell the story
of the _Merrimac_ and the _Monitor_. _33._ How was the _Merrimac_
protected? _34._ How did the Proclamation of Emancipation affect
the strength of the Confederates? _35._ Describe the surrender of
Lee. _36._ Tell the story of Lincoln's assassination. _37._ How
did the nation feel over Lincoln's death? _38._ How has he been
honored? _39._ Describe the statue in Edinburgh. _40._ Where was
Lincoln buried? _41._ What was Lincoln's plan of reconstruction?
_42._ What happened when Johnson tried to carry this out? _43._
Name two matters in which Johnson acted wisely.
=Suggested Readings.= ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Baldwin, _Four Great
Americans_, 187-246; McMurry, _Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley_,
170-184; Wright, _Children's Stories of American Progress_,
159-178, 299-327; Brooks, _Century Book of Famous Americans_,
193-210; Hart and Stevens, _Romance of the Civil War_, 1-112;
Bolton, _Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous_, 342-367; Mabie,
_Heroes Every Child Should Know_, 309-319; Nicolay, _Boys' Life of
Abraham Lincoln_; Coffin, _Abraham Lincoln_; Mace, _Lincoln: The
Man of the People_; Hale, _Stories of War_; Southworth, _Builders
of Our Country_, Vol. II, 186-217.
ANDREW JOHNSON: Sparks, _Expansion of the American People_,
433-438; Guerber, _Story of the Great Republic_, 252-256.
TWO FAMOUS GENERALS
ULYSSES S. GRANT, THE GREAT GENERAL OF THE UNION ARMIES
[Sidenote: =Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1822=]
[Sidenote: =Early schooling=]
[Sidenote: =Fond of horses=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =He liked to travel=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Fights under General Taylor=]
[Sidenote: =Resigns and returns home=]
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.
[Illustration: THE BIRTHPLACE OF GENERAL GRANT, POINT PLEASANT, OHIO]
[Sidenote: =Grant goes to Springfield=]
[Sidenote: =His promotions=]
=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, 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.
[Illustration: ULYSSES S. GRANT
_From a photograph taken in 1866 by F. Gutekunst, Philadelphia_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Captures Forts Henry and Donelson=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Confederates fall back=]
[Sidenote: =Grant moves against Vicksburg=]
The surrender of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson forced 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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING, TENNESSEE]
[Sidenote: =The surrender=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Gettysburg on the same day=]
During this campaign in the lower Mississippi country 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.
[Illustration: SCENE OF GRANT'S CAMPAIGNS IN THE WEST]
[Sidenote: =Lieutenant-general=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The "Wilderness"=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Petersburg taken=]
Then Grant crossed the James River, south of Richmond, and began the
attack on Petersburg. This place was taken in the spring of 1865.
[Sidenote: =Richmond given up=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Lee surrenders at Appomattox=]
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 time in the cabinet
of President Johnson, who had become president at Lincoln's death.
[Sidenote: =Grant elected president=]
=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.
[Illustration: THE GRANT MONUMENT, RIVERSIDE PARK, NEW YORK]
[Sidenote: =Dies in 1885=]
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
[Sidenote: =Robert E. Lee, 1807=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Wins fame in Mexico=]
[Sidenote: =In charge 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 to give
up the work at West Point and go West to fight the Indians.
[Sidenote: =Lee goes with his state=]
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.
[Sidenote: =In command of army defending Richmond=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Compels McClellan to retreat=]
[Sidenote: =Invaded Maryland and Pennsylvania=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Greatest battle of the war=]
[Sidenote: =Pickett's charge=]
[Sidenote: =The loss=]
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 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.
[Illustration: PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG
_This heroic assault marked the turn of the Confederate tide_]
[Sidenote: =Lee never invades again=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Lee's troops wearing out=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Sheridan blocks the way=]
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.
[Illustration: SCENE OF WAR AROUND WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND]
[Sidenote: =Terms of surrender=]
=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 to take their horses home "to do their spring plowing."
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.
[Illustration: ROBERT EDWARD LEE
_From a portrait painted by Browne, now in the Westmoreland Club,
Richmond, Virginia_]
[Sidenote: =President of Washington College=]
[Sidenote: =Dies in 1870=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Grant born of parents who were farmers.
Loved to work with horses. _2._ Sent to West Point; was in Mexican
War under Generals Taylor and Scott. _3._ Was clerk for his
father at Galena. _4._ In the Civil War rose rapidly till made a
major-general. _5._ Captured Fort Donelson and Fort Henry. _6._
Captured Vicksburg; was made lieutenant-general, and sent into
the Wilderness after General Lee. _7._ Fought a month, then moved
around to Petersburg. _8._ Offered Lee terms of surrender. _9._ Was
twice made president. _10._ Died at Mount McGregor. _11._ Robert E.
Lee was born in Virginia and went to school at Alexandria. _12._
Went to West Point, and was in the Mexican War, where he earned
honor and fame. _13._ Took charge at West Point. _14._ Followed
Virginia when she seceded, and was given command of the troops
defending Richmond. _15._ Won several victories over the North.
_16._ Failed at Gettysburg. _17._ Fought to save Richmond. _18._
Surrendered to General Grant in spring of 1865. _19._ Became
president of Washington College.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Tell the story of Grant until he reached
West Point. _2._ What part did Grant take in the war with Mexico?
_3._ What did Grant do at Galena when Lincoln's call came? _4._
Tell of his promotion. _5._ What would happen if Vicksburg and
other Mississippi River places were taken? _6._ What two victories
came on the Fourth of July, and what did both mean? _7._ How did
Grant's victory impress the president? _8._ What can you tell of
the "Battle of the Wilderness"? _9._ What happened at Richmond?
_10._ Picture the scene at Appomattox Court House. _11._ Tell the
story of Grant after the Civil War. _12._ Tell of Lee's promotion
after leaving West Point. _13._ Did Lee want his state to leave
the Union? _14._ Was he a victorious general at first? _15._ What
happened at Gettysburg? _16._ Tell about Lee defending Richmond.
_17._ What did Lee plan to do after Richmond fell? _18._ Why did he
not carry out this plan? _19._ What position did Lee accept after
the war?
=Suggested Readings.= ULYSSES S. GRANT: Burton, _Four American
Patriots_, 195-254; Brooks, _Century Book of Famous Americans_,
181-191; Hart and Stevens, _Romance of the Civil War_, 179-183;
Hale, _Stories of War_, 21-29, 74-91, 92-118, 168-187, 226-264;
Bolton, _Famous American Statesmen_, 307-360.
ROBERT E. LEE: Hale, _Stories of War_, 61-73, 119, 149; Mabie,
_Heroes Every Child Should Know_, 289-308; Magill, _Stories from
Virginia History_, 162-172.
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.
[Sidenote: =A leader at college=]
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.
[Illustration: RUTHERFORD B. HAYES
_From a photograph by Pach Bros., New York City_]
[Sidenote: =Becomes a general=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Refuses to leave his post to campaign=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Contest over the presidency=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Generous toward the South=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A startling change in custom=]
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.
JAMES A. GARFIELD AND CHESTER A. ARTHUR
=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.
[Illustration: JAMES A. GARFIELD
_After a photograph by E. Bierstadt_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Determined to have an education=]
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 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.
[Sidenote: =War, Congress, and the Presidency=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Civil service reform=]
=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.
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.
[Illustration: CHESTER A. ARTHUR
_From a photograph by Sarony_]
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
[Sidenote: =Early life=]
=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.
After going to Buffalo, young Cleveland entered upon 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.
[Illustration: GROVER CLEVELAND
_From a photograph by Bell_]
[Sidenote: =Lawyer, mayor, and governor=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Runs against Blaine=]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =The panic of 1893=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =The great railroad strike=]
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
=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. His grandfather
was William Henry Harrison, who was elected President in the stirring
campaign of 1840. His parents named him Benjamin.
[Illustration: BENJAMIN HARRISON
_From a photograph by L. Alman_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Enters the army=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Active in politics=]
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 for the presidency in 1888. He
set the example of making speeches "on his front porch" to admiring
crowds who came from different states.
[Sidenote: =A picturesque campaign=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Pensions and the tariff=]
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 Leading Facts.= _1._ Hayes studied law, and served in the
Civil War. _2._ He was elected to Congress while still in the
field. _3._ He received only one more vote than Tilden for
President. _4._ He was wise and fair in his treatment of the South.
_5._ Garfield was a poor boy who had to work hard for an education.
_6._ He was a war veteran and was elected senator before becoming
President. _7._ His remarkable ability as an orator caused him to
be nominated for the presidency. _8._ His assassination helped to
bring civil service reform. _9._ Arthur when President, worked for
a larger navy. _10._ He supported civil service against the spoils
system. _11._ Cleveland, after being mayor of Buffalo and governor
of New York, was elected President twice, though not in succession.
_12._ A severe panic occurred while he was President. _13._
Harrison studied law, and became a general during the Civil War.
_14._ His election was like that of his grandfather, William Henry
Harrison. _15._ Changes in the tariff and in pension laws took
place during his presidency. _16._ At the following election the
farmers and those favoring silver money combined in the Populist
party, reducing the Republican vote and causing the election of
Cleveland.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Tell something of Hayes' early life. _2._
How did he come to be chosen Congressman? _3._ What was unusual
about his election to the presidency? _4._ How was his election
accepted by the country? _5._ What kind of a President did he make?
_6._ What can you tell of Garfield's youth? _7._ What positions
did he hold before becoming President? _8._ What brought about his
nomination? _9._ What reform did the nation demand after Garfield's
assassination? _10._ What two things did Arthur work for? _11._
What positions did Cleveland hold? _12._ Name two important things
that happened while he was President. _13._ Tell something of
Harrison's career and election. _14._ What was done about the
tariff and pensions during his presidency? _15._ Why was Harrison
defeated by Cleveland in the next election?
=Suggested Readings.= Higginson, _History of the United States_,
330-347; Guerber, _Story of the Great Republic_, 281-285, 288-293.
THE BEGINNING OF EXPANSION ABROAD
WILLIAM McKINLEY AND THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR
[Sidenote: =William McKinley, 1843=]
[Sidenote: =Teaches school=]
=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 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.
[Sidenote: =Enlists to fight for the Union=]
[Sidenote: =Wins praise and promotion=]
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.
[Illustration: WILLIAM McKINLEY
_From a photograph by Courtney, taken at Canton, Ohio_]
[Sidenote: =Studies law=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Becomes a successful lawyer and speaker=]
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.
[Sidenote: =In Congress=]
[Sidenote: =Elected president=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Cubans revolt=]
=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.
[Illustration: HOW THE CUBANS FOUGHT
_Lying in ambush for the advancing column of the enemy_]
[Sidenote: =Americans aroused=]
[Sidenote: =Red Cross Society goes to Cuba=]
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, 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: =Battleship "Maine" blown up=]
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.
[Sidenote: =War declared=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Dewey destroys the Spanish fleet=]
=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
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.
[Sidenote: =California volunteers lead in numbers=]
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.
[Illustration: SCENE OF THE SPANISH WAR IN THE PHILIPPINES]
[Sidenote: ="Rough Riders" win fame=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Spanish fleet in Santiago Harbor=]
A large fleet 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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF MANILA BAY]
[Sidenote: =Cervera's fleet destroyed=]
The American naval forces were on the watch, and soon the entire
Spanish fleet was destroyed or captured--July 3, 1898.
[Sidenote: =Treaty of peace signed=]
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.
[Sidenote: =The Philippines bought for twenty million dollars=]
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, and improve living
conditions by making the government more stable and humane.
[Sidenote: =Hawaiian Islands annexed=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Cuba a republic=]
[Sidenote: =Conditions in Cuba greatly improved=]
[Sidenote: =United States a world power=]
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.
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF SANTIAGO]
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.
[Sidenote: =McKinley shot by an anarchist in 1901=]
=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 Leading Facts.= _1._ William McKinley was born in Ohio. _2._
He went to college at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and afterwards
taught school. _3._ Enlisted as a private in 1861 and won praise
and promotion for bravery in fighting for the Union. _4._ After the
war he studied law and opened an office in Canton, Ohio. _5._ Was
a good speaker and was sent to Congress at Washington for seven
terms. _6._ Twice governor of Ohio, he was elected president of
the United States in 1896. _7._ The Cubans had revolted many times
against Spanish oppression and now rose again. _8._ The Americans
sympathized with the suffering Cubans; Congress voted fifty
thousand dollars for relief work. _9._ The United States battleship
_Maine_ blown up in Havana Harbor. _10._ Spain declared war against
the United States. _11._ Admiral George Dewey destroyed the Spanish
fleet at Manila in the Philippine Islands. _12._ American forces,
among them the Rough Riders, attacked the Spanish in Cuba. _13._
American fleet destroyed the Spanish fleet at Santiago. _14._ Peace
proposals came from Spain and the treaty of peace was signed in
December, 1898. _15._ The United States bought the Philippines
from Spain, the Hawaiian Islands were annexed, and Cuba became
a republic. _16._ Guam and Porto Rico also became American
possessions. _17._ Conditions in former Spanish possessions greatly
improved. _18._ McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist while
he was the guest of the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, in
September, 1901 and died soon after.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Describe McKinley's boyhood surroundings
and what he liked to do. _2._ What made him fall ill? _3._ How did
he answer Lincoln's call for troops? _4._ What effect did army life
have on his health? _5._ What did he do after the war? _6._ To
what public office was he elected? _7._ Why did the Cubans revolt
against Spain? _8._ How did the Spaniards attempt to crush the
revolt? _9._ What did the Americans do to relieve the suffering
of the Cubans? _10._ What did they want to do? _11._ How did the
sinking of the Maine affect Americans? _12._ What did the United
States demand of Spain? _13._ Describe Dewey's action at Manila.
_14._ What state led in the number of volunteers? _15._ What were
the "Rough Riders"? _16._ What happened at Santiago? _17._ What
finally brought peace proposals from Spain? _18._ Why had the war
been fought? _19._ What did the Americans do in the Philippines?
_20._ What other islands came into American possession? _21._
What happened in Cuba? _22._ When and in what city was President
McKinley assassinated?
=Suggested Readings.= Stratemeyer, _American Boy's Life of William
McKinley_; Morris, _The War with Spain_, 150-169, 180-214, 267-285;
Barrett, _Admiral George Dewey_, 55-152, 230-251; Ross, _Heroes of
Our War with Spain_.
THE MAN WHO WAS THE CHAMPION OF DEMOCRACY
THEODORE ROOSEVELT, THE TYPICAL AMERICAN
[Sidenote: =Of Dutch descent=]
=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. This was long ago, before Peter Stuyvesant was governor of New
Netherland, as New York colony was then called.
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.
[Illustration: THEODORE ROOSEVELT
_From a photograph by Bell_]
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.
[Sidenote: =Absence of sectional bitterness=]
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.
[Sidenote: =What the Roosevelt children did=]
Theodore was a sickly boy. Hence he was sent to a private school or
had a tutor. The children spent their 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.
[Sidenote: =Praises father as model man=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Enters Harvard=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A boxing match=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Fought hard for health=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Beginnings of political life=]
=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.
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.
[Sidenote: =Often lived life of cowboy on ranches=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Law enforcement under difficulties=]
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. At last after a one hundred and fifty mile trip, the
lawbreakers were landed in jail.
[Sidenote: =Wins admiration of West=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Fights spoilsmen of all parties=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Roosevelt and the children of the tenement=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Merit system for police=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Builds up United States Navy=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Defies bosses as governor=]
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 plain talk for the
"bosses." "He just plays the honesty game," said a Tammany politician.
[Sidenote: =National recognition of his work=]
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.
[Illustration: COLONEL ROOSEVELT AND A GROUP OF ROUGH RIDERS]
[Sidenote: =Becomes Vice-President=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Succeeds McKinley=]
In just six months President McKinley was assassinated and Roosevelt
became President.
[Sidenote: =How he had risen to high office=]
=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.
[Sidenote: =Square deal, his motto=]
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!
[Sidenote: =A great writer=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Roosevelt's books=]
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.
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.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT]
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.
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.
[Sidenote: =New laws passed=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Taft professor at Yale=]
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.
[Sidenote: =Explores Brazilian river=]
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.
[Sidenote: =A hazardous voyage=]
Most of the party became ill with fever. But they scarcely dared halt.
With their few provisions they were 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.
[Sidenote: =In the World War=]
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
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Though the son of a rich man, Roosevelt
even as a boy was most democratic. _2._ In the Roosevelt home
idleness, selfishness, and cowardice were unknown. _3._ In college
Roosevelt was a good student and a genuine sportsman. _4._ In spite
of the jeers of his rich friends Roosevelt started on a political
career by joining the 21st District Republican Association of New
York City. _5._ Roosevelt was elected three times to the New York
Assembly. _6._ In 1886 he was nominated for mayor of New York City,
but he lost. _7._ In 1895 he was appointed police commissioner
for New York City. _8._ Under President McKinley he was chosen
Assistant Secretary of the Navy. _9._ During the Spanish-American
War he organized the Rough Riders and led them to victory. _10._ On
his return from war he was elected governor of New York. _11._ In
1900 he was elected Vice-President and on the death of President
McKinley six months later became President. _12._ In 1904 he was
reëlected. _13._ After he retired from the presidency he traveled
in Africa, Europe, and South America. _14._ Although nominated
for President in the campaign of 1912, he was defeated by Woodrow
Wilson. _15._ At the beginning of the World War, Roosevelt opposed
neutrality and advocated preparedness. _16._ Four of his sons took
an active part in the war. _17._ In January, 1919, Roosevelt died.
_18._ Taft had been governor of the Philippines before becoming
President. _19._ Both during his administration and afterward he
was an earnest advocate of peace.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Describe Roosevelt's boyhood. _2._ What
influence did his family life have on his character? _3._ Show
how Roosevelt's character was revealed by the boxing bout. _4._
What sort of a young man was he during his college days? _5._ What
was his first political experience and what did he learn from it?
_6._ What did Roosevelt accomplish as head of the Police Board? as
Assistant Secretary of the Navy? _7._ Explain his connection with
the Rough Riders. _8._ Tell how Roosevelt came to be President and
what he accomplished in that office. _9._ What was Roosevelt's
political nickname and why was it given to him? _10._ Relate his
activities from the time he retired from the presidency to 1914.
_11._ Tell what was his attitude toward the World War and the part
he played in it. _12._ What become of the treaties Taft supported?
_13._ Tell of some good laws passed while he was President. _14._
What did Taft do at the close of his administration?
=Suggested Readings.= ROOSEVELT: Hagedorn, _Boys' Life of Theodore
Roosevelt_; Morgan, _Theodore Roosevelt, the Boy and the Man_;
Hale, _A Week in the White House with Theodore Roosevelt_; Riis,
_Theodore Roosevelt, the Citizen_.
WESTWARD EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT
THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT OF POPULATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION
[Sidenote: =The gold seeker=]
[Sidenote: =Three routes to the Pacific coast=]
[Sidenote: =New discoveries of gold=]
=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
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.
[Sidenote: =California admitted as a state=]
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.
The first railway engine in the United States was built 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.
[Illustration: A CALIFORNIA MINING CAMP OF '49]
[Sidenote: =Rapid growth of railroads=]
On March 10, 1869, the Union Pacific Railway, the first link between
the Atlantic and the Pacific, was finally completed. There were then
only a few short lines besides, west of the Mississippi. It was hard to
find the large amounts of capital needed for railway building. Congress
and the states helped the railroads by granting them many square miles
of land along their rights of way. After 1869 the miles of railroad in
the United States increased over seven times in twenty years. To-day
(1920) seven great railways cross the mountains to the Pacific coast.
[Sidenote: =Farming develops=]
=195. The Growth of Farming.= The railroads brought thousands of
settlers into the new regions. But it was no longer to hunt for gold.
It was to build homes on the rich farm lands of the West.
Miners, cattlemen, farmers, and permanent settlers crowded on the lands
of the Indians. The regions occupied by the red men now became smaller
and smaller. Nearly all the Indians were placed on reservations on
land which the national government does not allow to pass out of their
hands.
[Sidenote: =Irrigation projects aided by the government=]
The need of more and still more land brought the farmers to the dry
slopes and plateaus of both sides of the Rockies. Here were vast
regions which water would make productive. The government gave its
support to great irrigation projects. Water was brought to the barren
deserts and they became vast expanses of waving grain.
[Sidenote: =Gold becomes more difficult to get=]
In California the rich gold deposits which lay comparatively free were
growing smaller. The gold seekers were no longer able to wash gold from
the sands and gravel of the river beds, or to find nuggets in rocky
hollows of the hillsides. They had to make a living in some other way.
Vast mineral resources were still there, but they could only be reached
by mining. Expensive machinery was necessary, and companies were formed
to work the deposits.
[Sidenote: =California a great agricultural state=]
Then began the real development of California and the great Pacific
Northwest. Up to 1875 California had been peopled with prospectors for
gold. Now the output of minerals kept increasing, but the farm crops
grew still faster in value until in 1920 they were worth many times the
mineral output, because of the wonderful climate and the richness of
the land.
[Sidenote: =The leading fruit-growing state=]
The first product to which the settler turned was wheat. California
became one of the leading wheat states of the Union. Then the state
discovered its great fruit-growing possibilities, and to-day it raises
the largest fruit crop in the nation. People at first became almost as
excited about their golden orange crops as they had been over yellow
metal.
[Sidenote: =Great cities develop=]
Meanwhile great cities were springing up rapidly, and the riches of
forest, mine, and stream brought unlimited prosperity and growth. Los
Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland have taken their places
among the great cities of the Union.
[Sidenote: =Agriculture on the great plains=]
From the Mississippi valley to the mountains agriculture and commerce
developed with great strides. Enormous elevators were built to handle
the vast quantities of grain. Great packing plants were established,
where immense numbers of cattle and sheep could be slaughtered and the
meat shipped to all parts of the world.
GEORGE WASHINGTON GOETHALS, CHIEF ENGINEER OF THE PANAMA CANAL
=196. The Panama Canal.= In the great rush of gold seekers to the
Pacific coast, many of the thousands who started out never reached
California, for the crossing of the Panama isthmus and the long journey
around Cape Horn were both full of danger.
[Illustration: GEORGE W. GOETHALS]
It was this which first made Americans realize the value to their
country of a canal across the Isthmus. As time passed, the great
development of the Pacific coast region brought demands for fast and
easy communication with the East. Railroads were built across the
mountains, but transportation was still very expensive. The remedy lay
in a short route by water between the east and the west coasts. Then
came the Spanish-American War and the wonderful trip of the _Oregon_.
People now saw that a canal across the Isthmus of Panama must be built
at whatever cost.
[Sidenote: =The French attempt to build a canal=]
[Sidenote: =Work begun by the United States=]
In 1869 a French company had begun building a canal at Panama. They met
great difficulties. The expense was so heavy and the waste of money so
great that little progress was made before the company failed. In 1903
the United States bought the rights of the French company and obtained
a strip of land ten miles wide from the new Republic of Panama. Work
was then begun by our government where the French had left off.
[Sidenote: =George Washington Goethals, 1858=]
[Sidenote: =Studies engineering at West Point=]
[Sidenote: =Serves in the Spanish-American War=]
=197. George Washington Goethals.= During the progress of the work
there were several changes in the position of chief engineer in charge
of building the canal. In 1907 this work was given to George Washington
Goethals, of the corps of army engineers. Colonel Goethals was born in
Brooklyn, June 29, 1858. He was clearly a boy of unusual ability. At
the age of fifteen he entered the College of the City of New York. At
graduation he stood at the head of his class. He then took up the study
of engineering at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
He advanced rapidly, and when twenty-four years of age was appointed
first lieutenant of army engineers. After teaching at West Point for
several years he was appointed captain of engineers. His ability caused
him to be given charge of the Mussel Shoals Canal Construction on the
Tennessee River. During the Spanish-American War he served with the
volunteers as lieutenant-colonel and chief of engineers.
[Sidenote: =Goethals put in charge=]
In 1907 came the great opportunity of his life. He was given charge
of building the Panama Canal. He faced a gigantic task. But the
government of his country had entrusted it to him, and he determined to
do it without losing more lives by fever than necessary.
[Sidenote: =Canal completed, 1914=]
The great work was finished at a comparatively low cost. Meanwhile
Colonel Goethals had cleaned up the Canal Zone and made it a healthful
place to live in.
The building of the Canal took about eight years' time, required the
services of forty thousand men, and cost the United States four hundred
million dollars.
[Sidenote: =Goethals governor of the Canal Zone=]
When the Canal was nearly finished, in 1914, a civil government was
established in the Canal Zone. President Wilson appointed Colonel
Goethals the first governor. The enormous task which he had done so
well showed that he was a great manager as well as a great engineer.
[Sidenote: =Benefit of Canal to the Pacific States=]
=198. Value of the Canal to the Pacific Coast.= The Pacific Coast
States now more than ever ranked high among the leading states of the
country. They could now send the valuable products of their forests,
streams, fields, and mines to the Atlantic coast by water. The water
route to New York has been shortened by 7,800 miles, and to Europe
by more than 5,600 miles. The canal supplies a cheaper means of
carrying freight than the overland route, and there is no limit to its
usefulness for this purpose.
[Sidenote: =The San Francisco Exposition=]
In 1915 the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held at
San Francisco and the Panama-California Exposition at San Diego to
celebrate the opening of the Canal.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Gold seekers reached the Pacific coast
by three routes: by ship around Cape Horn; across the Isthmus
at Panama; and over trails across the mountains. _2._ With new
discoveries of gold and the increasing population on the Pacific
coast, means of rapid communication were urgently needed. _3._
In 1869 the Union Pacific Railway was completed. _4._ Settlers
in large numbers entered the new West; agriculture on the great
plains developed rapidly. _5._ Farmers crowded on the dry slopes
and plateaus and irrigation projects were aided by the government.
_6._ In California, when free deposits of gold became hard to find,
the gold seekers became farmers. _7._ First a leading wheat state,
California then became the leading fruit-growing state. _8._ Great
cities grew up along the coast.
_9._ The Spanish-American War brought home to Americans the urgent
necessity for a short route by water between the east and the west
coasts. _10._ The United States took up the work of building a
canal at Panama, buying the rights of a French company which had
started the work and had failed. _11._ George Washington Goethals
given position of chief engineer. _12._ Educated at West Point,
Goethals served as chief of engineers in the Spanish-American
War. _13._ The Canal was completed in 1914 and Goethals was
appointed first governor of the Canal Zone, a strip of land ten
miles wide along the course of the Canal. _14._ The Panama-Pacific
International Exposition was held at San Francisco in 1915 to
celebrate the opening of the Canal.
=Study Questions.= _1._ How did the gold seekers reach the Pacific
Coast? _2._ What demand did the increasing population in the West
bring? _3._ What was the name of the first railway across the
mountains to the Pacific coast? _4._ How many railways cross the
mountains to-day? _5._ What did the railways bring about? _6._ How
did this affect the Indians? _7._ How did the government aid the
farmers in the dry areas? _8._ What happened in California when the
free gold deposits gave out? _9._ What great cities grew up along
the Pacific coast? _10._ What was happening in the plains east of
the Rockies? _11._ What first brought home to Americans the urgent
need of a canal across the Isthmus? _12._ Who began a canal at
Panama? _13._ Why did the French not succeed? _14._ Who was put in
charge of the work of the Americans? _15._ Where did Goethals study
engineering? _16._ In what war did he serve? _17._ When was the
Canal completed? _18._ How was the event celebrated?
=Suggested Readings.= Wright, _Children's Stories of American
Progress_, 268-298; Brooks, _The Story of Cotton_ and _The Story of
Corn_; Nida, _Panama and Its "Bridge of Water,"_ 63-187.
MEN OF RECENT TIMES WHO MADE GREAT INVENTIONS
THOMAS A. EDISON, THE GREATEST INVENTOR OF ELECTRICAL MACHINERY IN THE
WORLD
[Sidenote: =His parentage=]
=199. The Wizard of the Electrical World.= Thomas A. Edison was born in
1847 at Milan, Ohio. His father's people were Dutch and his mother's
were Scotch. When he was seven years of age his parents removed to Port
Huron, Michigan.
Edison owed his early training to his mother's care. At the age of
twelve he was reading such books as Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire_, Hume's _History of England_, Newton's _Principia_, and
Ure's _Dictionary of Science_. The last-named book was too full of
mathematics for him.
[Illustration: EDISON SELLING PAPERS AFTER THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG
LANDING]
[Sidenote: =A tireless reader=]
That Edison was a great reader is proved by his resolution to read all
the books in the Detroit Free Library! He did finish "fifteen feet of
volumes" before any one knew what he was doing.
In 1862 General Grant fought the terrible battle of Pittsburg Landing.
Everybody wanted to hear the news. Edison bought a thousand newspapers,
boarded a train, and the engineer allowed him a few minutes at each
station to sell papers.
[Sidenote: =His experience as a newsboy=]
As the first station came in sight, Edison looked ahead and saw a wild
crowd of men. He grabbed an armful of papers, rushed out, and sold
forty before the train left. At the next station the platform was
crowded with a yelling mob. He raised the price to ten cents, but sold
one hundred fifty.
Finally he reached Port Huron. The station was a mile from town. Edison
seized his papers. He met the crowd coming just as he reached a church
where a prayer meeting was being held. The prayer meeting broke up, and
though he raised his price to twenty-five cents he "took in a young
fortune."
[Sidenote: =Experimenting in electricity=]
Edison began very early to make experiments in electricity. After
rigging up a line at home, hitching the wire to the legs of a cat, and
rubbing the cat's back vigorously, he saw the failure of his first
experiment--the cat would not stand!
[Sidenote: =Saves a life and receives lessons in telegraphy=]
At Mt. Clemens, one day, young Edison saw a child playing on the
railroad with its back to an on-coming freight train. He dashed at the
child, and both tumbled to the ground at the roadside. For this act of
bravery the telegraph operator gave him lessons in telegraphy.
[Sidenote: =Makes a set of telegraphic instruments=]
[Sidenote: =Becomes a tramp telegrapher=]
=200. Begins to Study Electricity.= He studied ten days, then
disappeared. He returned with a complete set of telegraphic instruments
made by his own hand! After his trade was learned he began a period
of wandering as a telegraph operator. For many boys still in their
teens this would have been a time of destruction, but Edison neither
drank nor smoked. He wandered from Adrian to Fort Wayne, Indianapolis,
Cincinnati, Memphis, and Boston, stopping for shorter or longer periods
at each place.
[Illustration: THOMAS ALVA EDISON
_After a photograph from life_]
By the time he was twenty-two he had invented and partly finished his
plan of sending two dispatches along the same wire at the same time.
This was equal to doubling the number of wires in use.
[Sidenote: =Repairs electric machinery and gains a situation=]
Edison was a poor boy and was two or three hundred dollars in debt.
He went from Boston to New York. The speculators in Wall Street were
wild with excitement, for the electric machinery had broken down.
Nobody could make it work. Edison pushed his way to the front, saw the
difficulty, and at once removed it.
All were loud in their praise of Edison. On the next day he was engaged
to take charge of all the electric machinery at three hundred dollars
per month.
[Sidenote: =Receives forty thousand dollars for his inventions=]
After a time he joined a company and gave his time to working out
inventions. The company finally sent a number of men to ask Edison how
much he would take for his inventions. He had already decided to say
five thousand dollars. But when the men came he said that he did not
know. He was dumfounded when they offered him forty thousand dollars!
[Sidenote: =Establishes his first workshop=]
=201. Edison's Inventions.= In 1873 Edison established his first
laboratory or workshop in Newark, New Jersey. Here he gathered
more than three hundred men to turn out the inventions pertaining
to electricity which his busy brain suggested. They were all as
enthusiastic over the inventions as Edison himself. No fixed hours of
labor in this shop! When the day's work was done the men often begged
to be allowed to return to the shop to complete their work.
[Sidenote: =More inventions=]
[Sidenote: =Builds a new laboratory and gathers a fine library=]
Many telegraph and telephone inventions were made in this laboratory.
There were forty-five inventions all told. They brought in so much
money that Edison decided they must have a better place to work. He
built at Menlo Park, New Jersey, twenty-four miles from New York City,
the finest laboratory then in the world. On instruments alone he spent
$100,000. In the great laboratory at Menlo Park Edison gathered one of
the finest scientific libraries that money could buy. This library was
for the men in the factory--to help them in their inventions and to
give them pleasure.
[Sidenote: =Invents the microphone=]
The microphone is one of Edison's inventions. Its purpose is to
increase sound while sending it over the wire. The passing of a
delicate camel's-hair brush is magnified so as to seem like the roar of
a mighty wind in a forest of giant pines.
[Illustration: THE PHONOGRAPH]
[Sidenote: =The megaphone=]
Next came the megaphone, an instrument to bring far-away sounds to
one's hearing. By means of this instrument, persons talking a long
distance apart are able to hear each other with ease.
The phonograph, which can reproduce the human voice and other sounds
almost perfectly, was invented by Edison in 1876.
[Illustration: EDISON'S GREAT WORKSHOP AT ORANGE, NEW JERSEY]
[Sidenote: =Edison's first phonograph=]
Sounds reach the ear by means of air waves which the sounding body
sets in motion. In Edison's first phonograph these waves struck a bit
of taut parchment, and were marked by a needle on a tinfoil disc. But
tinfoil does not hold its shape well. In 1888 Edison patented a better
phonograph in which the record was made on a wax disc.
Phonograph records are now made with one hundred grooves to an inch.
Each groove is not more than four one-thousandths of an inch deep. A
lever tipped with sapphire cuts the grooves. Its tiny marks have been
photographed--one way of seeing a sound!
[Sidenote: =What the phonograph does=]
The phonograph is used everywhere for amusement. It preserves the
voices of great singers for the future. With it songs and bits of
folklore can be collected in languages that are now dying out.
[Sidenote: =The electric light=]
Edison has put into practical use many principles discovered by other
men. He does not claim to be the discoverer of the electric light.
He did much, however, to make it useful to people in lighting their
houses, and also in lighting great cities.
[Sidenote: =The first great electrical exhibition=]
In the winter of 1880, in Menlo Park, Edison gave to the public an
exhibition of his electric light. Visitors came from all parts of the
country to see this wonderful show. Seven hundred lights were put up
in the streets, and inside the buildings. Edison had produced a much
better light than any that had been used before.
=202. A Great New Industry.= Edison also had a part in another
invention for which Americans can claim most of the credit--moving
pictures.
[Sidenote: =Settling a racetrack dispute=]
A dispute about horseracing did most for the discovery of moving
pictures. The question was whether a horse ever had all four feet off
the ground at once. To settle it, Edward Muybridge, an employee of the
government, was called in. He stretched cords, fastened to the shutters
of a row of cameras, across a racetrack. As the horse ran past, it
took its own pictures. Later Muybridge made a camera which would take
pictures very quickly, but he could not show his pictures well.
[Sidenote: =Edison's camera=]
Edison in 1892 invented a camera which used long strips of celluloid
film. These pictures were looked at through a slot by one person at a
time.
Another government worker, C. Francis Jenkins, invented the first
complete moving picture machine in 1894.
[Sidenote: =The moving picture business=]
At first people were slow to welcome the new kind of play. Now it is
claimed that our fifth largest industry is moving pictures. Probably as
many tickets are sold here each year as there are people in the world.
[Sidenote: =Moving pictures of the war=]
In the war each army had its own moving picture camera men. They took
pictures of ships torpedoed, of airplane battles, and of the fighting
among the icy peaks of the Alps, often at great danger to their own
lives. Great events of world history like the signing of the armistice
can now be recorded for future times. Such pictures teach us things
that cannot easily be learned from books.
Many schools have a machine of their own, and use moving pictures as a
part of their regular class work. The subject is first outlined, then
the pictures are shown, and afterwards the pupils write about what they
have learned.
[Sidenote: =Moving pictures in schools=]
Some schools have films of their own. Others find it easy to get them.
Our government sends out educational films on silo building, dairying,
airplane manufacture, and many government activities. Business firms
have films to loan on shoes, soap, automobiles, and other things they
make. Regular film companies have pictures of animal life, the natural
wonders of our country, current events, foreign countries, and other
subjects suitable for school use, such as the teaching of cube root by
moving picture cartoons.
Outside of schools moving pictures can be used for educational purposes
in social service and Americanization work. One state, North Carolina,
has trucks carrying moving picture machines for many of its counties.
Programs of educational and amusing pictures can be given regularly in
small towns with these machines.
TWO INVENTIONS WIDELY USED IN BUSINESS
[Sidenote: =The work of many inventors=]
=203. Christopher L. Sholes and the Typewriter.= The typewriter cannot
be called the invention of any one man. Many inventors, half of them
Americans, worked on the problem, for even a simple machine has many
parts.
Machines by which the blind could print or type raised letters were
first made. A little difficulty may hold back a great invention. A
typewriter was not built until long afterward because inventors did not
know how to ink type.
[Illustration: TYPEWRITER AND DICTAPHONE]
In the Scientific American more than fifty years ago was printed
an article on a new invention which was rather grandly called the
"literary piano." Christopher Latham Sholes, a Wisconsin editor read
the article. He was convinced that he could make a better typewriter
than this himself.
[Sidenote: =The earliest typewriter=]
He set to work, and his first typewriter was patented in 1868. It was
indeed something like a piano. It had long ivory and ebony keys, but
it also had a third set of peg-shaped keys like those we now use. It
carried its type on levers arranged in a circle. It had a spacer, and a
way to move the paper along as it was typed, as well as inked ribbon,
which he borrowed from an earlier inventor.
Sholes' was the first successful practical typewriter made. Now nearly
twenty million dollars' worth are produced in this country each year.
=204. The Dictaphone in Business Offices.= An interesting outgrowth
of Edison's phonograph is the dictaphone, used in dictating business
letters. It consists of two machines much alike. On the first are put
smooth cylinders of wax. The person dictating speaks through a tube.
Then the dictaphone operator puts the cylinders on her machine, places
light tubes in her ears, and takes down the dictation on her typewriter
as she hears it.
Both machines are run by electric motors, and that of the operator can
be stopped with the foot. The wax cylinders may be pared and used again
and again.
[Illustration: THE DICTAPHONE IN USE]
The dictaphone means a great saving of time and labor, for dictating
can be done anywhere at any moment.
AUTOMOBILE MAKING IN THE UNITED STATES
=205. The Earliest Automobiles.= The first kind of automobile men tried
to build was a "steam carriage." A Frenchman in 1755 invented a steam
road wagon meant to draw a field gun. But his invention could not be
steered, and was soon wrecked by running into a wall.
[Sidenote: ="Steamers"=]
In England one hundred years ago a few of these "steamers" were run as
stage coaches. They were noisy, clumsy "steamers" and always likely to
explode. They were not popular, and a law was passed that a man must
always walk ahead of them carrying a red flag. They were only allowed
to go only four miles an hour. Of course this meant they could not be
used at all.
[Sidenote: =Watts could not imagine good roads=]
Oliver Evans of Philadelphia built the first steam automobile in the
United States in 1804, to carry a steam flatboat he had made down to
the river. Evans and other inventors after him for nearly one hundred
years worked on self-driven carriages, but could interest no one in
their plans. Watts, the great English inventor of the steam engine,
stopped a friend who had all but invented an automobile. It was
useless, he said; roads would not allow such rapid travel. Watts could
discover steam power, but it never occurred to him that good roads
could be easily built. The use of rubber tires in 1887 stopped the
jolting that had been such a difficulty.
In 1892 Charles Duryea built the first gasoline automobile in America.
He tried to get money to continue his work. He told a business man,
"You and I will live to see more automobiles than horses on the
street." The man thought him crazy, and refused to help him. Now horses
are becoming rare in large cities.
=206. America, the Land of Automobiles.= In 1891 the first electric
vehicle in this country was made. The first gasoline car was sold
March 24, 1898. Now, twenty years later, this country is manufacturing
nearly half a million cars annually. Other countries are backward by
comparison. Four-fifths of all the automobiles in the world are owned
in the United States.
[Illustration: AN EARLY AUTOMOBILE]
[Sidenote: =Motor trucks in the war=]
Motor trucks can carry many tons, and are now very largely used for
hauling, especially in cities. At the end of the war our government had
seventy thousand trucks in use overseas.
One time when the German army threatened Paris it was only the unbroken
stream of motor trucks moving along a great French road carrying men
and supplies to the front that saved the city. In memory of its service
the French call this road the "Sacred Way."
WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT, THE MEN WHO GAVE HUMANITY WINGS
=207. Early Attempts to Fly.= To sail through the air as birds do is an
ambition that has dazzled men since ancient times. The Greek myths tell
us of Phaeton who drove the horses of the sun, and of Icarus who flew
too near the sun with his wings of feathers and wax.
[Sidenote: =Studying birds=]
To learn how to fly men studied the wings of huge birds living millions
of years ago, made careful mathematical reckonings about them, and
then made themselves wings of feathers or skin. But with these wings
they could only glide to earth from high towers or cliffs. One useful
thing they learned from this study. They found that the wing of a bird
is bent as you bend a long piece of paper if you hold it by opposite
corners and start to twist it. This is called the principle of the
screw, and is now used in making the propeller blades of airplanes.
[Illustration: WILBUR WRIGHT]
=208. The First Airplanes.= Early airplanes, airplane models and
"gliders" were made in the queerest, most outlandish shapes imaginable.
They had from one to five or more planes, arranged at almost every
possible angle. Some looked like a row of box kites, some like
dragons, and some like a collection of old fashioned windmill wheels
all fastened together.
It was only a little while ago that men were working with these strange
models, for it was only about ten years before the World War that a
successful airplane flight was first made.
[Illustration: ORVILLE WRIGHT]
The invention of the balloon came late in the history of flying. Two
sons of a French paper manufacturer probably made the first balloon.
They filled a large bag with hot air from a bonfire, and found that it
rose and sailed away.
Early balloons were carried through the air by wind currents, and could
not be guided. Their passengers were often blown out to sea and drowned.
[Sidenote: =Zeppelins=]
A German, Count Zeppelin, invented a balloon called a dirigible,
because it could be directed through the air. The Germans named these
large cigar-shaped balloons "zeppelins," after their inventor.
Dirigibles are now built more than two blocks long, about the length
of the largest battleships. They can lift heavy loads, but are very
expensive and very easily broken, and require huge sheds or houses to
shelter them.
[Sidenote: =First successful flight=]
An airship properly means a dirigible, while an airplane is a
heavier-than-air machine. The first successful flight of any length in
an airplane that could be directed was made by Wilbur Wright in 1903,
at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It was also the first time an airplane
had been driven by a gasoline engine.
[Sidenote: =Did bicycle repairing=]
=209. The Wright Brothers.= Wilbur Wright was one of two brothers who
had long been working on the problem of a flying machine. He was born
in 1867, and his brother Orville in 1871. Their father was a bishop
whose excellent library took the place of a university education for
his boys. Wilbur and Orville studied especially works on physics,
mathematics, and engineering. They earned their living by making
and repairing bicycles. But they spent much time experimenting with
different kinds of gliders. They also studied the action of the
atmosphere. Aërostatics, or the science of the air, is a very difficult
and important part of flying.
[Sidenote: =Flights by airplane models=]
Before Wilbur Wright's success in 1903 progress of various kinds had
been made. Fairly long flights with gliders had been made in different
countries. Two Americans, Langley and Hiram Maxim, had worked out
models driven by steam. Langley's had flown half a mile over the
Potomac, and Maxim's, though not allowed to fly freely, was strong
enough to carry a man.
[Illustration: A DIRIGIBLE BALLOON]
The Wright brothers were wise in employing a gasoline motor. A steam
engine, with its large boilers, was of course much heavier. They had
a rudder in the tail of their machine, but they also invented a new
method of steering. By "warping" or bending the planes, a monoplane,
with its one set of wings could keep its balance as well as a biplane,
which has two.
[Illustration: AN EARLY WRIGHT AIRPLANE]
After Wilbur Wright's first flight in 1903 several Frenchmen made
successful flights. But in 1908 Wilbur Wright went to France and broke
the records of all the French flyers by the unparalleled feat of
remaining in the air for more than two hours.
[Illustration: A MONOPLANE
_From a photograph of a Bleriot Monoplane in "Flying," New York_]
[Sidenote: =Air records=]
Now the airplane can do all kinds of fantastic tricks. Aviators "loop
the loop" dozens of times, and move in any direction through the air
at will. They can rise in the air thirty-six thousand feet, and can
fly at the rate of three miles a minute. In 1907 Orville Wright made
the first record flight of an hour. All this has been accomplished
in scarcely more than a dozen years since then. Flying developed
especially rapidly during the World War. Airplanes were used to spy out
the enemy's defenses, to direct gunfire, to drop bombs, to shoot down
soldiers, and to hunt submarines. The daring and brilliant fighting of
airmen in the World War makes a story more breathless than that of any
novel. Incidents like landing with burning planes or with planes partly
stripped of their canvas were not uncommon for these fighters of the
air.
[Illustration: A HYDROPLANE]
[Sidenote: =Bombing machines=]
One type of airplane was used for fighting and another heavier type for
bombing. Air bombing is now so accurate that in the future it may be
useless to build super-dreadnaughts and large battleships.
=210. Peace Time Uses of the Airplane.= During times of peace airplanes
are useful in exploring and for carrying passengers and light freight.
Airplanes scarcely more expensive than the earlier automobiles can now
be bought.
[Sidenote: =Airplanes carry the mail=]
Airplanes in this country are chiefly used for carrying mail. "The mail
must fly" is the slogan of the mailmen of the air, and in storm or
fog--even in the face of a tornado--it has gone.
In May, 1919, a hydroplane belonging to the United States navy made
the first trip across the ocean. A hydroplane is an airplane having a
boat-like body so that it is able to alight on or rise from the water.
[Sidenote: =Transatlantic flights=]
In July a British dirigible flew across with its crew. A few weeks
earlier a British plane flew from continent to continent in less than
sixteen hours. It took Columbus seventy days to make his crossing.
JOHN P. HOLLAND, WHO TAUGHT MEN HOW TO SAIL UNDER THE SEA
[Sidenote: =Bushnell and Fulton and the undersea boat=]
=211. The Submarine.= During the War of the Revolution an American
named Bushnell worked on the problem of making a boat that would sail
under the surface of the sea. He was the first to work on this problem
and is called the Father of the Submarine. Some years later Robert
Fulton (page 257) became interested in the submarine. In 1801 he built
one for the French government. But Fulton turned his efforts to making
steamboats and did not continue his plans for a successful diving boat.
[Sidenote: =John P. Holland, 1842=]
=212. John P. Holland.= John P. Holland was born in Ireland in 1842. He
was a studious boy and became a teacher. The stories of Bushnell and of
Fulton interested him and he studied carefully what they had done.
He came to America and settled in New Jersey. There he got a position
as teacher in a parochial school. He continued his study of the
undersea boat making many experiments and tests.
Holland's first submarine became stuck in the mud. But he did not give
up. His next boat he called the "Fenian Ram." It frightened people when
it suddenly raised its head out of the water and as quickly disappeared.
[Illustration: JOHN P. HOLLAND
_From a photograph_]
In 1895, after a number of severe tests, Holland succeeded in
interesting the United States Government in his plans. He built for it
a submarine which he named the "Plunger."
[Illustration: A SUBMARINE]
Holland now formed a company to build his boats. In 1898 he produced
the famous Holland submarine. This boat settled any doubt about what
submarines could do. It was only fifty feet long, but it could dive
under water and rise again at the will of the inventor. From that time
the Holland company built many submarines for all the great nations of
the world.
[Sidenote: =The periscope=]
From the top of the submarine there extends upward a long slender
tube called a periscope. When the boat is under water the end of this
tube extends above the surface. By means of a certain arrangement of
lenses and mirrors in this tube, the observer in the submarine can see
everything on the surface of the water. In this way the boat can be
guided in any direction.
Holland died in 1914.
[Sidenote: =Value in war=]
=213. The Submarine in War and Peace.= The submarine is much used in
war time. The war diver is provided with one and sometimes two tubes
through which torpedoes or bombs may be fired at enemy ships while the
submarine is hidden under water. It is very hard to detect a submarine
when it is under the water. The only sign of its approach is a slight
ripple on the surface. But if we look straight down at the water from
high up in the air, then the outlines of the boat can easily be seen.
In war time airplanes are used in spying out the submarine.
[Sidenote: =Use of the submarine in peace=]
In times of peace, too, the submarine is of great value. It is not
exposed to great storms on the sea, since it can escape the waves by
submerging. These boats can cross the ocean and are large enough to
carry cargoes of valuable goods. In July, 1916, the world was startled
by the arrival of the merchant submarine, "Deutschland," at Baltimore.
Loaded with articles of trade, mainly chemicals, she left Bremen,
dodged the British and French blockade, and in fifteen days reached
America.
One cause of America's entering the World War was Germany's attempt to
starve England by a submarine blockade.
[Sidenote: =Fighting the submarine=]
=214. Other Inventions in the War.= The "depth bomb" was an out and out
new invention. 11 could be "dropped" over the spot where a submarine
was seen. Very often it blew the submarine to pieces.
The "tank" was a "moving iron fort" drawn by a tractor. It could tear
wire entanglements to pieces and cross enemy trenches. The "depth bomb"
and "tank" were used mainly by the Allies.
The wide use of "poison gas" was first introduced by the Germans. Guns
able to shoot many miles were invented. One of them carried seventy
miles or more.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Edison learned telegraphy, and made his
own instruments. _2._ Edison saved the day in Wall Street, and
made his reputation, as well as plenty of money. _3._ He made
many telegraph and telephone inventions. _4._ He built great
laboratories in New Jersey, where many men worked helping him. _5._
Edison invented the phonograph, and worked to improve the electric
light. _6._ An argument about horseracing led to the invention of
moving pictures. _7._ Edison improved the moving picture camera.
_8._ C. Francis Jenkins invented the first complete moving picture
machine. _9._ During the World War remarkable moving pictures
were taken on all fronts. _10._ Moving pictures are often used
in schools and elsewhere for educational purposes. _11._ The
typewriter was really the work of many different inventors. _12._
Typing machines for the blind first invented. _13._ Christopher
Sholes' typewriter was the first practical one invented. _14._ The
dictaphone is really a development of Edison's phonograph. _15._
It consists of two machines, and is used in business offices to
save time. _16._ Steam automobiles were the first kind invented.
_17._ For one hundred years many inventors worked trying to build
automobiles. _18._ The first gasoline automobile in this country
was built by Charles Duryea. _19._ The United States is far in the
lead in the number of automobiles manufactured and used. _20._ Men
have for ages tried to discover a way to fly. _21._ They filled
balloons with gas or heated air which carried them far up. _22._
Dirigible balloons were invented by Zeppelin. _23._ Wilbur and
Orville Wright built a successful heavier-than-air machine. _24._
The gasoline engine made their success possible. _25._ Airplanes
can now go three miles a minute. _26._ All the great progress in
flying has come since Wright's first successful flight in 1903.
_27._ In the war airplanes were used for observing the enemy, for
fighting, and for bombing. _28._ In this country airplanes are now
used chiefly for carrying mail. _29._ A hydroplane has a boat-like
body. _30._ In 1919 three successful flights were made across
the Atlantic. _31._ John P. Holland was the first to succeed in
building a submarine. _32._ The submarine is guided by means of the
periscope, and is valuable in peace and war. _33._ Depth bombs and
tanks were new inventions. _34._ The Germans introduced poison gas.
=Study Questions.= _1._ What books could Edison read at twelve?
_2._ Tell of his thousand newspapers. _3._ What were the cause and
the effect of his first lessons in telegraphy? _4._ What was his
first great invention? _5._ What did he find in Wall Street, New
York? _6._ How much did Edison think of asking for his invention?
_7._ How much was offered him? _8._ Tell the story of the work
in Edison's shop at Newark, New Jersey, _9._ Why did he want a
great library at Menlo Park? _10._ How does sound travel? _11._
What was the trouble with Edison's first phonograph? _12._ Name
some of the uses of the phonograph. _13._ Make a list of Edison's
great inventions. _14._ Tell how the first moving pictures came to
be made? _15._ How did the machine Edison invented differ from a
real moving picture machine? _16._ Who invented the first complete
moving picture machine? _17._ How important is the moving picture
business? _18._ Tell some incidents of the war which you saw in
moving pictures. _19._ Does your school use a moving picture
machine in its classroom work? _20._ How are lessons studied when
moving pictures are used? _21._ Where can schools get their films?
_22._ Name two other uses for moving pictures. _23._ What earlier
invention resembled the typewriter? _24._ Name one simple thing the
lack of which kept men from inventing a typewriter sooner. _25._
Describe Sholes' first typewriter. _26._ From what invention did
the dictaphone come? _27._ How is dictating done by means of the
dictaphone? _28._ What difficulty held back the progress of the
automobile? _29._ Name two ways in which this has been overcome.
_30._ How old is the automobile business? _31._ How does the United
States compare with other countries in number of automobiles used?
_32._ How did auto trucks keep the Germans from capturing Paris?
_33._ What is a Zeppelin or dirigible? _34._ Tell about the studies
of the Wright brothers. _35._ What progress had others made before
the Wright brothers succeeded? _36._ What was unusual about Wilbur
Wright's flight in 1903? _37._ What is a monoplane? a biplane? a
hydroplane? an airship? _38._ Name some peace-time and war-time
uses of airplanes. _39._ Tell the story of Holland's inventions.
_40._ What are the uses of the submarine? _41._ Name the first
submarine to cross the Atlantic.
=Suggested Readings.= THOMAS A. EDISON: Mowry, _American Inventions
and Inventors_, 85-89; Dickson, _Life and Inventions of Edison_,
4-153, 280-388.
CHRISTOPHER L. SHOLES: Hubert, _Inventors_, 161-163.
THE AUTOMOBILE: Doubleday, _Stories of Inventors_, 69-84; Forman,
_Stories of Useful Inventions_, 161-163.
WILBUR AND ORVILLE WRIGHT: Wade, _The Light Bringers_, 112-141;
Delacombe, _The Boys' Book of Airships_; Simonds, _All about
Airships_; Holland, _Historic Inventions_, 273-295.
JOHN P. HOLLAND: Corbin, _The Romance of Submarine Engineering_;
Bishop, _The Story of the Submarine_; Williams, _Romance of Modern
Inventions_, 143-165.
HEROINES OF NATIONAL PROGRESS
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AND SUSAN B. ANTHONY, TWO PIONEERS IN THE CAUSE
OF WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE
[Sidenote: =Women play an important part in early progress=]
=215. The Women of Our Nation.= Women have had a large part in the
progress of our nation. In colonial days women often had to defend
their homes against Indians. They endured the hardships of the first
settlements as bravely as did the men. They had larger rights and
greater freedom than in England at that time, because their help was so
plainly necessary in this new country.
By 1850 nearly one-fourth of the nation's manufacturing was done by
women, but otherwise until that time women's lives were spent almost
entirely in their homes. Though no colleges were open to women until
1833, many mothers knew enough of books to prepare their sons for
college at home.
[Sidenote: =Women's service in war=]
During the Revolution women formed a society called "Daughters of
Liberty," to spin and sew for their soldiers. They gave their treasured
pewter spoons and dishes to be melted up for bullets. As women have
always done, they cared for the sick and wounded after battles.
In the great Civil War, women were needed still more to nurse the
wounded, for even then there was no Red Cross or large body of women
who were nurses by profession to call upon. Women took the place of the
men called to war in many ways, and especially in teaching schools. On
both sides women worked in the fields, and sometimes acted as spies,
or served, disguised, in the ranks. Southern women also entered the
factories in large numbers. They had to meet even greater hardship than
women in the North, and were often face to face with starvation.
On the frontier women had always worked in the fields when necessary,
and often helped to build the houses they lived in. The fearless
pioneering spirit and fine, sturdy character of these women won them
the highest respect. This was one reason why western states were the
first to grant women the right to vote.
[Sidenote: =Women's equality with men=]
Long before the Civil War great leaders in the cause of woman's
advancement had appeared. These leaders saw that in many ways women
had proved their equality with men. This encouraged them to appeal for
wider opportunities for women, who then had almost no legal rights. The
leaders now demanded the privileges enjoyed only by men. We should all
know the stories of these women of wise and fearless vision.
[Illustration: ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Born, 1815=]
=216. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.= Elizabeth Cady was born in New York, in
1815. Her girlhood was a happy one, spent with her brother and sisters.
She was a healthy, rosy-cheeked girl, full of life and fun, who
believed girls were the equals of boys and had just as much intellect.
[Sidenote: =Studies hard=]
When Elizabeth was eleven years old her brother died. Her father
grieved deeply over the loss of his only son, and Elizabeth determined
to try to be to her father all that her brother might have been. She
therefore applied herself diligently to study and self-improvement.
[Sidenote: =Finds woman's position unequal=]
Her father was a lawyer. He had been a member of Congress. Many hours
out of school Elizabeth spent in his office, listening while his
clients stated their cases. She gradually became indignant at what she
found to be the unequal position of women in almost every walk of life.
She determined to devote her life to securing for women the same rights
and privileges that men had.
[Sidenote: =Marries Henry B. Stanton=]
While studying she did not neglect the arts of housekeeping. She
regarded these as occupations of the highest dignity and importance.
When twenty-five years old she married Henry B. Stanton, a lawyer and
journalist who since his student days had talked and written against
slavery. But she did not forget her old resolve to struggle for the
rights of women, even when occupied with the duties of home and
children.
[Sidenote: =Calls woman's rights convention=]
=217. The First Woman's Rights Convention.= In 1848 Mrs. Stanton called
a woman's rights convention--the first ever held. Its purpose was "to
discuss the social, civil, and religious conditions and rights of
women."
[Sidenote: ="Declaration of Sentiments"=]
[Sidenote: =Women demand the right to vote=]
Mrs. Stanton read to the convention a set of twelve resolutions, the
now famous "Declaration of Sentiments." It demanded for women equality
with men and "all the rights and privileges which belong to them as
citizens of the United States," including the right to vote. This was
the first public demand for woman's suffrage. The resolutions were
passed. A storm of ridicule followed the convention, but Mrs. Stanton's
position remained unchanged.
[Sidenote: =Susan B. Anthony, 1820=]
=218. Susan B. Anthony.= A few years after this historic convention,
Mrs. Stanton met Susan B. Anthony. Miss Anthony was the daughter of
Friends, or Quakers as they are often called. She was born at South
Adams, Massachusetts, in 1820. Her father maintained a school at
Battenville, New York, and here Susan received her early education.
[Illustration: SUSAN B. ANTHONY
_From a photograph by Veeder, Albany, N.Y._]
[Sidenote: =Teaches school=]
[Sidenote: =Won to the cause of woman's rights=]
From her seventeenth birthday until she met Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony
had been engaged in teaching school. But now the great national
questions of anti-slavery and temperance were drawing her away from her
work as a teacher. At first Miss Anthony had not been in sympathy with
the Declaration of Sentiments, but when she met Mrs. Stanton the cause
of woman's rights won an able, enthusiastic, and untiring friend.
[Sidenote: =National Woman's Suffrage Association=]
From this time on these two fought side by side for the cause of
women. They traveled and lectured in all parts of the country. In 1868
they started a weekly paper, which they called _The Revolution_. Miss
Anthony was the business manager and Mrs. Stanton was the editor. Its
motto was, "The True Republic--men, their rights and nothing more;
women, their rights and nothing less."
[Sidenote: =Miss Anthony casts vote for President=]
In 1869 they organized the National Woman's Suffrage Association. In
many states the question of woman suffrage became an important one at
election. Wherever they were needed, in California, in New York, or
in any other state, these two women could be found. Every year from
1869 until her death, in 1906, Miss Anthony addressed committees of
Congress. In 1872 she cast a vote for President. She declared it to be
her right under the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. For this
act she was arrested and fined, but the fine was never collected.
[Sidenote: =Women win suffrage=]
Mrs. Stanton died in 1902. The great movement she had started was on
its way to certain victory. Congress passed the suffrage amendment in
1919, and in August, 1920, it became law. Over twenty-five million
women were entitled to vote in the presidential elections that year.
JULIA WARD HOWE, AUTHOR OF THE "BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC," AND
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE WHO WROTE "UNCLE TOM'S CABIN"
=219. Julia Ward Howe.= All the great wars in which our country has
engaged have brought heavy burdens and sorrow to women. They could not
march away to fight side by side with the men. Their duty was to cheer
their loved ones as they went away to danger and perhaps to death.
[Sidenote: =Women in the Civil War=]
At the outbreak of the Civil War, from thousands and thousands of homes
father, husband, son, or brother went away, in many instances never
to return. Women were left behind, praying for their loved ones and
working untiringly night and day to provide food and clothing and to
keep up their homes.
[Sidenote: =Born 1819=]
But there were other women who could not serve their country in this
way. Many had no one to send away to fight. Among these was Julia Ward
Howe. She was born in New York in 1819, of wealthy and distinguished
parents. She was carefully reared, but she knew little of the work that
girls are usually taught to do. Practically everything was done for her
by servants. However, Julia dearly loved to read and study, and very
early she began to write poetry.
[Sidenote: =Marries Doctor Howe=]
[Sidenote: =Desires to be of service to the Union=]
In 1841 she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, a noted teacher and
reformer. While visiting in Washington in 1861 she saw women nursing
the wounded soldiers brought in from the battle field of Bull Run. She
was deeply stirred by the sights around her. What service could she do
for her country? Her husband was too old to enter the army, her son
too young. She knew that there were thousands making clothes for the
soldiers in the field. But she could not sew for the soldiers or care
for the wounded, for she had never been taught to work with her hands.
She could only write poetry. Of what use was that now?
[Sidenote: =Writes "Battle Hymn of the Republic"=]
One day her minister suggested that she write words for the popular
army tune, "John Brown's Body Lies A-mouldering in the Grave." She did
so, and the poem was published in a magazine under the name of "The
Battle Hymn of the Republic."
[Sidenote: =It helps to bring victory=]
Soon the song was being sung through all the camps of the northern
troops. The soldiers sang it on the march, in wild charges, or at night
beside the camp fire. Everywhere its challenge roused the northern
soldiers to a more determined fight for victory. In writing this poem
Mrs. Howe had done a great service for the Union.
[Sidenote: =Founds clubs for women=]
=220. The Woman's Club.= After the war Mrs. Howe wished to continue
serving her country in some way, and she took up the cause of woman's
rights. Women had had little or no chance to educate themselves and
broaden their minds by discussing with each other subjects outside
their homes. She thought woman's clubs would work to free women
from the narrowness of mind that comes from thinking only of dress,
hired help, and housekeeping. From then on, she devoted herself to
establishing clubs for women. She traveled over the country and wrote
and lectured on this subject. She urged that the members of these clubs
should seek not only for self-improvement but for means of serving
others; and through their efforts hospitals for women and children,
lodging houses, and labor schools were established.
Mrs. Howe had found a means of serving her country even greater and
more effective than the writing of her "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
[Illustration: JULIA WARD HOWE
_From a photograph by the Notman Photo. Co., Boston_]
[Sidenote: =Born, 1811=]
=221. Harriet Beecher Stowe.= Another woman who did great service for
her country with her pen was Harriet Beecher Stowe. She was born in
1811. Her father was a Connecticut minister, and she was brought up
in a deeply religious home. At school she was apt at writing and she
dreamed of becoming a great author.
[Sidenote: =Marries Calvin E. Stowe=]
She married Calvin E. Stowe, a student of theology, and thereafter
devoted herself to her home and her children. During the years just
before the Civil War there was much discussion of the slavery question.
Mrs. Stowe had traveled in the South and had seen how the negroes were
kept in ignorance, and how cruelly they were sometimes treated. She was
aroused by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law and by some of the
things that happened as a result of it. She resolved to use her talent
for writing to help the slaves.
[Sidenote: =Writes "Uncle Tom's Cabin"=]
In 1851 she began the story, _Uncle Tom's Cabin_. It was first
published in serial form in an abolition paper in Washington. It was
later published in book form. From the first, the sale of the book was
enormous. It was translated into many languages and was very popular
abroad as well as at home.
Mrs. Stowe became famous. It is said that the book converted more than
two million people to the cause of freedom for slaves. It helped to
unite the North and to give it strength to stand firm in the great
conflict.
[Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
_From a photograph by Sarony, New York_]
Mrs. Stowe continued writing in behalf of the slaves. She gave her
son to the cause of freedom. He was wounded at Gettysburg and never
regained his health. She aided in establishing schools for the negroes
in the South, and worked among them earnestly until her death in 1896.
FRANCES E. WILLARD, THE GREAT TEMPERANCE CRUSADER; CLARA BARTON, WHO
FOUNDED THE RED CROSS SOCIETY IN AMERICA; AND JANE ADDAMS, THE FOUNDER
OF HULL HOUSE SOCIAL SETTLEMENT IN CHICAGO
[Sidenote: =Frances E. Willard, 1839=]
[Sidenote: =Family moves to Wisconsin=]
=222. Frances E. Willard.= In 1839, when Frances Elizabeth Willard
was born, thousands were leaving the eastern states for the new West.
Her father and mother were successful teachers in New York, but when
Frances was two years old they decided to move with the westward
current. After living five years at Oberlin, Ohio, the family went
on to Janesville, Wisconsin, settling on a farm in the midst of
picturesque hills and woods. There Frances and her brother and sister
grew up healthy, happy children, playing together in the forest and
fields. The parents were religious and were total abstainers, and the
children never forgot their teachings.
[Sidenote: =Stands at head of her class=]
At fifteen years of age Frances went to school in Janesville, and at
eighteen to a Milwaukee college for girls. The following year she
entered the Northwestern Female College at Evanston, Illinois. At
graduation she stood at the head of her class.
[Sidenote: =Death breaks up the home=]
Miss Willard began teaching. Then the death of her sister Mary, and
shortly afterward, of her father, broke up her home. That home had been
an ideal one. There the father and mother were equal in all things,
and discussed together the affairs of the household. It was a perfect
home, orderly and temperate. Frances Willard made up her mind to spend
her life in spreading abroad a knowledge of such homes, and in helping
women to become equal with men before the law.
[Sidenote: =President of W.C.T.U.=]
In 1874 came the anti-saloon crusade. Miss Willard saw that this
movement was part of the fight for better and happier homes, and threw
herself ardently into the work. When the Woman's Christian Temperance
Union was organized in Chicago, Miss Willard became its president.
In 1879 she became the president of the National Union. Her work was
never-ending. She wrote books; she lectured all over the country. For
twelve years she held an average of one meeting a day.
[Illustration: FRANCES E. WILLARD
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Favors woman suffrage=]
Miss Willard had seen that unless women had the right to assist in
making laws, their cause was hopeless. Accordingly she declared herself
in favor of woman suffrage. A few years later the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union followed their leader into politics in an effort to
encourage temperance legislation.
[Sidenote: =Women united for the protection of the home=]
Miss Willard's work constantly became wider. The organization of which
she was the head became international in its influence, and the World's
Woman's Christian Temperance Union was organized in 1883, with Miss
Willard as president. She had united the women of the world in a great
league for the protection of the home. Miss Willard remained to the
end of her life president of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance
Union. She died in 1898.
[Sidenote: =Clara Barton, 1821=]
=223. Clara Barton.= Clara Barton was born in 1821, near Oxford,
Massachusetts. She was educated to be a school teacher, and for many
years followed that profession. In 1861 she visited Washington, and
there felt the impulse that led to her great life work.
[Illustration: CLARA BARTON
_From a photograph by Charles E. Smith, Evanston, Illinois_]
[Sidenote: =Nurses the wounded=]
The injured soldiers from the first battles of the Civil War were being
brought to Washington. Miss Barton at once felt it her duty to help in
caring for them. She not only nursed the wounded, but she encouraged
those who were on the way to the line of battle.
=224. Goes to the Battle Field.= The men that were being taken to the
hospitals received no care until they arrived there. Miss Barton saw
that her place was on the battle field.
[Sidenote: =Constantly in danger=]
[Sidenote: =Received no pay=]
She secured a pass to the firing line, and for four years she followed
the Union soldiers. She was constantly in danger; her clothing
was pierced by bullets, her face blackened by powder. But she was
undaunted. The soldiers needed her, and she must be there to help them.
When she could, she nursed wounded Confederate as well as Federal
soldiers. She received no pay for her work.
[Sidenote: =Red Cross Society in Europe=]
When the war was over Miss Barton went to Europe. There she learned
of the Red Cross Society, founded in Geneva in 1863. The purpose of
the society was to care for the wounded of any nation on the field of
battle. A treaty among the nations agreed that the Red Cross nurses
should be safe from capture. Miss Barton was asked to organize a branch
of the Red Cross in the United States.
[Sidenote: =American Red Cross=]
In 1882 President Arthur signed the treaty, and the American Red Cross,
with Miss Barton as its first president, was established. She continued
as president until 1904, when she resigned.
[Sidenote: =Goes to Armenia=]
In 1896 Miss Barton went to Armenia at the head of her Red Cross to
relieve the suffering caused by the massacres. She saved thousands from
starvation and disease.
Again she nobly responded to the call of President McKinley to go to
the help of Cuba in the Spanish-American War.
Miss Barton lived to see the Red Cross a world-wide society carrying
comfort and cheer to all nations. In the World War after every great
battle the Red Cross nurses worked on the field or in the hospital to
lighten the awful sufferings of the wounded.
[Sidenote: =Work of the society in times of peace=]
=225. The Red Cross Society in Times of Peace.= It was Miss Barton's
firm belief that the world needed the services of the Red Cross in
times of peace as well as in times of war. Accordingly an amendment was
made to the Geneva treaty. Local Red Cross societies sprang up in every
part of the country. The suffering which followed the great Charleston
earthquake, the Galveston flood, forest fires, mine explosions, and
all similar accidents found the Red Cross Society on hand with aid and
supplies.
The greatest calamity that has befallen our country since the Red Cross
was well organized was the burning of San Francisco following the great
earthquake of 1906. Five hundred millions in property was destroyed,
and two hundred and fifty thousand people were left homeless and
without food. The Red Cross alone spent three million dollars in giving
aid to the sufferers.
[Sidenote: =Rural work of the Red Cross=]
An important new undertaking is the rural work of the Red Cross. This
is not limited to health questions, though a nurse is the first person
sent into a country. But also if possible another worker is sent to
help the country people with their social problems, their amusements,
and the building up of a spirit of neighborhood coöperation.
[Sidenote: =Jane Addams and the cause of the poor=]
=226. Jane Addams.= There was still another great and vital field of
service waiting for a leader. This was the cause of a better chance in
life for the very poor. A better understanding among all people, rich
and poor, and a knowledge of the interests which all have in common are
aiding in this. Education, reform of unjust working conditions, and
social service--the help or relief of poor or unfortunate people--are
all means of progress through which people like Jane Addams have worked.
In 1883 while traveling in Europe, Jane Addams, a daughter of wealthy
and distinguished parents, was deeply touched by the terrible poverty
and misery she saw everywhere around her. She herself had never known
want or hunger. Indeed she had more wealth than she knew how to spend
for things she herself needed or cared for.
[Illustration: JANE ADDAMS
_From a recent photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Devotes herself to social service=]
She determined to devote herself and her fortune to a fairer
distribution of the world's goods and pleasures among those who were
always hungry and in want. It was a vast undertaking, but Miss Addams
was not dismayed. She hoped that some day the rich and the educated
would see that all men are equal and would unite with the unfortunate
in one great brotherhood.
[Sidenote: =Hull House Social Settlement founded=]
She returned to Chicago, and there with a group of workers established
a social settlement in a building in a poor quarter of the city and
called it Hull House.
There everyone, however poor, was welcomed. People could come there
for advice or help. Through personal influence they were led to become
acquainted with the best books, to cultivate their minds, and to meet
each other at times for study or social enjoyment.
[Sidenote: =The settlement a success=]
Men and women from all parts of the country and from abroad visited
Hull House to see what Miss Addams and all her fellow-workers, through
personal service, were doing to make the lives of the poor people
around them a little brighter and happier. They found Hull House a
success. The neighborhood was like a great family whose members sought
each other's welfare. They regarded Miss Addams as one of themselves.
This was a bit of the human brotherhood of which Miss Addams had
dreamed.
[Sidenote: =Greater opportunities for women=]
=227. What Has Been Accomplished.= These great women of whom we have
read have worked for the advancement, not alone of their sex, but of
all mankind in the United States and the world over.
Through their efforts great changes have taken place in woman's
position. Throughout the country she has a place more equal to man's in
the eyes of the law, almost unlimited opportunities in education and
business, and whatever openings in public life she proves fitted for.
Now looking back, we can see that the greater part of what Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony so relentlessly strove for has been
gained. Woman suffrage will doubtless soon cause the more backward
states to give women full legal rights, and it will also enable women
to work more freely for the progress of the nation.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Women shared the hardships and dangers
of the early colonists. _2._ They did heroic service during the
Revolution and in the later progress of the nation; but they had
no legal or political rights. _3._ Leaders arose among the women
demanding for their sex the same rights and privileges that men
had. _4._ As a girl Elizabeth Cady Stanton became indignant at
what she found to be the unequal position of women in almost every
walk of life; she resolved to devote her life to the struggle for
the rights of women. _5._ In 1848 she called the first woman's
rights convention, where she made the first public demand for woman
suffrage. _6._ She met Susan B. Anthony, a school teacher, and won
her to the cause. _7._ Together they organized the National Woman's
Suffrage Association. _8._ Their great work succeeded in making
woman suffrage an election issue in many states. _9._ By 1915
eleven states had been won to woman suffrage; some voting rights
had been won in twenty-two other states.
_10._ Julia Ward Howe was the daughter of wealthy parents and knew
little of work. _11._ She began to write poetry early. _12._ When
the Civil War broke out Mrs. Howe wanted to be of service to the
Union. _13._ She wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," a song
that proved a great aid to victory since it cheered the soldiers in
the field. _14._ After the war Mrs. Howe established women's clubs
in all parts of the country for self-improvement among the women,
and for social service.
_15._ Harriet Beecher Stowe as a girl was apt at writing. _16._ She
resolved to use her talent to help the slaves. _17._ _Uncle Tom's
Cabin_ helped the North to win the victory by uniting the people
against slavery. _18._ Frances E. Willard was raised in Wisconsin
in frontier days. _19._ In school she stood at the head of her
class. _20._ Joined the anti-saloon crusade; became president of
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and later of the National
Union. _21._ Declared herself in favor of woman suffrage. _22._
As president of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
Miss Willard united the women of the world in a world union for
the protection of the home. _23._ Clara Barton took up the work of
nursing after the first battles of the Civil War. _24._ First in
the hospitals of Washington, she finally went to the battle fields
in order to give the wounded immediate help. _25._ The Red Cross
Society was founded in Europe; a branch was established in the
United States by Miss Barton. _26._ Following the great earthquake
and fire in San Francisco in 1906, the Red Cross did heroic work in
aiding the 250,000 people left homeless and without food.
_27._ Jane Addams while traveling in Europe was touched by the
sight of the poverty and misery everywhere. _28._ She determined
to devote herself and her fortune to make better and brighter the
lives of the poor. _29._ She established the Hull House Social
Settlement in Chicago.
=Study Questions.= _1._ How did women aid in the progress of the
nation? _2._ What did they do during the Revolution? during the
Civil War? _3._ What was their position in law and in affairs of
government? _4._ Who was the first to champion woman suffrage?
_5._ Describe Elizabeth Cady in her girlhood. What was her opinion
of boys and girls? _6._ To what did she determine to devote her
life? _7._ What was the purpose of the woman's rights convention?
_8._ What demand was first publicly made at this convention? _9._
What was Miss Anthony's occupation before she met Mrs. Stanton?
_10._ Describe the work of these two women for the cause of woman's
rights. _11._ In 1915 how many states had granted women the right
to vote? _12._ Why did Julia Ward Howe know so little of work?
_13._ What did she like to do? _14._ What sights did she see in
Washington in 1861? _15._ What did she do to serve her country?
_16._ How could a song count much for victory? _17._ What was the
purpose of women's clubs? _18._ How did Harriet Beecher Stowe
serve her country? _19._ What book did she write? What was its
effect? _20._ Describe Frances Willard's girlhood, her home, and
surroundings. _21._ Why did Miss Willard take up temperance work?
_22._ Did Miss Willard work hard for temperance, woman's rights,
and protection of the home? What makes you think so? _23._ How did
Miss Willard become of international influence? _24._ Where did
Clara Barton begin her work of nursing the wounded? _25._ Where
did she go then, and why? _26._ Where was the Red Cross Society
founded? _27._ What was its purpose? _28._ What great service does
it perform in time of peace? _29._ What was the result of the San
Francisco earthquake? _30._ How did the Red Cross relieve the
distress? _31._ How did the sight of poverty and suffering affect
Jane Addams? _32._ What did she determine to do? _33._ What did
she establish in Chicago? _34._ What did the Social Settlement
accomplish? _35._ Was it a success?
=Suggested Readings.= Wade, _The Light Bringers_, 64-111, 142-171;
Adams, _Heroines of Modern Progress_.
RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES OF OUR COUNTRY
HOW FARM AND FACTORY HELPED BUILD THE NATION
[Sidenote: =The great cotton crop of the southern states=]
=228. Cotton Fields and Cotton Factories.= Since the days of Eli
Whitney cotton has been grown in all the southern states from Virginia
westward to Texas, and from the Gulf of Mexico north to Missouri. More
than one half of all the cotton in the world is grown in southern
United States. High-grade cotton is also grown in California,
Arizona, and New Mexico, and California is now one of our leading
cotton-producing states.
A field of growing cotton is very picturesque. Its culture employs
many laborers. The number of laborers needed, however, is not the same
throughout the year. In the fall, when the bolls ripen, all hands,
large and small, pick cotton. This work takes several months. Then the
picked cotton is put through a gin which is still built along the
lines of Whitney's invention. The cleaned cotton is pressed into large
bales and is then ready for market.
[Sidenote: =Cotton-seed oil=]
The cotton seed goes to one mill, the cotton to another. For many years
the seed was wasted. Farmers burned it or threw it away. But now in
all parts of the South great mills crush the seed and make from it a
valuable oil. What is left is cotton-seed cake, and is bought eagerly
by cattle growers everywhere.
[Sidenote: =Cotton mills in the South=]
Only a few years ago almost all the cotton grown in the South was
shipped away, either to Europe or to New England. In Massachusetts and
Rhode Island cotton mills employ more people than any other industry,
and great cities are supported almost entirely by manufacturing cotton
goods. Now the South has also discovered that it can spin and weave its
cotton at home. About many of its waterfalls is heard the hum of busy
cotton mills. New cities are growing up, and prosperity has returned to
the South.
[Illustration: PICKING COTTON
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Wheat belt west of the Mississippi=]
=229. The Grain that Feeds the Nation.= From the days of the early
colonists, wheat has been one of the most valuable crops produced in
this country. In the states east of the Mississippi River the farmers
have long raised it in connection with a variety of other crops. But
as the newer lands west of this river were taken up, the settlers
discovered that in that region wheat yielded more abundantly than any
other crop.
From Kansas northward to Minnesota and western Canada lies a broad
stretch of land which has cool spring weather and a light rainfall.
This is the climate best suited to wheat, and here has developed the
great wheat belt of America.
[Sidenote: =Traction engines=]
In this region there are vast wheat fields almost everywhere,
stretching farther than the eye can see over the level surface. Most
of the farms are very large, some of them including many thousands of
acres. The work on these places is done with the most modern machines.
Traction engines are used to pull the great plows, the largest of which
turn fifty furrows at a time. In harvest time an army of reaping and
binding machines harvests the golden grain. The harvesting machine and
the thresher have also been combined. On some of the greatest farms a
huge complex machine makes its way through the standing grain, leaving
behind it rows of bags, filled with threshed grain ready for the market.
[Sidenote: =Grain elevators=]
With the aid of such machinery a few people can cultivate a great many
acres. As a result, the country is thinly settled. The towns are few
and far between. In most of them the principal building is the grain
elevator, which holds the grain until it is ready to be shipped.
[Sidenote: =Flour mills=]
From the elevators the wheat goes to the flour mills. The largest of
these are in Minneapolis, in the eastern part of the wheat belt. The
flour in its turn goes to feed the many millions of people in all parts
of the country.
[Sidenote: =Grain exports decrease=]
For many years this country grew much more wheat than we needed, and
we shipped great quantities to Europe. But each year our growing
population needs more food, and our exports of this grain decrease
steadily. Even now our farms grow but little more of this grain than is
needed at home, and the time is almost at hand when we shall no longer
send any of it abroad.
[Illustration: THE STEAM PLOW AT WORK ON A PRAIRIE FARM
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Texas and Iowa lead=]
=230. Cattle Raising and Meat Packing.= Cattle raising, like wheat
farming, is principally an industry of the West. As late as 1850 the
states which raised the most cattle lay along the Atlantic coast. But
to-day Texas and Iowa are in the lead, and Kansas and Nebraska follow
closely.
[Sidenote: =Cattle ranches of the West=]
As the eastern states became peopled more densely, cattle grazing
was forced west. The cattle pastures were broken up into fields. The
prairies of Illinois and Iowa became a vast cornfield. Eastern Kansas
and Nebraska were turned into corn and wheat farms. Always the cattle
had to give way to the grain. At last the farmers came to a strip
of country where the rainfall was not enough to make grain growing
profitable. This comparatively narrow strip stretches north in an
irregular area of plains from western Texas to Montana. This region
grows fine grass and has become the great grazing country of the United
States. Here vast herds of cattle still roam on large ranches and are
cared for by cowboys.
[Sidenote: =Corn-fed cattle=]
East of the ranch country lies the corn belt, in which Illinois and
Iowa are the leading states. Cattle fatten better on corn than on any
other food, and the meat of corn-fed stock brings the best prices.
The corn states have therefore taken up the raising and fattening of
cattle on a tremendous scale. When western cattle leave the ranch they
are generally not very heavy. Thousands of carloads are shipped into
the corn country each year, there to be fattened before going to the
packing houses.
The Department of Agriculture, at Washington, is now taking great pains
to induce the boys, especially of the South, to make experiments in
corn raising. Some wonderful results have been produced, and the South
is in a fair way to take to the raising of corn.
[Illustration: COWBOYS DRIVING CATTLE FROM THE PRAIRIE PASTURAGE
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Invention of refrigerator cars=]
The largest meat-packing plants are located in the corn belt at
Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and other cities. To-day meat packing
is the greatest business of Chicago and many other large cities. A
generation ago it had scarcely begun. But the packers learned to can
meat, to use ice for cold storage, and, most important of all, the
refrigerator car was invented.
By this last discovery it became possible to ship meat almost
everywhere. Where before the packers had to sell their goods at home,
now they have the world as a market. A steer raised on the western
prairies may now be fattened for market in Illinois, slaughtered in
Chicago, and served in New York, or sent to England or even to the
Orient.
MINES, MINING, AND MANUFACTURES
[Sidenote: =Great value of coal and iron=]
=231. Coal and Iron.= Next to the great farm crops, coal and iron are
the most valuable products of our country. The coal that is mined in
one year is worth five times as much as the gold and silver combined.
Our iron mines yield as much wealth in one year as the gold mines do in
three. Gold and silver are luxuries without which we could get along,
but our great factories, railroads, and steamship lines could not exist
without an abundance of iron and coal.
A hundred years ago there was almost no coal mined in this country. Now
we use more of it than any other land, and almost a million men make a
living by mining it.
[Sidenote: =Hard coal in Pennsylvania=]
[Sidenote: =Factories need coal=]
At first most of the coal produced was the hard anthracite of eastern
Pennsylvania. But this hard coal is found only in one small section of
Pennsylvania, whereas great beds of soft coal stretch from Pennsylvania
west to Washington. At present there is far more soft coal used than
anthracite. Pennsylvania is the leading state in the production of both
hard and soft coal, but West Virginia, Illinois, and Ohio are also
great coal states. Generally, where there are productive coal mines,
factories have been built, because most of them need a great deal of
coal for fuel.
[Illustration: IRON AND STEEL WORKS IN A SOUTHERN CITY
_From a photograph_]
[Sidenote: =Largest iron-ore deposits in the world=]
Iron was first worked by the colonists in the bogs of New England. Iron
mining, however, did not become a great industry until the latter part
of the last century. In that period the great iron "ranges" of Lake
Superior were opened up. These are the largest deposits of iron ore in
the world.
[Sidenote: =Carried to the smelters=]
Most of the ore lies in Minnesota. Here, far up in the northern woods,
thousands of men are blasting or digging out the red and rusty ore.
Huge steam shovels load a car in a few minutes, and in a short while a
trainload of ore is on its way to Duluth or Superior. From there it is
carried by steamer east, most likely to one of the Ohio towns on Lake
Erie. Here much of the ore is again loaded into cars and hauled to the
Pittsburgh region, there to be smelted.
[Sidenote: =Coal and iron support great industries=]
Pittsburgh has become the greatest iron and steel center of America.
Enormous quantities of coal are mined here and used for smelting the
iron ore that is shipped in. More people of western Pennsylvania and
eastern Ohio make a living by mining coal and making steel and iron
than anywhere else in America. Great blast furnaces melt the iron
ore. Steel works turn out huge quantities of rail and sheet steel.
Foundries make cast-iron products of all kinds. Vast shops are busily
engaged in producing locomotives and machines of endless variety.
Everywhere in this region are smoking chimneys and busy industrial
plants, all supported by coal and iron. The southern states, Alabama,
the Carolinas, Georgia, and Tennessee, also contain rich stores of coal
and iron. These resources were little used during slavery days. Now,
however, the southern states are digging coal for use in their great
factories and cotton mills, or sending it abroad. Birmingham, Alabama,
is one of the great coal and iron centers of the United States.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ The toilers in forest, mine, and factory
contributed to the development of our land. _2._ Cotton is grown
in all the southern states and from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
_3._ A valuable oil is made from the cotton seed. _4._ The climate
west of the Mississippi best suited to the raising of wheat.
_5._ The work of cultivating and harvesting is done by machines.
_6._ Wheat is sent to the flour mills, the largest of which are
in Minneapolis. _7._ Exports of wheat decreasing. _8._ Texas and
Iowa the leading cattle-raising states. _9._ Cattle from the
ranches are fed on corn in the corn states, principally Iowa and
Illinois. _10._ The refrigerator car permitted the shipment of
meat to all the world. _11._ Coal and iron mined in America worth
many times more than the gold and silver. _12._ Hard coal mined in
Pennsylvania. _13._ The Lake Superior iron ranges the greatest in
the world. _14._ Pittsburgh is the greatest iron and steel center
of America.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Describe the process of preparing cotton
for the market. _2._ What is done with the cotton seed? _3._ What
is the South preparing to do with the cotton crop? _4._ Where is
the wheat belt of America? _5._ How is the wheat cultivated and
harvested? _6._ Describe the progress of the wheat from the field
to its use as food. _7._ What are the leading cattle-raising
states? _8._ Where and how are the herds fattened? _9._ What was
the effect of the invention of the refrigerator car? _10._ How does
the value of coal and iron mined in America compare with the gold
and silver? _11._ Where is anthracite or hard coal mined? _12._
Where was iron first mined? _13._ Where is the largest deposit
in the world? _14._ Where is the great iron and steel center of
America? _15._ Give a list of all the things you can think of that
are made out of iron.
=Suggested Readings.= INDUSTRIES: Fairbanks, _The Western United
States_, 215-290; Brooks, _The Story of Cotton_; Shillig, _The Four
Wonders (Cotton, Wool, Linen, and Silk)_; Brooks, _The Story of
Corn_.
AMERICA AND THE WORLD WAR
EARLY YEARS OF THE WAR
[Sidenote: =The hero of the World War=]
=232. A War of All the People.= We have been studying in this history
the lives of America's greatest men and women, and the ways they have
served their country. But in the last great part of American history,
the World War, what counted most was the loyalty of every one of the
people to a free government, and their willingness to fight and work
unitedly for its safety. The plain, everyday American is our hero in
this chapter.
The war was so big that if each citizen had not done his bit, Germany
might have conquered. The work of shipping boards and directors of fuel
supply was less important than the work done by ordinary people. Much
was done to win the war in the homes of each boy and girl in the United
States as well as on the battlefields of France. Every member of the
family found things he could do without to help buy more Liberty bonds.
Boy Scouts sold bonds and thrift stamps. Girls worked to get food-card
pledges. Mothers planned the meals carefully to save the wheat, meat,
and sugar that had to be sent across to our army. Brothers and fathers
had to answer the draft call and go to training camps if necessary. Not
only must food and money, gasoline and coal, be saved, but everyone who
could not fight overseas was expected to do some useful work.
[Illustration: A WAR GARDEN POSTER
_In the "Food Will Win the War" campaign posters urged all school
children to make gardens_]
With one hundred million people in the country, we might think it would
not make any difference if we let someone else do our part. But this
was not the spirit of America. For the most part, each person himself
felt that this was _his_ war, fought for _his_ rights and for _his_
aims. And because for the most part each person acted as if success
depended on him, Europe was amazed at America's swiftness in getting
ready to fight.
[Sidenote: =America by tradition aloof=]
The United States did not decide to enter this war until it had been
going on nearly three years, for its people had come from nations
fighting on opposite sides. Besides, war had always been a common
happening in Europe, and the United States had always tried to keep its
hands free. Washington and Jefferson and later Monroe had advised that
we should only be "interested spectators" of quarrels abroad.
[Sidenote: =The powers involved=]
=233. A World at Arms.= The outbreak of the war surprised the world by
its suddenness. The heir to the throne of Austria, Archduke Ferdinand,
was murdered in June, 1914. Austria blamed Serbia for the murder. When
Serbia would not agree to all that was demanded of her, Austria at once
declared war. The largest nations of Europe were united in two groups.
Germany took up Austria's quarrel; Russia, France, and England combined
to oppose Germany. Italy was bound to defend Germany and Austria if
they should be attacked, but now believed they were the attacking
nations, and later came in against them. Bulgaria and Turkey threw in
their lot with Germany and Austria, these four nations forming the
Central Powers, and Japan and Roumania with the Allies, as the nations
opposing them were called.
[Sidenote: =Invasion of Belgium=]
Germany's first act was to rush her troops across the borders of
Belgium, straight toward Paris. Belgium, of course, was too small a
state to stand against the armies of her stronger neighbors. On this
account the great nations of western Europe had agreed never to invade
Belgium, and now England felt bound to go to her defense.
[Sidenote: =Events at sea=]
British, French, and Belgian soldiers, fighting in whatever order they
could, checked the on-coming masses of Germans. The Allies stopped them
at the Battle of the Marne, far within France. On the sea England's
mighty navy quickly put an end to all German shipping. She kept
the German navy from venturing even into the North Sea. But German
submarines could not be so easily blocked up, and slipped out and sunk
Allied vessels.
[Sidenote: =Opinion favors the Allies=]
=234. The American Government Neutral.= When Germany first attacked
Belgium, some people believed that the United States should break off
relations with her at once. Our government declared itself neutral.
President Wilson asked the people to be friendly in their dealings
with all the nations at war. But Germany's headlong haste in declaring
war, and her methods of waging it made most Americans anxious for the
success of the Allies.
[Sidenote: =Germany protests=]
The European countries were too busy fighting to raise all the food
or forge all the guns their armies needed. They were producing these
things on a very great scale, but had to buy vast quantities besides.
The United States was the country best able to supply them. The great
steel factories of the country worked night and day making shells,
tanks, and war material of all kinds. Since England controlled the
seas, everything we made went to the Allies. Germany protested strongly
against our supplying her enemies with the means to fight her. But
America, not being at war, had a right to trade with all countries. To
give up this right would have been to take sides with Germany. American
merchants were willing to manufacture goods for Germany, but she could
not send ships to get them.
=235. Disputes with England and Germany.= Our government had a just
cause of complaint against England. Her acts were not always strictly
lawful. She stopped our ships on the high seas and searched them,
destroying mail which she thought was intended for Germany. When the
United States objected, she promised to make good all losses.
[Illustration: THE LUSITANIA]
[Sidenote: =The Lusitania=]
Germany, on the other hand, not only destroyed American goods but
American lives. One of the two largest passenger ships ever built, the
_Lusitania_, was sunk by a German submarine on May 7, 1915. Over one
hundred Americans went down. Again there was a great cry that Germany
should be punished. But President Wilson made every possible effort
for peace. He gave Germany a chance to prove that she did not mean to
continue such lawlessness. Finally Germany promised to take Americans
off the ships to be sunk. In spite of her pledge Germany failed to
change her methods. New notes protesting and more ships sunk was the
order of things for almost two years.
[Sidenote: =A peace-loving nation=]
President Wilson was severely criticized for this "warfare of notes."
But many people were not yet convinced that this was different from
other European wars. Otherwise Congress, which like the President is
the servant of the people, might have declared war sooner. The country
was peace-loving, and far away from roaring guns and ruined towns of
Europe. In a way it is to the credit of the American people that they
were slow to believe in the world-wide plots of the Kaiser, and the
reported cruelty of his soldiers.
[Sidenote: =United support of war essential=]
=236. The Need of a United Nation.= President Wilson sought to be a
true public servant, by listening to the opinions of people throughout
the land. He did not try to lead the nation into war while the feelings
of the people were still divided. A divided people could have done
little in this gigantic war.
His training made him able to understand the temper of the American
people well. He was a student of history, and the author of well-known
books on the American government.
[Sidenote: =Wilson's boyhood=]
President Wilson's boyhood was much like that of any other boy. In his
classes he was neither brilliant nor slow. He took part in all regular
school sports, and at Davidson College once saved the day for his team
in baseball. Later at Princeton and Johns Hopkins, two of the most
famous eastern universities, he studied history and economics. At the
age of twenty-three he began a book called _Congressional Government_,
which shows his command of words and thorough knowledge of his subject.
[Sidenote: =Governor of New Jersey=]
He had tried practicing law, but did not make a success of it and
decided to be a teacher. In this he is like many other Americans who
have failed in their first undertaking, and have later been successful
in a different line. He taught first at Bryn Mawr, a woman's college
near Philadelphia, then at Wesleyan, the old Methodist university,
then at Princeton. "Princeton, Trenton, Washington"--Wilson's career
has been jokingly summed up, for he was in turn chosen president of
Princeton, governor of New Jersey, whose capital Trenton is, and
President of the United States. On the whole, his record at Princeton
and Trenton, and as President during his first term, was that of a
liberal and fearless chief. The elections of 1916 came at a critical
time and President Wilson was reëlected partly because "he kept us
out of war." Banners with this motto on them were largely used in the
campaign. The American nation did not have that "warlike spirit" of
loving war for war's sake which the Kaiser boasted of in his people.
[Illustration: WOODROW WILSON]
[Sidenote: =A Mexican Crisis=]
In 1913 Mexico had been so upset that it looked as though the United
States might be drawn into a clash with her. President Wilson avoided
this except when our soldiers landed at Vera Cruz for a short time.
Later General John J. Pershing was sent down to Mexico to punish Villa
and his outlaw bands. He killed many of Villa's followers, but the wily
old fox himself escaped.
[Sidenote: =Germany's lawless acts=]
After the _Lusitania_ was sunk, the submarine warfare grew more
widespread and reckless month by month. In January, 1917, Germany
openly declared that in the future she would not limit this warfare
by any rules whatever. She aimed to cut off all supplies from Great
Britain and to starve her people. She gave America one little port
among the British Isles where the United States might send her
passengers and commerce. Secret agents of the Central Powers had been
blowing up factories in the United States, and purchasing newspapers
to defend the German cause. Their treacherous acts had already caused
President Wilson to dismiss the German ambassador.
Germany's statement that hereafter her submarines would know no law at
last proved to all the nation that America could not honorably remain
out of the war.
AMERICA ENTERS TO WIN
[Sidenote: =Loans to the Allies=]
=237. Congress Votes Billions.= Congress voted billions of money to be
spent in various ways, and President Wilson loaned millions of dollars
to England, France, and Italy. They in turn sent great men to talk with
those who were managing our war preparations.
Never did a nation given to peace turn so quickly to war. Thousands of
Americans in Europe had already been taking part for years. Some had
joined the Canadian army or the Lafayette Squadron, part of the French
air service. Others were working under the Red Cross or the American
Committee for the Relief of Belgium.
[Sidenote: =Hoover as food administrator=]
Other measures necessary to "mobilize" the nation were quickly passed.
The railroads were put under the control of a director-general of
railroads, who ran them first of all in the service of the army. A fuel
administrator decided what factories and businesses were most necessary
in the war and in the life of the nation. Others had to limit their use
of coal, or to close down entirely for a short time. Herbert Hoover,
head of the great committee which had charge of feeding the starving
people of Belgium, was made food administrator. On one hand, he decided
how much food whole nations could buy of us. On the other, he helped
American housewives plan their daily meals to save the wheat, meat,
and fat that were needed for the soldiers, because food would "win the
war."
[Sidenote: =An army of millions=]
=238. The Selective Draft.= Millions of soldiers would have been
America's share of the Allied fighting forces if the war had gone
on longer. Congress decided that a "Selective Draft" would be the
most fair and just method of raising these millions. All men between
the ages of twenty-one and thirty, and later between nineteen and
forty-five, had to be examined by "Draft Boards," and the proper number
selected.
[Sidenote: =Great training camps built=]
Immense training camps were built, with railroad lines, electric light
and water systems, and all the needs of a modern city. Many of these
camps sprang up in a few months, ready to take care of fifty thousand
men apiece.
=239. The War's Nameless Heroes.= All these great preparations at home
were more businesslike than they were stirring and warlike. They meant
a great change in the life of the whole nation. Workers were shifted
from all kinds of small, unimportant peace-time tasks to a few gigantic
businesses on which the success of the war depended. All the efforts
of the nation were centered on saving goods, time, and money, and
producing goods to carry on the war.
[Sidenote: =Not a war of great names=]
The "home front" did not give great honors to those who held it. But
the war was fought to preserve the rights of free citizens, and it had
the nearly united support of a whole people. There are few famous names
in the fighting abroad, and few, too, at home. It was a war in which
the average man was the hero. He did not expect medals for doing his
duty in battle, or a high salary for doing his duty at home. But he did
it, and unbelievable deeds were accomplished--fleets built, factories
multiplied, waste lands planted, two million men sent across the seas,
and the war brought to a swift end.
[Sidenote: =The Burial of an "Unknown Warrior"=]
England had a great state funeral not long ago. It rivaled in ceremony
the honors paid to dead queens and kings. Throngs followed the great
procession to Westminster Abbey, where England's famous dead of all
time are buried. A tablet was placed above the tomb of a hero whom
a nation united to give its highest honors. The name on that tablet
was "To an Unknown Warrior." In America, too, the deeds of the great
number, in battle or at home, will always be nameless.
[Sidenote: =The spirit of heroism needed in peace=]
If each person, instead of looking straight ahead at the task to be
done, had looked to see who else could do it, America's war program
would have failed. It has been said that in a great nation any one
person, by himself, is lost, and does not count. The chapter in
American history just ended proves that when his country is in danger,
each citizen can and must act as if the result depended on him. This
spirit of patriotism among millions of those whom history will call
nameless heroes brought victory in the war, and if it is still followed
in peace, will bring "victories no less renowned."
[Sidenote: =An unparalleled war=]
=240. The World's Greatest War.= The war of 1914-1918 is the greatest
history has ever known, because of the number of nations in it, the
number of lives lost, the cost in goods and money, and the changes it
has made among nations.
[Sidenote: =A record in shipbuilding=]
Its size is too vast for any one mind to picture it fully. The
front-line trenches, with all their turns and twists, were six hundred
miles long, nearly equal to the straight distance from Philadelphia
to Chicago. Mountains of material had to be sent across to keep our
soldiers well fed and warmly clothed, and furnished with the cannon
and shells they must have to meet the enemy. Only about two out of
three men in the army could fight, for the third man had to keep these
mammoth quantities of supplies steadily moving toward the front. Ships
were the thing our government needed most, since it was fighting so far
away from home. American shipyards grew so rapidly that they broke all
records for number of ships launched and swiftness in building them.
The United States soon led the world in shipbuilding for this war.
[Illustration: CARRIER PIGEONS, A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION AT THE FRONT]
The War Department was so anxious to keep our men warm and comfortable
that it bought up all the wool in the country. The army had to have
thirty-five million more pairs of woolen socks than were made for the
whole nation in 1914. It used more woolen blankets in one year than the
one hundred million people in the United States buy in two ordinary
years.
[Sidenote: =Attacks carefully planned=]
=241. A War of Science.= Every movement in the war had to be planned
as exactly as possible. This was a war of science, rather than a war
of dashing adventure, as those in the past had been. Before attacks
were made on the enemy, a barrage, or curtain-like rain of shells, was
turned on his lines. This "curtain of fire" moved forward at a fixed
rate, and the men walked behind it. They had strict orders to go only
so many yards a minute, or their own guns would kill them.
[Sidenote: =Use of poison gas=]
Poison gas was one of the new weapons of this war. It caused almost
one-third of our losses in 1918. Science produced new gases so rapidly
that inventors had to be continually making new gas masks to strain out
the deadly fumes. Over thirty kinds of gas were used during the war.
No one commander could be present at once on every part of the hundreds
of miles of battle-lines, or even a small part of them. The war had to
be carried on largely by telephone. The Americans strung one hundred
thousand miles of wire in France.
[Sidenote: =Pershing trained for his work=]
=242. Pershing Heads the Army.= The youngest of American generals, John
Joseph Pershing, was put at the head of the American forces. The choice
of Pershing was hailed everywhere as a wise one. A war so immense and
mechanical needed a general who had studied the art of war thoroughly,
as Pershing had. He had seen much actual fighting, and was the only
American general who had commanded a division in actual war. He carried
with him the love and respect of all national guardsmen. They would
have followed him anywhere he wished to lead.
[Illustration: THE TANK, A NEW WEAPON IN THE WAR]
We have already heard how he had routed Villa's bandits in Mexico.
He had also led a charge of colored troops against the Spaniards in
Cuba, and had conquered a powerful savage tribe in the Philippines.
Before he was sent to Mexico he had been governor of a province in the
Philippines for four years.
[Sidenote: =Fights squarely=]
=243. A Boy Who Was Made of Fighting Stuff.= As a boy, Pershing was
brave and modest, with the ability to stay by a hard task until he
finished it. John was a hardy, active boy. He played at mimic war
and attended school. He played "hookey," and got into fights with
his fellows, but he was square. One day the father saw the signs of
battle-torn clothes and a bruised face. "Been fighting? Never let any
boy say that he has licked you," was the father's remark. John had
expected a whipping.
[Illustration:
_From a Photograph by Clinedinst_
JOHN J. PERSHING]
At day school he was a plodder. But he did win a prize, a nicely bound
volume of the _Life of Washington_. This was offered by the president
of the school board. John's mother was there. The children clapped and
called for a speech. "I'm sorry you didn't all win a prize. I'm going
to grow up like Washington," he said.
[Sidenote: =Studies at West Point=]
In the 70's, when times were bad, John had to help earn the family
living, and he did it by teaching some of the hardest schools in the
district. He took the examinations for West Point when he was twenty,
and defeated his friend. "I'm sorry you could not win too," he said.
At the end of his first year at West Point he was made class leader, a
position won only by hard study.
[Sidenote: =Made a general by Roosevelt=]
After he graduated from West Point, honors and promotions came fast.
Roosevelt had passed by eight hundred and sixty-two older officers to
make him a brigadier general. At the beginning of the war he was major
general, and later Congress promoted him to the full rank of general, a
very rare honor, and the highest in its power to give.
[Sidenote: =Arrival in France=]
When Pershing, with a few officers and engineers first landed in France
the news spread quickly. "The Americans have come." Their arrival meant
that the United States would soon take part in the fighting in earnest.
New life and fresh resolution came into the hearts of the war-tired
veterans of France.
[Sidenote: =Germany's last great effort=]
=244. The Great Danger in 1918.= Russia had fought bravely for the
Allies at the beginning of the war, but about the time the United
States entered, a revolution drove the Czar from his throne. Russia
was so upset by the revolution that after a year it gave up trying to
keep its army at the front, and made peace with Germany. Hundreds of
thousands of German soldiers were thus left free to attack the Allies
in the west. Germany thought that if she could succeed in taking Paris
before many Americans arrived in the trenches, the war would be won. It
was her last chance to win.
THE CONCLUSION OF THE WAR
[Sidenote: =Need of a united front=]
=245. Foch the Allied Supreme Commander.= Before the spring of 1918
each of the Allied armies had been acting on its own plan. The places
where the trenches of two armies came together were, of course, the
weakest, and were favorite points for German attacks. It was now
decided to have one commander for all the Allied forces. Foch, a French
general highly skilled in the science of war, was chosen for this great
task.
[Sidenote: =The German advance=]
=246. The Crisis of the War.= In their great drive the Germans always
struck at the weakest point. They found this where the French and
English armies were joined. They drove forward in mass formations or
solid blocks. Thousands upon thousands were mowed down by the English
and French guns, but on they came. Back, back the Allies fell, day
after day, until the Germans reached the Marne again. The world held
its breath. Each day the Germans were expected to break through, but
each day the Allied troops retreated. Slowly they moved, fighting like
demons and always holding at vital points.
[Illustration: TRANSPORTS CARRYING AMERICAN TROOPS CONVOYED BY
BATTLESHIPS]
[Sidenote: =American troops scattered along the front=]
America was eager to be of the greatest possible help in the grave
danger to Paris and France. The Allies were short of reserves. General
Pershing, putting his own honors second in the same generous way he had
done at school, decided to scatter the Yankee troops all through the
French and British lines, wherever they were needed.
[Sidenote: =Rushing troops to France=]
Germany had sneered at our nation because she thought our people were
so devoted to dollars that we could not or would not fight. Now she
began to learn how high the war spirit flamed in the soldiers we were
preparing to send by millions to France. By the help of England's great
fleet, we were able to send over more than a million men by the summer
of 1918. The American troops then formed a united army, fighting under
their own flag. They took over a hundred miles of the front, relieving
tired Frenchmen. Another million arrived by November.
The Allied command gave Pershing command of the region between the
Aisne and the Marne. The Germans thought the Americans untried, and
expected to break through by using their best "shock troops."
[Sidenote: =The battle of Château-Thierry=]
In July the Germans struck a terrific blow at Château-Thierry. Without
waiting for artillery, Pershing struck, and in six hours had captured
as much ground as the Germans had spent six days in getting possession
of. The Americans were advancing with great rapidity. The Germans were
dumbfounded. They did not have time to remove their supplies.
[Sidenote: =The turning point of the war=]
By the brilliant generalship of Foch the great German attack was
stopped in the middle of July, and after that it was the German army
which was in danger.
Now Pershing got ready for St. Mihiel. He drew from the French and
English ranks the Americans he had sent to learn war from these
veterans. Now he also had tried men. St. Mihiel was important. It
threatened the famous battlefield of Verdun and protected the great
German fortified city of Metz.
[Sidenote: =American victory at St. Mihiel=]
=247. Germans Cry "Kamerad."= On September 12 the Americans burst forth
in a rain of shot and shell such as the Germans had seldom before
witnessed. The fierce battle raged for four hours. The Americans then
charged across the river yelling like demons. The German soldiers had
been taught to despise these "green American troops." But these same
Germans now cried "Kamerad" in dead earnest. Five miles of ground were
gained before these "green" Americans halted.
[Illustration: SUBMARINE PURSUED BY AIRPLANE]
The next day our artillery opened fire at 1:30 in the morning. Before
the day was done, more than one hundred and fifty square miles of
German territory were in our possession.
Both the French and the English were busy. The French were driving
at the center of the great line stretching from the North Sea to
Switzerland. The English were driving the Germans out of the Belgian
cities.
[Sidenote: =The greatest American battle=]
=248. Battle of the Argonne.= Many large battles were fought by the
Americans, besides the smaller clashes that occurred. The greatest one
was in the Argonne Forest. This was a half-mountainous, woody country,
much of which was covered with underbrush. The Germans had fortified
it strongly. Besides their great cannon, they had filled the Argonne
with nests of machine guns, placing them in gullies and behind trees,
stumps, and rocks, for protection. Here too, they had their best
fighting men.
The battle started on September 26. This was the most bloody fighting
of the war. Companies and regiments were cut off and lost for a time.
The Germans were bound to hold the forest, and the Americans were
bound to win it. Gradually the Germans were forced back, thousands
were captured, and thousands more were killed. They could not stem the
American tide. After many days of hard fighting in which the Americans
proved themselves fully equal to the best shock troops of the German
army, victory fell to the better army.
[Sidenote: =Allied victories on all fronts=]
The storm was just breaking loose on Germany. The combined navy of the
Allies was choking out her life in spite of the submarines. The English
in Asia were capturing the strongholds of the Turks, and the Italians
now were gaining against the Austrians. Calamities came fast. Bulgaria,
an ally of Germany, surrendered. Turkey followed. The hungry people of
Germany began to plot revolution against their rulers, and the armies
were retreating toward the Rhine.
=249. The Kaiser Runs Away.= Seeing that his cause was lost, the German
ruler, the Kaiser, gave up his throne and fled to Holland. The German
generals agreed to an armistice November 11, 1918, by which they gave
up much fighting material and moved back many miles across the Rhine
into their own land.
[Sidenote: =The bravery of ordinary men=]
=250. American Soldiers in Battle.= The American doughboys were
splendid fighters. The officers had to check the rash daring of their
men, they did not need to urge them forward. The Americans were drilled
in methods of attack rather than defense, from the start. A joking
comment was made that it took only half as long to train American
troops as it did others, because they only had to be taught to go one
way.
The ordinary American showed what courage lay behind the quiet round of
his peace-time life. Our soldiers were clean and full of high spirits,
and they were keyed to the most stubborn efforts by knowing that they
were not fighting in a selfish cause. They "fraternized" famously with
the French children of the villages.
[Sidenote: =Work of the Peace Conference=]
=251. The Treaty of Peace.= After the armistice, the nations which had
won the victory planned to meet at Paris to make a treaty of peace.
President Wilson went over to France to take part in this meeting.
The men who made the peace treaty gave France her two states, Alsace
and Lorraine, which Germany had taken in the war of 1870. They divided
Austria into a number of separate states, giving to each kind of people
its own government. They took land from Germany and Russia and created
Poland. They also decided that Germany should pay Belgium and France
for the destruction of property in those countries.
[Sidenote: =Opinion favors a League=]
[Sidenote: =Why the League was defeated=]
=252. America and the League of Nations.= Included in the treaty was
an agreement called the League of Nations. Its purpose was to combine
all nations, great and small, in a covenant which would work for the
peace of the world. The need of a league was urged by men of different
parties in this country during the war. A great number of Americans
were in favor of such a world agreement. This country had always been
a peace-loving people, and had fought in the hope that this would be a
war to end war. But after the armistice Europe remained more unsettled
than anyone had expected. In spite of all the treaties, wars of various
kinds continued in Europe. President Wilson toured the country speaking
for the League, but met much opposition. The American people came to
believe that under the League they would be too closely bound up with
European affairs, which were now so disturbed.
In 1920 the question of entering the League in its original form was
widely debated. It was the chief point on which the presidential
election turned, and the result was overwhelmingly against the League
as it had been drawn up at Paris.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ This war was so great that it needed
the support of every American citizen. _2._ People at home had to
do without many things needed by the army and by the Allies. _3._
Nearly all the great powers of Europe were drawn into the war. _4._
Germany, contrary to treaty, invaded Belgium. _5._ The German navy
was quickly driven from the seas, and Germany was blockaded. _6._
The American government remained neutral, but most of its people
favored the Allies. _7._ Germany sank the _Lusitania_ and other
vessels illegally. _8._ President Wilson did not lead the nation
into war until the people were unitedly in favor of it. _9._ When
Germany declared that her submarines would obey no law, and the
United States entered the war. _10._ Congress voted billions of
dollars for war. _11._ A selective draft raised a great national
army. _12._ The part of the average man in this war stands out
more than that of famous leaders. _13._ This was a war of science,
and by far the greatest war in history. _14._ Pershing was given
command of the American army. _15._ When Russia withdrew from the
war Germany used her extra troops for a final great attack. _16._
Foch was put in command of all the Allied armies, and turned the
Germans back. _17._ The United States sent more than two million
men in all overseas. _18._ The peace treaty changed many boundary
lines. _19._ Americans wished to uphold world peace, but in the
election of 1920 defeated the League of Nations as it stood.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Name some of the things that were done in
American homes to win the war. _2._ Why did everyone wish to do
his part? _3._ Why was the United States so late in entering the
war? _4._ Make a list of the principal countries that took part
in the World War. _5._ What was the importance of the invasion of
Belgium? _6._ Give the story of the war at sea. _7._ What disputes
occurred between the United States and the different warring
countries before 1917? _8._ Tell briefly Wilson's life before he
became President. _9._ How did Germany's treatment of the United
States lead to war? _10._ How did the United States "mobilize" for
war? _11._ What means were used to raise a national army? _12._
What was done to take care of these millions of men? _13._ What did
the United States need most at the start? _14._ Why was this "a
war of science"? _15._ What training had Pershing had for his new
position? _16._ Tell some events of Pershing's boyhood. _17._ What
was the great danger in 1918? _18._ Give a number of reasons why
a supreme commander for the Allied armies was needed. _19._ What
action of General Pershing's reminds you of the boy, John Pershing?
Why? _20._ Tell about the battle of Château-Thierry; of St. Mihiel;
of the Argonne. _21._ What events led up to Germany's surrender?
_22._ Who in your opinion was the real hero of this war? _23._ What
did the Peace Conference do? _24._ Do you think we should enter a
world league of nations?
=Suggested Readings.= Rand McNally's _School Atlas of
Reconstruction_; Perry, _Our Navy in the War_, 170-175.
WHERE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THEIR CIVILIZATION CAME FROM
INTRODUCTION
[Sidenote: =First settlers from a built-up Europe=]
=253. Why Boys and Girls Should Know about Europe.= In the part of the
book just studied, you have become acquainted with men and women who
have been great American leaders. Did you ever stop to think that the
early settlers in this country, from whom most of our great men sprang,
came from countries in Europe already built up? What the settlers gave
to this country they got from people who had lived a long time ago.
Therefore in many ways their habits and institutions were different
from ours now. They had their own ways of living, their own schools,
churches, and forms of government.
[Sidenote: =The rulers=]
In most European countries kings and queens ruled the people. Next to
the king stood the lords, who were great men and owned acres and acres
of land. They had their own soldiers and many servants to do their work
and to wait on them.
[Illustration:
_From an early 14th century psalter_
SERFS OF THE MIDDLE AGES]
[Sidenote: =The serfs=]
Below the lords, who spent their time in war, in the chase, and in
going to see play-battles, called mock-fights, were the common people.
In some countries these people were not free, as you are, but lived in
huts in small villages on the great man's land. They had to work on his
land, and were only a little better off than slaves. These people were
called serfs.
In the few large cities there lived at that time rich merchants who
traded in slaves, or went on long journeys to buy and sell their wares.
In the cities, too, lived workers in wool, cotton, brass, iron, wood,
and other materials. After a time the workers of a given class gathered
into a sort of union called a guild, to protect themselves.
[Sidenote: =The roots of our civilization=]
But in neither country nor city did the common man have the many rights
and privileges he has now-a-days in America.
These people, so different from us, got their habits and their ways of
doing things from still older nations in Asia, in Africa and in Europe.
THE OLDEST NATIONS
=254. Egypt, the Land of the Nile and the Pyramids.= Egypt has always
been a land of curious things. It lies across the Mediterranean,
southeast of Europe. It is a land of sunshine day after day. Were it
not for the Nile River, it would be a part of the Great Sahara Desert.
Every year for ages, the Nile has risen in a great flood and its waters
have spread out over Egypt. In coming down from their mountain home
these waters carry rich earth which they spread over a part of Egypt.
The result is that Egypt, in an early day, became the garden spot for
nations less favored.
[Sidenote: =Egypt in Bible times=]
Many of you can recall the Bible story of Joseph's brethren who were
sent down into Egypt to buy corn because there was a famine in their
land. Thanks to the Nile, there was plenty of corn in Egypt. The people
of Egypt were among the first of the world's farmers and gardeners of
which history has any record.
[Sidenote: =Carrying the waters of the Nile to the land=]
=255. Irrigation Systems of the Egyptians.= In a great many parts of
western United States where little rain falls, how do farmers and
gardeners get water for their plants? "Irrigation" is the word that
tells the story. The Egyptians taught the people of the world how to
save water for irrigation by building great dams in the Nile. This
water they carried in ditches throughout the land so that the thirsty
crops would have the moisture they needed for growing.
[Sidenote: =The tombs of the kings=]
=256. Egypt Ruled by Kings.= For several thousand years Egypt was ruled
by kings. The most famous of these rulers was a great warrior called
Rameses II. He built great tombs or monuments called "pyramids." These
were built out of huge blocks of stone much larger than any now used in
buildings. For many years he had the common man or the slave doing this
work for him.
[Illustration: THE PYRAMIDS OF GIZEH AND THE SPHINX]
The Bible tells us about Moses, who became a great leader among the
Israelites. The Israelites were slaves to the kings of Egypt. Moses led
them forth from Egypt to escape the hard tasks of one of their kings.
=257. What the Egyptians Gave to Other Nations.= Among the Egyptians
there were great students for that early time. A few men among them
studied the stars and learned about the movements of the heavenly
bodies. In arithmetic they could count up to millions. They could weave
cloth, cut jewels, and make most beautiful objects out of glass.
[Sidenote: =Egyptian hieroglyphics=]
But above all the Egyptians could write. Not as we do, of course, but
they used letters, not rude pictures as seen in most early writings.
Scholars have named the characters used in writing by Egyptians and
other ancient peoples "hieroglyphics."
=258. Babylon and Nineveh.= Asia, too, had early peoples. Perhaps some
of them were older than the Egyptians. There lived in southwestern
Asia, in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, two mighty
nations whose chief cities were Babylon and Nineveh.
[Sidenote: =The hanging gardens of Babylon=]
Babylon on the Euphrates was a splendid city. It had great walls to
protect it against enemy nations. Its hanging gardens were the wonders
of the ancient world.
To the north, on the banks of the Tigris, lay the great city of
Nineveh. The fierce kings of Nineveh conquered many nations and forced
them to pay tribute.
In this region, nature furnished the kings no building stone such as
was found in Egypt. But they made their homes and their palaces out of
sun-dried brick. This soft material, as the years rolled on, fell into
decay, and now men can find the ruins of these wonderful cities only by
digging where they lay.
[Sidenote: =How the Babylonians wrote=]
The Babylonians did their writing upon bricks or clay tablets before
they dried them. They had their own way of writing, using a sharp piece
of metal for making wedged-shaped lines instead of letters. They used
a sort of picture-writing too, making rude cuts of birds, animals,
and man. On these clay tablets, buried centuries ago, we may read the
stories of what they did and how they lived.
=259. How Jews and Phoenicians Helped Mankind.= Along the eastern end
of the Mediterranean lies Palestine, which was conquered by the Jews
early in their history, and became their home. The Jews as a people
interest us because they have given us our religious ideas. They have
never been a warlike nation, but at times they could fight. David was
one of their great kings, and Solomon another.
During long years this people has held faithful and true to the idea
of one God. Although the Jews were driven from Palestine and scattered
among the nations of the world they have never given up their religion.
They have always looked forward to the time when they might return to
Jerusalem and set up a Jewish nation once more. As a result of the
World War that time seems to have come.
[Illustration: TYPES OF EARLY ALPHABETS]
[Sidenote: =Phoenicians helped to advance learning=]
The Phoenicians were akin to the Jews. They lived near the Jews on the
Mediterranean and were a sea-going people, the traders of that early
time. In their ships, driven by oar and sail, they braved the dangers
of the Atlantic and reached Spain and England. To these people must
be given the credit of carrying to the Greeks and Romans much of the
learning of Egypt and Asia. To the Phoenicians also belongs the honor
and fame of inventing an alphabet much like the one we have to-day,
although with fewer letters.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ The first settlers in America came from
old and well-established countries in Europe. _2._ Their ways of
living were very different from ours. _3._ The classes of people
were very different from those we have. _4._ Egypt the oldest
nation. _5._ What the Nile does for Egypt. _6._ What Egypt taught
the world. _7._ Babylon and Nineveh, the early cities of Asia. _8._
How they differed from Egypt. _9._ How Egypt, Babylon, and Nineveh
recorded their deeds. _10._ What the Jews were noted for. _11._ Who
were great among them? _12._ How the World War has changed the hope
of some Jews. _13._ The Phoenicians were celebrated for carrying
trade and learning. _14._ They also invented the alphabet.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Name the different classes of people in
Europe. _2._ What would have happened if a great lord had carried
his people to America in an early day? _3._ Make a list of useful
things that the Egyptians knew. _4._ How do you imagine we know
about the ancient cities of Babylon and Nineveh? _5._ Why did they
use brick? _6._ Why is it better to use letters than pictures in
writing?
=Suggested Readings.= Dopp, _The Tree Dwellers_; _The Early
Cave-men_; _The Later Cave-men_; _The Early Sea People_; _Stories
of Ancient Peoples_; Ragozin, _A History of the World_, Vol. I.
Earliest Peoples; Retold from _St. Nicholas_, Stories of the
Ancient World, 3-52, 69-77, 92-124; Mace-Tanner, _Old Europe and
Young America_, 14-24.
GREECE, THE LAND OF ART AND FREEDOM
=260. Greece, a Beautiful Land.= Among the countries of the ancient
world Greece was the one bright spot where men had the right to think
and act for themselves.
[Sidenote: =The geography of Greece=]
Greece is a small peninsula in southeastern Europe cut up by many
deep gulfs and bays and crossed by rugged mountains. The colors of
its landscape have been thus described: "Against a deep blue sky,
its bold hills and mountains, often powdered with snow, stand out in
clear outline, and its fertile valleys please the eye with their green
vineyards and groves of silver-gray olive trees."
[Illustration: MOUNT OLYMPUS, IN GREEK MYTH THE HOME OF THE GODS]
Greece is kissed by gentle winds of the Mediterranean Sea and has the
warm, balmy climate that all the shores of this inland ocean have.
[Sidenote: =Greek colonies=]
=261. The Greeks of the Olden Times.= The Greeks were bold people and
many of them went on long voyages in their small vessels. These voyages
were not for plunder, but for trade and for planting colonies. Under
the lead of some brave Greek they made their way to France, to Italy,
to Africa, to Asia Minor, and to the shores of the Black Sea. Some of
these colonies became rich and prospered greatly. There were so many
Greeks living in southern Italy that it was called "Greater Greece." In
the island of Sicily stood the largest and most splendidly built city
in Greater Greece, called Syracuse.
[Illustration: PART OF THE FRIEZE OF THE PARTHENON, THE GREAT ATHENIAN
TEMPLE]
[Sidenote: =An old Greek myth=]
=262. The Brave Deeds of Ancient Greek Heroes.= The story of the Greek
heroes was the invention of her early poets. The most famous of these
heroes was Hercules, the most powerful man that ever lived, according
to story. He performed twelve mighty labors, among them killing with
his hands a big lion, and a terrible water serpent or snake which bore
many heads.
[Sidenote: =The blind singer of Greece=]
=263. The Favorite Story of the Greeks.= The favorite tale of the old
Greeks was the story of the capture of Troy. It was written by one of
their poets, the blind Homer. He told how Paris, son of the king of
Troy, stole Helen, the wife of the king of a Greek city called Sparta.
Helen was said to be the most beautiful woman in the ancient world.
The king of Sparta called upon all Greeks for help. From every city of
Greece came bold warriors. The Trojans were great fighters, too. For
nine years war was waged under the walls of Troy. The Greek leaders
quarreled among themselves and the Trojans drove them to their ships.
This united the Greeks, and their great leader Achilles, clad in new
armor made for him by the god Vulcan, rushed forth and slew Hector,
leader of the Trojans. There was great sorrow among the people of Troy,
but they fought on.
[Sidenote: =The fall of Troy=]
Now Ulysses, another Greek of great fame, had built a huge wooden
horse. The Greeks left the horse standing near the walls of Troy. Then
they pretended to sail home. The Trojans drew the great wooden beast
within the walls of the city. It was full of Greek warriors. They
climbed out at dead of night and opened the gates. The Greeks rushed
in, slew the Trojans, burned their city, and carried home the beautiful
Helen to be queen of Sparta again. The ancient Greeks never tired of
telling their children the wonderful story of these brave deeds.
=264. Socrates, the Philosopher.= After ages had gone by the Greek
nation still flourished, having improved in many ways, especially in
art and in education.
[Sidenote: =One of the world's greatest men=]
One of the wisest of their great men was Socrates. Socrates was an ugly
old man with a scolding wife. In spite of these drawbacks he stands out
as one of the foremost teachers of the world. Socrates was truly a wise
man, because he knew that the wisest man knows very little. He did not
pretend to know things that he did not know.
[Sidenote: =The method Socrates used=]
Socrates taught, for the most part, by going among the people and
asking them questions. Some people liked him, but some hated him
because he asked questions that led persons on from one point to
another until they saw their own mistakes.
His enemies grew in numbers and brought false charges that Socrates had
not respected the gods of the city.
There came a day when he was called before the city's judges, who
heard the charges against him. The judges decided that he must die by
drinking a cup of poison. Some of the friends of Socrates found a way
by which he could escape death. But the brave old Greek had faced death
on the battlefield and was not afraid to die.
[Illustration: PORCH OF THE CARYATIDES, ATHENS]
[Sidenote: =The death of Socrates=]
Socrates believed that the laws of the city should be obeyed even if
they were unjust. He drank the fatal cup while telling his friends and
followers of a life beyond the grave. It was a favorite doctrine of
Socrates that men would live again after the body died.
We know what Socrates taught from the writings of his most famous
pupil, Plato. These _Dialogues_ of Plato's, in the form of question and
answer, are among the greatest books ever written.
[Sidenote: =A very learned man=]
=265. Aristotle, the Scientist of Ancient Times.= Aristotle was one of
the later Greeks. He was celebrated for his learning. He was called a
"Scientist," for he was not simply a philosopher as Socrates and Plato
were.
[Sidenote: =Followed without question for ages=]
Aristotle was indeed a wonderful man. He studied about every subject
known to the ancients and won honors in all subjects; people for
centuries and centuries after Aristotle's time accepted what he said
and did not try very hard to study further. They thought that the giant
mind of Aristotle had found out all there was to know.
Aristotle studied animals and plants, putting them in different classes
and finding out many of their characteristics. He also knew a great
deal about music and his _Logic_ has been the great text book even down
to modern times.
[Sidenote: =One of the earliest geographers=]
We have a special interest in Aristotle because in his studies in
geography he taught that the world is round. From men who accepted
Aristotle's teaching about the shape of the earth, Columbus, the
discoverer of America, got his idea of sailing west to find eastern
countries.
=266. The Father of Alexander the Great.= Macedon was a country just
north of Greece. Its great king was Philip, father of Alexander the
Great. Philip was a brave king and had good soldiers. He taught them to
form in bodies sixteen ranks deep and armed them with lances or spears
fourteen feet long. A body of soldiers so formed and armed was called a
Macedonian phalanx. "When the Macedonians leveled their long spears and
advanced with steady step they bore down" the ranks of the enemy.
[Illustration: ALEXANDER AT TWENTY]
[Sidenote: =Alexander seeks to imitate the old Greek heroes=]
With these soldiers Philip conquered Greece, but he ruled the Greeks
kindly. He even employed one of them to give lessons to his young son.
Aristotle was the teacher who opened to this young man all the learning
of the Greeks. Alexander was a bright boy and learned quickly. Although
not born a Greek, he admired their learning. He was fond of the blind
poet Homer, and it was said could repeat his poems by heart.
Achilles was his favorite among the Greek heroes, and he finally made
himself believe that Achilles was one of his forefathers. At any rate
he resolved to imitate his hero and to conquer cities more splendid
than Troy.
HOW THE GREEKS TAUGHT MEN TO BE FREE
=267. Self-Government among the Greeks.= The Greeks were not many in
number, if we compare them with modern nations. But we admire them
because they were free and had the most democratic government in the
ancient world.
[Sidenote: =Greece a city-state=]
They lived in little cities located in the valleys shut in by hills
or mountains. Around their cities they built strong walls to shut out
dangerous enemies. There were some benefits growing out of living in
small cities. The people could know each other. The men could come
together quickly and easily to talk of things needed for the good of
the city. Only a small part of the men and women in a modern city can
get together. These Greeks could know the best men for office, for they
were their own neighbors. Now but a few men who want office can be
known to all the voters in a city, and still fewer who want to run for
governor or for president can be known by all the voters of a state or
country.
The most famous of the cities in ancient Greece were Athens and Sparta.
Their history is well known to us because of the great deeds of their
people. Another reason for remembering them is that the two cities
were so very different, as we shall see.
[Sidenote: =The Greeks their own rulers=]
=268. The Government of the Cities.= At first, just as in the case of
other nations, the Greeks had kings in all their cities. But unlike the
other nations, the Greeks drove their kings out and made for themselves
a kind of government called a republic. This was the best and wisest
government for a people as intelligent as the Greeks. In a republic all
the people, or a majority of them, take part in making and in carrying
out the laws. This is the kind of government we have.
But while a republican government is the best, it is also the hardest
to run. It demands that each one of its citizens shall be educated so
that he may be able to vote wisely.
[Illustration: AN ATHENIAN SCHOOLBOY LEARNING TO PLAY THE LYRE
_From an Athenian vase_]
The Greeks had a hard time keeping their self-government. There were
shrewd men among them who seized the power in the city and compelled
the people to obey them. Such a man the Greeks called a "tyrant." A
tyrant was either good or bad. He sometimes gave the people a better
government than they had when they ruled themselves. But the Greeks
were liberty-loving and liked to govern themselves even though their
government was worse than a tyrant's government. So they generally
drove out the tyrants and again set up a government under rulers of
their own choosing.
=269. The Two Rival Cities, Athens and Sparta.= The people of Athens
were the most democratic in all Greece. The Spartans, on the other
hand, were the most soldier-like of the Greeks. The Athenians loved
new things while the Spartans liked old ways best. The Athenians made
Athens the most beautiful city in the Old World. The Spartans cared
nothing for beautiful things. They loved only things that were useful.
All the citizens of Athens came together to make the laws. In the
center of their city they met in their assembly, a semicircle of stone
seats rising one above another. Here the men of Athens listened to
their speakers. Each speaker placed a wreath upon his head before he
began speaking.
[Illustration: THE DISCUS THROWER]
[Sidenote: =The public life of the Athenians=]
Often there were exciting debates between great speakers called
orators. They spoke eloquent words and sometimes stirred people deeply.
The Athenians enjoyed these debates almost as much as they did their
Greek plays.
[Illustration: THE WRESTLERS]
[Sidenote: =Athenian orators=]
The people of Athens, because they made their laws after debating
them in the assembly, placed emphasis on public speaking. All the
citizens were taught how to speak in public and how to appear before
the assembly. It was natural for the best orators to have the most
influence. But the people were keen and quick to see the difference
between orators who were interested only in winning applause and
honor for themselves through their speeches and the ones who were true
patriots and spoke for the good of the city.
Yet while the people of Athens trained their citizens to make the laws
they saw to it that their young men were trained to be good soldiers.
Training began with the school boy. There were two schools, one called
the music school and the other the wrestling school.
[Sidenote: =The music school=]
In the music school the Greek boys did not study music alone, but
learned to read and write and do simple sums in arithmetic. More than
this, their teachers wanted them to learn the poems written by blind
Homer, their wonderful old poet. They learned to play and sing. A
stringed instrument called a lyre was the favorite among the Greeks.
[Sidenote: =The gymnasium=]
In the wrestling school the boys learned to run, to jump, to dance, and
especially to throw the javelin. At fifteen they attended the gymnasium
where they were taught the more difficult athletic games. This led up
to the next great event in the young man's life, his preparation for
becoming a citizen.
[Sidenote: =Soldier-citizens=]
This important event came at the age of eighteen. It began with a great
ceremony. The young men came into the assembly before all the men of
the city. Here they were given a spear and shield. With their hands
raised they took an oath never to bring shame upon the city nor to
desert a companion in arms. They pledged themselves to give over the
city of Athens to their children greater than when they had found it.
After this ceremony was over, the young men marched away to be trained
for two years more in the art of being soldiers. When they had reached
their twentieth year, they returned to Athens to become citizens of
the republic, to work for its good, and to enjoy the pleasures of that
charming city.
[Sidenote: =Character of Pericles=]
=270. Pericles, the Wise Statesman.= Pericles lived in the "Golden
Age of Athens." He was born nearly 500 years before Christ. He was
trained in the same manner as any other boy in Athens. He became one
of the first orators of Greece and his ability as a speaker gave him
great power over his people. He became one of their leading officers.
Pericles stood for the people and against those men of aristocratic
ways who wanted the city ruled by the few.
Cimon was the leader of the aristocracy. The people of Athens voted
to banish him. But after a time Pericles had him brought back to
Athens. This shows how very kind-hearted Pericles was toward his great
political enemy.
For thirty years Pericles was the most popular man in Athens. He ruled
the people kindly and well during this time.
It was Pericles who made Athens the City Beautiful. When you are older
you may read all about the many wonderful buildings and monuments he
erected.
[Illustration: HEAD OF PERICLES
_After the original in the British Museum_]
The rule of Pericles had one bad result: He was so popular and had been
the great man in the government so long that when he passed away there
was no one who could take his place. The time in which he lived is
often called the "Age of Pericles." After his death history handed his
high ideas on to Rome and the rest of the world. No doubt these ideas
influenced the great men of Rome.
SPREAD OF GREEK CIVILIZATION
[Sidenote: =The Greeks of Asia Minor=]
=271. The Old Wars of the Greeks.= The once greatest enemies of
the Greeks were the Persians, living in western Asia. The Persians
conquered Asia Minor. Here on its coast the Greeks had planted many
cities, and they naturally sent ships and soldiers to aid their kinsmen.
[Illustration: AN ATHENIAN WAR GALLEY]
[Sidenote: =The battle of Marathon=]
The king of the Persians, Darius by name, whom we read about in the
Bible, sailed with a great army across the sea to Greece. One hundred
thousand Persians met ten thousand Greeks on the battlefield of
Marathon. The Greeks won.
The old folks and children among the Greeks waited for the news with
breathless anxiety. The minutes grew into hours. At last they saw a
runner coming. He was covered with dust. He had been on the battlefield
and was running to tell the waiting people of the great victory. He
dropped dead as he called out, "Victory!" He had run twenty-four miles!
Both Europe and America have celebrated the victory at Marathon by
naming one of their races in the great Olympic contest the Marathon
race.
[Sidenote: =Xerxes' forces=]
Again, a new king, Xerxes, who reigned over Persia, decided to
overthrow Greece. He gathered a vast host from forty-six tributary
states. He also gathered a fleet greater than any Greece had.
[Illustration: THE PERSIAN KING FLEEING IN THE BATTLE OF ISSUS]
The city of Sparta gave three hundred brave soldiers. Their leader
was Leonidas. The Persian army had to march along the narrow pass of
Thermopylae that ran between high mountains and the sea. Here stood the
brave Spartans. For two days Leonidas held the pass. Through a mountain
road the Persians gained the rear of the Spartan army. But the Spartans
did not retreat. Every Spartan fell fighting for his country. A noble
example!
[Sidenote: =The battle of Salamis=]
The Greek warships met the Persians in the Bay of Salamis and overthrew
them completely. Xerxes took his army and hastened back to Persia. Asia
might be ruled by tyrants but the Greeks were bound to be free.
=272. How Alexander Spread Greek Ideas.= But these wonderful deeds were
not all the Greeks were to do. We have seen Alexander come to the head
of the Greek Empire. He had a wonderful army and resolved to teach the
Persians a lesson or two as well as to spread Greek ideas.
[Sidenote: =The march of the Greeks=]
Alexander's army was not large, but it was the best trained in the
world. Think of the Macedonian phalanx! All the cities of Persia fell
into his hands. Before he was thirty years old, southwestern Asia and
Egypt recognized his rule. Alexandria, situated at the mouth of the
Nile River, was founded by him. It became a center of Greek ideas and
boasted the largest library in the Old World.
=273. Why Alexander Failed.= Alexander's army made its way to India.
But its great general, now only thirty-two, was drunk with power. He
even permitted the people he conquered to worship him as a god. He
loved the wine-cup too well and was stricken with a fever and died.
There was no one to take his place, but much that was finest and best
in Greek life remained to the world.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Greece, a land of hills, mountains,
plains, bays, and gulfs. _2._ Greeks traded and planted colonies.
_3._ The deeds of Greek heroes. _4._ The great men of the newer
Greece. =5.= The reason why the Persians attacked the Greeks. =6.=
Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis. _7._ Alexander the Great, his
father, his education, his army, and his victories. =8.= Spread of
Greek ideas.
=Study Questions.= _1._ See map for the boundaries of "Greater
Greece." _2._ Name heroes among the ancient Greeks. Do you know
of any others? _3._ What was their favorite story? _4._ What was
the cause of the Trojan War? _5._ Who was Helen and for what was
she famous? _6._ Who was Socrates? Plato? Aristotle? _7._ How is
Aristotle connected with Columbus? _8._ Who were the Persians?
_9._ Why did they attack the Greeks? _10._ Name the great battles.
_11._ How was Alexander able to beat the Persians in their own
land? _12._ How did Alexander benefit the world in what he did?
=Suggested Readings.= Guerber. _The Story of the Greeks_; Hall,
_Life in Ancient Greece_, II, 166; Harding, _Stories of Greek Gods,
Heroes, and Men_; Tappan, _The Story of the Greek People_; Yonge,
_Young Folks' History of Greece_; Mace-Tanner, _Old Europe and
Young America_, 24-73; Hall, _Four Old Greeks_.
WHEN ROME RULED THE WORLD
=274. Rome, the Eternal City.= Italy looks like a big boot hanging from
the Alps Mountains down into the Mediterranean Sea. "Sunny Italy,"
people call it.
[Sidenote: =An old Roman myth=]
The ancient Romans all believed that their city, Rome, was founded by a
hero called Romulus. He had a twin brother, Remus. A wicked uncle threw
them while babies into a basket and set it adrift on the river Tiber.
But the boys--so the story runs--were found by a she-wolf that nursed
them until they became men, strong and cruel. With the aid of others as
brave as himself, Romulus founded the city of Rome.
[Sidenote: =How Rome was ruled=]
=275. Rome Becomes a Republic.= Romulus was the first of six kings.
The people drove out the sixth because he was cruel, and Rome became a
republic. The republic was ruled by two men called "consuls," aided by
the advice of great men called "senators." These senators were among
the wisest men in the Old World.
=276. Stories of Roman Heroes.= The people of Rome, like the Greeks,
had their tales of what the bold heroes of olden times had done.
[Sidenote: =Horatius saves Rome=]
One of the most famous stories is about a hero named Horatius. The
Romans sent for him to lead their soldiers against the last king, who
was trying to get back the Roman throne. Bold Horatius took his stand
on a narrow bridge leading across the Tiber to the city. Here he met
the enemy, and defended the bridge with only his good sword until the
Roman soldiers broke down the bridge behind him. When the bridge fell,
he plunged into the fast rolling stream and swam ashore.
[Illustration: THE PANTHEON, A ROMAN TEMPLE DEDICATED TO ALL THE GODS]
[Sidenote: =The story of Cincinnatus=]
The story that American boys and girls like best, perhaps, is one
the Romans never tired of telling their children. It is about an old
farmer-soldier named Cincinnatus. Rome's enemies were knocking at the
very doors of the "Eternal City." The Romans called for Cincinnatus to
head the army. They found him ploughing on his little farm. He left his
plough and oxen in the field, took command of the Roman army, and by
a night attack completely defeated the enemy. He was the most popular
man in Rome and could have held any office in the government. But he
returned to his plow as if nothing had happened.
George Washington is often called the American Cincinnatus, for he,
too, at the close of our Revolution, laid down his arms and went to
live on his farm on the banks of the Potomac.
[Sidenote: =How the common people gained new rights=]
=277. The First Battle between Rich and Poor.= A fierce war between
the rich and poor threatened to destroy the republic itself. The rich
were selfish and thought they should have all the power. After a long
struggle the poor gained some political rights by all moving to a
sacred hill and beginning to build a rival city. The rich gave in and
the poor in Rome had a right to choose a man who could raise his hand
in the assembly and say: "I forbid," which he did by using the Latin
word, "veto." This is where we get our word "veto."
=278. The People Called Gauls Take Rome.= For many years the Romans
quarreled among themselves. How could they defend Rome from the great
bands of brave and fierce people who swarmed down from the North?
These were the Gauls. They were very large men who dressed in skins of
beasts. They defeated the Romans, burned their cities, and murdered the
people.
[Illustration: SAVAGE GAULS AND THEIR WEAPONS]
[Sidenote: =Gauls become Romans=]
After a time the Gauls lived among the Romans and finally became so
mixed with them you could hardly tell them apart. They all became
Romans, and Rome was then united and strong. The natural result was
that Rome conquered all the other tribes or peoples living in Italy.
HANNIBAL TRIES TO CONQUER ROME
[Illustration: HANNIBAL'S ARMY CROSSING THE ALPS]
[Sidenote: =A Phoenician colony=]
=279. Carthage the Rival of Rome.= Just as Persia was the rival of
Greece, so Carthage was the rival of Rome. Carthage had been settled
by the Phoenicians, the traders of the ancient world. Carthage, the
richest of their colonies, was just across the Mediterranean from Rome.
In the days of her greatest power Carthage was said to have nearly a
million people. Rome and Carthage quarreled about the island of Sicily,
lying midway between them, and Rome was successful in driving her enemy
out of the island. The great Carthaginian general, Hannibal, when only
a boy took a solemn oath to carry on war with Rome without ceasing.
When he later became a famous general he still remembered his oath
against Rome. He gathered a mighty army from all Carthaginian colonies
as well as from the homeland. Soldiers came from all parts of Spain
and Gaul. From Africa came the finest body of cavalry in the world.
The strangest part of the body was a long line of war elephants driven
by their riders to trample down the Roman soldiers and to break their
solid lines.
[Illustration: ROMANS PLOWING THE GROUND WHERE CARTHAGE HAD STOOD]
The army came together in Spain and marched over the mighty Alps into
Italy. Their march was slow and hard. There were no roads at all
through the mountains. The army was often attacked by people living in
the mountains who hurled huge stones upon it.
After five months the army finally reached the plains of Italy, though
hundreds of brave soldiers had been lost.
Rome was stirred to her depths. A great army was raised to meet the
Carthaginians. But Rome had no general like Hannibal. For fifteen years
he remained in Italy, defeating every general sent against him.
[Sidenote: =How Hannibal made war=]
Hannibal's greatest victory was on the field of Cannae. Rome raised a
mighty army, 86,000 men. Hannibal had only 50,000, but he had faith
in his veterans, especially in the African horsemen. He arranged his
troops so that his center gave way easily. When the Romans thought
victory near, Hannibal's heavy troops on each wing attacked them from
both sides and his African horsemen struck them in the rear. The
Romans lost in killed and wounded 70,000 men.
The Romans hit upon the plan of sending an army to attack Carthage.
Hannibal had to rush his troops home to save his beloved city. In the
great battle of Zama Hannibal was defeated and Carthage fell.
[Sidenote: =The fate of Carthage=]
Rome would not permit a rival, so she wholly destroyed Carthage, her
great fleets of ships, her hoards of money, her stores of goods and her
great buildings. It is said that Romans sowed salt where Carthage once
stood so that nothing might ever grow there.
ROME CONQUERS THE WORLD BUT GROWS WICKED
=280. How Rome Came to Win Victories.= The wars made great soldiers
out of the Romans, who, now that they had trained generals, began to
conquer all the nations about them. They invaded Macedonia, Greece,
Asia, and Africa, destroying the mighty nations which had grown out of
the work of Alexander the Great.
[Sidenote: =How the Romans defeated the phalanx=]
How do you suppose the Romans defeated the Macedonian phalanx? The
Roman generals planned the battle with the Macedonians so that it
always occurred in a forest or on rough broken ground where the phalanx
could not stand in solid columns. With the phalanx already in disorder
the Romans charged and defeated them easily.
[Sidenote: =Roman slaves=]
=281. The Effect on the Romans.= Long before the Romans began to
conquer other nations they were a simple farmer-like people living by
raising grain and horses and cattle and sheep. But as soon as they
began to conquer other nations many of the Romans grew proud and
haughty. A great many grew rich from what they took from the defeated
nations. Hundreds of Romans who had been small farmers now lived on
great farms. On these farms or plantations the work was done by slaves,
who were prisoners taken in battle. Some of these slaves were rude men
taken in wars against half-savage people. Others, like the Greeks,
were well educated, and really knew more than their masters. Those who
belonged to this class of slaves were treated kindly and often played
the part of tutors to the children of their rich masters.
=282. The Rich and Poor Quarrel Again.= The rich men oppressed the poor
in many ways. A great many poor went to Rome to live because they found
it hard to make a living on their little farms. Then, too, the great
city was full of interesting doings. Besides, the city did not permit
her poor to starve. Great shiploads of grain were brought from Egypt to
feed them.
[Sidenote: =The Gracchi=]
In Rome at this time there lived two brothers called the Gracchi.
They were both great orators and rose to high positions in Rome. They
saw their city was in a bad way on account of the many poor that were
flocking to it.
The Gracchi tried to change this by taking away from the very rich
landowners a part of their land and giving it to the poor. The Gracchi
wanted to make farmers out of the poor. This plan roused the anger of
the rich. They raised riots against the brothers and both men were
killed. Rome never forgot the Gracchi, and even in our time they are
looked upon as noble men laboring for the good of their country.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ What Italy looks like on the map. _2._
Romulus and Remus. _3._ The founding of Rome; the six kings.
_4._ A republic with "consuls" and "senators." _5._ The story
of Horatius; of Cincinnatus. Our Cincinnatus. _6._ The first
quarrel, and the removal to the second hill. _7._ The capture of
Rome by the Gauls; the Gauls become Romans. _8._ Rome and Carthage
rivals. _9._ Quarrel over Sicily. _10._ Hannibal takes a great
oath. _11._ Hannibal's army. _12._ How it reached Italy and how
long it remained. _13._ Hannibal's victory at Cannae. _14._ The
Romans invade Carthage and defeat Hannibal at Zama. _15._ How
Rome defeated the phalanx. _16._ Romans before conquests a simple
people. _17._ Effect on the Romans of conquering the world. _18._
Second great contest between rich and poor. _19._ The Gracchi to
the rescue. _20._ Death of the Gracchi and why they are remembered.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Why did the Romans believe the story of
Romulus and Remus? _2._ Tell the story of Horatius and Cincinnatus.
Which do you like best? _3._ Tell the origin of the word "veto."
_4._ Who was Hannibal and how could he stay so long in Italy with
his army? _5._ Who built Carthage? _6._ Describe the battle of
Cannae. _7._ Why did the Romans scatter salt over the ground where
Carthage stood? _8._ How did Rome overcome the Macedonian phalanx?
_9._ What bad effect did the world conquest have upon Rome? _10._
Tell the story of the Gracchi.
=Suggested Readings.= Tappan, _The Story of the Roman People_,
1-122; Yonge, _Young Folks' History of Rome_, 13-202; Harding, _The
City of the Seven Hills_, 7-165; Lang, _The Red Book of Heroes_,
43-94; Guerber, _The Story of the Romans_; Mace-Tanner, _Old Europe
and Young America_, 74-93.
THE ROMAN REPUBLIC BECOMES THE ROMAN EMPIRE
[Sidenote: =Conditions that favored Caesar=]
=283. The Rise of Julius Caesar.= When a country is torn by quarrels
between rich and poor, very often some great man rises, seizes the
government, and rules the country himself. He may use the army in
compelling all parties to submit quietly to his rule. So it was in Rome.
Caesar was "tall and erect, with hooked nose, and piercing glance." He
made the common people believe him to be their friend. They probably
thought that he was another Gracchus.
[Sidenote: =Governor of Gaul=]
=284. Caesar Governor of Gaul.= Caesar was chosen consul, and then
later made governor of Gaul. In Gaul the people were half savage and
were constantly fighting.
They made friends with Caesar because he helped them defeat the
Germans. The Germans were carrying fire and sword into Gaul until
Caesar put them to rout.
[Sidenote: =War with the Gauls=]
Caesar now decided that he must conquer all the country of the Gauls.
He called for more of the Roman legions, such as had defeated the
Macedonian phalanx. One after another the tribes of Gaul were overcome.
Then suddenly, when Caesar least expected it, the Gauls rose as one
man and defeated the Romans. But Caesar would not give up. He finally
defeated the Gauls and sent their great leader a prisoner to Rome.
=285. His Invasion of England.= The Britons were kinfolk of the Gauls
and had sent them help in the fight against Caesar. The Britons were
also half savage, and Caesar resolved to make them feel the power of
Rome. But Caesar found the Britons ready for him when his ships tried
to land his soldiers. The Britons, though bravely fighting for native
land, were finally defeated.
[Illustration: ROMAN REMAINS IN GREAT BRITAIN
_The Lighthouse, Dover Castle_]
Caesar made two invasions into England, but when his soldiers were
needed at home, he withdrew.
[Sidenote: =Trouble at home=]
=286. He Crosses the Rubicon.= There were other great generals in Rome
and they now became jealous of Caesar's many victories and of his
popularity. They prepared to punish him. But Caesar was too quick for
them. He marched his army rapidly into Italy until he reached a little
stream called the Rubicon. To cross this stream meant war--victory or
defeat. He stood awhile--so the story runs--in deep study. "The die is
cast," said Caesar, and plunged into its waters.
=287. Caesar the Ruler of Rome.= Caesar's enemies fled from Rome,
so quickly did he come. He now held the great city in his hands. He
followed his enemies and defeated them in a great battle. Other armies
were raised against him, but he was the final victor. He sent a famous
dispatch to Rome: "I came, I saw, I conquered." Julius Caesar was now
master of the civilized world.
[Illustration: JULIUS CAESAR]
[Sidenote: =The plot against Caesar=]
But in ruling the world Caesar had changed Rome from a republic into
an empire. Many good Roman nobles could never forget that fact. Caesar
planned to give Rome a good government. He was in many ways a wise
ruler. Still many people could not forgive him. So those who believed
Rome should still be a republic and others who were merely jealous of
him, planned to kill him. As he came into the Senate Hall one day they
stabbed him.
But the death of Rome's greatest man did not set her free. Another and
a worse tyrant ruled Rome.
WHAT ROME GAVE TO THE WORLD
[Sidenote: =How Rome ruled=]
=288. Great Lawmakers and Governors.= Of all the ancient nations Rome
was the most famous in establishing laws in regard to the ownership of
property and in regard to the way men should act toward one another.
Her consuls and senators were men skillful in planning laws not only
for Rome but for the nations which she had conquered.
[Sidenote: =The Colosseum=]
=289. Romans Were Great Builders.= The buildings of Greece were
beautiful but those of Rome were large and strong. The Colosseum, built
as a place of entertainment for the people, was a gigantic affair
seating 87,000 people. In this were held fights between gladiators, men
trained to kill each other, and between men and wild beasts. The effect
was to make the Romans lovers of such cruel sports.
Other famous buildings put up by the Romans were the Forum and the
Pantheon. You may see remains of these now in Rome. They are visited by
hundreds of Americans every year.
[Sidenote: =Roman roads=]
The Romans also built wonderful roads in all parts of the empire for
the use of armies and for travel and trade. Some of these roads are
still used. They built strong bridges over the rivers and erected
aqueducts in different parts of the empire. These Roman aqueducts
brought good, pure water from the hills to supply the needs of the
townspeople.
[Illustration: ROMAN BRIDGE AND AQUEDUCT NEAR NIMES, FRANCE]
=290. The Romans Gave a Literature to the World.= Not all Romans were
educated. All boys and girls did not then go to school, as they do in
America. Only the sons of the well-to-do could become educated.
[Sidenote: =Classic Roman writers=]
Rome became famous for her great writers. Even Julius Caesar found time
to write the story of his war against the Gauls. High school boys and
girls read Caesar's _Commentaries_. There was Vergil, a great poet, who
told the story of how the Greeks beat the Trojans. Vergil made these
Greek heroes the ancestors of the Romans. Horace was another of Rome's
great poets. He amused the Romans "by his genial and quiet humor." But
Cicero was the great orator of Rome. His voice went ringing down the
senate halls as he challenged Catiline, who had plotted to overthrow
the republic.
=291. Rome Prepared the Way for the Spread of Christianity.= When Rome
seemed sunk in wickedness there came out of Palestine the story of
Jesus. His disciples were carrying the glad news everywhere over the
empire. Paul, the most learned of these followers of Christ, carried
the story to Greece and to Rome.
[Sidenote: =Early Christian martyrs=]
The emperors tried to stamp out the new religion, but the more they
opposed the more it grew. Hundreds of Christians perished holding firm
to the faith. Many were destroyed by wild beasts in the Colosseum
before the eyes of thousands of Romans. But the new religion appealed
to many, and especially to the poorer classes. The Emperor Constantine
(305 A. D.) soon accepted the new religion and gave it protection. It
then spread rapidly. Priests were sent into the villages to preach and
to set up churches. Above the priest was a bishop in charge of all the
churches in a district or province.
The government of the new church was formed like that of the empire
and became strong. Other religions were driven out. In time the many
offices of the empire were in the hands of the priests or under their
influence. Many years later these two governments of the church and the
empire quarreled over their rights to rule the people.
THE DOWNFALL OF ROME
[Sidenote: =How the Teutonic tribes lived=]
=292. The Coming of the Huns and Teutons.= North of the Alps, beyond
the Danube and the Rhine, and between the North Sea and the Black Sea,
was a vast region of wild lands. Here the German or Teutonic tribes
had lived for hundreds of years. They had made little advance in ways
of living. They still dwelt in poor villages. They loved to fight, or
waste their time in idleness and feasts. They were noted for their
love of liberty and pure family life. At the time of the invasions
(4th century) they were learning to live in towns, to unite in
confederations, and to be ruled by elected kings. They had so increased
in numbers that more land was needed to afford them a living. This was
the main cause of their moving south to the Roman frontiers.
[Sidenote: =Gradual coming of the Germans=]
For three hundred years the Germans were restless in their northern
homes. But the Roman armies were strong enough to keep them beyond the
Danube. Some had come over as soldiers in the Roman legions. By 330
half the troops were German. Some of the more peaceful Germans were
allowed to make settlements within the empire. Other Germans came in as
slaves, but mainly to work on the farms.
By the end of the fourth century after Christ the Romans had become too
weak to keep the Germans back.
[Illustration: THE COMING OF THE HUNS
_From a print after the painting by Ulpiano Checa_]
[Sidenote: =Battle of Chalons=]
But the Germans were gentle compared with the fierce Huns from Asia
who made the next great invasion into Europe. And under their terrible
chief, Attila, they swept over Europe like firebrands, laying waste all
they could not carry away. At last the Germans and the Romans united
and defeated the Huns at Chalons (451). The Huns moved eastward, passed
through northern Italy, and soon reëntered Asia. Europe was saved.
=293. End of the Empire.= Other German tribes entered the empire,
took possession of the lands, and even formed governments under their
chiefs. In a quarrel over lands the German troops removed the Roman
emperor and declared their chief, Odoacer, king (476). This marks the
end of the Roman Empire and the rise of the kingdom of Italy, though
the present United Kingdom, formed after centuries of division, among
small, jealous city states, is only sixty years old.
Other invasions went on for many years. Europe was in disorder and
confusion for nearly four hundred years. It was a time of seeding, when
the rough, brave, liberty-loving German peoples were intermarrying with
the Greeks and Romans and learning from them the finer ways of living.
From this fusion a new society was built on the ruins of the old, as
shown in the nations of Italy, France, and Spain.
THE ANGLES AND SAXONS IN GREAT BRITAIN
=294. The Britons.= There were already two groups of people in these
islands. Under the rule of the Romans one group, the Britons, had been
weakened as fighters.
[Sidenote: =Britons fight among themselves=]
Rome called her legions out of Britain to fight the Germans. This left
the Britons without good soldiers to keep order and the tribes began
fighting one another. One tribe, the Britons proper, invited bands of
Jutes from Denmark (449) to help them. After the Britons had forced
back their enemies the Jutes refused to go away. They took possession
of the land, making it their home.
[Sidenote: =Where the name England came from=]
=295. Coming of the Anglo-Saxons.= Other German tribes, chiefly the
wild Angles and Saxons, now came over from Europe. The new tribes soon
brought the Britons under their rule. They gave their names to the land
they had taken--Angle land or England. The Angles and Saxons are the
forefathers of the "English" people. The Britons who would not submit
were driven into the lands to the west known as Wales, and became the
"Welsh."
=296. Rome Brings Christianity to the Germans.= When the western Roman
Empire passed away in 476, the church remained the only strong central
government in all that vast territory. It acted as a steady light
when all about was dark and changing. Its priests came to be the only
educated class, giving it great influence.
[Sidenote: =Clovis, king of the Franks, converted=]
Even before the invasions began, missionaries went among the German
tribes on the frontiers to preach the religion of Christ. Many of the
Germans had accepted the new religion either before or soon after
entering Roman territory. Clovis, king of the Franks, was influenced by
his Christian wife to accept the new religion. His army followed, and
was baptized with its leader.
[Sidenote: =England becomes Christian=]
Missionaries under Augustine were sent from Rome to England. Through
their earnest preaching and noble living the king of Kent and his
followers accepted the new religion. A church was built at Canterbury.
Others carried on the work until all England had accepted Christianity.
Other missionaries went to the northern Germans, and many of these
people became Christians.
These early missionaries were mostly monks. Their homes (monasteries)
were like small settlements among the people. They not only preached
the new religion, but showed people better ways of farming and living.
In their schools, they taught people to read and write.
[Illustration: _After an engraving in Green's History of England_
WORK COPYING MANUSCRIPT, 1200 A. D.]
CHARLES THE GREAT, RULER OF THE FRANKS
=297. Charlemagne.= While the Germans were still moving into the
Roman Empire the Franks had set up a government under Clovis. They
had become Christians and lived on friendly terms with the church.
They grew strong and settled down to a more orderly and quiet way of
living. Their first great king, Charles Martel, the Hammer, checked
the invasion of the Mohammedans at Tours (732), and again Europe and
Christianity were saved. But the greatest of all the leaders of the
Franks was Charlemagne, the grandson of Charles Martel, for he was not
only a great conqueror but a wise and able ruler.
[Illustration: CHARLES THE GREAT AT THE SCHOOL OF THE PALACE]
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was by far the most famous man of
his time. He seemed to be a happy fusion of Germanic strength and Roman
learning. He was tall and strong, with large, bright eyes, fair hair,
and a face round and laughing. He exercised much, riding, hunting,
and swimming. He liked the Frankish costume: "... next to his skin
a linen shirt and linen breeches, and above these a tunic fringed
with silk; while hose fastened by bands covered his lower limbs, and
shoes his feet, and he shielded his shoulders and chest in winter by
a close-fitting coat of otter or marten skin. Over all he cast a blue
coat: always too he had a sword girt about him."
[Sidenote: =Character of Charles=]
[Sidenote: =The School of the Palace=]
Charles ate and drank with care, never taking too much of either food
or drink. During his meals his attendants entertained him with reading
and music. He liked the stories and deeds of the olden time and the
books of Augustine. He was a good speaker, easily understood. He loved
learning, but had little education himself. He had the famous School
of the Palace in his own home to educate his own children and those of
the nobles. Wise teachers like Peter of Pisa, and Alcuin of England
were brought to his court. He helped the priests in their study and
in building schools. Charles loved the church and gave much to aid
its educational and religious work. He really brought learning to the
people.
[Sidenote: =Charlemagne's wars=]
Charles the Great was for three years ruler with his father (768-771),
then sole ruler until 814. His kingdom was surrounded on all sides by
fierce enemies. Most of his long rule was taken up in fighting the wild
Germans to the north and east, the Arabs in Spain, or the Lombards and
others to protect the church in Italy. He was a great warrior. Before
his death he had brought most of western Europe under his rule.
[Sidenote: =Crowned Emperor of Rome=]
=298. The Crowning of Charlemagne.= So successful was he that it seemed
the Roman Empire was again to live in the memories of men. God was
surely with him. How simple it then seemed to bestow the symbol of
divine blessing upon Charles! On Christmas day, 800, Charles was in
Rome. And on that sacred day of the Christians he entered the great
church and knelt in prayer before the altar. In that solemn moment
the pope, as the messenger on earth of God, quietly stepped to where
Charles was kneeling. Lifting the crown which he held in his hands, he
placed it upon the head of the king of the Franks and proclaimed him
Emperor of Rome (800). What glorious memories it must have brought to
the thousands gathered there! In their joy they cried out: "Long life
and victory to the mighty Charles, the great and pacific emperor of the
Romans, crowned of God!"
[Sidenote: =How he governed=]
=299. The Ruler Charlemagne.= Charles was a great ruler as well as
soldier. He divided his territory into districts over each of which
a count ruled. An army officer cared for all military matters. At
certain times inspectors passed over the several districts. These three
officers reported directly to Charles and were checks on the conduct of
each other.
[Sidenote: =His just laws=]
Some of the orders which he sent to his officers show how great and
just a ruler he was. He orders that "all shall live entirely in
accordance with God's precept, justly and under a just rule, and each
one shall be admonished to live in harmony with his fellows." Let no
one "do injury to the churches of God, or to the poor, or the widows,
or the wards, or any Christian." He then lays down the rules of living
for the clergy, nuns, bishops, and other church officers, that their
lives may be holy and their influence good.
He wanted to see justice done all over his kingdom--to the poor as well
as to the rich. Wonderful stories, some true, have been woven about the
name of the great emperor.
[Sidenote: =Why his empire fell=]
He built up a great empire, but it was too great to live long. There
were too many races with different ways of living, and the provinces
were too far apart. When the strength and wisdom of his hand and head
passed away in death, the great empire began to crumble and fall apart.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPILS
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Julius Caesar takes the popular side.
_2._ Governor of Gaul. _3._ Conquest of Gaul and the Germans. _4._
Caesar invades Britain. _5._ Crosses the Rubicon and becomes ruler
of the Roman Empire. _6._ Why he was assassinated. _7._ What Rome
gave to the world. _8._ Rome famous for its wonderful buildings
and roads. _9._ Her great literature. _10._ How Rome prepared the
way for Christianity. _11._ Coming of the Huns and Teutons marks
the downfall of Rome. _12._ The removal of the Roman emperor and
Odoacer made king. _13._ Anglo-Saxons in Britain. _14._ Rome takes
Christianity to the Germans. _15._ Charles the Great. _16._ The
Palace School. _17._ The crowning of Charlemagne.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Who was Julius Caesar? _2._ What did he
do to make people remember him? _3._ Why did good men join in
murdering him? _4._ Name the different things given to the world
by Rome? _5._ Explain how Rome helped Christianity. _6._ Who
were the Huns and the Teutons? _7._ Tell about the following in
Charlemagne's career: (1) The battle of Tours; (2) How Charlemagne
looked and dressed; (3) His Palace School; (4) How he ruled the
Franks; (5) How he was crowned; (6) Why his empire crumbled at his
death.
=Suggested Readings.= Tappan, _The Story of the Roman People_,
123-237; Harding, _The City of the Seven Hills_, 184-211; Yonge,
_Young Folks' History of Rome_, 229; Clarke, _The Story of Caesar_;
Guerber, _The Story of the Romans_.
THE COMING OF THE NORTHMEN
[Sidenote: =The vessels of the Northmen=]
=300. The Vikings or Sea-Rovers.= The Northmen lived in the lands of
Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. They lived on the inlets of the ocean,
or viks, and were called "vikings." Their boats were long, and each
one had a high prow with the head of a dragon or other fierce-looking
animal upon it. They drove their vessels by sail or oar. Often there
were as many as fifty rowers in a boat, their bright shields hanging
over the sides. When the sun shone on them they looked like great
moving lights. The Northmen were great sea-rovers and pirates.
[Sidenote: =Movements of the Northmen=]
In the eighth and ninth centuries these Northmen or Norsemen began
moving out in great bands. Some overran the northern part of France and
settled on the river Seine. They were called "Normans," and this region
is now Normandy. Others sailed to the west and founded Iceland and
Greenland. And their "sagas" or records tell us that Leif Ericson and
his men even sailed as far as the coast of North America, although the
settlements they made then did not prove to be lasting.
[Illustration: THE LANDING OF LEIF ERICSON IN AMERICA]
[Sidenote: =The conquest of England=]
The Northmen, called Danes by the English, had made many attacks on
the coasts of England. Now they came in armies to take the land for
homes. As they were heathen they took the riches from the churches and
slew the priests. They captured place after place, driving the English
before them, until the greater part of England fell into their hands.
Young Alfred, king of Wessex, finally forced them to stop. While he
drove them back some distance, he could not make them leave England.
ALFRED THE GREAT
[Sidenote: =Childhood of Alfred=]
=301. Alfred the Boy.= Alfred was born in 849. His mother was a good
woman who gave much time and care to her children. Alfred learned
early to read and to love books. A story is told of how Alfred won
a beautiful book as a prize from his mother for learning to read it
sooner than the other children. He spent much time in learning about
wise men, in order to become wise himself.
[Sidenote: =Alfred fights the Danes=]
As he grew older he found other serious work to do. He aided his
brother Ethelred, king of Wessex, to give battle to the Danes, who were
moving south. In one battle Alfred led the English "with the rush of a
wild boar," and defeated the Danes. Later the Danes drove them back and
killed the English king. Alfred now became king of Wessex (871).
[Sidenote: =The story of the cakes=]
=302. Alfred as King.= Soon after Alfred became king his army was
beaten and his men fled. With a little band of followers he hid in the
marshes and there built a fort on an island. A story is told of how he
was lost while wandering alone, and asked for shelter at the hut of a
herdsman. The good wife told him to watch some cakes on the fire while
she was busy. Alfred was bending his bow and arrows, and forgetting the
cakes, let them burn. When she came back and saw the burnt cakes the
good wife scolded the king.
"Can't you mind the cakes, man?
And don't you see them burn?
I'm bound you'll eat them fast enough,
As soon as 'tis the turn."
Of course she did not know he was the king or she would not have
scolded him.
[Sidenote: =Makes a treaty with the Danes=]
The next spring Alfred raised a large army, drove the Danes back, and
forced them to make peace. By this treaty, and another later one, the
Danes were given that part of England north and west of the river
Thames. Alfred and his people ruled over the country south of them. The
land of the Danes was called "Danelagh." They soon settled down to till
the soil. Years later they became Christians and intermarried with the
English.
To protect England from other sea-rovers, Alfred now built many ships,
and thus became the father of the English navy. The army was also
made larger. Later, Vikings again reached the shores of England, but
Alfred's navy beat them off. Peaceful times now gave Alfred a chance to
help his people in other ways.
[Illustration: STATUE OF ALFRED AT WINCHESTER]
=303. What Alfred Did for England.= It is difficult to know what
the law is if it is not written, and injustice is often done to the
people. Alfred now began the work of collecting and changing the laws
of England. It is interesting to know what he thought of his work, as
shown in his writing: "I, Alfred, gathered these laws together, and
commanded many of them to be written which our forefathers held, those
which seemed to me good. And many of those which seemed to me not good,
I rejected, and in other wise commanded them to be held. For I durst
not venture to set down in writing much of my own, for it was unknown
to me what if it would please those who should come after us."
[Sidenote: =Advances learning=]
In those far-away days learning and schools were found in monasteries
and in the churches. When the Danes came they destroyed most of these
buildings. The people, therefore, were growing up in ignorance. Alfred
felt then, as we feel now, that the people should be educated. So he
invited wise men from other countries to come to England to teach his
people. He built many churches and monasteries, and set up schools
where the people might go to learn. But there must be books for them to
read.
The learning of that day was mostly in Latin. Besides the priests and
monks very few could read that language. "I wondered extremely," said
Alfred, "that the good and wise men who were formerly all over England,
and had perfectly learned all the books, did not wish to translate them
into their own tongue."
[Sidenote: =Translates Latin books into English=]
He now began earnestly the work of making English books for his people.
He translated a book containing a history of the world, and an account
of two voyages to the north seas. He then put into English the famous
book _Bede's History of England_. A book on religion by Pope Gregory
the Great, and another of wise sayings, were soon after translated into
English. In this way Alfred helped his people to learn to read, and to
read good books. The English people have saved these works that their
children for many generations to come might learn good things from
them. Now, however, they must be translated into the English of our day
before most of us can read them, for our language has changed greatly
since Alfred's time.
Alfred also helped his people to learn new trades, and to do their work
better in those trades they already knew. He had skilled workers from
other countries come to England to help his people.
[Sidenote: =King Alfred's purpose=]
Alfred was a true and good man. He loved his home and his people. He
said: "To sum up all, it has ever been my desire to live worthily while
I was alive, and after my death to leave to those that should come
after me my memory in good works."
[Sidenote: =His time well-ordered=]
The daily life of the king was orderly. The twenty-four hours were
divided into three parts; eight hours were given to the business of the
people (governing), eight hours to study and prayer, and eight hours
to exercise and rest. "As he had no clock, he measured out his time by
burning candles, each of which lasted for four hours. In order that the
candles might burn evenly and mark the time properly, he enclosed them
in lanterns of thin horn" which he had invented.
[Sidenote: =Alfred the Great=]
Good King Alfred died in 901. A thousand years later the English raised
a statue to him at Winchester. Because of his many good works he is
called "Alfred the Great." He is one of the noblest men in all history.
THE NORMAN CONQUEST
[Illustration: _From an old print_
ENGLISH ARCHERS]
=304. England Conquered Many Times.= England had been conquered by the
Romans, the Anglo-Saxons, and the Danes. Now she was conquered for the
last time. The people who defeated her were the Normans of France. We
have seen them come into France when the Normans scattered from their
native lands in the north of Europe.
After Alfred died several kings ruled in England. When Harold was
chosen king, the Duke of Normandy claimed the throne of England. He
made this claim on the ground that the former English king had promised
it to him. The Duke of Normandy has always been called William the
Conqueror. He was a stern man who knew how to rule and fight. To
establish his claim to the English throne he gathered together an
army, crossed the Channel, and landed at Senlac, near Hastings.
[Illustration: ST. CUTHBERT, A NORMAN CATHEDRAL]
=305. The Battle of Hastings (1066).= Harold had gathered his soldiers
to resist the Normans. They fought bravely, as any good soldiers do
when defending their native land. "All day long they stood stubbornly
together on a hilltop and beat back every attack with their swords and
axes." When Harold was wounded, his men still fought on. William of
Normandy now thought of a trick. He ordered his soldiers to pretend
to be beaten and to retreat. This they did. The English soldiers now
rushed forward to follow on their heels and cut down as many as they
could. What was their dismay to see the Normans turning around and
cutting down the English! When night came the English army was no more.
[Sidenote: =Character of the Normans=]
England had staked all and had lost. Most of the country gave up.
William was crowned king. He divided the land among his nobles, and
England, which was democratic under the Anglo-Saxon became aristocratic
under the rule of William. The Normans built the huge castles and
cathedrals that dot the face of England. From their castles they lorded
it over the Anglo-Saxon. But slowly this condition changed. After many
years Normans and Anglo-Saxons commenced to grow friendly and their
sons and daughters began to marry one another. The fusion of these
two classes made the English people a more hardy and daring race than
before.
[Illustration: A NORMAN CASTLE BUILT IN 1078, NOW PART OF THE TOWER OF
LONDON]
[Sidenote: =How the Anglo-Saxons conquered the Normans=]
The local institutions which had grown up under the Anglo-Saxons now
began to appear again. And in time the Normans may be said to have
been conquered by the Anglo-Saxons. The Anglo-Saxon way of doing
things belonged to the shire, the county, and the township. The
people were called together in the different districts and practiced
self-government.
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE GREAT CHARTER
[Sidenote: =Lawlessness of the nobles=]
=306. Henry II a Great Ruler.= Nearly a hundred years had gone by since
William the Conqueror ruled England. There was great confusion in
England. The Norman nobles were doing about as they pleased. They rode
forth from their castles with their little armies and attacked each
other, or attacked the citizens of a town, sometimes murdering them.
Then Henry II, the grandson of William the Conqueror, came to the
throne. He was like his ancestor in many ways. He could brook no
opposition. He was short and powerfully built. "He had red hair, a bull
neck, and bow legs." He was careless about his dress, but was a hard
worker. He saw that England needed order first. He therefore first of
all compelled the nobles to behave by destroying some of their castles
and driving the soldiers, which they had hired, back to France.
[Sidenote: =Trial by jury=]
He changed the way of finding out whether or not a man was guilty.
Instead of employing the "ordeal by fire," by water, or by battle, he
sent judges around to different places. These judges called together
sixteen good men who told them about those who they thought had broken
the law. These men made up the Grand Jury.
Twelve other men were selected to examine into all the facts of a given
case before the man was condemned or set free. This way of "trying
men by jury" was a great improvement over the old way. In these ways
Henry II brought the evildoers in England, whether high or low, to obey
the law or be severely punished. England was now once more an orderly
country.
[Sidenote: =John a worthless king=]
=307. King John and the Pope.= The son of Henry II, John, was about the
worst king that England ever had. John was bad; he would not keep a
promise, was a great liar, was cruel, was cowardly, was a traitor and a
tyrant.
[Sidenote: =All the churches closed=]
Ever since the days of William the Conqueror the kings of England had
been the dukes of Normandy. In a war with the French king, John lost
all of Normandy. The Pope named as Archbishop of Canterbury a man whom
John opposed. The Pope and John quarreled. "The Pope closed every
church in England. No bells rang to call the people to prayer or to
service on the Sabbath. No priest could preach. The dead could not be
buried; the living might not marry. Every church stood silent and grass
grew about the doors."
The Pope called on the king of France to take John's place, for in the
eyes of the Pope John was no longer king of England. John turned about
and begged for the Pope's mercy. He promised to submit to his will and
to pay him a large amount of money each year.
[Sidenote: =The barons revolt=]
=308. John Compelled to Grant Magna Charta.= John was so cruel to his
own people that the barons rose in revolt. Their forefathers had been
free, and "why not we?" they asked. John only "laughed in his sleeve."
But the barons meant business. They met in a meadow, called Runnymede,
and summoned the king to face them. He came.
[Sidenote: =The meeting at Runnymede=]
It was a great scene. There stood the barons with their soldiers not
far away. Their faces showed their anger and their decision to have
their rights. The head of every house had his great banner which he
had carried to victory on many a field of battle. But worse than all,
there John saw the very Archbishop of Canterbury whom he had refused
to permit to enter England. John was furious, but he could not help
himself, for he heard the clanking of cold steel all around him.
[Sidenote: =What the Great Charter meant=]
The barons told him plainly that he must give all England a pledge to
do right according to England's law. They told him that this promise
must be signed by his own hand and on the signed paper he must place
the royal seal. This great paper is called the Great Charter--"Magna
Charta" (1215). Englishmen love it and have often shed their blood in
defense of it.
[Sidenote: =The Petition of Right=]
For more than four hundred years this charter was the foundation of
the rights of Englishmen. But they found in the charter only the old
laws which had come down from good Edward the Confessor (1042-1066).
In 1628 another English king, Charles I, was compelled by Parliament
to sign another charter, called the "Petition of Right." In this new
pledge to the English people they found nothing very new but mostly the
old laws or principles contained in Magna Charta.
[Sidenote: =The Bill of Rights=]
When James II was driven from the throne by the English people they
drew another charter, which King William signed (1689). This was called
the "Bill of Rights." In this there were not many new things, but it
contained mostly the principles of Magna Charta and the Petition of
Right. Besides, this last charter contained several rules which made
Parliament superior to the king.
When the American people after their Revolution came to make a
Constitution, they put in it many principles found in the English Bill
of Rights. We ought to admire and love our Constitution because it
contains ideas that have been tried out for more than ten centuries.
SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL
=The Leading Facts.= _1._ England almost ruined by the Danes. _2._
Alfred's youth. _3._ Alfred as king. _4._ What he did for his
people. _5._ The Norman conquest. _6._ Battle of Hastings. _7._
Norman nobles built castles and brought confusion to England after
William's time. _8._ The Normans and Anglo-Saxons mix. _9._ Henry
II a great king. _10._ Nobles forced to behave. _11._ Established
the Grand Jury and the jury to try cases. _12._ King John lost
Normandy and quarreled with the Pope. _13._ John submits to the
Pope. _14._ Barons at Runnymede force John to sign Magna Charta.
_15._ The Petition of Right, the Bill of Rights, and the American
Constitution.
=Study Questions.= _1._ Why did the Danes go to England? _2._ Tell
all the anecdotes about Alfred the Great. _3._ Prove that he was a
good man. _4._ Why did the Normans invade England? _5._ Tell the
story of Hastings. _6._ Explain the mixture of races in England.
_7._ How did the Anglo-Saxons conquer the Normans? _8._ Who was
Henry II, and what did he do? _9._ How did he prepare the way for
Magna Charta? _10._ Prove that John was a bad king. _11._ Tell
the story of Runnymede. _12._ Give the date of Magna Charta, the
Petition of Right, and the Bill of Rights. _13._ What do Americans
owe these charters?
=Suggested Readings.= Mowry, _First Steps in History of England_,
38-97; Tappan, _England's Story_, 24-93; Blaisdell, _Stories from
English History_, 27-77; Dickens, _A Child's History of England_,
18-24, 50-63, 89-110, 122-168; Guerber, _Story of the English_,
42-53, 73-84, 117-128; Yonge, _Young Folks' History of England_;
Mace-Tanner, _Old Europe and Young America_, 162-183.
A PRONOUNCING INDEX
Webster's New International Dictionary, the Century Cyclopedia of
Names, and the Encyclopedia Americana have been used as authorities for
spelling and pronunciation.
_Adirondack_ (ăd´ĭ-=rŏn´=dăk)
_Achilles_ (ă-=kĭl´=ēz)
_Aisne_ (ân)
_Alamo_ (=ä´=lä-mō)
_Alcuin_ (=ăl´=kwĭn)
_Algonquin_ (ăl-=gŏŋ´=kĭn)
_Allegheny_ (=ăl´=ē̍-gā´nĭ)
_Altamaha_ (ôl´t_ȧ_-m_ȧ_-=hô´=)
_Andes_ (=ăn´=dēz)
_Angles_ (=ăŋ´=g'lz)
_Annapolis_ (_ă_-=năp´=ō̍-lĭs)
_Antietam_ (ăn-=tē´=t_ă_m)
_Appalachian_ (ăp´_ȧ_-=lăch´=ĭ-_ă_n)
_Appomattox_ (ăp´ō̍-=măt´=_ŭ_ks)
_Argonne_ (är´=gō̍n´=)
_Aristotle_ (=ăr´=ĭs-tot'´l)
_Arizona_ (ăr´ĭ-=zō´=n_ȧ_)
_Arkansas_ (=är´=k_ă_n-sô´)
_Armenia_ (är-=mē´=ni-_ȧ_)
_Attila_ (ăt´ĭ-l_ȧ_)
_Babylon_ (băb´ ĭ-lŏn)
_Bahama_ (b_ȧ_-=hā´=m_ȧ_)
_Barcelona_ (bär´sē̍-=lō´=n_ȧ_ _or_ bär´thā̍-=lō´=nä)
_Bede_ (bēd)
_Birmingham_ (=bûr´=mĭng-_ă_m)
_Bon Homme Richard_ (bō̍´ =nō̍m´= rē´=shär´=)
_Boone_ (boo͞n)
_Boulton_ (=bōl´=t_ŭ_n)
_Breckinridge_ (=brĕk´=ĭn-rĭj)
_Bristol_ (=brĭs´=t_ŏ_l)
_Buchanan_ (b_ŭ_-=kăn´=_ă_n _or_ bū̍-=kăn´=_ă_n)
_Buena Vista_ (=bwā´=nä =vẽs´=tä)
_Burgoyne_ (bûr-=goin´=)
_Cabot, Sebastian_ (sē̍-=băs´=ch_ă_n =kăb´=_ŭ_t)
_Cadiz_ (=kā´=dĭz _or_ =kä´=thēth)
_Caesar_ (=sē´=z_ȧ_r)
_Cahokia_ (k_ȧ_-=hō´=kĭ-_ȧ_)
_Cairo_ (=kā´=rō)
_Calhoun_ (kăl-=hoo͞n´=)
_Canandaigua_ (kăn´_ă_n-=dā´=gw_ȧ_)
_Canaries_ (k_ȧ_-=nā´=rĭz)
_Cañon_ (=kăn´=y_ŭ_n)
_Cape Breton_ (=brĕt´=_ŭ_n)
_Carthage_ (=kär´=thā̍j)
_Cartier, Jacques_ (zhäk kär´=tyā´=)
_Catawba_ (k_ȧ_-=tô´=b_ȧ_)
_Cavite_ (kä-=vē´=tā)
_Cervera_ (thĕr-=vā´=rä)
_Chalons_ (shä´lôN)
_Champlain_ (shăm-=plān´=)
_Charlemagne_ (=shär´=lē̍-mān)
_Charles Martel_ (shȧrl or chärlz mär´=tel´=)
_Château-Thierry_ (shä-=tō´=tyĕ´=rē´=)
_Chattanooga_ (chăt´_ȧ_-=noo͞´=g_ȧ_)
_Cherokee_ (chĕr´ō-=kē´=)
_Chesapeake_ (=chĕs´=_ȧ_-pēk)
_Chickahominy_ (chĭk´_ȧ_-=hŏm´=ĭ-nĭ)
_Chickamauga_ (chĭk´_ȧ_-=mô´=g_ȧ_)
_Cicero_ (=sĭs´=ẽr-ō)
_Cimon_ (=sī´=mŏn)
_Cincinnati_ (sĭn´sĭ-=nȧt´=ĭ)
_Colorado_ (kŏl´ō̍-=rä´=dō)
_Concord_ (=kŏŋ´=kẽrd)
_Connecticut_ (k_ŏ_-=nĕt´=ĭ-k_ŭ_t)
_Constantinople_ (kŏn-stăn´tĭ-=nō´=p'l)
_Cornwallis_ (kôrn-=wŏl´=ĭs)
_Coronado_ (kō´rō̍-=nä´=thō)
_Cortés_ (kō̍r-=tās´=)
_Crèvecœur_ (krĕv´=kûr´=)
_Danelagh_ (=dān´=lâ)
_Darius_ (d_ȧ_-=rī´=_ŭ_s)
_Dewey_ (=dū´=ĭ)
_Diego_ (dē̍-=ā´=gō)
_Dinwiddie_ (dĭn-=wĭd´=ĭ _or_ =dĭn´=wĭd-ĭ)
_Duluth_ (doo͝-=loo͞th´=)
_Duquesne_ (doo͝-=kān´=)
_Duryea_ (=dṳr´=yȧ)
_Edison_ (=ĕd´=ĭ-s_ŭ_n)
_El Caney_ (ĕl =kä´=nā)
_Ericson_ (=ĕr´=ĭk-sȯn)
_Ethelred_ (=eth´=ĕl-rĕd)
_Eutaw Springs_ (=ū´=tô-)
_Faneuil_ (=fŭn´='l)
_Fannin_ (=făn´=ĭn)
_Farragut_ (=făr´=_ȧ_-gŭt)
_Foch_ (fōsh)
_Frontenac_ (=frŏn´=tē̍-năk _or_ frôN´tẽ-=nȧk´=)
_Gadsden_ (=gădz´=d_ĕ_n)
_Gama, da_ (dä =gä´=mä)
_Gaul_ (gôl)
_Geneva_ (jē̍-=nē´=v_ȧ_)
_Genoa_ (=jĕn´=ō̍-_ȧ_)
_Genoese_ (jĕn´ō̍-=ēz´= _or_-=ēs´=)
_Gettysburg_ (=gĕt´=ĭz-bûrg)
_Ghent_ (gĕnt)
_Gibault_ (zhē̍´=bō´=)
_Goethals_ (=gû´=tălz´)
_Goliad_ (gō´lĭ-=ăd´=)
_Gooch_ (goo͞ch)
_Gracchi_ (=grăk´=ī)
_Guam_ (gwäm)
_Guilford_ (=gĭl´=fẽrd)
_Haiti_ (=hā´=tĭ)
_Hannibal_ (hăn´ĭ-b_ă_l)
_Hawaiian Islands_ (hä-=wī´=y_ă_n)
_Hennepin_ (=hĕn´=ē̍-pĭn)
_Hercules_ (=hër´=kū-lēz)
_Herkimer_ (=hûr´=kĭ-mẽr)
_Hong-kong_ (=hŏng´=-=kŏng´=)
_Horatius_ (hō-=rā´=shĭ-ŭs)
_Houston_ (=hūs´=t_ŭ_n)
_Huguenot_ (=hū´=gẽ-nŏt)
_Iceland_ (=īs´=l_ă_nd)
_Indianapolis_ (ĭn´dĭ-_ă_n-=ăp´=ō̍-lĭs)
_Iroquois_ (ĭr´ō̍-=kwoi´=)
_Isthmus_ (=ĭs´=m_ŭ_s)
_Jamaica_ (j_ȧ_-=mā´=k_ȧ_)
_Joliet_ (zhō̍´=lyā´= _or_ =jō´=lĭ-ĕt)
_Jutes_ (joo͞tz)
_Kanawha_ (k_ȧ_-=nô´=w_ȧ_)
_Kaskaskia_ (kăs-=kăs´=kĭ-_ȧ_)
_Kieft_ (kēft)
_Labrador_ (lăb´r_ȧ_-=dôr´=)
_Lachine_ (l_ȧ_-=shēn´=)
_Lafayette, de_ (dẽ lä´fā̍-=yĕt´=)
_La Salle, de_ (dẽ lȧ =sȧl´=)
_Leiden_ (=lī´=d_ĕ_n)
_Leif Ericson_ (līf =ĕr´=ĭk-sȯn)
_Leonidas_ (lē̍-=ŏn´=ī-d_ȧ_s)
_Lisbon_ (=lĭz´=b_ŭ_n)
_Los Angeles_ (lōs =ăŋ´=gĕl-ĕs)
_Louisburg_ (=loo͞´=ĭs-bûrg)
_Luzerne_ (lū̍-=zûrn´=)
_McClellan_ (m_ȧ_-=klĕl´=_ă_n)
_McCrea_ (m_ȧ_-=krā´=)
_Macdonough_ (m_ȧ_k-=dŏn´=ō)
_Macedonia_ (măs´ē̍-=dō´=nĭ-_ȧ_)
_McGregor_ (m_ă_k-=grĕg´=ẽr)
_Mackinac_ (=măk´=ĭ-nô)
_McKinley_ (m_ȧ_-=kĭn´=lĭ)
_Magellan_ (m_ȧ_-=jĕl´=_ă_n)
_Magna Charta_ (=măg´=nă =kär´=tă)
_Manila_ (m_ȧ_-=nĭl´=_ȧ_)
_Manitou_ (=măn´=ĭ-too͞)
_Marathon_ (=măr´=_ȧ_-thŏn)
_Marianas_ (_Ladrones_) (mä´rē̍-=ä´=näs, l_ȧ_-=drōnz´=)
_Marne_ (märn)
_Marquette_ (=mär´==kĕt´=)
_Massachusetts_ (măs´_ȧ_-=choo͞´=sĕts)
_Massasoit_ (=măs´=_ȧ_-soit´)
_Matagorda_ (măt´_ȧ_-=gôr´=d_ȧ_)
_Maumee_ (mô-=mē´=)
_Mediterranean_ (mĕd´ĭ-tẽr-=ā´=nē̍-_ă_n)
_Memphis_ (=mĕm´=fĭs)
_Merrimac_ (=mĕr´=ĭ-măk)
_Milan_ (=mĭl´=_ă_n)
_Minneapolis_ (mĭn´ē̍-=ăp´=ō̍-lĭs)
_Minuit_ (=mĭn´=ū̍-ĭt)
_Missouri_ (mĭ-=soo͞´=rĭ)
_Mobile_ (mō̍-=bēl´=)
_Monmouth_ (=mŏn´=m_ŭ_th)
_Monongahela_ (mō̍-nŏŋ´g_ȧ_-=hē´=l_ȧ_)
_Montcalm_ (mŏnt-=käm´=)
_Monterey_ (mŏn´t_ĕ_-=rā´=)
_Montezuma_ (mŏn´tē̍-=zoo͞´=m_ȧ_)
_Monticello_ (mŏn´tē̍-=sĕl´=ō)
_Montpelier_ (mŏnt-=pē´=lĭ-ẽr)
_Moultrie_ (=mōl´=trĭ _or_ =moo͞´=trĭ)
_Munich_ (=mū´=nĭk)
_Muybridge_ (=moi´=brĭj)
_Nassau_ (=năs´=ô)
_Natchez_ (=năch´=ĕz)
_Newfoundland_ (=nū´=fŭnd-lănd´)
_New Orleans_ (nū =ôr´=lē̍-_ă_nz)
_Nez Percé_ (nā pẽr-=sā´=)
_Niagara_ (nī-=ăg´=_ȧ_-r_ȧ_)
_Ninevah_ (=nĭn´=ē̍-vĕ)
_Nolichucky_ (nŏl´ĭ-=chŭk´=ĭ)
_Normandy_ (=nôr´=m_ă_n-dĭ)
_Oberlin_ (=ō´=bẽr-lĭn)
_Oglethorpe_ (=ō´=g'l-thôrp)
_Oneida_ (ō̍-=nī´=d_ȧ_)
_Oregon_ (=ŏr´=ē̍-gŏn)
_Orinoco_ (ō´rĭ-=nō´=kō)
_Oriskany_ (ō̍-=rĭs´=k_ȧ_-nĭ)
_Palos_ (=pä´=lōs)
_Panama_ (păn´_ȧ_-=mä´=)
_Patagonia_ (păt´_ȧ_-=gō´=nĭ-_ȧ_)
_Penobscot_ (pē̍-=nŏb´=skŏt)
_Pensacola_ (pĕn´s_ȧ_-=kō´=l_ȧ_)
_Pericles_ (pĕr´ĭ-klēz)
_Peru_ (pē̍-=roo͞´=)
_Philadelphia_ (fĭl´_ȧ_-=dĕl´=fĭ-_ȧ_)
_Philippine Islands_ (=fĭl´=ĭ-pĭn-_or_-pēn-)
_Phoenician_ (fē̍-nĭsh´_ă_n)
_Pinzón_ (pēn-=thōn´=)
_Pisa_ (pē´sä)
_Pizarro_ (pĭ-=zär´=rō _or_ pē̍-thär´rō)
_Platte_ (plăt)
_Pocahontas_ (pō´k_ȧ_-=hŏn´=t_ȧ_s)
_Porto Rico_ (=pōr´=tō =rē´=kō)
_Portugal_ (=pōr´=tū̍͜-g_ă_l)
_Portuguese_ (=pō̍r´=tū̍͜-gēz)
_Potomac_ (pō̍-=tō´=m_ă_k)
_Poughkeepsie_ (pō̍-=kĭp´=sĭ)
_Powhatan_ (pou´h_ȧ_-=tăn´=)
_Raleigh_ (=rô´=lĭ)
_Rameses_ (=răm´=ē̍-sēz)
_Rapidan_ (răp´ĭ-=dăn´=)
_Rappahannock_ (răp´_ȧ_-=hăn´=_ŭ_k)
_Raritan_ (=răr´=ĭ-t_ă_n)
_Remus_ (=rē´=mŭs)
_Richelieu_ (rē´shẽ-=loo͞´=)
_Rio Grande_ (=rē´=ō =grän´=dā)
_Roanoke_ (rō´_ȧ_-=nōk´=)
_Rochambeau, de_ (dẽ rō̍´shäN´=bō´=)
_Rochelle_ (rō̍-=shĕl´=)
_Romulus_ (rŏm´ū-lŭs)
_Roosevelt_ (=rō´=zẽ-vĕlt)
_Rosecrans_ (=rō´=zē̍-krănz)
_Sacramento_ (săk´r_ȧ_-=mĕn´=tō)
_St. Louis_ (sā̍nt =loo͞´=ĭs _or_-=loo͞´=ĭ)
_St. Mihiel_ (săN´mē´=yel´=)
_Samoset_ (=săm´=ō̍-sĕt _or_ sȧ-=mŏs´=-ĕt)
_San Diego_ (săn dē̍-=ā´=gō)
_San Francisco_ (săn frăn-=sĭs´=kō)
_Sangamon_ (=săŋ´=g_ȧ_-mŏn)
_San Jacinto_ (săn j_ȧ_-=sĭn´=tō)
_San Joaquin_ (săn wä-=kēn´=)
_San Juan_ (săn =hwän´=)
_San Salvador_ (sän säl´vȧ-=dōr´=)
_Santa Ana_ (=sän´=tä =ä´=nä)
_Santa Maria_ (=sän´=t_ȧ_ m_ȧ_-=rē´=_ȧ_)
_Santiago_ (sän´tē̍-=ä´=gō)
_Savannah_ (s_ȧ_-=văn´=_ȧ_)
_Schenectady_ (sk_ĕ_-=nĕk´=t_ȧ_-dĭ)
_Schley_ (slī)
_Schuyler_ (=skī´=lẽr)
_Schuylkill_ (=skoo͞l´=kĭl)
_Seattle_ (sē̍-=ăt´='l)
_Seminole_ (=sĕm´=ĭ-nōl)
_Senlac_ (sĕn´lăk)
_Serapis_ (sē̍-=rā´=pĭs)
_Sevier_ (sē̍-=vēr´=)
_Shafter_ (=shȧf´=tẽr)
_Shawnee_ (shô´=nē´=)
_Shenandoah_ (shĕn´_ă_n-=dō´=_ȧ_)
_Sierra Nevada_ (sĭ-=ĕr´=_ȧ_ nē̍-=vä´=d_ȧ_)
_Sioux_ (soo͞)
_Sloat_ (slōt)
_Socrates_ (=sŏk´=r_ȧ_-tēz)
_Solway Firth_ (=sŏl´=wā-)
_Spokane_ (spō´=kăn´=)
_Spottsylvania_ (spŏt´sĭl-=vā´=nĭ-_ȧ_)
_Steuben, von_ (fō̍n =stū´=bĕn)
_Stuyvesant_ (=stī´=v_ĕ_-s_ă_nt)
_Tallapoosa_ (tăl´_ȧ_-=poo͞´=s_ȧ_)
_Tecumseh_ (tē̍-=kŭm´=sĕ)
_Terre Haute_ (=tĕr´=ẽ =hōt´=)
_Teutons_ (=tū´=tŏnz)
_Thames_ (thāmz)
_Thorvald_ (=tôr´=väld)
_Ticonderoga_ (tī-kŏn´dẽr-=ō´=g_ȧ_)
_Tippecanoe_ (tĭp´ē̍-k_ȧ_-=noo͞´=)
_Ulysses_ (ū̍-=lĭs´=ēz)
_Valparaiso_ (văl´p_ȧ_-=rī´=sō)
_Vancouver_ (văn-=koo͞´=vẽr)
_Van Rensselaer_ (văn =rĕn´=sẽ-lẽr)
_Venezuela_ (vĕn´ē̍-=zwē´=l_ȧ_)
_Venice_ (=vĕn´=ĭs)
_Vergil_ (vûr´jĭl)
_Vespucci, Amerigo_ (ä´mā̍-=rē´=gō vĕs-=poo͞t´=chē)
_Vikings_ (=vī´=kingz)
_Villa_ (=vē´=yȧ)
_Vincennes_ (vĭn-=sĕnz´=)
_Walla Walla_ (=wŏl´=_ȧ_ =wŏl´=_ȧ_)
_Watauga_ (w_ȧ_-=tô´=g_ȧ_)
_Weehawken_ (wē-=hô´=k_ĕ_n)
_Westminster_ (=wĕst´=mĭn-stẽr)
_Windsor_ (=wĭn´=zẽr)
_Xerxes_ (zûrk´zēz)
_Zuñi_ (=zoo͞´=nyē̍)
THE INDEX
=Abolitionists=, 308-310, 318.
=Achilles=, 453, 456.
=Adams, John=, 131;
sent to First Continental Congress, 172;
at Second Continental Congress made Washington general of American troops, 131, 177;
appointed to help draw up Declaration of Independence, 232;
death, 238.
=Adams, Samuel=, 167-178;
portrait of, 167;
early turns to politics, 167;
leads movement against Stamp Act, 168;
forms "Sons of Liberty Society," 168;
opposes Tea Tax, 169;
writes Circular Letter, 169;
drives British out of Boston, 169;
and the Boston Tea Party, 129, 170, 171;
sends Paul Revere on his ride, 172;
goes to the First Continental Congress, 172;
forms companies of minutemen, 174;
goes to the Second Continental Congress, 177;
works for Declaration of Independence, 177;
made governor of Massachusetts, 178;
death, 178.
=Addams, Jane=, 412-413;
becomes interested in social service, 412;
portrait of, 412;
founds Hull House Social Settlement, 413.
="Agamemnon," The=, 270.
=Agricultural development=, 374-376.
=Agriculture=, 416-421;
machinery used for, 418-419.
=Airplane=, 390-393;
uses of, 393, 397.
=Alamo=, capture of the, 279-281.
=Albany=, Fort Orange becomes, 90.
=Alexander the Great=, 455, 463, 469.
=Alfred the Great=, 484-488;
early life, 484-485;
king of Wessex, 485;
drives Danes back, 485;
begins to build fleet, 485-486;
re-makes the laws, 486;
advances learning, 486-487;
translations by, 487;
death, 488.
=Algonquin Indians=, 49-52.
="Alliance," The=, 200-201.
=Alsace-Lorraine=, 442.
=Altamaha River=, colony on, 101-102.
=American Committee for the Relief of Belgium=, 431.
=American Red Cross Society=, 410-412.
=American River=, 289, 372.
=Amerigo Vespucci=, _see_ Vespucci, Amerigo.
=Anderson, Colonel=, 323.
=Anglo-Saxon tribes=, 478-479, 488.
=Annapolis=, founded, 70.
=Anthony, Susan B.=, 403-404;
portrait of, 403;
early life of, 403;
works for cause of woman's rights, 403-404;
death, 404.
=Anthracite=, 421-422.
=Antietam=, battle of, 338.
=Anti-saloon crusade=, 408.
=Appomattox Court House=, Lee's surrender at, 336.
=Argonne, battle of=, 441.
=Aristotle=, 454-455, 456.
="Ark," The=, 69.
=Armada=, _see_ Spanish Armada.
=Arthur, President=, 346-347;
portrait of, 347.
=Ashland=, Clay's home, 295, 298.
=Athens=, 456, 457-460;
assembly of, 458;
orators of, 458-459;
schools of, 459;
training for citizenship in, 459-460;
in the "Age of Pericles," 460-461.
=Atlantic cable=, 268-271.
=Augusta=, settled, 102.
=Automobile=, 388-390.
=Babylonians=, 448-449.
=Ball, Mary=, mother of Washington, 115, 116.
=Baltimore=, colony of, 70.
=Baltimore, Lord=, _see_ Calvert, George _and_ Cecil.
=Baltimore and Ohio Railroad=, started, 263.
=Barlow, Captain=, 44.
=Barry, John=, 199-201;
early life of, 199;
portrait of, 199;
captain of the _Lexington_, 199;
on the Delaware, 199-200;
commands the _Alliance_, 200, 201;
first commodore of American navy, 201;
death, 201.
=Barton, Clara=, 409-412;
early life of, 409-410;
portrait of, 410;
goes to the battlefield, 410-411;
and the American Red Cross, 410-412;
goes to Armenia, 411;
in the Spanish-American War, 411.
"=Battle Hymn of the Republic=," 405, 406.
=Baxter=, 265.
=Belgium=, invasion of, 426-427;
American Committee for the Relief of, 431;
and the German Peace Treaty, 442.
=Bell, Alexander Graham=, invents telephone, 268.
=Benton=, Jessie, 285.
=Benton, Thomas H.=, 249, 253, 285.
"=Bill of Rights=," 493.
=Biplane=, 393.
=Birmingham, Alabama=, great coal and iron center, 423.
=Blackbeard the Pirate=, 72.
=Black Hawk War=, 317.
=Blockade of southern ports=, 324.
="Bon Homme Richard," The=, 197, 198.
=Boone, Daniel=, 202-210;
early life of, 202-203;
crosses mountains, 203;
and the Indians, 204-209;
blazes famous "Wilderness Road," 205;
builds Fort Boonesboro, 206;
goes to Kentucky, 206;
at siege of Boonesboro, 208-209;
portrait of, 209;
moves to Missouri, 210;
death, 210.
=Boonesboro, Fort=, 206, 207, 208, 217.
=Booth, John Wilkes=, 327.
=Boston=, settled, 82;
British soldiers in, 129, 169, 172.
=Boston Port Bill=, 129, 172.
"=Boston Tea Party=," 162-163, 170-172.
=Boulton, Matthew=, inventor, 259.
=Bowie, Colonel=, 279.
=Braddock, General=, 123-124.
=Bradford, William=, 73, 76, 79, 81.
=Brandywine=, battle of the, 137.
=Breckenridge, John=, 322.
=Brewster, William=, 73.
=Bridgewater, Duke of=, 258.
=Britons=, 472, 478.
=Buchanan, President=, 270.
=Buckner, General=, 333.
=Buffalo=, herds of, 24.
=Bunker Hill=, battle of, 132, 176-177.
=Burgesses, House of=, 127, 159, 162, 167, 230, 231.
=Burgoyne, General=, 217;
compliments Morgan, 186.
=Burke, Edmund=, 162, 233.
=Bushnell, ----=, work on submarine, 394.
=Cabot, John=, 34-37;
born in Genoa, 34;
voyages of, 34-36;
statue of, 35;
seeks India and discovers Labrador, 35;
honored by king and people on return to England, 35, 36;
on second voyage, 36;
England claims large part of North America through discoveries of, 37.
=Caesar, Julius=, 471-473.
=Cahokia=, 220, 223.
=Calhoun, John C.=, 252, 297, 306-311;
early life of, 306;
portrait of, 307;
works hard for success of army in War of 1812, 307;
made Secretary of War, 307;
twice elected Vice-President, 307;
favors nullification, 308;
opposes Abolitionists, 308-309;
annexes Texas, 310;
opposes Compromise of 1850, 310;
death, 311.
=California=, conquest of, 288-289;
missionaries in, 291-292;
sends greatest number of volunteers to Spanish-American War, 356;
admitted as a state, 373;
an agricultural state, 375.
=Calvert, Cecil=, 69-70;
and the Indians, 69;
locates village of St. Marys, 69.
=Calvert, George=, 69;
prepares to found a colony for Catholics and Protestants, 69;
colony named after, 70.
=Camden=, battle of, 182.
=Campbell, Colonel=, 213, 214.
=Canada=, French in, 49-53, 106-114, 121.
=Cannae=, battle of, 468.
=Cape Breton Island=, 35.
=Cape of Good Hope=, rounded by Drake, 39.
=Carpenter's Hall=, 163, 173.
=Carroll, Charles=, 263.
=Carson, Kit=, 285, 286, 288.
=Cartier, Jacques=, takes possession of Montreal for France, 49.
=Carthage=, 467-469.
=Carver, John=, first Pilgrim governor, 73, 75, 78.
=Catholics=, 68, 69.
=Catiline=, 475.
=Cattle raising=, 419-421.
=Cavaliers=, settle in Virginia, 69.
=Cervera, Admiral=, 357.
=Chalons=, battle of, 477.
=Champlain, Lake=, discovered, 50.
=Champlain, Samuel de=, 49-53;
portrait of, 49;
founds Quebec, 49;
and Indians, 49-52;
discovers Lake Champlain, 50;
death, 53.
=Chancellorsville=, battle of, 338.
=Charlemagne=, 479-482;
grandson of Charles Martel, 479-480;
appearance, 480;
and the School of the Palace, 481;
crowned Emperor of Rome, 481;
methods of governing, 482;
fall of empire, 482.
=Charles I=, friend of Lord Baltimore, 69;
gives charter to Puritan colony, 81.
=Charles II=, and William Penn, 94;
gives Pennsylvania to Penn, 96.
=Charles Martel=, 479-480.
=Charles the Great=, _see_ Charlemagne.
=Charleston=, 101-102, 104;
surrenders to Cornwallis, 182.
=Charleston earthquake=, Red Cross Society relieves suffering caused by the, 411.
=Charleston Harbor=, 323.
=Château-Thierry=, battle of, 439.
=Cherokee Indians=, 104, 211, 277, 278.
=Chickamauga=, 335.
=Christianity=, rise of, 475;
becomes widespread, 478-479.
=Cicero=, 475.
=Cimon=, 461.
=Cincinnatus=, 465.
=Circular Letter=, Adams', 168-169, 173.
=Cities=, development of, in West, 376.
=Civil War=, 323-327, 337-341;
woman's part in the, 400-401, 404;
Clara Barton's part in the, 410.
=Clark, Captain William=, 239-244;
and Lewis sent to explore Louisiana Purchase, 239;
and Lewis and the Indians, 239-243;
portrait of, 240;
and Lewis cross Rocky Mountains, 240, 241;
with Lewis reaches Columbia River, 241;
with Lewis reaches the Pacific, 242;
and Lewis return to St. Louis, 242;
rewarded by Congress, 242;
appointed governor of Missouri Territory, 243.
=Clark, George Rogers=, 216-224, 236;
in Virginia, 216;
portrait of, 217;
becomes a leader in Kentucky, 217;
at Harrodsburg, 217;
receives aid from Patrick Henry to raise army, 218;
at old Vincennes, 218-224;
at Louisville, 218;
surprises Kaskaskia, 218-219;
builds the _Willing_, 220;
marches on Vincennes, 220-222;
retakes Vincennes, 223;
unrewarded, 224;
result of his work, 224;
death, 224.
"=Clark's Grant=," 224.
=Clay, Henry=, 294-300;
"mill boy of the Slashes," 294;
studies law, 295;
goes to Lexington, 295;
sent to United States Senate, 295;
speaker of House of Representatives, 296;
urges war in 1812, 296;
and the Treaty of Ghent, 296;
and the Missouri Compromise, 296;
and his Compromise Tariff Law, 297;
the "Pacificator," 297;
portrait of, 297;
retires to Ashland, 298;
and the Compromise of 1850, 298-299;
receives ovation from the people, 299;
death, 300.
="Clermont," The=, first successful steamboat, 259-260.
=Clovis=, 479.
=Coal=, 421-422.
=Cold Harbor=, battle of, 336, 349.
=Cold storage of meat=, 421.
=Colorado, Grand Cañon of the=, 24.
="Columbia," The=, 238.
=Columbia River=, discovered by Captain Gray, 238;
Lewis and Clark embark on, 242;
Fremont on, 286.
=Columbus, Christopher=, 2-16, 18, 31;
boyhood of, 2, 3;
goes to Lisbon, 4;
plans new route to India, 5;
unfairly treated by King of Portugal, 5;
seeks aid of Spain, 6;
begs bread for his son at monastery, 7;
portrait of, 8;
first voyage of, 9-13;
discovers the New World, 11;
names the natives Indians, 12;
honored on return to Spain, 13, 14, 15;
last voyages of, 15, 16;
death, 16;
effect in England of discoveries of, 34.
=Committees of Correspondence=, 232.
=Compromise of 1850=, 298, 300, 305, 310.
=Compromise Tariff Law=, 297.
=Concord=, battle of, 130, 175.
=Confederate States of America=, formed, 323;
capital of, 326;
war between Union and, 323-327.
=Congress=, 130, 134, 138, 141, 154, 155, 163, 232, 233;
First Continental, 172-174;
Second Continental, 177;
disputes in, 235;
Clay in, 296-300;
Webster in, 302;
Calhoun in, 306-307.
=Constantine=, Emperor of Rome, 475.
=Constitution of the United States=, 143, 144, 156, 157, 166, 493.
=Cooper, Peter=, 269.
=Corn-fed cattle=, 419-420.
=Corn Island=, 218;
Clark dies on, 224.
=Cornwallis, Lord=, 136, 137, 213;
Washington outwits, 139-140;
surrenders at Yorktown, 140;
gains victories, 182, 183;
Green turns tide against, 185;
pursues Morgan, 188;
at Guilford Court House, 189;
caught at Yorktown, 180;
orders Tarleton to catch Marion, 191.
=Coronado, Francisco=, 24;
searches for rich cities, 24;
discovers Grand Cañon of the Colorado, 24;
finds buffalo, 24;
returns home, 24.
=Cortés, Hernando=, 18-22, 23, 28, 37;
invades Mexico, 18;
sinks his ships, 18;
armor of, 19;
attacks the Indians, 20;
takes Mexican capital, 19, 20;
puts Montezuma to death, 21;
conquers Mexico, 21;
visits Spain, 21;
portrait of, 21;
shares Columbus' fate, 22.
=Cotton=, 227, 228;
fields and factories, 420-421.
=Cotton gin=, invention of, 227-228;
present-day machine built along lines of Whitney's, 416.
=Cotton-seed oil=, 417.
=Cowpens=, battle of the, 186, 188.
"=Cradle of Liberty=," 169.
=Creek Indians=, 104, 249.
=Crèvecœur=, Fort, 111.
"=Croatoan=," 46.
=Crockett, David=, 279, 282-283;
boyhood of, 282;
enlisted under Jackson, 282;
elected to Congress, 282;
fights for Texas at the Alamo, 282-283;
death, 283.
=Cuba=, discovered by Columbus, 13;
Spanish persecution in, 354-355;
United States at war with Spain in behalf of, 354-358;
made a republic, 358.
=Custis, Martha=, 126.
=Cuzco=, where Pizarro found fabulous riches, 23.
=Da Gama, Vasco=, rounds Africa, 28.
=Danes=, 484, 485, 486.
=Dare, Virginia=, first white child of English parents born in America, 45.
=Darius=, 461.
=Daughters of Liberty=, 400.
=Davis, Jefferson=, president of the Confederacy, 326, 336.
=Declaration of Independence=, Franklin appointed to help write, 155, 156;
made, 177, 178;
Samuel Adams worked hard for, 177;
Jefferson author of, 229, 232.
"=Declaration of Sentiments=," 402.
=Democratic party=, 322, 348, 351.
=Democratic-Republican party=, formed by Thomas Jefferson, 235.
=Depth bomb=, 397.
=De Soto, Hernando=, 24-28;
makes an expedition to Florida, 24-26;
welcomed at Cuba, 24;
portrait of, 25;
cruel to natives, 25;
fights way northward and inland, 25;
discovers Mississippi, 26-27;
marches far northward and westward, 27;
returns to the Mississippi and dies, 27.
="Deutschland," The=, 397.
=Dewey, Admiral George=, 355;
portrait of, 355.
=Dictaphone=, 387-388.
=Diego=, son of Columbus, 6, 7.
=Dinwiddie, Governor=, 121.
=Dirigibles=, 391, 394.
"=Dogwood Papers=," 148.
=Dorchester Heights=, 133.
=Douglas, Stephen A.=, debates with Lincoln, 319-322;
nominated by northern Democrats, 322.
="Dove," The=, 69.
=Drake, Sir Francis=, 37-42;
ruined by Spaniards, 37;
portrait of, 38;
returns to England with Spanish gold, 38;
on voyage around the world, 38-40;
captures Spanish treasure ships in Pacific, 39, 41, 43;
given title by Queen Elizabeth, 40;
takes command of fleet to fight Spain, 40;
destroys Spanish towns in Cuba, 41;
burns Spanish ships, 41;
and the Spanish Armada, 42;
takes Raleigh's colony home, 45.
="Drake," The=, 196.
=Duquesne, Fort=, 122;
captured, 126.
=Duryea, Charles=, 389.
=Dutch=, explorations of the, 54-59;
establish trading posts, 56;
Indians and the, 56-57;
fur traders, 57-58;
settle New Netherland, 58-59;
governed by Stuyvesant, 88-90;
surrender to the English, 90-91;
manners and customs of the, 91-92.
=Dutch traders=, 56-59.
=Dutch West India Company=, 88.
"=Ebenezer=," German colony in Georgia,
102.
=Edison, Thomas A.=, 380-385, 387;
boyhood of, 380-381;
experiments in telegraphy, 381;
receives $40,000 for his inventions, 382;
portrait of, 382;
builds his first laboratory in Newark, 383;
builds a second laboratory at Menlo Park, 383;
invents microphone, megaphone, and phonograph, 383-384;
develops the electric light, 384-385;
and moving pictures, 385;
and the dictaphone, 387.
="Edward," The=, 199.
="Effingham," The=, 199.
=Egypt=, 446-448, 450;
and the Nile, 446-447;
irrigation in, 447;
and its kings, 447;
civilization in, 447-448;
Phoenicians spread learning of, 450.
=El Caney=, capture of, 356-357.
=Electricity=, Edison the wizard of, 383-385.
=Electric light=, developed by Edison, 384-385.
=Eliot, John=, preaches to the Indians, 83-84.
=Elizabeth, Queen of England=, knights Drake, 40;
favors Raleigh, 43, 44;
names colony of Virginia, 44.
=Emancipation Proclamation=, 326.
=England=, explorations made by, 34-47;
claims large part of North America, 37;
quarrel between Spain and, 37-42;
first permanent settlement in America by, 60-61.
=Ericson, Leif=, 1, 484.
=Ericson, Thorvald=, 1-2.
=Eric the Red=, 1.
=Erie, Lake=, battle of, 244-245.
=Erie Canal=, 262.
=Euphrates River=, 448.
=Eutaw Springs=, battle of, 189.
=Evans, Oliver=, 388.
=Fairfax, Lord=, 119, 122, 128;
friend of Washington, 120;
builds Greenway Court, 120;
makes Washington public surveyor, 120;
returns to England, 142.
=Fair Oaks=, battle of, 338.
=Faneuil Hall=, 169.
=Fannin, General=, 280.
=Farming=, _see_ Agriculture.
=Farragut, Captain David=, 325.
"=Father of Waters=," 112.
=Federalist party=, 235.
=Ferdinand and Isabella=, 6, 15.
=Ferguson, Colonel=, 213;
defeated at Kings Mountain, 213-214.
=Field, Cyrus W.=, 268-272;
early success of, 269;
becomes interested in telegraph lines, 269;
conceives idea of connecting Europe and America, 269;
aided by Peter Cooper and other wealthy men, 269;
success of invention of, 270;
portrait of, 270;
receives honors from many nations, 271;
death, 272.
=Fillmore, President=, 305.
=Fitch, John=, 257.
=Five Nations=, _see_ Iroquois.
=Fletcher, Grace=, 302.
=Florida=, De Leon takes possession of, 17;
De Soto's expedition to, 24-26.
=Flour mills=, 418.
=Foch, Ferdinand=, 437, 438, 439.
=Foote, Commodore=, 333.
=Forbes, General=, 126.
=Forts=, _see under_ names of forts.
=France=, aids Americans, 139;
discoverers and explorers of, 49-53;
missionaries of, 53, 106-114.
=Franciscan friars=, 300-302.
=Franklin, Benjamin=, 124, 147-157;
early life of, 147-151;
portrait of, 148;
in London, 150;
editor of _Pennsylvania Gazette_ in Philadelphia, 151;
founds three great institutions, 151;
invents stove, 151;
forms first fire department in America, 151;
author of _Poor Richard's Almanac_, 151-152;
clerk of Pennsylvania Assembly, 152;
postmaster-general, 152;
plans union of colonies, 153;
becomes famed as scientist, 153;
experiments with electricity, 153;
sent to England to defend colonies, 154;
appointed to help write Declaration of Independence, 155, 232;
secures French aid for America, 155;
helps make treaty of peace, 155;
helps make and signs Constitution, 156, 157;
death, 157.
=Franks=, 479.
=Fraunces' Tavern=, 140.
=Frederica=, 103.
=Fredericksburg=, battle of, 346.
=Fremont, John C.=, 283-290;
early life of, 284;
goes to South America, 284;
becomes a civil engineer, 284;
loves the wild life, 284;
portrait of, 285;
marries Jessie Benton, 285;
receives permission to explore South Pass, 285;
unfurls Stars and Stripes from summit of Fremonts Peak, 285;
seeks a more southerly route to Oregon and California, 285;
reaches Great Salt Lake, 286;
goes to Fort Vancouver, 286;
makes a circuit of the Great Basin and crosses mountains to California, 287;
third expedition of, 288;
in Mexican War, 288-289;
elected to United States Senate, 289;
fifth expedition of, 289;
first Republican candidate for president, 289;
major general in Civil War, 290;
governor of Arizona, 290;
death, 290.
=Fremonts Peak=, 285.
=French=, in North America, 49-53, 106-113.
=French allies=, in Revolutionary War, 139.
=French and Indian War=, 114, 121, 126, 130.
=French in Canada=, 121.
=Friends=, _see_ Quakers.
="Friendship," The=, 194.
=Frontenac, Count=, sends Joliet and Marquette to find Mississippi, 53;
sends La Salle and Hennepin, 106;
"children of," 111.
=Frontenac, Fort=, 106, 107, 111.
=Fruit growing=, 375.
=Fugitive Slave Law=, 407.
=Fulton, Robert=, 257-264, 395;
portrait of, 258;
starts life as portrait painter, 258;
meets James Watt, 258;
becomes interested in driving power of steam, 258;
makes trial steamboat in France, 258;
builds the _Clermont_, 259;
wonderful success of invention of, 260, 261;
death, 261;
and the invention of the submarine, 395.
=Fur traders=, 56-58 106-107, 243-244.
=Gadsden, Christopher=, 173.
=Gage, General=, 130, 131, 183.
=Galena=, 332.
=Galveston flood=, Red Cross relieves suffering caused by the, 411.
=Gama, Vasco da=, _see_ Da Gama, Vasco.
=Garfield, James J.=, 345-347;
portrait of, 345.
=Gates, General=, 182.
=Gauls=, 466, 472, 475.
=George II=, grants charter to Oglethorpe, 101.
=George III=, 135, 136, 141, 158, 159, 173.
=Georgia=, founded, 101-103;
planters of, 103-104.
=Germanic tribes=, 476, 477, 478, 479, 481.
=Germany=, one of the Central Powers, 426;
protests against United States trading with Allies, 427;
lawless submarine policy of, 428, 430-431;
America enters the war against, 431;
makes last great attack, 437;
defeated on all fronts, 441;
accepts armistice, 442;
treaty of peace with, 442-443.
=Gettysburg=, battle of, 335, 338.
=Ghent=, _see_ Treaty of.
=Gibault=, Father, 220, 221.
=Gilbert, Sir Humphrey=, 43.
=Gist, Christopher=, 122.
=Goethals, George Washington=, 376-378;
portrait of, 376;
early life of, 377;
in Spanish-American War, 377;
in charge of construction of Panama Canal, 377-378;
appointed governor of Canal Zone, 377.
=Gold=, discovery and mining of, 289, 372-373, 375.
="Golden Hind," The=, Drake's ship, 38, 39, 40.
=Gold Fleet, Spanish=, 41.
=Goliad=, massacre at, 280.
=Gooch, Daniel=, 271.
="Good Man Richard," The=, 197-198.
=Gore, Christopher=, 311.
=Gracchi, the=, 470.
=Grain=, 417-419;
elevators for 418.
=Grant, Ulysses S.=, 325, 327, 331-337;
early life of, 331-332;
in Mexican War, 332;
promoted in the army, 333;
at Forts Henry and Donelson, 333;
portrait of, 333;
at Vicksburg, 334;
at Gettysburg, 335;
made commander of the Union armies, 336;
in the "Wilderness," 336;
Lee surrenders to, 336;
elected president, 337;
death, 337.
=Gray, Captain Robert=, the first to carry the Stars and Stripes around the world, 238;
discovers the Columbia River, 238.
=Gray, ----=, invents telephone, 268.
=Great Basin=, Fremont explores the, 287-288.
=Great Charter=, struggle for the, 490-493.
=Great Salt Lake=, 286.
=Greater Greece=, 451-452.
=Greece=, 450-463;
geography of, 450-451;
legendary heroes of, 452-453;
philosophers of, 453-455;
wins admiration of Philip of Macedon, 455;
government of, 456-460;
civilization of, 458-460;
in "Age of Pericles," 460-461;
defeats Persian kings, 461-463;
Alexander's conquests spread civilization of, 463.
=Green Bay=, 108.
=Greene, Mrs.=, 227-228.
=Greene, Nathanael=, 182-185, 188, 189, 190, 191;
portrait of, 182;
given command of army in South, 182;
goes to Boston and meets Washington, 184;
made one of Washington's generals, 184;
divides army, 184;
on great march, 188;
at Guilford Court House, 189;
drives British into Charleston, 189;
honored by his country, 189;
praises General Marion, 191.
=Greenland=, discovered by Northmen, 1, 484.
=Greenway Court=, 120-121, 125.
=Grenville, Sir Richard=, 44.
="Griffin," The=, 108-109.
=Guam=, annexed by United States, 359.
=Guatemotzin=, statue of, 20.
=Guilds=, 446.
=Guilford Court House=, battle of, 189.
=Hale, Nathan=, 134, 179-182;
in college, 179;
statue of, 180;
joins Washington, 180;
captures British man-of-war, 180;
passes safely through British lines, 181;
captured, 181;
death, 181.
="Half Moon," The=, 54, 55.
=Hamilton, Alexander=, 235.
=Hamilton, General=, 220, 222.
=Hancock, John=, 177, 233.
=Hanks, John=, 315, 316, 321.
=Hannibal=, 467-469.
=Harlem Heights=, 134.
=Harrison, Benjamin=, 142, 232, 349, 351.
=Harrison, William Henry=, 304, 319.
=Harrodsburg=, 217.
=Harvard Elm=, 132.
=Harvesting machines=, 418.
=Hastings=, battle of, 489.
=Hawaiian Islands=, annexed by United States, 356.
=Hawkins, Captain=, 37.
=Hayes, Lucy Webb=, 344.
=Hayes, Rutherford B.=, 342-344;
portrait of, 343.
=Hayne, Senator=, 303.
"=Hearts Content=," 271.
=Helen of Troy=, 452-453.
=Helm, Captain=, 220.
=Henderson, Richard=, 205.
=Hennepin=, a missionary, 106, 107, 110, 111.
=Henry, Patrick=, 129-130, 153, 158-167, 217, 230, 234;
portrait of, 158;
opposes Stamp Act, 159;
birth and parentage of, 160;
early failures of, 160;
orator of the Revolution, 160-167;
succeeds as a lawyer, 161;
first great speech of, 161;
elected to House of Burgesses, 161-162;
speaks against Stamp Act, 162;
sent to Continental Congress, 163;
offers resolutions for arming Virginia, 164;
defends his resolutions in great speech, 164-165;
in forefront of struggle with England, 166;
statue of, 166;
aids George Rogers Clark in raising an army, 217-218;
death, 166.
=Henry=, Prince of Portugal, 3.
=Henry II=, 490-491.
=Henry VII=, 35, 37.
=Henry VIII=, 37.
=Hercules=, 452.
=Hermitage, The=, 254.
=Hessians, The=, 135, 136.
=Hieroglyphics=, 448-449.
=Hobkirks Hill=, 189.
=Holland, John P.=, and the submarine, 395-397;
portrait of, 395.
=Homestead Law=, 373.
=Hooker=, 335.
=Hoover, Herbert=, 431-432.
=Horace=, 475.
=Horatius=, 464-465.
=Horseshoe Bend=, battle of, 249, 277.
=Houston, General Sam=, 277-281;
lives with Cherokees, 277;
in battle of Horseshoe Bend, 277;
portrait of, 278;
studies law, 278;
goes to Congress, 278;
governor of Tennessee, 278;
visits Washington, 279;
goes to Texas, 279;
in Texas War with Mexico, 279-281;
at battle of San Jacinto, 280-281;
elected first president of Texas, 281;
sent to United States Senate, 281;
death, 281.
=Howe, Elias=, 274-276.
=Howe, General=, 133, 134, 137, 181.
=Howe, Julia Ward=, 404-406;
early life of, 404-405;
writes "Battle Hymn of the Republic," 405;
and the Woman's Club, 405-406;
portrait of, 406.
=Howe, Samuel Gridley=, 405.
=Hudson, Henry=, 54-56;
discovers Hudson River, 54;
portrait of, 55;
cruel to Indians, 55;
seeks northwest passage, 55-56;
set adrift by sailors, 56.
=Hudson Bay Company=, 286.
=Hudson River=, 54-55.
=Hull House=, 413.
=Huns=, 476-477.
=Hydroplane=, 394.
=Iceland=, discovered by Northmen, 1.
=Illinois Indians=, 111.
=Illinois River=, 109, 110, 111.
=Inca=, captured by Pizarro, 23.
=Independence, Declaration of=, _see_ Declaration of Independence.
=India=, search for new route to, 2-16, 34-37;
Magellan first to reach, 31.
=Indian corn=, taken to England, 45;
best crop of the Pilgrims, 79.
=Indians=, first seen by white men, 12;
named by Columbus, 12;
Cortés and the Mexican, 18-21;
great city of the, 18-21;
cruelly treated by De Soto, 25;
welcomed Raleigh's sailors, 44;
Lane cruel to, 45;
hostile to English settlers, 45;
Champlain and the, 49-53;
Marquette loved by the, 53;
carried Champlain's remains to Mackinac, 53;
friendly to Hudson but repaid with cruelty, 55;
and the Dutch, 56-58, 59;
and the Jamestown Colony, 61-66;
friendly to Lord Baltimore, 69;
Pilgrims and, 76, 78-81, 84-85;
John Eliot and the, 83-84;
Penn's treaty with the, 98;
Oglethorpe made treaty with the, 103;
La Salle and the, 107, 110-112;
French trappers and, 113-114;
in French and Indian War, 114, 121-126;
war dance of the, 119;
Boone and the, 204-209;
fought with British in Revolutionary War, 207-209;
Sevier and the, 211-215;
Clark and the, 216, 217;
friendly to Lewis and Clark, 239-243;
missionaries among the, 243-244, 301;
Jackson and the, 247-249;
War of the Seminole, 252;
Houston and the, 277-278;
placed on reservations by U. S. government, 375;
_see also_ names of Indians.
=Indigo=, 104.
=Iron=, 422-423.
=Iroquois Indians=, 50, 52, 56, 107, 111, 112, 114.
=Irrigation=, 375, 446-447.
=Isabella, Queen of Spain=, 6, 8, 15.
=Italians=, 102.
=Jackson, Andrew=, 245-254, 282, 308;
early life of, 246-247;
taken prisoner by the English, 246;
lawyer before twenty, 247;
emigrates to Tennessee, 247;
made U. S. senator, 248;
in War of 1812, 248-252;
wins the name "Old Hickory," 249;
fights Indians, 249;
at battle of New Orleans, 250-252;
portrait of, 252;
twice elected president, 252;
and the United States Bank, 252-253;
and nullification, 254, 308;
death, 254.
=Jackson, General "Stonewall,"= 338.
=James I=, puts Raleigh to death, 47;
gives London Company a charter, 60;
makes Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, 69.
=Jamestown=, settled, 61;
life in the colony of, 60-66, 71-72.
=Jefferson, Thomas=, 229-238;
early life of, 229;
studies law, 230;
meets Patrick Henry, 230;
member of House of Burgesses, 231;
marries, 231;
and Committee of Correspondence, 232;
and the Declaration of Independence, 232-233;
governor of Virginia, 234;
minister to France, 234;
first Secretary of State, 235;
leader of the Democratic-Republican party, 235;
elected president, 235;
portrait of, 235;
purchases Louisiana, 236;
sends out Lewis and Clark Expedition, 237;
elected president second time, 237;
"Sage of Monticello," 238;
death, 238.
=Jenkins, C. Francis=, 385.
=Jews=, 447, 449.
=John, King of England=, 491-492.
=John II=, of Portugal, 5.
=Johnson, Andrew=, 328-329, 337;
portrait of, 328.
=Johnston, General Joseph E.=, 338, 340.
=Johnston, Sarah Bush=, stepmother of President Lincoln, 314.
=Joliet=, 53, 106, 112;
with Marquette sets out to find the Mississippi, 53;
sails down the Mississippi, 53;
death, 53.
=Jones, John Paul=, 194-198;
early life of, 194;
enters American navy, 195;
portrait of, 195;
shows his mettle in West Indies, 196;
sent to France, 196;
in Whitehaven, 196;
on English coast, 197;
captain of _Bon Homme Richard_, 197;
and the _Serapis_, 197-198;
great naval hero, 198.
=Jonesboro=, 247.
=Jutes=, 478.
=Kaiser, The German=, 430, 442.
=Kansas-Nebraska Bill=, 319-322.
=Kaskaskia=, Clark at, 218, 219, 223.
=Keith, Sir William=, 150.
=Kentucky=, Boone in, 204-210, 216.
=Kieft, Governor=, 59.
=King Philip=, Indian chief, 84-85.
=Kings Mountain=, battle of, 184, 213-214.
=Knox, General=, 201.
=Knoxville=, 215, 216.
=Labrador=, discovered by John Cabot, 35.
=Lachine=, 106.
=Lafayette, Marquis de=, 137, 139, 140, 189;
visits Washington after war, 142-143;
rewarded by Congress, 143.
=Lafayette Squadron=, 431.
=Lake Superior=, iron "ranges" of, 422.
=Lane, Ralph=, 44.
=La Salle, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de=, 106-113;
seeks Canada, 106;
builds Fort Frontenac, 106;
portrait of, 107;
returns to France for permission to explore Mississippi Valley, 107;
sets out for Mississippi, 107;
builds _Griffin_, 108-109;
builds Fort Crèvecœur, 111;
plans union of Indian tribes, 111;
journeys to mouth of Mississippi, 112;
takes possession for France, 112;
builds Fort St. Louis on Starved Rock, 112;
returns to France and brings over colony, 113;
killed by disappointed colonists, 113.
="Lawrence," The=, Perry's flagship, 245.
=Lee, Henry=, "Light Horse Harry," 184.
=Lee, Richard Henry=, 130, 173, 177, 232.
=Lee, Robert E.=, 325, 326, 327, 335, 336, 337-341;
at West Point, 337;
wins fame and honor in Mexican War, 337;
in charge at West Point, 337;
in charge of Confederate army at Richmond, 338;
defeats McClellan, 338;
retreats from Maryland after battle of Antietam, 338;
at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, 338;
at Gettysburg, 338;
in the "Wilderness," 339;
plans to join Johnston, 340;
meets Sheridan, 340;
surrenders to Grant, 341;
president of Washington College, 341;
death, 341;
portrait of, 341.
=Leonidas=, 462.
=Lewis, Captain Meriwether=, 239-244;
portrait of, 239;
and Clark sent to explore Louisiana Purchase, 239;
and Clark and the Indians, 239-243;
and Clark cross Rocky Mountains, 240-241;
and Clark reach the Columbia River, 242;
and Clark reach the Pacific, 242;
and Clark return to St. Louis, 242;
rewarded by Congress, 242;
made governor of Louisiana Territory, 243.
=Lewis and Clark Expedition=, 237, 239.
=Lexington=, battle of, 130, 175.
="Lexington," The=, 199.
=Lincoln, Abraham=, 313-329;
born in Kentucky backwoods, 313;
early life of, 313-317;
in Black Hawk War, 317;
goes to Illinois legislature, 318;
speaks for General Harrison and Henry Clay, 319;
goes to Congress, 319;
the champion against Douglas, 319;
in the U. S. Senate, 320;
debates between Douglas and, 320-322;
elected president, 322;
calls for troops, 323;
portrait of, 325;
issues Emancipation Proclamation, 326;
assassinated, 327;
and reconstruction, 328-329.
=Lincoln, General=, 182.
=Lincoln, Nancy Hanks=, 314.
=Livingston, Robert R.=, helps draw up Declaration of Independence, 232;
helps make Louisiana Purchase, 236;
aids Fulton, 258, 259.
=Locomotive invented=, 263.
=Loe, Thomas=, 92, 94.
=London Company=, formed, 60.
"=Lone Star Republic=," 281.
=Longstreet, William=, 257.
=Lookout Mountain=, battle of, 335.
=Los Angeles=, 376.
=Louisiana Purchase=, 236-238;
Lewis and Clark explore territory obtained by, 237, 239-244.
=Louisiana Purchase Exposition=, 237.
=Louisville=, 218.
="Lusitania," The=, 428, 430.
="Luzerne," The=, 201.
=McClellan, General=, and Lee, 325, 338;
at Antietam, 338.
=Mace, Samuel=, 46.
=Macedonian phalanx=, 455, 463, 469.
=McCormick, Cyrus H.=, 272-274.
=McKinley, William=, 352-359;
early life of, 352-353;
in the Civil War, 353;
becomes a successful lawyer, 353;
portrait of, 353;
in Congress, 354;
and the Spanish-American War, 354-359;
assassinated, 359.
=Madison, James=, 250, 296.
=Magellan, Ferdinand=, 28-31;
portrait of, 28;
first to sail around earth and prove it round, 28-31;
names, and is first to cross Pacific Ocean, 30;
visits the Philippines, 30;
killed defending his sailors, 31.
=Magellan, Strait of=, discovered, 30;
Drake sails through, 38.
"=Magna Charta=," _see_ Great Charter.
="Maine," The=, 355.
=Manhattan Island=, trading posts established on, 56;
purchase of, 58.
=Manila=, bay, 355-356;
city of, 357.
=Manufactures=, 421-423.
=Marathon=, battle of, 461-462.
=Marconi=, invents wireless telegraphy, 268.
=Marianas=, 30.
=Marion, Francis=, 184, 189-192;
portrait of, 190;
the "Swamp Fox," 190, 191;
sets free one hundred and fifty prisoners, 191;
honored by friends, 192.
=Marne=, first battle of, 427;
second battle of, 438.
=Marquette, Father=, 53, 106, 112.
=Maryland=, 68-70.
=Massachusetts Bay=, Colony of, 82, 83.
=Massasoit=, Indian chief, 78, 79, 80, 84.
="Mayflower," The=, 73-75, 77, 78, 80, 81.
=Meat packing=, 376, 419-421.
=Megaphone=, 275.
=Menlo Park=, Edison's laboratory at, 383, 385.
="Merrimac," The=, 324-325.
=Mexican Indians=, 18-21.
=Mexico=, invaded and conquered by Cortés, 18-22;
mines of, 22;
war between Texas and, 279-283;
Fremont in the war with, 288-289;
war between United States and, 298, 310;
Grant in war with, 332;
Lee in war with, 337;
Pershing sent into, 430.
=Microphone=, 383.
"=Mill boy of the Slashes=," 294.
=Mims, Fort=, massacre at, 249.
=Mines and mining=, 375, 421-423.
=Minuit, Peter=, first governor of New Netherland, 58.
=Minutemen=, 174-175, 183.
=Missionaries=, 53, 106-114, 243.
=Missionary Ridge=, battle of, 335.
=Missions=, in the Southwest, 300-302.
=Mississippi River=, discovered by De Soto, 26, 27;
explored by Joliet and Marquette, 53;
La Salle reached mouth of, 112;
western boundary of United States, 224, 236.
=Mississippi Valley=, La Salle explores the, 107, 109-113.
=Missouri=, state of, 210, 238, 296.
=Missouri Compromise=, 296, 319.
=Missouri River=, Falls of the, 240.
=Mohave Desert=, 288.
"=Mohawks=," 171.
="Monitor," The=, 324-325.
=Monoplane=, 392-393.
=Monmouth=, battle of, 138, 139.
=Monroe James=, 236, 307, 426.
=Monterey=, 289.
=Montezuma=, 20.
=Monticello=, home of Jefferson, 231, 232, 234, 237, 238.
=Moravians=, 102.
=Morgan, General=, 184, 185-189;
fights French and Indians, 185;
helps capture Burgoyne, 186;
complimented by Burgoyne, 186;
at battle of Cowpens, 186, 188;
portrait of, 186; joins Greene, 188;
last days of, 188-189.
=Morristown=, 137.
=Morse, Samuel F. B.=, 264-268;
interested in electricity, 264;
plans instrument, 265;
meets helper in Alfred Vail, 265;
gets government aid, 267;
portrait of, 267;
receives rewards and honors, 268;
death, 268.
=Moving pictures=, 385-386.
=Moultrie, Colonel=, 182.
=Mount Vernon=, 116, 119, 121, 123, 128, 129, 141, 142, 143, 145.
=Murfreesboro=, 335.
=Murray, Mrs.=, entertains Lord Howe, 133.
=Napoleon=, sells Louisiana Territory to the United States, 236.
=Nassau, Fort=, 56.
=Natick, Mass.=, 84.
=National Woman's Suffrage Association=, 403.
=Necessity, Fort=, 123.
=Negro slaves=, _see_ Slavery.
=Neutrality=, American in World War, 426, 427-429.
=New Amsterdam=, 58, 91, 92;
becomes New York, 90.
=New England=, Puritans in, 68, 81-86;
Pilgrims in, 73-81;
industries, manners, and customs of colonists in, 85-86.
=New France=, 52;
trappers, soldiers, and missionaries of, 113-114.
=New Netherland=, 88-90;
settlement of, 58-59;
industries, manners, and customs of, 91-92.
=New Orleans=, 236;
battle of, 250-252.
=Newport, Captain=, 60, 62.
=New York=, New Amsterdam becomes, 90;
William and Mary give representative assembly to, 90;
British in, 133;
Washington inaugurated in, 143-144.
=Nez Percé Indians=, 241, 243.
="Niagara," The=, 245.
=Niagara River=, 108, 109.
=Nile River=, 446-447, 463.
="Niña," The=, 10, 13.
=Ninevah=, 448.
"=Nolichucky Jack=," 212-216.
=Nolichucky River=, 212.
"=No-Man's-Land=," 203.
=Normans=, 483, 488-490.
=Northmen=, voyages of, 1-2;
in Iceland and Greenland, 1;
discover Vinland, 1;
wanderings of, 483, 484, 486.
_See also_ Normans _and_ Danes.
="North River," The=, 260.
=Nullification=, and President Jackson, 254, 308;
Webster's great speech on, 303-304;
Calhoun favors, 307-308;
South Carolina and, 253-254, 308.
=Odoacer=, 477.
=Oglethorpe, James=, 100-103, 104;
friend of the unfortunate, 100;
portrait of, 101;
settles Georgia, 101-103;
death, 103.
"=Old Hickory=," 249.
=Old North Church=, 174.
=Old South Church=, 169, 171.
=Orange, Fort=, 56, 57, 90.
=Orange growing=, 375.
="Oregon," The=, 377.
=Oregon Country=, Lewis and Clark Expedition sent to, 237, 243;
sought by fur traders and missionaries, 243-244;
United States and Great Britain occupy, 244;
northern boundary of the established, 244;
Benton speaks on the, 285.
="Pacificator," The=, 297.
=Pacific Northwest=, 333.
=Pacific Ocean=, named by Magellan, 30.
=Pakenham, General=, 251.
=Palos=, 7, 9, 13, 15.
=Panama-California Exposition=, 378.
=Panama Canal=, 376-378.
=Panama-Pacific International Exposition=, 378.
=Paris=, son of the king of Troy, 452.
=Parker, ----=, 243.
=Parsons' Case, The=, 161-162.
=Patagonia=, 29, 38.
=Patroons, The=, 58-59, 89.
=Paul, John=, _see_ Jones, John Paul.
="Pelican," The=, Drake's ship, 38.
=Penn, Admiral=, 93, 94, 95, 96.
=Penn, William=, 92-98;
becomes a Quaker, 93;
sent to Paris and Ireland, 93-94;
portrait of, 94;
King Charles and, 94;
founds Pennsylvania as home for Quakers, 95-98;
invites all persecuted people, 96;
founds Philadelphia, 97;
treaty with the Indians, 98;
death, 98.
=Penn's Woods=, 96.
=Pennsylvania=, founded, 95-96;
coal in, 421-422.
=Pennsylvania, University of=, founded, 151.
"=Pennsylvania Dutch=," 98.
"=Pennsylvania Gazette=," 151.
=Pericles=, 460-461.
=Perry, Oliver Hazard=, 244-245;
midshipman at fourteen, 244;
in war against Barbary States, 244;
ordered to Lake Erie, 244;
battle of Lake Erie, 244-245;
portrait of, 245;
highly honored, 245.
=Pershing, John J.=, sent to Mexico, 430;
heads American forces, 436;
portrait of, 436;
early life, 436-437;
lands in France, 437;
divides his troops among the Allies, 438-439;
defeats the Germans at Château-Thierry, 439;
wins battle of St. Mihiel, 439-440.
=Peru=, Pizarro in, 23.
=Petersburg=, siege of, 336.
"=Petition of Right=," 493.
=Philadelphia=, 137;
founded, 97;
British at, 138;
first Continental Congress at, 172;
Second Continental Congress at, 177.
=Philip=, _see_ King Philip.
=Philip of Macedon=, 455.
=Philippines=, Magellan visits, 30;
United States pays Spain for, 357.
=Phoenicians=, 449-450.
=Phonograph=, 384, 387.
=Pickett, General George E.=, 338.
=Pierce, President=, 269.
=Pilgrims, The=, 73-81;
seek Holland, 73;
land in America, 74-77;
and the Indians, 76, 78-81, 84-85;
settle at Plymouth, 77;
build homes in the forest, 77;
celebrate Thanksgiving, 80;
industries, manners, and customs of, 85-86.
="Pinta," The=, 10, 11, 13, 14.
=Pinzón=, 7;
sails with Columbus, 10.
=Pitt, Fort=, 126, 218.
=Pitt, William=, 126, 154, 162, 233.
=Pittsburgh=, iron and steel center of America, 423.
=Pittsburg Landing=, 334-335, 380.
=Pizarro, Francisco=, 23-24;
marches army to Cuzco and finds vast wealth, 23;
killed by his men, 24.
=Planters=, industries, manners, and customs of the southern, 103-104.
=Plato=, 454.
=Plymouth=, landing place of the Pilgrims, 77;
colony of, 83.
=Plymouth Rock=, 77.
=Pocahontas=, 66-68;
rescues John Smith, 64;
carries corn to settlers, 64;
warns settlers of danger, 65;
marries John Rolfe, 66;
received as a princess in England, 67;
portrait of, 68;
death, 68.
=Ponce de Leon=, 17-18;
takes possession of Florida, 17;
death, 18.
"=Pony express=," 373.
"=Poor Richard's Almanac=," 151, 152, 197.
=Pope, General=, 338.
=Portland=, 376.
=Porto Rico=, annexed by United States, 357.
=Port Royal=, founded, 49.
=Potato, white=, taken to England, 45.
=Powhatan=, famous Indian chief, 63, 64, 65, 67.
=Prescott, Colonel=, 176.
=Princeton=, 136.
=Protestants=, 68, 69, 102.
"=Puffing Billy=," 263.
=Puritans=, 68, 70, 81-83, 85;
in England, 81;
seek America, 81;
at Salem, 81;
found Boston, 82, 83;
found colony of Massachusetts, 92.
=Put-In-Bay=, 244.
=Quakers=, 92-100;
called themselves Society of Friends, 99.
=Quebec=, founded, 49;
fall of, 114;
expedition against, 126.
=Railroads=, 263-264, 373.
=Raleigh, Sir Walter=, 42-47;
Drake carries back to England colony of, 41;
as student, soldier, seaman, 42-43;
plants colonies in America, 43-46;
portrait of, 44;
wins favor with Queen Elizabeth, 44;
put to death, 47.
="Raleigh," The=, 200.
=Rameses II=, 447.
="Ranger," The=, 196, 197.
="Ranges" of Lake Superior=, 422.
=Reaper=, 272-274.
=Red Cross Society=, 355, 410-412, 431.
=Reed, Deborah=, wife of Franklin, 149, 151.
=Refrigerator cars=, 421.
=Remus=, 464.
=Republican party=, 289, 320, 344, 348, 351, 370.
=Resources and industries of the United States=, 416-423.
=Revere, Paul=, 172, 174.
="Revolution," The=, 403.
=Revolution, War of the=, 207, 209, 211, 224, 246, 247;
debt of the, 235;
woman's part in the, 400.
=Rice=, in the South, 104.
=Richmond=, 325, 326, 327.
=Roanoke Island=, 44, 45.
=Rochambeau, General=, 139.
=Rocky Mountains=, 240, 243.
=Rolfe, John=, 66, 67.
=Rolfe, Thomas=, 68.
=Rome=, 464-477;
legends and myths of, 464-466;
threatened with civil war, 466;
taken by Gauls, 466;
conquers all tribes of Italy, 466;
war with Carthage, 466-469;
conquers many nations, 469;
changed character of, 469-470;
uprisings in, 470;
conquests under Caesar, 472;
becomes an empire, 473;
establishes a system of laws, 473-474;
builds famous roads and engineering works, 474;
literature of, 475;
prepares way for spread of Christianity, 475-476;
conquered by Teutons, 476-477;
later invasions, 477;
brings Christianity to Germans, 478-479;
Charlemagne crowned emperor of, 481.
=Romulus=, 464.
=Roosevelt, Theodore=, 356, 360-372;
early life, 360-363;
as New York assemblyman, 363-364;
western life, 364-365;
as Civil Service Commissioner, 365;
as Police Commissioner, 365-366;
in Spanish-American War, 366;
governor of New York, 366;
as vice-president, succeeds McKinley, 367;
record as president, 368;
as an author, 368-369;
defeated for reëlection, 370;
explores a Brazilian river, 370-371;
death, 371.
=Rosecrans, General=, 335.
"=Rough Riders=," 366.
=Rubicon=, 472-473.
=Rumsey, James=, 257.
=Runnymede=, meeting at, 492.
=Russia=, takes part in World War, 421;
makes peace with Germany, 437.
=Sacajawea=, statue of, 241.
=Sacramento Valley=, 287-288.
"=Sage of Monticello=," 238.
=St. Francis=, 290.
=St. Gaudens=, statue of Lincoln by, 326-327.
=St. John's Church=, 163.
=St. Joseph River=, 109, 110.
=St. Lawrence River=, French on, 49, 50, 52.
=St. Louis=, 210, 242.
=St. Louis, Fort=, 112.
=St. Marys=, 69.
=St. Mihiel=, battle of, 439-440.
=Salamis=, battle of, 462.
=Salem=, colony at, 81, 82.
=Samoset=, 78.
=Sampson, Rear Admiral=, 357.
=San Antonio=, 282.
=San Diego=, mission at, 290-291;
exposition at, 378.
=San Francisco=, importance of, 376;
exposition at, 378;
Red Cross relieves suffering caused by earthquake at, 411-412.
=San Jacinto=, battle of, 280-281.
=San Juan=, 356-357.
=San Salvador=, discovered by Columbus, 12.
=Santa Ana, General=, 280, 281, 282.
="Santa Maria," The=, 9.
=Santiago=, 356-357.
=Savannah=, founded, 102;
captured by British, 182.
=Saxons=, _see_ Anglo-Saxon tribes.
=Schley, Commodore=, 357.
=Schuyler, Philip=, 132.
=Scott, General=, 254.
=Seminole Indians=, war with the, 252.
="Serapis," The=, 197, 198.
=Serfs=, 445.
=Serra, Junipero=, 290-291.
=Settlement=, _see_ Social Settlement.
=Sevier, John=, 210-216, 247;
goes to school at Fredericksburg, 210;
famous Indian fighter, 210;
captain in Washington' regiment, 210;
portrait of, 211;
at siege of Fort Watauga, 211-212;
Kate Sherrill and, 211-212;
moves to the Nolichucky, 212;
fights battle of Kings Mountain, 213-214;
destroys Indian towns, 214;
governor of Tennessee, 215;
dies while working, 215.
=Sewing Machine=, 274-276.
=Shafter, General=, 356.
=Shawnee Indians=, 216.
=Shelby, Colonel=, 213.
=Sheridan, General=, 340.
=Sherman, Roger=, 232.
=Sherrill, Kate=, 211-212.
=Sholes, Christopher L.=, 386-387.
=Silver=, 373.
=Slavery=, in Virginia, 71;
in the South, 229;
Calhoun on question of, 308-310;
petitions in favor of abolishing, 308;
new view of, 310;
Lincoln's attitude toward, 316, 318;
question of, 320;
destroyed, 326;
Harriet Beecher Stowe's efforts against, 407.
=Sloat, Commander=, 289.
=Smith, John=, 61-66, 77;
portrait of, 61;
as a soldier, 62;
and the Indians, 62-65;
saved from death by Pocahontas, 64;
returns to Jamestown, 64;
returns to England, 66;
on last visit to America, 66;
meets Pocahontas in England, 67.
=Snake River=, Lewis and Clark on the, 242.
=Social Settlement=, Jane Addams and the, 413.
=Socrates=, 453-454.
"=Soldier's Rest=," Morgan's home, 188.
"=Sons of Liberty=," 162, 168.
=South Carolina=, and nullification, 253-254, 308.
=South Pass=, 243, 285.
=Spain=, in America, 11-16, 18-28;
Englishmen check progress of, 37-42;
missions of, 290-292;
war between United States and, 366-370.
_See also_ Spanish-American War.
=Spanish-American War=, 366-370;
Goethals in the, 377;
Clara Barton and the Red Cross in the, 411.
=Spanish Armada, The=, 42.
=Spanish missions=, in the Southwest, 290-292;
in California, 290-292;
treatment of Indians at, 291-292;
present condition of, 292.
=Sparta=, 452, 453, 456, 458, 462.
="Speedwell," The=, 73, 74.
=Spottsylvania=, battle of, 336, 337.
=Squanto=, friend of Pilgrims, 78, 79, 80.
=Stamp Act=, 129, 154, 158-160, 162, 168, 230.
=Standish, Miles=, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80;
portrait of, 78.
=Stanton, Elizabeth Cady=, 401-404;
early life of, 401-402;
portrait of, 401;
calls woman's rights convention, 402;
works with Miss Anthony for suffrage, 403;
death, 404.
=Stanton, Henry B.=, 402, 403.
=Starved Rock=, 110, 111.
=Steamboat=, invented by Fulton, 257-260;
used on all rivers, 260-261.
=Steel=, manufacture of, 423.
=Stephenson, George=, 263.
=Steuben, General=, 138.
=Stewart=, Boone's companion, 204.
=Stowe, Calvin E.=, 407.
=Stowe, Harriet Beecher=, 406-407;
early life of, 406-407;
in behalf of freedom for slaves, 407;
writes _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, 407;
portrait of, 407;
death, 407.
=Strait of Magellan=, _see_ Magellan.
"=Stump speaking=," 319.
=Stuyvesant, Peter=, 87-91;
in West Indies, 87;
portrait of, 88;
governor of New Amsterdam, 88-90;
makes strict laws, 88;
disputes with people, 89;
surrenders to English, 90-91.
=Submarine=, 395-397.
=Suffrage, Woman=, 402, 403-404, 414.
=Sumter, Fort=, 323.
=Sumter, Thomas=, 184.
=Superior=, iron "ranges" of Lake, 422.
=Sutter, Colonel=, 288.
=Sutter's Fort=, 287.
=Taft, William Howard=, 369-370;
portrait of, 369.
=Tanks=, 397.
=Tariff=, collecting in South Carolina, 297;
protective, 303-307;
Calhoun and, 307-308.
=Tariff Law, Compromise=, 297, 304, 308.
=Tarleton, Colonel=, sent to capture Morgan, 185-187;
defeated at battle of the Cowpens, 186-188;
stories of, 187-188;
sent to capture Marion, 191.
=Tea Tax=, 129, 162-163, 168-170, 231.
=Tecumseh=, 249.
=Telegraph=, invented by Morse, 264-268;
Marconi invents wireless, 268;
Edison and the, 381-383.
=Telephone=, invented by Bell and Gray, 268.
=Temperance=, _see_ Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
=Tennessee=, 215, 247, 248.
=Texas=, 279-283, 310.
=Thanksgiving=, the first American, 80.
=Thermopylae=, 462.
=Threshing machines=, 418.
=Ticonderoga=, 132.
=Tigris River=, 448.
=Tobacco=, chief crop of Virginia planters, 71.
=Tonti=, comes to America with La Salle, 107;
goes to hunt the _Griffin_, 109, 110;
at Starved Rock, 111, 113;
in command of Fort St. Louis, 112.
=Tories=, 169, 190.
=Tours=, battle of, 479.
=Trade routes=, old, 2;
Turks destroy, 3.
=Trading posts=, 56.
=Transportation=, development of, 373-374.
"=Traveler=," Lee's horse, 341.
=Travis, Colonel=, 279.
=Treaty of 1783= (Revolution), 140, 155.
=Treaty of Ghent= (War of 1812), 306.
=Treaty of 1846=, 244.
=Trenton=, 135.
=Trojans=, 452-453.
=Turkey=, 45.
=Tyler, President=, 314, 320.
=Typewriter=, 386-388.
=Ulysses=, 453.
"=Uncle Tom's Cabin=," 407.
"=Unknown Warrior=," burial of, 433.
=Union-Pacific Railway=, completed, 374.
=United States=, resources and industries of the, 316-323.
=United States Bank=, President Jackson and the, 252-253.
=Vail, Alfred=, 265.
=Valley Forge=, 137, 138.
=Van Buren, President=, 254.
=Vancouver, Fort=, 286.
=Van Rensselaer=, a patroon, 58.
=Vernon, Admiral=, 116.
=Vespucci, Amerigo=, 16.
=Vicksburg=, siege of, 334.
=Victoria, Queen=, 270.
=Vikings=, _see_ Northmen.
=Villa=, 430.
=Vincennes=, campaign against, 218-224.
=Vinland=, visited by Northmen, 1.
=Virgil=, 475.
=Virginia=, 60, 130, 163, 166;
named by Queen Elizabeth, 44;
colony planted in, 46;
Charles I gives Baltimore a part of, 69;
slavery introduced into, 71;
life in the colony of, 71;
industries, manners, and customs of, 71-72;
old days in, 126-129;
the change in, 141.
=Wabash=, Clark and his men in the "drowned lands" of the, 221-222.
=War of 1812=, heroes of, 244-254;
Perry in, 244-245;
Jackson in, 248-252;
Clay's part in the, 296;
treaty ending, 296;
Webster's part in, 302;
Calhoun's work in, 307.
=Warren, General Joseph=, 177.
=Washington, Augustine=, 115.
=Washington, George=, 114-145, 153, 166, 173, 180, 182, 184, 234;
birthday and birthplace of, 115;
mother of, 115;
a skilled woodsman, 118;
meets Lord Fairfax, 119;
as a surveyor, 119-120;
in the wilderness and at Greenway Court, 119-121;
as a soldier against the French, 121-123;
builds Fort Necessity, 123;
joins Braddock's army, 123;
visits Boston, 125;
meets Martha Custis, 126;
at Fort Duquesne, 126;
married, 126-127;
elected to House of Burgesses, 127;
at Mount Vernon, 128-129;
modesty of, 128, 131;
sent to Continental Congress, 130;
made commander in chief of American armies, 130, 155, 177;
takes command of army, 132;
appoints Schuyler to take command in New York, 132;
outwits Howe, 133;
retreats but fights, 134;
at Trenton, 135-136;
defeats British at Princeton, 137;
at battle of Brandywine, 137;
at Valley Forge, 137-138;
at Yorktown, 139-140;
portrait of, 139;
bids farewell to army and returns to Mount Vernon, 140-142;
elected first president, 143-145, 234;
loved by the people, 143;
character of administration of, 144;
reëlected president and refuses third term, 145;
death, 145.
=Washington, Lawrence=, 116, 117, 121.
=Washington, William=, 184, 185, 186, 187.
=Watauga, Fort=, 211, 212.
=Watt, James=, 258, 259.
=Webster, Daniel=, 300-306;
early life of, 300;
best student at Dartmouth, 301;
studies law, 301;
marries, 302;
in Congress, 302;
opposes nullification, 303, 304;
portrait of, 304;
Secretary of State, 304, 306;
supports the Compromise of 1850, 305;
dies at Marshfield, 306.
=Wesley, John and Charles=, 103.
=West, Benjamin=, 258.
=West, The New=, 372-376.
=West Indies=, Columbus discovers and explores, 13, 15;
devastated by Drake, 41;
Paul Jones' expedition to, 196.
=Wheat=, 375, 417-419.
=Whig party, The=, 297, 298, 304, 319, 322.
=White, John=, 45, 46.
=Whitehaven=, Paul Jones' exploit at, 196.
=White Plains=, 134.
=Whitman, Marcus=, missionary, 243, 244.
=Whitney, Eli=, 226-229;
in his father's tool shop, 226;
goes to Savannah, 227;
invited to Mulberry Grove, 227;
becomes interested in cotton, 228;
invents cotton gin, 228;
effect of cotton gin invented by, 416.
"=Wilderness=," fighting in the, 336, 337.
="Wilderness Road," The=, 205-206.
=Willard, Frances E.=, 408-409;
early life of, 408;
and the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 409;
death, 409;
portrait of, 409.
=William and Mary=, 90.
=William the Conqueror=, 488-489, 490.
=Williamsburg=, 159, 163, 230.
="Willing," The=, 220, 223.
=Wilson, Woodrow=, 428-431;
early life, 429;
practises law, 429;
as a teacher, 429;
president of Princeton, 429;
governor of New Jersey, 429-430;
portrait of, 430;
and Mexico, 430;
dismisses German ambassador, 431;
makes loans to Allies, 431;
at Paris, 442;
tours the United States, 443.
=Winslow, Edward=, 73.
=Winthrop, John=, 81-83, 147.
=Wireless telegraphy=, 268.
=Wolfe, General=, 114, 126.
=Woman's Christian Temperance Union=, 409.
=Woman's club=, 405-406.
=Woman's rights=, 401-404, 414;
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and, 402;
Susan B. Anthony and, 403-404;
Julia Ward Howe and, 406.
=Woman's Rights Convention=, first, 402.
=Woman suffrage=, 402, 403-404, 414.
=Women of our nation=, 400-416.
=Wood, Colonel Leonard=, 356.
=World's Columbian Exposition=, 16.
=World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union=, 409.
=World War=, 371, 424-443;
support of by the American people, 424-426;
attitude of United States in early years of, 426-429, 430-431;
nations involved in, 426,
naval events of, 427;
United States enters, 431-432;
size of, 433-434;
character of, 434-435;
Russia withdraws from, 437;
crisis of, 437-439;
American battles in, 439-441;
Allied victories in, 441;
close of, 442-443.
=Wright, Orville=, 390-394.
=Wright, Wilbur=, 390-394.
=Wyeth, Nathaniel=, 243.
=Xerxes=, 462.
=Yadkin River=, Greene crosses, 188;
Boone on the, 203;
Boone returns to home on the, 205.
=York, Duke of=, 89.
=Yorktown=, victory at, 139-140, 189.
=Zama=, battle of, 469.
=Zeppelins=, 391.
[Illustration: UNITED STATES
_Copyright, 1909, by Rand, McNally & Company._]
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.
Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.
Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
Enclosed bold font in =equals=.
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "A Beginner's History" ***
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