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Class .tj_!lS_ Book. .Tn 5 ^
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» ••>
POPULAR HISTORY
OF THE
United States of America,
FROM
THE ABORIGINAL TIMES
TO
THE PRESENT DAY.
EMBRACING ,
AN ACCOUNT OF THE ABORIGINES; THE NORSEMEN IN THE NEW WORLD; THE DISCOVERIES BY THE SPANIARDS, ENGLISH, AND FRENCH ; THE PLANT- ING OF SETTLEMENTS; THE GROWTH OF THE COLONIES; THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY IN THE REVOLUTION; THE ESTAB- LISHMENT OF THE UNION ; THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NATION ; THE CIVIL WAR ; AND THE CENTENNIAL OF INDEPENDENCE.
BY
JOHN CLARK RIDPATH, A.M., LL.D.,
n
Prefesior of History in Indiana Asbury University; Author of Ridpath's Schcol Historitt of the United States; Ridpath's Inductive Grammar; etc., etc.
lUnstrattb teit^ Paps, Charts, |)odraits, anb diagrams.
PHILLIPS & HU N '^^^"'■" ' ■""■-'^°
NEW YORK
VC'/ru,
1S83.
•J
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by
JOHN T. JONES,
la the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.
PREFACE.
Dear People of the United States: —
By this, my Preface, I offer to you a New History of your coun-
tiy and mine. The work is presented in the form of an abridged
narrative. My reasons for such a venture are brief, but, I trust, sat- isfactory :
First, to every American citizen some knowledge of the history of his country is indispensable. The attainment of that knowledge ought to be made easy and delightful.
Second, the Centennial of the Republic furnishes an auspicious oc- casion for the study of those great events which compose the warp and woof of the new civilization in the West.
This book is intended for the average American; for the man of business who has neither time nor disposition to plod through ten or twenty volumes of elaborate historical dissertation; for the prac- tical man of the shop, the counter, and the plow. The work is dedicated to the household and the library of the working man. It is in- scribed to the father, the mother, the son, and the daughter of the American family. If father, mother, son, and daughter shall love their country better — if they shall understand more clearly and ap- preciate more fiiUy the founding, progress, and growth of liberty in
the New World — the author will be abundantly repaid.
(Hi)
iy PREFACE.
In the preparation of the work the following objects have been kept in view:
I. To give an accurate and spirited Narrative of the principal events in our National history from the aboriginal times to the pres- ent day.
II. To discuss the Philosophy of that history as fully as possible within the narrow limits of the work.
III. To avoid all Partiality, Partisanship, and Prejudice, as things dangerous, baneful, and wicked. '^
IV. To preserve a clear and systematic Arrangement of the sev- eral subjects, giving to every fact, whether of peace or wa cs true place and importance in the narrative.
V. To give an Objective Representation by means of charts, maps, drawings, and diagrams, of all the more important matters in the history of the nation.
VI. To secure a Style and Method in the book itself which shall be in keeping with the spirit and refinement of ^ae times.
Whether these important ends have been attained, dear People, it is not my province but yours to decide. I have lab -ed earnestly to reach the ideal of such a work, and if success has not rewarded the effort, the failure has been in the execution rather than in the plan and purpose.
I surrender the book, thus undertaken and completed, to You — for whom it was intended. With diffidence I ask a considerate judg- ment and just recognition of whatever worth the work may be found to possess.
J. C. R.
Indiana Asbury UNivKRsrrY, 1 January 1, 1882. /
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
"^Vhat constitutes a period in history. — The period of the Aborigines. — The second periu in the history of the United States. — Extends from the discovery of the conti- nent to the establishment of permanent settlements. — The third period. — Reaches from the first colonies to the war of the Revolution. — The fourth period. — Embraces the Revoln » and the consolidation of the government. — The fifth period is most im- portant Extends from the adoption of the Constitution to the present time. — The names and dates of the several periods 39, 40.
i..
PART I.
ABORIGINAL AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
' ■■(
THE BED MEN — ORIGIN, DISTBIBUTION, CHARACTER.
The Indians. — Their name accounted for. — Differences between them and the Asiatics. — The origin of the Indian races unknown. — Theories controverted. — The question likely to remain unsolved. — Language may give us light. — The Red men Gan- owanians. — Habit i of that race. — Divisions of the aboriginal nations.--The Esqui- maux.— Their manner of life. — The race of Algonquins. — Their distribution. — And character. — The Huron-Iroquois. — Their domain. — Nature of their confederation. — Their influence and character. — The Southern races. — Cherokees. — Mobilians. — Man- ners and characteristics. — The Dakotas. — Their limits. — The Comanches. — The na- tions beyond tlie Mountains. — Shoshonees. — Selish. — Klamaths. — Californians. — Aztecs and Toltecs of old. — The Indian character in general. — Sense of personal inde- pendence.— Passion for war. — Principles of war. — And of peace. — The Indian unsocial and solitary. — His family organization. — The European family. — Diagram thereof. — Indian method. — And diagram. — Aboriginal government. — Powers and limitations. — Native religion. — Beliefs of the Red men. — Their arts. — Rudeness of the same. — The Indian house. — Utensils. — Weapons. — Clothing. — Decorations. — Paint. — And writing. — The savage tongues. — Peculiarities of Indian speech. — Personal appearance of the aborigines. — Stature. — Features. — Bodily habit. — Indian amusements. — The dance. — Other sports. — Gaming. — The use of tobacco. — Strong drinks. — Indian prospects. —
Hi-flections 41-50.
(v)
yi CONTENTS.
PART II.
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY.
A. B. 986—1607.
CHAPTER II.
THE ICELANDERS AND NORWEGIANS IN AMERICA.
Herjulfson ia driven by a storm to the American coast. — Lief Erickson discovers America. — Thorwald and Tliorstein Erickson make voyages. — Thorfinn Karlsefne ex- plores the shores of Maine and Massachusetts. — Other voyages are made by the Norse- men.— The name of Vinland. — Character of the sea-kings. — Voyages in the following centuries. — No practical results from the Icelandic discoveries. — Their authenticity. — Note 51-54.
CHAPTER III.
SPANISH DISCOVERIES.
Spain makes the New World known to Europe. — Old ideas about the figure of the earth. — Columbus. — Sketch of his life. — The favor of Isabella. — Columbus departs on his first voyage. — Discovers San Salvador, Cuba, and Hayti. — Second voyage of Co- lumbus.— Third. — He discovers South America. — Fourth voyage. — Columbus's misfort- unes and death. — Wrong done to his memory. — Vespucci makes two voyages to South America. — Excitement in Europe on account of discoveries. — Colony planted on the Isthmus. — Balboa discovers the Pacific— Ponce de Leon makes explorations in Flor- ida.— Is killed in a fight with the Indians 54-58.
CHAPTER IV.
SPANISH DISCOVERIES — CONTINUED.
Cordova discovers Yucatan. — Grijalvaexplores Mexico. — Cortez lands at Tabasco. — Terror pervades the country. — The natives are beaten back. — Cortez proceeds to Vera Cruz. — Montezuma sends embassies and presents. — The Spaniards march towards the capital. — And are forbidden to approach. — The Mexican tribes revolt. — Cortez reatlies the city. — And enters. — His critical situation. — He seizes Montezuma. — Who acknowl- edges the king of Spain. — The governor of Cuba sends forces against Cortez. — He over- powers them. — Returns to the capital. — The struggle for possession of the city. — Mon- tezuma is wounded. — And dies. — The Spaniards are victorious. — Mexico becomes a Spanish province. — Magellan sails around South America. — Crosses the Pacific. — Is killed at the Philippines. — His crew reach the East Indies. — Double the Cape of (Jood Hope. — Return to Europe. — De Narvaez is appointed governor of Florida. — Ex- plores the country around the Gulf. — The company embark in boats, and are wrecked. — Four men reach San Miguel. — De Soto sets out on an expedition to explore and con- quer Florida. — Arrives at Tampa Bay. — Marches into the interior. — Spends the winter on Flint River. — The company march into South Carolina. — Cross into Georgia. — Capt- ure Manville. — Spend the next winter on the Yazoo. — Discover the Mississippi. — Ex- plore Arkansas and return to the Mississippi. — De Soto dies. — His men again march Trestward to the mountains. — Return to the mouth of Red River. — Bnild boats and descend the Mississippi. — Reach the Spanish settlements in Mexico. — Melendez comes
CONTENTS. vii
to Florida, and founds St. Augustine. — MurderB the Huguenots on the St. John's. — Massacres the crews of the French vessels. — Extent of the Spanish explorations. — The Portuguese voyage of Gaspar Cortereal. — He sells a cargo of Indian slaves in Portu- gal 61-59.
CHAPTER V.
THE FKENCH IN AMERICA.
First acquaintance of the French with America. — Verrazzani is sent out to make ex- plorations.— Arrives on the coast of North Carolina. — Explores the shores of the country as far north as Newfoundland. — Cartier is sent on a voyage to America. — Beaches
Newfoundland and enters the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence. — Returns to Europe.
Sails on a second expedition. — Ascends the St. Lawrence to Montreal. — His crew are attacked with scurvy.— He passes the winter near the site of Quebec—And returns to France. — Roberval undertakes to colonize the country. — Cartier joined to the under- taking.— Prisons of France are opened to furnish emigrants.— Expedition reaches the St. Lawrence. — The leaders quarrel, and Cartier goes back to France. — The whole colony returns. — Roberval sails with another fleet.— And is lost at sea. — Ribault con- ducts a band of Huguenots to Port Royal.— Builds Fort Carolina.— The settlement is abandoned.— The enterprise renewed by Laudonniere.— A Huguenot colony estab- lished on the St. John's River.— But destroyed by Melendez.— De Gourges takes venge- ance on the Spaniards. — La Roche is commissioned to plant colonies in America.
French prisons again opened.— A settlement is made on Sable Island.— The company rescued and carried to France.— De Monts made viceroy of New France.— Departs with a colony.— Reaches the Bay of Fundy.— Port Royal founded by Poutrincourt, and the St. Croix settlement by De Monts.— The country named Acadia.— Champlain receives a commission.— Sails with a colony to the St. Lawrence.— Goes against the Iroquois.— Returns and founds Quebec 70-76
CHAPTER VI.
ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS.
Henry VII. commissions John Cabot.— Who discovers North America.— Is re- oommissioned.— Sebastian takes charge of the expedition.— Explores the American coast from Labrador to Cape Hatteras.— Leaves England to become pilot of Spain— The notable year 1498.— Causes which impeded English discovery.— Maritime enter- prise revives under Elizabeth.— Frobisher sails to America and discovers Meta Incog- nita.—Takes spurious ore to London.— A new voyage is planned.— Frobisher conducts a fleet to Meta Incognita.— The expedition proves a failure.— Sir Francis Drake cap- tures Spanish merchantmen.— Goes to the Pacific coast.— Attempts the disco verv of a north-west passage.— Gilbert forms a plan of colonization.— Is assisted bv Raleigh.— Conducts a fleet to Newfoundland.- -The crews find spurious minerals.— flie voyage is continued to Massachu.setts.— Gilbert loses his best ship and a hundred men.— .Smarts home, and is lost at sea —Raleigh sends Amidas and Barlow with a colony.— They reach Roanoke Island and begin a settlement.— The place is abandoned.— Ralei<^h sends a second colony under Lane.— The colonists reach Roanoke and begin to build — Difliculties arise with tlie Indians.-The settlement is broken up.-The colony taken home by Drake.-A new charter granted by Raleigh, and White chosen governor - The new emigrants arrive at Roanoke.-The foundationsof a town laid on the Island — Troubk-s with the Tndians.-Manteo is made a peer.- White returns to England.-Birth of Virgmia Dare.-The fate of the colony never ascertained.-Condition of afiairs in England.-White returns, and finds Roanoke deserted .-Raleigh assigns his patent to
^jjj CONTENTS.
London merchants.— Gosnold makes a voyage directly across the Atlantic— Attempt! to form a settlement on Elizabeth Island.— The place is abandoned.— Gosnold trades with the natives. — The crew demand to return. — Flattering accounts are given of the country.— An expedition is sent out under Pring.— He explores a part of the New En"land coast, and returns to Bristol.— Waymouth sails on a voyage.— Trades with the Indians of Maine.— Returns to England 76-85.
CHAPTER VII.
ENGLISH DISCOVEKIES AND SETTLEMENTS. — CONTINUED.
Kin"^ James issues patents to the London and Plymouth Companies. — The London Company to plant colonies between the 34th and the 38th parallels. — The Plymouth Com- pany to make settlements from the 41st to the 45th degree. — Gosnold, Smith, Hakluyt and Wingfield lead the afl'airs of the Southern Company. — No democratic principles are recognized in the charter. — A ship is sent out by the Plymouth Company. — A second vessel is dispatched to America. — A settlement is attempted at the mouth of the Kennebec. — Is abandoned in the summer of 1608. — A fleet with a colony is sent out by the London Company. — Newport commands. — They arrive in the Chesapeake. — Enter James River. — Make a landing and lay the foundations of Jamestown. — The affairs of the Plymouth Company are revived by Smith. — He explores and maps the coast of Maine and Massachusetts. — Several attempts are made to form a colony in New Eng- land— The Plymouth Company is superseded by the Council of Plymouth. — A new plan of colonization is made, and Smith appointed admiral. — The Puritans arise in the North of England. — They remove to Amsterdam and Leyden. — Determine to remove to America. — Ask permission of the king and the Council of Plymouth. — Meet with di8« couragements. — Procure two vessels at their own expense. — Sail from Leyden, and after- ward from Southampton. — The Speedwell is found unfit for the voyage, and the Pilgrims de})art in the Mayflower. — The Pilgrims have a stormy voyage. — Come in sight of Cape Cod. — They make a frame of government. — Carver is elected governor. — The landing is delayed by bad weather. — The ship is driven by storms. — Enters Plymouth harbor. — The Puritans go asliore on the 11th of December. — Begin to build. — Are attacked with diseases. — Many of the colony die. — An early spring brings them relief. . 85-91.
CHAPTER VIII.
VOYAGES AW© SETTLEMENTS OF THE DUTCH.
Dutch settlements in America result from the voyages of Hudson. — He is employed by London merchants to reach the Indies. — Sails into the North Atlantic. — Fails in his eflort. — Is sent on a second voyage. — And fails. — Goes into the service of the Dutch East India Company. — Sails on a third voyage. — Is driven back by the icebergs. — Turns to America. — Reaches Newfoundland. — Sails southward to the Chesapeake. — Then north- ward to New York harbor. — Discovers the Hudson River. — Explores that stream as far as .Vlbany. — Returns to Dartmouth. — Is detained by the Englisii government. — Is .sent on a fourth expedition. — Discovers Hud.son Strait and Bay. — Is overtaken by winter. — The crew mutiny. — Hudson is cast off among the icebergs. — Dutch vessels begin to trade at the mouth of the Hudson. — The states-general grant a right to trade. — A settlement is made on Manhattan Island. — Block explores Lonr Island Sound. — Christianson builds Fort Nassau. — May explores the coast of New Jersey. — Holland claims the country from Delaware Bay to Cape Cod 92-94
CONTENTS. ix
PART III.
COLONIAL HISTORY.
A. 1>. 1607— 1775.
PARENT COLONIES.
CHAPTEK IX.
VIRGINIA. — THE FIRST CHARTER.
The progress of Virginia is hindered. — First settlers are of bad character. — Necessity drives them to labor. — The king gives sealed instructions. — Smith is arrested. — And ex- cluded from the council.— He and Newport explore the James. — Eeturn to Jamestown. — Newport goes to England. — The colonists are discouraged. — Disease ravages the settle- ment.— Gosnold dies. — Wingfield embezzles the funds. — And is removed from office.— Eatcliffe succeeds.— And is also impeached.— Smith takes control of the colony. — Sketch of his life. — The settlement flourishes under his care. — He explores the country, and pro- cures supplies.— The Indians furnish provisions.— Smith explores the Chickahominy.— Is captured by the Indians.— Saves his life by stratagem.— Is carried to Orapax.— Thence to Pamunkey. — Is condemned to death. — And saved by Pocahontas. — He remains in Powhatan's household.— Is liberated.— Returns to Jamestown.— Terrifies tlie savages.— Deplorable condition of the settlement.— Plot to abandon the place.— Newport arrives •with new immigrants. — Who are as bad as the others. — The gold-hunters go abroad.— And find mica in the sand of James Eiver. — A ship is loaded with dirt and sent to Eng- land.—The planting season goes by.— Smith makes his great exploration of the Chesa- peake.—And maps the country. — Returns. — Is elected president. — Newport arrives with more immigrants and supplies. — Progress of the colony 9.>-104.
CHAPTER X.
VIRGINIA. — THE SECOND CHARTER.
King James grants a new charter. — Changes are made in the form of government. — A new council is organized. — Delaware is chosen governor. — The other officers. — A fleet with five hundred emigrants sails for America. — Encounters a storm. — Two vessels are wrecked. — Seven ships reach Jamestown. — The commissioners are left on the Bermuda Islands. — Smith retains the presidency. — New settlements are projected. — Smith is wounded.— Delegates his authority to Percy.— Returns to England.— Colony suflfers after his departure. — The starving time. — Gates and liis companions reacli Virginia. — The settlement is abandoned. — Delaware meets the colony. — And persuades them to return.— Prosperity begins.— But Delaware falls sick. — And returns to England.— Percy is deputy. — Dale arrives as governor. — Brings immigrants. — Writes for supplies and new colo- nist-s. — Who arrive. — TI>e colony improves. — Gates is made governor. — The right of private property i.s recognized. — .\nd the settlements enlarged. . . . 104-107
^ CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XL
VIRGINIA. — THE THIKD CHARTER.
The London Company receive a third patent. — The colony had proved unprofitable. — Afali kidnaps Pocahontas. — Who is married to Rolfe. — They visit England.— And leave descendants in Virginia. — Argall destroys the French settlements in Acadia. — And reduces the Dutch colony of Manhattan.— Dale becomes governor of Virginia.— Tobacco is the staple of Jamestown.— And is used for money.— Argall is chosen gov- ernor.-Delaware sails for America.— And dies.— Yeardley supersedes Argall.— Abolishes martial law.— Establislies the House of Burgesses.— Slavery is introduced.— Society is
low_ Women are sent over. — .\nd married to the colonists. — A constitution is granted.
"Wvatt liecomes governor. — Settlements spread abroad. — The Indians become jealous.
—And massacre the people.— But are defeated.— The company is opposed by the king.— A commission is appointed.— Who report against the company. — And its charter is re- voked.—But liberty is planted in Virginia 108-113
CHAPTER XII.
VIRGINIA. — THE ROYAL GOVERNMENT.
Roval government Is established. — But the administration is unchanged. — Charles I. becomes king.— Recognizes tlie Virginia Assembly. — Yeardley is re-elected governor. — Dies. — West is chosen by the council. — Harvey arrives from England. — Land-grants vex the people. — Harvey is impeached. — But is sustained by the king. — Wyatt succeeds. — English Revolution breaks out. — King Charles is beheaded. — Monarchy is abolished. — Cromwell becomes Protector.— Virginia inclines to royalty.— Berkeley becomes gov- ernor.— The Puritans are persecuted. — An Indian war arises. — The savages are beaten. — Virginia refuses to acknowledge Parliament. — Cromwell restricts her commerce. — Sends a fleet to America. — And the Virginians submit. — Favorable terms are granted — Peace continues during the commonwealth. — The Burgesses elect three governors.^ Berkeley is thus chosen, — Accepts. — But at the Restoration renounces his acceptance, — And issues writs in the king's name. — Tyranny follows. — Commerce is restricted. — The Virginians complain. — In vain. — Charles II. gives away Virginia lands. — And finally the whole State to Arlington and Culpepper. — The Quakers and the Baptists are persecuted. — Taxes are odious.— The people rebel, — An Indian war is the excuse. — And Berkeley's tyranny the cause. — Bacon heads the insurrection. — The Indians are punished. — Berkeley abdicates. — Returns. — Captures Jamestown. — Bacon takes the place, and burns it. — Dies. — The patriots are dispersed. — And the leaders hanged. — A worse despotism is established. — Culpepper becomes governor. — Treats Virginia as an estate. — .-Vrlington surrenders his claim. — The king recalls the grant. — And Vir- ginia becomes a royal province. — Howard and Nicholson administer the government. — William and Mary College founded. — Andros becomes governor. — Future history of Vir- rinia. .... ......... 114-123
CHAPTER XIII,
.MASSACHUSETTS. — SETTLEMENT.
The Pilgrims are saved by the coming of hpring. — Health is restored, — Miles Stan- dish is sent out to reconnoitre. — Samoset and Squanto come to Plymouth. — A treaty is made with Ma.ssasoit. — Other tribes acknowledge the sovereignty of England. — Canon- icns is overawed. — .\n unfruitful summer. — Iiumigrants arive. — Are quartered on the colony. — Tlic Pilgrims are destitute. — The new-comers found W^ey mouth, — The Indi-
CONTENTS. xi
ans plan a massacre. — And arc punished by Standish. — Weymouth is abandoned. — A plentiful harvest. — Robinson remains at Leyden. — The colonial enterprise proves un- profitable.— The managers sell out to the colonists. — The Established Church is fa- vored.— Salem is founded. — The Company of Massachusetts Bay is chartered by the king and the council. — Boston is founded. — The government is transferred to America. — A large immigration in 1630. — Wintlirop is governor. — Cambridge is founded. — Watertown. — Roibury. — Dorchester. — The colony suffers greatly. — Suffrage is restricted. — Williams protests. — And is banished. — Goes among the Indians. — Is kindly received. — Tarries at Seekonk. — Removes. — And founds Providence. — A representative govern- ment is established. — The ballot-box is introduced. — Tliree thousand immigrants ar- rive.— Vane and Peters are the leaders. — Concord is founded. — Colonies remove to the Connecticut. — Religious controversies. — Mrs. Hutchinson is banished. — She and her friends establish a republic on Rl)ode Island. — Harvard College is founded at Cam- bridge.— A printing-press is set up. — Eliot, Welde, and Mather translate the Psalms. — Liberty flourishes in Massachusetts. — Emigration is hindered by England. 123-133.
CHAPTER XIV.
MASSACHUSETTS. — THE UNION.
Progress of New England. — Circumstances favor a union of the colonies. — Massa- cliusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut and New Haven are confederated. — No other colonies are admitted. — A Body of Liberties is formed. — The two legislative branches are sepa- rated.— Tlie English Revolution is favorable to New England. — Vane and others de- fend the rights of the colonies. — The Parliament demands the charter of Massachusetts. — Which is refused. — Cromwell the friend of Massachusetts. — Maine is annexed.— Early settlements in Maine. — The Quakers arrive at Boston. — Are persecuted and baii- i.shed. — The death-penalty is passed against them. — Four persons are executed. — Reac- tion against the law. — And the law is abolished. — News of the Restoration reaches Boston. — Whalley and Goffe arrive. — And escape to Connecticut. — Vane and Peters are executed. — The Navigation Act is passed. — Its bearing on the commerce of New Eng- land.— War between England and Holland. — Charles II. attempts to subvert the colo- nial charters. — Commissioners are sent to Massachusetts. — Are met with resistance. — And defeated in their objects. — The colony prospers. .... 133-139.
CHAPTER XV.
MASSACHUSETTS. — KING PHILIP'S WAR.
Philip becomes king of the Wampanoags. — Causes of jealousy and war. — Alexan- der's imprisonment. — Outrages are committed. — The war begins. — Swanzey is attacked. — Philip is pursued to Mount Hope. — Escapes to Tiverton. — Is driven from the Narra- gansett country. — Goes to the Nipmucks. — A general war ensues. — The Narragansetts are obliged to remain neutral. — English ambassadors are massacred at Brookfield. — The town is attacked. — Rescued. — Abandoned. — Burned. — Deerfield is partly destroyed. — Lathrop attempts to bring off the harvests. — Is ambushed at Bloody Brook. — The battle. — Hadley is attacked. — Rescued by Goffe. — Springfield is assaulted. — And destroyed. — Hadley is burned. — The savages are defeated at Hatfield. — Philip repairs to the Nar- ragansetts.— The English declare war. — And invade the country. — Philip and his forces take refuge in a swamp. — Are surrounded. — Attacked. — And utterly routed.— Ruin of the Narragansett nation. — The war continues on the frontiers. — Towns and villages are destroyed. — The savages grow feeble. — Canonchet is taken. — And put to death. — Philip's family are captured. — And sold as slaves. — Himself hunted down. — And shot. — Sub-
Xll
CONTENTS.
mission of the tribes.— Losses of New England.— The English government refuses help. — Randolph conies to abridge the liberties of Massachusetts. — And is defeated. — Mas- Bachusetts pnrchast-s Maine of llie heirs of Gorges. — Difficulties concerning New llamp- shire — A royal government is established in the province. — Cranfield's administration, — The king's hostility. — The charter of Massachusetts is annulled. — King Charles dies. — James 11. appoints Dudley governor. — And then Andros. -The liberties of the peo- ple are destroyed. — The government of Andros is extended over New England. — But tlie charter of Connecticut is saved. — The Eevolution of 1688. — Andros is seized, and ; imprisoned. — And the colonies restore their liberties, .... 139-147.
CHAPTER XVI.
MASSACHTJSETTS. — WAR AND WITCHCRAFT.
King William's War begins. — The causes, — Dover is attacked and burned. — Pema- quid is destroyed. — And then Schenectady. — And Salmon Falls. — An expedition is planned against Canada. — Phipps takes Port Royal. — But fails at Quebec. — And re- turns.— Paper money is issued. — Failure of the expedition against Montreal. — Phipps goes to England. — And returns as royal governor. — Oyster River is destroyed. — Haver- hill is attacked and burned. — Mrs. Dustin's captivity. — The treaty of Ryswick. — The witchcraft excitement begins at Salem. — The causes. — Parris and Mather. — The trials. — Convictions.— Executions. — The reaction, — Mather's book, — Reflections. 147-153.
CHAPTER XVII,
MASSACHTJSETTS. — WARS OF ANNE AND GEORGE,
Causes of Queen Anne's War, — Field of operations in America, — A treaty is made with the Five Nations, — The conflict begins. — Deerfield is burned. — And the inhab- itants carried captive to Canada, — Barbarities of the Indians. — An expedition is sent against Port Royal. — The attempt fail.s. — Is renewed in 1710. — Port Royal is taken. — And named Annapolis. — Preparations are made for invading Canada. — Nicholson com- mands the land forces. — And Walker the fleet. — The squadron is delayed, — Stops at Gasp6 Bay. — Is shattered by a storm in the St. Lawrence. — Returns in disgrace, — The expedition by land is abandoned. — A treaty is made at Utrecht. — A separate peace is concluded with the Indians. — The people of Massachusetts resist the royal governor, — Causes of King George's War. — The conflict begins. — Importance of Louisburg. — Its conquest is planned by Shirley. — The colonies contribute men and means. — The expe- dition leaves Boston. — Is detained at Canseau, — Joined by Warren's fleet, — Reaches Gabarus Bay. — Invests Louisburg. — The siege. — The surrender. — Cape Breton siibmits. — France attempts to retio'nquer Louisburg. — Treat}' of Aix-la-Chapelle. — Character of the Puritans 153-160.
CHAPTER XVIII,
NEW YORK. — SETTLEMENT.
Character of Sir Henry Hudson. — The East India Company govern Manhattan. — A colony is sent from Holland. — A charter is granted to the West India Company, — The Walloons arrive at New Am.sterdam, — May builds Fort Nassau, — And Joris, Fort Orange.— Civil government begins in New Netherland. — May is governor, — And then VeriiulBt.— And Minuit. — Manhattan is purchased. — And fortified.— Friendly relations are established between the Walloons and the Puritan.s.— The Dutch devote themselves to the fur-trade. — Growth of the colony. — A charter is granted. — The patroons, — Five manors are laid out. — Delaware is colonized. — And then abandoned. — Van Twiller sue-
CONTENTS. xiii
ceeds Minuit. — A fort is built at Hartford. — The English claim the Connecticut. — Swe- den purposes to plant an American colony. — The project is delayed. — But renewed by Minuit. — A Swedish colony reaches the Delaware. — Settles at Christiana. — Is prosper- ous.— And New Netherland is jealous. — Fort Nassau is rebuilt. — Printz removes to Tin- icum. — The Indians are provoked by the Dutcli. — War breaks out. — A desultory contest. — The Mohawks come. — Kieft massacres the Algonquius. — The war continues. — Fate of Mrs. Hutcliinson. — Underbill conquers the Indians. — Kieft the author of the war. — DeVries succeeds him. 160-167.
CHAPTER XIX.
NEW YORK. — ADMINISTRATION OF STUYVESANT.
Stuyvesant is appointed governor. — Peace established with the Indians. — Free trade succeeds monopoly. — Growth of the colony. — A boundary is established between New England and New Netherland. — The Dutch again claim New Sweden. — Build Fort Casimir. — The place is captured by the Swedes. — Stuyvesant conquers and annexes New Sweden. — The Algonquins rebel. — And are subdued. — The Indians of Ulster rise. — Burn Esopus. — Are punished. — Stuyvesant is troubled about his boundaries. — Domes- tic difficulties. — New Netherland lags. — The Dutch prefer English laws. — The province is granted to the Duke of York. — The duke makes good his claim. — Sends out Nicolls. -^And conquers New Netherland. 167-171.
CHAPTEE XX.
NEW YORK UNDER THE ENGLISH.
Nicolls settles the boundaries of New York. — New Jersey is granted to Berkeley and Carteret. — Is claimed by Nicolls. — But the claim is set aside. — The Territories. — The Dutch claim liberty. — Are disappointed. — New land-titles are issued. — Lovelace succeeds Nicolls. — And is resisted by the people. — His tyranny. — Friendship of the English and the Dutch. — War with Holland. — Evertsen reconquers New York. — But the province is restored to England. — Andros begins his government. — Proves himself a despot. — Claims the country from the Connecticut to Maryland. — Goes to Saybrook. — Is baffled by Captain Bull. — Attempts to overawe New Jersey. — And fails. — Delaware is separated from New York. — And joined to Pennsylvania. — Dongan becomes gov- ernor.— The right of representation is conceded. — Character of the Constitution. — A treaty is made with the Iroquois. — The Duke of York becomes king. — And overthrows colonial liberties. — Andros is sent out as governor of New England. — Usurps the gov- ernments of all the colonies north of the Delaware. — Leisler's insurrection. — The prov- ince yields to his authority. — Schenectady is burned. — Ingoldsby arrives as governor. — Leisler and Milborne are arrested.— Tried. — And hanged. — The Iroquois treaty is renewed. — The Indians make war on the French. — The assembly declares against ar- bitrary authority. — Fletcher becomes governor. — Attempts to usurp the government of Connecticut and New Jersey.— Is defeated.— Effort to establish the Episcopal Church.— The project fails.— The French invade New York.— Are repelled. — Bello- mont becomes governor. — The career of Captain Kidd. — Cornbury succeeds Bellomont. — New Jersey is annexed to New York. — Cornbury's fraudulent administration. — He is overthrown. — And succeeded by Lovelace. — An unsuccessful expedition is made against Montreal.— The fleet also fails.— New York is in debt.— The treaty of Utrecht. —The Tuscarora migration.— A fort is built at Oswego.— The French fortify Niagara and Crown Point. — Crosby is sent out as governor. — Assails the freedom of the press. — The trial of Zenger. — The negro plot. — French invasions of New York. — Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. — Slow growth of the province. — Prospects. — Reflections. . 172-1S3.
XIV CONTENTS.
COLONIAL HISTORY.— Continued.
MINOR EASTERN COLONIES.
CHAPTER XXI.
CONNECTICUT.
Connecticut is granted to Warwick. — And transferred to Sav-and-Seal. — The Dutch fortifj Hartford. — The Puritans claim the country. — Send an expedition up the Con- necticut.— Found Windsor. — A colony leaves Boston. — Settles on the Connecticut. — Winthrop founds Saybrook. — The English control the river. — The Pequod War. — The Narragansetts make a treaty with the English. — The Pequods do likewise. — Violate the compact. — Attempt an alliance with the Narragansetts. — Williams defeats the project. — The Mohegans join the English. — A massacre at Wethersfield. — Mason is chosen to command. — A force is organized. — Proceeds against the Pequods. — And destroys the nation. — The coast of Long Island Sound is explored. — New Haven is founded. — The Bible for a constitution. — Civil government begins in Connecticut. — Character of the laws. — Connecticut joins the Union. — Saybrook is annexed. — A treaty is made with Stuyvesant. — War with New Netherland is threatened. — King Charles is recognized. — Winthrop is sent to England. — Obtains a charter. — Returns. — Is chosen governor. — Growth of the colony. — Andros attempts to assume the government. — Is thwarted at Say- brook.— Returns after twelve years. — Invades the assembly at Hartford. — Subverts the government. — The charter is saved. — Fletcher enters the colony. — Is baffled by Wads- worth. — Yale College is founded. — Development of the province. — Reflections. 184-192.
CHAPTER XXII.
KHODE ISLAND.
Williams founds Rhode Island.— Sketch of his life.— The Baptist Church is or- ganized.— Civil government begins. — Character of the institutions. — Massachusetts re- fuses to recall Williams from exile. — A colony at Portsmouth. — The Jewish common- wealth.— Newport is founded. — The Norse tower. — A democracy is established. — Rhode Island is rejected by the Union. — Williams procures a charter. — The island of Rhode Island secedes. — Is reannexed. — Patriotism of Williams. — Charles II. reissues the charter. — Prosperity of Rhode Island. — .\ndros overturns the government. — Is over- thrown.—Henry Bull is governor.— Reflections 193-198.
CHAPTER XXIII.
NEW HAMPSHIKE.
New Hampshire is granted to Gorges and Mason. — And colonized. — Settlements on the Piscataqua. — The province is divided. — Wheelwright purchases the Indian title.— Mason's patent is conflrmed. — He dies. — Difficulties ensue. — Exeter is founded. — New Hampshire is united with Massachusetts. — The Masonian claim is revived. — The question is decided. — The two provinces are separated. — Cranfield is appointed governor. — A general assembly is convened. — Character of the laws. — The royal officers
CONTENTS. xy^
are resisted. — Andros assumes the government. — New Hampshire and Massachusetts are united. — Governed by Bellomont. — Finally separated. — The Masonian claim again.
How decided. — Suffering of the colony in the Indian wars. — Character of the people.
— Eeflections on the New England colonists. 198-202.
COLONIAL HISTORY.— Continued.
MINOR MIDDLE COLONIES.
CHAPTER XXIV.
NEW JERSEY.
Early settlements in New Jersey.— At Bergen.— And Fort Nassau.— Grants and purchases. — The province is given to Berkeley and Carteret. — Nicolls makes a grant to Puritans. — Elizabethtown is founded. — Nicolls contends with the Carterets. — The pro- prietors frame a constitution. — Character of the laws. — The quit-rents. — The colonists resist payment. — Philip Carteret is deposed. — And James Carteret becomes governor. — New Jersey is retaken by Holland. — And again ceded to England. — The Duke of York has his charter renewed. — Andros comes as governor. — Carteret resists. — Berkeley .sells AVest Jersey to Fen wick. — Philip Carteret and Andros dispute about the Eastern prov- ince.— Laurie, Lucas, and Penn buy West Jersey. — Object of the j)urchase. — New Jersey is divided. — Line of division. The proprietors of West Jersey issue the Concessions. — The Quakers colonize West Jersey. — The Duke of York claims the country. — Sir Wil- liam Jones decides against him. — Andros's claim to East Jersey is annulled. — The Qua- Icers convene an assembly. — And frame a constitution. — East Jersey is purcha-sed by the Friends. — Barclay is governor. — The two Jerseys submit to Andros. — And afterward regain their liberties. — Conflicting claims to the country. — Discord. — The proprietors- surrender their rights of government to the Crown. — New Jersey becomes a royal province. — Is attached to New York under Cornbury. — The people petition for a sepa- ration.— Which is granted. — Morris becomes governor. — New Jersey not injured by Indian wars. — Eeflections 203-208.
CHAPTER XXV.
PENNSYLVANIA.
The Friends are persecuted in Europe. — Penn designs to plant a Quaker State in America. — Charles II. grants the charter of Pennsylvania. — Penn relinquishes his ■claims on the British government. — Declares his purposes. — Writes a letter to the Swedes. — Invites emigration. — A colony departs under Markham. — The Indians are assured of friendship. — Penn frames a constitution. — The Duke of York surrenders Delaware. — Extent of Penn's dominion. — He leaves England with a second colony. — Sketch of his life. — He addresses the people at New Castle. — Passes through the Jerseys to New York.— Returns. — Makes the great treaty with the Indians. — Which is kept inviolate. — A convention is held at Chester. — A provisional constitution is adopted. — Penn visits Lord Baltimore. — Philadelphia is founded. — Growth of the
xvi CONTENTS.
city. — Penn sails for England. — Lloyd remains as governor. — Delaware secedes. — Penn adheres to the Stuarts. — Is imprisoned. — His province is taken away. — But afterward restored. — Penn revisits America. — The constitution is modified. — Delaware is finally separated. — Penn returns to England. — Condition of his province. — Hamilton and Evans deputy governors. — Conduct of the latter. — He is removed from office. — Succeeded by Gookin. — Penn's trials in England. — He dies. — His sons become proprietors of Penn- sylvania.— The province is purchased by the colonial assembly. — Reflections. 209-215,
COLONIAL HISTORY— Continued.
MINOR SO UTHERN COLONIES.
CHAPTER XXVI.
MARYLAND. "
CLiyborne is commissioned by the London Company. — Explores the Chesapeake.— Establishes trading-posts. — Sketcli of Sir George Calvert's life. — He plans a Catholic colony. — Sends a company to Newfoundland. — Goes to Virginia. — Refuses the oath. — Returns to England. — Obtains a charter. — Character and extent of the patent. — Calvert dies. — Sir Cecil succeeds him. — The name of Maryland. — A colony is sent out under Leonard Calvert. — Reaches tlie Chesapeake. — Ascends the Potomac. — Returns. — And founds St. Mary's. — Friendly relations are established with the Indians. — Growth of the colony. — An assembly is convened. — Clayborne incites an insurrection. — Is beaten. — Escapes into Virginia. — Is sent to England. — Representative government is estab- lished.— An Indian war breaks out. — Clayborne returns to America. — Leads a second insurrection. — Overthrows the government. — The rebellion is suppressed.— Tolerant character of the laws. — Division of the legislature. — Commissioners are appointed by Parliament.— Dissensions of Stone and Clayborne.— The civil war between the Catliolics and Protestants.— Fendall's rebellion. — Maryland declares intlependence.— Feiidall is condemned.— Charles Calvert is governor.— The Protestants gain control of the State. — Maryland becomes a royal province. — The heir of i^ord Baltimore is restored to his rights.— The Cal verts rule the colony until the Revolution.— Reflections. . 216-224.
CHAPTER XXVII.
NORTH CAROLINA.
The name of Carolina.— Early explorations.— The country is granted to Clarendon and others.— Albemarle and Clarendon colonies are founded.— Cooper and Locke frame the grand model.— Its establishment impossible.— Clarendon county is aban- doned.—The proprietors oppress the colonists.- A rebellion ensues. — Governor CuL pepper goes to England. — And defends the people. — Clarendon sells his rights. — Sothel is sent out as governor. — His tyranny. — He is overthrown. — Ludwell succeeds. — And then Walker. — The colony prospers. — Decline of the Indian tribes. — A war breaks out. — Barnwell's expedition. — Peace. — And war again. — Moore invades the country of the Tuscaroras.— The savages are beaten. — The nation is divided. — Tlie Tuscarora migra- tion.— Division of the Carolinas. — Character of the people. . . . 224-229.
CONTENTS. xxvii
New York. — Discussion of the tariff in Congress. — A protective duty laid on fabrics.
A new departure in American history. — Adams renominated for the Presidency. — Gen- eral Jackson put forward by the Democrats. — And elected. . . , 423-426.
CHAPTER LIV.
Jackson's administration.
Sketch of Jackson's life and character. — He fills the oflSces with his political friends —Opposes the rechartering of the United States Bank. — And vetoes the bill. — The new political organization. — Sketch of parties. — The tariff question again. — South Carolina attempts nullification. — Debate of Webster and Hayne. — The President's proc- lamation.— South Carolina recedes from her position. — Mr. Clay's tariff compromise. — The Black Hawk war breaks out. — Generals Scott and Atkinson are sent against the Eed men. — Who are driven to submission. — The difficulty with the Cherokees. — Char- acter of that race.— The wrongs done to them. — Scott compels their removal to the West. — A second Seminole war. — The arrest of Osceola. — His release and conspiracy. — Dade's massacre. — Murder of General Thompson. — Clinch fights the savages and re- treats.— Gaines defeats the Indians on the Withlacoochie. — Battle of the Wahoo Swamp. — A second fight. — The President orders the distribution of the funds. — A panic follows. — The President is vituperated. — Is censured by Congress. — But re-elected. — He brings France and Portugal to terms. — Death-list of eminent men. — Fires in New York and Washington. — Arkansas and Michigan admitted into the Union. — Jackson's farewell address. — Van Buren elected President 426-436.
CHAPTER LV.
VAN bueen's administration.
Sketch of the new executive. — Another monetary disturbance. — Continuance of the Seminole war. — Colonel Taylor hunts the savages to Lake Okeechobee. — Defeats them, — And compels submission. — The financial panic of '37. — Causes which led thereto. — Especially the Specie Circular. — The banks suspend. — Tremendous failures. — Treasury notes are issued. — The Independent Treasury Bill is discussed. — And finally passed. — Partial revival of business. — The Canada insurrection. — Affair of the Caroline. — Wool is sent to the Niagara. — Order- is restored. — An early presidential canvass. — Uneventful character of Van Buren's administration. — The sixth census. — General Harrison is elected President 436-440
CHAPTER LVI.
administrations of HARRISON AND TYLER.
Sketch of the President's life. — He enters upon his duties. — Falls sick. — And dies. — Tyler succeeds to the Presidency. — Sketch. — Repeal of the Independent Treasury Bill. — A bill is passed to recharter the United States Bank. — And vetoed by the Presi- dent.— The bankrupt law. — Rupture between the executive and Congress. — Resignation of the cabinet.-rThe north-eastern boundary is settled by the Webster-Ashburton treaty. — The Rhode Island insurrection. — The suffrage party elects Dorr. — And the law-and- order party, King. — The latter is supported by the government. — Dorr's followers are scattered. — And himself convicted of treason. — But afterward pardoned. — Building and dedication of Bunker Hill monument. — The Van Rensselaer land troubles in New York. — The Mormons. — They are driven from Missouri. — Found Nauvoo. — Popular feeling against them. — Smith and his brother are murdered. — And the Mormons driven
xviii CONTENTS.
of the Jesuits. — Missions are established on the lakes. — Joliet and Marquette discover the Mississippi. — Descend the river. — Keturii to Micliigan. — La Salle passes through the lakes. — Descends the Illinois. — Goes to Canada. — Returns. — And explores the Missis- sippi to tiie guli'. — Sails for France. — Returns with a colony. — Reaches Texas. — Seta out for Canada. — Is murdered. — French posts are established. — The Ohio valley to be occupied. — The animosity of France and England leads to war. — The frontiersmen of the two nations come in conflict. — The Ohio Company is organized. — Obtains a grant ot land. — Bienville explores and claims the Ohio valley. — Gist traverses the country to the falls of the Ohio. — The French fortify Le Bceuf and Venango. — Attack a British post. — Gist makes a second exploration.— An English colony on the Youghiogheny. — The Indians favor the English. — The Half-King goes to Erie. — The chiefs confer with Franklin. — Dinwiddle sends a despatch to St. Pierre. — Washington is chosen for the mission. — Sets out by way of Will's Creek to the site of Pittsburg, — And thence to Le Bo^f. — Washington confers with St. Pierre. — And returns to Virginia. — Hardships of the journey. — Trent begins a fort at the fork of the Ohio. — The French capture the place. — And build Du Quesne. — Washington is sent to retake the fort. . 245-255.
CHAPTER XXXI.
CAMPAIGNS OP WASHINGTON AND BRADDOCK.
Washington marches to Great Meadows. — Builds Fort Necessity. — Attacks and defeats Jumonville. — Extends the road toward Du Quesne. — De Villiers approaches. — Attacks Fort Necessity. — And compels a surrender. — An American congress assembles at Albany. — Franklin plans a union. — The colonies reject the constitution. — France sends soldiers to America. — Braddock is sent by England. — He confers with the gov- ernors.— Plans four compaigns. — Marches his army to Foi't Cumberland. — Proceeds against Du Quesne. — Approaches the fort. — Meets the French and Indians. — And is v
terribly defeated. — Washington saves the remnant of the army. — Death of Braddock. — Dunbar retreats. — Destroys the stores. — Evacuates Fort Cumberland. — Retires to Philadelphia 25-5-261.
CHAPTER XXXIL
BUIN OF ACADIA.
Nova Scotia under English rule. — Lawrence fears an insurrection. — Is authorized to subdue the French inhabitants. — The English fleet leaves Boston. — The French forts on the Bay of Fundy. — The fleet arrives at Beau-Sejour. — The place is besieged. — And obliged to surrender. — The other forts capitulate. — The British officers deter- mine to exile the inhabitants. — The country is laid waste. — And the people carried into banishment 261-264.
CHAPTER XXXIIL
EXPEDITIONS OF SHIRLEY AND JOHNSON.
A campaign is planned against Niagara. — Shirley commands. — Proceeds to Os- wego.— Wastes the time. — Marches homeward.— Oswego Is rebuilt. — Johnson and Ly- man go against the French on Lake Champlain.— Build Fort Edward.— Form a camp on Lake George. — Dieskau approaches. — Proceeds by way of Wood Creek against Fort Edward. — Meets the English. — And drives them to the camp. — Tlie battle. — The French are defeated. — Dieskau is killed. — The English lose heavily. — Johnson builds Fort William Henry. — The French reinforce their forts 264-266.
CONTENTS. xix
CHAPTER XXXIV.
TWO YEAK8 OP DISASTER.
Shirley becomes commander-in-chief. — Washington repels the Indians. — Franklin <lefends Pennsylvania. — The campaigns of 1756 are planned. — The military forces of America are consolidated. — Loudoun is commander-in-chief. — He and Abercrombie arrive in New York with soldiers and supplies. — England declares war. — Abercrombie goes to Albany. — And stays there. — Montcalm besieges and captures Oswego. — The Delawares revolt. — And are punished. — Loudoun burrows at Albany. — The French strengthen their forts. — The conquest of Louisburg is planned. — Loudoun proceeds to Halifax. — Holboiirn joins him. — They muster and do nothing. — Loudoun returns to New York. — Montcalm and the Iroquois besiege and capture Fort William Henry. — The Indians massacre the prisoners. — Review of the situation. 267-270.
CHAPTER XXXV.
TWO YEARS OF SUCCESSES.
Pitt becomes prime minister. — London n is deposed. — Abercrombie succeeds. — An able corps of generals sent to America. — Three- campaigns are planned. — Amherst and Wolfe proceed against Louisburg. — Besiege and take the fortress. — Abercrombie attacks Ticonderoga. — And is repulsed with great loss. — Bradstreet takes Fort Frontenac. — Montcalm advises peace. — Forbes marches against Du Quesne. — Grant is defeated. — Washington leads the advance. — The French abandon and burn Du Quesne. — The place named Pittsburg. — Amherst commander-in-chief. — Relative strength of the Eng- lish and the French. — Pitt plans the conquest of Canada. — Prideaux defeats the French before Niagara. — And captures the fortress. — Amherst takes Ticonderoga and Crown Point. — Wolfe proceeds against Quebec. — Reaches the Island of Orleans. — Besieges the city. — Tlie Lower Town is destroyed. — Montcalm's position. — The battle of Montmor- enci. — Wolfe's fever. — He ascends the river. — Plans an assault. — Discover's Wolfe's Cove. — Gains the Plains of Abraham. — Fights a decisive battle. — Defeats the French. — Is slain. — Quebec capitulates. — And then Montreal. — The Cherokee revolt is quelled. — The effect of the conquest of Canada. The French outposts are included in the sur- render of Montreal. — Rogers is sent to take possession of the forts. — He reaches De- troit.— Receives the surrender of Forts Miami and Ouatanow. — Mackinaw, Green Bay and St. Marie afterward capitulate. — The English treat the Red men badly. — The lat- ter become revengeful. — They make an attempt against Detroit. — And are baffled. — Conspiracies grow rife. — Pontiac organizes a confederacy. — Makes a plot for the cap- ture of Detroit. — And fails. — An unsuccessful siege ensues. — The savages are victorious in other quarters. — They capture most of the western forts. — The confederacy breaks up. — Pontiac is abandoned. — And killed. — The war continues on the ocean. — England is victorious.— A treaty of peace.— The terms 270-279,
CHAPTER XXXVI.
CONDITION OF THE COLONIES.
The thirteen colonies.— Institutions. — Population. — Distribution of the same. — Growth of a national character and sentiment.— Education. — Character of the same in New England. — In the South.— Colleges. — Newspapers. — Books and men. — Absence of roads. — Agriculture the predominating pursuit. — Sliip-building and manufactures.— What the British Board of Trade was good for.— Reflections on the character of the -A-nclo-American colonists. . ^ 280-284.
XX
CONTENTS.
PART IV.
REVOLUTION AND CONFEDERATION.
A. I>. 1775-1789.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
CAUSES.
Importance of the revolution. — The question decided by it. — Character of the con- test.— The causes. — Great Britain claims the right of arbitrary government. — France incites the rebellion. — The disposition of the Americans encourages independence. — Public opinion leads to the same result. — The king provokes a conflict. — Parliament passes oppressive acts. — The question of taxation. — Nature of the dispute. — The Im- portation Act. — Its provisions. — Writs of Assistance are issued. — And resisted. — The sugar and wine duties. — The colonists refuse to pay them. — A Stamp Act is proposed. — Indignation in the colonies. — The question of the Indian war-debt arises. — The Stamp Act is passed. — Its provisions. — The news is received in America. — Tlie wrath of the people- — Scene in the House of Burgesses. — Patrick Henry's speech. — Passage of the resolutions. — Other assemblies pursue a similar course. — Tiie first Colonial Congress. — A declaration of Rights is adopted. — Memorials to the king and Parliament. — The Stamp Act is resisted. — And the stamps destroyed. — Suspension of business. — The Sons of Liberty. — A non-importation agreement is made. — The wrath of England.— Camden and Pitt defend the colonists. — Repeal of the Stamp Act. — Joy follows. — Townshend re- news the scheme. — Secures the passage of a glass and tea-tax. — The Americans resist the act. — Circular of Massachusetts. — Seizure of a sloop at Boston. — Insurrection of the people. — Gage takes possession of Boston. — Is ordered to arrest the patriots. — Rebellion of Virginia and North Carolina. — Conflict at New York. — The Boston massacre. — Re- peal of the duties. — Passage of the Salary Act. — Burning of the Ga.spee. — Stratagem of the ministry. — Tea is shipped to America. — Is spoiled at Charleston. — Refused at New York and Philadelphia. — And poured overboard at Boston. — Passage of the Port Bill. — Opposition of the Burgesses. — The charter of Massachusetts is annulled. — The people declared rebels. — The .second Congress assembles. — Resolutions and addresses. — A British army is ordered to America. — Boston Neck fortified. — Military stores re- moved.— The assembly refuses to disband. — War becomes inevitable. . 285-296.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE BEGINNING.
Tlie patriots remove their stores. — Gage plans to destroy them. — Pitcairn is sent for that purpose. — Dawes and Revere arouse the people. — The British reach Lexington. — Fire on the patriots. — Proceed to Concord. — Ransack the village. — Are attacked. — Anjl driven back to Boston. — The country is fired. — The patriots gather at Cambridge. — Allen and Arnold march against Ticonderoga. — .\nd capture the fortress. — The British are reinforced. — Proclamation of Gage. — His plans. — The Americans fortify Breed's Hill. — Amazement of the British. — The battle. — Excitement of the people. — The North Carolinians declare independence. — The Colonial Congress assembles. — An appeal to the king. — Washington commander-in-chief. — Sketch of his life. — His duties and em-
CONTENTS. xxi
barrassments.— Organization of the army.— Koyal rule is overthrown.— Struggle with Dunmore.— Expedition against Quebec— Led by Schuyler, Montgomery and Arnold.— 4Schuyler falls sick.— Montgomery takes Montreal.— Hardships of Arnold's march.— He and Montgomery unite against Quebec. — The town is invested. — The assault and defeat. — Pall of Montgomery. — The expedition is abandoned. — Sketch of Montgomery. 297-305.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
THE WORK OF '76.
The king answers the colonies.— Howe succeeds Gage. — Siege of Boston. — The Brit- ish evacuate the city. — The Americans enter.— Public rejoicings. — Washington goes to ]New York. — Clinton threatens the city. — Cornwallis and Parker proceed against Charleston. — Eising of the Carolinians. — The attack on Moultrie. — Repulse of the Brit- ish.— Distresses of the army. — Great Britain hires the Hessians. — And makes new lev- ies.— Exasperation of the patriots. — The question of independence. — Lee's resolutions. — Debates. — A committee is appointed. — The Declaration of Independence adopted. — And received with enthusiasm. — Its leading principles. — Howe returns. — Lands an army. — Attempts to open negotiations. — And fails.— The British advance on Long Is- land.— Fight a battle. — And defeat the patriots. — Washington saves the army. — Dis- couragement of the people.— The British take New York.— Negotiations are again at- tempted.— But fail. — Movements of the two armies. — Battle of White Plains. — Dispo- sition of the American forces. — Notice of Hamilton. — The capture of Fort Washington — Fort Lee is taken. — The Americans retreat across New Jersey. — The pursuit ends. — Enlargement of Washington's powers. — British successes in Rhode Island. — Lee's cap- ture.— Washington recruits his army. — Recrosses the Delaware. — Defeats the British at Trenton.— Effect of tlie battle.— Alarm of the British.— Robert Morris to the rescue.— Washington threatens the British posts 305-317.
CHAPTER XL.
OPERATIONS OF '77.
•
The British advance against Trenton. — Washington withdraws his forces. — Attacks Princeton. — And wins a victory. — Takes post at Morristown. — The British at New Brunswick. — Cornwallis on the defensive. — Destruction of stores at Peekskill. — Lincoln attacked at Boundbrook. — Tryon burns Danbury.— Is attacked and driven away. — Meigs takes Sag Harbor.— Washington advances into New Jersey. — The British threaten Philadelphia. — Retire to Araboy.— -Leave the State. — Barton captures Prescott. — Congress returns to Philadelphia. — Help from France. — Coming of La Fayette and De Kalb. — Plan of Burgoyne's campaign. — The invasion begins. — Fall of Crown Point and Ticonderoga. — The battle of Hubbaiflton. — Capture of Whitehall. — Fort Edward is taken. — Schuyler retreats to the Mohawk.— The British advance is impeded. — The battle of Bennington. — St. Leger besieges Schuyler. — Herkimer brings relief. — And is defeated. — Arnold advances. — The Indiajis desert the British. — St. Leger retreats. — Dis- couragement of Burgoyne. — Gathering of the Americans. — Burgoyne at Saratoga. — The first battle. — Critical condition of the British. — A diversion is attempted by Clinton. — But fails. — The second battle. — The Americans victorious. — Burgoyne is surrounded. — And driven to surrender. — The army of the North relieves Washington. — The move- ment of Howe against Philadelphia.^He enters the Chesapeake. — The battle of Brandy- wine. — Retreat of the Americans. — Washington advances to Warren's Tavern. — A storru prevents the battle. — Countermarching of the armies. — The British capture Phil- adelphia.— Congress adjourns to Lancaster. — Washington on Skippack Creek. — The
xxii CONTENTS.
battle of Germantown, — Capture of Forts Mercer and Mifflin. — The Americans at Whitemarsh. — Adventure of Lydia Darrah. — The British winter at Philadelphia. — The Americans at Valley Forge.-^orrows of Washington 317-328,
CHAPTER XLI.
FRANCE TO THE RESCUE.
Silas Deane is sent to France. — His mission. — France favors the Americans. — Sup- plies are sent to the patriots. — Steuben arrives. — Lee and Franklin are appointed to negotiate a treaty. — Franklin's influence at the French court. — A treaty is concluded. — Sketch of Franklin. — Arrival of D'Estaing's fleet. — War threatened between France and England. — Effort of Great Britain for peace. — The British fleet at Philadelphia. — With- drawal of the squadron. — The city evacuated. — Washington pursues. — The battle of Monmouth. — Lee disobeys orders. — Is court-martialed and dismissed. — British concen- trate at New York. — The city threatened by D'Estaing. — He sails against Rhode Island. — Sullivan co-operates against Newport. — Howe follows D'Estaing. — Both squadrons shattered by a storm. — The .siege of Newport. — Abandonment of the enterprise.— De- struction of American shipping. — Byron succeeds Howe. — Marauding of the British. — The Wyoming massacre. — Ruin of Cherry Valley. — The expedition of Major Clarke. — Tlie French and British fleets sail away. — A force is sent against Savannah. — Capture of the city.— The situation 328--333,
CHAPTER XLIL
MOVEMENTS OF '79.
Hard.ships of the soldiers. — T-yon's expedition. — Is attacked by the militia. — Putj- nam's exploit. — Fall of Stony Point and Verplank's. — Insurrection in Virginia. — Tryork invades Connecticut. — Destruction of East Haven, Fairfield, and Norwalk.— Stony Point is retaken by Wayne. — Lee captures Jersey City. — An American flotilla sails ta the Penobscot. — Is ruined. — Sullivan ravages the Indian country. — The British evacuate 'Rhode Island. — War in the South. — Fort Sunbury is taken. — Fall of Augusta. — Ander- son defeats the tories. — Pickens gains a victory. — Augusta is evacuated. — Defeat of Lincoln's army. — The militia rally. — Lincoln takes the field. — Threatens Augusta. — Returns to Charleston. — Is beaten at Stono Ferry. — Suspension of activity. — D'Estaing arrives. — Siege of Savannah. — The unsuccessful assault. — Paul Jones's victory. — Re- flections " 334-339.
CHAPTER XLIII.
REVERSES Alft) TREASON.
Operations in the North suspended. — Ternay's fleet arrives. — Campaigns are planned. — Arbutlinot and Clinton besiege Charleston. — The city is taken. — Ravages of Tarleton. , — Plan of tlie British to conquer .South Carolina. — Capture of Ninety-Six. — Cornwallis's ' success. — Tarleton's mas.sacre. — South Carolina is subjugated. — Clinton returns to New York. — Marion and Sumter's bands. — They scour the country. — Their victories. — Gates takes command. — The British at Camden. — Gates advances against them. — Is met and defeated. — Is superseded by Greene. — Sumter's corps is broken up. — Cruelty of the British. — Rawdon advances into North Carolina. — Ferguson's tories are defeated. — Financial distresses.— Sacrifices of Morris.- The treason of Arnold.— Sketch of his career. — Andr^ is sent to a conference. — The interview.— Andr^ attempts to return to New York.— Is captured, condemned, and executed.— Treaty with Holland. 339-345.
CONTENTS. xxiii
CHAPTER XLIV.
THE END. 9 Desperate condition of the army. — The Pennsylvania line revolt. — Mutiny of the Jersey brigade. — Eobert Morris secretary of finance. — Champe attempts to capture Arnold. — Fails. — Arnold's expedition to Virginia. — Second plan to capture him. — He becomes commander-in-chief in Virginia. — Is superseded. — And ordered out of the State. — Leads a band into Connecticut. — Captures Fort Griswold. — Greene in the South. — Advances into South Carolina. — Morgan at the Cowpens.— Is attacked by Tarleton. — But defeats him. — Cornwallis attempts to cut off Morgan's retreat. — Greene takes command. — Crosses the Catawba. — Eace for the Yadkin. — Greene wins it. — • Eace for the Dan. — Greene wins it. — Chagrin of the British. — Greene turns upon the enemy. — Lee disperses the tories. — Greene moves forward to Guilford. — Cornwallis attacks him. — An indecisive battle. — The British retreat to Wilmington. — Cornwallis goes to Virginia. — The Americans advance into South Carolina. — The battle of Hob- kirk's Hill. — The British retire to Eutaw Springs. — The siege of Ninety-Six. — The place is abandoned by the enemy. — Greene in the Highlands. — Sumter, Lee, and Marion overrun the country. — Execution of Hayne. — Greene advances against Eutaw Springs. — The battle. — The British retreat to Charleston. — The situation. — The cam-^ paign in Virginia. — Cornwallis ravages the State. — Marches down the James. — Iff attacked by Wayne. — Proceeds to Portsmouth. — And thence to Yorktown. — The Army of the North comes down upon him. — The French fleet co-operates. — Yorktown is- besieged. — And Cornwallis's army taken. — Eejoicings. — Fall of tiie king's party in Par- liament.— Negotiations for peace. — A treaty is concluded. — Its terms.-^Carleton super- sedes Clinton. — Evacuation of New York. — Washington bids farewell to his officers. — Eetires to private life. .... 345-356>
CHAPTEE XLV.
CONFEDERATION AND CNION.
Bad condition of the government. — Its defects. — Franklin pleads for union. — A committee appointed to prepare a Constitution. — The Articles of Confederation are adopted. — The colonies are slow to ratify. — The Confederation. — Defects of the same. — Chaotic condition of affairs. — A firmer Constitution is projected. — The con- vention at Annapolis. — Adjournment to Philadelphia. — The Constitution is re- ported to the convention. — And adopted. — The last colonial Congress. — Its final work. — The North-Avestern Territory is organized. — The several States cede their rights- away. — St. Clair appointed governor. — Plan of organization. — Slavery is restricted. — — The people divide on the question of adopting the Constitution. — Sketch of Ham- ilton.— Character of the Constitution. — Amendments thereto. — The struggle in the colonial conventions. — Eatification by eleven States. — Washington is chosen Pres- ident.— .John Adams for the vice-presidency. — Washington's journey to New Y'"ork. — Conclusion . 356-362.
XXIV
CONTENTS.
PAET V.
NATIONAL PERIOD.
CHAPTER XLVI.
Washington's administration.
Washington is inaugurated President. — And the new government organized. — The country is beset with difficulties. — A cabinet is formed. — The Supreme Court is organ- ized.— Rhode Island and North Carolina ratify the Constitution. — Washington makes a tour through New England. — Presidential etiquette. — Hamilton's financial measures. — The seat of government is fixed. — An Indian war breaks out. — Harmar marches against tlie Miamis. — Is defeated on the Maumee. — The Bank of the United States is established. — Vermont is admitted into the Union. — The first census. — St. Clair is sent against the Indians. — His army is defeated. — The wrath of Washington. — St. Clair is superseded by Wayne. — Kentucky is admitted. — Washington re-elected. — The foreign relations of the government are troubled. — Genet's conduct. — Fouchet supersedes him. — Troubles in tlie President's cabinet. — Antagonism of Jefferson and IJamilton. — Tlie wliisky insurrection breaks out. — Is suppressed by Lee. — Wayne invades the Indian country. — Defeats the Red men at Waynesfield. — Compels a cession of ter- ritory.— Dies. — Great Britain orders the seizuie of American vessels. — Jay procures reparation and a treaty. — Popular opposition thereto. — The compact with Spain. — Peace is purchased of Algiers. — Tennessee is admitted. — Washington issues liis Fare- well address. — The candidates for the Presidency. — Adams is elected. — ^Jeiferson for Vice-President 363-371.
CHAPTER XLVII.
ADAMS'S ADMINISTRATION.
Sketch of John Adams. — Opposition to the new administration. — France demands an alliance. — Orders the destruction of American commerce. — Pinckney is dismissed. — The extra session of Congress. — Gerry, Marshall, and Pinckney are sent to France. — The Directory want money. — Pinckney's answer. — An American army is organized. — Washington coniander-in-chief. — The work of the navy. — Truxtun's victories.-- -Doings of Talleyrand. — Napoleon .seeks jieace. — The successful embassy of Murray, ElLsworlh, and Davie. — Death of Washington. — Close of the administration. — Growth of the country. — The Alien and Sedition laws. — Overthrow of the Federal party. — Jefferson is elected President. — And Burr Vice-President 372-376.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Jefferson's administration.
Sketch of Jefferson. — He puts Democrats in office. — Ohio is admitted. — Indiana and Mississippi organized. — Louisiana is purchased from France. — Boundaries. — Tlie territory of Orleans is set off. — John Marshall in the chief-justiceship. — The Mediter-
CONTENTS. XXV
Tanean pirates.— Preble is sent against them. — The Philadelphia is captured. — Eetaker, and burned. — The siege of Tripoli. — Expedition of Eaton. — Yusef signs a treaty. — The duel of Burr and Hamilton. — Jefferson is re-elected. — Michigan is organized. — Lewis and Clarke explore Oregon. — Burr makes a conspiracy. — Is tried for treason. — Brit- ish aggressions on American commerce. — England blockades the coast of France. — JNapoleon retaliates. — Great Britain forbids the coasting trade. — An old abuse revived. —The rule of 1756 again asserted. — The effect on American commerce. — The English theory of citizenship. — The object of that theory. — The attack of the Leopard on the Chesapeake. — Passage of the Embargo Act. — The Orders in Council and Milan Decree. — » Fulton and his steamboat. — Invention of the torpedo. — Summary of events. 376-388.
CHAPTER XLIX.
MADISON'S ADMINISTRATION AND THE WAK OF '12.
Sketch of the life and previous services of Madison. — His politics. — The Non- intercourse Act takes the place of the Embargo. — Erskine promises the repeal of the Orders in Council. — The promise not fulfilled. — Bonaparte makes a decree. — And then revokes it. — Obstinacy of Great Britain. — A crisis is reached. — Third census. — Tecumtha and the Prophet. — Harrison purchases lands. — Tecumtha refuses to ratify. — Harrison marches up the Wabash Valley. — Approaches the Prophet's town. — Is attacked by night. — And routs the savages. — Fight of the President and Little Belt. — The twelfth Congress. — "War inevitable. — The President's timid disposition. — Henry's conspiracy is discovered. — Nature of the plot. — Effect of the disclosure. — British vessels are embar- goed.— Louisiana is admitted. — War declared against England. — Preparations. — Relative strength of the belligerents. — Hull's campaign. — He marches to the head of Lake Erie. — Readies Detroit. — Invades Canada. — Retreats. — Van Home's defeat. — Miller's vic- tory.— Siege of Detroit. — Hull's disgraceful surrender. — He is convicted of cowardice. — Capture and burning of Fort Dearborn. — Character assumed by the war.— Sketch of the American defences. — The Constitution captures the Guernere. — The Waxp the Frolic. — The Poictiers the Wasp. — The United States the Macedonian. — The Essex the Nocton. — And the Constitution the Java. — Effect of these victories. — Comment of the English newspapers. — Van Rensselaer moves against Queenstown. — Carries the batteries. — Death of Brock. — The Americans entrench. — But are forced to surrender. — Smyth suc- ceeds Van Rensselaer. — And makes a fool of himself. — The Americans at Black Rock •cross and recross the river. — Madison re-elected. . > . . . 388-399.
CHAPTER L.
WAR OF '12. — CONTINUED.
Plan of the campaigns of '13. — The Americans capture Frenchtown. — Are as- sailed by Proctor. — Surrender. — And are butcheied.— Harrison at Fort Meigs. — He is besieged. — Clay raises the siege. — Proctor and Tecumtha return. — Attack Fort Stephenson. — And are defeated by Croghan. — Affairs on Lake Eiie. — Perry builds a fleet. — Attacks the British squadron. — And gains a signal victory. — Harrison em- barks his forces to Maiden. — Follows the British and Indians to the Thames. — And routs them in battle.-^The Creeks massacre the garrison at Fort Mims. — Jackson and Coffee with the Tennesseeans. — They burn Tallushatchie. — Battles of Talladega and Autosse. — Winter and starvation. — Battle of Emucfau. — And Horse Shoe Bend. — Dearborn proceeds against Toronto. — Battle at the water's edge. — The Americans •capture th§ town. — The British attack Sackett's Harbor. — The Americans on the iliagara. — They storm Fort George. — Suspension of operations. — Wilkinson is made
xxvi CONTENTS.
commander-in-chief. — Expedition against Montreal, — The battle of Chrysler's Field, —The expedition is abandoned. — Winter quarters at Fort Covington.— McClure evacuates Fort George. — Burns Newark. — The British retaliate. — Tlie Hornet captures the Peacock. — The Chesapeake is taken by the Shannon. — Death of Lawrence. — Cap- ture of the ^r^ws.— The Enterprise takes the Boxer.— The Essex is captured by the Plwebe and Chei-vh.—X British fleet bombards Lewiston.— Marauding in the Chesa- peake 400-407.
CHAPTER lA.
CAMPAIGNS OF '14.
Scott and Ripley capture Erie.— Battles of Chippewa and Niagara.— The Amer- icans retreat to Erie. — Siege of that place by the British.— They are driven oif. — Winter quarters at Black Rock. — Wilkinson again invades Canada. — Is defeated at La CoUe. — And retreats to Plattsburg. — McDonough's squadron on the lake. — The British ad- vance.— Attack by land and water. — And are defeated. — Cochrane and Ross in the Chesapeake. — Barney destroys his vessels. — Battle of Bladensburg. — Washington is captured by the British.— Public buildings burned. — Alexandria pays a ransom. — Siege of Baltimore.— Ravages in New England.— The Federal peace party.— The Hart- ford Convention. — Jackson captures Pensacola. — Takes command at New Orleans. — Approach of the British. — Skirmishing and fighting. — The decisive battle. — Ruin of Packenham's army. — The news of peace. — Sea-fights afterward. — The treaty of Ghent. — Great rejoicings.— Terms of tlie treaty. — Condition of the country. — Rechartering of tlie United States Bank. — Tlie Mediterranean pirates again. — Decatur sent out against them. — He ca()tures a Moorish ship. — And then another. — Enters the Bay of Algiers. — And dictates the terms of peace. — Indiana is admitted. — Liberia founded. — Monroe is elected President 407-416.
CHAPTER LII.
Monroe's administration.
The new President and his policy. — The cabinet. — Revival of the country. — De- mand for the recognition of Hayti. — Treaty witli the Northwestern Indians. — Missis- sippi is admitted. — Tlie pirates of Amelia Island dispersed. — The question of internal improveuients arises. — The canal from Buffalo to Albany. — The Seminole war breaks^ out. — Jackson invades the hostile country. — Captures St. Marks. — Hangs Arbuthnot and Ambrister. — Takes Pensacola. — An excitement follows. — W^hich leads to the cession of Florida. — Great financial crisis of 1819. — Illinois is admitted. — And Alabama. — Ar- kansas is organized. — And Maine admitted. — And Missouri. — The slavery agitation. — And Missouri Compromise. — Its terms. — Monroe and Tompkins are re-elected.— Com- modore Porter suppresses piracy in the "West Indies. — Sympathy of the United States for the South American republics. — The Monroe Doctrine. — The visit of La Fayette. — Excitement attending the presidential election. — John Quincy Adams chosen. 416-423..
CHAPTER LIII.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS's ADMINISTRATION.
Sketch of the President. — Partisan opposition in Congress. — Internal improve-
\ients favored by the executive. — Trouble with Georgia about the lands of the Creeks,
'Settled by a treaty. — Death of Adams and Jefferson. — The Masonic excitement in
CONTENTS xvii
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
A colony is sent out under West and Sayle. — Reaches Beaufort. — But settles on Asliley River. — Locke's constitution is rejected. — And a simple government adopted. — West becomes governor. — And then Yeamans. — Slavery is introduced. — Rapid immi- gration.— Charleston is founded. — An Indian war arises. — Immigrants arrive from England, Scotland, and Ireland. — The Edict of Nantes is revoked. — The Huguenots flock to South Carolina. — Colleton becomes governor. — Declares martial law. — Is over- thrown.— Sothel Takes the office. — Is banished. — Ludwell next. — Who retires to Vir- ginia.— The proprietors abrogate the grand model. — The Quaker Archdale. — His wise administration. — Moore succeeds. — The war with Florida. — Moore and Daniel attempt to take St. Augustine. — And fail. — Moore makes a successful campaign against the In- dians.— The Church of England is established. — The dissenters are disfranchised. — But the act is revoked by Parliament. — The Spaniards besiege Charleston. — And are re- pelled.— War with the Yamassees. — The savages are conquered. — Popular revolution in South Carolina. — Nicholson is governor. — The proprietors sell Carolina to the king. — A royal government is established. — Character of the people. . 230-237.
CHAPTER XXIX.
GEOBGIA.
Georgia founded in benevolence. — Oglethorpe the founder. — Sketch of his life. — He leads forth a colony. — And founds Savannah. — The friendly natives. — A treaty is made with the Muskhogees. — Immigrants arrive from various parts of Europe. — Ogle- thorpe goes to England-T-Returns. — The Moravians. — The Wesleys. — And Whitefield. — Conflicting claims of Georgia and Florida. — Oglethorpe builds forts. — Is commissioned as general. — AVar breaks out. — The governor besieges St. Augustine. — And fails. — The Spaniards invade Georgia. — Oglethorpe's stratagem. — The battle of Bloody Marsh. — 'The Spaniards are defeated. — And retreat to Florida. — The governor returns to Eng- land.— Slavery is introduced. — The prohibitory law is repealed. — Growth of Georgia. — .Eeflections on the thirteen colonies 238-244.
COLONIAL HISTORY.— Continued.
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
CHAPTER XXX.
CAUSES.
The colonies begin to act together. — A sense of common danger unites them. — The Trench and Indian War arises. — Causes considered. — Conflicting territorial claims. — English colonies on the sea-boar9. — French colonies in the interior. — France purposes ■to confine the English to the Atlantic slope. — French settlements result from the efibrta
xxviii CONTENTS.
into exile. — They journey to Salt Lake. — The Texas excitement begins. — Outline of Texas history. — The people rebel against Mexico. — Battle of Gonzales. — Capture of the- Alamo. — And massacre of the garrison. — Tlie battle of San Jacinto decides the contest. — Texas independent. — Seeks admission into tlie Union. — Is refused at first. — The peo- ple of the United States divide on the question of annexation. — On that issue Polk is elected President. — Professor Morse and the telegraph. — Texas admitted into the Union 440-447.
CHAPTER LVII.
Sketch of President Polk. — Texas ratifies the annexation. — General Taylor sent to- defend the country. — The boundary question. — Proposition to negotiate. — Mexico refuses. — Taylor ordered to the Neuces. — And thence to the Rio Grande. — He estab- lishes a jjost at Point Isabel. — And builds Fort Brown. — Beginning of liostilities by tlie Alexicans. — Taylor retires to Point Isabel. — Mexican boasting. — Returns toward Mata- moras. — Meets the Mexicans. — Fights and gains the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palnia. — Siege of Fort Brown. — News of the battles in the United States. — Declaration of War. — Plan of tlie campaigns. — General Wool musters the forces. — Taylor captures- Matamoras. — Advances against Monterey. — Besieges and storms the town. — An armis- tice.— Santa Anna made President of Mexico and general of the army. — Saltillo is taken by Worth. — Victoria by Patterson. — And Tampico by Conner. — Wool advances. — And Scott a.ssumes command. — Kearney captures Santa Fe. — Maves westward. — Is joined by Carson. — And marches to the Pacific coast. — The deeds of Colonel Fremont. — Rebellion of the Californians. — They defeat the Mexicans. — Monterey, San Diego, and Los Angelos taken. — Battle of San Gabriel. — The march and battles of Colonel Doniphan. — Taylor's and Wool's forces ordered to the coast. — Critical condition of Taylor's army. — Ap- proach of Santa Anna. — Battle of Buena Vista. — Retirement of Taylor from the service. — Scott besieges and captures Vera Cruz. — Marches against the capital. — Battle of Cerro Gordo — Jalapa, Perote, and Puebla are taken. — Negotiations. — The march renewed. — The army passes the Cordilleras. — Reaches Aj'otla. — Turns to the left. — The approaches and fortifications of the city. — Storming of Contreras and San Antonio. — Churubusco is carried. — The Mexicans driven back to Chapultepec. — More foolish nego- tiations.— Scott rests his army. — And then advances. — Molino del Rey and Casa de Mata are stormed. — Chapultepec is taken. — Flight of the Mexican government. — The American army enters the city. — Santa Anna attacks the hospitals at Pnebla. — Is driven oflT by General Lane. — Downfall of the Mexican authority. — The treaty of Gaudalupe Hidalgo. — Its terms. — Settlement of the Oregon boundary. — The international line es- tablished on the forty-ninth parallel. — Tlie discovery of gold in California. — The excite- ment which ensued. — Importance of the mines. — Founding of the Smith.sonian Institu- tion.— Death of Jackson and John Quincy Adams. — Wisconsin is admitted. — Establi.«h- ment of the Department of the Interior. — The canvass for President. — Rise of the Free Soil party. — The Wilmot proviso. — Election of Taylor to the presidency. 447-462.
CHAPTER LVIII.
ADMINISTRATIONS OF TAYLOK AND FILLMORE.
Sketch of the chief magistrate. — The question of slavery in California. — .\ terri- torial government is organized. — A petition for admission. — The controversy in Con- gress.— Other political vexations. — Clay as a peace-maker. — Passage of the Omnibus Bill. — And its provisions. — Death of the President. — The slavery excitement subsides-
CONTENTS.
XXIX
— The question not permanently settled. — Eetirement of Mr. Clay. — Effects of the Om- nibus Bill on the administration. — The Cuban expedition is organized. — Lopez and hi* associates are executed. — Important measures recommended by the President. — A diffi- culty arises about the coast-fisheries. — And is settled by a treaty. — The tour of Ko.ssuth. — Arctic expeditions of Franklin, De Haven, and Kane. — Death of Calhoun, Clay, and Webster. — The Cuban excitement in Europe. — The Tripartite Treaty is proposed. — And rejected. — Everett's reply to France and Great Britain. — The candidates for th& presidency. — Pierce is elected 463-469.
CHAPTER LIX.
Pierce's administration.
Sketch of Franklin Pierce. — A route for a Pacific railroad is explored. — Settle- ment of the boundary of New Mexico. — The Japanese ports are opened to the United States. — The World's Fair. — Walker organizes a filibustering expedition against Central America. — Is captured.— Makes a second descent on Nicaraugua. — And then a third.-^ Is defeated, captured, and executed. — The Martin Koszta affair. — Cuban difficulties. — The Ostend manifesto. — A bill to organize Kansas and Nebraska is passed. — Repeal of the Missouri Compromise. — Renewal of the slavery agitation. — The troubles in Kan- sas.— Two territorial governments are organized. — Geary sent thither as military gov- ernor.— Marshaling of parties on the slavery question. — Buchanan is elected to the pres- idency 469-474.
CHAPTER LX.
Buchanan's administration.
Sketch of the President. — The Dred Scott decision. — The Mormon rebellion ir> Utah. — Is suppressed by the army. — A difficulty arises with Paraguay. — But is settled by treaty. — The first Atlantic cable is laid. — Minnesota is admitted. — Retirement and sketch of Houston. — Death of Washington Irving. — His work in American literature. — The Personal Liberty bills. — John Brown's insurrection. — Continuance of the troubles in Kansas — The political parties again divide on the slavery question. — The National conventions. — ^The candidates and the canvass. — Lincoln is elected President. — Condi- tion of affairs in the government. — Position of Buchanan. — The drama of secession. — Seven States Avithdraw from the Union. — The secession conventions. — Position of Steph- ens.— Organization of the Provisional Confederate government. — Davis for President. — The peace movements end in failure. — Paralysis of the administration. — Seizure of forts and arsenals by the Confederates. — The strife in Kansas continues. — The Stxir of the West is driven off from Fort Sumter. — The President elect reaches Wash- ington 474-482.
CHAPTER LXI.
Lincoln's administration and the civil war.
Sketch of Abraham Lincoln. — Organization of his cabinet. — His purpose to repos- sess the forts of the United States. — Preparations to reinforce Fort Sumter. — Confed- erate movements in Charleston. — Bombardment and fall of Fort Sumter. — The event fires the nation. — The call for troops. — Secession of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. — The soldiers attacked in Baltimore. — Capture of Harper's Ferry and the Norfolk navy yard. — Prodigious activity and preparations. — Davis and his cabinet at Richmond 482-485i
XXX CONTENTS.
CHAPTER LXII.
THE CAUSES.
The causes. — First, the different construction of the Constitution in the North and the South. — Fatal character of this dispute. — Second, the system of slavery. — The cotton gin. — The Missouri agitation. — The annexation of Texas, and the Mexican War. — The nullification measures of South Carolina. — The Omnibus Bill. — The Kan- sas-Nebraska imbroglio. — Third, the want of intercour.se between the North and the South. — Fourth, the publication of sectional books. — Fifth, the influence of dema- .^ogues. ......... . . . . 485—488.
CHAPTER LXIir.
FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.
Advance of the Union army. — Fight at Big Bethel. — Morris and McClellan move forward in West Virginia. — Engagements at Philippi, Rich Mountain, Carrick's Ford, Carnifex Ferry, Cheat Mountain, and Romney. — The Confederates concentrate at Manassas. — The national forces advance. — The skirmish, the battle, and the rout.— Effect on the country. — The Confederate government at Richmond. — Sketch of Davis. — Affairs in Missouri. — Confederates capture Liberty. — Form Camp Jackson. — Lyon defends St. Louis. — Battles of Carthage and Springfield. — Price captures Lexington. — Fremont pursues him. — And is superseded. — Grant captures Belmont. — McClellan is made commander-in-chief. — The disaster at Ball's Bluff. — Hatteras inlet, Port Royal, and Hilton Head secured by the Federals. — Capture of Mason and Slidell. — They are released by Mr. Seward 490-495.
CHAPTER LXIV.
CAMPAIGNS OF '62.
o
Extent and position of the Union forces. — The Confederates defeated on the Bi Sandy and at Mill Spring. — Fort Henry is taken. — Siege and capture of Fort Donelson. — Battle of Shiloh. — Island Number Ten is taken. — The battle of Pea Ridge. — Fight of the Monitor and the Merrimac. — Burnside captures Roanoke Island, Newbern, and Beaufort. — Savannah is blockaded. — Farragut aud Butler ascend the Mississippi. — Pass Forts Jackson and St. Philip. — Capture of New Orleans. — Fall of Jackson and St. Philip. — Kirby Smith invades Kentucky. — Battle of Richmond. — Bragg marches on Louisville. — The city held by Buell. — Bragg retreats. — Battle of Perry ville. — Battles of luka and Corinth. — Grant moves against Vicksburg. — Retreats. — Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. — Battle of Murfreesborough.— Banks and Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley. — Fight at Front Royal. — The Federals retreat across the Potomac. — The Confederates fall back in turn.— Battles of Cross Keys and Port Republic— McClellan advances. — Beginning of the Peninsular campaign. — Yorktown is taken. — Then "Williamsburg and West Point.— Wool captures Norfolk.— The Virginia destroyed.- Battle of Fair Oaks.— Lee made general-in-chief of the Confederates.— McClellan changes base.— The seven days' battles.— The Union army at Harrison's Landing. — Lee strikes for Washington. — Is opposed by Pope.— Flank movement of Jackson.— Battles of Manassas, Centreville, and Chantilly.— I^e invades Maryland.— Harper's Ferry is taken.— Engagement at South Mountain.— Battle of Antietam.— Confederates retreat.— Burnside in command.— Plans a campaign against Richmond. — Advances against Fredericksburg. — And is de- feated 495-510.
CONTENTS. xxxi
CHAPTER LXV.
THE WORK OF '63.
Proportions of the conflict. — New calls for troops. — The Emancipation Proclama- -tion. — Capture of Arkansas Post. — Movements against Vicksburg. — The fleet passes the batteries. — Grant at Bruinsburg. — Battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson, and Champion Hills.— The siege and capture of Vicksburg. — Fall of Port Hudson.— Cav- alry raids of Jackson, Stuart, and Grierson. — Rosecrans drives Bragg across the Ten- nessee.— Battle of Chattanooga. — And the siege. — Storming of Lookout and Missionary Ridge. — Longstreet in Tennessee. — Siege of Knoxville. — Engagements at Springfield, Cape Girardeau, and Helena. — The sacking of Lawrence. — Capture of Little Rock. — Morgan invades Indiana. — Passes into Ohio. — Is hemmed in and captured. — The Con- federates take Galveston. — The siege of Charleston. — Hooker commands the Army of the Potomac. — Battle of Chancellorsville. — Death of Stonewall Jackson. — Stoneman's raid. — Siege of Suffolk. — Lee invades Pennsylvania. — The battle of Gettysburg. — Re- treat of the Confederates.— The conscription.— Riot in New York.— The draft.— New calls for soldiers. — West Virginia a State. ...... 510-523.
'o*
CHAPTER LXVL
THE CLOSING CONFLICTS.
Sherman's campaign to Meridian. — Smith fails to form a junction. — Sherman retires to Vicksburg. — Forrest's raid. — The Red River expedition. — Plan of the cam- paign.— Capture of Fort de Russy, Alexandria, and Natchitoches. — Union disaster and retreat. — Steele falls back to Little Rock. — Grant lieutenant-general. — Plan of the cam- paigns of '64. — Sherman advances. — Battles of Dalton, Resaca, and Dallas. — Attacks and repulses at Kenesaw. — The Confederates fall back to Atlanta. — Siege and capture of the stronghold. — Hood invades Tennessee. — Thomas sent to confront him. — Battle of Franklin. — Siege of Nashville. — Rout and ruin of Hood's army. — Sherman's march to the .<!ea. — Capture of Macon, Milledgeville, Gibson, and Waynesborough. — Storming -of Fort McAllister. — Escape of Hardee. — And capture of the city. — The Union army in Savannah. — Renewal of the march. — Columbia, Charleston, and Fayetteville are taken. — Battle of Kilpatrick's and Hampton's Cavalry. — Johnston restored to command. — Battles of Averasborough and Bentonsville. — Capture of Goldsborough and Raleigh. — Great raid of Stoneman. — Surrender of Johnston. — Farragut enters Mobile Bay. — Defeats the Confederate squadron. — Captures Forts Gaines and Morgan, — Fort Fisher is besieged by Porter and Butler. — The first effort fails. — The siege is renewed. — And the fort taken by storm. — Cushing's exploit. — The Confederate cruisers. — Injury ■done to the commerce of the United States. — The Savannah. — Career of the Sumter. — Cruise of the Nashville. — The Confedei-ates use the British ship-yards. — Building of the Florida. — Her fate. — The Georgia, the Olustee, the Shenandoah, and the Chickamauga built at Glasgow. — End of the Chickamauga and the Tallahassee. — Career of the Georgia and the Shenandoah. — The Alabama. — Her character. — She scours the ocean. — Runs into Cherbourg. — Is caught by the Kearsarge. — And destroyed. — The Army of the Potomac moves from Culpepper. — Reaches the Wilderness. — The battles. — Grant advances to 5pottsylvania. — Terrible fighting there. — The Union army moves to Cold Harbor. — Is repulsed in two battles. — Losses. — Grant changes base. — Butler captures Bermuda and City Point. — Is driven back by Beauregard. — Junction of the armies. — Advance on Petersburg. — The assaults. — The siege begins. — Sigel on the Shenandoah. — Battle of New Market. — Hunter in command. — Engagement at Piedmont. — Retreat of Hunter. —
Early enters the valley. — Crosses the Potomac. — Defeats Wallace. — Threatens Wash- 3
xxxii CONTENTS.
ington and Baltimore.— Eetreats into Virginia. — Fight at Winchester. — The Confed- erates burn Chambersburg. — Sheridan is sent into the valley. — Battles of Winchester and Fisher's Hill.— Sheridan ravages the country.— Early comes.— Routs the Federals at Cedar Creek.— Sheridan returns, and destroys Early's army.— The siege of Peters- burg continues. — Battles of Boydtown and Five Forks. — Flight of the Confederate- government. — Fall of Petersburg and Richmond. — Surrender of Lee. — Collapse of the Confederacy. — The Federal authority is re-established. — Capture, imprisonment, and trial of Davis.— Lincoln re-elected.— Financial condition of the country.— Treasury- notes. — Internal Revenue. — Legal Tenders. — Bonds. — Banks. — The debt. — Lincoln is- reinaugurated. — Visits Richmond. — Is assassinated. — Punishment of his murderers. — Character of Lincoln. 523-543»
CHAPTER LXVII.
Johnson's administration.
Johnson in the presidency. — Sketch of his life and character. — Slavery is formally- abolished. — The Amnesty Proclamation. — A struggle with the war-debt. — Napoleon's empire in Mexico. — Maximilian is captured and shot. — Final success of the Atlantic telegraph. — The Postal Money-Order system is established. — The Territories assume their final form.— Alaska is purchased from Russia. — The difficulty between the Presi- dent and Congress. — The reconstruction imbroglio. — Second amnesty. — The Civil Rights Bill is passed. — The Southern States are re-admitted. — A national convention at Phila- delpliia. — The President makes a tour of the country. — Congressional measures of reconstruction. — The breach is widened between the executive and Congress. — The ve- toing business. — The President removes Stanton. — Is impeached. — And acquitted. — Gen- eral Grant is elected President 544-551.
CHAPTER LXVIII.
grant's administration.
Sketch of President Grant.— The Pacific Railroad is completed.— The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution are adopted. — The story of Black Friday. — The Southern States are restored to their place in the Union. — The ninth census and its lesson. — The Santo Domingo business. — The Alabama claims are ad- justed by the treaty of Washington and the Geneva court. — Railroad development of the United States.— The burning of Chicago.— The North-western boundary is .settled by arbitration. — The presidential election. — The candidates. — Grant is re- elected.— Character of Greeley. — His death. — Great fire in Boston. — The Modoc war. — Murder of the peace commissioners. — The savages are subdued. — The Louisiana im- broglio.— The Credit Mobilier investigation. — The financial crisis of 1873-'74. — The Northern Pacific Railroad enterprise. — Admission of Colorado. — Death-roll of emi- nent men.— Sketches of Sumner and Wilson. — The great Centennial.— Origination of the enterprise. — Opposition. — General plan of the Exposition. — Organization. — The monetary management. — Lukewarmness of the Government. — The Centennial Grounds. — Dedication. — The General Regulations. — Nations participating. — Classification of products. — The Centennial Buildings. — Descriptions of the same. — Main Building. — Memorial Hall. — Machinery Hall. — Agricultural Hall. — Horticultural Hall. — United States Government Building. — Woman's Pavilion. — Foreign and State Buildings. — Re- ception of materials. — Scheme of Awards. — Opening ceremonies. — The Exposition itself. — Description of exhibits in Main Building. — In Machinery Hall. — In the Gov-
CONTENTS.
XZXlll
emment Building. — In Agricultural Hall. — In Horticultural Hall. — In tlie Woman's Viivilion.— In Memorial Hall.— Tlie celebration of the Fourth of July in Philadel- pliia. — Attendance at the Exposition. — The closing ceremonies. — Tlie Sioux War. — Tlie great election of 1876. — A disputed presidency. — The result. . 552-632.
CHAPTER LXIX.
Hayes's administration.
Sketcli of President Hayes. — His inaugural address. — The policy indicated. — Effect of the same upon the country. — The new cabinet is organized. — The great Railroad Strike breaks out. — And is suppressed. — Beginning of the Nez Perce War. — The tribe is subdued by General Howard. — Silver is remonetized. — The Yellow Fever epidemic in the South. — The Halifax Fishery Commission. — How constituted. — The award — A Ciiinese Embassy established in the United States. — A Life Saving Service is instituted by Congress. — Resumption of Specie Payments by the Government. — Issues of 1880. — Garfield elected President. — Refunding legislation. — Tour of Ex-President Grant. — Re- sults of the Census of 1880. — Death of Senator Morton, William Cullen Bryant, Bay- ard Taylor, and Senators Chandler and Carpenter. . . 633-646.
CHAPTER LXX.
Sketch of President Garfield. — His inaugural. — The new cabinet. — Concluding reflections 647-650.
CHAPTER LXXI.
CONCLUSION.
The outlook for the Republic. — Byron's view of nations. — The hopeful side. — Present achievements of the United States. — Natural advantages. — How the Saxon has improved them, — Things necessary to the perpetuity of American institutions: First, National Unity. — Second, Universal Education. — Third, Toleration. — Fourth, The No- bility of Labor. — Reflections 651-654.
APPEE"DIXES.
Appendix A.- Appendix B.- Appendix C- Appendix D.- Appendix E.- Appendix F.- Appendix G.-
-Mandeville's Argument -Franklin's Constitution -Declaration of Independence -Articles of Confederation -Constitution of the United States -Wasliington's Farewell Address . -The Emancipation Proclamation
655-658. 659-660. 661-663. 664r-669. 670-680. 681-690. 691-692.
Vocabulary Index .
693-695. 696-705.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Paof.
Front view of the Capitol Frontispiece.
Map of Aboriginal America 44
Diagram of European Kinship 45
Diagram of Indian Kinship 46
Specimen of Indian Writing 48
A North American Indian 49
Norse Explorations 52
A Norse Sea King of the 11th Century 53
Christopher Columbus 55
Chart of Voyage and Discovery 56
Fernando Cortez 59
Map of Voyage and Discovery 76
Map of English Grants 86
Captain John Smith 96
Jamestown and Vicinity 103
Chart of the Colonial Period 122
The Treaty between Governor Carver and Massasoit 124
John Winthrop 127
Roger Williams' reception by the Indians 129
Early Settlements in New England 131
First Scene of King Philip's War 140
Second Scene of King Philip's War 141
Third Scene of King Philip's War 143
Siege of Louisburg, 1745 158
Sir Henry Hudson . 101
French, English, Dutch, Swedish and Spanish Provinces, 1655 . . . .168
Peter Stuyvesant 171
Scene of the Pequod War 187
The Younger Winthrop 190
The Old Stone Tower at Newport 195
East and West Jersey, 1677 205
William Penn 211
Philadelphia and Vicinity 213
Lord Baltimore 217
James Oglelliorpe 239
Country of the Savannah, 1740 . . . . ' 242
First Scene of the Frencli and Indian War, 1750 253
Scene of Brad dock's Defeat, 1755 260
The Acadian Isthmus, 1755 262
The Exile of the Acadians „ 263
Vicinity of Lake George, 1755 265
(xx.xiv)
o
ILLUSTRATIONS. xxxv
Page
Vicinity of Quebec, 1759 274
General James Wolfe 275
The Eevelation of Pontiac's Conspiracy 278
The Old Thirteen Colonies 281
Patrick Henry 290
Samuel Adams 295
Scene of the Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775 300
" Siege of Boston, 1776 306
Chart of the Kevolution and Confederation 306
Battle of Long Island, 1776 311
Scene of Operations about New York, 1776 314
Battles of Trenton and Princeton, 1776-7 316
Scene of Burgoyne's Invasion, 1777 323
Encampment at Valley Forge, 1777-8 . . . .' 327
Benjamin Franklin 330
Siege of Charleston, 1780 340
Scene of Operations in the South, 1780-1 342
Scene of Arnold's Treason, 1780 344
General Greene 351
Siege of Yorktown, October, 1781 353
Map of the United States at the Close of the Eevolution 354
Alexander Hamilton 359
George Washington 363
Chart of the National Period — First Section 364
John Adams 372
Thomas Jefferson 377
Chief-Justice Marshall 380
Kobert Fulton 386
James Madison 389
Scene of Hull's Campaign, 1812 394
The Niagara Frontier, 1812 399
Sceneof the Creek War, 1813-14 403
La Fayette 423
Chart of the National Period — Second Section 424
Andrew Jackson 427
Daniel Webster 429
The New Patent-Office at Washington 433
Bunker Hill Monument 443
Professor Morse 446
Texas and Coahuila, 1845 " . . . . 448
Scene of Taylor's Campaign, 1846-47 449
Scene of Scott's Campaign, ISdt 454
General Winfield Scott 457
The Smithsonian Institution 460
President Taylor 463
Henry Clay 465
John C. Calhoun 468
General Sam Houston 477
Washington Irving 478
Alexander H. Stephens 481
Abraham Lincoln 483
xxxvi ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
Chart of the National Period— Third Section ....... 489
Scene of Operations in West Virginia, 1861 490
Vicinity of Manassas Junction, 1861 .- . 491
Jefferson Davis . . . . » 492
Scene of Operations in the South-west, 1861 493
WiUiam H. Seward 495
Battle of Murfreesborough, December 31st, 1862 500
Battle of Murfreesborough, January 2d, 1863 501
Scene of Campaign in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, 1862 . . . 503
General Eobert E. Lee 504
Vicinity of Kichmond, 1862 505
The Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862 507
The Proposed Koutes from Washington to Richmond, 1862 508
Vicksburg and Vicinity, 1863 512
Battle of Chickamauga, September 19, 20, 1863 514
Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, November 23-25, 1863 .... 515
Stonewall Jackson 519
Battle of Gettysburg, July 1, 2, 3, 1863 520
Sherman's Campaign, 1864 525
General Thomas 527
General Sherman 528
Admiral Farragut 531
Operations in Virginia, 1864 and 1865 535
Petersburg, Richmond, Appomattox, 1865 539
Map of the United States, 1876 546
Chief-Justice Chase 551
President Grant 552
Map of the Territorial Growth of the United States 556
Horace Greeley 558
Charles Sumner 562
Independence Hall, 1876 563
General Joseph R. Hawley 566
Centennial Medal — Obverse 567
Centennial Medal — Reverse 567
The Centennial Grounds and Buildings 569
Main Exposition Building, Centennial Exhibition 576
Memorial Hall, " " 579
Machinery Hall, " " 581
Agricultural Hall, " " 583
Horticultural Hall, « " 585
U. S. Government Building, " " 587
Woman's Pavilion, " " 589
Inaugural Ceremonies of the Centennial Exhibition 593
Alfred T. Goshorn 595
View in the Main Exhibition Building 597
Interior View of Machinery Hall . 607
Interior View of the United States Government Building 613
Interior View of Agricultural Hall 616
Interior View of Horticultural Hall 621
Rotunda of Memorial Hall 623
Scene of the Sioux War, 1876 629
Riillierford R. Hayes 633
Jimies A. (iiirfield 647
INTRODUCTION.
1. The history of every nation is divided into periods. For a while the genius of a people will be turned to some particular pur- suit. Men will devote themselves to certain things and labor to ac- complish certain results. Then the spirit of the age will change, and historical facts will assume a different character. Thus arises what is called A Period in History. In studying the history of the United States it is of the first importance to understand the periods into which it is divided.
2. First of all, there was a time when the New World was under the dominion of the aborigines. From ocean to ocean the copper-col- ored children of the woods ruled with undisputed sway. By bow and arrow, by flint and hatchet, the Red man supported his rude civiliza- tion and waited for the coming of the pale-faced races.
3. After the discovery of America, the people of Europe were hundreds of years in making themselves acquainted with the shape and character of the New World. During that time explorers and adven- turers went everywhere and settled nowhere. To make new discov- eries was the universal passion ; but nobody cared to plant a colony. As long as this spirit prevailed, historical events bore a common char- acter, being produced by common causes. Hence arose the second pe- riod in our history — the Period of Voyage and Discovery.
4. As soon as the adventurers had satisfied themselves with trac- ing sea-coasts, ascending rivers and scaling mountains, they began to form permanent settlements. And each settlement was a new State in the wilderness. Every voyager now became ambitious to plant a col- ony. Kings and queens grew anxious to confer their names on the towns and commonwealths of the New World. Thus arose a third pe- riod— the Period of Colonial History.
(xixvii)
„j^iii INTRODUCTION.
5. Then the colonies grew strong and multiplied. There were thirteen little sea-shore republics. The people began to consult about their privileges and to talk of the rights of freemen. Oppression on the part of the mother-country was met with resistance, and tyranny with defiance. There was a revolt against the king ; and the patriots of the different colonies fought side by side, and won their freedom. Then they built them a Union, strong and great. This is the Period of Revolution and Confederation.
6. Then the United States of America entered upon their career as a nation. Three times tried by war and many times vexed with civil dissensions, the Union of our fathers still remains for us and for posterity. Such is the Period of Nationality.
7. Collecting these results, we find five distinctly marked peri- ods in the history of our country :
First. The Aboriginal Period ; from remote antiquity to the coming of the White men.
Second. The Period of Voyage and Discovery; A. D. 986-1607.
Third. The Colonial Period; A. D. 1607-1775.
Fourth. The Period of Revolution and Confederation; A. D. 1775-1789.
Fifth. The National Period; A. D. 1789-1881.
In this order the History of the United States will be presented in the following pages.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
PART I.
ABOEIGIJSTAL AMEEIOA.
CHAPTER I.
TEE RED MEN— ORIGIN, DISTRIBUTION, CHARACTER.
THE primitive inhabitants of the New World were the Red men called Indians. The name Indian was conferred upon them from their real or fancied resemblance to the people of India. But without any such similarity the name would have been the same; for Colum- bus and his followers, believing that they had only rediscovered the Indies, would of course call the inhabitants Indians. The supposed similarity between the two races, if limited to mere personal appearance, had some foundation in fact; but in manners, customs, institutions, and character, no two peoples could be more dissimilar than the Amer- ican aborigines and the sleepy inhabitants of China and Japan.
The origin of the North American Indians is involved in com- plete obscurity. That they are one of the older races of mankind can not be doubted. But at what date or by what route they came to the Western continent is an unsolved problem. Many theories have been proposed to account for the Red man's presence in the New World, but most of them have been vague and unsatisfactory. The notion that the Indians are the descendants of the Israelites is absurd. That half civilized tribes, wandering from beyond the Euphrates, should reach North America, surpasses human credulity. That Europeans or Afri- cans, at some remote period, crossed the Atlantic by voyaging from is- land to island, seems altogether improbable. That the Kamtchatkans,. coming by way of Behring's Strait, reached the frozen North-west and
(41)
42 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
became the progenitors of the Eed men, has no evidence other than •conjecture to suj)port it. Until further research shall throw additional light on the history and migrations of the primitive races of mankind, the origin of the Indians will remain shrouded in mystery. It is not unlikely that a more thorough knowledge of the North American lan- guages may furnish a clue to the early history of the tribes that spoke them.
The Indians belong to the Ganowanian, or Bow-and-Arrow family of men. Some races cultivate the soil; others have herds and flocks; others build cities and ships. To the Red man of the Western continent the chase was every thing. Without the chase he pined and languished and died. To smite with swift arrow the deer and the bear was the chief delight and profit of the primitive Americans. Such a race could live only in a country of woods and wild animals. The il- limitable hunting-grounds — forest, and hill, and river — were the In- dian's earthly paradise, and the type of his home hereafter.
The American aborigines belonged to several distinct families or nations. Above the sixtieth parallel of latitude the whole continent from Labrador to Alaska was inhabited by the Esquimaux. The name means the eaters of raw meat. They lived in snow huts, or in hovels, partly or wholly underground. Sometimes their houses were more ar- tistically constructed out of the bones of whales and walruses. Their manner of life was that of fishermen and hunters. They clad them- selves in winter with the skins of seals, and in summer with those of reindeers. Inured to cold and exposure, they made long journeys in sledges drawn by dogs, or risked their lives in open boats fighting with whales and polar bears among the terrors of the icebergs. By eating abundantly of oils and fat meats they kept the fires of life a-burning, even amid the rigors and desolations of the Arctic winter.
Lying south of the Esquimaux, embracing the greater part of Canada and nearly all that portion of the United States east of the Mississippi and north of the thirty-seventh parallel of latitude, spread the great family of the Algonquins. It appears that their original seat was on the Ottawa River. At the beginning of the sev- enteenth century the Algonquins numbered fully a quarter of a million. The tribes of this great family were nomadic in their habits, roaming from one hunting-ground and river to another, according to the exi- gencies of fishing and the chase. Agriculture was but little esteemed. They were divided into many subordinate tribes, each having its local name, dialect, and traditions. When the first European settlements were planted the Algonquin race was already declining in numbers
ABORIGINAL AMERICA. 43
and influence. Wasting diseases destroyed whole tribes. Of all the Indian nations the Algonquins suffered most from contact with the White man. Before his aggressive spirit, his fiery rum, and his de- structive weapons, the warriors were unable to stand. The race has withered to a shadow; only a few thousands remain to rehearse the story of their ancestors.
Within the wide territory occupied by the Algonquins lived the powerful nation of THE Huron-Iroquois. Their domain extended over the country reaching from Georgian Bay and Lake Huron to Lakes Erie and Ontario, south of those lakes to the valley of the Up- per Ohio, and eastward to the River Sorel. Within this extensive dis- trict was a confederacy of vigorous tribes, having a common ancestry, and generally — though not always — acting together in war. At the time of their greatest power and influence the Huron-Iroquois em- braced no less than nine allied nations. These were the Hurons proper, living north of Lake Erie; the Eries and Andastes, south of the same water; the Tuscaroras, of "^Carolina, who ultimately joined their kinsmen in the North ; the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Onei- das, and Mohawks, constituting the famous Five Nations of New York. The warriors of this great confederation presented the Indian character in its most favorable aspect. They were brave, patriotic, and eloquent ; not wholly averse to useful industry; living in respectable villages; tilling the soil with considerable success; faithful as friends but terri- ble as enemies.
South of the country of the Algonquins were the Cherokees and THE MoBiLiAN Nations; the former occupying Tennessee, and the latter covering the domain between the Lower Mississippi and the Atlantic. The Cherokees were highly civilized for a primitive peo- ple, and contact with the whites seemed to improve rather than degrade them. The principal tribes of the Mobilians were the Ya- massees and Creeks of Georgia, the Seminoles of Florida, and the Choctaws and Chickasaws of Mississippi. These displayed the usual characteristics of the Red men, with this additional circumstance, that below the thirty-second parallel of latitude evidences of temple-build- ing, not practiced among the Northern tribes, began to appear.
West of the Father of Waters was the great and widely-spread race of the Dakotas, whose territory extended from the Arkansas River to the country of the Esquimaux and westward to the Rocky Mountains. Their languages and institutions, differing much among the various tribes, are not so well understood as those of some other •nations. South of the land of the Dakotas, in a district nearly cor-
44 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
responding with the present State of Texas, lived the wild Coman- CHES, whose very name is a synonym for savage ferocity. Beyond the Rocky Mountains were the Indian nations of the Plains; the great family of the Shoshonees, the Selish, the Klamaths, and the Californians. On the Pacific slope farther southward dwelt in for- mer times the famous races of Aztecs and Toltecs. These were the most civilized of the primitive Indian nations, but at the same time among the most feeble ; the best builders in wood and stone, but the least warlike of any of the aborigines. Such is a brief sketch of the distribution of the copper-colored race in the New World. The ter- ritorial position of the various nations and tribes will be easily under- stood from an examination of the accompanying map.
The Indians were strongly marked with national peculiarities. The most striking characteristic of the race was a certain sense of per- sonal independence — willfulness of action — freedom from restraint. To the Red man's imagination the idea of a civil authority which should subordinate his passions, curb his will, and thwart his purposes, was intolerable. Among this people no common enterprise was possible unless made so by the concurrence of free wills. If the chieftain entered the war-path, his kinsmen and the braves of other tribes fol- lowed him only because they chose his leadership. His authority and right of command extended no further than to be foremost in danger,, most cunning in savage strategy, bravest in battle. So of all the relations of Indian life. The Medicine Man was a self-constituted physician and prophet. No man gave him his authority; no man took it away. His right was his own ; and his influence depended upon himself and the voluntary respect of the nation. In the solemn de- bates of the Council House, where the red orators pronounced their wild harangues to groups of motionless listeners, only questions of expediency were decided. The painted sachems never thought of imposing on the unwilling minority the decision which had been reached in council.
Next among the propensities of the Red men was the passion for war. Their wars, however, were always undertaken for the re- dress of grievances, real or imaginary, and not for conquest. But with the Indian, a redress of grievances meant a personal, vindictive, and bloody vengeance on the offender. The Indian's principles of war were easily understood, but irreconcilable with justice and hu- manity. The forgiveness of an injury was reckoned a weakness and a shamer Revenge was considered among the nobler virtues. The open, honorable battle of the field was an event unknown in Indian.
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ABORIGINAL AMERIGA.
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warfare. Fighting was limited to the surprise, the ambuscade, the massacre ; and military strategy consisted of cunning and treachery. Quarter was rarely asked, and never granted ; those who were spared from the fight were only reserved for a barbarous captivity, ransom, or the stake. In the torture of his victims all the diabolical ferocity of the savasre warrior's nature burst forth without restraint.
In times of peace the Indian character shone to a better advan- tage. But the Ked man was, at his best estate, an unsocial, solitary, and gloomy spirit. He was a man of the woods. He communed only with himself and the genius of sol- itude. He sat apart. The forest was better than his wigwam, and his wigwam bet- ter than the vil- lage. The Indian woman was a de- graded creature, a drudge, a beast of burden ; and the social prin- ciple was c o r - respondingly low. The organization of the Indian fam- ily was so peculiar as to require a special consideration. Among civilized nations the family is so constructed that the lines of kinshij) diverge constantly from the line of descent, so that collateral kinsmen with each gen- eration stand at a still greater remove from each other. The above diagram will serve to show how in a European family the lines of consanguinity diverge until the kinship becomes so feeble as to be no longer recognized. It will be observed that this fact of constant di- vergence is traceable to the establishment of a male line of descent.
In the Indian family all this is reversed. The descent is es- tablished in the female line; and as a consequence the ties of kinship
DIAGRAM OF EUROPEAN KINSHIP.
46
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
converge upon each other until they all meet in the granddaughter. That is, in the aboriginal nations of North America, every grandson and granddaughter was the grandson and granddaughter of the whole tribe. This arose from the fact that all the uncles of a given person were reckoned as his fathers also ; all the mother's sisters were mothers ; all the cousins were sisters and brothers; all the nieces were daugh- ters ; all the nephews, sons, etc. This peculiarity of the Indian family organization is illustrated in the annexed diagram.
Civil government among the Indian na- tions was in its primi- tive stages of develop- ment. Each tribe had its own sachem, or chieftain, to whom in matters of peace and war a tolerable degree of obedience was ren- dered. At times con- federations were form- ed, based either on ties of kinship or the exi- gencies of war. But these confederations were seldom enduring, and were likely at any time to be broken up by the barbarous pas- sion and insubordina- tion of the tribes who composed them. Sometimes a sachem would arise with such marked abilities, warlike prowess, and strength of will, as to gain an influence, if not a positive leadership over many nations. But with the death of the chieftain, or sooner, each tribe, resuming its independence, would return to its own ways. No general Indian Congress was known; but national and tribal councils were frequently called to debate questions of policy and right.
In matters of religion the Indians were a superstitious race, but seldom idolaters. They believed in a great spirit, everywhere present, ruling the elements, showing favor to the obedient, and punishing the sinful. Him they worshiped; to him they sacrificed. But not in tem-
DIAGRAM OF INDIAN KINSHIP.
ABOBIOINAL AMERICA. 47
pies, for the Indians built none. They also believed in many subordi- nate spirits — some good, some bad. Both classes frequented the earth. The bad spirits brought evil dreams to the Indian ; diseases also, bad passions, cruel winters, and starvation. The good spirits brought sun- shine, peace, plentiful harvests, all the creatures of the chase. The Medicine Man, or Prophet, obtained a knowledge of these things by fasting and prayer, and then made revelations of the will and purposes of the spirit world. The religious ceremonies of the Indians were per- formed with great earnestness and solemn formality.
In the matter of the arts the Indian was a barbarian. His house was a wigwam or hovel. Some poles set up in a circle, converging at the top, covered with skins and the branches of trees, lined and some- times floored with mats, a fire in the center, a low opening opposite the point from which the wind blew — such was the aboriginal abode of North America. Indian utensils were few, rude, and primitive. Poorly-fashioned earthen pots, bags and pouches for carrying provis- ions, and stone hammers for pounding parched corn, were the stock and store. A copper kettle was a priceless treasure. The warrior's chief implement was his hatchet of stone or copper. This he always carried with him, and it was rarely free from the stain of blood. His weapon of offence and defence was the bow and arrow, by no means an insignificant or feeble instrument. The arrow pointed with stone or iron was frequently driven entirely through the ponderous buffalo. The range of the winged missile was two hundred yards or more, and the aim was one of fatal accuracy when the White man was the tar- get. The Indian's clothing was a blanket, thrown over his shoulders, bound around him perhaps with a thong of leather. The material for his moccasins * and leggins was stripped from the red buck, elk, or buffalo. He was fond of hanging about his person an infinity of non- sensical trappings ; fangs of rattlesnakes, claws of hawks, feathers of eagles, bones of animals, scalps of enemies. He painted his face and body, specially when the passion of war was on him, with all manner of glaring and fantastic colors. So the Prophet of his nation taught him; so he would be terrible to his enemies; so he would exemplify the peculiarities of his nation and be unlike the Pale face. All the higher arts were wanting. Indian writing consisted only of quaint and half-intelligible hieroglyphics rudely scratched on the face of rocks or cut in the bark of trees. The artistic sense of the savage could rise no higher than a coarse necessity compelled the flight.
The language spoken by a people is always a matter of special
* The Algonquin word is viaklsin.
48
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
SPECIMEN OF INDIAN WRITING.
interest and importance. The dialects of the North American races bear many and evident marks of resemblance among themselves; but little or no analogy to the languages of other nations. If there is any similarity at all, it is found between the Indian tongues and those
spoken by the
nomadic races
of Asia. The
IpJ^jJ^^jJ ^ |!^ ^ wo \? v7 w VA vocabulary of
the Red men was a very limited one. The principal objects of na- ture had spec- ial names, and actions were likewise spe- cifically e X - pressed. Ab- stract ideas but rarely f o u n d expression in
any of the Indian languages ; such ideas could only be expressed by ti long and labored circumlocution. Words had a narrow but very intense meaning. There was, for instance, no general word signify- ing to hunt or to fish ; but one word signified " to-kill-a-deer-with-an- arrow ; " another, " to-take-fish-by-striking-the-ice." In most of the dialects there was no word for brother; but "elder-brother" and "younger-brother" could be expressed. Among many of the tribes the meanings of words and phrases were so restricted that the war- rior would use one set of terms and the squaw another to express the same ideas. The languages were monosyllabic ; but many of the monosyllables might be combined to form compounds resembling the polysyllables of European tongues. These compounds, expressing ab- stract and difficult ideas, were sometimes inordinately long,* the whole ibrming an explanation or description of the thing rather than a sin- gle word. Scholars have applied the term agglutinative to those lan- guages in which such labored and tedious forms of expression occur. Of this sort are the tongues spoken by the nomadic races of Asia.
* For instance, in the Massachusetts dialect, the form of speech meaning "our ques- Hon" was this: Kum-mog-ko-don-at-toot-tura-moo-et-it-e-a-ong-an-nun-non-ash.
Tramlaiion : Eight soldiers (9), with muskets (10), commanded by a cap- tain (1), and accompanied by a secretary (2), a geologist (3), three attend- ants (4, 5, 6), and two Indian guides, encamped here. They had three camp fires (13, 14, 15), and ate a turtle and a prairie hen (11, 12), for supper.
ABORIGINAL AMERICA.
49
In personal appearance the Indians were strong/y marked. In statnre they were nearly all below the average of Europeans. The Esquimaux are rarely five feet high, but are generally thick-set and heavy. The Algonquins are taller and lighter in build; a straight and agile race, lean and swift of foot. Eyes jet-black and sunk- en ; hair black and straight; beard black and scant; skin copper-colored, a red- dish-black, cin- namon-hued, brown ; high cheek bones ; forehead and skull variable in shape and proportion; hands and feet small ; body lithe but not strong; expression sinister, or rarely dignified and noble : — these are the well-known features and person of the Indian.
Though gener- ally sedate in man- ners and serious in behavior, the Red men at times gave themselves up to merry-making and hilarity. The dance was universal — not the social dance of civ- ilized nations, but the dance of ceremony, of religion, and of war. Sometimes the warriors danced alone, but frequently the women joined in the wild exercise, circling around and around, chanting the weird, monotonous songs of the tribes. Many other amusements were com- mon, such as running, leaping, wrestling, shooting at a mark, racing in canoes along swift rivers or placid lakes, playing at ball, or en- gaging in intricate and exciting games, performed with small stones resembling checkers cr dice. To this latter sport was not unfre- quently added the intoxication of gambling, in which the warriors, under the influence of their fierce passion, Avould often hazard and
* An authentic portrait of the celebrated Black Hawk, chief of the Sacs and Foxes. 4
A NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN.-
50 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
lose their entire possessions. In soberer moments, the Red men, never inclined to conversation, would sit in silence, communing each with his own thoughts or lost in a dream under the fascination of his pipe. The use of tobacco was universal and excessive; and after the introduction of intoxicating liquors by the Europeans the Indi- ans fell into terrible drunkenness, only limited in its extent by the amount of spirits which they could procure. It is doubtful whether any other race has been so awfully degraded by drink.
Such is a brief sketch of the Red man — who was rather than is. The only hope of the perpetuity of his race seems now to center in the Choctaws, Cherokees, Creeks and Chickasaws of the Indian Ter- ritory. These nations, numbering in the aggregate about forty-eight thousand souls, have attained a considerable degree of civilization ; and with just and liberal dealing on the part of the Government the outlook for the future is not discouraging. Most of the other Indian tribes seem to be rapidly approaching extinction. Right or wrong, such is the logic of events. Whether the Red man has been justly deprived of the ownership of the New World will remain a subject of debate ; that he has been deprived, can be none. The Saxon has come. His conquering foot has trodden the vast domain from shore to shore. The weaker race has withered from his presence and sword. By the majestic rivers and in the depths of the solitary woods the feeble sons of the Bow and Arrow will be seen no more. Only their names remain on hill and stream and mountain. The Red man sinks and fails. His eyes are to the West. To the prairies and forests, the hunting-grounds of his ancestors, he says farewell. He is gone ! The cypress and the hemlock sing his requiem.
PART 11.
YOTAGE A.'ND DISCOYEET.
A. ». 986-1607.
CHAPTER II. THE ICELANDERS AND NORWEGIANS IN AMERICA.
THE western continent was first seen by white men in A. D. 986. A Norse navigator by the name of Heejulfson, sailing from Iceland to Greenland, was caught in a storm and driven westward to Newfoundland or Labrador. Two or three times the shores were seen, but no landing was made or attempted. The coast was low, abounding in forests, and so diiferent from the well-known cliffs of Greenland as to make it certain that another shore hitherto unknown was in sight. On reaching Greenland, Herjulfson and his companions told wonderful stories of the new lands seen in the west.
Fourteen years later, the actual discovery of America was made by Lief Erickson. This noted Icelandic captain, resolving to know the truth about the country which Herjulfson had seen, sailed west- ward from Greenland, and in the spring of the year 1001 reached Labrador. Impelled by a spirit of adventure, he landed with his companions, and made explorations for a considerable distance along the coast. The country was milder and more attractive than his own, and he was in no haste to return. Southward he went as far as Massachusetts, where the daring company of Norsemen remained for more than a year. Rhode Island was also visited; and it is alleged that the hardy adventurers found their way into New York harbor.
What has once been done, whether by accident or design, may easily be done again. In the years that followed Lief Erickson's dis- covery, other companies of Norsemen came to the shores of America. Thorwald, Lief 's brother, made a voyage to Maine and Massachu- setts in 1002, and is said to have died at Fall River in the latter state.
(51)
i^.
52
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
Then another brother, Thorstein by name, arrived with a band of followers in 1005 ; and in the year 1007, Thoefinn Kaelsefne, the most distinguished mariner of his day, came with a crew of a hundred and fifty men, and made explorations along the coast of Massachusetts,
Rhode Island, and per- haps as far south as the capes of Virginia. Other companies of Icelanders and Norwegians visited the countries f a r t h e r north, and planted col- onies in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Little, however, was known or imagined by these rude sailors of the extent of the country which they had discovered. They supposed that it was only a portion of Western Greenland, which, bend- ing to the north around an arm of the ocean, had reappeared in the west. The settlements which were made, were feeble and soon broken up. Commerce was au im- possibility in a country where there were only a few wretched savages with no disposition to buy and nothing at all to sell. The spirit of adventure was soon appeased, and the restless Northmen returned to their own country. To this undefined line of coast, now vaguely known to them, the Norse sailors gave the name of Vinland; and the old Icelandic chroniclers insist that it was a pleasant and beauti- ful country. As compared with their own mountainous and frozen island of th<3 North, the coasts of New England may well have seemed delightful.
The men who thus first visited the shores of the New World were a race of hardy adventurers, as lawless and restless as any that ever sailed the deep. Their mariners and soldiers penetrated every clime. The better parts of France and England fell under their do- minion. All the monarchs of the latter country after AYilliam the Conqueror — himself the grandson of a sea-king — are descendants of
NORSE EXPLOKATIONS.
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY.
53
the Norsemen. They were rovers of the sea ; freebooters and pi- rates; "warriors audacious and headstrong, wearing hoods surmounted with eagles' wings and walruses' tusks, mailed armor, and for robes the skins of polar bears. Woe to the people on whose defenceless coasts the sea-kings landed with sword and torch! Their wayward life and ferocious disposition are well portrayed in one of their own old bal-<
lads *
He scorns to rest 'neath the smoky rafter,
He plows with his boat the roaring deep ; Tlie billows boil and the storm howls after — But the tempest is only a thing of laughter, —
The sea-king loves it better than sleep !
During the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries occa- sional voyages continued to be made; and it is said that as late as A. D. 1347 a Norwegian ship visited Labrador and the north-eastern parts of the United States. The Norse remains which have been found at Newport, at Garnet Point, and several other places seem to point clearly to some such events as are here described; and the Ice- landic historians give a uni- form and tolerably consistent account of these early ex- ploits of their countrymen. When the word America is mentioned in. the hearing of the Icelandic schoolboys, they will at once answer, with en- thusiasm, " Oh, yes ; Lief Er- ickson discovered that country in the year 1001."
An event is to be weighed by its consequences. From the discovery of Amer- ica by the Norsemen, nothing whatever resulted. The world was neither wiser nor better. Among the Icelanders themselves the place and the very name of Vinland were forgotten. Europe never heard of such a country or such a discovery. Historians have until late years been incredulous on the subject, and the fict is as though it had never been. The curtain which had been lifted for a
A NORSE SEA-KING OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.
54 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
moment was stretched again from sky to sea, and the New World still lay hidden in the shadows. *
CHAPTER III. SPANISH DISCO VEBIES IN AMERICA.
IT was reserved for the people of a sunnier clime than Iceland first to make known to the European nations the existence of a Western con- tinent. Spain was the happy country under whose auspicious patronage a new world was to be added to the old ; but the man who was destined to make the revelation was not himself a Spaniard : he was to come from genial Italy, the land of olden valor and the home of so much greatness. Christopher Columbus was the name of that man whom after ages have justly rewarded with imperishable fame.
The idea that the world is round was not original with Columbus. Others before him had held a similar belief; but the opinion had been so feebly and uncertainly entertained as to lead to no practical results. Copernicus, the PriLssian astronomer, had not yet taught, nor had Galileo, the great Italian, yet demonstrated, the true system of the universe. The English traveler, Sir John Mandeville, had declared in the very first English book that ever was MTitten (A. D. 1356) that the world is a sphere; that he himself, when traveling northward, had seen the polar star approach the zenith, and that on going southward the antarctic con- stellations had risen overhead ; and that it was both possible and practicable for a man to sail around the world and return to the place of starting : but neither Sir John himself nor any other seaman of his times was bold enough to undertake so hazardous an enterprise.! Columbus was, no doubt, the first practical believer in the theory of circumnaviga- tion ; and although he never sailed around the world himself, he demonstrated the possibility of doing so.
* As to the reality of the Norse discoveries in America, the following from Hum- boldt's Cosmos, Vol. II., pp. 269-272, may be cited as conclusive : " We are here on historical ground. By the critical and highly praiseworthy efforts of Professor Rafn and the Royal Society of Antiquaries in Copenhagen, the Sagas and documents in regard to the expeditions of the Norsemen to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Vinland have been published and satisfactorily commented upon. « * « » The dis- covery of the iiorthei-n part of Amenca by the Norsemen can not be disputed. The length of the voyage, the direction in which they sailed, the time of the sun's rining and setting, are accurately given. While the Caliphate of Bagdad was still flourish- ing^ •» » «■ * America was discovered about the year A. D. 1000, by Lief, the son of Eric the Red, at the latitude of forty-one and a-half degrees north."
t See Appendix A.
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY.
55
The great mistake with Columbus and others who shared his opinions was not concerning the figure of the earth, but in regard to its size. He believed the world to be no more than ten thousand or twelve thousand miles in circumference. He therefore confidently expected that after sail- ing about three thousand miles to the westward he should arrive at the East Indies ; and to do that was the one great purpose of his life.
Christopher Columbus was born at Genoa, a seacoast to\\Ti of North- western Italy, in A. D. 1435. He was carefully educated, and then devoted
himself to the sea. His ancestors had been sea- men before him. His o^^^l inclination as well as his early training made him a sailor. For twenty years he traversed the Mediter- ranean and the parts of the Atlantic adjacent to Europe; he visited Iceland; then went to Portugal, and finally to S]>ain. The idea of reaching the Indies by crossing the Atlan- tic had already pos- sessed him. For more than ten years the poor enthusiast was a beg-
CHIIISTOPHER COLtTMBUS.
gar, going from court to court, explaining to dull monarchs and bigoted monks the figure cf the earth and the ease with which the rich islands of the East might be reached by sailing westward. He found one appreciative listener, after- ward his constant and faithful friend — the noble and sympathetic Isa- bella, queen of Castile. Be it never forgotten that to the faith, and insight, and decision of a woman the final success of Columbus must be attributed.
On the morning of the 3d day of August, 1492, Columbus, with his three ships, left the harbor of Palos. After seventy-one days of sailing, in the early dawn of October 12, Hodrigo Triana, who chanced to be on the lookout from the Pinta, set up a shout of '^Land!'' A gun was fired as the signal. The ships lay to. There was music and jubilee ;
56 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
and just at sunrise Columbus himself first stepped ashore, shook out the royal banner of Castile in the presence of the wondering natives, and named the island San Salvador. During the three remaining months of this first voyage the islands of Concepcion, Cuba and Hayti were added to the list of discoveries ; and on the bay of Caracola, in the lasfc= named island, was erected out of the timbers of the Santa Maria a fortj the first structure built by Europeans in the New World. In the early part of January, 1493, Columbus sailed for Spain, where he arrived in March, and was everywhere greeted with rejoicings and applause.
In September of the following autumn Columbus sailed on his second voyage. He still believed that by this route westward he should reach, if indeed he had not already reached, the Indies. The result of the second voyage was the discovery of the Windward group and the islands of Jamaica and Porto Rico. It was at this time that the first colony was established in Hayti and Columbus's brother appointed governor. After an absence of nearly three years, Columbus returned to Spain in the sum- mer of 1496 — returned to find himself the victim of a thousand bitter jealousies and suspicions. All the rest of his life was clouded with perse- cutions and misfortunes. He made a third voyage, discovered the island of Trinidad and the mainland of South America, near the mouth of the Orinoco. Thence he sailed back to Hayti, where he found his colony disorganized ; and here, while attempting to restore order, he was seized by Bobadilla, an agent of the Spanish government, put in chains and car- ried to Spain. After a disgraceful imprisonment, he was liberated and sent on a fourth and last voyage in search of the Indies ; but besides making some explorations along the south side of the Gulf of Mexico, the expedition accomplished nothing, and Columbus, overwhelmed with discouragements, returned once more to his ungrateful country. The good Isabella was dead, and the great discoverer found himself at last a friendless and despised old man tottering into the grave. Death came, and fame afterward.
Of all the wrongs done to the memory of Columbus, perhaps the greatest was that which robbed him of the name of the new conti- nent. This was bestowed upon one of the least worthy of the many adventurers whom the genius and success of Columbus had drawn to the West. In the year 1499, Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator of some daring but no great celebrity, reached the eastern coast of South America. It does not appear that his explorations there Avere of any great importance. Two years later he made a second voyage, and then hastened home to give to Euro])e the first published account of the Western World. Vespucci's only merit consisted in his recognition of
lOOO
Central I'oriod of the 31iil<lle Ages.
1i. Coiiratl II.
Th
99.
35. XTiiion of C
IIOO
1200
1300
80. The Kill:
39. Henry the Blaek.
52. Frederick Barbarossa. e CRUSADES. The Kiiigdoui of Jerusalem established.
astile and L.eoii.
8. LiOiiis VI. 56. Henry IV.
HOUSE OF CAPET IN FKANCE.
26. l.ouis IX.
85. Philip IT.
16. PIi
The different Orders of Knighthood establi^
37. LiOiiis VII.
71. Coiiq
17 Canute. so. Ph
40. If ardieau lite. 42. EdwartI Ithe Confessor.
66. Harohl. 3s. strug;@:ie of 66. Will lani I.
35. Stephen. 'William Riifu»>.
Henry I.
54. Henry
89. 99. The PLANTAGENETS.
87.
DANISH KINGS IN ENGiiAND,
The NORMANS.
1. LEIF ER1CK80S, an Icelandic
navigiitor, sailing westward from Greenland, discovers the coast of Labrador, and makes explorations !is far south as Khode l.sland.
Bjarne Herjnlfson driven by cL storm within sij;ht of the American coast A. I>. 9»i«.
2. I'horivald Erickson re-
turns to America and re- mains three years.
5. Tliorstein Erickson co
nest of Ireland, ilip II.
the Gnelphs and dihibel lines. Wars of the ISaronsJ
28.
15. !Magna Cliarta
II.
Ricliaril I. John.
Heroic Age.
grante
72. Edward I,
7. Edna W
THE WESTERN CONTINENT UNKNOWN
21. Erik ITpsi sent as
mes to America.
7. Thorlinn Karlsefne ex plores the coastof Massachusetts.
11. Expedition of Freydls
AMERICA
to Vinland.
70. Allege
TO TH
UNDER
1 discovery of America by 9Ia doc the \N'
THE ABORIG
JO IPt J%. lO ~V I
X_v jCjC -ctL Xv Ji X»
PERIOD OF VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY.
A. D. 986-1607.
Icelandic discoTerles in gr^ Spanish " " ye'
Knollsh " " ra
Fkknch " " Wh
OuTCH '* *' hr
PORTUGUSSK " " pVi
1400
1500
HiOO
>m of Jeru Maleui overtliro^ii. I
:::,. C'uliinihus born. 15. John llii>^$>).
ok written in Eii;;
56. Fir*it bo Ii»tii, ill
Mandevil figure of bility of
which the author, Sir John le, declares the spherical the eartli and the practica- eircumnavigatioii.
'J8.
|
80. ,€h |
"••*"^^'- Innttr.g |
|
► V. |
11-31. Joan of Are. |
|
(I. USE OF A.LOIS. |
■2-2. Charles VII. 61. liOnls |
|
77. Bic |
harU II. |
99.
[I. litre.
[ward III.
Wars of the Roses.
he LAN CASTERS.
74. Fer
The
a3. H
The YOKKS.I Henry IV.
13. Henry V.
22. Henry VI.
61. £4lwar«i
83. E
83. K
l>c tiiaina doubles the Cape of Good Hope and reaches the liast Indies.
I><iither.
Jnbcntrti.
The Keforuiat ion.
XI.
9. John Calvin.
12. St. Uartlioloinew.
i->. Francis I.
Henry IV.
IS. TreaSy of
Westphalia.
89.
1.). C'harles V.
«linan<l and Isabella.
TUDORS.
The PURITANS enry VII.
9. Ileury VIII.
47. £(luard VI. 53. Mary. IV.
uwar«i V. .^s Klizaheth.
ieliar«l III.
10. I^ouis XIII.
43.I..OIlisXIT
3. Jaiiies I.
25. C'harles I.
The STUARTS.
:UROPEAN NATIONS.
0. The great pi Greenland, cation with
A company of
lAL
ague depopulates Iceland, and Vinland; communi- the New World is cut oft
93. IColllUlbus discovers the 93. Second voyage. 98. Third voyage.
Discovers America.
99. AineriK'o '^'espneoi makes
12. I>e I^eon explores Flori
20. Corioz, coiujucrs Mex
25. I>e Aylloii in Caro
28. I»e Xarvaeas mak
39. I>e .Solo in Am
Cm. Melen
97.
98.
Norsemen in America.
TRIBES.
West Indies,
Col
John Cabot discovers No
Sebastian Cabot explores
7S. Ma
79. I)r
83. 4.i
K
11 ill bus visits Iceland and leanis of the New World.
a voyage to South America.
da.
ico.
liiia.
.es explorations in Florida.
'erica,
«le* founds St Augustine
rth America, tlic American const. rtiii Frobisher'N voyages. «ke (111 the Pacific coast. ilbert'N voyage. [tion.
al<>iK:h*N attempts at coloniza-
2. t^OMiioIirN direct voyage.
3. I'rinjr's voy:ii.'e.
7. Setlleiiieiit at JaineMlowil
8. Waynioiith in Maine.
20. Till' i'lirilaiiN at I'lynioiilh.
24. Verraz.xaiil cxplor
34. Carli«'r's exped
42. Kolterval in
6-'. Kibanlt
6-1. LMiitIo
98.
1
cs the American coast
ition.
I Canada.
' with the Til- - ■ ■-•.
■iiiier<''M <
lilt Kochf .~^cotia.
4. I>e .MoiitN and Cham-
plain.
5. I*«»rt Koyai fuiimlcd. 8. Koiiiidiiig of 4(nebee.
9. Hn4l<ion in America, 14. K.xplomiions nf Itloek
ainl .May. 14. Foundiii.: Ml %«'w .iin- ster«lani.
1. Voyages of the ^'orlereals.
19. Matrellan eireiiiiinav ii;iite.« ;
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 57
the fact that the recent discoveries were not a portion of that Inuia already known, but were in reality another continent. In his published narrative all reference to Columbus was carefully omitted ; and thus tlirough his own craft, assisted by the unappreciative dullness of the times, the name of this Vespucci rather than that of the true discoverer was given to the New World.
The discovery of America produced great excitement throughout the states of Western Europe. In Spain especially there was wonderful zeal and enthusiasm. Within ten years after the death of Columbus, the principal islands of the West Indies were explored and colonized. In the year 1510 the Spaniards planted on the Isthmus of Darien their first con- tinental colony. Three years later, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the governor of the colony, learning from the natives that another ocean lay only a short distance to the westward, crossed the isthmus and from an eminence looked down upon the Pacific. Not satisfied with merely seeing the great water, he waded in a short distance, and drawing his sword after the pompous Spanish fashion, took possession of the ocean in the name of the king of Spain.
Meanwhile, Juan Ponce de Leon, who had been a companion of Columbus on his second voyage, fitted out a private expedition of dis- covery and adventure. De Leon had grown rich as governor of Porto Rico, and while growing rich had also grown old. But there was a foun- tain of perpetual youth somewhere in the Bahamas — so said all the learn- ing and intelligence of Spain — and in that fountain the Avrinkled old cavalier would bathe and be young again. So in the year 1512 he set sail from Porto Rico ; and stopping first at San Salvador and the neighbor- ing islands, he came, on Easter_Sunday;, the_27th of March^ in sight of an unknown shore. He supposed that another island more beautiful than the rest was discovered. There were waving forests, green leaves, birds of song and the fragrance of blossoms. Partly in honor of the day, called in the ritual of the Church Pascua Florida, and partly to describe the delightfiil landscape that opened on his sight, he named the new shore Florida — the Land of Flowers.
After a few days a landing was effected a short distance north of where, a half century later, were laid the foundations of St. Augustine. The country was claimed for the king of Spain, and the search for the youth -restoring fountain was eagerly prosecuted. The romantic adven- turer turned southward, explored the coast for many leagues, discovered and named the Tortugas, doubled Cape Florida, and then sailed back to Porto Rico, not perceptibly younger than when he started.
The king of Spain rewarded Ponce with the governorship of his
58 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
Laud of Flowers, and sent him thither again to establish a colony. The aged veteran did not, however, reach his province until the year 1521, and then it was only to find the Indians in a state of bitter hostility. Scarcely had he landed when they fell upon him in a furious battle; many of the Spaniards were killed outriaht. and thp rest had to betake themselves to the ships for safety. Pouce de Leon himself received a mortal wound from an arrow, and was carried back to Cuba to die.
CHAPTER IV.
SPANISH DISCOVERIES IN AMERICA.— CONTINUED.
THE year 1517 was marked by the discovery of Yucatan and the Bay of Campeachy by Fernandez de Cordova. While exploring the northern coast of the country, his company was attacked by the natives, and he himself mortally wounded. During the next year the coast of Mexico was explored for a great distance by Grijalva, assisted by Ccr- lova's pilot; and in the year 1519, Fernando Cortez landed with his fleet at Tabasco and began his famous conquest of Mexico.
As soon as the news of the invasion spread abroad, the subjects of the Mexican empire were thrown into consternation. Armies of native warriors gathered to resist the progress of the Spaniards, but were dispersed by the invaders. After freeing the coast of his oppo- nents, Cortez proceeded westward to Vera Cruz, a seaport one hun- dred and eighty miles south-east of the Mexican capital. Here he was met by ambassadors from the celebrated Montezuma, emperor of the country. From him they delivered messages and exhibited great anxiety lest Cortez should march into the interior. He as- sured them that such was indeed his purpose; that his business in the country was urgent; and that he must confer with Montezuma in person.
The ambassadors tried in vain to dissuade the terrible Spaniard. They made him costly presents, and then hastened back to their alarmed sovereign. Montezuma immediately despatched them a sec- ond time with presents still more valuable, and with urgent appeals to Cortez to proceed no farther. But the cupidity of the Spaniards was now inflamed to the highest pitch, and burning their ships behind them, they began theii /harch towards the capital. The Mexican em-
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY.
59
peror by his messengers forbade their approach to his city. Still they pressed on. The nations tributary to Montezuma threw off their al- legiance, made peace with the conqueror, and even joined his stand- ard. The irresolute and vacillating Indian monarch knew not what to do. The Span- iards came in si^ht of the city — a glit- tering and splen- did vision of spires and temples ; and the poor Montezu- ma came forth to receive his remorse- less enemies. On the morning of the 8th of November, 1519, the Spanish army marched over the causeway lead- ing into the Mexi- can capital and was (Juartered in the great central square near the temple of the Aztec god of war.
It was now winter time. For a month Cortez remained quietly in the city. He was permitted to go about freely with his soldiers, and was even allowed to examine the sacred altars and shrines where human sacrifices were daily offered up to the deities of Mexico. He made himself familiar with the defences of the capital and the INIex- ican mode of warfare. On every side he found inexhaustible stores of provisions, treasures of gold and silver, and what greatly excited his solicitude, arsenals filled with bows and javelins. But although surrounded with splendor and abundance, his own situation became extremely critical. The millions of natives who swarmed around him were becoming familiar with his troops and no longer believed them immortal. There were mutterings of an outbreak which threatened to overwhelm him in an hour. In this emergency Ibe Spanish general adopted the bold and unscrupulous expedient of seizing Montezuma and holding him as a hostage. A plausible pretext for this outrage was found in thQ fact that the IMexican governor of the province
FERNANDO CORTEZ.
60 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
adjacent to Vera Cruz had attacked the Spanish garrison at that place, and that Montezuma himself had acted with hostility and treachery towards the Spaniards while they were marching on the city. As soon as the emperor was in his power, Cortez compelled him to acknowledge himself a vassal of the king of Spain and to agree to the payment of a sum amounting to six million three hundred thous|ind dollars, with an annual tribute afterwards.
In the mean time, Velasquez, the Spanish governor of Cuba, jealous of the fame of Cortez, had despatched a force to Mexico to arrest his progress and to supersede him in the command. The ex- pedition was led by Pamphilo de Narvaez, the same who was afterwards governor of Florida. His forces consisted of more than twelve hundred well armed and well disciplined soldiers, besides a thousand Indian servants and guides. But the vigilant Cortez had meanwhile been informed by messengers from Vera Cruz of the movement which his enemies at home had set on foot against him, and he determined to sell his command only at the price of his own life and the lives of all his followers. He therefore instructed Al- varado, one of his subordinate officers, to remain in the capital with a small force of a hundred and forty men ; and with the remainder, numbering less than two hundred, he himself hastily withdrew from the city and proceeded by a forced march to encounter De Narvaez on the sea-coast. On the night of the f6th of May, 1520, while the soldiers of the latter were quietly asleep in their camp near Vera Cruz, Cortez burst upon them with the fury of despair, and before they could rally or well understand the terrible onset, compelled the whole force to surrender. Then, adding the general's skill to the warrior's prowess, he succeeded in inducing the conquered army, to join his own standard ; and with his forces thus augmented to six times their original numbers he began a second time his march to- wards the capital.
While Cortez was absent on this expedition, the Mexicans of the capital rose in arms, and the possession of the country was staked on the issue of war. Alvarado, either fearing a revolt or from a spirit of atrocious cruelty, had attacked the Mexicans while they were celebrating one of their festivals, and slain five hundred of the leaders and priests. The people in a frenzy of astonishment and rage flew to their arms and laid siege to the palace where Alvarado and his men were fortified. The Spaniards were already hard pressed when Cortez at the head of his new army reached the city. He en- tered without oj)position and joined Alvarado's command ; but the passions of the Mexicans were now thoroughly aroused, and not all
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY, 61
the diplomacy of the Spanish general could again bring them into subjection. In a few days the conflict began in earnest. The streets were deluged with the blood of tens of thousands; and not a few of the Spaniards fell before the vengeance of the native warriors. For months there was almost incessant fighting in and around the city ; and it became evident that the Spaniards must ultimately be overwhelmed and destroyed.
To save himself from his peril, Cortez adopted a second shame- less expedient, more wicked than the first. Montezuma was compelled to go upon the top of the palace in front of the great square where the besiegers were gathered and to counsel them to make peace with the Spaniards. For a moment there was universal silence, then a murmur of vexation and rage, and then Montezuma was struck down by the javelins of his own subjects. In a few days he died of wretchedness and despair, and for a while the warriors, overwhelmed with remorse, abandoned the conflict. But with the renewal of the strife Cortez was obliged to leave the city. Finally a great battle was fought, and the Spanish arms and valor triumphed. In the crisis of the struggle the sacred Mexican banner was struck down and captured. Dismay seized the hosts of puny warriors, and they fled in all directions. In De- cember of 1520, Cortez again marched on the capital. A siege, last- ing until August of the following year, ensued; and then the famous city yielded. The empire of the Montezumas was overthrown, and Mexico became a Spanish province.
Among the many daring enterprises which marked the beginning of the sixteenth century, that of Ferdinand Magellan is worthy of special mention. A Portuguese by birth, a navigator by profession, this man, so noted for extraordinary boldness and ability, determined to discover a south-west rather than a north-west passage to Asia. With this object in view, he appealed to the king of Portugal for ships and men. The monarch listened coldly, and did nothing to give encouragement. Incensed at this treatment, Magellan threw ofl" his allegiance, went to Spain — the usual resort of disappointed sea- men— and laid his plans before Charles V. The emperor caught eagerly at the opportunity, and ordered a fleet of five ships to be im- mediately fitted at the public expense and properly manned with crews.
The voyage was begun from Seville in August of 1519. Sailing southward across the equinoctial line, Magellan soon reached the coast of South America, and spent the autumn in explorations, hoping to find some strait that should lead him westward into that ocean which Balboa had discovered six years previously. Not at first successful in this effort,
62 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
he passed the winter — which was summer on that side of the equator — • somewhere on the coast of Brazil. Kenewing his voyage southward, he came at last to the eastern mouth of that strait which still bears the name of its discoverer, and passing through it found himself in the open and boundless ocean. The weather was beautiful, and the peaceful deep was called the Pacific.
Setting his prows to the north of west, Magellan now held steadily on his course for nearly four months, suffering much meanwhile from want of water and scarcity of provisions. In March of 1520 he came to the group of islands called the Ladrones, situated about midway between Australia and Japan. Sailing still westward, he reached the Philippine group, where he was killed in a battle with the natives. But the fleet was now less than four hundred miles from China, and the rest of the route was easy. A new captain was chosen, and the voyage continued by way of the Moluccas, where a cargo of spices was taken on board for the market of AVestern Europe. Only a single ship was deemed in a fit condition to venture on the homeward voyage ; but in this vessel the crews embarked, and returning by way of the Cape of Good Hope arrived in Spain on the 17th day of September, 1522. The circumnavigation of the globe, long believed in as a possibility, had now become a thing of reality. The theory of the old astronomers, of Mandeville and of Columbus had been proved by actual demonstration.
The next important voyage undertaken to the shores of America was in the year 1520. Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, who had been a judge in St. Domingo and had acquired great riches, conducted the expedition. He and six other wealthy men, eager to stock their plantations with slaves, determined to do so by kidnapping natives from the neighboring Bahamas. Two vessels were fitted out for the purpose, and De Ayllon commanded in person. When the vessels %vere nearing their destination, they encoun- tered a storm which drove them northward about a hundred and fifty leagues, and brought them against the coast of South Carolina. The ships entered St. Helena Sound and anchored in the mouth of the Cambahee River. The name of Chicora was given to the country, and the river was called the Jordan. The timid but friendly natives, as soon as their fears had subsided, began to make presents to the strangers and to treat them with great cordiality. They flocked on board the ships ; and w^hen the decks were crowded, De Ayllon, watching his opportunity, weighed anchor and sailed away. A few days afterward an avenging storm sent one of the ships to the bottom of the sea, and death came mercifully to most of the poor wretches who were huddled under the hatches of the other.
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 63
Going at once to Spain, De Ayllon repeated the story of his exploit to Charles V., who rewarded him with the governorship of Chicora and the privilege of conquest. Returning to his province in 1525, he found the natives intensely hostile. His best ship ran aground in the mouth of the Jordan, and the outraged Indians fell upon him with fury, killing many of the treacherous crew, and making the rest glad enough to get away with their lives. De Ayllon himself returned to St. Domingo humiliated and ruined. Thus ended the first disgraceful effort to enslave the Indians.
In the year 1526, Charles V. appointed the unprincipled Pamphilo DE Narvaez governor of Florida, and to the appointment was added the usual privilege of conquest. The territory thus placed at his disposal extended from Cape Sable fully three-fifths of the way around the Gulf of Mexico, and was limited on the south-west by the mouth of the River of Palms. With this extensive commission De Narvaez arrived at Tampa Bay in the month of April, 1528. His force consisted of two hundred and sixty soldiers and forty horsemen. The natives treated them with suspicion, and, anxious to be rid of the intruders, began to hold up their gold trinkets and to point to the north. The hint was eagerly caught at by the avaricious Spaniards, whose imaginations were set on fire mth the sight of the precious metal. They struck boldly into the forests, expect- ing to find cities and empires, and found instead swamps and savages. They reached the Withlacoochie and crossed it by swimming, they passed over the Suwanee in a canoe which they made for the occasion, and finally came to Apalachee, a squalid village of forty cabins. This, then, was the mighty city to which their guides had directed them.
Oppressed with fatigue and goaded by hunger, they plunged again into the woods, wading through lagoons and assailed by lurking savages, until at last they reached the sea at the harbor of St. Mark's. Here they expected to find their ships, but not a ship was there, or had been. With great labor they constructed some brigantines, and put to sea in the vain hope of reaching the Spanish settlements in Mexico. They were tossed by storms, driven out of sight of land and then thrown upon the shore again, drowned, slain by the savages, left in the solitary woods dead of starvation and despair, until finally four miserable men of all the adven- turous company, under the leadership of the heroic De Vaca, first lieu- tenant of the expedition, were rescued at the village of San Miguel, on the Pacific coast, and conducted to the city "of Mexico. The story can hardly be paralleled in the annals of suffering and peril.
But the ^feBJ5pdb-were not yet satisfied. In the yeai* 1537 a new expedition was planned which surpassed all the others in the bril-
64 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
liancy of its beginning and the disasters of its end. The most cavaliei of the cavaliers was Ferdinand de Soto, of Xeres. Besides the dis- tinction of a noble birth, he had been the lieutenant and bosom friend of Pizarro, and had now returned from Peru loaded with wealth. So great was his popularity in Spain that he had only to demand what he would have of the emperor that his request might be granted. At his own dic- tation he was accordingly appointed governor of Cuba and Florida, with the privilege of exploring and conquering the latter country at his pleasure. A great company of young Si)aniards, nearly all of them wealthy and liigh-born, flocked to his standard. Of these he selected six hundred of the most gallant and daring. They were clad in costly suits of armor of the knightly pattern, with airy scarfs and silken embroidery and all the trappings of chivalry. Elaborate preparations were made for the grand conquest ; arms and stores were provided ; shackles were wrought for the slaves ; tools for the forge and workshop were abundantly sup- plied ; bloodhounds were bought and trained for the work of hunting fugitives ; cards to keep the young knights excited with gaming ; twelve priests to conduct religious ceremonies ; and, last of all, a drove of swine to fatten on the maize and mast of the country.
When, after a year of impatience and delay, everything was at last in readiness, the gay Castilian squadron, ten vessels in all, left the harbor of San Lucar to conquer imaginary empires in the New World. The fleet touched at Havana, and the enthusiasm was kindled even to a higher pitch than it had reached in Spain. De Soto left his wife to govern Cuba daring liis absence ; and after a prosperous and exulting voyage of two weelcs, the ships cast anchor in Tampa Bay. This was in the early part of June, 1539. When some of the Cubans who had joined the expedition first saw the silent forests and gloomy morasses that stretched before them, they were terrified at the prospect, and sailed back to the security of home ; but De Soto and his cavaliers despised such cowardice, and began their march into the interior. During the months of July, August and Sep- tember they marched to the northward, wading through swamps, swim- ming rivers and fighting the Indians. In October they arrived at the country of the Apalachians, on the left bank of Flint River, where they determined to spend the winter. For four months they remained in thLs locality, sending out exploring parties in various directions. One of these companies reached the gulf at Pensacola, and made arrangements that supplies should be sent out from Cuba to that place during the fol- lowing summer.
f
In the early spring the Spaniards left their winter quarters and con- tinued their march to the north and east An Indian guide told them of
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 65
ai powerful and populous empire in that direction ; a woman was empress, and the land was full of gold. A Spanish soldier, one of the men of Narvaez, who had been kept a captive among the Indians, denied the truth of the extravagant story ; but De Soto only said that he would find gold or see poverty with his own eyes, and the freebooters pressed on through the swamps and woods. It was April, 1540, when they came upon the Ogechee River. Here they were delayed. The Indian guide went mad ; and when the priests had conjured the evil spirit out of him, he repaid their benevolence by losing the whole company in the forest. By the 1st of May they had reached South CaroHna, and were within a two days' march of where De Ayllon had lost his ships and men at the mouth of the Jordan. Thence the wanderers turned westward ; but that De Soto and his men crossed the mountains into North Carolina and Ten- nessee is hardly to be believed. They seem rather to have passed across Northern Georgia from the Chattahouche to the upper tributaries of the Coosa, and thence down that river to the valleys of Lower Alabama. Here, just above the confluence of the Alabama and the Tombecbee, they came upon the fortified Indian town called Mauville, or Mobile, where a terrible battle was fought with the natives. The town was set on fire, and two thousand five hundred of the Indians were killed or burned to death. Eighteen of De Soto's men were killed, and a hundred and fifty wounded. The Spaniards also lost about eighty horses and all of their baggage.
The ships of supply had meanwhile arrived at Pensacola, but De Soto and his men, although in desperate circumstances, were too stubborn and proud to avail themselves of help or even to send news of their where- abouts. They turned resolutely to the north ; but the country was poor, and their condition grew constantly worse and worse. By the middle of December they had reached the country of the Chickasas, in Northern Mississippi. They crossed the Yazoo; the weather was severe; snow fell ; and the Spaniards were on the point of starvation. They succeeded, however, in finding some fields of ungathered maize, and then came upon a deserted Indian village which promised them shelter for the winter. After remaining here till February, 1541, they were suddenly attacked in the dead of night by the Indians, who, at a preconcerted signal, set the town on fire, determined then and there to make an end of the desolating foreigners ; but the Spanish weapons and discipline again saved De Soto and his men from destruction.
After gathering provisions and reclothing themselves as well as pos- sible, the Spaniards set out again in early spring to journey still farther "westward. The guides now brought them to the ISIississippi. The point
6Q HISTORY OF THE UNITED STAXES.
where the majestic Father of Waters was first seen by white men was at the lower Chickasaw Biuff, a little north of the thirty-fourth parallel of latitude ; the day of the discovery cannot certainly be known. The In- dians came down the river in a fleet of canoes, and offered to carry the Spaniards over ; but the horses could not be transported until barges were built for that purpose. The crossing was not effected until the latter part of May.
De Soto's men now found themselves in the land of the Dakotas. Journeying to the north-west, they passed through a country where wild fruits were plentiful and subsistence easy. The natives were inoffensive and superstitious. At one place they were going to worship the woe- begone cavaliers as the children of the gods, but De Soto was too good a Catholic to permit such idolatry. The Spaniards continued their march until they reached the St. Francis River, which they crossed, and gained the southern limits of Missouri, in the vicinity of New Madrid. Thence westward the march was renewed for about two hundred miles; thence southward to the Hot Springs and the tributaries of the Washita River. On the banks of this river, at the town of Atiamque, they passed the win- ter of 1541-42. The Indians were found to be much more civilized than those east of the Mississippi ; but their civilization did not protect them in the least from the horrid cruelties which the Spaniards practiced. No consideration of justice, humanity or mercy moved the stony hearts of these polite and Christian warriors. Indian towns were set on fire for sport ; Indian hands were chopped off for a whim ; and Indian captives bm-ned alive because, under fear of death, they had told a falsehood.
But De Soto's men were themselves growing desperate in their mis- fortunes. They turned again toward the sea, and passing down the tributaries of the Washita to the junction of that stream with the Red River, came upon the Mississippi in the neighborhood of Natchez. The spirit of De Soto was at last completely broken. The haughty cavalier bowed his head and became a ptey to melancholy. No more dazzling visions of Peru and Mexico flitted before his imagination. A malignant fever seized upon his emaciated frame, and then death. The priests chanted a requiem, and in the middle of the solemn night his sorrowful companions put the dead hero's body into a rustic coffin, and rowing out ' a distance from shore sunk it in the Mississippi. Ferdinand de Soto had found a grave under the rolling waters of the great river with which his name will be associated for ever.
Before his death, De Soto had named Moscoso as his successor ; and now, under the leadership of the new governor, the ragged, half-starved adventurers, in the vain hope of reaching Mexico, turned once more to the
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 67
west. They crossed the country to the upper waters of the Heel River, on the confines of Texas. Thence they turned northward into the territory of the Pawnees and the Comanches, ranging the hunting-grounds of those fierce savages until stopped by the mountains. In December of 1542, after almost endless wanderings and hardships, they came again to the Mississippi, reaching the now familiar stream a short distance above the mouth of Red River. They now formed the desperate resolution of building boats, and thus descending the river to the gulf. They erected a forge, broke off the fetters of the captives in order to procure iron, sawed timber in the forest, and at last completed seven brigantines and launched them. The time thus occupied extended fi'om January to July of 1543. The Indians of the neighborhood were now for the last time plundered in order to furnish supplies for the voyage ; and on the 2d day of July the Spaniards went on board their boats and started for the sea. The dis- tance was almost five hundred miles, and seventeen days were required to make the descent. On reaching the Gulf of Mexico, they steered to the south-west ; and keeping as close to the shore as possible, after fifty-five days of buifetings and perils along the dangerous coast, they came — three hundred and eleven famished and heart-broken fugitives — to the settle- ment at the mouth of the River of Palms; and thus ended the most marvelous expedition in the early history of our country.
The next attempt by the Spaniards to colonize Florida was in the year 1565. The enterprise was entrusted to Pedro Melendez, a Span- ish soldier of ferocious disposition and criminal practices. He was under sentence to pay a heavy fine at the veiy time when he received his com- mission from the bigoted Philip II. The contract between that monarch and Melendez was to the eifect that the latter should within three years explore the coast of Florida, conquer the country, and plant in some favorable district a colony of not less than five hundred persons, of whom one hundred should be married men. Melendez was to receive two hun- dred and twenty-five square miles of land adjacent to the settlement, and an annual salary of two thousand dollars. Twenty-five hundred persons collected around Melendez to join in the expedition. The fleet left Spain in July, reached Porto Rico early in August, and on the 28th of the same month came in sight of Florida.
It must now be understood that the real object had in view by Melendez was to attack and destroy a colony of French Protestants called Huguenots, who, in the previous year, had made a settlement about tliirty- five miles above the mouth of the St. John's River. This was, of course, within the limits of the territory claimed by Spain ; and Melendez at once oerceived that to extirpate these French heretics in the name of patriotism
68 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
and religion would be likely to restore his shattered character and bring' him into favor again. HLs former crimas were to be washed out in the blood of the innocents. Moreover, the Catholic party at the French court had communicated with the Spanish court as to the whereabouts and intentions of the Huguenots, so that Melendez knew precisely where to find them and how to compass their destruction.
It was St. Augustine's day when the dastardly Spaniard came in sight of the shore, but the landing was not effected until the 2d of Sep- tember. The spacious harbor and the small river which enters it from the south were named in honor of the saint. On the 8th day of the same month, Philip II. was proclaimed monarch of all North America ; a solemn mass was said by the priests ; and there, in the sight of forest, and sky, and sea, the foundation-stones of the oldest town in the United States were put into their place. This was seventeen years before the founding of Santa Fe by Antonio de Espego, and forty-two years before the settlement at Jamestown.
As soon as the new town was sufficiently advanced to be secure against accident, Melendez turned his attention to the Huguenots. The latter were expecting to be attacked, but had supposed that the Spanish fleet would sail up the St. John's, and make the onset from that direction^ Accordingly, knowing that they must fight or die, all the French vesselu except two left their covert in the river and put to sea, intending to an- ticipate the movements of the Spaniards ; but a furious storm arose and dashed to pieces every ship in the fleet. Most of the crews, however, reached the shore just above the mouth of the river. Melendez now collected his forces at St. Augustine, stole through the woods and swamps,, and falling unexpectedly on the defenceless colony, utterly destroyed it. IMen, women and children were alike given up to butchery. Two hundred were killed outright. A few escaped into the forest, Laudonniere,, the Huguenot leader, among the number, and making their way to thc' coast, were picked up by the two French ships which had been saved from the storm.
The crews of the ^vrecked vessels were the next object of Spanish vengeance. Melendez discovered their whereabouts, and deceiving them with treacherous promises of clemency, induced them to surrender. They were ferried across the river in boats ; but no sooner were they completely in the j)0wer of their enemy than their hands were bound behind them, and they were driven off, tied two and two, toward St. Augustine. As they approached the Spanish fort the signal was given by sounding a trumpet, and the work of slaughter began anevr. Seven hundred defence- less victims were added to the previous atrocious massacre. Only a few
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 69
mechanics and Catholic servants were left alive. Under these bloody auspices the first permanent European colony was planted in our country. In what way the Huguenots were revenged upon their enemies will be told in another place.
The Spaniards had now explored the entire coast from the Isthmus of Darien to Port Royal in South Carolina. They were acquainted with the country west of the Mississippi as far north as New Mexico and Missouri, and east of that river they had traversed the Gulf States as far as the mountain ranges of Tennessee and North Carolina. With the es- tablishment of their first permanent colony on the coast of Florida the period of Spanish voyage and discovery may be said to end.
Before closing this chapter, a brief account of the only important voyage made by the Portuguese to America will be given : At the time of the first discovery by Columbus, the unambitious John II. was king of Portugal. He paid but little attention to the New World, prefer- ring the security and dullness of his own capital to the splendid allure- ments of the Atlantic. In 1495 he was succeeded on the throne by his cousin Manuel, a man of very different character. This monarch could hardly forgive his predecessor for having allowed Spain to snatch from the flag of Portugal the glory of Columbus's achievements. In order to secure some of the benefits which yet remained. King Manuel fitted out two ves- sels, and in the summer of 1501 commissioned Caspar Cortereal to sail on a voyage of discovery. The Portuguese vessels reached America in the month of July, and beginning at some point on the shores of Maine, sailed northward, exploring the coast for nearly seven hundred miles. Just below the fiftieth parallel of latitude Cortereal met the icebergs, and could go no farther. Little attention was paid by him to the great forests of pine and hemlock which stood tall and silent along the shore, promising ship-yards and cities in after times. He satisfied his rapacity by kid- napping fifty Indians, whom, on his return to Portugal, he sold as slaves. A new voyage was then undertaken, with the avowed purpose of capturing another cargo of natives for the slave-mart of Europe ; but Avhen a year went by, and no tidings arrived from the fleet, the brother of the Portuguese captain sailed in hope of finding the missing vessels. He also was lost, but in what manner has never been ascertained. The fate of the Corte- reals and their slave-ships has remained one of the unsolved mysteries of the sea.
70 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES,
CHAPTER V.
THE FRENCH IN AMERICA.
FRANCE was not slow to profit by the discoveries of Columbus. As early as 1504 the fishermen of Normandy and Brittany began to ply their vocation on the banks of Newfoundland. A map of the Gulf of St. LawTence was drawn by a Frenchman in the year 1506. Two years later some Indians were taken to France; and in 1518 the attention of Francis I. was turned to the colonization of the New World. Five years afterward a voyage of discovery and exploration was planned, and John Verrazzani, a native of Florence, was commissioned to conduct the expedition. The special object had in view was to discover a north-west passage to Asia.
In the month of January, 1524, Verrazzani left the shores of Europe. His fleet consisted at first of four vessels ; but three of them were damaged in a storm, and the voyage was undertaken with a single ship, called the Dolphin. For fifty days, through the buffetings of tempestuous weather, the courageous mariner held on his course, and on the 7th day of March discovered the main land in the latitude of Wilmington. He first sailed southward a hundred and fifty miles in the hope of finding a harbor, but found none. Returning northward, he finally anchored somewhere along the low sandy beach which stretches between the mouth of Cape Fear River and Pamlico Sound. Here he began a traffic with the natives. The Indians of this neighborhood were found to be a gentle and timid sort of creatures, unsuspicious and confiding. A half-drowned sailor who was washed ashore by the surf was treated with great kindness, and as soon as opportunity offered, permitted to return to the ship.
After a few days the voyage was continued toward the nt3rth. The whole coast of New Jersey was exjilored, and the hills marked as con- ta,ining minerals. The harbor of New York was entered, and its safe and spacious waters were noted with admiration. At Newport, Rhode Island, Verrazzani anchored for fifteen days, and a trade Avas again opened with the Indians. Before leaving the place the French sailors repaid the confidence of the natives by kidnapping a child and attempting to steal a defenceless Indian girl.
Sailing from Newport, Verrazzani continued his £X])iorations north-
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 71
-ward. The long and broken line of the New England coast was traced with considerable care. The Indians of the north were wary and sus- picious. They would buy neither ornaments nor toys, but were eager to purchase knives and weapons of iron. Passing to the east of Nova Scotia, the bold navigator reached Newfoundland in the latter part of May. In July he returned to France and published an account, still ex- tant, of his great discoveries. The name of New France was now given to the whole country whose sea-coast had been traced by the adventurous crew of the Dolphin.
Such was the distracted condition of France at this time, that another expedition was not planned for a period of ten years. In 1534, however, Chabot, admiral of the kingdom, selected James Cartier, a seaman of St. Malo, in Brittany, to make a new voyage to America. Two ships were fitted out for the enterprise, and after no more than twenty days of sailing under cloudless skies anchored on the 10th day of May off the coast of Newfoundland. Before the middle of July, Cartier had circumnavigated the island to the northward, crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the south of Anticosti, and entered the Bay of Chaleurs. Not finding, as he had hoped, a passage out of this bay westward, he changed his course to the north again, and ascended the coast as far as Gaspe Bay. Here, upon a point of land, he set up a cross bearing a shield with the lily of France, and proclaimed the French king monarch of the country. Pressing his way still farther northward, and then west- ward, he entered the St. Lawrence, and ascended the broad estuary until the narrowing banks made him aware that he was in the mouth of a river. Cartier, thinking it impracticable to pass the winter in the New World, now turned his prows toward France, and in thirty days anchored his ships in the harbor of St. Malo.
So great was the fame of Cartier's first voyage that another was planned immediately. Three good ships were provided, and quite a num- ber of young noblemen joined the expedition. Colonization rather than •discovery was now the inspiring motive. The sails were set by zealous and excited crews, and on the 19th of May the new voyage was begun. This time there was stormy weather, yet the passage to Newfoundland was made by the 10th of August, It was the day of St. Lawrence, and the name of that martyr was accordingly given to the gulf, and after- ward to the noble stream which enters it from the west. Sailing north- ward around Anticosti, the expedition proceeded up the river to the island of Orleans, where the ships were moored in a place of safety. Two In- dians vhom Cartier had taken with him to France in the previous year now gave information that higher up the river there was an important
72 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
town on the island of Hochelaga. Proceeding thither in his boats, the French captain found it as the Indians had said. A beautiful village lay there at the foot of a high hill in the middle of the island. Climbing ta the top of the hill, Cartier, as suggested by the scene around him, named the island and town Mont-Real. The country was declared to belong by right of discovery to the king of France ; and then the boats dropped down the river to the ships. During this winter twenty-five of Cartier's men were swept oif by the scurvy, a malady hitherto unknown in Europe.
With the opening of spring, preparations were made to return to France. The terrible winter had proved too much for French enthusiasm. The emblem of Catholicism, bearing the arms of France, was again planted in the soil of the New World, and the homeward voyage began ; but be- fore the ships had left their anchorage, the kindly king of the Hurons, who had treated Cartier with so much generosity, was decoyed on board and carried off to die. On the 6th day of July the fleet reached St. Malo in safety ; but by the accounts which Cartier published on his return the French were greatly discouraged. Neither silver nor gold had been found on the banks of the St. Lawrence ; and what was a new world good for that had not silver and gold ?
Francis of La Roque, lord of Roberval, in Picardy, was the next to undertake the colonization of the countries discovered by the French. This nobleman, four years after Cartier's return from his second voyage, was commissioned by the court of France to plant a colony on the St. La\vrence. The titles of viceroy and lieutenant-general of New France were conferred upon him, and much other vainglorious ceremony attended his preparations for departure. The man, however, who was chiefly relied on to give character and direction to the proposed colony was no other than James Cartier. He only seemed competent to conduct the enterprise with any promise of success. His name was accordingly added to the list, and he was honored with the office of chief pilot and captain- general of the expedition.
The next thing to be done was to find material for the colony. This was a difficult task. The French peasants and mechanics were not eager to embark for a country which promised nothing better than savages and snow. Cartier's honest narrative about the resources of New France had left no room for further dreaming. So the work of enlisting volunteers went on slowly, until the government adopted the plan of opening the prisons of the kingdom and giving freedom to whoever would join the expedition. There was a rush of robbers, swindlers and murderers, and the lists were immediately filled. Only counterfeiters and traitO-3were denied the privilege of gaining their liberty in the New World.
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 73'
In the latter part of May, 1541, five ships, under the immediate command of Cartier, left France, and soon reached the St. Lawrence. The expedition proceeded up the river to the present site of Quebec, where a fort was erected and named Charlesbourg. Here the colonists passed the winter. Cartier, offended because of the subordinate position which he held, was sullen and gloomy, and made no effort to prosecute discoveries which could benefit no one but the ambitious Roberval. The tv;o leaders never acted in concert ; and when La Roque, in June of the following year, arrived with immigrants and supplies, Cartier secretly sailed away with his part of the squadron, and returned to Europe. Roberval was left in New France with three shiploads of criminals who could only be restrained by whipping and hanging. During the autumn some feeble efforts were made to discover a northern passage ; the winter was long and severe, and spring was welcomed by the colonists chiefly for the opportunity which it gave them of returning to France. The enterprise undertaken with so much pomp had resulted in nothing. In the year 1549 Roberval, with a large company of emigrants, sailed on a second voyage, but the fleet was never heard of afterward.
A period of fifty years now elapsed before the French authorities again attempted to colonize America. Meanwhile, private enterprise and religious persecution had co-operated in an effort to accomplish in Florida and Carolina what the government had failed to accomplish on the St. Lawrence. About the middle of the sixteenth century Coligni, the Protestant admiral of France, formed the design of establishing in America a refuge for the persecuted Huguenots of his own country. In 1562 this liberal and influential minister obtained from the sovereign, Charles IX., the coveted privilege of planting a colony of Protestants in the New World. John Ribault of Dieppe, a brave and experienced sailor, was selected to lead the Huguenots to the land of promise. Sail- ing in February, the company reached the coast of Florida at a point where three years later St. Augustine was founded. The River St. John's, called by the Spaniards the St. Matthew, was entered by the French and named the River of May. The vessels then continued northward along the coast until they came to the entrance of Port Royal ; here it was determined to make the settlement. The colonists were landed on an island, and a stone engraved with the arms of their native land was set up to mark the place. A fort was erected, and in honor of Charles IX. named Carolina — a name which a century afterward was retained by the English and applied to the whole country fi*ora the Savannah River to the southern boundary of Virginia. In this fort Ribault left twenty-six men to keep possession, and then sailed back to France for additional
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emigrants and stores. But civil war was now raging in the kingdom, and it was quite impossible to procure either supplies or colonists. No reinforcements were sent to Carolina, and in the following spring the men in the fort, discouraged with long waiting, grew mutinous, and killed their leader for attempting to control them. Then they constructed a rude brig and put to sea. After they had been driven about by the winds for a long time, they were picked up half starved by an English ship and carried to the coast of France.
Coligni did not yet despair of success in what he had undertaken. Two years after the first attempt another colony was planned, and Lau- DONNIERE chosen leader. The character, however, of this second Prot- estant company was very bad. Many of them were abandoned men, of little industry and no prudence. The harbor of Port Royal was now shunned by the Huguenots, and a point on the River St. John's about fifteen miles west of where St. Augustine now stands was selected for the settlement. A fort was built here, and things were going well until a part of the colonists, under the pretext of escaping from famine, contrived to get away with two of the ships. Instead of returning to France, as they had promised, they began to practice piracy in the adjacent seas, until they were caught, brought back and justly hanged. . The rest of the settlers, im- provident and dissatisfied, were on the eve of breaking up the colony, when Ribault arrived with supplies of every sort, and restored order and content. It was at this time that the Spaniard Melendez, as already narrated, discovered the whereabouts of the Huguenots, and murdered the entire company.
It remained for Dominic de Gourges, a soldier of Gascony, to visit the Spaniards of St. Augustine with signal vengeance. This man fitted out three ships, mostly with his own means, and with only fifty daring seamen on board arrived in mid-winter on the coast of Florida. With this handful of soldiers he surprised successively three Spanish forts on the St. John's, and made prisoners of the inmates. Then, when he was unable to hold his position any longer, he hanged his leading captives to the branches of the trees, and put up this inscription to explain what he had done : " Not Spaniards, but murderers."
In the year 1598 the attention of the government of France waa once more directed to the claims which French discovery had established in America. The Marquis of La Roche, a nobleman of influence and distinction, now obtained a commission authorizing him to found an empire in the New AVorld. The prisons of France were again opened to furnish the emigrants, and the colony was soon made up. Crossing the Atlantic hy the usual route, the vessels reached the coast of Nova Scotia, and
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 75
anchored at Sable Island. A more dismal place could not have been ibund between Labrador and Mexico ; yet here, on this desolate island, La Roche left forty men to form a settlement, while he himself, under the pre- text of procuring more men and supplies, returned to France. Shortly after his arrival in that country he died ; and for seven dreary years the new French empire, composed of forty criminals, languished on Sable Island. Then they were mercifully picked uj) by some passing ships and carried back to France. Their punishment had been enough, and they were never remanded to prison.
But the time had now come when a colony of Frenchmen should actually be established in America. In the year 1603 the sovereignty of the country from the latitude of Philadelphia to one degree north of Montreal was granted to De Monts. The items of chief importance in the patent which he received from the king Avere a monopoly of the fur- trade of the new country and religious freedom for Huguenot immigrants. De Monts, with two shiploads of colonists, left France early in March of 1 604, and after a pleasant voyage reached the Bay of Fundy. The sum- mer was spent in making explorations and in trafficking with the natives. De Monts seems to have been uncertain as to where he should plant his colony; but while in this frame of mind, Poutrincourt, the captain of one of the ships, being greatly pleased with a harbor which he had discovered on the north-west coast of Nova Scotia, asked and obtained a grant of the same, together with some beautiful lands adjacent, and he and a part of the crew went on shore. De Monts, with the rest of the colony, crossed to the west side of the bay, and began to build a fort on an island at the mouth of the St. Croix River. But in the following spring they abandoned this place, and returned to the harbor Avhich had been granted to Poutrin- court. Here, on the 14th day of November, 1605, the foundations of the first permanent French settlement in America were laid. The name of Port Royal was given to the harbor and the fort, and the Avhole country, including Nova Scotia, the surrounding islands and the main land as far south as the St. Croix River, was called Acadia.
Two years before the settlement was made at Port Royal, Samuel Champlain, one of the most eminent and soldierly men of his times, was commissioned by a company of Rouen merchants to explore the country of the St. Lawrence and establish a trading-post. The traders saw that a traffic in the furs Avliich those regions so abundantly supplied was a surer road to riches than rambling about in search of gold and diamonds. Under this commission, Champlain crossed the ocean, entered the gulf, sailed up the river, and with remarkable prudence and good judgment selected the spot on which Quebec now stands as the site for a fort. In the
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autunm of 1603, he returned to France, and published an interesting and fiiithful account of his expedition.
In the year 1608, Champlain again visited America, and on the 3d of July in that year the foundations of Quebec were laid. In the following year he and two other Frenchmen joined a company of Huron and Algonquin Indians who were at war with the Iroquois of New York. While marching with this party of w-arriors, he ascended the Sorel River until he came to the long, narrow lake which he was the first white man to look upon, and which has ever since borne the name of its discoverer.
Champlain was a religious enthusiast, and on that account the development of his colony was for some time hindered. In 1612 the Protestant party came into power in France, and the great Conde, the protector of the Protestants, became viceroy of the French empire in America. Now, for the third time, Champlain came to New France, and the success of the colony at Quebec was fully assured. Franciscan monks came over and began to preach among the Indians. These friars and the Protestants quarreled a good deal, and the settlement was much disturbed. A second time Champlain went with a war- party against the Iroquois. His company was defeated, he himself wounded and obliged to remain all winter among the Hurons; but in the summer of 1617 he returned to the colony, in 1620 began to build, and four years afterward completed, the strong fortress of St. Louis. When the heavy bastions of this castle appeared on the high cliff above the town and river, the permanence of the French settle- ments in the valley of the St. Lawrence was no longer doubtful. To Samuel Champlain, more than to any other man — more than to the French government itself — the success of the North American colo- nies of France must be attributed-
CHAPTER VI.
ENGLISH DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENTS.
IVTO day in the early history of the New World was more important ■^ than the 5th of May, 1496. On that day Henry VII., king of England, signed the commission of John Cabot of Venice to make dis- coveries and explorations in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, to carry the English flag, and to take possession of all islands and continents which he might discover. Cabot was a brave, adventurous man who had been a
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 77
sailor from his boyhood, and was now a wealtliy merchant of Bristol. The autumn and winter were spent in preparations for the voyage; five substantial ships were fitted, crews were enlisted, and everything made ready for the opening of the spring. lu April the fleet left Bris- tol; and on the morning of the 24th of June, at a point about the middle of the eastern coast of Labrador, the gloomy shore was seen. This was the real discovery of the American continent. Fourteen months elapsed before Columbus reached the coast of Guiana, and more than two years before Ojeda and Vespucci came in sight of the main land of South America.
Cabot explored the shore-line of the country which he had dis- covered for several hundred miles. He supposed that the land was a part of the dominions of the Cham of Tartary ; but finding no inhabitants, he went on shore, according to the terms of his commission, planted the flag of England, and took possession in the name of the English king. No man forgets his native land ; by the side of the flag of his adopted country Cabot set up the banner of the republic of Venice — auspicious emblem of another flag which should one day float from sea to sea.
As soon as he had satisfied himself of the extent and character of the country which he had discovered, Cabot sailed for England. On the homeward voyage he twice saw on the right hand the coast of Newfound- land, but did not stop for further discovery. After an absence of but little more than three months, he reached Bristol, and was greeted with great enthusiasm. The town had holiday, the people were wild about the discoveries of their favorite admiral, and the whole kingdom took up the note of rejoicing. The Crown gave him money and encouragement, new crews ' were enlisted, new ships fitted out, and a new commission more liberal in its provisions than the first was signed in February of 1498. Strange as it may seem, after the date of this second patent the very name of John Cabot disappears from tlie annals of the times. Where the remainder of his life was passed and the circumstances of his death are involved in complete mystery.
But Sebastian, second son of John Cabot, inherited his father's -s^^ plans and reputation, and to his father's genius added a greater genius of his own. He had already been to the New World on that first famous voyage, and now, when the opportunity ofiered to conduct a voyage of his own, he threw himself into the enterprise with all the fervor of youth. It is probable that the veiy fleet which had been equipped for his father was entrusted to Sebastian. At any rate, the latter found himself, in the spring of 1498, in command of a squadron of well-manned vessels and on his way to the new continent. The particular object had in view was
78 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
that common folly of the times, the discovery of a north-west passage to the Indies.
The voyage continued prosperously until, in the ocean west of Green- land, the icebergs compelled Sebastian to change his course. It was July, and the sun scarcely set at midnight. Seals were seen and the ships ploughed through such shoals of codfish as had never before been heard of. The shore was reached not far from the scene of the elder Cabot's discov- eries, and then the fleet turned southward, but whether across the Gulf of St. Lawrence or to the east of Newfoundland is uncertain. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Maine Avere next explored. The whole coast-line of New England and of the Middle States was now for the first time since the days of the Norsemen traced by Europeans. Nor did Cabot desist from this work, which was bestowing the title of discovery on the crown of England, until he had passed beyond the Chesapeake. After all the disputes about the matter, it is most probable that Cape Hatteras is the point from which Sebastian began his homeward voyage.
The future career of Cabot was as strange as the voyages of his boyhood had been wonderful. The scheming, illiberal Henry VII., although quick to appreciate the value of Sebastian's discoveries, was slow to reward the discoverer. The Tudors were all dark-minded and selfish princes. When King Henry died, Ferdinand the Catholic enticed Cabot away from England and made him pilot-major of Spain. While holding this high office he had almost entire control of the maritime affairs of the kingdom, and sent out many successful voyages. He lived to be very old, but the circumstances of his death have not been ascer- tained, and his place of burial is unknown.
The year 1498 Is the most marked in the whole history off discovery. In the month of May, Vasco de Gama of Portugal doubled the Cape of Good Hope and succeeded in reaching Hindostan. During the sum- mer the yoimger Cabot traced the eastern coast of North America through more than twenty degrees of latitude, thus establishing for ever the claim of England to the most valuable portion of the New AVorld. In August, Columbus himself, noAV sailing on his third voyage, reached the mouth of the Orinoco. Of the three great discoveries, that of Cabot has proved to be by far the most important.
But several causes impeded the career of English discoveiy during the greater part of the sixteenth century. The next year after the New World was found, the pope, Alexander the Sixth, drew an imaginaiy line north and south three hundred miles west of the Azores, and issued a papal bull giving all islands and countries west of that line to Spain. Henry YII. of England was himself a Catholic, and he did not care to
VOYAGE AND DISCOVERY. 79
begin a conflict with his Church by pressing his own claims to the newiy- found regions of the west. His son and successor, Henry VIII., at first adopted the same poKcy, and it was not until after the Reformation had been accomplished in England that the decision of the pope came to be disregarded, and finally despised and laughed at.
During the short reign of Edward VI. the spirit of maritime adven- ture was again aroused. In 1548 the king's council voted a hundred pounds sterHng to induce the now aged Sebastian Cabot to return from Spain and become grand-pilot of England. The old admiral quitted Seville and once more sailed under the English flag. In the reign of Queen Mary the power of England on the sea was not materially extended, but with the accession of Elizabeth a wonderful impulse was given to all enterprises which promised the aggrandizement of her kingdom.
The spirit of discovery now reappeared in that bold and skillful sailor, Martin Feobisher. Himself poor, Dudley, earl of Warwick, came to his aid, and fitted out three small vessels to sail in search of a north-west passage to Asia. Three-quarters of a century had not sufficed to destroy the fanatical notion of reaching the Indies by sailing around America to the north. One of Frobisher's ships was lost on the voyage, another, terrified at the prospect, returned to England, but in the third the dauntless captain proceeded to the north and west until he attained a higher latitude than had ever before been reached on the American coast. Above the sixtieth parallel he discovered the group of islands which lies in the mouth of Hudson's Strait. Still farther to the north he came upon a large island which he supposed to be the mainland of Asia ; to this he gave the name of Meta Incognita. North of this island, in lati- tude sixty-three degrees and eight minutes, he entered the strait which has ever since borne the name of its discoverer, then sailed for England, carrying home with him one of the Esquimaux and a stone which was declared by the English refiners to contain gold.
London was greatly excited. Queen Elizabeth herself added a vessel to the new fleet which in the month of May, 1577, departed for Meta Incognita to gather the precious metal by the shipload. Coming among the icebergs, the ships were for weeks together in constant danger of being crushed to atoms between the floating mountains. The summel was unfavorable. No ships reached as high a point as Frobisher had attained by himself on the previous voyage. The mariners were in con- sternation at the gloomy perils around them, and availed themselves of the first opportunity to get out of these dangerous seas and return to England.
Were the English gold-hunters satisfied ? Not at all. Fifteen new
80 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.
vessels were immediately fitted out, the queen again bearing part of the expense, and as soon as the spring of 1578 opened the third voyage was begun. This time a colony was to be planted in the gold-regions of the north. Three of the ships, loaded with emigrants, were to remain in the promised land. The other twelve were to be freighted with gold-ore and return to London. When they reached the entrance to Hudson's Strait, they encountered icebergs more terrible than ever. Through a thousand perils the vessels finally reached Meta Incognita and took on cargoes of dirt. The provision-ship now slipped away from the fleet and returned to England. Affairs grew desperate. The north-west passage was for- gotten. The colony which was to be planted was no longer thought of. Faith in the shining earth which they had stored in the holds gave way, and so, with disappointed crews on board and several tons of the spurious ore under the hatches, the ships set sail for home. The El Dorado of the Esquimaux had proved an utter failure.
The English admiral, Sir Francis Drake, sought fortune in a different manner. Without much regard for the law of nations, he began, in the year 1572, to prey upon the merchant-ships of Spain, and gained thereby enormous wealth. Five years later he sailed around to the Pacific coast by the route which Magellan had discovered, and became a terror to the Spanish vessels in those watere. When he had thus sufficiently en- riched himself by a process not very different from piracy, he formed the daring project of tracing up the western coast of North America until he should enter the north-west passage from the Pacific, and thence sail east- ward around the continent. With this object in view, he sailed northward a-long the coast as far as Oregon, when his sailors, who had been for seve- ral years within the tropics, began to shiver with the cold, and the enter- prise, which could have resulted in nothing but disaster, was given up. Returning to the south, Drake passed the winter of 1579-80 in a harbor on the coast of Mexico. To all that portion of the western shores of America which he had thus explored he gave the name of New Albion ; but the earlier discovery of the same coast by the Spaniards rendered the English claim of but little value. No colony of Englishmen had yet been established in the New World.
Sir Humphrey Gilbert was perhaps the first to conceive a rational plan of colonization in America. His idea was to form somewhere on the shores of the New Continent an agricultural and commercial state. With this purpose he sought aid from the queen, and received a liberal patent authorizing him to take possession of any six hundred square miles of unoccupied territory in America, and to j^lant thereon a colony of which he himself should be })roprietor and governor. With this commission.
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Gilbert, assisted by his illustrious step-brother, Walter Raleigh, pre- pared a fleet of five vessels, and in June of 1583 sailed for the west. Only two days after their departure the best vessel in the fleet treacher- ously abandoned the rest and returned to Plymouth. Early in August, Gilbert reached Newfoundland, and going ashore, took formal possession of the country in the