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to the people of the colonies, by Richard Henry Lee. The congress adjourned on Oct. 26, after providing for another congress to meet the following May, in case redress of grievances should not meanwhile be obtained. Perceiving a conflict to be almost inevitable, the people of the colonies began to prepare earnestly for war, and in Massachusetts nearly all men able to bear arms were trained daily in military exercises, and engaged to take the field at a moment's notice, whence originated their name of “minute men.” Gen. Gage began to fortify Boston neck, and to seize arms and ammunition in the surrounding towns. Small stores of these had been accumulated by the provincial government of Massachusetts at Worcester and at Concord. Gage, on the night of April 18, 1775, secretly despatched a large force to destroy the stores at Concord. The movements of the British were vigilantly watched, and the minute men were roused in every direction. At Lexington, half way between Boston and Concord, on the following morning, the first blood of the revolution was shed. Major Pitcairn ordered the soldiers to fire upon the citizens who appeared in arms upon the common, and eight were killed and nine wounded. The British proceeded to Concord, and destroyed some stores, but met with such resistance at the north bridge over Concord river that they were forced to retreat, and, hotly pursued by the Americans, made their way back to Boston with a loss of 273 killed, wounded, and missing. The entire loss of the Americans during the day was 49 killed, 34 wounded, and 5 missing. This action brought the political contest between the colonies and England to a summary ending, and inaugurated the war of the revolution. The tidings of the fight spread with wonderful rapidity while it was going on, and everywhere throughout New England the people sprang to arms; and on the night of the day following the action the king's governor and army found themselves closely beleaguered in Boston. The provincial congress of Massachusetts on April 22 resolved unanimously that a New England army of 30,000 men should be raised, of which the quota of Massachusetts should be 13,600. As the news from Lexington and Concord spread westward and southward, the people everywhere rose in arms, and before the close of summer the power of all the royal governors from Massachusetts to Georgia was at an end. Volunteer expeditions from Vermont and Connecticut, led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, seized the important fortresses of Ticonderoga (May 10) and Crown point (May 12), whose cannon and ammunition were of incalculable value to the poorly equipped forces of America. In North Carolina a convention assembled at Charlotte, Mecklenburg co., in May, proclaimed their constituents absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and organized a local government with preparations for military defence. The second continental congress assembled on May 10 at Philadelphia, in the state house, now known as Independence hall. Among the members were Franklin, Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Washington, Kichard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Jay, George Clinton, and Robert R. Livingston. Hancock, who with Samuel Adams had been proscribed as a rebel, was elected president on May 24, Peyton Randolph vacating the chair to attend the Virginia legislature. Conservative and moderate to the last, the congress sent still another petition to the king, denying any intention of separation from England, and asking only for redress of grievances. But they took measures to raise an army, to equip a navy, and to procure arms and ammunition. The forces before Boston were adopted as the continental army, and at the suggestion of the New England members Washington was nominated and unanimously chosen (June 15) as commander-in-chief. Before he could reach the seat of war the battle of Bunker Hill had been fought, June 17. (See Bunker Hill.) Four days later he arrived, and on July 8 assumed command of the army in Cambridge. Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler of New York, Artemas Ward of Massachusetts, and Israel Putnam of Connecticut had been elected major generals. Horatio Gates (adjutant general), Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathanael Greene were chosen brigadiers. The army was unorganized, undisciplined, poorly clad, imperfectly armed, and almost destitute of powder. With the aid of Gates, who almost alone of the generals had had much experience in war, Washington brought the troops into tolerable order, and regularly beleaguered Boston till March 17, 1776, when the British evacuated the city and sailed for Halifax, carrying with them a large body of loyalists. Meantime an invasion of Canada, whose inhabitants were reported to be disaffected to British rule, was decided upon by congress, and carried out with insufficient forces under command of Gen. Montgomery. Montreal was taken, and Quebec was attacked Dec. 31, 1775, by parties led by Montgomery and Arnold. The assault was conducted with great courage and energy, but was repulsed, and Montgomery was slain and Arnold severely wounded. After a blockade of the city continued for some months, the Americans, whose forces were totally inadequate in numbers and equipment to the enterprise, on the arrival of powerful reinforcements to the British, abandoned the province in June, 1776. On June 28 a British fleet made an attack on Charleston, S. C., where they were repulsed with great loss by a small force in Fort Sullivan (afterward Fort Moultrie), commanded by Col. Moultrie. In all these operations the Americans were greatly impeded by want of powder and other munitions of war. Cruisers