The Mentor 1913.12.08, No. 43,
The Revolution

THE STORY OF AMERICA IN PICTURES

THE REVOLUTION

By ALBERT BUSHNELL HART

Professor of Government, Harvard University

GEORGE THE THIRD

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Words wear out after using them a thousand or a million times.
“Liberty,” “The Constitution,” “The People’s Government,”—people
take those terms into their minds nowadays as they
take a chocolate cream, without stopping to think of its contents. So
with “Revolution.” When we hear the word we feel a pleased
sensation of a good, great, glorious time, intended by Providence
to prepare the way for our various patriotic organizations. The Revolution?
Why, yes, that was when our forefathers tied the first hard
knot in the British lion’s tail! All the people were patriots, and all
the patriots were as wise as college professors, and as brave as
Albanians, and as great as a president. All the statesmen wore silk
stockings and red velvet suits and powdered wigs. All the ladies were
lovely, and spurned the offers of marriage made by British generals.

THE MILITARY REVOLUTION

GENERAL NATHANAEL
GREENE

His courageous work in the
South greatly helped the
American cause. (From
painting in possession of the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania.)

What is a revolution but an overturning, a spinning of the wheel, left
to right, and bottom come uppermost? Likewise, since the right believes
itself right, and the top is sure that the world exists in order that it may
be the top, most revolutions mean force, arms, big guns booming, troops
marching, bullets flying, heads cut off with axes or caught in a hangman’s
noose; also arms and legs cut off, and the ground soaked with a
crimson fluid. “You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs,”
and in a revolution there is bound to be breakage
of heads and hearts, and banks and constitutions.

We know that the American Revolution was
a military contest, because the pictures in our first
textbook of American history show General George
Washington, in buff and blue, leading his Continentals
up to within sixteen feet and eight inches of
General Howe, in a magnificent red coat laced with
gold, in vain trying to rally battalions of craven Hessians
wearing highly inconvenient bearskin caps.

THE BUNKER HILL
MONUMENT

Commanding officers of opposing armies are
not really so intimate as that; but Americans are
justified in immense pride over the military success
of the Revolution. The simple fact was that
three million people, of whom about a fourth were
negro slaves, put up a fight against a mother
country having four times their population.
They began without a single professional officer,
except the traitor Charles Lee; and with only a
thousand or two men who had not seen military
service except militia training day, and desultory
frontier warfare with French and Indians.
They had not one ship of war, not a factory of
arms. Yet they attacked the great British empire,—though
it was flanked
right and left by the lion
and the unicorn, trained by
two centuries of European
wars, thousands of troops
under arms, officers successful in other fields,—and
they sailed into the greatest naval power on the sea.

So far as power and prestige and experience
decide wars in advance, the Revolution was due to
be snuffed out at the end of 1776; Benjamin Franklin
was destined to be hanged, George Washington
to be immured for life in a gloomy dungeon, dressed
in a ball and chain. Were not the English everywhere
successful? They captured New York, they
captured Newport, they captured Philadelphia,
they captured Savannah; they were driven away
from Charleston by the palmetto forts, but returned
and captured Richmond. They beat the Americans
at Long Island, at the Brandywine, at Germantown,
at Camden. Their cruisers and privateers swept
the seas, until Nathaniel Tracy of Newburyport lost ninety of his hundred
and twenty vessels. They drove the little American navy from the seas.

Yet in the end they were beaten. It is easy now to criticize the
strategy of Washington and Greene and the rest, and to show that by
all the laws of war they laid themselves open to defeat. Nothing can
alter the stubborn fact that the American militia at Bunker Hill for hours
held off a British army and so damaged it that it never took the field
again; then the Americans captured Burgoyne’s army at Saratoga in
1777, a humiliation seldom known in British annals. And this victory
brought the French alliance, and the aid of Von Steuben the magnificent
drill master, of d’Estaing and his fleet, of Rochambeau and his army.
With that aid, the Americans beat the second army at Yorktown, and
that ended the war. General Cornwallis had to surrender his sword
to an officer whom a few months before the British had addressed as
“George Washington, Esq., etc., etc.”

SURRENDER OF BURGOYNE AT SARATOGA

This picture, from a painting by Trumbull, the famous American artist, shows the surrender of the
English general John Burgoyne to the Americans at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777.

EXTRAORDINARY AMERICAN SUCCESS

In one way the Americans were too successful. Beginning with raw
militia, ill-equipped, worse disciplined, the Americans made an army
that beat the British. General Washington never ceased to implore
Congress and the states to give him a better system for a real national
army. Half the men and a fourth of the money expended would
have done the job just as well, if the advice of
Washington and other experts had been followed.

SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS

The British general, Lord Cornwallis, surrendered to Washington at Yorktown,
Virginia, on October 19, 1781. The victory virtually decided the
Revolution in favor of the Americans.

On the sea also the Americans began a great
career of naval success; or, rather, they repeated
the methods of earlier wars by sending out a
hornets’ nest of privateers, christened with such
gallant and suggestive names as The Charming
Peggy, The Fair Lady, The American Revenue,
The Black Joke, The Fair America, The Scotch
Irish, The Skunk, The Nimble
Shilling, and The King Tamer.
If they did not tame George III,
they did tame the British merchant
and his representatives in
Parliament; for American privateers
in the course of the war
captured about seven hundred
British merchantmen.

SURRENDER MONUMENT
YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA

GENERAL LORD
CORNWALLIS

And then there was the American navy; or rather
John Paul Jones, for in him the navy was concentrated.
It was a painful surprise to the British to
have the royal frigate Serapis taken in 1779 by the
Bonhomme (Bo-nom) Richard, a condemned merchant
ship hastily fitted out in France. Jones is
already a sort of mythical figure, partly because of
Buell’s imaginary so-called biography; but he is the naval father of Hull
and Porter, and the grandfather of Farragut and another Porter, and the
great-grandfather of Sampson and Dewey.

THE CIVIL REVOLUTION

A revolutionary overturning came whenever the Union Jack was
hauled down and the Stars and Stripes hauled up. But the revolutionary
army was not the Revolution: it was like the line in a football match,
desperately holding back the other line while the backs get into play. The
real Revolution was an overturning of governments, and charters, and
political power. The revolving wheel whirled the old colonies out of
existence, and cunningly framed and
polished new state governments. The
Revolution turned the British empire
down, and pushed the United States of
America up. The Revolution rolled to
the bottom of the wheel Governor Gage
of Massachusetts, and Governor Tryon
of North Carolina, and Governor Dunmore
of Virginia; and up to the top
revolved Patrick Henry, and Benjamin
Franklin, and John Adams. The Revolution
was like a religious conversion:
it set the American people out of their
old ways, and into a new upward path.

JOHN PAUL JONES

Commander of the first American navy.
From the portrait by C. W. Peale.

BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN PAUL JONES

John Paul Jones, the “founder of the American
navy,” was born in this cottage at Kirkbean,
in Scotland, in 1747. He died in Paris
in 1792.

All that seems natural to us; for
we have been brought up on the tyranny
of George III, and the misgovernment
and plunder of the colonies by the British
government. We realize the bad
state of things much better than did the
Americans at the beginning of the Revolution.
In truth the colonies were freer
from harsh and arbitrary government
than England, Scotland, and Wales, to
say nothing of what was then the separate
kingdom of Ireland. Every colony
had its local assembly: not a single
English county had one. In every
colony any freeman who had the necessary
pluck and health could acquire
land and become a voter: in England
not a twentieth part of the adult men
could vote. The colonists laid their
own taxes and expended
them for
their own purposes:
Englishmen paid
taxes levied by a
Parliament over
which only a few of
them had control.

Apparently the
main cause of the
Revolution was that
the colonists could
do so much for themselves
that there
was no reason why
they should not do
substantially everything
for themselves.
They had a
personal attachment for England, the king, and the English system of
government, very like that now felt by the Canadians, and would have been
quite satisfied with the degree of self government that England has since
freely given to Canada. John Adams says, “That there existed a general
desire of independence of the Crown in any part
of America before the Revolution, is as far from
the truth as the zenith is from the nadir.”

OLD BELFRY, LEXINGTON
MASSACHUSETTS

From this belfry was rung out the
alarm on the morning of April 19,
1775, calling the minute men to
assemble on the common.

PAUL REVERE’S HOME
IN BOSTON

The tablet that may be seen between
the second and third stories of the
house was placed there by the Paul
Revere Chapter of the Daughters of
the American Revolution.

PAUL REVERE

From the painting by the
famous American artist, Gilbert
Stuart.

Then why revolt, especially when above a third
of the thinking people in America were opposed to
the Revolution, and had to be driven out or silenced?
To the original grievances of the Revolution
was added a stupid John Bull obstinacy, concentrated
in George III, but shared by a good part
of the British nation. These mistakes made by England
are a fine example of what comes to a country
that falls into the hands of what are called the
“Interests”; for Parliament was really nothing but
a combine of great titled families, who took in some
representatives of the cities and the merchant class.
One of the best results of the Revolution was that
it shook up the British aristocracy; and the best
proof that the Revolution was right is the admission
of Lord North, when the war was all over,
that it had been a great mistake, but that the nation
had made it, and not simply the prime minister.

The Revolution was worth all the blood and treasure that it cost,
because it lighted a new torch of popular government. There had been
plenty of government of the people in ancient and medieval times; but
at the epoch of the American Revolution the formerly democratic Swiss
and Dutch, and the free
citizens of the German and
French and Spanish cities,
had lost faith in themselves.
It was fashionable
to revere Demosthenes and
Cato and Brutus and the
Populus Romanus; but real
republican government had
about ceased on the earth
when the new constellation
of the United States
appeared on the horizon.

The colonies had very
tidy little governments,
schools of politics, in which
the speaker of the assembly
was commonly the
leader of a healthy opposition
to the governor; and
on that foundation they
built tidy little state governments,
which showed
the prevalent belief that
governors were dangerous
creatures who ought to
have as little power as possible;
while legislatures
were a reflection of the
people’s will which could
not err. The wheel of revolution
has twirled backward
in our day; for we
make governors and presidents great political leaders, and set our legislators
on a one-legged race against the initiative and referendum. In
the midst of the confusion of the Revolution, when town after town was
picked up by the British, and nobody knew whether the Revolution would
win out, it is wonderful how well the state governments worked, and
how successful they were in putting on record the great principle of
the two kinds of law,—fundamental or constitutional law, and statute law.

PATRICK HENRY ADDRESSING THE VIRGINIA
ASSEMBLY IN 1765.

He is famous for his speech supporting the resolutions to resist
the Stamp Act. At one point he exclaimed, “Caesar had his
Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third”—“Treason!
treason!” shouted the Speaker of the Assembly,
“Treason! treason!” shouted the members—“and,” Henry continued,
“George the Third may profit by their example. If this
be treason, make the most of it!”

THE CHAIR AND TABLE USED AT THE SIGNING OF
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The finest work of the Revolution
was the making of a national
government; for which the
army and the navy were in part
responsible, because a central national
power was all that could
save the army from capture and
the navy from destruction. The
Continental Congress became a
government before it knew it,
authorizing an army and navy,
borrowing money, issuing many
times more paper notes than it
could ever redeem, appointing
George Washington commander
in chief of the Continental forces, sending ambassadors to foreign countries.

Were men greater on the average then than now? Would Speaker
Clark and Senator Lodge of Massachusetts, and Senator Beveridge
bulk as big as Patrick Henry and Sam Adams and John Dickinson,
if revolution broke out now? “These are the times that try men’s souls,”
said Tom Paine, and it was also a time that made men’s souls! The one
indispensable man in the Revolution was George Washington; for there
was no other in the colonies who was so central, so immovable, a force.
But the Revolution would also have failed but for Benjamin Franklin, and
Thomas Jefferson, and the other civilians who built up the new government.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

THOMAS JEFFERSON

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

THE SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION
OF INDEPENDENCE

From the painting by John
Trumbull.

OLD STATE HOUSE IN BOSTON

A crowd listening to the reading of the Declaration of Independence.

And they framed the Declaration of Independence! They framed it;
but Thomas Jefferson wrote it. He was bent on proving that the Revolution
was right. And, having taken an unpaid brief for his country, he found
twenty-seven good reasons for independence,
even at the cost of a
bloody revolution. Those reasons
are not the Declaration: the real
pith of that splendidly written
document is the brief statement
of “self evident truths”; among
them “that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness, that to secure these
rights, Governments are
instituted among Men,
deriving their just
powers from the consent
of the governed.”
Some of the
states made much
longer and fuller
statements of the
same kind; but this
is the bedrock of popular
government in
America. Time cannot
tarnish, use cannot
diminish, age
cannot weaken, this
splendid thought
that God Almighty
sends His children
into the world with
equal political rights; that every human being has
an interest in that mutual understanding with
other human beings called society and government.

SAMUEL ADAMS

From the painting by the
early American artist, J.
S. Copley.

SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL REVOLUTION

When Rip Van Winkle came back home he found
a new set of neighbors who scoffed at good King
George. The Americans lived in a changed world.
In the South most of the political leaders who were not
Englishmen took the patriots’ side,—the Randolphs,
and the Peytons, and the Carrolls, and the Rutledges,
and the Pinckneys, and the Haynes,—and when the
war was over the wheel had revolved under them, but
left them still at the top. In the North there was a
greater change,—Sam Adams, the untitled leader of
the Boston town meeting, became leader of Massachusetts;
John Hancock, the merchant accused of
smuggling, was governor; John Adams, the struggling
lawyer, was minister to England. Where were the rich and fashionable people
who lived in the fine colonial mansions and drank too much Madeira?
Hundreds of them gone, exiled, driven forth, farming in the eastern
townships of Canada, waiting in the antechambers of the great in London.

PARSON CLARK’S HOUSE,
LEXINGTON

Here Samuel Adams and John Hancock
were sleeping when aroused by Paul Revere
on his famous ride on April 19, 1775.

JOHN HANCOCK’S HOUSE
IN BOSTON

Interesting not only in its historic
associations, but as an attractive
example of colonial architecture.

EFFECTS OF THE WAR

That was a revolution that reached the wives and daughters, and the
handsome sons who inherited their fathers’ silken suits and had expected
to inherit their dignities. It took the Americans thirty years to find
out how great a revolution they had undergone
in business; for when the war was over they had
an unpatriotic
hankering for the
broadcloths and
kerseymeres of old
England. For
their women folk,
dealers still
bought calimancos,
and paduasoys,
and oznabrig
linens, and India
muslins, through
reliable English
houses. Again
Great Britain
made the mistake of undervaluing the Americans;
and when they became independent told them to
be independent—and suffer for it. Now that the
United States of America was a separate nation,
let it keep its vessels out of the trade with the
former sister colonies! It took long years to open
up other avenues of trade.

REVOLUTION IN THE WEST

Within the military and civic Revolution arose
another territorial revolution. When in 1778 George
Rogers Clark with his few score frontiersmen slipped
down the Ohio River and picked up the little
British towns of Kaskaskia, Cahokia, and Vincennes,
he was blazing the trail into the West, and
opening that vast country to millions of Americans
still to be born or adopted, till they would in the
end rule the republic. Because of Rogers Clark, or
rather of the westward vision of the great men of
that time, Great Britain gave up the Northwest, and
then yielded the Southwest.
With all its boldness and courage, the
Revolution did not make a complete nation:
to become a world power, it was necessary to
cross the mountains and bind the Mississippi
to the sea. And the man of that time, who
was at the same time eastern and western, who
fought the French and took up lands and
planned roads and canals beyond the mountains,
was George Washington, the greatest
soldier, best statesman, and most clear-sighted
business man of the Revolution.

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK

An American general who in
1778 captured Vincennes from
the British. It was soon recaptured;
but Clark took it
again after a terrible march
across country in midwinter.
He then conquered all the
country near the Wabash and
Illinois rivers.

MERIWETHER LEWIS

Companion of William Clark in his
western explorations.

Editorial

In the early part of the nineteenth
century the United States Government
realized the importance of having a record
on canvas of the nation’s great historical
events, and several painters of that day
produced pictures that hold places of
honor in our Government buildings. John
Trumbull was the foremost of these
painters.

There has been a demand for several
years for new historic paintings. The
feeling exists that the painters of one hundred
years ago could not have the perspective
to portray the Revolution correctly,
no more than a historian of the
same period could write its history. The
time has come for modern artists in
American historic art. The World’s Fair
at Chicago gave an impetus to the work,
especially in decorative form. As a result,
public buildings erected within the
past twenty years show many interesting
and distinguished examples of historic art
in mural decorations, by such artists as
Blashfield, Kenyon Cox, C. Y. Turner,
and others. There is a demand now from
many sources—from galleries, Federal and
state governments, and from schools—for
historical pictures which shall be true
and shall also be worthy examples of modern
work.

This number of The Mentor contains
four distinguished examples of modern
historical art. Three of them are the
work of Mr. Henry Mosler, and were
painted within the past five years.

Mr. Mosler has been known as an artist
of great distinction for a long time. As
early as 1874 he won a medal at the Royal
Academy of Munich, and he won the
Thomas B. Clarke prize in the National
Academy of Design, New York, in 1896.
Mr. Mosler, therefore, brought the ripe
powers of a master painter to the work,
and he has produced four paintings of
great art value and historic importance.

The first picture, which appeared four
years ago, is entitled “Ring, Ring, for
Liberty,” and represents, with great
strength and vigor, the old bell ringer in
the cupola of Independence Hall, who
sounded the note of liberty in July, 1776.
Three years ago Mr. Mosler finished his
painting of Betsy Ross and her companions
making the first flag, which is reproduced
in this number of The Mentor.
Mr. Mosler based his work on careful
sketches made in the Betsy Ross house
on Arch Street, Philadelphia. Our readers
will surely feel the grace and charm as
well as the vital interest of this picture.

Many have said that our country
needed a new painting of “Washington
Crossing the Delaware.” The familiar
composition, by Leutze, is regarded as
stiff and constrained and as lacking a sense
of reality. Mr. Mosler’s picture gives a
true and spirited conception of the event,
based on historical study and on sketches
made in the winter time at the point of
the Delaware where Washington crossed.
The painting of Paul Jones is a vivid
dramatic presentment of a historical subject
that has never heretofore been pictured
in an adequate manner.

Another interesting picture in this
group is the “Signing of the Declaration
of Independence,” by Miss Sarah Ball
Dodson. The actual life and spirit of the
scenes in Independence Hall during July,
1776, have not been fully realized by other
artists. Miss Dodson’s picture is a striking
presentment of the scene, distinguished
not only for its art value but for its truth.
Each figure is an actual portrait and
takes an earnest, living part in the composition.
Miss Dodson was a native of
Philadelphia, and knew her subject at first
hand. Her death some years ago was a
distinct loss to American art.

BATTLE OF LEXINGTON

ONE

It was a little after midnight on April 19, 1775. In
the little village of Lexington, Massachusetts, not
far from Boston, all was quiet. The townspeople
were sleeping soundly. Suddenly there was the clatter
of galloping hoofs, and a horseman, leaping from the saddle
before the first house, knocked on its door and shouted,
“The British are coming!” That man was
Paul Revere, and having roused the village
he rode quickly on his way toward Concord.

Lexington, which had been so still a
little while before, was now a scene of busy
activity. Church bells were ringing, and
cannons were booming to warn all the surrounding
country. The minutemen were
cleaning and loading their muskets; while
the women filled powder horns. Soon
everything was ready, and the little band
of seventy minutemen of Lexington, under
command of Captain Jonas Parker, gathered
on the village common. There, with
grim determination, they formed in line
and waited. And there, at daybreak, the
force of eight hundred British found them.

“Disperse! Disperse, you rebels!” cried
Major Pitcairn, in command of the English.
“Down with your arms, and disperse!”

No reply from the minutemen.

“Fire, then!” ordered Pitcairn.

His command was obeyed, and the minutemen
answered with “the shot heard
round the world.” The Revolution was
begun. Eight minutemen were killed, several
others were wounded, and the rest
were scattered. Then the British advanced
toward Concord.

Their object was to capture some arms
and ammunition of the Colonists which
were stored near Concord. For this reason
General Gage had sent them from
Boston. Paul Revere had waited until a
signal told him that they were crossing
the Charles River, and then had made his
famous ride to alarm the patriots.

When the British reached Concord they
found that the stores had been removed
and hidden, and a large force of minutemen
waiting for them. The patriots were
without uniforms, and were armed with
all kinds of weapons, even pitchforks and
scythes; but they were determined to protect
their homes, and were willing to die if
necessary.

Against such brave resistance even the
large force of English soldiers could do
nothing, and after a few volleys they began
a retreat toward Boston. But now the
whole country was aroused. The retreating
soldiers were fired upon all along the
road. Shots came with deadly aim from
behind fences, stone walls, and trees.

At last reinforcements came to the English.
Their retreat became less of a rout,
and they finally reached Charlestown, and
from there crossed over to Boston the next
morning. They lost 273 men; while the
Americans lost 103. The Colonists had
won the first encounter in the Revolution.

The battle of Lexington and Concord
stirred all thirteen colonies to action.
Everywhere there was unanimous determination
to resist British opposition.
There could be no going back now. Blood
had been shed, and the Revolution had
begun.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1, No. 43. SERIAL No. 43
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

PAINTING BY JOHN TRUMBULL

TWO

After the battle of Lexington and Concord, England
saw that the resistance of the Colonists was determined,
and sent reinforcements to General Gage in
Boston. By the end of May, 1775, he had 10,000
trained soldiers under his command. The American force
besieging him amounted to about 16,000 men, undisciplined,
but brave. The British were virtually
held prisoners in Boston.

General Gage therefore decided to sally
out on the night of June 18 and capture
Bunker Hill near Charlestown. But first
he proclaimed martial law and pardon for
all those who would lay down their arms
and return home, except Samuel Adams
and John Hancock. None of the courageous
patriots took advantage of his offer.

The Americans discovered Gage’s plans,
and decided to beat him to it. So on the
evening of June 16 Colonel William Prescott
with 1,000 men was ordered to march
to Bunker Hill and fortify it. But when
they got there it was decided that Breeds
Hill, much nearer Boston, would give a
better command of the town and shipping.
Under Prescott and General Israel Putnam
the colonial soldiers worked all night
building a redoubt about eight rods
square.

When the British sentinels looked up
through the mist the next morning (June
17, 1775) they rubbed their eyes in astonishment
at sight of the fortifications. The
guns from the vessels in the Charles River
immediately opened fire; but the Colonists
kept steadily at work. At last the redoubt
was finished, and the tools were
sent to Bunker Hill.

But by this time General Gage had
ordered an attack on Breeds Hill. Three
thousand picked soldiers landed at the
eastern base of the hill, and a little after
three o’clock in the afternoon began their
advance. The tired Americans, who had
been working all night at the intrenchments,
expected to be relieved by others;
but the reinforcements did not come.
Nevertheless, they did not falter for an
instant. Steadily up the hill came the
level ranks of the Redcoats.

“Wait till you can see the whites of
their eyes!” was the order.

Nearer and nearer came the British.
Still not a movement from the redoubt.
It was believed that the Colonials had fled.

But no! Suddenly, at the word “Fire!”
fifteen hundred of the concealed patriots
rose and poured such a deadly rain of
bullets upon the English that whole companies
were wiped out. Pellmell down the
slope ran the terrified British; while a
shout of triumph rose from the redoubt.
But at the bottom their officers beat them
back into line, and the attack was begun
once more. Charlestown was set afire by
Gage’s orders. This infuriated the Americans,
and again the English were driven
back down the hill in disorder.

Then came the third attack. The ammunition
of the Colonists was giving out.
Only a few more shots remained, and after
this the Americans retreated in good order
across Charlestown Neck. The British
had won a technical victory; but at terrible
cost—1,054 killed and wounded out of
2,500 engaged. The American loss was
450, among this number the brave General
Warren.

This battle, which took place on Breeds
Hill, has always been known as the battle
of Bunker Hill. It lasted two hours.

The cornerstone of the Bunker Hill
Monument was laid on Breeds Hill on
the fiftieth anniversary of the battle,
June 17, 1825. Daniel Webster’s speech
on this occasion is well known as a great
piece of oratory. The monument is an
obelisk, 221 feet high and 30 feet square
at the base.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1, No. 43. SERIAL No. 43
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

© The Knapp Co., Inc., N. Y.

WASHINGTON CROSSING THE DELAWARE

PAINTING BY HENRY MOSLER

THREE

In December, 1776, the hopes of the Colonists were at
the lowest ebb. The American cause was almost
lost. It was one of the most critical situations in
the whole Revolution. The British occupied New
York and all New Jersey, and so confident were they of success
that troops were being sent back to England. One false
move would plunge the colonies into immediate
defeat. It was George Washington
who saved the day in this dark time.

Colonel Rall was at Trenton, New Jersey,
with 1,500 Hessians, soldiers whom
England had hired from Germany. The
American army under Washington, beaten
and discouraged, but always ready and
able to fight, was on the other side of the
Delaware, at a point a few miles above
Trenton.

Rall despised the Colonials. He did not
plant a single cannon. “What need of intrenchments?”
he said. “Let the rebels
come. We will at them with the bayonet.”

Washington planned to attack Trenton
secretly on Christmas night. He knew
that, according to their custom, the Hessians
would celebrate Christmas Day with
a long carousal, and figured that they
would be in no condition to put up a
strong resistance in the cold, gray dawn of
December 26. So, on the evening of December
25, Washington prepared to cross
the Delaware above Trenton with about
2,000 men.

General Gates was to lead 10,000 from
below Trenton; but, jealous of Washington,
he refused to obey, and rode to Baltimore
to intrigue in Congress for General
Schuyler’s place in the north.

Washington proposed to cross the Delaware
at McConkey’s Ferry, now Taylorsville.
It was a terrible journey. The
river was full of floating ice, the current
was swift, and about midnight a fierce
storm of snow and sleet set in. At last, at
four A. M., all the men and guns stood on
the Jersey shore.

The army then moved on Trenton as
fast as possible in two divisions; but it was
broad daylight before it reached the town.
There it was discovered by the enemy’s
pickets. These fired immediately, and the
sound woke Colonel Rall and his officers
who were sleeping off their debauch. Rall
roused his men, and placing himself at
their head gave battle to the Americans.
The fight lasted only thirty-five minutes.
The Hessians were defeated, and sent flying
toward Princeton, and Colonel Rall
was mortally wounded.

It was a magnificent victory. One thousand
prisoners, 1,200 small arms, six brass
field guns, and all the German flags were
captured. It is evidence of Washington’s
genius that, against overwhelming odds
and in the face of every discouragement,
he was able to seize such an opportunity
to turn the darkness of defeat into the
glory of victory. By this bold stroke he
so strengthened the cause of the colonies
that they were finally able to win out.

The spot where Washington crossed the
Delaware is to be perpetuated as a public
park. One hundred acres, comprising the
tract called “Washington’s Crossing,” have
been purchased by action of a commission,
and the place will be a permanent memorial
of the turning point of the Revolution.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1, No. 43. SERIAL No. 43
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

© The Knapp Co., Inc.

THE SIGNING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

PAINTING BY SARAH PAXTON BALL DODSON

FOUR

The Declaration of Independence was a big step for
the thirteen brave little colonies to make. Until then
they had only been fighting for their rights as colonies
of England,—“No taxation without representation.”
But after the Declaration of Independence they were
battling as a separate country, and if conquered would have
had to suffer the fate of rebels and traitors.
Congress knew that if America declared itself
free from England the aid of France
might be hoped for, and this help might
decide the whole outcome of the struggle.
Besides they had come to a point where
they could no longer fight as colonies, but
must unite as a separate and independent
country.

So on June 7, 1776, a committee was
appointed to draw up a Declaration of Independence,
which should be prefaced by
a clear explanation of the causes that made
the colonies adopt it. This committee
consisted of Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger
Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.

After a long discussion the committee
decided to have Jefferson make out a copy
of the Declaration. His draft was amended
slightly, and then reported to Congress as
a whole. Here the debate was very warm.
Some of the representatives did not want
to vote for independence at all. They considered
it a too violent move. But at that
time the voting was done by colonies, and
it soon appeared that the Declaration,
much amended, would finally be passed by
most of them.

At last, on the Fourth of July, 1776, the
Declaration was put up to be voted upon.
Pennsylvania voted for independence, a
majority of her representatives being favorable,
and other colonies soon followed.
Delaware had three delegates; but one of
them, Caesar Rodney, was absent, over
eighty miles from Philadelphia. McKean,
one of the two others, burning with a desire
to have the vote of his colony recorded in
the affirmative, sent a man on a fast horse
to bring him back. Ten minutes after
receiving McKean’s message Rodney was
in the saddle, and, riding all night, he
reached Independence Hall in Philadelphia
on July 4, just in time to secure
the vote of Delaware in favor of independence.

Although it was on July 4, 1776, that
the Declaration of Independence was
adopted by Congress, it was not signed by
all the delegates present at that time; but
they all signed before the end of the year.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1, No. 43. SERIAL No. 43
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

© The Knapp Co., Inc.

“I HAVE NOT YET BEGUN TO FIGHT”—JOHN PAUL JONES

PAINTING BY HENRY MOSLER

FIVE

“I have not yet begun to fight!” These words of the
famous sea fighter, John Paul Jones, commander of
the first American navy, have rung down through
the years as typical of the man that spoke them.
Pleasant mannered and affable in peace, he was a brave and
able fighter when there was a time for it. John Paul Jones was
born on July 6, 1747, in Scotland. His
father was John Paul, a gardener, and the
future admiral took the name Jones about
1773 out of regard for Willie Jones, a
wealthy planter and political leader of
North Carolina, who had befriended him
in his days of poverty.

John Paul went to sea at the age of
twelve, and before he was nineteen became
first mate of a vessel in the slave
trade. But he did not like this kind of
work, and after two voyages gave up his
position and sailed for England. Both
captain and mate of the ship on which he
was a passenger died of fever on the way
home, and he brought the vessel safely
into port. For this he received part of
the cargo and a captaincy from the owners.
But after making several voyages he
suddenly resigned for some unknown reason
and went to America, to live in poverty
until 1775.

Then when the Revolution began John
Paul Jones was made a first lieutenant in
the navy by the Continental Congress, on
December 22, 1775. He soon became a
captain, and did much damage to British
shipping. For his good work he was promoted
to the rank of commodore and put
in command of five ships. He called his
flagship the Bonhomme Richard, in honor
of Benjamin Franklin, whose “Poor Richard’s
Almanac” was very popular at that
time.

On August 14, 1779, Jones sailed from
France with his squadron of five, accompanied
by two French privateers. All but
two of his ships soon deserted him; but
he kept on his course, and at seven o’clock
on the evening of September 23 he sighted
the British men-of-war, the Serapis and
the Countess of Scarborough. One of his
own ships fled immediately; but the fearless
American commander attacked the
huge Serapis with his little Bonhomme
Richard. The Pallas, Jones’ other remaining
ship, forced the Countess of
Scarborough to surrender; but it seemed
at first as if the Richard was doomed.
The English commander asked Jones if he
wanted to strike his colors; but the
courageous American shouted back, “I
have not yet begun to fight!” And he
proved this by finally compelling the
Serapis to surrender after a fierce
battle of three hours and a half. It
was a glorious victory against overwhelming
odds.

The Bonhomme Richard was almost a
total wreck. However, Jones moved his
men and supplies to the Serapis. Two
days later his little flagship sank.

On his return to France Jones was hailed
as a great hero. Louis XVI gave him a
gold-hilted sword and made him a chevalier
of France, and in 1787 Congress
awarded him a gold medal in recognition
of his services.

In 1788 he entered the Russian navy as
a rear admiral; but he was disappointed
in his hope of advancement. Owing to
the jealousy of Russian officers he was
relieved of his command, and in 1790
returned to Paris, where he died on July
18, 1792.

Jones was buried in the St. Louis cemetery
for foreign Protestants, where his
body was finally discovered over a hundred
years later. In July, 1905, a fleet of American
warships carried the body to Annapolis,
where it now rests in one of the buildings
of the naval academy.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1, No. 43. SERIAL No. 43
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.

© W. M. Sanford

BIRTH OF THE FLAG

PAINTING BY HENRY MOSLER

SIX

The men of the colonies were the ones who did the
actual fighting that won American independence;
but the brave women of those times also played their
part. It was the courageous confidence and fortitude
of their wives and sisters that spurred the men on to final
victory. Some of the women had even a more active share
than this in the Revolution. Betsy Ross,
who made the first flag of the United
States, was one of these.

When the colonies first rebelled against
the tyrannical rule of Great Britain each
was a separate unit in itself. Each had
its own system of government, and each
its own flag. In no way except by a common
feeling against the injustice of the
mother country were they bound together.
Besides the thirteen different banners of
the colonies, there were various regimental
ensigns, and all sorts of other flags,
with pine trees on them, or the words
“Liberty or Death” and “Don’t Tread on
Me”; but there was no American national
flag.

So, after the Declaration of Independence
had stated that the colonies would
no longer be bound to England, Congress
passed this resolution on June 14, 1777:
“Resolved, That the flag of the United
States be thirteen stripes, alternate red
and white; that the union be thirteen
stars, white on a blue field, representing a
new constellation.”

About a month previous Congress had
appointed General Washington, Robert
Morris, and Colonel Ross a committee to
get a flag designed and made. These three
men went to Betsy Ross in her little upholstery
shop on Arch Street, Philadelphia,
and asked her to make a flag after
the design they showed her. She agreed
to do it, and suggested that the stars,
which Washington had drawn with six
points, be made with five. Her suggestion
was carried out. For several years
she and her assistants made flags for our
government. Her house on Arch Street is
still standing.

The United States flag was first blown
over a military post at Fort Schuyler, on
the present site of Rome, New York. The
fort was besieged early in August, 1777.
The garrison was without a flag; so it
made one according to the design of Congress
by cutting up sheets to form the
white stripes, and bits of scarlet cloth for
the red stripes. The blue ground for the
stars was made of pieces of a cloth cloak
belonging to Captain Abraham Swartwout.

John Paul Jones is supposed to have
been the first to fly the Stars and Stripes
over a naval vessel. This ship was the
Ranger, to which he was appointed in
1777.

On December 5, 1782, the day when
George III acknowledged the independence
of the United States, J. S. Copley,
the great early American artist, painted
the flag in the background of a portrait
he was doing of Elkanah Watson.

The flag was not changed until 1795,
when two stripes and two stars were added
for Vermont and Kentucky. But it was
realized that there must be a limit to the
stripes, and on April 4, 1818, a recommendation
was adopted that the flag be permanently
thirteen stripes, representing
the thirteen original states, and that a new
star be added for each state admitted.

PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR. VOL. 1, No. 43. SERIAL No. 43
COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION, INC.