Uprising of the Colonies

The news of the events on the 19th of April spread rapidly over the land and stirred society in the colonies as it had never been stirred before. There was a spontaneous resolution to environ Boston with an army of provincials that should confine the British to the peninsula. For this purpose, New Hampshire voted two thousand men, with Folsom and Stark as chief commanders. Connecticut voted six thousand, with Spencer as chief and Putnam as second. Rhode Island voted fifteen hundred, with Greene as their leader--Nathaniel Greene, who became one of the most efficient of the military officers in the war for independence. He was a Friend, or Quaker, in religious sentiment. He was naturally very intelligent, and had learned much from books; a skilled mechanic and expert farmer. His people admired him, and made him their representative in the Rhode Island legislature. In English jurisprudence and the theory of the art of war he had learned much; and his peace principles, in accordance with the discipline of his society, did not restrain him from making resistance to injustice by force, if necessary; and at times, while the storm of the Revolution was gathering, he rode far to see grand military parades to gain some practical instruction in the art of war, for his prescience observed its approach. "In 1774, in a coat and hat of the Quaker fashion, he was seen watching the exercises and manoeuvres of the British troops at Boston, where he used to buy of Henry Knox, a bookseller, treatises on the art of war."

Meanwhile most important events had occurred in Virginia. On the 20th of March a convention of representatives of that province met in St. John's Church (yet standing) in Richmond. They approved the acts of the Continental Congress, and thanked their representatives who sat in that body. They resolved to be firm in defence of their liberties, but expressed a hope of speedy reconciliation. Patrick Henry promptly rebuked their expression of that hope. He, like Samuel Adams, Hawley, and Greene, saw clearly that the colonies must fight. He knew the danger that threatened the liberties of his people. The House of Burgesses could no longer be relied upon as an auxiliary of the people in their struggle, because of the continual interference of the royal governor. The colony was unprepared for the impending conflict. Only a little powder and a few muskets in the old magazine at Williamsburg comprised their munitions of war. In view of this weakness in the presence of danger which he foresaw, Henry proposed the appointment of a committee to prepare a plan for the embodying, arming, and disciplining a sufficient number of men to place the colony in a posture of defence. True patriots in the convention opposed the measure as mischievous at that time. They would not believe that armed resistance would be necessary. "It will be time enough to resort to measures of despair," they said, "when every well-founded hope has vanished." They suggested that the colonies were too weak to think of resisting the arms of Britain, and deprecated any action that should provoke war. They relied upon the innate justice of Englishmen for redress and reconciliation.

Henry's feelings kindled into a flame at these timid suggestions. "What," he exclaimed, "has there been in the conduct of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify hope? Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be called in to win us back to our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort. I ask, gentlemen, what means this martial array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Has Great Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for all this accumulation of armies and navies? No, sir; she has none. They are meant for us; they can be meant for no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us the chains which the British ministry have been so long forging. And what have we to oppose them? Shall we try argument? Sir, we have been trying argument for the last ten years; have we anything new to offer? Shall we resort to entreaty and supplication? We have petitioned; we have supplicated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remonstrances have produced additional violence and insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we have been spurned with contempt from the foot of the throne. In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of reconciliation. There is no longer any room for hope. If we wish to be free; if we wish to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending; if we mean not basely to abandon the struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir; we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of hosts is all that is left us.