The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-05-18
EXTRACTS FROM NEW BOOKS.
EFFECTS OF THE DAY OF LEXINGTON A
CONCORD: THE ALARM.

l. 'V"' o'|'yIS LItStOTy OF He u. StdteS,' VOL VII
Darkness closed upon the country and upon tn
town, but 1T was no night for sleep. Hcralds O
swift relays OF horses transmitted the war messap
from hand to hand, till village repeated it to vii
ig ilagei the sea to the backwoods the plains to tn
highlands and it was never suffered to droon iii
1t had been borne north, and south, and east, an,
west, throughout the land. 1t spread over tn
| pays that receive the Saco and the Penobscot 1t
loud revelllee broke the rest of the trappers O
| New Hampshire, and ringing like buple-notes from
peak to peak, overleapt the Green Mountains
swept onward to Montreal, and descended the ocea,
river, TIL the responses were echoed from the cliff
of Quebec.
The hills along the Hudson told to one anotba,
the tale. As the summons hurried to the south. 4
was one day at New York; in one more at PhiIa
delphia; the next it lighted watchfire at Ralti
more; thence it walked answer at Annapolis
Crossing the Potomac near Mount Vernon II wo,
sent forward without halt to williamsburg i
traversed the Dismal Swamp to Nanscmond alope
the route of the first emgrants to North Carolina
II II moved onwards and still onwards through bound
less groves of evergreen tn Newborn and to vii
mington. "For Gods sake, forward it by night
and by day." wrote Cornelius Harnet by the ey
press which sped for Brunswick
Patriots of South Carolina caught up its tones al
the border, and dispatched it to Charleston, and
through pines and palmettoes and moss-clad live
oaks, still further to the south, till it resounded
among the New England settlements beyond tn.
Savannah. Hillsborough and the Mecklenburg DIS
trlct OF North Carolina rose in triumph now shat
nSaIioOue uncertainty naQ It's end, Tbs Blue
Ridge took up the voice and made it heard fom one
end to the other of the valley of Virginia The AL
leShanles, as they listened, opened thei. barriers
that the cloud cal' might pass through to the
hardy rlfemen on the Holston, the Watauga, and
the French Broad. Ever renewing its strength
powerful enough even to create commonwealth, it
Dreathed Its inspiring word to the first settlers of
Kentucky; so that hunters who made their halt in
the matchless valley of the Elkhorn, commemorated
tne nineteenth day of April by naming their en-
nnt
With one impulse the colonies sprung to arms :
with one spirit they pledged themselves to each
other "to be ready for the extreme event" With
one heart the continent cried "Liberty or Death.'
The first measure of the Massachusetts, committee
OF safety after the dawn of the twentieth of April
was a circular to the several towns in Massachu-
sets. awe conjure," they wrote, ''by all that is
dear, by all that is sacred we beg and entreat as
you Will answer it to your country, to your con-
sciences, and above all, to God himself, that you
Will hasten and encourage by all possible means the
enlistment of men to form the army; and send them
forward to headquarters at Cambridge with that
expedition which the vast Importance and instant
urgency of the affair demand"
The people of Massachusetts, had not waited for
the call. The country people, as soon as they heard
the cry OF innocent blood from the ground snatched
their hrelocks from the walls; and wives and
Mothers and sisters took part in preparing the men
of their households to go forth to the war. The
farmers rushed to 'the camp of liberty" often with
nothing but the clothes on their backs, without a
days provisions, and many without farthing in
their pockets. Their country was in danger; their
brethren were slaughtered; their arms alone en-
ployed their attention. On their way, the nhabi-
tants gladly opened their hospitable doors and all
things were in common. For the first night of the
siege, Prescott of Pepperell with his Mddesex min
ute men Kept the watch over the entrance to Boston,
and while Gage driven for safety to fortfy the
town at all points, the Americans already talked of
nothing but driving him and his regiments into the
sea.
., At the same time the committee by letter gave
the story of the preceding day to New Hampshire
and Connecticut, whose assistance they entreated
"We shall be glad,'' they wrote 'that our brethren
who come to our aid, may be supplied with military
stores and provisions, as we have none of either,
more than is absolutely necessary for ourselves" :"
And without stores, or cannon or supplies even of
POWDER or of money, Massachusetts by its congress-
on the twenty-second of April, resolved unanimous
ly that New England army of thirty thousand
men should be raised, and established its own pro-
portion at thirteen thousand six hundred. The
term of enlistment fixed for the last day of De-
cember.
Long before this summons the ferries over the
Merrimac were crowded by men from New Hamp-
shire. owe co. said they, "to the assistance OF
sx}y men Of Nottingham assembled at the
Cilley and Dearbon; before two they were Joined by
bands from Deerfeld and EPSON; and they set out
together for Cambridge. At dusk they reached
Havermll ferry, a distance of twenty-seven miles,
Andover only refreshments, and traversing fifty
tye miles IN less than twenty hours, by rise of
the twenty-first, paraded on Cambridge common
The veteran, John Stark, skilled in the ways of
the Indian, the English, and his countrymen, able
to take his rest on a bearskin with a roll of snow
for pillow, frank and humane, eccentric but true
famed for GOODNESS, and courage, and integrity had
no rival in the confidence of his neighbors and was
chosen colonel of their regiment by their unani-
nous vote He rode in haste to the scene of action
the pncOura pinu tha to nd
yous at Medford. So many followed, that on the
morning of the twenty-second he was detached
with three hundred to take post at Chelsea, where
his battalion, which was one of the fullest in the
besieging army became model for its discipline.
By the twenty third there were already about
two thousand men from the interior parts of New
Hamshire, desirous 'not to return before the work
was done," Many who remained near the upper
Connecticut threw up the civil and military COM
missions held from the king, for said they: ''The
king has forfeited his crown, and all commissions
from him are therefore vacated of course"
In Connecticut, Trumbull, the governor, sent out
writs to convene the legislature of the colony at
Hartford on the Wednesday following the battle
Meantime the people could not be restrained. On
the morning OF the twentieth, Israel Putnam, of
Pomfret, in leather frock and apron, was assisting
hired men to build a stone wall on his farm, when
he heard the cry from Lexington. Leaving them
to continue their task, he set off instantly to rouse
the militia officers of the nearest towns. On his re-
turn, he found hundreds who had mustered and
chosen him their leader. Issuing orders for them
to follow, he himself pushed forward without chang
ing the checked shirt he had worn in the field and
reached Cambridge at sunrise the next morning,
having rode the same horse hundred miles within
eighteen hours. He brought to the service of his
country courage which, during the war, was never
questioned; and heart than which none throbbed
more honestly or warmly for American freedom.
From Weathersfield, hundred young volunteers
marched for Boston the twenty-second, well-arm-
ed and in high spirits. From the neighboring
towns, men of the largest estates, and the most
esteemed for character, seized their frelocks and
followed. By the second night, several thousands
from the colony were on their way. Some fixed on
their standards and drums the colony arms, and
round it in letters of gold the motto that God who
brought over their fathers would sustain the sons.
In New Haven, Benedict Arnold, captain of avol-
unteer company, agreed with his men to march the
next morning for Boston. "Wait for proper or
ders," was the advice of Wooster; but the self
willed commander, brooking no delay, extorted
supplies from the committee of the town; and on
the twenty-ninth, reached the American head-quar-
ters with his company. There was scarcely a town
in Connecticut that was not represented among the
besiegers.
The nearest towns of Rhode Island were in mo-
tion before the British had finished their retreat
At the instance of Hopkins and others, Wanton,
the governor, though himsef inclined to the royal
side, called an assembly. Its members were all OF
one mind; and when Wanton, with several of the
council, showed hesitation, they resolved, if me-
cessary to proceed alone. The council yielded, and
Jne unanimous vote OF the assembly Wnlch
authorized raising an army of fifteen hundred men.
"The colony of Rhode Island" wrote Bowler the
speaker to the Massachusetts congress, 's firm and
determined; and greater unanmity in the lower
house scarce ever prevailed" Companies of the
men of Rhode Island preceded this early message.
The conviction of Massachusetts, gained the cheer
ing confidence that springs from sympathy, now
that New Hampshire and Connecticut and Rhode
Island had come to its support. The New England
volunteers were men of substantial worth, of whom
almost every one represented household The
members oftheseveral companies were well known tc
each other as to brothers, kinsmen and townsmen
known to the old men who remained at home, and tC
all the matrons and maidens. They to be re
membered weekly in the exercises of the cOngrega
tions; and morning and evening in the usual family
devotions, they were commended with fervent pie
ty to the protection of heaven. Every young sol
dier lived and acted, as it were, under the keer
observation of all those among whom he had grown
up, and was sure that his conduct would occupy
the tongues Of his village companions while he wa;
in the field, and perhaps be remembered his life