Part 1

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The Youth's Library

THE STORY OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES

BY

H. A. GUERBER

New York D. McNetton & Company 150 Fifth Avenue

Copyright, 1898, by H. A. Guerber.

STORY OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES. M. B. C. I

PREFACE.

This book is intended as an historical reader, an elementary text-book in the history of our country, or as an introduction or supplement to any of the excellent text-books on the history of the United States now in use.

The aim has been not only to interest children in the great men of their own country, but to stimulate them to the cultivation of the lofty virtues of which they read, and to instil within their hearts a deep love for their native land.

All the main facts in our early history have been given as simply and vividly as possible, and the lessons of patriotism, truthfulness, courage, patience, honesty, and industry taught by the lives of our principal heroes are carefully enforced. Great pains have also been taken to relate all the well-known anecdotes and quote the famous speeches which are so frequently alluded to in our current literature.

Although this book ends with the Revolutionary War, the story of our country is continued on the same lines in a companion volume entitled "The Story of the Great Republic;" yet each book is independent of the other and can be used separately.

So simply worded as to be easily intelligible to average children of ten or twelve years of age, the text is further arranged in short paragraphs, to facilitate its use as a reader in large classes.

The pronunciation of difficult proper names is indicated in the text, and, more fully, in the carefully prepared index. The system of diacritical marks used is explained on the first page of the index.

HINTS FOR TEACHERS.

The best results in reading can often be obtained by the teacher's reading a chapter first, while the pupils closely follow the text in their own books. When called upon to re-read the same passages, it will be noticed that they almost unconsciously imitate every inflection they have heard. Thus they soon learn to read with due regard to expression, and therefore take a livelier interest in the subject-matter.

Aside from its use as a reader, this text can also serve to supply themes for daily language work, certain parts of the lesson being chosen for verbal and others for written reproduction. My experience has been that after reading the chapters over once or twice most children remember both facts and names. If they cannot do it at first, they may easily be trained to do it by the judicious stimulus of a little praise, and the hope of winning their teacher's approval.

To fix important facts in the memory, and to serve as reviews of previous readings, I have found that a set of question cards is almost invaluable. These can be quickly distributed among the children, who are called upon to answer them verbally or in writing, as best serves the teacher's purpose at the time.

Pupils consider historical matches even more exciting than spelling matches. To vary recitations, matches can be conducted in various ways. For instance, all the question cards bearing upon the parts of the book already perused can be divided between the two "sides." The pupils furnish oral or written answers, the side answering most questions correctly reaping the honors. The match can also be carried on by the teacher's supplying names or dates, and requiring pupils on alternate sides to state clearly what they know in connection with them. At other times, ordinary quiz methods can be used, or the teacher can relate some fact or anecdote, calling upon different pupils to supply the purposely omitted names or dates.

Children are also often deeply interested in verbal pictures. For example, the teacher, without mentioning name, time, or place, can describe Franklin flying his kite, Ethan Allen surprising the garrison at Ticonderoga, Columbus at La Rabida, etc. The description ended, each pupil can write down the names of the characters described, and mention time, place, and any other fact the teacher calls for. Such historical riddles seem more like play than work to the average child, and before long all take great pride in making verbal pictures of their own, to be guessed by their schoolmates, or handed to the teacher instead of an ordinary composition. Such work not only appeals to childish imagination, but cultivates memory and attention while firmly fixing important facts in youthful minds.

To encourage a taste for poetry and rouse a love for the beautiful by fine descriptions of the noted characters or great events with which the pupils have just become familiar, it is often well to read aloud some of our most famous songs or poems.

It is universally conceded that history and geography should go hand in hand; so suitable maps have been supplied, upon which children should be encouraged to locate each spot as soon as it is mentioned. The teacher should also procure a blank map for each pupil (such as the Eclectic Map Blanks, American Book Company), so that, after finding any place named on the ordinary map, the pupil can locate it exactly on an outline map. Many children are greatly interested in marking the names themselves as soon as their attention is drawn to them, and take great pride in seeing their maps grow. This method is often more helpful than any other in making children see how civilization has spread and what changes have gradually taken place in our country.

To fix upon their minds the fact that colonies were planted by different European nations, it is often advisable to purchase at a stationer's tiny adhesive stars of various colors. Each color serves to represent a nation, and stars are pasted upon the spots where colonies once stood. In cases where colonies proved unsuccessful, a black star can be pasted over the colored one, but in such a way that enough of the original star remains to show to which nation the colony once belonged. Where colonies changed hands several times, stars of appropriate colors can be pasted overlapping one another. This work fascinates children, and as the stars are adhesive, it can be done in class with very little trouble. A little tact on the teacher's part will make each pupil strive to have the neatest and most accurate map.

History and geography, when studied in their turn, will seem far more attractive to children if these methods have been pursued; for many persons and places already familiar will then be joyfully greeted as old friends.

CONTENTS

PAGE

I. Our Country Long Ago 13

II. The Barbarous Indians 17

III. The Mounds 20

IV. Where the Northmen went 24

V. The Northmen in America 27

VI. Queer Ideas 31

VII. Prince Henry the Navigator 33

VIII. Youth of Columbus 36

IX. Columbus and the Queen 39

X. "Land! Land!" 44

XI. Columbus and the Savages 48

XII. Home Again 51

XIII. Columbus illtreated 54

XIV. Death of Columbus 57

XV. How America got its Name 60

XVI. The Fountain of Youth 62

XVII. "The Father of Waters" 66

XVIII. The French in Canada 70

XIX. French and Spanish Quarrels 73

XX. The Sky City 77

XXI. Around the World 80

XXII. Nothing but Smoke 83

XXIII. Smith's Adventures 87

XXIV. The Jamestown Men 91

XXV. Smith wounded 94

XXVI. The Visit of Pocahontas to England 97

XXVII. Hudson and the Indians 102

XXVIII. The Mayflower 105

XXIX. Plymouth Rock 109

XXX. The First American Thanksgiving 113

XXXI. The Snake Skin and the Bullets 118

XXXII. The Beginning of Boston 122

XXXIII. Stories of Two Ministers 126

XXXIV. Williams and the Indians 129

XXXV. The Quakers 134

XXXVI. The King-Killers 136

XXXVII. King Philip's War 138

XXXVIII. The Beginning of New York 142

XXXIX. Penn and the Indians 147

XL. The Catholics in Maryland 152

XLI. The Old Dominion 155

XLII. Bacon's Rebellion 157

XLIII. A Journey Inland 160

XLIV. The Carolina Pirates 162

XLV. Charter Oak 166

XLVI. Salem Witches 170

XLVII. Down the Mississippi 174

XLVIII. La Salle's Adventures 180

XLIX. Indians on the Warpath 183

L. Two Wars with the French 187

LI. Washington's Boyhood 191

LII. Washington's Journey 195

LIII. Washington's First Battle 198

LIV. Stories of Franklin 199

LV. Braddock's Defeat 206

LVI. Wolfe at Quebec 210

LVII. How England treated her Colonies 214

LVIII. The Stamp Tax 218

LIX. The Anger of the Colonies 220

LX. The Boston Tea Party 224

LXI. The Minutemen 228

LXII. The Battle of Lexington 233

LXIII. Bunker Hill 237

LXIV. The Boston Boys 242

LXV. The British leave Boston 245

LXVI. Declaration of Independence 248

LXVII. A Lady's Way of Helping 253

LXVIII. Christmas Eve 258

LXIX. The Fight at Bennington 262

LXX. Burgoyne's Surrender 267

LXXI. The Winter at Valley Forge 271

LXXII. The Quaker Woman 275

LXXIII. Putnam's Adventures 279

LXXIV. Indian Cruelty 283

LXXV. Boone in Kentucky 288

LXXVI. Famous Sea Fights 293

LXXVII. The "Swamp Fox" 297

LXXVIII. The Poor Soldiers 302

LXXIX. The Spy 304

LXXX. A Traitor's Death 309

LXXXI. Two Unselfish Women 312

LXXXII. The Surrender of Cornwallis 315

LXXXIII. The British Flag hauled down 319

LXXXIV. Washington's Farewell 323

MAPS.

The Thirteen Colonies before the Revolution 12

North America before the French and Indian War 189

Part of the Northern States 230

Results of the War for Independence 322

STORY OF THE THIRTEEN COLONIES.

I. OUR COUNTRY LONG AGO.

Learned men, who read the story of the earth in the mountains, valleys, rivers, lakes, and seas which cover its surface, tell us that America, although known as the New World, is really older than Europe. The sun has shone upon this continent and the rain has watered it for more centuries than we can count. If you study your maps carefully, you will notice lofty mountains, great lakes, and long rivers in many parts of the country; and you will see that it is beautiful and fertile almost everywhere, except in the far north, where snow covers the ground most of the year.

The same wise men who found out that the country is so old, dug down into the soil, examined the things they found there, questioned the Indians, and, little by little, discovered that our continent has been inhabited by many different kinds of animals and men. They found huge bones of animals which died thousands of years ago, and placed these in museums, where you can now see them. They also found the bones of some of the ancient men and women, with some of their weapons, tools, kitchen pots, and bits of their garments.

By studying these things very carefully, and by listening to the stories of the natives, they learned a great deal about the country which, from Greenland and A-las´ka in the north, to Cape Horn in the south, was once inhabited by tribes of Indians. None of these had white skins like the inhabitants of Europe, black skins like the negroes in Africa, or yellow skins like the Chinamen in Asia. But as they were more like the people in Asia than like those in Africa or Europe, some men now think they may once have belonged to the same family.

Still, the men living on our continent were so unlike others that they are called red men, and form a race by themselves. Those who lived in the part of the country which is now called the United States had copper-colored skins, high cheek bones, straight, coarse black hair, small black eyes, and very wide mouths. Although they all looked somewhat alike, they were very different in their ways of living. The Indians living east of the Rocky Mountains were a little more civilized than those living west of those mountains and in the far northern parts of the continent.

The western and northern Indians are generally called savage Indians, for they lived by hunting and fishing, had no houses like ours, and were always roaming around in search of game. They were sheltered from the sun and rain by tents called wigwams. These rude dwellings were made by driving poles in the ground, in a circle as big as the wigwam was to be. When all the poles had been set up, the tops were drawn close together and firmly tied. Over these slanting poles the Indians spread the skins of the animals they had killed, or else they wove leaves and branches between the poles to form a thick screen. The space between two of the poles was left open to serve as a door, and over this was hung a bear or buffalo skin to keep out the sun, rain, or cold.

The space inside the wigwam was generally very small; but all the family crowded in, and when it was cold or wet, a fire was lighted in the middle of the floor. The smoke then escaped through a hole purposely left in the top of the wigwam, or through the open door.

The savage Indians had learned to make baskets, which they plastered with clay inside and out, and dried in the sun until they could hold water. When they wanted to boil their meat or to warm water, the women, called squaws, heated stones in the fire, and then dropped them into the water, which was thus brought to a boil.

These Indians rowed about in canoes made of basket work, of birch bark, or even of hollow tree trunks. As they had only stone axes, they could not easily cut down trees, so they brought them to the ground by kindling a fire all around them. When the tree had fallen they built another fire farther up the trunk. A log of the right length having thus been secured, they hollowed it out by starting small fires on top of the trunk, and scraping away the charred wood, until the log formed a rude canoe.

The Indians made their birch-bark canoes by sewing long strips of bark together with plant fibers or the sinews of the animals they had killed. The basket-work canoes were covered with skins to make them water-tight.

II. THE BARBAROUS INDIANS.

The Indians east of the Rocky Mountains knew a little more than the savage Indians, so they are called the barbarous Indians. Besides hunting and fishing, they dug up roots with stone hoes, or with shells, and planted corn, beans, pumpkins, squashes, tomatoes, tobacco, and sunflowers. Of course they did not have neat fields and gardens, such as you see now; but they scratched a hole wherever the ground seemed good enough, dropped a few seeds into it, and covering them over, left them to grow without further care.

The barbarous Indians were not content, like the savage Indians in the West, to fling a skin around them to keep off the cold, merely fastening it with a big thorn to hold it together. So they made winter garments by sewing skins together with sinews or plant fibers. In summer they had lighter clothes, rudely woven out of cotton or plant fibers. They, too, wove baskets, made beautiful birch-bark canoes, and after fashioning pots and pans out of clay, hardened them in the fire, so that they could use them in cooking.

These Indians had tools and weapons made of finely polished stone or bone, and they liked to live in villages. Instead of wigwams, many of them built houses of wood, or basket work and clay, roofed over with strips of bark. Sometimes the roof was a very thick layer of long grass, laid on rude rafters, and held down by poles to form a kind of thatch.

The houses thus built were generally very long and rather narrow, with a door at either end, and a passageway running through the center. On either side of this hall there were little rooms, each occupied by a family. At intervals along the passage the ground was hollowed out, and a clay or earthen fireplace was built, where four families cooked their meals. Above the fireplace there was a hole in the roof to serve as chimney. The rooms near the doors were generally used as storerooms for food and fuel. When several of these long houses were built together, they were often surrounded by a wooden wall, or palisade, to keep out the wild beasts and to serve as protection in time of war.

The Indians who once lived in New York and in the valley of the St. Law´rence lived in long houses, but the Mis-sou´ri Indians had round houses, built of the same materials. In the round houses the fireplace was in the middle, and families lived in rooms shaped like cuts of a pie. Many of these round houses were built close together, and then surrounded by a palisade made of tree trunks. These were driven into the ground so close together that they formed a very strong fence.

Although Indians did not have family names, such as we have now, each great family, or clan, had a special sign whereby it was known, such as a bear, a turtle, or a beaver. This sign was often marked upon their bodies in bright colors, and they carved and scratched it on all their belongings. From this sign the family was known as the bear, the turtle, or the beaver clan. Each clan selected a ruler, called sachem, or sagamore, whose orders all obeyed, and they also chose a chief to lead them in time of war.

The Indians had never been told about the God we love, so they worshiped the sun, moon, and stars, the lightning and thunder, the wind and rain, and said that one great spirit, called Man´i-to, was always watching over them. They also believed that when they died they would be carried off to a place where they could hunt and fish forever, and they called this heaven the happy hunting grounds.

Their religious ceremonies were usually performed by Indians called medicine men. These pretended to be very wise, and frightened the others by dancing and yelling wildly, and using strange words and signs. They said this would please their gods, and drive away the evil spirits of sickness, storm, or drought. The Indians were so simple that they believed all this nonsense, and they were so afraid of evil spirits that they often begged an animal's pardon for killing it. You see, they thought the spirit of a wolf or bear might else be so angry as to torment them in their dreams!

The men spent their time hunting, fishing, and fighting, but left all the rest of the work to the women. When they moved from one place to another, the squaws had to carry all the household goods, as well as the papooses, or babies. But the men carried only their bows and arrows, hunting knives, and the hatchets called tomahawks, which they threw with great force and skill.

III. THE MOUNDS.

Besides the savage Indians of the north and west, and the barbarous Indians of the east, there were also half-civilized Indians in the south of our country. They dwelt not only in what is now New Mex´i-co and Ar-i-zo´na, but were also found in Mexico, Central America, and South America, as far down the map as Chile (che´lā).

The southern Indians had learned how to build canals, so as to lead the water far away from the streams into dry and barren lands. When the ground had thus been watered, or irrigated, it became very fruitful, and they could grow all the grain and vegetables they needed.

The southern Indians lived together in huge fortresses, built of sun-dried bricks, called adobe. These fortresses were large houses five or six stories high, containing ever so many little rooms, each occupied by one family. Thus one house often sheltered two or three thousand people.

Sometimes these Indians built their houses on the ledges of steep rocks, or canyons. Such houses were called cliff dwellings, and many remains of these queer homes are still found in the southwestern part of our country. The Indians who lived there were gentle, and not fond of fighting, but they built fortresses and cliff dwellings to defend themselves when attacked by the savage Indians.

You see, the savage Indians did not grow any grain or vegetables, but they came down from the north to steal the provisions of the southern Indians. These, therefore, carried all their supplies into the cliff houses, which they built in such a way that it was almost impossible for an enemy to get in them.

The inhabitants themselves, however, easily went in and out by means of ladders, which led from story to story, or from ledge to ledge. Their houses had no doors down near the floor, but were entered by a hole in the roof.

In each of these fortresses there was a great cistern, full of water, and so large a supply of food that the Indians could stand a long siege. In times of danger they pulled all their ladders away up out of reach, and when their enemies tried to climb the steep cliffs or straight walls, they pelted them with stones and arrows, and thus drove them away.