For All Nails #248: Teach Your Children Well
by Johnny Pez
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION
---page break---
Other titles in the
NORTH AMERICAN HISTORY SERIES
The Trans-Oceanic War
The Crisis Years
The Rocky Mountain War
The Age of Edison
The Starkist Terror
The Diffusion Era
The Global War
The War Without War
---page break---
THE WAR OF THE REBELLION
Agnes Baines
Illustrated by
Leonard Newmark
C. N. BIDMEAD & SONS
NEW YORK
---page break---
Copyright 1960 by Agnes Baines and Leonard Newmark All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Publisher.
C.N. Bidmead & Sons
545 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y., N.C.
Confederation Archives Number 60-28773
FIRST PRINTING
PRINTED IN THE CONFEDERATION OF NORTH AMERICA
---page break---
[illustration: map of North America 1763]
TWO hundred years ago, there was no Confederation of North America. Each British colony in North America was separate from the others. In 1763 Great Britain had just fought a war with the French, and when it ended the British won control of New France.
[1]
---page break---
The British had spent a lot of money fighting the French, and in 1765 Parliament passed the Stamp Act to raise money in North America. The North American colonists were upset about the Stamp Act, because it meant they had to pay taxes on various documents and newspapers.
Agitators rose up in North America to protest the Stamp Act. There were riots in North American cities, stamp agents were threatened, and supplies of stamps were destroyed. North American merchants organized an embargo of British goods.
In Virginia, Patrick Henry denounced the Stamp Act and threatened rebellion against the King. When he was accused of treason, he said, "If this be treason, make the most of it." In Massachusetts, Samuel Adams organized a gang called the Sons of Liberty to terrorize supporters of the Stamp Act.
[2]
---page break---
[illustration: Patrick Henry, "If this be treason, make the most of it."]
[3]
---page break---
In October 1765 nine colonies sent representatives to the "Stamp Act Congress" in New York. The Congress passed a resolution denying the British government the
right to vote taxes in North America.
In London, Benjamin Franklin appeared before Parliament to argue against the Stamp Act. The London merchants, who were being hurt by the North American embargo, also argued against it. In March 1766 Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, but it also insisted that it had the right to tax the North Americans.
The next year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Charles Townshend, raised duties on British goods going to North America, and increased the penalties for smuggling. The North Americans objected to this, too. There were riots in Boston and New York, and the legislatures of Massachusetts and Virginia were dissolved by the Governors of those colonies.
[4]
---page break---
[illustration: the "Boston Massacre"]
On 5 March 1770 a mob in Boston attacked a British sentry. The soldiers who were sent to rescue him were also attacked, and they had to open fire on the mob. Agitators like Samual Adams spread lies about the incident, saying the soldiers had attacked innocent bystanders, and calling it the "Boston Massacre".
[5]
---page break---
In London, Frederick, Lord North, had become Chancellor of the Exchequer, and then Prime Minister. In April 1770 he repealed all the Townshend duties except for the tax on tea. As he had hoped, this brought an end to the North American embargo, and the protests died down.
Then, in 1773, Parliament granted the East India Company the right to sell tea directly to the colonies without paying tax on it. This would ruin North American tea merchants and tea smugglers, and a wave of anger swept the North American colonies. When the East India Company's ships arrived in North America, they were not allowed to unload their tea. In Boston, Samuel Adams led the Sons of Liberty onto the tea ships and threw the tea overboard in the "Boston Tea Party".
[6]
---page break---
[illustration: the "Boston Tea Party"]
[7]
---page break---
In London, King George reacted angrily to the Boston Tea Party, and Parliament passed a series of acts to punish the Bostonians. Boston's port was closed, and the colony's civil government was replaced by a military government under General Thomas Gage.
This in turn made all the North American colonists angry. As they had during the Stamp Act crisis, the colonies sent delegates to meet together in a Congress in Philadelphia in September 1774. The Congress voted to endorse the Suffolk Resolves, which declared Gage's military government illegal and called upon the colonies to resume the embargo of British goods.
In April 1775 General Gage sent soldiers from Boston to seize military stores in Concord. On the way they clashed with North Americans in Lexington, and on their way back from Concord thousands of North Americans fired at them from behind trees and fences. The North American Rebellion had begun.
[8]
---page break---
[illustration: the North American Rebellion had begun]
[9]
---page break---
The rebels of Massachusetts raised 13,000 men to place Boston under siege. The other New England colonies joined the Rebellion and sent their own men to join the siege. In Philadelphia, Samuel Adams' cousin John Adams persuaded the Congress to support the Rebellion, and the Congress voted to make the Virginian George Washington commander of the rebel army besieging Boston.
The British suffered a setback in June when an assault on Breed's Hill cost them over a thousand men killed or wounded. General Gage was recalled and General William Howe took over command. In August Parliament proclaimed that a general rebellion existed.
In March 1776 the North American rebels fortified the heights above Boston with cannon seized from British forts in New York. General Howe was forced to evacuate Boston.
[10]
---page break---
[illustration: Parliament proclaimed that a general rebellion existed]
[11]
---page break---
In Philadelphia, the Congress adopted a resolution declaring independence from Great Britain in July 1776. Even as it did so, General Howe was taking the offensive, occupying Staten Island and preparing to attack New York. Howe defeated Washington in a series of battles and occupied New York in September. Washington was forced to retreat across New Jersey to Pennsylvania, and the Congress fled from Philadelphia to Baltimore.
In London, General John Burgoyne was planning the decisive campaign of the war. He planned to lead an army south from Quebec, while Howe led his army north from New York and a third army came east from Lake Ontario. In June 1777 Burgoyne set out from Quebec at the head of 4000 British regulars, 3000 Hessians and 1000 Canadians and Indians. He faced a rebel army under the divided command of Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold.
[12]
---page break---
[illustration: the Battle of Saratoga]
The army coming east from Lake Ontario was forced to turn back, and General Howe took his army south to occupy Philadelphia instead of north to help Burgoyne. Nevertheless, Burgoyne was able to press forward. General Henry Clinton moved north from New York with 2000 men, and between them Burgoyne and Clinton were able to defeat the rebels at the Battle of Saratoga and occupy Albany.
[13]
---page break---
With Albany and Philadelphia occupied, the heart went out of the North American Rebellion.
George Washington was relieved of his command, and the Congress broke down into squabbling factions.
Benjamin Franklin, who was in Paris trying to convince the French to aid the rebellion, opened secret negotiations with Lord North to bring the rebellion to an end. General Burgoyne led his men into New England, and defeated the last rebel army under Benedict Arnold.
In 1778 Lord North offered a compromise peace to the North Americans, who would be allowed a degree of self-government if they would rescind the declaration of independence and rejoin the British Empire. The moderates who had gained control of the Congress agreed, and on 12 June 1778 the North American Rebellion came to an end.
[14]
---page break---
[illustration: General Burgoyne defeated the last rebel army]
[15]
---page break---
Patrick Henry, Samuel and John Adams, and other rebel leaders were arrested and brought to London for trial. They were found guilty, and hanged in January 1779. George Washington was sentenced to life in prison. Other rebel leaders were tried by colonial courts.
In North America, the rebellious colonies were placed under military control under Generals Burgoyne, Clinton and Howe. Ill feeling towards the rebels led many of them to leave the colonies and move to Spanish Mexico, where they created their own rebel colony of Jefferson.
General Burgoyne was able to bring peace to the North American colonies. When Lord North and the Parliament created the Confederation of North America in the Britannic Design, they appointed General Burgoyne to be the first Viceroy. In time, the people of the CNA chose to honor Burgoyne's memory by naming the nation's capital after him.
[16]
---page break---
[illustration: they appointed General Burgoyne to be the first Viceroy]
[17]
---page break---
Forward to FAN #249: Trouble Brewing.
Forward to 30 April 1962: The Lesson.
Return to For All Nails.