who made speeches and motions were not recorded in its minutes, lest a price be set on those brave men's heads by the British government.

General Washington's commission as commander-in-chief was signed on June 19th, 1775, the day he was elected. Two days later he started for Boston. On the way he met a messenger hurrying to Philadelphia, with news of the battle of Bunker Hill which had taken place on June 17th. The new commander's greatest anxiety was as to how the provincial soldiers had fought. He asked the "express:"

"Did they stand the fire of the regular troops?"

"That they did," was the messenger's reply, "and held their own fire in reserve until the enemy was within eight rods."

"Then the liberties of the country are safe!" exclaimed General Washington fervently.

Three battles had recently been fought around Boston. Therefore, as he approached the seat of war, he found the people even more excited than in Virginia. It was on Monday, the 3d of July-the 4th was not yet a red-letter day in the calendar of heroism-when General George Washington entered the pasture known as Cam

bridge Common, where the Continental army was drawn up, about half a mile from headquarters, and surrounded by a crowd of people in carriages, wagons and on foot. Riding beneath a spreading elm with his escort, he wheeled his horse, drew his sword, and waved it in saluting the assembled army as the sign of assuming command.

A friend has described General Washington's appearance when he took charge that day:

"He was forty-three years old-just as old as Julius Cæsar was when he took command of the army in Gaul and made himself great. Just as old as Napoleon when he made the mistake of his life and declared war against Russia.

"But how different from these two conquerors was George Washington! What they did for love of power, he did for love of liberty.

"A gallant soldier he was, under the Cambridge elm that warm July morning; he was what we call an imposing figure. He was tall, stalwart and erect, with thick brown hair drawn back into a queue, as all gentlemen then wore it, with a rosy face and a clear, bright eye-a strong, a healthy, a splendid-looking man in his uniform of blue and buff, an epaulet on each

shoulder, and, in his three-cornered hat, the cockade of liberty.

"And the commander-in-chief of the Continental army looked looked upon the army of which he had assumed command, and determined to make soldiers of them and lead them on to final victory."

CHAPTER XVIII

"UNDER TWO FLAGS"

IF they were not ragged regiments that the new commander had in his so-called army, they were a motley crowd-no two companies dressing alike—except the men of Rhode Island, commanded by Nathanael Greene, the Quaker general. This was a regiment of real soldiers, properly uniformed and equipped with arms, tents and other accoutrements. The men from Virginia wore Indian leggings and other garments of backwoodsmen and pioneers, as if they were now out on a hunting expedition. As for the rest, they were like the children's counting-out lingo:

"Rich man, poor man,
Beggar man, thief;
Doctor, lawyer,
Indian chief;

Tinker, tailor,

Soldier, sailor,

Ragman, bagman".

and all the rest of the rigmarole-with the addition of farmers and "all sorts and conditions of men," except soldiers in uniform.

It was more like a mob of men than an army. These raw recruits the commander found to be "many men of many minds." Instead of having any idea of discipline, each seemed to consider himself "a law unto himself." Many of them appeared to have volunteered as if they were joining a club or a party, and believed they could leave as they had come-at their own pleasure!

It was their idea of liberty-that no one should have authority over them to make them do anything they did not wish. Some claimed to have political influence, and therefore felt at liberty to come and go as they pleased.

With all this, they were brave and patriotic, "according to their lights," and General Washington could not help admiring them. "Genius

is the ability to take great pains." The new commander developed genius, if he did not have it before, during the siege of Boston. He manifested great patience with the men, but he wrote to a friend that he had to make "a slam among the officers."

He asked Congress for ten thousand cheap hunting-shirts of one color and pattern which might look uniform. The rivalry between men from different colonies sometimes provoked quarrels. One day, as the General was riding by, he saw some soldiers from Massachusetts brawling with a group of Virginians.

Leaping from his horse and throwing the rein to a groom, he dashed among the rioters, knocked them right and left, and, seizing the two ringleaders by their throats, he shook them both vigorously, while he delivered them all a lecture upon their unsoldierlike conduct.

In time he got the recruits into some semblance of discipline, when it was discovered that, through a gross error, there were but a few pounds of gunpowder on hand. Sending a sloop to Bermuda, where it was understood that there was powder to be seized, and Colonel Knox to Ticonderoga for cannon as well as ammunition,