bridge.... Strength and
disposition of the two armies.... Deficiency of the
Americans in arms and ammunition.... Distress of the British
from the want of fresh provisions.... Falmouth burnt....
Success of the American cruisers.... Measures to form a
continental army.... Difficulty of re-enlisting the
troops.... Plan for attacking Boston.... General Lee
detached to New York.... Possession taken of the heights of
Dorchester.... Boston evacuated.... Correspondence
respecting prisoners.

{1775}

The attention of Colonel Washington, for several years after his
marriage, was principally directed to the management of his estate. He
continued a most respectable member of the legislature of his country,
in which he took an early and a decided part against the claims of
supremacy asserted by the British Parliament. As hostilities
approached, he was chosen by the independent companies, formed through
the northern parts of Virginia, to command them; and was elected a
member of the first congress which met at Philadelphia. The
illustrious patriots who composed it, soon distinguished him as the
soldier of America, and placed him on all those committees whose duty
it was to make arrangements for defence. When it became necessary to
appoint a commander-in-chief, his military character, the solidity of
his judgment, the steady firmness of his temper, the dignity of his
person and deportment, the confidence inspired by his patriotism and
integrity, and the independence of his fortune, combined to designate
him, in the opinion of all, for that important station. Local jealousy
was suppressed, not only by the enthusiasm of the moment, but by that
policy which induced the sagacious delegation from New England, to
prefer a commander-in-chief from the south.

[Sidenote: Colonel Washington appointed Commander-in-chief of the
American forces.]

On the 14th of June, he was unanimously chosen "General, and
Commander-in-chief of the armies of the United Colonies, and all the
forces now raised, or to be raised by them."[9]

[Footnote 9: See note No. IV. at the end of the volume.]

{June 15.}

On the succeeding day, when the President communicated this
appointment to him, he expressed his high sense of the honour
conferred upon him, and his firm determination to exert every power he
possessed in the service of his country and of her "glorious cause."
At the same time he acknowledged the