hat Congress would do.

When Congress met, the men who came together were no longer strangers to
one another. They had parted warm friends the previous fall; they had
gone to their several homes and now had come back more determined than
ever, and more united. Every one spoke of Lexington and Concord; and the
Massachusetts men told how large an army had already gathered around
Boston. But it was an army made up not only of Massachusetts men, but of
men from Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. It was plain that
there must be some authority over such an army, and the Provincial
Congress of Massachusetts wrote to the Continental Congress at
Philadelphia, advising that body to assume control of all the forces, to
raise a continental army, appoint a commander, and do whatever else was
necessary to prepare for war. There had already been fighting; there was
an army; and it was no longer a war between Massachusetts and Great
Britain.

I do not know what other delegates to the Congress at Philadelphia came
as soldiers, but there was one tall Virginian present who wore his
military coat; and when the talk fell upon appointing a commander, all
eyes were turned toward him. Every one, however, felt the gravity and
delicacy of the situation. Here was an army adopted by Congress; but it
was a New England army, and if the struggle were to come at Boston, it
was natural that the troops should mainly come from that neighborhood.
The colonies were widely separated; they had not acted much together.
Would it not be better, would it not save ill-feeling, if a New England
man were to command this New England army?

There were some who thought thus; and besides, there was still a good
deal of difference of opinion as to the course to be pursued. Some were
all ready for independence; others, and perhaps the most, hoped to bring
the British to terms. Parties were rising in Congress; petty jealousies
were showing themselves, when suddenly John Adams, of Massachusetts,
seeing into what perplexities they were drifting, came forward with a
distinct proposition that Congress should adopt the army before Boston
and appoint a commander. He did not name Washington, but described him
as a certain gentleman from Virginia "who could unite the cordial
exertions of all the colonies better than any other person." No one
doubted who was meant, and Washington, confused and agitated, left the
room at once.

Nothing else was now talked of. The dele