cept this arduous
employment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not
wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my
expenses. These, I doubt not, they will discharge; and that is all I
desire."[110]

As soon as he could settle his affairs, Washington started for Boston.
In New York he heard the news of Bunker Hill, and was cheered by it. He
arrived on July 2 in Watertown, where the Massachusetts congress was
sitting, and received a congratulatory address. He then pressed on to
Cambridge, which he reached on the same day. On the 3d, a year and a day
before the Declaration of Independence, and according to tradition under
the great elm still standing near Cambridge Common, he took command of
the army.

The occasion was momentous, and was so appreciated by a few at the time.
Would the critical volunteer army approve of its new chief? There was
not a murmur against him. From the first Washington's magnificent
bearing and kingly self-confidence won the admiration of his men. He
brought with him to the camp at Cambridge two who were ambitious to
displace him, yet of Lee and Gates, both retired English officers, the
first never won a personal following, and the second achieved but the
meagre dignity of leadership of a cabal. From the moment when he took
command of the army, Washington was, indeed, "first in the hearts of his
countrymen."

And the student of our history cannot help remarking how providential
it was that, almost at the outset of this struggle, Washington should
come to the front. Eighty-six years later, at the beginning of the
Rebellion, there was no accepted chief. Lincoln was doubted by the
North, and the army had no true leader. By a slow process Lincoln's
commanding strength became known; by an equally tedious sifting of the
generals the qualities of Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and Meade were
discovered. Only the tremendous resources of the North could have
withstood the strain of such a delay. Had the same process been
necessary at the outset of the Revolution, the colonies could scarcely
have maintained the struggle. Had not Washington been at hand, accepted
by the Congress and admired by the army, the virtual leader of both, the
chances of success would have been slight. But he was Lincoln and Grant
in one. Time and again, through the long years, it was Washington alone
who brought victory from defeat. Without him the colonies might have
won their independence as t