Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/349

328, they pledged to each other "their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor."

Following the expulsion of the British from Boston, the battle field of the Revolution changes to New York, moving to Harlem Heights and White plains; then to New Jersey; Trenton, and Princeton; then to Pennsylvania; Brandywine, Westchester, Germantown, Valley Forge, and on to Monmouth.

But here let us pause. It has been a terrible winter at Valley Forge. While the British at Philadelphia, twenty miles away, have been living in luxury, our Washington and his men have suffered bitterly with hunger and cold; and out of a list of eleven thousand men, three thousand at Valley Forge lay sick at one time. But at last the spring has come and Washington has now been nearly three years in service. Listen! The order has gone forth! At 10:30 o'clock comes the signal, and the firing of a cannon sees all men under arms! At 11:30 o'clock the second signal is given and the march begins. It is May 7, 1778, and Washington is assembling his mere Great news has come and it is fitting to return thanks to Divine Providence—so reads his proclamation.

Now comes the third signal, the firing of thirteen cannon! Another signal! and the whole army breaks into a loud huzza — "Long live the King of France!" followed by a running fire of guns.

On this same day in the afternoon, Washington gives a banquet to his officers, aides, and guests, to which they march arm-in-arm, thirteen abreast. What does it mean? It means that Benjamin Frankliln has been heard from, and that an alliance with France, England's bitterest enemy, has been made. Some day when you are in Washington, you may see directly in front of the White House, Lafayette Park, and, knowing the story of the Revolution, you understand why it is there. You also understand why Washington's army on that May morning shouted, "Long live the King Of France."

But it is not our purpose here to tell the whole story: we can only touch the high points. Again the army moves to WhitePlains and on to Middlebrook and New Windsor; and Washington spends the winter (1781) at Morristown, N.J. The end is approaching. He joins Lafayette at Yorktown, Va., and on October 1Oth, Cornwaills the British general, surrenders to George Washington, commander-in-chief of the American Army. Thus the conflict begun in one English settlement is ended in the other. Massachusetts marks the beginning and Virginia the ending of the War of the Revolution.