History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution

Volume 1

District of Massachusetts, to wit

Be it remembered, that on the eleventh day of February, in the thirtieth year of the independence of the United States of America, Mercy Warren, of the said district, has deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof she claims as author, in the words following, to wit: -- "History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution. Interspersed with Biographical, Political and Moral Observations. In Three Volumes. By Mrs. Mercy Warren, of Plymouth, Mass."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act, entitled "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, 'An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;' and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

N. Goodie, Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. A true copy of record. Attest: N. Goodale, clerk

An Address to the Inhabitants of the United States of America

At a period when every manly arm was occupied, and every trait of talent or activity  engaged, either in the cabinet or the field, apprehensive, that amidst the sudden  convulsions, crowded scenes, and rapid changes, that flowed in quick succession, many  circumstances might escape the more busy and active members of society, I  have been induced to improve the leisure Providence had lent, to record as they passed,  in the following pages, the new and inexperienced events exhibited in a land  previously blessed with peace, liberty, simplicity, and virtue.

As circumstances were collected, facts related, and characters drawn, many years  antecedent to any history since published, relative to the dismemberment of the  colonies, and to American independence, there are few allusions to any later writers.

Connected by nature, friendship, and every social tie, with many of the first patriots,  and most influential characters on the continent; in the habits of confidential and  epistolary intercourse with several gentlemen employed abroad in the most  distinguished stations, and with others since elevated to the highest grades of rank and  distinction, I had the best means of information, through a long period that the colonies  were in suspense, waiting the operation of foreign courts, and the success of  their own enterprising spirit.

The solemnity that covered every countenance, when contemplating the sword uplifted,  and the horrors of civil war rushing to habitations not inured to scenes of  rapine and misery; even to the quiet cottage, where only concord and affection had  reigned; stimulated to observation a mind that had not yielded to the assertion,  that all political attentions lay out of the road of female life.

It is true there are certain appropriate duties assigned to each sex; and doubtless it is the  more peculiar province of masculine strength, not only to repel the bold  invader of the rights of his country and of mankind, but in the nervous style of manly  eloquence, to describe the blood-stained field, and relate the story of  slaughtered armies.

Sensible of this, the trembling heart has recoiled at the magnitude of the undertaking,  and the hand often shrunk back from the talk; yet, recollecting that every  

domestic enjoyment depends on the unimpaired possession of civil and religious  liberty, that a concern for the welfare of society ought equally to glow in every  human breast, the work was not relinquished. The most interesting circumstances were  collected, active characters portrayed, the principles of the times developed,  and the changes marked; nor need it cause a blush to acknowledge, a detail was  preserved with a view of the transmitting it to the rising youth of my country, some  of them in infancy, others in the European world, while the most interesting events  lowered over their native land.

Conscious that truth has been the guide of my pen, and candor, as well as justice, the  accompaniment of my wishes through every page, I can say, with an ingenious  writer, "I have used my pen with the liberty of one, who neither hopes nor fears, nor  has any interest in the success or failure of any party, and who speaks to  posterity -- perhaps very far remote."

The sympathizing heart has looked abroad and wept the many victims of affliction,  inevitably such in consequence of civil feuds and the concomitant miseries of war,  either foreign or domestic. The reverses of life, and the instability of the world, have  been viewed on the point in both extremes. Their delusory nature and character,  have been contemplated as becomes the philosopher and the Christian: the one teaches  us from the analogies of nature, the necessity of changes, decay, and death;  the other strengthens the mind to meet them with the rational hope of revival and  renovation.

Several years have elapsed since the historical tracts, now with diffidence submitted to  the public, have been arranged in their present order. Local circumstances,  the decline of health, temporary deprivations of sight, the death of the most amiable of  children, "the shaft flew thrice, and thrice my peace was slain," have sometimes  prompted to throw the pen in despair. I draw a veil over the woe-fraught scenes that  have pierced my own heart. "While the soul was melting inwardly, it has  endeavored to support outwardly, with decency and dignity, those accidents which  admit of new redress, and to exert that spirit that enables to get the better of  those that do."  

Not indifferent to the opinion of the world, nor servilely courting its smiles, no further  apology is offered for the attempt, though many may be necessary, for the  incomplete execution of a design, that had rectitude for its basis, and a beneficent  regard for the civil and religious rights of mankind, for its motive.  

The liberal-minded will peruse with candor, rather than criticize with severity; nor will  they think it necessary that any apology should be offered for sometimes  introducing characters nearly connected with the author of the following annals; as they  were early and zealously attached to the public cause, uniform in their  principles, and constantly active in the great scenes that produced the revolution, and  obtained independence for their country, truth precludes that reserve which  might have been proper on less important occasions, and forbids to pass over in silence  the names of such as expired before the conflict was finished, or have since  retired from public scenes.  The historian has never laid aside the tenderness of the sex  or the friend; at the same time, she has endeavored, on all occasions, that the  strictest veracity should govern her heart, and the most exact impartiality be the guide  of her pen.  

If the work should be so far useful or entertaining, as to obtain the sanction of the  generous and virtuous part of the community, I cannot but be highly gratified and  amply rewarded for the effort, soothed at the same time with the idea that the motives  were justifiable in the eye of Omniscience. Then, if it should not escape the  remarks of the critic, or the censure of party, I shall feel no wound to my sensibility,  but repose on my pillow as quietly as ever --  

"While all the distant din the world can keep, Rolls o'er my grotto, and but soothes my sleep."

Before this address to my countrymen is closed, I beg leave to observe, that as a new  century has dawned upon us, the mind is naturally led to contemplate the great  events that have run parallel with and have just closed the last. From the revolutionary  spirit of the times, the vast improvements in science, arts, and agriculture, the  boldness of genius that marks the age, the investigation of new theories, and the change  in the political, civil, and religious characters of men, succeeding generations  have reason to expect still more astonishing exhibitions in the next. In the mean time,  Providence has clearly pointed out the duties of the present generation,  particularly the paths which Americans ought to tread. The United States form a young  republic, a confederacy which ought ever to be cemented by a union of  interests and affection, under the influence of those principles which obtained their  independence. These have indeed, at certain periods, appeared to be in the wane;  but let them never be eradicated, by the jarring interests of parties, jealousies of the  sister states, or the ambition of individuals!  It has been observed, by a writer of  celebrity [Paley's Moral Philosophy], that "that people, government, and constitution is  the freest, which makes the best provision for the...