But the gallant attempt on Quebec, in which Montgomery fell, was
frustrated, and the siege of Boston dragged on uneventfully, until the
Americans, in March, seized Dorchester Heights, and made the town no
longer tenable. On the 17th there were in Boston Harbor seventy-eight
ships and transports casting loose for sea, and twelve thousand
soldiers, sailors and refugees, hurrying to embark. The flag of thirteen
stripes, the standard of the Union, floated above the Boston forts,
after ten tedious months of siege.

The eminent services of Washington throughout this arduous period, his
admirable management by which, in the course of a few months, an
undisciplined band of husbandmen became soldiers, and were able to expel
a brave army of veterans, commanded by the most experienced generals,
won the enthusiastic applause of the nation. A unanimous vote of thanks
was passed to him in Congress.


_Declaration of Independence_


Despatches from Canada continued to be disastrous, and the evacuation of
that country was determined on in June, 1776. The great aim of the
British was now to get possession of New York and the Hudson, and to
make them the basis of military operations. While danger was gathering
round New York, and its inhabitants were in mute suspense and fearful
anticipations, the General Congress at Philadelphia was discussing with
closed doors the greatest question ever debated in America. A resolution
was passed unanimously, on July 2, "that these United Colonies are, of
right ought to be, free and independent States."