and every man in the district capable of bearing arms, fell upon the
retiring English.

The road led through several defiles, and every tree, every rock,
every depression of ground was taken advantage of by the Americans.
Scarcely a man was to be seen, but their deadly fire rained thick
upon the tired troops. This they vainly attempted to return, but they
could do nothing against an invisible foe, every man of whom
possessed a skill with his rifle far beyond that of the British
soldier. Very many fell and the retreat was fast becoming a rout,
when, near Lexington, the column met a strong re-enforcement which
had been sent out from Boston. This was commanded by Lord Percy, who
formed his detachment into square, in which Colonel Smith's party,
now so utterly exhausted that they were obliged to lie down for some
time, took refuge. When they were rested the whole force moved
forward again toward Boston, harassed the whole way by the Americans,
who from behind stone walls and other places of shelter kept up an
incessant fire upon both flanks, as well as in the front and rear,
against which the troops could do nothing. At last the retreating
column safely arrived at Boston, spent and worn out with fatigue.
Their loss was 65 men killed, 136 wounded, 49 missing.

Such was the beginning of the war of independence. Many American
writers have declared that previous to that battle there was no
desire for independence on the part of the colonists, but this is
emphatically contradicted by the language used at the meetings and in
the newspapers which have come down to us. The leaders may not have
wished to go so far--may not have intended to gain more than an
entire immunity from taxation and an absolute power for the colonists
to manage their own affairs. But experience has shown that when the