ey became
leaders of the bar, judges, physicians, prominent office-holders. It is
not to be denied that among them were suffering and misery; they had
lost much and had to begin again from the bottom, and many succumbed to
the difficulties of the new life. After the war attempt was made to gain
from the United States compensation for their losses; but the new
country was unable even to recompense those who had suffered in its
cause. The loyalists therefore looked to Britain for help, and in some
measure found it, in pensions, grants of money, and holdings of land.

There is much to regret in this emigration, which took from New England
such numbers of men and women of good blood and gentle breeding. For the
Tories were largely of the better class, many of them had been educated
at Harvard, and they represented an element which no community can
afford to lose. Some of the difficulties of the new commonwealths were
due to the loss of the conservative balance-wheel; some further
troubles beset them from the bitterness of feeling in the new colonists
across the border. This has now died away, but boundary and fisheries
disputes long brought out the hostility latent in the descendants of the
Tories.

So much for the losers in the fight. Of the winners, no American needs
to be more than reminded of their fame and their successes. At the siege
Washington made his first claim to fame. He proved his tenacity, his
mastery of men, and the greatness of his resolution and daring. Some of
his generals followed him in his success, some were failures. Lee
attempted treachery, but was finally discarded by both sides. Gates
endeavored to displace Washington, but ruined himself in the attempt.
But most of Washington's other generals were able men. Greene proved
himself to be a military genius second only to Washington. Knox, the
sole Bostonian on Washington's staff, commanded the artillery throughout
the war.

Of the chief Boston politicians, all ended their days honorably. Soon
after the evacuation the body of Warren was sought for among the dead
buried on Bunker Hill. It was found, identified, and entombed at Boston
with solemn mourning. Hancock presently signed his name on the
Declaration of Independence so large that King George could read it
without his spectacles. The Boston merchant served the Continental
Congress for another year as its president; then returning to Boston he
became "King" Hancock, the governor of Massachusetts