Here was a similar measure to that of Gage. The cry went forth that
the subjugation of the colonies was to be attempted. All Virginia was
in combustion. The standard of liberty was reared in every county;
there was a general cry to arms. Washington was looked to from various
quarters to take command. His old comrade in arms, Hugh Mercer, was
about marching down to Williamsburg at the head of a body of resolute
men, seven hundred strong, entitled "The friends of constitutional
liberty and America," whom he had organized and drilled in
Fredericksburg, and nothing but a timely concession of Lord Dunmore,
with respect to some powder which he had seized, prevented his being
beset in his palace.

CHAPTER XVII.
CAPTURE OF TICONDEROGA AND CROWN POINT.--WASHINGTON APPOINTED
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.

At the eastward, the march of the Revolution went on with accelerated
speed. Thirty thousand men had been deemed necessary for the defence
of the country. The provincial Congress of Massachusetts resolved to
raise thirteen thousand six hundred, as its quota. Circular letters
also were issued by the committee of safety, urging the towns to
enlist troops with all speed, and calling for military aid from the
other New England provinces.

Their appeals were promptly answered. Bodies of militia and parties of
volunteers from New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Connecticut hastened
to join the minute men of Massachusetts in forming a camp in the
neighborhood of Boston. The command of the camp was given to General
Artemas Ward, already mentioned. He was a native of Shrewsbury, in
Massachusetts, and a veteran of the seven years' war--having served as
lieutenant-colonel under Abercrombie.

As affairs were now drawing to a crisis and war was considered
inevitable, some bold spirits in Connecticut conceived a project for
the outset. This was the surprisal of the old forts of Ticonderoga and
Crown Point, already famous in the French war. Their situation on Lake
Champlain gave them the command of the main route to Canada; so that
the possession of them would be all-important in case of hostilities.
They were feebly garrisoned and negligently guarded, and abundantly
furnished with artillery and military stores, so much needed by the
patriot army. This scheme was set on foot in the purlieus, as it were,
of the provincial Legislature of Connecticut, then in session. It was
not openly sanctioned by that body, but secretly favored, and money
len