George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 8

[43] five hundred effective rank and file. But these were

Chap. XLII.} 1775. July.

the choicest troops, thoroughly trained, and profusely supplied with the materials of war; and as he had the dominion of the water, he was able; as from a centre, to bend them against any one point in the straggling line of their besiegers.

Washington found the American army dispersed in a semicircle, from the west end of Dorchester to Maiden, a distance of nine miles. At Roxbury, where Thomas commanded two regiments of Connecticut and nine of Massachusetts, a strong work, planned by Knox and Waters, crowned the hill, and with the brokenness of the rocky ground, secured that pass. The main street was defended by a breastwork, in front of which sharpened and well-pointed trees, placed with the top towards Boston, prevented the approach of light horse. A breastwork also crossed the road to Dorchester. The men of Rhode Island were partly on Winter Hill, partly at Sewall's Farm, near the south bank of the Charles. The centre of the army was with Ward at Cambridge, its lines reaching from the colleges almost to the river. Putnam, with a division of four thousand men, composed of troops from Connecticut and eight Massachusetts regiments, lay intrenched on Prospect Hill, in a position which was thought to be impregnable. The New Hampshire forces were fortifying Winter Hill; assisted perhaps by a Rhode Island regiment, and certainly by Poor's Massachusetts regiment, which for want of tents had its quarters in Medford. The smaller posts and sentinels stretched beyond Maiden river. Apart, in a very thick wood, near where the Charles enters the bay, stood the wigwams of about