"No Arms nor Ammunition is allowed to pass."
** Under this arrangement. 1778 fire-arms, 634 pistols, 273 bayonets, and 38 blunderbusses, were deposited with the selectmen. The same day (April 27th) the Provincial Congress recommended to the inhabitants of the sea-ports the removal of their effects, &c. Gordon, i., 336.
Benevolence of the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts.—Efforts of other Colonies.—Organization of the Army.
May 1, 1775 The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in the mean time, made provision for five thousand poor people expected from Boston, who were unable to help themselves. Each town had a proportion allotted to it, and thus much suffering was prevented, while the feelings of the beneficiaries were tenderly respected by the declaration of the resolution that they were not to be numbered with the town paupers. The same provision was also made for the suffering inhabitants who remained in Charlestown, unable to remove from the danger that menaced them. So great were the alarm and distress in that thriving suburban village of Boston, that it was almost deserted. Its population of two thousand seven hundred was reduced to about two hundred.
While Massachusetts was thus exercising its patriotism and humanity, preparatory to the approaching contest, the other colonies were alive with zeal. The Rhode Island Assembly voted an army of observation of fifteen hundred men, and appointed Nathaniel Apni Greene, a young iron master, and a Quaker by birthright, but recently disowned because of his military propensities, commander-in-chief, with the rank of brigadier. His colonels were Varnum, Hitchcock, and Church. The Connecticut Assembly voted to raise six regiments of a thousand men each; and Wooster, Putnam, and Spencer, already April 26 commissioned as generals, were each to have a regiment. The others were to be placed under the command of Hinman, Waterbury, and Parsons. Already, as we have noticed, New Hampshire volunteers had flocked to Cambridge, with the gallant Stark, who was commissioned a colonel. Under the direction of the Committee of Safety of that colony, they were supplied with necessaries until the meeting of the Provincial Congress of their own province in May. That body resolved to raise two thousand troops in addition May 17 those already in the field, and Nathan Folsom was appointed commander-inchief, with the rank of brigadier. They were organized into three regiments; and two additional regiments were placed under the command of Stark and James Reed. The latter, and Enoch Poor, were commissioned colonels. New Hampshire and Rhode Island both also issued bills of credit. Although other colonies did not send soldiers to Boston, all, with the exception of New York, approved of the action of the general Continental Congress, and expressed the warmest sympathy for New England.
On the 19th of May, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts clothed the Committee of Safety, then sitting at Cambridge, with full power to regulate the movements of the gathering army. * General Ward, as we have seen, was appointed captain general; John Thomas was made lieutenant general; and Richard Gridley, the commissioned commander of an artillery corps authorized to be raised, was appointed chief engineer, assisted by Henry Knox, late commander of an artillery corps in Boston. To promote rapid enlistments, a resolution had been previously adopted, promising a captain's commission to every one who should raise a company of fifty-nine men, and a colonel's commission to each who should raise a regiment of ten companies. The form of the commissions of the several officers was adopted, the pay of officers and soldiers was fixed, and other provisions for organizing the army were arranged.
At the beginning of June the combined forces amounted to about sixteen thousand men, ** really united only in respect to the common cause which brought them together, for each colony had absolute control over its respective troops. But by common consent, sanctioned by the several colonial authorities, obedience was rendered to General Ward as captain general. Ward, as well as Putnam, Thomas, Stark, Pomeroy, Prescott, and Gridley, had been educated in the military art in the practical school of the French and Indian war; and the militia that had assembled, familiar with their names and deeds, placed the utmost confidence in their skill and valor.
* The Committee of Safety consisted of John Hancock, Joseph Warren, Benjamin Chureh, Benjamin White, Joseph Palmer, Richard Devens, Abraham Watson, John Pigeon, Azor Orne, Benjamin Greenleaf, Nathan Cushing, and Samuel Holten. Hancock was necessarily absent, being a delegate to the Continental Congress.
** Massachusetts furnished 11,500; Connecticut, 2300; New Hampshire, 1200; and Rhode Island, 1000.
Increase of British Troops in Boston.—Arrival of experienced Officers.—Operations in the Vicinity.—American Military Works.