*** The house seen in this sketch is one of the oldest in Cambridge, having been built about 1750. I has been in the possession of the Moore family about seventy-five years. Since I visited Cambridge I have been informed that a Mrs. Moore was still living there, who, from the window of that house, saw the ceremony of Washington taking command of the army.
**** 1 Samuel, xii., 3
Council of War.—Character of the Army.—Punishments.—Riflemen. Number of Troops in the Field.—A model Order.
Washington called a council of war on the 9th. It was composed of the major July 1775 generals and the brigadiers, and the object of the council was to consult upon future operations. The eommander-in-chief found himself at the head of an army composed of a mixed multitude of men of every sort, from the honest and intelligent citizen, possessed of property and station, to the ignorant knave, having nothing to lose, and consequently every thing to gain. Organization had been effected in a very slight degree, and thorough discipline was altogether unknown. Intoxication, peculation, falsehood, disobedience, and disrespect were prevalent, and the punishments which had been resorted to were quite ineffectual to produce reform. * It was estimated by the Council that, from the best information which could be obtained, the forces of the enemy consisted of eleven thousand five hundred effective men, while the Americans had only about fourteen thousand fit for duty. ** It was unanimously decided by the Council to maintain the siege by strengthening the posts around Boston, then held by the Americans, by fortifications and recruits. It was also agreed that, if the troops should be attacked and routed by the enemy, the places of rendezvous should be Wales's Hill, in the rear of the Roxbury lines; and also that, at the present, it was "inexpedient to fortify Dorchester Point, or to oppose the enemy if he should attempt to take possession of it."
Some riflemen from Maryland, Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania, enlisted under the orders of Congress, and led by Daniel Morgan, a man of powerful frame and sterling courage, soon joined the camp. *** Upon their breasts they wore the motto "Liberty or Death." A large proportion of them were Irishmen, and were not very agreeable to the New Englanders. Otho Williams, afterward greatly distinguished, was lieutenant of one of the Maryland companies. Both these men rose to the rank of brigadier.
The first care of the commander-in-chief was to organize the army. **** He arranged it into three grand divisions, each division consisting of two brigades, or twelve regiments, in
* These punishments consisted in pecuniary fines, standing in the pillory, confinement in stocks, riding a wooden horse, whipping, and drumming out of the regiment.
** The following return of the army was made to Adjutant-general Gates on the 19th of July:
