From Attleboro there was a sudden thrust along the railroad line Taunton to Mansfield. From this point the enemy moved rapidly along the railroad line to Framingham. In two hours he had in his possession six important junctions of the railroad systems that connect Boston with the rest of New England and with the United States.
Encircling Boston
The enemy was making good a great line that extended in a semi-circle from the west of Boston to the coast south of it.
His grip on Rhode Island had not relaxed. That whole State was in his hands. There was not a village left in it that was not dominated by his troops. Men were quartered in every house. Officers were quartered in every hotel, every mansion. The town halls and churches were occupied. In places where there were not sufficient stable accommodations, the horses were placed in the churches.
There were proud homes there, in “little Rhode Island,” where crossed swords over the old-fashioned mantel-pieces bore witnesses to ancestors who had fought on land and sea in the Wars of the Revolution and of 1812. Foreign soldiers sat under them, and spread out maps of the State on the floors while they debated over the best use to make of roads and houses and towns.
Town and village authorities received orders, not from officers, but from common soldiers, or, at the most, from sergeants or corporals. Only in the most important places did commissioned officers trouble to consult with the officials. Mostly, they limited themselves to sending their requisitions and instructions in curtly written notes.
So it was everywhere throughout the conquered country. Wherever the invader set foot, all old law ceased instantly and new law began. The bulletin boards in town halls, court rooms and post offices were covered, within half an hour after the irruption of soldiery, by placards that were headed, each and every one, with the words: “An Order.”
The people were ordered not to be out of doors after nine at night. They were ordered to bring in an accounting of all horse forage, all food-stuffs and all accommodation they had in their premises for men and animals. They were ordered to bring in all rolling stock for inspection. They were ordered to leave their lights burning behind lowered shades.
Under Foreign Rule
Their officials were ordered to report daily to the army for instructions. Their judges were ordered to make reports of their cases. There was no duty of the day to which a citizen could turn without feeling the invader’s hand upon him. There was no road on which he could move without being challenged by a sentry. There was no woman who dared venture on the street, for fear of offense which her men could not dare to resent, or for the worse fear of the fate that would be theirs if they did.