the 1. Las night the fire ran over Samuel Hawes's hair and that
provoket him to wrath Nothing very remarkable hapned this day that I
know of.
the 2. their was Some gentlemen and Laidies came down from Wrentham
and they went to cambridg.
the 3. It was a very rainy day and we went to childses and had an old
fudg fairyouwell my friends.
the 4. Nothing remarkable hapned this day onely the gentry went home
to Wrentham.
the 5. Being the memorial 5th of novem. the enemy fired from every
Ship in the harbour nothing more remarkable this day.
the 6. Nothing remarkable hapned this day.
the 7. Their was a vendue opened att this house and their was not Less
than a hundred and twenty Dollars worth of things vendued and sold at
private sale and Swapt.
the 8. Nothing remarkable hapned this day that I know of.
the 9. Nothing remarkable hapned this day that is worth
amentioning.[177]
[Footnote 177: On this day there was quite a severe
skirmish occurred at Lechmere's point, now
Cambridgeport.]
the 10. This day I went home upon furlow,[178] yesterday Sergent Yett
went home.
[Footnote 178: That is, a written permission from
his commanding officer, to leave for a specified
time.]
the 11. I went to captain whitings and nothing remarkable hapned.
the 12. Being Sunday I went to meting Nothing more this day.
the 13. This day the Long faced People trained at Wrentham and Serg
Felt went upon the piquet and fired several times upon the centrys.
the 14. This day I came down from Wrentham with Serg Felt and at
night their was three men deserted from the floating Battery this day
we had a Lottery and Serg Foster drawd a pair of Breeches[179] worth 5
Dollars and their was considerable other tradeing caried on at night
their was 8 men more deserted.
[Footnote 179: At that time leather breeches were
much in vogue, because they were durable. The more
costly ones of buckskin were worn only by
officers.]
the 16. Nothing remarkable hapned captain Pond Listed three or four
men for the next campaign[180] att night it was very cold.
[Footnote 180: Late in October a new organization
of the army took place, and enlistments for a
certain term were commenced. Hitherto there had
been great confusion in the matter. The army had
gathered around Boston from sudden impulse, and it
was continually changing. The excitement which had
brought them together had in a measure subsided,
and enlistments went on slowly. After a month's
exertions, only five thousand names were enrolled;
and Washington, lamenting the dearth of public
spirit, almost despaired. Alluding to the
selfishness exhibited in camp, he says: "Such
stock-jobbing and fertility in all low arts, to
obtain advantages of one kind and another, I never
saw before, and pray God I may never witness
again."]
the 17. Very blustering and their was a man Whipt thirty and nine
Lashes for Stealing and getting Drunk and running away and afterwards
he was drummed out of the camps thus he &c.
the 18. Nothing remarkable hapned this day that I know of.
the 19. This day being Sunday it was very pleasant and we had
Preaching Nothing more this day.
the 20. This day nothing very remarkable at night their was a regular
deserted and Swam over to Dorchester and escaped.
the 21. This day Nothing very remarkable this day the piquet was made
easier by half &c. &c.
the 22. To morrow is thanksgiveing this day ended without any thing
remarkable.
the 23. Being thanksgiveing I went with Serg Felt up to newtown and
kept thanksgiveing their and returnd to our Barricks at night and we
had not ben a bed long when our captain came to us and ordered us all
to Lye upon our arms by order of General Washington Lesemo[181] of the
American Army incampt at cambridg and roxbury and other places[182]
nothing more this day that I know of onely 2 regulars deserted at
night on cambridg side.[183]
[Footnote 181: Generalissimo.]
[Footnote 182: On the previous day, General Putnam,
with a strong detachment, broke ground at Cobble
hill, where the M'Lean Asylum now stands. The
object was to erect batteries for the purpose of
cannonading Boston. It was expected the British
troops would sally out of the city and attack them,
and that expectation caused Washington to issue the
order for _all_ the troops to be ready for action
at a moment's warning.]
[Footnote 183: Frothingham says, "Two British
sentinels came off in the night to the detachment"
of General Putnam.]
the 24. Nothing hapned very remarkable this day that I know of.
the 25. This morning Captain Pond inlisted several men for the next
campaign; o you nasty Sloven how your Book Looks.[184]
[Footnote 184: This remark refers to several blots
of ink which disfigure the page of his Journal on
which he was writing.]
the 26. Being Sunday it was Stormy Nothing remarkable this day.
the 27. Nothing very remarkable hapned this day.
the 28. Nothing very Strange onely Peperiss curacle came out of Boston
that old tory Dog.
the 29. Nothing remarkable onely one of our Privateers took a prize
richly Laden.[185]
[Footnote 185: That was the British storeship
_Nancy_, captured off Cape Anne, and carried into
that harbor, by Captain John Manly, commander of
the American armed schooner _Lee_, one of the six
vessels fitted out at Boston under the direction of
Washington, before Congress had yet taken any
measures to establish a navy. So valuable were the
stores of the _Nancy_, that Washington supposed
General Howe would immediately make efforts to
recover her, and he had an armed force sent to Cape
Anne to secure them. There were two thousand
muskets, one hundred thousand flints, thirty
thousand round shot for one, six, and twelve
pounders, over thirty thousand musket-shot, and a
thirteen-inch brass mortar that weighed
twenty-seven hundred pounds. The arrival of these
produced great joy in the camp. Colonel Moylan,
describing the scene, says: "Old PUT [General
Putnam] was mounted on the mortar, with a bottle of
rum in his hand, standing parson to christen, while
god-father Mifflin [afterward General Mifflin] gave
it the name of _Congress_."
On the 29th of November, Washington commenced
planting a bomb-battery on Lechmere's point, with
the intention of bombarding the British works on
Bunker hill. They completed it in the course of a
few days, entirely unmolested.]
the 30. Nothing extreordenary this day that I know of.