the 1. Nothing remarkable this day.
the 2. This day I with a number of rispectable gentlemen went[186]....
[Footnote 186: The author did not expect to have
his Journal published, or he would have omitted the
entry here made. There seems nothing in it
derogatory to his character, yet he has chosen
words to express his thoughts not suited "to ears
polite."]
the 3. Being Sunday it rained nothing remarkable hapned this day.
the 4. Nothing remarkable hapnd this day at night we were ordered to
Ly upon our arms.[187]
[Footnote 187: Washington was now in hourly
expectation of an attack from the British, and,
knowing his own weakness, he considered his
situation very critical. In vigilance alone seemed
a security for safety.]
the 5. Nothing Strange hapned this day.
the 6. Nothing comical this day only their was considerable of
tradeing caryd on.[188]
[Footnote 188: The Yankee love of trade and barter
appears to have been very prevalent in the camp.]
the 7. This day nothing Strang.
the 8. This day I with several more inlisted for the year 1776 under
captain Oliver Pond.
the 9. Nothing remarkable this day.
the 10. This day the Long faced People[189] arived here from wrentham
and other places.
[Footnote 189: New militia recruits from the
country, who had never seen service.]
the 11. This day I past muster before general Spencer[190] nothing
more this day.
[Footnote 190: General Joseph Spencer, of East
Haddam, Connecticut. He remained in service until
1778, when he resigned, left the army, and became a
member of Congress. He held rank next to Putnam in
the army at Boston. He died in 1789, at the age of
seventy years.]
the 12. This day it was very cold and the melitia had to mount guard
that is good for them.
the 13. This day I went to cambridg and viewed the works on
copple[191] hill.[192]
[Footnote 191: Cobble.]
[Footnote 192: These, it is said, were the most
perfect of any of the fortifications raised around
Boston at that time.]
the 14. This day I went to Watertown[193] with Lieutenant Bacon and a
number of others in order to get some coats but we could not find any
that suited us and so we returned.[194]
[Footnote 193. Seven miles northwest from Boston.
It was then the seat of the revolutionary
government in Massachusetts.]
[Footnote 194: Washington issued a notice, on the
28th of October, that tailors would be employed to
make coats for those who wished them.]
the 15. This day nothing very remarkable.
the 16. This day nothing strange at night their was an atempt made to
blow up A Ship but it failed also this night we heard that Quebeck was
taken.[195]
[Footnote 195: This was a mistake. On the 13th of
September, Colonel Benedict Arnold left Cambridge
with a detachment to cross the country by the way
of the Kennebec, to invade Canada and capture
Quebec. Arnold's army suffered terribly on the
march, and arrived at Point Levi, opposite Quebec,
on the 9th of November, and prepared to attack the
city. He was obliged to postpone his attack, and
Quebec never fell into the hands of the patriots.]
the 17. Being Sunday it was foul weather nothing remarkable hapned
this day onely the enemy fired at our men on Lechmers[196] Point and
wounded one and our men returned the fire from copple hill.
[Footnote 196: Lechmere's.]
the 18. This day the Ship moved out of the Bay and the Enemy threw
Bombs from mount Hoordom[197] but did no Damage.
[Footnote 197: A nickname given to Bunker's hill.]
the 19. This day nothing remarkable hapned.
the 20. Nothing strange this day.
the 21. This day it was very cold nothing strange this day.
the 22. Nothing remarkable this day.
the 23. Nothing strange this day.
the 24. Ditto Ditto Ditto.
the 25. Good.
the 26. Very cold this day nothing remarkable this day.
the 27. Nothing remarkable to day.
the 28. Nothing strange this day.
the 29. Nothing strange this day Last Night our men made an atempt to
take Bunker hill but their Scheem was frustrated &c.[198]
[Footnote 198: On the night of the 28th, an
unsuccessful attempt was made to surprise the
British outposts on Charlestown neck, and then to
attack the enemy on Bunker's hill. The Americans
started to cross from Cobble hill, on the ice. One
of the men slipped and fell when they were half way
across, and his gun went off. This alarmed the
British, and they were on their guard. It was
computed that, from the burning of Charlestown, on
the 17th of June, until Christmas day, the British
had fired more than two thousand shot and shells.
They hurled more than three hundred bombshells at
Plowed hill, and one hundred at Lechmere's point.
Gordon says that, with all this waste of metal,
they "killed only seven men on the Cambridge side,
and just a dozen on the Roxbury side."]
the 30, 31. Nothing remarkable.