"Tuesday, 7th--Left picket 10 o'clock.... Rain pretty hard most of the day. Studied the best method of forming a regiment for a review, manner of arranging the companies, also of marching round the reviewing officer. "A man ought never to lose a moment's time. If he put off a thing from one minute to the next his reluctance is but increased. "Wednesday, 8th--Cleaned my gun, played some football and some checkers. "22d, Friday--Some shot from the enemy. "Feb. 14, 1776, Wednesday--Last night a party of Regulars made an attempt upon Dorchester.... The Guard house was set on fire but extinguished." During this time many of the soldiers became discouraged with the hard work and poor food and pay, and we learn from his diary that Captain Hale offered to give the men in his company his own pay if they would stay on for a month longer. The diary and all his letters are full of courage and hopefulness. In March, the British army, which had been shut up so long in Boston unable to get away by land, took ship and sailed for Halifax. Washington believed the next point of attack would be New York and he moved his army there to protect the city. So Hale's regiment marched back to New London and embarked in transports for New York. The last six months of his short life were passed in and near New York. The spring was spent in fortifying the city, and in June Captain Hale wrote to his brother Enoch, "The army is every day improving in discipline and it is hoped will soon be strong enough to meet the enemy at any kind of play. My company, which was small at first, is increased to eighty, and a sergeant is recruiting, who I hope has got the other ten which completes the company." When the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, the soldiers received the news with great enthusiasm, and felt that they had at last an independent country of their own to fight for and, if need be, to die for. The British army arrived and encamped on Staten Island. It was a finely equipped force of twenty-five thousand men with a fleet of ships to support it, and was in every respect better and stronger than the half-trained militia that made up most of the American army. The battle of Long Island, late in the summer, ended in a defeat for the Americans, and Washington's skillful retreat at night across the East River from Long Island to New York was all that prevented a greater disaster. Many of the men in Captain Hale's company had been recruited along the Connecticut shores, and there is no doubt that these sailors under his command were very useful that night in getting the troops safely back to New York.