It was finished in the morning. “The country is pacified,” were the reports that went to headquarters. There were no gatherings of citizens anywhere within the province of the army’s operations. They were forbidden. There were no arms left in the hands of civilians. Houses in which weapons were found had been destroyed. Men who had been found with them in their possession were shot. Men with explosives were shot. In all New England that morning, every man had to be ready, for his life, to hold out his open hands whenever he met a soldier, and submit to search. _The Machine Shakes Down_ Through the two armies ran the orders to restore stiff discipline. The soldiers came to leash and the big machine shook down. The patrols went out grimly, with a new meaning in their peering, scrutinizing frowns. They found a terrorized country, through which they moved unhampered. “Worcester Occupied” was the early news that went through the United States. “Heavy Cavalry Body Enters Unopposed.” “Motor Raiders at Fitchburg,” was the next report. It was followed by news of raiders east of Worcester. Bit by bit the enemy was cutting Boston and all Eastern New England off from the rest of the United States. East of Providence the advance guard of the army that was threatening Boston reached the line from Attleboro through Bridgewater and Silver Lake to Kingston, thus extending across that part of Massachusetts all the way to Plymouth Bay.[81] Taunton, according to rumors that reached Boston, was being made the point for a heavy concentration of men and rolling stock. Washington received news of an enormous unfolding of cavalry. The reports came from East Brookfield, half way between Worcester and Springfield in southern Massachusetts; from Willimantic in Central Connecticut, and from New London on the Long Island Sound shore in the south. Every road across the whole State north and south was held by horsemen who were pressing steadily westward, converting all means of communication to the army’s use and cutting off the population completely from the outside and even from communicating with each other.[82] 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.