Hiram allowed no one to say aught against our leaders in his hearing. He aroused us all by calling this man a coward, and accusing another of showing the white feather, when any grumbling was indulged in, fairly shaming the timorous one into silence by declaring that he who raised his voice in protest against embracing the first opportunity to measure strength with the Britishers, despite the fact that the odds were greatly against us, was an enemy to the Cause. He even went so far as to declare, although he had no knowledge regarding it whatsoever, that heavy reinforcements were already on the way from Cambridge. Just at that time I was giving more heed to the spectacle before me, than to the great disparity in numbers between the Britishers and ourselves. The barges laden with red-coated men, who stood or sat immovable as statues with the sunlight glinting on their accouterments like tiny flashes of lightning, came on steadily. The oarsmen worked with the greatest precision, while the _Lively_ and the _Falcon_ swept with iron hail all that tract of land between Breed's hill and the point. It was a wondrous sight, the landing of those troops at Morton's point. Even though they were enemies, and were come to grind us yet further into the dust, I could not but admire the military exactness with which they disembarked and moved in heavy lines straight up on what we sometimes called Morton's hill, as if the whole force was one gigantic piece of machinery instead of being formed of human atoms. General Howe was in command of the Britishers, as we afterward learned, and he acted as if intending to take matters in the most leisurely way possible, for after all the troops had arrived and ascended the hill, huge tubs containing punch made from spirits, and baskets seemingly filled to repletion with food, were brought ashore from the barges, while we who were thirsty and hungry could look down upon those red-coated men as they were allowed to stretch themselves at ease upon the ground, eating and drinking at their pleasure. The sight was one well calculated to cause us greater desire for food and drink than before, if indeed that could be possible, and for a time I believed General Howe had done this for no other purpose than to tantalize us, thus showing how different was the care taken of those hired men who served the king only for the money to be gotten thereby, and us who were struggling to free our land. Afterward I came to learn that the reason for the long halt on Morton's hill was that the troops had brought with them cannon balls too large to be used in their pieces, and the delay in making an attack was enforced that this mistake might be rectified by sending to Boston for what was needed.