halted for
a clear definition of the impending duty. Major Brooks, of Colonel
Dodge's regiment, joined here, as well as a company of artillery.
Captain Nutting, with a detachment of Connecticut men, was promptly
sent, by the quickest route, to patrol Charlestown, at the summit of
Bunker Hill. Captain Maxwell's company, of Prescott's regiment, was next
detailed to patrol the shore in silence and keenly note any activity on
board the British men-of-war.

The six vessels lying in the stream were the Somerset, sixty-eight,
Captain Edward Le Cross; Cerberus, thirty-six, Captain Chads; Glasgow,
thirty-four, Captain William Maltby; Lively, twenty, Captain Thomas
Bishop; Falcon, twenty, Captain Linzee, and the Symmetry, transport,
with eighteen guns.

While one thousand men worked upon the redoubt which had been located
under counsel of Gridley, Prescott, Knowlton, and other officers, the
dull thud of the pickaxe and the grating of shovels were the only sounds
that disturbed the pervading silence, except as the sentries' "All's
well!" from Copp's Hill and from the warships, relieved anxiety and
stimulated work. Prescott and Putnam alike, and more than once, visited
the beach, to be assured that the seeming security was real; and at
daybreak the redoubt, nearly eight rods square and six feet high, was
nearly complete.

Scarcely had objects become distinct, when the battery on Copp's Hill
and the guns of the Lively opened fire, and startled the garrison of
Boston from sleep, to a certainty that the Colonists had taken the
offensive.

General Putnam reached headquarters at a very early hour, and secured
the detail of a portion of Colonel Stark's regiment, to reinforce the
first detail which had already occupied the Hill.

At nine o'clock, a council of war was held at Breed's Hill. Major John
Brooks was sent to ask for more men and more rations. Richard Devens, of
the Committee of Safety, then in session, was influential in persuading
General Ward to furnish prompt reinforcements. By eleven o'clock, the
whole of Stark's and Reed's New Hampshire regiments were on their march,
and in time to meet the first shock of battle. Portions of other
regiments hastened to the aid of those already waiting for the fight to
begin.

The details of men were not exactly defined, in all cases, when the
urgent call for reinforcements reached headquarters. Little's regiment
of Essex men; Brewer's, of Worcester and Middlesex, with their
Lieuten