the Boston batteries, did no good whatever. But
placed in the Mystic in the proper position, they could have raked the
rail fence. "Had these boats been with us," says our lieutenant, " ...
they would have taken a part of the Rebels entrenchment in flank, and in
their retreat wou'd have cut off numbers." But Howe was only a soldier,
such an aid apparently never occurred to him, and the floating
batteries--gondolas, as they were called--remained on the southern side
of the peninsula. He ordered the attack.

The attack was triple, but the artillery fire, on which Howe had
counted, was at first valueless, because for the six-pounders had been
sent over mostly nine-pound shot, thanks to the chief of artillery, who
was afterward supposed to be making love to the schoolmaster's daughter.
The cannon, further, got into the marshy ground, and could not find an
effective position. So the real assault was first delivered by the
troops alone, one detachment marching against the redoubt, and one
against the rail fence.

The troops moved with great confidence. According to the habit of the
time, they were completely equipped as for an expedition, with blankets
and three-days' rations. It has been computed that each soldier carried
about a hundred and twenty pounds.[97] They were, therefore, greatly
burdened at best; and on so hot a day, with the grass to their knees,
and many fences to cross, their task was the worse. But they advanced
with great composure, and apparently forgetting the 19th of April they
were deployed in open order, as if to present each marksman with a
separate target. Howe led those who marched at the rail fence, and
General Pigot led the assault upon the redoubt. Both bodies of the
regulars advanced with occasional ineffective volleys.

At first, says tradition, a few Americans fired when the troops came in
range, but Prescott and his officers, leaping upon the parapet of the
redoubt, kicked up the muzzles of the guns. If the men would but obey
him, Prescott told them, not a British soldier would get within the
redoubt. At the rail fence the men were likewise prevented from firing,
Putnam threatening to cut down any who disobeyed. They were ordered not
to shoot until the regulars passed a stake which Stark set up for a
mark. Many familiar sayings were passed among the provincials: "Wait
till you see the whites of their eyes! Aim at the crossing of the belts!
Pick out the handsome coats!"

As if to add to the