American Associators under Timothy Ruggles, the
Loyal Irish Volunteers under James Forrest, and the Royal Fencible
Americans under Colonel Graham.[133] According to Samuel Paine, there
was a fourth corps, but it is not named. A commission in one of these
organizations was particularly attractive, as the service was expected
to be short, and at its expiration the officers were to go upon half
pay. Further, the duties were very light, being confined to drilling and
patrolling the town. In the military events of the siege these corps
took no part whatever.

It must be remembered, however, that out of this situation England did
gain some valuable soldiers. The mettle of a few of the Tories was shown
at Bunker Hill, where they went as individual volunteers, and served
with the troops. Others, disdaining the toy-soldiering of their
friends, seized the chance to join the regular army, and fought in it
throughout the war, or until their deaths. Such men were John Coffin,
Leverett Saltonstall, and the two Thomas Gilberts.

Yet men of this quality were few, and at least at this stage of the war
the Tories were of little service to their king. Most of them were
content to wait until the time when the regulars should scatter the
besiegers and conduct the loyalists to their homes. Meanwhile they
enjoyed the society into which they were thrown. "We have here," wrote
Samuel Paine, "Earls, Lords, and Baronets, I assure you Names that Sound
grand." These names did bring to the Tories a fair amount of social
gayety. Mrs. Gage was at the head of her own little circle, not always
enjoyed by those who could not forget her American birth. There were
other groups of ladies who, whether English or Tory, contrived to make
the time pass pleasantly for themselves and for the men. With few
responsibilities, and with confidence in the future, the loyalists had a
pleasant enough summer, and saw ahead of them a comfortable winter.

The situation of the Whigs was not so enjoyable. Before Bunker Hill,
every one of them who could leave Boston had done so. But there were
many of them left, and among them were a number of the more respectable
and prominent of the Whigs. None of them wrote letters, and few indeed
kept diaries; there is, therefore, a notable lack of information
concerning their doings. We do know, however, that they were at a great
disadvantage as against their Tory acquaintances. No privileges of the
commissary were theirs, and no favors