me time directed General Greene to report "all
extraordinaries" to the commander-in-chief; the officers at Red Hook
and Governor's Island to do the same; and the officer commanding the
riflemen on Long Island to "constantly report all extraordinaries to
General Greene." Although no enemy had yet appeared, every regiment in
the army was ordered to mount a picket every evening, to lie on their
arms, and be ready to turn out at a moment's notice.

It is possible to follow the troops on Long Island in their routine of
camp life all through the tedious summer they were to spend on this
ground. Digging was the main thing at first, and they had so much of
this that the officers complained of their inability to keep the men
in clothes, they wore them out so fast, and they made themselves so
begrimed with dirt at the trenches, that the allowance of soap would
not clean them; all which moved Greene to write to Washington that it
would be no more than "a piece of justice to the troops" to allow them
a double quantity of soap. Their encampment, in the rear of the lines,
appears to have been a pleasant one. The soldiers lived in bell-shaped
tents with board floors, and varied their regulation fare with the
produce of the Dutch farms; with the permission of their
field-officers they could occasionally cross on a visit to the city.
Their general, however, held them closely to duty, and we find in
these early orders the beginnings of that strictness which
subsequently made him known, with his other soldierly qualities, as a
thorough disciplinarian. No enemy being near them, the men, when put
on guard, perhaps relaxed even ordinary vigilance; but they were soon
brought up sharply by the general, with the direction that every part
of camp duty must be done with as much exactness as if the British
were in their front, for bad habits once contracted, they are told,
"are difficult to get over, and doing duty in a slovenly manner is
both disgraceful and dangerous to officers and men." They were sure of
being watched, too, by Lieutenant-Colonel Cornell, of Hitchcock's
regiment, whose habit of reprimanding the men for every neglect had
won for him the title of "Old Snarl" throughout the camp;[50] but his
subsequent promotion to offices of responsibility showed that in other
quarters his particular qualities were appreciated. As the warm
season came on, Greene cautioned his soldiers about their health. The
"colormen" were to keep the camps clea