shington. "An
army without discipline can be little more than a mob. My first step
will be to bring the army under rigid military discipline."

Washington, accompanied by General Lee, took immediate measures to
acquaint himself with the condition of the army, and in an incredibly
short time had it distributed thus: The right wing was stationed on the
heights of Roxbury, under the command of Major-General Ward; the left
wing was stationed on Winter and Prospect Hills, in what is now the
city of Somerville, under command of Major-General Lee; while the
centre, under Major-General Putnam, occupied Cambridge. The army was
thus distributed over a line of some twelve miles in length.

The army was destitute of clothing, ammunition, and nearly everything
for its comfort. The mass of them were dressed as they were clad when
they left their farms and work-shops, a dirty, ragged collection of
armed men, though resolute and brave. Their cry against the king's
troops in Boston was:

"Shut them up! Starve them out! Drive them into their ships, and send
their ships out to sea!"

To add to the disheartening situation, Charlestown lay in ashes, having
been set on fire by the enemy's shells at the battle of Bunker Hill;
there were no well-constructed works throughout the whole line of
fortifications; insubordination was popular among the troops, who called
it _independence_; and still worse, jealousies prevailed among the
troops of different Colonies.

The larger part of the army, nearly ten thousand, belonged to
Massachusetts, and they were in the worst plight of all. Washington made
the following magnanimous apology for them:

"This unhappy and devoted province has been so long in a state of
anarchy, and the yoke has been laid so heavily on it, that great
allowances are to be made for troops raised under such circumstances.
The deficiency of members, discipline, and stores can only lead to this
conclusion: _that their spirit has exceeded their strength_."

A British officer wrote home:

"The rebel army are in so wretched a condition as to clothing and
accoutrements, that I believe no nation ever saw such a set of
tatterdemalions. There are few coats among them but what are out at
elbows, and in a whole regiment there is scarce a whole pair of
breeches."

Nevertheless, the material for an army in such a crisis was good. The
famous General Nathaniel Greene of Rhode Island organized three
regiments in that province after the