d by the
visits of "pretended suttlers"[125] who sold bad rum. To check
drunkenness he licensed the sutlers and limited their activities, and
for general discipline he worked steadily to show officers and men alike
what was expected of them. And all the time he diligently tried to
purchase weapons, though with so little success that at last he even
took up the question of implements more primitive than muskets. There
was in camp a company of Stockbridge Indians, who were so successful as
to waylay a British sentry or two and kill them with arrows. Franklin,
perhaps taking the hint from this, wrote to prove that the long-bow
might be revived, but Washington would have none of it. Pikes, however,
whose use in European warfare was fairly recent, he would consider. A
number were ordered, and after them a second set of stronger make, the
first being "ridiculously short and light."[126]

In October came to light the treason of Dr. Benjamin Church. As already
shown, he had for some time before the 19th of April been in
communication with Gage. On the 22d, when he went into Boston with the
knowledge of the Committee of Safety, he doubtless saw the general in
person. An occurrence now showed that he was writing to the British
commander, though his agency was not at first suspected. From Newport
came a letter, brought by an American patriot to whom it had been given
by a woman from Cambridge, who had requested to have it delivered to
some officer of the British vessel stationed in the harbor. The American
kept the letter, and, suspecting its purport, opened it. It was in
cipher. This in itself was suspicious, and the letter was brought to
Washington, who caused the woman to be arrested and questioned. At first
she was obstinate, but finally she named Church as the writer of the
letter. He in his turn was put under guard, but had had time to destroy
any papers that might betray him. The letter when deciphered proved to
give little information besides the numbers of the American forces. From
first to last Church had been of little value to Gage.

But the army and country, as Washington wrote, were "exceedingly
irritated." Church was a man of pleasing address and ready language, and
had stood high in Boston for years. He had written Whig pamphlets, had
been an orator on the Massacre, and had served on many committees,
notably the Committee of Safety. In consequence he had been given the
highest office that a physician could look fo