George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 7, 4th edition.

[406] inclined to await the solution of events from the nego-

Chap. XXXVIII.} 1775. June.

tiations of the continental congress. It was sometimes even suggested that the Americans could never hold Cambridge, and that they had better go back and fortify on the heights of Brookline. ‘We must hold Cambridge,’ was Putnam's constant reply, and herepeatedly but vainly asked leave to advance the lines to Prospect Hill. Yet the army never doubted its ability to avenge the public wrongs; and danger and war were becoming attractive.

The British forces gave signs of shame at their confinement and inactivity. ‘Bloody work’ was expected, and it was rumored that they were determined, as far as they could, to lay the country waste with fire and sword. The secretary of state frequently assured the French minister at London, that they would now take the field, and that the Americans would soon tire of the strife. The king of England, who had counted the days necessary for the voyage of the transports, was ‘trusting soon to hear that Gage had dispersed the rebels, destroyed their works, opened a communication with the country,’ and imprisoned the leading patriots of the colony.

The peninsula of Boston, at that time connected with the main land by a very low and narrow isthmus, had at its south a promontory then known as Dorchester Neck, with three hills, commanding the town. At the north lay the peninsula of Charlestown, in length not much exceeding a mile; in width, a little more than a half mile, but gradually diminishing towards the causeway, which kept asunder the Mystic and the Charles, where each of those rivers