carried a pick and shovel, and all night they worked vigorously in
intrenching the position. Not a word was spoken, and the watch on
board the men-of-war in the harbor were ignorant of what was going on
so near at hand. At daybreak the alarm was given, and the _Lively_
opened a cannonade upon the redoubt. A battery of guns was placed on
Copp's Hill, behind Boston, distant twelve hundred yards from the
works, and this, also, opened fire. The Americans continued their
work, throwing up fresh intrenchments; and, singularly, only one man
was killed by the fire from the ships and redoubt. A breastwork was
carried down the hill to the flat ground which, intersected by
fences, stretched away to the Mystic. By nine o'clock they had
completed their intrenchments.

Prescott sent off for re-enforcements, but there was little harmony
among the colonial troops. Disputes between the contingents of the
various provinces were common; there was no head of sufficient
authority to enforce his orders upon the whole; and a long delay took
place before the re-enforcements were sent forward.

In the meantime the English had been preparing to attack the
position. The Fifth, Thirty-eighth, Forty-third, and Fifty-second
regiments, with ten companies of the grenadiers and ten of the light
infantry, with a proportion of field artillery, embarked in boats,
and, crossing the harbor, landed on the outward side of the
peninsula, near the Mystic, with a view of outflanking the American
position and surrounding them. The force was under the command of
Major General Howe, under whom was Brigadier General Piggott.

Upon seeing the strength of the American position, General Howe
halted, and sent back for further re-enforcements. The Americans