1. For a discussion of the steps taken by the Massachusetts provincial congress to call out part of the colony’s militia as a temporary reinforcement for the Continental army, see GW to James Warren, 10 July 1775, n.2. At 9:00 p.m. on 12 July 1775, Joseph Reed wrote to James Warren: “By some late intelligence from Boston received this day of the State and Situation of the Enemy in and about Boston His Excellency the Genl is of opinion that the Reinforcement of the Militia proposed to the Congress, may [be] dispensed with at present, without any Injury to the Public Service; The Time of Harvest, the expected Troops from the Southward and the repeated Calls, which have been made of the like Nature from this Province, are strong Reasons to postpone this Measure if consistent with Safety; and as these Advices are so authentic as to deserve Confidence, the General hopes his determination will be agreeable to the Congress. You will therefore be pleased to Communicate this to them, in order, that the most early Countermand may be given to Orders if already Issued, or prevent them if they have not” (Varick transcript, DLC:GW).

2. For the sending of Massachusetts officers on recruiting service, see General Orders, 10 July 1775.

3. The unsigned enclosure, which is dated “Roxbury July 11th 1775,” gives ninety-two as the number of British officers who were killed or wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill although only ninety names are listed. Some general intelligence from behind the enemy lines is also included in the enclosure: “A Gentleman who got out of Boston Monday July 10th says that the Inhabitants were numbered & amounted to 6573 The Soldiers—women & Children, to 13600–300 Tories are chosen to Patrole the Streets, 49 of a night—Very Sickley from 10 to 30 funerals in a day, & no Bells allow’d to Toll, Master [James] Lovell taken up & put in Goal, which being in consequence of Some Letters found in Doctr [Joseph] Warren’s pockets; & Master [John] Leach also, Released out of Goal, 4, Mr [Shrimpton] Hunt saying that he wish’d the Americans might kill them all, was confin’d in Goal—11 dead of the wounded prisoners at Charlestown. Collo. [Moses] Parker dead, he having declard at his last hour, if he got well he would do the same, The Officers saying Damn the Rebells that they wou’d not flinch—A Great number of floating batteries are building & 5 Transports & 3 Sloops are Sail’d for Hay & Wood to the Eastward. This Gentleman also says that the Officers & Soldiers Triumph Very much at the Death of Doctr Warren saying it is Better to them than five hundred men” (DNA:PCC, item 152).

4. For the removal of livestock in the area around Chelsea, see General Orders, 13 and 15 July 1775.

5. Long Island in Boston Harbor was a source of much-needed livestock and hay for the British garrison at Boston. On Tuesday evening, 11 July, Maj. Benjamin Tupper led about four hundred volunteers in a raid on the island to seize the livestock and any Loyalists that they might find. Setting off in whaleboats from Germantown on Hough’s Neck a short distance east of Braintree, the raiding party avoided the British warships in the harbor and landed on Long Island about ten o’clock in the evening. In a house and barn on the island, they found fifteen men and two or three women, who had been sent there to mow hay by Nathaniel Ray Thomas (1731–1787), a Loyalist from Marshfield who had fled to Boston after the Battle of Concord. They made prisoners of the mowers and took them to Dorchester in the whaleboats along with the captured livestock. “Our Heroes came of in triumph not being observed by their Enimies,” Abigail Adams wrote to John Adams on 16 July 1775. “This spiritted up other[s]. They could not endure the thought that the House and barn should afford them [the enemy] any shelter. They did not distroy them the night before for fear of being discoverd” (Butterfield, Adams Family Correspondence description begins Lyman H. Butterfield et al., eds. Adams Family Correspondence. 13 vols. to date. Cambridge, Mass., 1963–. description ends , 1:245–51). In a daring daylight raid on the morning of 12 July, a second American party, which consisted of 136 men commanded by Lt. Col. John Greaton, set out in ten whaleboats from Moon Island, located between Long Island and Squantum Point, to burn not only the buildings on Long Island but also the approximately seventy tons of hay that was stored there in bundles awaiting shipment to Boston. The American raiders succeeded in crossing the half-mile strait between the two islands and in setting fire to the buildings and hay but not without being detected by British warships. “A number of armed cutters immediately Surrounded the Island, [and] fired upon our Men,” Abigail Adams reported to her husband. “They came of with a hot and continued fire upon them, the Bullets flying in every direction and the Men of Wars boats plying them with small arms. Many in this Town [Braintree] who were spectators expected every moment our Men would all be sacrificed, for sometimes they were so near as to be calld to and damnd by their Enimies and orderd to surrender yet they all returnd in safty” (ibid.). See also Richard Cranch to John Adams, 24 July 1775, ibid., 258–60. The one soldier who was killed was hit by enemy fire on Moon Island while covering the retreat of the others.

6. “Last night a party undertook to capture the enemy’s sentries, but did not succeed,” Samuel Bixby wrote at Roxbury on this date. “The party was discovered, & fired upon, & a smart skirmish took place. We lost one man belonging to the Connecticut forces” (“Bixby Diary,” description begins “Diary of Samuel Bixby.” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society 14 (1875–76): 285–98. description ends 290). Maj. Gen. William Heath, who was also at Roxbury, noted: “The British fired several cannon, and a Connecticut soldier was killed in the street, near the George tavern. The shot entered his body, drove it some distance, and lodged in him in a remarkable manner” (Wilson, Heath’s Memoirs description begins Rufus Rockwell Wilson, ed. Heath’s Memoirs of the American War. 1798. Reprint. New York, 1904. description ends , 33).