We then visited with Mr. Tracy who informed us, “Not one British man-o’-war has departed Boston Harbor since the report of a very damaging hurricane that struck the North Carolina coast on Sunday, August 27th. According to my sources, the Admiralty in London has instructed Admiral Samuel Graves, commanding the Royal Navy squadron in Boston, not to risk one vessel at sea during hurricane season.”

At this, Capt. Febiger said, “Sir, I would like to have our commanders hear those reports directly from you. When you are feeling well enough, would you come out to our encampment and brief them?”

“Certainly. Let me know when Colonel Arnold and his commanders have arrived and I will gladly do so.”

By the time we arrived back at the bivouac, the 1st Infantry Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Greene, was streaming into their portion of the bivouac area under the direction of 1st Lt. Humphrey. To me, some of the 300 Massachusetts men were looking pretty ragged.

Captain Febiger and I dismounted, wrapped the reins of our borrowed horses around the wheel of one of our Virginia Rifle wagons, and approached Capt. Morgan who was talking to Lieutenant Colonel Greene and his deputy, Major Bigelow. We could hear my commander say, “. . . The sooner we get underway, the better . . .” so we turned away to water our horses from a trough someone constructed for the draft horses.

When the two Militia officers departed to supervise their troops getting settled in, Captain Morgan motioned us over and we debriefed him on what we learned from Captain O’Brien and Mr. Tracy.

1st Lt. Humphrey joined us a few minutes later and advised, “Major Bigelow just told me ‘about’ fifty-seven Militiamen from their battalion were issued passes to visit with their families in this neighborhood. I asked if he had a roster of their names and he said he would ‘try’ to make one.”

Captain Febiger rolled his eyes and said, “That could be a problem. Did he tell them when to be back here?”

“Yes, sir. He told them to be back before we departed.”

Barely covering his frustration, Capt. Morgan said, “Let’s go into town and order some more fresh food. Lieutenant Colonel Greene just informed me Colonel Arnold wants us to purchase enough fresh meat, fish, and vegetables—and eggs—to feed the entire Expeditionary Force on Friday afternoon, September 15th. Let’s go see Mr. Tracy. Hopefully he knows enough Patriot farmers around here who can feed more than a thousand soldiers.”

“Did Colonel Arnold tell Lieutenant Colonel Greene how we are to pay for this?” asked Capt. Febiger.

“Same question I asked,” replied Captain Morgan. “The answer was ‘no.’”

By the end of the day, we had commitments from about a dozen farmers to feed about half our troops. And every farmer had the same question.