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On the twenty-eighth day of April the whole army in New York amounted to ten thousand two hundred and thirty-five men, of whom eight thousand three hundred and three were present and fit for duty. Washington’s Orderly Book, of this period, rebukes certain disorderly conduct of the soldiers in these memorable words: “Men are not to carve out remedies for themselves. If they are injured in any respect, there are legal ways to obtain relief, and just complaints will always be attended to and redressed.”

At this time, Rhode Island called for protection of her threatened ports, and two regiments of her militia were taken into Continental Pay. Washington was also advised that Great Britain had contracted with various European States for military contingents; that the sentiment in Canada had changed to antipathy, and that continual disaster attended all operations in that department. On the twenty-fourth he wrote to Schuyler: “We expect a very bloody summer at Canada and New York; as it is there, I presume, that the great efforts of the enemy will be aimed; and I am very sorry to say that we are not, in men and arms, prepared for it.”