The history of the town of Dorchester, Massachusetts, By a committee of the Dorchester antiquarian and historical society ...

HISTORY OF DORCHESTER. 349
cognized, the officers thought it best not to put him
on the main guard again. I think there was another
prisoner who lost his life at Cambridge by disobeying orders."
The same individual also relates the following, of
another Dorchester man:-" One of the company
which I belonged to would frequently, after his duties of the day were done, set out at night to visit
his family, and return so as to be on hand between
daylight and sunrise the next morning to answer to
his name-being obliged to walk, in going and coming, more than 16 miles." He likewise speaks of
being on duty at Noddle's Island-now known as
East Boston, and containing 16,000 inhabitantswhere he says there were " only two dwelling-houses
and two families-the inhabitants I think no more
than twelve."
June 22, 1780, a law was passed, to immediately
raise 4726 men; and that if any man was drafted
who was not of sufficient ability to serve in person,
or who did not pass muster, he was to hire some
able-bodied man to take his place, or pay a fine of
$150 in twenty-four hours.
There were frequent attempts made to keep up
the value of the Continental currency, and the
agreement of 1779 was of service for a while; but
none of them served to prevent its depreciation.
In March, 1780, the town voted to raise the sum
of ~6,000; and June 22d, of the same year, it was
voted to levy a tax of ~40,000 to hire soldiers. And
again, Dec. 26th, of the same year, the town voted
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