noon
General Patterson , one of the major-generals of militia in the county , and an officer of revolutionary service , assumed command of the battalion , and promptly gave it something to do . Far from appearing daunted by the presence of so large a body of militia in Stockbridge , Hubbard 's force at the ironworks had increased to two hundred men who boldly threatened to come down and clean out Patterson 's `` Tories , '' a feat to which , if joined by some of the smaller insurgent bands in the neighborhood , they might ere long be equal . For this Patterson wisely decided not to wait . And so at noon of one of the first days of February , about three hundred of the government troops , with half a dozen rounds of cartridges per man , set out to attack Hubbard 's camp . There had been tearful farewells in the gentlemen 's households that morning . Most had sent forth father and sons together to the fray and some families there were which had three generations in the ranks . For this was the gentlemen 's war .