About eleven o'clock
And there were some foolish and impatient folk in Congress , so I heard , who cried out at our delay ; and one more sinister jackass , who had said that our army would never move until a few generals had been court-martialed and shot . And our Major Parr said that he wished to God we had the Congress with us so that for once they might have their bellyful of stratagem and parched corn . But it is ever so with those home-loving and unsurpassed butcher-generals , baker-brigadiers , candlestick-colonels , who , yawning in bed , win for us victories while we are merely planning them -- and , rolling over , go to sleep with a consciousness of work well done , the candle snuffed , and the cat locked out for the night . About eleven o'clock on the first night out , I halted my scout of six and lay so , fireless , until sun-up . We were not far , then , from the head of the lake ; and when we marched at dawn next morning we encountered a company of Alden 's men mending roads as usual ; and later came upon an entire Continental regiment and a company of Irregular Rifles , who were marching down to the lake to try out their guns . Long after we quitted them we heard their heavy firing , and could distinguish between the loud and solid `` Bang ! '' of the muskets and the sharper , whip-lash crack of the long rifles .