four o'clock
Given an excited crowd , all expecting something to be done which they desire to have done , and all the necessary elements of mob action are present . The next morning by six o'clock , a large number of persons had gathered on the green at Stockbridge , in consequence of an understanding that those intending to witness the goings on at Barrington , should rendezvous at the tavern , and go down together , whereby their own hearts would be made stronger , and their enemies the more impressed . A good many had , indeed , gone on ahead , singly , or in parties . Meshech Little , who lived on the Barrington road , said that he had n't had a wink of sleep since four o'clock , for the noise of passing teams and pedestrians . Those who owned horses and carts , including such men as Israel Goodrich and Ezra Phelps , had preferred that mode of locomotion , but there were , nevertheless , as many as one hundred men and boys in the muster on the green . Perhaps a quarter of them had muskets , the others carried stout cudgels . All sorts of rumors were flying about .