ross the Neck. By two, Howe had his troops landed and surveyed situation and determined that he needed more men. He sent a boat back across to Boston requesting reinforcements. The artillery battery that had been brought over by boat was now deployed on the forward slope of Breed's Hill and opened fire at 3 pm. By now two recently appointed American generals had arrived on the scene: Dr. Joseph Warren and General Seth Pomeroy. Neither wished for command and asked but to be directed to where the fighting was expected to be the hottest. They went to the redoubt and greatly cheered the now weary and thirsty defenders. By three, Howe's reinforcements had arrived and he formed the men on line in three ranks. In the meantime, Stark and the New Hampshire troops and some other units had arrived and using a stone fence and placing hay between an existing fence and hastily assembled wood fence extended the breastworks from the redoubt left to the water. As the British advanced, the Americans determined not to fire until the British were close. Stark had placed a stake in the ground 30 yards in front of his fence and urged his men to wait until the enemy passed the stake before firing. In the redoubt, Prescott is said to have instructed his men not to shoot until they saw the whites of their eyes. On Bunker's Hill a strange collection of men gathered. Some who had straggled in from the neck and others who had given themselves leave from the ensuing fight. General Isaac Putnam tried sorely to roust the men either to commence work on the Bunker Hill defenses or to go in support of Prescott and Stark. All his efforts, even threatening at sword point, were of no avail. The only regimental commander who was with him was Col. Samuel Gerrish, who depending on accounts was either trying to help Putnam or hiding himself. Generally considered a coward, Gerrish managed to elude scandal until a skirmish several weeks after Bunker's Hill showed his true colors...
