Note 117 — Chapter VIII · The Siege of Boston.
Reading edition
To while away weary hours the spirit of gambling was prevailing ruinously in the camp. Clouds of gloom were settling down over the public mind. Washington, who felt most deeply the need of Divine favor, by an order of the day, issued on the 26th of February, forbade these demoralizing practices. He wrote:
“At this time of public distress, men may find enough to do in the service of God and their country, without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.”
Six days after the issue of this order, Washington’s batteries were planted triumphantly on Dorchester Heights.—Irving’s Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 220.