From Diary of the American Revolution, Vol I. Compiled by Frank Moore and published in 1859.
June 23. –One of the surgeons attending the military hospital at Boston, has written home, that the provincials in the late engagement, “had either exhausted their ball, or were determined that every wound should prove fatal. Their muskets were charged with old nails and angular pieces of iron, and from most of the men being wounded in the legs, I am inclined to believe it was their design, not wishing to kill the men, to leave them as burdens on us, to exhaust the provisions, as well as to intimidate the rest of the soldiery.” 1
1 Upcott, iv. 313.