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History of Westchester County, New York — Passage 158 (part 8)

Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900) 238 words View original →

[Frederic Shonnard & W.W. Spooner (1900)] Prac-tically all of Westchester County was continually exposed to alternate American and British raids, forages, and ravages, to depre-dations by bands of irresponsible ruffians not regularly attached to either army, and to acts of neighborhood aggression and reprisal by the patriot upon the Tory inhabitants and vice versa. It is a fact that several of the most formidable descents by the British in the history of the Neutral Ground were upon American posts at or above the Croton. A memorable expedition was made against an American force at Poundridge in the summer of 1 T7i>; Bedford was burned upon the same occasion; Crompond, in Yorktown, was successfully THE NEUTRAL GROUND 417 attacked; and in 1781 a large body of Americans guarding the Croton, under the command of the brave but unfortunate Colonel Greene, was surprised and many of them were killed. As late as 1782 Crom-pond, though well above the Croton, was deemed a quite exposed situation. On the other hand, daring assaults by the Americans were frequently undertaken down to the very outposts of Kings-bridge, and no part of the comity witnessed more animated scenes than the present Borough of the Bronx. The command on the lines, as the projection of the American position below Peekskill was called, was uniformly intrusted to officers of approved courage and enter-prise. Here Colonel Aaron Burr was for some months in charge, highly distinguishing himself by his good discipline and efficiency.