DEAR SIR,
Your letter of the 30th ultimo, asking for some account of the
campaign in which I served, under the command of Colonel Burr, during
the revolutionary war, was received some days ago, and has been
constantly in my mind. I will reply to it with pleasure, but the
compass of a letter will not admit of much detail.
I resided in the lines from the commencement of the revolution until
the winter of the year 1780, when my father's house was burnt, by
order of the British general. The county of Westchester, very soon
after the commencement of hostilities, became, on account of its
exposed situation, a scene of deepest distress. From the Croton to
Kingsbridge, every species of rapine and lawless violence prevailed.
No man went to his bed but under the apprehension of having his house
plundered or burnt, or himself or family massacred, before morning.
Some, under the character of whigs, plundered the tories; while
others, of the latter description, plundered the whigs. Parties of
marauders, assuming either character or none, as suited their
convenience, indiscriminately assailed both whigs and tories. So
little vigilance was used on our part, that emissaries and spies of
the enemy passed and repassed without interruption.
These calamities continued undiminished until the arrival of Colonel
Burr, in the autumn of the year 1778. He took command of the same
troops which his predecessor, Colonel Littlefield, commanded.
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