November, 1776, to September, 1783 165 



and fell, throwing his rider a prisoner into the hands of the 

 enemy. The American party consisted of twenty-four; two 

 were killed and one taken prisoner; the rest escaped. 



On October twenty-seventh, Simcoe, while on a raid near 

 South Amboy, New Jersey, was taken prisoner. "By the 

 capture of Simcoe," says Heath, "the inhabitants were freed 

 of a very enterprising and troublesome officer." He was later 

 exchanged, and at once resumed the making of trouble. His 

 career was continued in the South and he was with Cornwallis 

 at the time of the surrender of Yorktown; but he and his 

 rangers, whom the patriots particularly desired to capture, 

 escaped through a technicality in the terms of capitulation, of 

 which Lord Cornwallis naturally took advantage. 



On the seventh of November, Colonel De Armond proceeded 

 by way of Tarrytown to the vicinity of Morrisania and sur- 

 prised the house of Alderman William Leggett at Jeffeard's 

 Neck (Leggett's, or Oak, Point), where he captured Major 

 Baremore and five others. The expedition was carried out 

 with secrecy, precaution, and despatch, and the capture of 

 Baremore relieved the inhabitants from the frequent excur- 

 sions of a troublesome raider. The house in which he was 

 captured had been formerly the Graham mansion; but upon 

 the occupation of this section by the British the family had 

 been dispossessed to make room for the British officers. The 

 last occupant of the house was a British colonel named Fowler, 

 who, upon being detached from duty in this vicinity, invited 

 his neighboring friends and acquaintances to a farewell dinner. 

 The party had just sat down at the tables, when the house was 

 reported to be on fire. The Colonel thereupon ordered the 

 tables, chairs, and viands to be removed to the lawn, where the 

 dinner was continued under the trees, while the house burned 

 down without any efforts being made to save it from destruc- 



