68o HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



Bridge, where they surprised and shot the colored picket guard stationed 

 there. One mile from the entrance of the lane, by a rock on the right 

 hand side of the road, and about a quarter of a mile from Pines Bridge, 

 descending, Green fell off the horse and was laid down to die, 



De Lancey anxious for an opportunity to return the recent attack 

 made upon his quarters by Captain Cushing, instantly fitted out a force 

 of about 150 dragoons, as described by Heath. The route selected by 

 their experienced commander, was the road leading to White Plains, by 

 ■which means the party escaped through the only opening in the long 

 line of sentinels stretched across the country. Near Chappequa, they 

 halted for a short time at the house of Daniel Underbill, and then pro- 

 ceeded by the west road — which is an intersection of the present Sing 

 Sing turnpike — till they arrived at the residence of Mr. Lyon ; here, 

 they anxiously awaited the withdrawal of the American guard at 

 Oblenus's ford, which is nearly one mile west of Pine's Bridge. Up to 

 this moment no one of the party, save their commandei and his guide, 

 knew the object for which they had been detailed. According to Gen- 

 eral Heath's account, the American officers appear to have had no idea 

 that the enemy would dare to cross the ford after sunrise ; and therefore 

 had taken no precautions to prevent it. By this means, Davenport's 

 house was surounded by the enemy, and all possibility of escape cut off 

 before the danger was discovered. De Lancey remained on the south 

 side of the river, probably with a view to cover the retreat of the party, 

 if it should prove necessary. 



To General Heath's account of the surprisal, we must be permitted 

 to add the following extract from Col. H. Lee's history of the Southern 

 war : — 



"In the springof 1781, when General Washington began to expect the promised 

 naval aid from our best friend, the ill-fated Louis XVI. , he occasionally ap- 

 proached the enemy's lines on the side of York island. In one of these move- 

 ments. Col. Green, with a suitable force, was posted on the Crotou River, in 

 advance of the army. On the other side of this river lay a cr>rps of refugees, 

 (American citizens who had joined the British army,) under the command of 

 Col. Delancy. These half citizens, half soldiers, were notorious for rapine and 

 murder: and to their vindictive conduct may be justly ascribed most of the cruel- 

 ties which stained the progress of our war, and which at length compelled Wash- 

 ington to order Captain Asgill, of the British army, to be brought to head-quarters, 

 for the purpose of retaliating, by his execution, for the murder of Capt. Iluddy, 

 of New Jersey, perpetrated by a Capt. Lippencourt, of the refugees. The com- 

 mandant of these refugees, (Delancy was not present.) having ascertained the posi- 

 tion of Greene's corps, which the colonel had cantoned in adjacent farm houses— 

 probably with a view to the procurement of subsistence — took the resolution to 

 strike it. This was accordingly done, by a nocturnal movement, on the 13th of 



