J 2 HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. 



Miller's but, fearful of a surprise, he moved up further into a neighboring 

 wood He afterwards found that the refugees, when they entered Bed- 

 ford made directly for his house to take him prisoner, so well were they 

 informed of his whereabouts. The British party were mostly refugees 

 and commanded by Col. James Holmes who belonged to Bedford and 

 was formerly an officer in the American service, but thinking himself ill- 

 used in not being promoted, when others, less deserving than he, were, 

 had gone over to the British and received the commission of Lieutenant 

 Colonel. All the houses in Bedford were burnt except one or two, be- 

 longing to persons friendly to the royal cause. Holmes, after the war, 

 returned here. Stephen Ambler on this occasion was too late in escap- 

 ing from the enemy ; trusting too much to the fleetness of his horse, he 

 was overtaken and killed. 



Oct. 31st, 1S46, Jonathan Mills of Bedford aged eighty-three says, that 

 on the day Pound Ridge was taken, " I was out driving cattle for my 

 father and neighbors, to a place of safety but unfortunately I conducted 

 them right into the hands of the enemy whom I met on my return ; they 

 took all the cattle, but after driving them for some distance let them go, 

 so that we obtained them again. CoL Holmes, I think, commanded the 

 party who burned Bedford, and directed his own house to be fired first — 

 well knowing that he would be paid for it. There were one or two com- 

 panies of militia posted to guard the roads east of the village ; a portion 

 of the refugees attempted to reach Middle Patent for the purpose of 

 burning the houses of some Whigs there who were obnoxious to the 

 enemy, but when they came to Mahanus River about half a mile from 

 the village on the Middle Patent road they found the bridges destroyed 

 and the streams too deep and muddy to cross." Oct. 29th, 1S46, Silas 

 Sutherland of Middle Patent testifies that when Bedford was burnt they 

 fired on their retreat the following houses : Israel Lyons', John Ferris', 

 Peter Lyons', Andrew Sniffins', and a house occupied by Ichabod Ogden 

 where the militia had quarters, and which was afterwards owned and 

 occupied as a tavern by John Smith. 



Nov. 2d, 1846, Mrs. Patty Holmes, aged ninety-four, says: "We 

 were kept in constant state of alarm in Bedford during the Revolution- 

 ary war. Frequent reports were abroad that the Refugees were at the 

 village ; when Pound Ridge was burnt, news arrived that the enemy 

 was coming. An old man named Andrew Miller took his gun to bed 

 with him ; the same night the refugees arrived and carried him off, gun 

 and all, to New York — where for sometime he was kept in the sugar- 

 house, till finally his daughters went down and procured his discharge. 

 When the enemy returned from Pound Ridge they burned the house 



