CHAPTER XII 

 THE "NEUTRAL GROUND" 



The Indian Cave — Leggett and His Stolen Mare — The Westchester Guides — 

 Barretto's Point — A Wooden Armchair That Came over with the Pilgrim 

 Fathers. 



HE most powerful of the tribes of aborigines which 

 inhabited The Bronx were the Weckquaesgeeks. Relics 

 of their settlements are still to be found along the 

 shores of the Bronx and the East Rivers. Of these 

 prehistoric relics, perhaps the most interesting is the 

 "Indian cave," which is located a short distance east of the Hunt 

 burying ground and about three hundred yards north of the bridge 

 crossing the creek. This is said to have been the favorite haunt of 

 the redmen, and it is there that many treaties were made with 

 the whites. Close by are the remains of hastily thrown up earth- 

 works of Lord Howe's Army. 



During the dark days of the Revolution, the little settlements 

 along the East River endured many hardships and privations. With 

 the retreat of the American army in November, 1776, Westchester 

 County was overrun with British refugees, known as "Cowboys," 

 who committed all sorts of depredations and raids upon the de- 

 fenseless farmers. Equally rapacious were the American ma- 

 rauders, called "Skinners," who made frequent raids upon the 

 loyalist inhabitants of the county. These bands of cowboys and 

 of skinners carried on their plundering expeditions into the so- 

 called "Neutral Ground" — a strip of land between the American 

 outposts under the command of General Heath and those of the. 

 British under Lieutenant-Colonel James De Lancey. 



An interesting story is told about Thomas Leggett, whose 

 ancestors had been resident proprietors of the "Planting Neck" 

 section. 



Thomas Leggett was the oldest son of Gabriel Leggett, 2nd. 

 He strongly resented the invasion of the British. He organized a 

 vigilance committee of Home Guards, as they were called among 



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