Souvenir of the Revolutionary Soldiers' Monument Dedication at Tarrytown
" I hereby certify that John Dean has taken the Oath of AUegience prescrib'd by a Resolve of the Convention of the State of New York. Dec'r 27, 1776.
Gilbert Dean, Capt."
Thus it will be perceived he was foremost among the patriots of Westcli ester. Within a mouth after the battle of Cbatterton Hill, or White Plains, as it is usually entitled, he enlisted in Capt. Dean's Company, of which there is evidence in a small scrap of paper, curious enough as a relic of the past, dated the same month, and in Mr. Dean's own handwriting, entitled, " A Morning Report of Capt. Dean's Company, in Col. Drake's Regiment," showing the number of officers and
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES.
men present fit for duty ; 1 captain, 2 lieutenants, 3 sergeants, 3 corporals, 25 privates, in all 34 ; on guard, 1 lieutenant, 1 sergeant, 4 privates ; relief of guard, 1 corporal, 1 private ; on command, 1 captain, 4 privates ; sick present, S privates ; sick in hospital, 1 corporal and 3 privates ; sick absent, 4 ; deserters , 7 -- in all 70 -- Rangers.
I11 this service he continued for two years, acting as a volunteer guide in many enterprises undertaken to surprise the enemy, who were securely established at Morrisania, and from whence the Refugees under their protection were making continual inroads and depredations upon whig families, whose fathers and sons were engaged in the defence of the country. Sergt. Dean used to relate an account of the attack upon the statue at the Bowling Green, New York, when the people cut off the head, cast it into a wheelbarrow, and after wheeling it about the city, devoted it to be cast into musket balls, in which shape they intended to return it to the enemy, then on Dong Island, ts:e.