The British warship " Vulture " an- chored above Teller's ( now Croton ) Point , in plain view of this little hamlet . While the warship awaited Andre's arrival from New York ( he had come to Dobbs Ferry by horse and was being rowed up the Hudson to the ship ) , a barge load of sailors from the Vulture rowed over to the Croton shore to reconnoitre , to as- certain whether it was in the hands of the Whigs or the Tories . On chat eventful September day in 1780 , two Croton men Moses Sher- wood and John Peterson ( the lat- ter a colored man who had served in General Van Cortlandt's West- chester militia were making cider on the land now known as Orchard Hill situated about where the Ed- ward Howard Griggs residence stands . Although the Croton countryside was not occupied by troops , it was , like the rest of Westchester , troubled by the pests that kept farmers awake nights and demanded cau- tion all day long - those marauding bands of men , the " Cowboys " and the " Skinners . " Prepared for them , Moses Sherwood and John Peterson had their muskets leaning against the nearest apple tree . As they worked , they espied the British war- ship's boat being rowed toward the Croton shore . All day long the Cro- * Croton Journal , August 31 , 1906 ton neighbors had discussed the strange ship at anchor above Tel- ler's Point , knowing that it was a ship of His Majesty's Navy . Moses and John dropped their cider making , grabbed their muskets and powder horns , and ran down into the tangled growth among the trees which lined Croton's shore .