nearly thirty miles from north to south, and embracing Westchester county, was populous and highly cultivated. A person living within that space, who took the oath of fidelity, was sure to be plundered by the Cmv-boys; and if he did not take it, the Skinners would come down upon him, call him a tory, and seize his property as confiscated by the State. Thus the execution of the laws was assumed by robbers, and the innocent and guilty were involved in a common ruin.

"It is true the civil authority endeavored to guard against these outrages, so far as it could, by legislative enactments and executive proclamations ; but, from the nature of the case, this formidable conspiracy against the rights and claims of humanity could be crushed only by a military arm. The detachments of Continental troops and militia, stationed near the lines, did something to lessen the evil, yet they were not adequate to its suppression, and frequently this force was so feeble as not to afford any barrier to the inroads of the banditti.

" The Skinners and Cow-boys often leagued together. The former would sell their plunder to the latter, taking in exchange contraband articles brought from New York. It was not uncommon for the farce of a skirmish to be acted near the American lines, in which the Skinners never failed to come off victorious; and then they would go boldly to the interior with their booty, pretending it had been captured from the enemy while attempting to smuggle it across the lines.