With the exception of a few independent companies of volunteers from New York, the only Provincial troops belong-ing at this time to Sir William Howe's army, consisted of a regiment of Royalists, called the "Queen's American Rangers," raised and commanded by Major Robert Rogers, celebrated for his exploits on the frontiers during the seven years war. He had been promoted to the rank of colonel, and his men were for the most part, natives of Long Island, Connecticut and Westchester. They were fresh recruits, well armed, but not yet in uniform, and were upward of five hundred strong. Rogers had been engaged with Stark, Putnam and Dalzell, in their most daring enterprises against the French on the Canadian frontier; at which time he was at the head of a celebrated corps of rangers who were called by his name. His fame as a partisan officer, enabled him to raise the corps he now commanded, in a few weeks, during the summer and autumn on 1776. Colonel Rogers on the evening of the 20th of October, was ordered to take possession of Mamaroneck and to secure the stores deposited there for the American army. The next morning accordingly, about sunrise, he attacked and drove away some militia companies that guarded the place, and took possession of great quantities of Continental provisions in

Chapter I

BEFORE THE BATTLE OF WHITEPLAINS 21

the mills and houses along Mamaroneck River; consisting principally of rum, molasses, flour and pork. Having ren-dered this service to the Royal cause, he returned to the village and posted his regiment on a smooth field upon Heathcote Hill, in the rear of what is now known as the Delancey House. The station thus selected was memorable in the recollections of the aged. It was the spot which formed part of the ornamental garden, that at the commencement of the eighteenth century, surrounded the fine mansion built by Colonel Caleb Heathcote, Lord of the Manor of Scarsdale, and a member of the Royal Council for the province of New York.