The McDonald Papers, Part II, Chapter 2: Marquis de la Rouerie (Col. Armand)
Of his privates the greater portion at this time were French or French Canadians, and the rest consisted of Brunswickers who had belonged to the convention troops of Saratoga, together with other continental Europeans picked up at different places by his recruiting agents. In the latter part of the summer of '78, the legionary force thus formed consisted of about fifty horse and one hundred infantry. Constant practice (under the eyes of zealous and experienced officers) in field exercise and the use of arms, had rendered it very efficient, and it was now to stand opposed to the best partisan troops of the enemy. When the American
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army was about to retire from White Plains toward the close of the campaign, it was foreseen that the whig farmers in the upper towns of Westchester would be liable to suffer much from the incursions of the British irregulars; and to protect the patriotic inhabitants, Armand was ordered to cross the Hudson and take post on the lines of the neutral ground.-- The soldiers of the legion were well clothed and armed, the cavaliers well mounted, and in the month of September, the whole, in high spirits, followed their chivalrous leader to the field, where they remained at different out-posts, along the lines, until the ensuing winter. Armand's first position was at Bedford-new-Purchase, in the vicinity of North Castle Church. Afterward he was stationed along the high grounds east of Sing-Sing and Tarrytown which commanded a view of the Hudson, for the purpose of preventing intercourse between British vessels of war and the disaffected inhabitants. In this service he displayed great activity and address, and made prisoners of several parties of marines and sailors who ven-tured on shore. He was compelled however to be constantly on the alert while the active campaign lasted, for opposed to him and watching all his movements, were the lieutenant-colonels Simcoe, Tarleton and Emmerich, and major Bear- more,--undoubtedly the most daring and enterprising of all the partisans then in the enemy's service.