Brought up in the church of England and trained in a school conducted by her clergy, he was inclined, when the revolutionary troubles commenced, to espouse the Royal cause, and accordingly, when in the autumn of 1776, the Brit-ish light-infantry first appeared on Throg's Neck, he joined them as a volunteer. His general intelligence, knowledge of the country, and intrepidity soon attracted notice, and when the loyal refugees of Westchester, Dutchess and Connecticut were collected and embodied in the neighbourhood of Morris-

22 THE MCDONALD PAPERS

ania, he was appointed their major-commandant by the British commander-in-chief. Nothing could be more gener-ally desirable than this enterprise projected by Armand. General Heath, in consequence, not only gave it his consent but offered to aid the attempt, and urged its immediate execu-tion; for Bearmore's restless activity, frequent excursions and severity toward the determined whigs, had long rendered him an object at once of dread and dislike to the patriotic inhab-itants. The excursion for the same purpose of lieutenant colonel White with a strong detachment, in August, and several attempts subsequently made by those active and daring offi-cers Heard and Gill, all, either wholly or in part, had proved unsuccessful; but these repeated failures served only to stim-ulate the ardor of the gallant Frenchman, who, on the 7th of November heard that the same officers were upon the eve of a new attack upon the British outposts. This information precipitated his designs, which he now resolved to accom-plish during the night of the same day. He set off upon this enterprise at noon with one hundred infantry and about thirty horse, being the most effective part of his corps, and arrived at Williamsbridge soon after eight o'clock. Here he placed his infantry in a position where they might cover his retreat the most advantageously, and at the head of twenty well mounted dragoons, previously selected for the purpose, pushed with all possible speed for alderman Leggett's house three miles below.