MOSIER'S FIGHT WITH THE REFUGEES ON DEEMBER 2nd, 1781

BY OTTO HUFELAND

A PAPER READ NEAR THE SCENE OF THE SKIRMISH AT RYE, ON THE OCCASION OF A PILGRIMAGE OF THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY ON MAY 28TH, 1927

A FEW EXPLANATORY NOTES HAVE BEEN ADDED

As much of the data on which this paper is based came from the interviews recorded in the McDonald manuscripts, its inclusion in their papers seems justified. The fight took place on the former Brundage Farm1 on the south side of Harrison Avenue just east of Blind Brook. As the present occupants of the land declined to permit access to the ground, the paper was read from a spot overlooking the battlefield on the opposite side of the Avenue. This accounts for some of the references to locations made in it. On the hill opposite, one of the most interesting skirmishes of the Revolution took place. It had a national, even a world-wide interest, but to us in Westchester County it has the additional importance of showing that our farmers, in the

1 Silas Brundage, son of the then owner, says he was "born and brought up on the farm where the fight occurred" and describes the location as "Immediately west of the field of action you descend a hill." As this is the only "hill" on the farm and is just south of Harrison Avenue along which the Refugees rode, this description fixes the location quite definitely. Interview with McDonald, October 30th 1848.