They had ridden up from their camp in what is now known as Mott Haven and were part of a body of irregulars who were justly feared, because they knew every lane and by-way and were in constant communication with local Tory friends who kept them in-formed of every movement of the Americans. The officers accompanying this detachment were Colonel James HolmesI of Bedford, who at the beginning of the Revolution, com-manded an American regiment and Captain Samuel Kipp who came from North Castle. All of the troop were armed with the long heavy, sharpened cavalry sabres of the period, while the officers and probably many of the rank and file carried heavy but not very effective pistols. As the British dashed up to the compact body of Americans

I James Holmes of Bedford was colonel of the 4th New York Regiment of Continental troops early in the war. He resigned from the American army in December 1775. His attachment to the American cause was never considered sincere and he later accepted a commission in the notorious Refugee Corps. For reasons not clear he placed himself in the power of Governor George Clinton in 1778 and was sent to prison from which he escaped only to be recaptured and escape again. Judging from interviews with some of his townspeople of Bedford, his reputation during and after the war was none of the best. In fact he is accused by some of his neighbors of having served as a volunteer in the raid in which Bedford Village was partly burned in 1779.