Willis, 'Mias been made the scene of, perhaps, the best historical novel of our country, and, n;ore than any other part of the United States, suffered from the evils of war. The character and depredations of the " Cow-hoys'' and " Skinners,'^ whose fields of action were on the skirts of this "Neutral Ground," are familiar to all who have read " the Essay" of Mr. Cooper. A distinguished clergyman^ gives the following very graphic picture of Westchester County in those days : --

" In the autumn of 1777, 1 resided for some time in this County. The lines of the British were then in the neighborhood of King's Bridge, and those of the Americans at Byram River. The unhappy inhabitants were, therefore, exposed to the depredations of both. Often they were actually plundered, and always were liable to this calamity. They feared every body whom they saw, and loved nobody. It was a curjoijs fact to a philosopher, and a melancholy one to hear their conversation. To every question they gave such an answer as would please the inquirer ; or, if they despaired of pleasing, such a one as would not provoke him. Fear was, apparently, the only passion by which they were animated. The power of volition seemed to have deserted them. They were not civil, but obsequious ; not obliging, but subservient. They yielded with a kind of apathy, and very quietly, what you asked, and what they supposed it impossible for them to retain. If you treated them Hindly, they received it coldly ; not as a kindness, but as a compensation for