Two roads in the western part of the town traverse the Indian paths of Potiticus and Suckebonk, while Muscoota path runs near the northern line. The summit of the high mountain ridge east of Bedford continues to be called the ^'' Indian farm" There is a tradition current in the neighborhood, that the south side of this mountain, sometimes denominated Stony hill, was the scene of a bloody fight between the early settlers and the aborisfines. Mrs. Martha Holmes an aged inhabitant of Bedford, (still living,) remembers

"^ Dutch Trans. Rec. City Clerk's office, N. Y. p. 30, 31. . ;

V'

4 HISTORY OF THE

in 1765, to have seen several Indian mounds at the foot of this hill, (a little south of the old school house,) which were pointed out to her as the graves of those who fell in the conflict. This may have been the battle fought between the Dutch and Indians in Feb. 1644, an account of which is recorded in the journal of the New Netherlands. JNIr. O'Callaghan thus details the action in his history of the N. N. : " On his return from Heemstede, Capt. Underbill was ordered to Stamford, to obtain particulars of the whereabouts of the savages. He brought word back, that they were encamped some five hundred strong in that direction, and that the old guide urged the forwarding a body of troops immediately thither, as he was desirous, on the one hand, to prove that the former ill success of the Dutch was not his fault ; on the other hand anxious for protection, as his life was in constant danger.