'i'he Coio-hoys were a set of people, mostly, if not wholly, refugees, belonging to the British side, and engaged in plundering cattle near the lines, and driving them to New York. The name indicates their vocation. There was another description of banditti, called Skinners^ who lived, for the most part, within the American liuesj and professed attachment to the American cause; but, in reality, they were more unprincipled, perfidious and inhuman than the Cow-boys themselves ; for these latter exhibited some symptoms of fellow feeling for their friends, -- whereas, the Skinners committed their depredations equally upon friends and foes.

f>y a law of the State of New York, every person refusing to take an oath of fidelity to the state was considered as forfeiting his property. The large territory between ihe American and British lines, extending nearly thirty miles from north to south, and embracing Westchester county, was populous and highly cultivated. A person living within that space, who took the oath of fidelity, was sure to be plundered by the Cow-boys; and if he did not take it, the Skinners would come down upon him, call

*■ This was not a Dutch woman, zis the historian supposes, but Mrs, Sarah Underliill, wife of Isaac Underliii), of Yorktown, whose grandson, Edward Borough Un- <lerhitl, still owns ihe iiousc. -- Editok.

COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. ^ 211

him a tory, and seize his property as confiscated by tlie state. Thus the execution of the laws was assumed by robbers, and ilie innocent and guilty were involved in a common ruin.