2 X. Y. Col. MSS., vol. Tii, p. 274.

;AL period. 167

1763, that the joy was almost immoderate may well be imagined. The various muster-rolls of companies raised in Westchester County for this war, to which allusion has been made, offer a suggestion or two worthy of notice. The existence of a well-organized militia force at this period is established by the designation of the captains of the companies to which the recruits belonged. Captains Theale, Griffin, Lockwood, Crain, Holmes, Dennis, Embury, Israel Underbill, Secord, Vermilye and at least twenty others are mentioned. Christian Marks, a German, twenty-seven years of age, five feet seven inches in stature, with dark eyes and hair, is described to be " of the Troop." Can it be that Benedict Arnold, born in Connecticut, eighteen years of age, a weaver, five feet seven inches, with light eyes and black hair, is he of infamy unecjualed, and has this county then the stigma of having introduced him into a military career whose later chapters he made so foul and dark ?

Another remark comes from the number of foreigners enlisted. So large is the proportion of such that it would appear that the County during this period was receiving large accessions to its population from other nations and other colonies. Ireland, " Old Englanil " and Connecticut are frequently indicated as the place of nativity. We find also that more thanhalf of these soldiers were under twenty-five years of age. A result of these military experiences was to prepare these men, by the knowledge gained, for that other and much more serious contest, which, though less thought of in that time of danger than before it, was imminent and inevitable.