History of Westchester County, New York, Vol. I
in other connections, that the men of that County, like those of (iueeus-county, armed themselves, and patroled the County, in large parties, to guard against surprises ; declaring their determination to defend themselves, and saying " that if any body came to " their houses to take away their Arms, they would " lire upon them." ' Itappears, also, that the declaration was fully sustained ; that the united farmers proved more than a match for the local Militia and the other troo})s which the Chairman of the County Committee had been authorized to call for his supl)ort ; and that, for the more effectual accomplishment of his purposes, that Chairman had assumed still further authority, by calling on the floating po])ulation of the neighboring Towns, in Connecticut, for reinforcements^ -- as the Chairman of the County Committee wa.s authorized by the Committee of Safety, to call for the entire Militia of the County, already seem to have been sufficient to fill three Regiments,'' and as many of General Wooster's command of Connecticut troops, then encamped below Harlem," and numbering "about 400 men," ' as should be ret|uired, that opposition must have been wide-spread and resolutely maintained, in Weslchester-county, which had retjuired, in addition to all these, for its supi)ression, an additional force, drawn from what may be properly called the Swiss Guards of Colonial America, mercenaries, who, while they i)rofessed to have been ardent friends ot Freedom, were, nevertheless, whenever they could see any possible advantage to their individual interests, constantly ready to enlist in any service, outside of Connecticut, and to become, in their new associations, the most devoted of all supporters of despotism and the most relentless of all persecutors of those, no matter of what country, who dared to (juestion the sanctity of the assumed authority of those who employed them.