"Severe drills and vigorous inspections," says his charming biographer, Barton, " took the place of formal ones." Finding that many of the officers were hopelessly inefficient, he presently " took the bold step of ordering several of them home on the simple ground of their utter uselessness. If any gentleman, he told them, objected to his dismissal, he, Colonel Burr, held himself personally responsible for the measure and was ready to afford any satisfaction that might be desired." Yet he was no mere martinet. All his measures commended themselves to the good sense of his troops, who became enthusiastically attached to his person. The great executive force which he thus displayed, coupled with his reputation for exceptional gallantry, led to his selection as the most available commander in the Neutral Ground at a time when lawlessness and terrorism there were at their height, lie entered upon his duties on the Westchester lines January 13, 1770, succeeding Lieutenant-Colonel Littlefield. The lowest American posts at that period extended "from Tarrytown a distance of fourteen through White Plains to the Sawpits, or Rye," miles. Colonel Burr made his headquarters at White Plains.

FROM

JANUARY,

1779, TO SEPTEMBER,

On the very morning of his assuming command, his predecessor left White Plains with a large party on a characteristic "scouting" expedition to New Rochelle. This was an enterprise of promiscuous plunder, pure and simple. The men returned at night loaded down with spoils. Colonel Burr, astonished and indignant, at once took steps to return the stolen articles to their owners. " Sir," he wrote to General McDougall, the commander at Peekskill, " till now I never wished for arbitrary power; I could gibbet half a dozen good Whigs with all the venom of an inveterate Tory." lie announced in the most emphatic manner that he purposed to protect all the peaceable inhabitants without reference to their politics; that all marauders would be punished with the utmost severity of military law; and that " any officer who so much as connived at robbery he would send up to the general's quarters with a tile of soldiers the hour the crime was discovered." Shortly afterward a family named Gedney, living below his lines, was plundered at night.