During the whole of his command there was not a single desertion, not a single death by sickness, not one made prisoner by the enemy ; for Colonel Burr taught us that a soldier, with arms in his hands, ought never, in any circumstances, to surrender -- no matter if he was opposed by thousands it was his duty to fight.

Richard Piatt, adjutant-general to General McDougall at Peekskill, has left the following testimony: A country which for three years before had been a scene of robbery, cruelty, and murder became at once the abode of security and peace. Though his powers were despotic they were exercised only for the peace, the security, and the protection of the surrounding country and its inhabitants.

It was during Burr's three months in the Neutral Ground that his romantic midnight visits to his sweetheart, Mrs. Prevost, at Paramus, X. J., occurred -- expeditions celebrated in the annals of the amours of historic persons. Selecting nights when he knew that he could safely absent himself from the lines, he left the headquarters at White Plains in his usual manner, as though going on a tour of the posts, attended by several of his men, upon whose secrecy he could depend. He rode across country to Tarrytown, where a boat was waiting. His men threw his horse, tied its legs together, and placed it in the boat. On the opposite shore the faithful animal was released from its bonds, and bestriding it Burr was soon in the arms of his love. He was back at headquarters before dawn. He made two of these visits.