DURING the War of the Revolution the County of Westchester, and particularly the lower towns (now forming the Borough of Bronx or Bronck's'), was the prey of the foraging parties of both armies, as it lay directly between them and was permanently occupied by neither. Being common property to both parties, it was, therefore, called the "Neutral Ground." The views of the inhabitants themselves at the outset of the struggle were much divided, and if popular sentiment was not absolutely loyal to the crown of Great Britain, it was much more conservative than in New England or in the southern colonies.

Many of the leading families were staunch loyalists and afterwards prominent leaders of the Royalist Refugees. Amongst these were the Van Courtlandts, DeLanceys, Philipses, and

location

of tbe

" IHeutral

(3roun^ "

4IO

Zbc **lFleutral OroimO "

IPiCWB of

its Tins babitants

Wilkinses, and these were the names which the people of that period were accustomed to follow. On the other side, however, were the Morrises, Livingstons, and Tomkynses, families who belonged in the same region, so that parties may be said to have been pretty evenly divided. The first meetings called to consider the question of electing delegates to Congress were broken up by the violent efforts of Philipse, Wilkins, and other Royalists, and when the matter was finally decided in the affirmative, the delegates chosen were instructed to do nothing disloyal to "the government of his Majesty the King," and it is an historic fact that New York was the last colony to authorize its delegates in the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence. This conservatism, however, was not altogether induced by loyalty to the British government, but by a selfish interest. It was perfectly self-evident to such men as "Squire" Van Cortlandt, Oliver de Lancey, and others, that one of the main objects of the home government, in case of war, would be to separate the more southern from the New England colonies, and New York was the keystone of this position.