On May 11, Prevost arrived outside of Charlestown and sent an ultimatum for surrender in order to avoid bloodshed.  The colonials refused surrender as Prevost learned General Lincoln (now in command of all Southern rebel forces) would be in Charlestown shortly with total reinforcements of 4,000 men.  The British were now badly outnumbered and not in good defensive positions.  Prevost made the decision to withdraw back to Georgia.  He left the Highlanders and a Hessian unit behind to cover the withdrawal.  Some advance units from Lincoln’s army stumbled upon the positions and a brief but bloody fight ensued.  The colonists were unprepared for the assault and a few well-placed Scots under Colonel Maitland (a veteran of the French & Indian War) held firm killing 150 and discouraging another 155 into desertion.  The battle took place on June 20 and was of little consequence other than allowing the remainder of Prevost’s invading force to retreat back to Beaufort.

The weather grew humid and hot in July and the British turned their attention to consolidating the hold on Savannah.  French forces operating in the Caribbean had given the British reason to worry about the need to maintain a strong base of operations for the next battle season.  In 18th century America war had definite seasons.  In the Northern colonies, armies spent winter in New York or Philadelphia waiting out the snowmelt.  But for the south, seasons were vastly different.  Late summer brought frequent malaria or other fevers often referred to as ‘bilious fevers’.  People in coastal areas were most prone to annual bouts of sickness.  Particularly if the people involved were not accustomed to the weather.

Sergeant Dusenbury and most of the New York Volunteers came down with fever and reported great suffering in what would be their first summer season in the south.  They moved down the coast to stay in Savannah with General Prevost and tried to maintain sufficient strength for foraging and patrolling the surrounding areas.   

As the British force advanced deeper into the colony resistance started forming.  Colonels Andrew Pickens, Elijah Clarke, and John Dooley commanded rebel militia units moving in the Georgia countryside.  Col. Pickens commanded a brigade from Ninety-Six who enjoyed a reputation as strong experienced fighters.  The Presbyterian elder would become one of the most famous and successful of South Carolina’s partisan leaders.  With a combined force of 340 militia, the three colonels attacked Boyd’s loyalist troops near Washington, Georgia.  Advancing slowly but steadily through wooded areas, the backwoodsmen under Picken’s overall command kept up steady fire on three sides of Boyd’s camp.  The Tory militia held firm until a pair of well-aimed rifle balls struck Colonel Boyd in the body.  With the sudden loss of their commander, the loyalists fell apart and ran from the field in disorder.  21 were killed and another 25 captured.   Pickens knew Boyd and visited him while dying on the field.  Boyd’s request for two Loyalists to wait and bury his body was granted along with a promise to deliver Boyd’s watch to his widow.  Pickens later wrote that she reacted with outright denial stating “No damned rebel has killed my husband!” 

Other units from South Carolina under General Andrew Williamson had moved into Augusta to defend the town.  However, a couple of early skirmishes failed to slow the British advance and Williamson took his units back to garrison at Ninety-Six.  Of the retreat from Augusta without firing a shot, Pickens would later accuse Williamson of having been ‘corrupted’.  Campbell led the loyalist regiments (including Dusenberry and the Volunteers) into Augusta.  Their stay was short.  As word arrived on February 14 of the Kettle Creek debacle, Campbell moved his forces back toward Savannah.
The British fanned into the countryside administering loyalty oaths (or punishment to those who refused) to the people.  They plundered Whig farms and freed the slaves from plantations.  They halted to join General Prevost at Hudson’s ferry near place Brier Creek feeds into the Savannah River. 

General Ashe was given command of the rebel forces in the area below the Savannah.  His group had pursued Campbell through marshy areas along the river for several days when the groups camped on either side of Brier Creek.  Ashe protected his right flank by burning the bridge at Paris’s Mill 15 miles north of the camp.  His left flank was to the River.  The arrangement would prove ill advised.

On the night of March 2, 1779 Lt. Colonel Mark Prevost (brother to the general) led 1,000 men up the back road to Augusta to a place just across Brier Creek near the burned bridge at Paris Mill.  A few rebel mounted infantry guarded the crossing but turned and quickly ran as Sgt. Dusenberry and the New York Volunteers slugged deliberately toward them across the shallow stream.  

Lt. Col Prevost advanced toward Ashe’s position steadily throughout the morning and arrived around 1PM on the 3rd.  Even though warned by riders from Paris Mill hours earlier, Ashe failed to form his men or improve the defense of his camp.  About 100 Georgia Continentals commanded by Col. Elbert quickly formed to face the Loyalist lines.   Militia units started taking up positions on either side but threw down their arms and ran for the swamps along the Savannah on the first British volley.

A hole opened in the center of the line allowing British (and Loyalist) infantry to advance into the breach.  A brief but furious battle with bayonets and musket butts resulted.  The rest of the militia ran for the swamps leaving Col. Elbert and his remaining men surrounded with no choice but surrender.  All in all, about 200 rebel forces were killed and another 200 captured to include Elbert and another 14 officers.  In addition, a number of colonial militia men drowned or were lost in the swamps trying to cross the Savannah River to South Carolina.

The disaster at Brier Creek caused the total loss of Georgia as all colonial forces retreated into South Carolina.  To make matters worse, word started to spread that Tory soldiers captured a month before at Kettle Creek were being tried as war criminals.  South Carolina’s Gov. Rutledge presided over a tribunal at Ninety-Six that sentenced the 25 Tory prisoners to hang for plundering the countryside.  They were judged criminals and denied status as prisoners of war.  Even though only 7 were hung and the rest paroled, Stephen Dusenbury and the other loyalist soldiers understood capture could easily mean death.  The incredibly brutal tone of civil war combat in the southern theater had begun.

Now considered some of the finest loyalist units in the army, the New York Volunteers joined General Oliver Delancey’s brigade onto a flotilla of warships.  They sailed from Sandy Hook on November 27, 1778 under command of Commodore Hyde Parker.  Sailing nearly a month, the armada anchored off Tybee Island near the mouth of the Savannah River on December 23.  

The ever aggressive Colonel Archibald Campbell (he would soon be known as ‘Mad Archie’) immediately held meetings with local Tories and learned what he could of Savannah’s defenses.  The city is on the southern bank of the Savannah River about 17 miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean.  All along the river colonists grew rice on plantations populated mainly with slave labor.  This section was the mercantile heart of the still young and sparse Georgia Colony.  The main river channel was over 30 feet deep allowing the British to sail upriver past the city to disembark.  The rebel force of about 850 militia under General Howe were deployed in a semi-circle ready to face the British forces expected from to come from southeast of town. 
 
On the 29th, Campbell’s troops sailed upriver to Girardeau Plantation and disembarked only two miles from the town.  A few Continentals from South Carolina under Captain John Smith attacked in an attempt to discourage the landing.  Some of the first ashore, Sergeant Dusenberry and the New York Volunteers drove Smith’s men back to the Rebel lines fronting the town along its only road. 

General Howe felt secure in his defense as both his flanks were protected by marshlands. Unfortunately for him a runaway slave girl named Quamino Dolly guided Sir James Baird’s light infantry (including Dusenberry and the Volunteers) into the swamps.  They walked single file pathways winding thru the swamp and came out behind the right side of the Howe’s position.  Without hesitation the light infantry group charged into the Georgia militia.  Those men were already under great stress from Colonel Campbell’s artillery firing directly at the rebel lines and when Col Campbell led a simultaneous charge to the front, the South Carolina units turned in panic.  They pulled the Georgia militia along with them in a head long flight back toward the town of Savannah but directly into the cold steel of bayonets wielded by the 71st Infantry and the New York Volunteers.  The resulting melee left 85 rebels dead and another 450 captured.  The prisoners were later removed by ship to New York and ultimate consignment to the Jersey.  Many of the rebels on the left side of Howe’s line found themselves with no alternative but to retreat through a thick swamp.  Several drowned.  All in all, Howe lost some 70% of his army.  Although later found innocent in a court martial, Howe’s military career was finished.  Congress sent General Lincoln who had assisted Gates at Saratoga to take over the southern Continental army.

In all, the fighting only lasted about an hour.  The British had only three killed and a few wounded in routing the rebel force.  Taking Savannah brought control of the Georgia colony along with 48 cannons, 23 mortars,94 barrels of powder and warehouses full of food and other supplies.  Several merchant ships and a fine port facility fell to the winners like a fine prize.  In addition, they discovered the citizens lukewarm in their support of the war and many began joining the ranks to form even more loyalist regiments.  The British campaign to take the southern colonies was off to a fast start.

Into the Spring of ‘78 the Volunteers were stationed under General Knyphausen of the Hessians as part of a large army composed primarily of loyalist regiments.  They garrisoned in the vicinity of Fort Independence in Southern Westchester county.  The main fighting was with Washington and Howe in Pennsylvania or New Jersey.  Even with the Saratoga victory and embarrassment of Burgoyne,  British hold on New York City and its surrounding areas was complete.

Strong efforts at recruitment and the subsequent training of new recruits occupied the army group’s focus for much of the year.  Westchester continued as a type of no-man’s land with American headquarters in the north county around Peekskill and British lines beginning about mid-way through.  Foraging parties were common as both sides required large amounts of foodstuffs and animal feed found on the county farms. 

Many of the foraging parties were led by James Delancey (brother of General Oliver Delancey) who had been the county sheriff in the six year period prior to 1776.  Even after having been captured and released on parole, Delancey rejoined the loyalist regiments and continued to work enthusiastically against the Whig population.  His name would become infamous as he continued to plague the surrounding areas until 1782.  After the war James Delancey’s forfeited lands would bring over $500,000 to the New York state government.

The Committee of Observation responded with a series of acts against loyalists.  All suspected loyalist leaning people were rounded up and put on trial for various acts in support of the British.  New loyalty oaths were required by all.  The laws began to come down concerning forfeiture of all lands owned by loyalists.  These harsh restrictions and new rules on forfeiture made recruiting for the loyalist regiments a very fruitful enterprise.

By late Fall Lt. Colonel Campbell had assembled a very large and well-trained loyalist army.  Some, like Sergeant Dusenberry, already had enough combat experience to qualify as hardened veterans.  When Clinton received orders from home to begin large scale operations in the southern colonies, the loyalist regiments felt confident and ready to take the lead.  The NY Volunteers dressed in bright red uniforms with blue frontcloth on the coats.    The sergeants had red white and blue ’trimmings’ while the officer uniforms added silver lace epaulettes.

The remaining populace of the area faced constant threat from both sides.  Raids took whatever food and forage could be raised.  And, for the Torys, a new problem arose.  A group of fishermen in whale boats had been cruising up and down the local waterways capturing suspected toys in the middle of the night and spiriting them away to confinement in Connecticut or Massachusetts.  A certain Joel Stone later escaped to tell of a dungeon-like prison at Simsbury copper mine where loyalists were being held under horrible conditions. 

In late July the first reports of battle filtered in from General Burgoyne’s invasion of New York from Canada.  The news sent chills and anxiety through Putnam’s headquarters near Peekskill.  They reacted with renewed harshness toward the local loyalist population.  A man suspected of toryism named Edmund Palmer was picked up behind the Continental lines.  He was “arraigned & tried upon a charge of Plundering, robbing & carrying off Cattle, Goods, etc from the well-affected Inhabitants & for being a Spy for the Enemy.”  A few days later, poor Edmund was found to have been a spy ‘lurking within our lines’ and scheduled for execution.  The gallows tree saw a good bit of activity around that time as Amos Rose joined Edmund in a one-way trip.  A letter from Brigadier General Mumford Brown on July 31st identified Edmund as a Commissioned Officer.  It caused Putnam to reconsider briefly but he determined to execute Mr. Palmer anyway.  Putnam’s letter of August 7 indicated at the bottom:  “P. S.  He has been accordingly executed.”

Despite a growing desire to seek revenge for acts done to their friends and relatives, the NY Volunteers manned picket lines and underwent bayonet training while the other British armies gained glory and respect.  However, within a month the Saratoga campaign began to sour and reports requesting action from Clinton’s army in New York City poured in from Burgoyne.

Once the battle lines were established across the southern end of Westchester County, the British created a series of forts meant to render New York City a fortress strong enough to withstand any patriot assault.  The British enjoyed success in building defensive lines but did nothing to protect the large agricultural areas of the County which were left without any authority at all.  Church did not meet on Sunday.  Farmers, fearful of being plundered, saw no reason to plant crops beyond a few meager vegetables to prevent starvation.  The few remaining cattle were hidden in cellars.  Tories and Patriots alike buried their few valuables and maintained hiding places to keep the men from being captured and pressed into service for one side or the other.  A state of Civil War existed where one community would favor the British and the next community would favor the Continentals.  People stayed low with meetings held strictly among friends and in secret.

Late in the Winter of 1777, General Heath of the Militia attempted an offensive against British battalions near Fort Independence.  The actions proved virtually bloodless and a huge embarrassment to the Rebel cause.  At about this time recruiting of loyalist regiments in New York and in particular, Westchester County, hit a bonanza.  Roger’s Queen Rangers started gaining fame locally as a tough active group intent on punishing the committee men for acts against the Tory population.  Unfortunately, the Committee responded by authorizing the burning and plundering of all remaining farms in the county thereby guaranteeing Westchester to be the finest recruiting ground for loyalist regiments in all the colonies.
Stephen Dusenbury joined the New York Volunteers under Major Alex Grant in the Spring of 1777.  Did he join purely from loyalty to the crown?  doubtful.  Because the British were looking very strong to defeat the rebels?  maybe, probably part of the reason.  Or because he was proud of his English heritage (he was of Dutch descent) and believed it right to remain loyal?  considering his long-standing service (he would remain during the entire war), there is a good chance he simply believed loyalty to England rather than the committee mobs was the best route to preserve his liberties.  But, in any event, Stephen not only joined the unit but was elevated to Sergeant within the first few months of his service.

The New York Volunteers trained in the area around Kingsbridge with other loyalist units under overall command of Col. Stephen Delancey.  Delancey was a local loyalist who had shown some early sympathies to the revolutionary spirit but remained loyal to the crown once sides were being chosen.  His brother had been sheriff of Westchester County prior to the outbreak of war and was now commanding a regiment of dragoons to operate primarily in the no-man’s land between competing armies.  Before the war was over, their family name would carry a level of disdain compared only to Banastre Tarleton.  

The NY Volunteers saw their first recorded action in late June of 1777.  While stationed along the perimeter of NY city among the system of forts built along the Hudson, the unit undertook a night raid up to Kingsbridge in the Fort Independence area.  They ran into a patriot group while foraging for cattle and fresh food products.  A hot little skirmish ensued with the volunteers killing six and taking eight more prisoners.  The raid also succeeded by taking 25 head of cattle and 11 horses.

Within a few weeks of the Declaration of Independence, General Howe landed some 31,000 troops.  The soldiers were mostly English although a strong contingent of German mercenaries (Hessians) accompanied the British army.  With help from loyalist guides, part of the force outmaneuvered Washington at Jamaica pass and the Continentals barely escaped to Manhattan intact.  The people in New York learned to doubt the final outcome of the war.
 
Throughout the Fall of 1776 Washington suffered defeat after defeat in the campaign for control of New York.  First the landing at Kip’s bay then on to Harlem Heights.  Soon the Continental Army had retreated right into the center of WestChester County and taken positions in the three hills above White Plains. 
 
The battle opened with a British artillery barrage against the high center of the Continental line effectively covering the patriot positions.  Even with this advantage the initial assault failed to dislodge the Delaware line holding the high ground on Chatterain Hill.  Unfortunately for the patriots, Hessian troops under Rahl succeeded in their flanking movement against some New York militia who fled rather than face the steel of German bayonets.  Now exposed from the rout on their left, the Delaware and Maryland regulars on Chatterain moved down the hillsides and retreated from the area.
 
Unfortunately for the local citizens, the patriot army burned the village of White Plains on the way out of town.  Even though Major Austin was later court martialed for allowing homes burned and women cast out unsheltered, the damage was done.  Citizens of Westchester County now proved fertile recruiting ground for many loyalist regiments that would serve all over the colonies.  The loyalists (and many who might not otherwise be loyalists) of Westchester watched as the Continental Army systematically took all the cattle, swine, horses, and produce they could lay hands on away with them to New Jersey.  Protests were ignored and all was paid for with paper notes of little value to anyone.  No known record exists of Stephen Dusenberry’s first enlistment but his unit, the New York Volunteers came into being early in 1777 and he was certainly among the initial recruits.      
 
With the Continental retreat, Howe turned his attention back to Fort Washington and literally overran that defensive position with an attack from all sides.  Seeing the hopelessness of continued defense, the patriots abandoned Fort Lee on the other side of the Hudson.  Howe had consolidated his hold and established New York City as the British base of operations. 
 
The White Plains battle established a type of no-man’s land in Westchester county.  The Continental Army pulled back from White Plains with the bulk heading west with Washington for New Jersey.  The British consolidated into New York with outlying posts extending right to the center of the county.
  

After the Lexington and Concord battle the committee of One Hundred called for a convention and appointed yet another committee (of 60 members) to rule the county during the revolution.  They called for 28 total companies of militia from the various communities.  The Dusenberry Tavern was located near Peekskill in the upper western part of the county near to the Hudson.  The local militia captain was Col. Pierre Van Cortlandt of Cortlandt manor whose heavily populated area was called upon to supply 8 companies.  
 
The Committee of Sixty appointed a committee of Inspection and Observation to keep an eye on the Loyalist population.  Beginning in May of ‘75, they actively enforced the ‘General Association’.  The association was a type of loyalty oath passed by Congress for people to sign and swear allegiance to the cause of non-importation against the tea tax.  Congress requested each county report a list of those who failed to sign.  Those who did refuse could count on having all their personal property seized and faced a very good chance of a firsthand tar and feather experience.  Within a few months, all ‘non-associators’ would be disarmed and labled as “enemies to their country”. 

Loyalist authors equated subservience to the committee as slavery.  Rev. Seabury wrote, “Will you submit to them should they be chosen by the weak, foolish, turbulent part of the country people?  Do as you please; but by him who made me, I will not.  No, if I must be enslaved, let it be by a king at least and not by a parcel of upstart, lawless committee-men.”

As if to prove the Westchester Farmer’s impact on the county,  only 3 companies of men turned out  for militia service and they proved of little use beyond making life miserable for the local tories.  They routinely searched the homes of loyalists for weapons and evidence of sedition but rarely balked at taking whatever else might be handy.  Perhaps some clothing or furniture the committee men could seize by claiming recent manufacture in Britain and therefore against the boycotts.
 
Alarmed by the strength of Loyalism in Westchester county (likely a majority of the people were Loyalists), the mob leader from New York city, Isaac Sears, led a group of men to West Chester community and kidnapped the parson Seabury, Judge Fowler, and Lord Underhill, all known leaders among the loyalists.  A few guards took the hostages off to prison in Connecticut, while the remaining mob members carried forward to destroy the printing presses and shops known to produce pamphlets not flattering to the cause of Independence.

Jails in New York, Connecticutt, and Massachusetts were soon overrun with Loyalists.  So much so the committee began paroling anyone willing to sign an oath or ‘associate’.  All Tories were ordered disarmed and kept under watch.  Anyone not outspoken enough about the cause carried a certificate to show they had taken a loyalty oath or were free on parole.
 
Little is known of Stephen Dusenberry during these years but the Dusenberry Tavern near Van Cortlandt Manor lay very close to the sight of several secret (but known thru informants) loyalist gatherings.  Stephen should have been in his middle 20s at the time and was assuredly very interested in the current events.  A number of his neighbors had been recently incarcerated by order of the committee but, oddly enough, had been given over to the care of the county sheriff who was the notorious tory leader, James Delancey.  Secret meetings had been held and preparations were under way to organize loyalist militia units as soon as the British army could arrive.  French & Indian War hero Robert Rogers organized the first group of rangers for use in upstate campaigns. 
 
On July 9, 1776, Independence was declared in New York with much celebration and, at least in the eyes of the loyalists, much rioting and lawlessness.  Almost at the same moment, the British landed on long island in preparation for the battles of New York.

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Part I  

The Dusenbury family came to America and settled in New Amsterdam in the middle of the 17th century.  By the time of Stephen Dusenbury’s birth around 1758, the family had been in America for several generations.  One book on the Dusenbury family in America shows a Stephen born as fifth generation colonist.  There is no further information under the name in that 1932 book leaving the reader to wonder of its author carefully removed all ties to Stephen due to his notorious tory leanings.  In any event, Stephen Dusenbury went from teen to young adult in Westchester County during the years preceding the revolution. 

The ten year period before 1774 saw politics rise to a new level in the colonies.  Beginning with the 1763 Proclamation line, colonists grew increasingly uncomfortable with the King or Parliament dictating to them from across the ocean.  Political pamphlets containing arguments for or against the stamp acts, townsend acts, and other moves circulated around the colonies inflaming debate.  People spent their free time drinking and debating the events of the day and the impact of each upon the ‘liberty’ of the colonists.  The revolutionary ‘committees of correspondence’ grew aggressive in their tactics against the British with increasing use of non-importation and non-exportation boycotts of trade with England. 
 
Westchester County lay only 20 miles above New York City but remained an agricultural economy not directly related to the decision to import or export goods to England.  However, the indirect impact was felt very personally by every citizen.  Farm commodity prices fell drastically during periods of non-exportation.  British manufactured goods such as clothing, furniture, and household supplies became unavailable or too expensive.  Patriot committees sprang up to insure compliance with the boycotts.  These committees often used unruly mobs to do their bidding. 
 
By 1774 most moderate colonists tired of rebellion and lawless behavior.  They had trouble viewing the 3-pence tax on tea with the same disgust as with earlier taxes.  Even so, Sam Adams succeeded in having the Sons of Liberty dump tea in defiance of the Declaratory Act and its related tea taxes.  In Westchester County pamphlet wars again heated up the debate on rebellion.  At the Dusenberry Tavern near Peekskill local men gathered each evening to review the positions and debate the meaning of events.  They generally agreed  Parliament had overstepped its bounds and disliked taxation without representation.  However, most in the area balked at moving the talk forward to declaring independence.  Local leaders such as James Delancey and Van Courtlandt could be very vocal about opposing tyranny yet very conservative about allowing mob rule to replace their existing aristocracy.  
 
In a very widely read piece a writer signing as ‘The Westchester Farmer’ (believed Rev Samuel Seabury of the West Chester Anglican Church) argued logically and rationally against the nonimportation policies of the rebel patriots.  The remaining tax on tea represented a very slight amount of money and the economic boycotts devastated produce prices.  Worse, the ‘committee men’ respected a man’s rights even less than the British.  The patriot committees had been searching private property at will for any evidence of noncompliance with the boycotts.  The Farmer wrote emotionally stirring words, “my house is my castle and as such I will consider it, and as such I will defend it, while I have breath.”
 
The Farmer also complained that regardless of the warrantless search, anyone caught drinking tea or wearing clothing manufactured in Britain after March 1, 1774 was published in the Gazette and universally condemned as ‘foes to the Rights of British America and enemies of American Liberty.’  Naturally such public censure often motivated mobs of people to follow up with their now favorite tar and feathers routine.
 
A second pamphlet soon appeared under the title, SHORT ADVICE to the Counties of NEW YORK. by a COUNTRY GENTLEMAN.  (believed to be loyalist leader and brother-in-law to Gouvernier Morris, Isaac Wilkins).  He argued the Assemblies are the proper guardians of our liberties not ‘their High Mightiness the Mob, to the utter subversion of all Law, and the total destruction of all LIBERTY!’
 
Of course there were patriot responses.  Even a very young Alexander Hamilton tried his hand at persuasion with essay, “A FULL VINDICATION”.  But the agricultural communities in New York found these unsatisfying and kept their loyalty to the Colonial Assembly.   Dusenberry and most of his neighbors rejected the Vindication and agreed with Seabury’s response of December 24, 1774.  He referred to Britain as having ’strength sufficient to chastise her undutiful and rebellious children.’  He also accused Hamilton of a rash decision to rebel when peaceful solutions remained.