Under the leadership of the notorious Claudius Smith, a gang of marauders known as the Cowboys of the Ramapos operated in lower New York State during the Revolution.
During the early part of the Revolutionary war (1775-1783), with the county of Westchester on the east side of the Hudson River and Orange County on the western side, which then included Rockland County, there was comprised a somewhat neutral ground. This area lay between the British army who were quartered in New York City, and Washington's Continentals who were spread out along the Hudson River between Fort Montgomery and Newburgh. This so called neutral ground, however, was infested with lawless bands of marauders, called “Cowboys” and others known as “Skinners.” The Cowboys were largely refugees, belonging to the British side engaged in plundering nearby inhabitants of their cattle and valuables. The Skinners generally professed attachment to the American cause and lived chiefly within the Patriots lines. More unprincipled than the cowboys, they committed depredations indiscriminately upon friends and foes alike.
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