Both of these regiments of minute men were on duty in the Highlands in 1775-6; but the system did not work satisfactorily, and in June, 1776, Congress repealed the law.
Three drafts were made in 1776 to reinforce the army—in June, July and September. Under the first draft Orange County sent three companies and Ulster four to the vicinity of New York City, as a part of General John Morin Scott's Brigade. The second draft took one-fourth of the militia under Colonels Nicoll and Pauling, constituting a brigade under General George Clinton. By the third sixty-two men were drawn from Colonel Hasbrouck's Regiment, and were a part of 600 men which reinforced the garrisons at Forts Clinton and Montgomery.
In July, 1776, companies of rangers were organized for the protection of the frontiers, and three of them were raised in Ulster County, under Captains Isaac Belknap of Newburgh, Jacob De Witt of Deer Park, and Elias Hasbrouck of Kingston.
Of the four "Continental" Regiments organized in 1775 to serve six months, the one commanded by Colonel James Clinton was largely composed of Orange and Ulster County men. Orange furnished two companies—Captain Daniel Denton's of Goshen and Captain John Nicholson's of New Windsor. The four regiments were in the expedition to Canada in 1775.
Under a call by Congress of January 8, 1776, for troops to reinforce the army in Canada, New York furnished one battalion. A second call was made on January 19, under which New York was required to furnish four.
[CHAPTER VII.]
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR.
The French and Indian War was the result of rivalry between France and England for the possession of disputed territories in North America, and the Indians along the Delaware and other frontiers became allies of the French because they believed they had been cheated by the English and Dutch colonists, and were stimulated to hostility against them by French agents.
In 1754 England directed her colonies to oppose with arms the encroachments of the French, although the two nations were then at peace, and obedience to this command from the crown brought on the cruel war of 1755. In February of that year New York voted 40,000 pounds sterling to defray war expenses, and ordered a levy of 800 men to co-operate with troops of other colonies in the impending struggle. The law also declared that slaves were liable to military duty, and if over 14 years of age they were forbidden to be found more than a mile from their master's residence without his certificate of permission, and "if one of them were so found any white person might kill him without being liable to prosecution."