I have sent you one Elijah Taylor; his Crime is as Follows: he pretends he came from below our Lines because he was Suspected to be a friend to us; a few days after he came to me with his Brother in Law from Milesquare pretending he had lost a Horse and applied to me for Orders to take him where he could find him. I gave him permission to search for his Horse any where he pleased above our Lines but not to Return home without calling on me, but Instead of Calling, Returned home and soon after came up again. I found by his Conduct that was not his Arrent (errand) for at the Same time he and the said Taylor was Laying a Plan to steal our horses. The way I got Information was that one Dudely Bailey, a Sutler to our Regiment, was in Conversation with the said Taylor concerning their Losing Horses, whereupon the said Taylor told him they had Lost Horses and knew where to find them but did not care about them for he could take them off in the Night; then he ask’d Bailey where the Horses belonging to the Regiment were kept, and where our Centenals were posted, in order that he might Carry his plan in Execution; and he further told him it would not be Long before we should be Routed, for a few men might do it, as we were Obliged to post ourselves in Houses. He further agread with Baily for him to go down as far as Milesquare to one Benjamin Taylor’s and there stay until the s’d Taylor could go to the Hessian Generals and when he Return’d he would put him in good Business where he might Earn a Dollar pr day. he further said that When he makes his Report to the General that he might live like a Gentleman without doing any work. He further Acquainted him he had been through your Camps at Peekskill as far up as Poughkeepsy and there were Several Spies out among whom was an Hessian Officer, and upon them Circumstances I have sent you the Said Taylor. For further Information Refer you to the said Bailey as an Evidence to the truth of the Matter who shall be sent up to you whenever I Receive your Order for that purpose.
I have Likewise sent up three other prisoners, Jacob Read, Abraham Aston & Joseph Brown, the two former were taken up on Suspicion of Carrying on a dangerous Correspondence with the Enemy and the Latter is a deserter from Colo. Willis’s Regt. and Capt. Champion’s Comp’y of the Continental Troops. I am your honour’s Humble Serv’t
Henry Ludinton, Col.
P.S. Should be Oblig’d to your Honour to give the Bearer some direction where he may draw some Cordage for the use of the Teams. I am as above
H. L.
To Genl. Putnam at Head Quarters Peekskill.
Jacob Read, or Rhead, promptly wrote to Clinton, protesting that he had always been a true friend of his country and had repeatedly been employed in its service, and that therefore he conceived himself to have been most unjustly treated in being arrested as a traitor. He begged to be examined immediately and to be set at liberty on proof of his innocence.
In the fall of 1777 there was a scarcity of provisions in Westchester and Dutchess counties, and the Tories sought further to embarrass the American cause by shipping all provisions they could secure to the British Army. On this account the following letter was addressed by Colonel Ludington and others to the Council of Safety for the State of New York:
Dutchess Co.
3rd December, 1777.
Gentᵐ: