James De Lancey was an American loyalist and leader of partisan troops. He was sheriff of Westchester and later he became captain of a troop of fifty men, soon gained the nickname of “Cowboys” from their success as cattle-raiders.
Background
James De Lancey was born on September 6, 1746 in Westchester County, New York, United States. He was the fourth son of Peter De Lancey and Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Cadwallader Colden, lieutenant-governor of New York just before the Revolution. Peter De Lancey, “Peter of the Mills, ” was a brother of James De Lancey, chief justice and lieutenant-governor of the province, and was the second son of Stephen, the founder of the family in America. Presumably he bore his share in the family politics, though his alliance with the Colden family must have created awkward personal situations. He represented the Borough of Westchester in the Assembly from 1750 to 1768.
Career
“Colonel James, ” held the office of sheriff of Westchester from 1770 to 1776.
From the occupation of New York City by Howe in the autumn of the latter year to the close of hostilities, “The Neutral Ground, ” a belt some twenty miles in width between the northern end of Manhattan Island and a line from the mouth of the Croton River to the Sound, was the scene of irregular partisan warfare, full of exciting incidents of the most destructive and demoralizing character, pictured later by J. Fenimore Cooper in his story of The Spy.
Amid these activities “De Lancey’s Horse” became a household word of terror, for in 1777 he had become captain of a troop of fifty men, selected from the Westchester militia by Gov. Tryon. They had soon gained the nickname of “Cowboys” from their success as cattle-raiders.
In 1781 their leader signed himself as “Colonel, Westchester Refugees. ”
“The Outlaw' of the Bronx” was one of his soubriquets.
He was proscribed by the New York Act of Attainder of 1779, and in 1782 removed with his family to Nova Scotia, where he settled at Annapolis on a farm a part of which is still held by his descendants.
Achievements
James De Lancey lead one of the best known and most feared of the loyalist units, the De Lancey's Brigade, during the American Revolution.
Connections
James De Lancey's wife, by whom he had six sons and four daughters, was Martha Tippetts, of the family which until the Revolution held Tippetts’ Hill, immediately north of Spuyten Duyvil Creek.
