"SONGS OF THE NEUTRAL GROUND"

SETTING in 1780

was in West-Chester County, New York, a neutral ground of battles for control of that area, between American revolutionary colonists and the British army, trying to retain this large province in North America for England. General Washington's forces, Continental troops, were holding the "upper" towns located above the focal estate in the story, which overlooked the Hudson River valley with a view toward the south of New York City in the distance, where British troops were stationed and controlled lower towns "below." Most residents claimed a neutrality they did not feel. In the upper vicinity they were bold in expressing a desire to govern themselves, but many wore masks, even for decades, and went to their graves, asserted to be a foe of their country, while in secret were an agent of it leaders. A roving band of pillagers, called "Skinners," feigned loyalty to the Continentals, while a similar band called "Refugees" held a deeper loyalty to the Crown, actually fighting in battle on the English side.

The central dwelling of the story was a stone house, with pillars on a piazza across the middle section, wings on either end and furnished with England's finest appointments. Owner of this estate, called THE LOCUSTS, was MR. WHARTON, who had inherited great wealth from his father, a large landowner in England with additional acreage in America. The WHARTON estates in 1780, also included a pleasant home in New York City. HENRY WHARTON, only son of MR. WHARTON, was a captain in the British army, educated in England for both formative years and military training. Knowing her son may be in combat against his own kin from the south added stress to the ill health of his mother. When she died, her younger sister, JEANETTE PEYTON, joined the family to raise the WHARTON daughters properly in New York City. There, the elder, SARAH, became the belle of society, with parties in their home often including British officers, while the younger niece, FRANCES, developed a sympathy to the idea of the colonies ruling themselves. With General Burgoyne's surrender, after the British lay down their arms at Freeman's Farm, Mr. WHARTON brought his family to this country estate, feeling it a wiser choice than in New York City. Also, at THE LOCUSTS were CAESAR, a black servant, and his family, who had always lived with the WHARTON's.

In the south slaves were offered freedom by the English if they joined British military units and fought against the Colonists. Washington's American army at one point was noted to be one fifth black soldiers. Adjacent to this estate, in a small cottage, lived a peddler, HARVEY BIRCH, seldom at home, and his aged father, for whom HARVEY provided care by engaging a housekeeper, KATIE HAYNES, who wanted to be more than that to this peddler. Traveling on foot, carrying his pack of goods on his back from New York City to outlying residences of means, often over and around hills, he developed great strength and endurance, and became familiar with hidden crevices in the rocky slopes in which to seek refuge. At Four Corners, not far away, in a group of abandoned wooden buildings, a bawdy camp follower, BETTY FLANAGAN, widowed earlier in the war, had converted one structure in a primitive effort to what was called "FLANAGAN's INN", keeping it well supplied with hard liquor for various reasons.

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