Dragoon Diary

About the Book

The Bergen Record reported that the remains of a Revolutionary War cavalry unit were unearthed in River Vale, NJ. This was the Third Continental Light Dragoons, nicknamed, Mrs. Washington’s Body Guard. The accompanying text read …provided bayonet practice for the British in Old Tappan, NY. This has come down to us as the Baylor Massacre of September 28, 1778. Who were the officers and men of the Third Dragoons? Did they play more of a part in the American Revolution than provide bayonet practice? How did, and how could, a massacre take place? A military unit must have a history. Was the massacre the end of the dragoons? What was a Virginia unit doing in Bergen County, New Jersey in the first place? How could a cavalry unit be so surprised and then massacred with almost no shots fired in return? This is not a conventional history, in that there is little attempt to re-write history. History writes itself from letters, diaries, public records and newsprint.

About the Author

Bill Maurer has been working in historic site preservation and research for almost twenty years He has a BA in History from the Virginia Military Institute, an MAH from Manhattanville and is a graduate of the Museum Studies program at NYU. Bill served as a Company Commander at Fort Knox and his last assignment in the Reserves was as the Operations Officer for a Special Forces Group ( Abn). He was the curator and director of three historic house sites in the NY area, and serves on several preservation and historic boards. He is a Park Ranger at the Statue of Liberty National Monument/Ellis Island