VALENTINE'S MANUAL

were little more than raw recruits, but Burr was famed
as a disciplinarian, and soon, with thorough drill, had
his regiment in better shape than were most of the troops
in the Continental forces.

His next step was .to look for possible spies, those
who might report his movements to the British or ac¬
tively aid a British movement into his territory. He also
wished to know those friendly to the American forces
on whom he could rely for immediate information of
any movement of the British.

This work he had systematized while on the American
lines at White Plains, and applied the same methods to
Northern New Jersey. Families among the farmers un¬
doubtedly to be trusted were so marked in the headquar¬
ters records ; those of whose Toryism there was no doubt
were also so marked and thereafter constantly watched
by delegated watchers. Between the two classes were
certain families whose status was such that a period of
probation must be passed before it could be definitely
settled as to whether they were. friend or foe, and of
these, the family of DeVinne, living at Paramus, in
Northern New Jersey, were of so special a class that
Burr himself determined to watch them.

The reason was, that although a family of Swiss ex¬
traction, one daughter had married Colonel Provost of
the British army, and when just prior to the War his
regiment had been ordered to the West Indies, this
Mrs. Theodosia Provost and her two small sons had ar¬
rived at Paramus to live with her widowed mother and
her sister Catherine at their home, "The Hermitage,"
Although the inquiries among their neighbors led Burr
to believe the family highly esteemed and popular, still
he had doubts whether the wife of  a British colonel

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