Soldiers would dart out beyond the British lines, burn a village, carry off some Whig farmers, and escape before opposing forces could rally.

Governor Tryon of New York was specially active in these enterprises and to this day a special odium attaches to his name.
For these ravages, and often with justice, the Loyalists were held responsible.

The result was a bitterness which fired even the calm spirit of Benjamin Franklin and led him when the day came for peace to declare that the plundering and murdering adherents of King George were the ones who should pay for damage and not the States which had confiscated Loyalist property.

Lists of Loyalist names were sometimes posted and then the persons concerned were likely to be the victims of any one disposed to mischief.

Sometimes a suspected Loyalist would find an effigy hung on a tree before his own door with a hint that next time the figure might be himself.