In 1775 Silas Pierson was captain in Jesse Woodhull's regiment; later he was captain of a light horse company in the Revolution. Silas Pierson and Silas Pierson, Jr., were among the many signers of the pledge in the Cornwall precincts, in which they declared that they would never become slaves and would aid the Continental Congress in opposing the arbitrary acts of the British Parliament. Joshua Pierson, grandfather of George Pierson, Sr., was a private in Col. Jesse Woodhull's regiment in 1777 at the age of sixteen, and went with the regiment under the command of Major Zachariah Du Bois to assist in the defense of Fort Montgomery. The family of Mr. William Henry Pierson still resides on the old farm. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Bull of the "stone house." His daughter Lucile married Harry Bull, of Wallkill, who, like his father, is justice of the peace. It thus appears that in a large degree the history of Hamptonburgh township is the history of the Bulls, for marriage has linked the family with so many other well-known names. We would like to give a list of the men who have served as supervisors and also as elders of the church. Indeed our story could well lengthen itself into a small volume were all to be told which is of interest in our little town. We have tried to keep a class of facts which hold more than a passing and local interest. We have drawn for our material upon such published records as have been within our reach, and have consulted with persons who have knowledge of such points as may have been in dispute. Let us hope we have wronged no one in anything said or left unsaid, and have disseminated no more false facts than are unavoidable with the most conscientious historians. CHAPTER XIX. TOWN OF HIGHLANDS. By Captain Theodore Faurot. This is one of the younger towns of Orange County, only those of Tuxedo and Woodbury having been born later. It is, in fact, only about thirty-five years old. But for scenic beauty and native charm it easily outranks every other town in this county, if not all others on the Hudson River. The fame of the Hudson River Highlands is worldwide, and it is in this little town that the culmination of this native grandeur and picturesque beauty is reached. No one who has ever sailed up or down the Hudson, and who has not, will spend a moment wondering why this township was thus named. The general shape or contour of the town, laterally, may be roughly classed as triangular. But the topographical surface is far more difficult to classify. It has the most extended river frontage of any town in the country, it being some nine or ten miles, beginning at Cro' Nest, in the town of Cornwall on the north, and reaching below Fort Montgomery, to the Rockland County line. It is bounded on the north by the town of Cornwall, on the east by the Hudson River, on the south by Rockland county and the town of Woodbury, and on the west by Woodbury.