The Spy -- A Story By Cooper

The Spy: A Tale Of The Neutral Ground is a novel by James Fenimore Cooper.

"I wish from the bottom of my heart, this unnatural struggle was over, that we might again meet our friends and relatives in peace and love."

"It is much to be desired," said Harper, emphatically, again raising his eyes to the countenance of his host.

"I hear of no movement of consequence, since the arrival of our new allies," said Mr. Wharton, shaking the ashes from his pipe, and turning his back to the other under the pretense of receiving a coal from his youngest daughter.

"None have yet reached the public, I believe."

Literature and the American RevolutionThe Spy presents a cast of real Americans, the Wharton family, living in Westchester County, just north of New York City in 1780, when the Revolution had turned their neighborhood into a hostile, if neutral, ground. One of the engagements described in the book took place in what is today the Bronx; the events in the novel otherwise occur in Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam counties. Much curious local history, which apparently fascinated Cooper, is also related about local brigands called "Skinners" and "Cow Boys."