Claudius Smith, a notorious Loyalist guerrilla leader…

Claudius Smith, a notorious Loyalist guerrilla leader of a band of irregulars who are known locally as the 'cowboys’, has participated in Tory raids alongside the Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant.

Though he has gained a fearsome reputation among the Patriots, Claudius is not actually known to have killed anyone.

He is even viewed by some as sort of a Robin Hood, helping to defend the Loyalists in the area.

Smith had even ended up in jail at one point, with a close relative of Captain John Brown (1728–1776), the grandfather of John Brown the abolitionist.

One of Smith's men had apparently robbed and killed a Patriot leader, Major Nathaniel Strong, and on October 6, 1778, New York Governor George Clinton had posted a reward of twelve hundred dollars for Smith's arrest.

Claudius, soon captured, is hanged on January 22, 1779 in the town of Goshen, New York, for supposed acts of terrorism upon the people of the surrounding communities.

Two of his sons, William and James (the latter will be captured in February of 1779 by one Abner Thorpe), will suffer the same fate.