The "Baylor Massacre" (also "Skirmish Near Tappan", "Rebel Post Near Old Tapan", "Tappan Massacre", and "Raid on Old Tappan") was a British attack on September 27, 1778, which surprised the 3rd Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons under the command of Colonel George Baylor during the American Revolutionary War. It occurred in the present-day town of River Vale, New Jersey. The Continentals lost 69 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured. One British soldier was killed. Setting On September 22, 1778, Lt. Gen. Sir Henry Clinton ordered Maj. Gen. Sir Charles Grey, Maj. Gen. Lord Cornwallis, and Brigadier General Edward Mathew to mobilize troops in an effort to provoke Gen. George Washington into a battle, and as a diversion for a raid against a Patriot privateering base in southern New Jersey. After learning that Col. George Baylor had secured quarters for his troops, twelve officers and 104 enlisted men, in the barns of several farms on Over Kill Road—from Dutch "across the river", since renamed Rivervale Road—Cornwallis ordered Grey to pursue Baylor's troops. Battle Around 11 o'clock on the night of September 27, 1778, British Major-General Charles Grey mobilized the 2nd Battalion of Light Infantry, the 2nd Battalion of Grenadiers, as well as the 33rd and 64th regiments. Between one and three o'clock in the morning, six companies of light infantry under Major Turner Straubenzie and six companies of light infantry under Major John Maitland approached a collection of 3 farm houses and six barns occupied by 116 men of the 3rd Light Dragoons. (This unit of Virginia cavalry is variously referred to as "Lady Washington's Dragoons" and "Mrs. Washington’s Guards".) Maitland's detachment was used to cut off the night patrol, while Straubenzee's troops used their bayonets to maintain the element of surprise as they went from house to house. Deaths on the American side included two officers and nine men being killed in action, with another four later dying of their wounds. The total loss for the Continentals was 69 killed, wounded, or captured. Colonel Baylor, Major Alexander Clough, and two other officers attempted to escape by climbing up a chimney. Baylor was wounded and captured — he died in 1784 from complications of the wounds incurred in the attack. Clough was mortally wounded in the attack. One of the other officers was killed and several others captured. After the attack, some of the injured prisoners were taken to the Reformed Church