first wife Janet Livingston, inherited this property, and it became known as the Livingston Mansion. In 1780, a family dispute arose causing Van Cortlandt and his family to relocate yet again, this time to a farm in the Nine Partners Patent. His son, Philip, wrote in his memoir that in "the Spring of 1780 ... having passed thro the Manor of Cortlandt Saw My friends at Peeks Kill and then to Nine Partners where my Father and his family were obliged to remove from Rhinebeck as Colo. Livingston would not suffer him to remain any longer". American Revolution Van Cortlandt served in the colonial forces during the American Revolution in spite of efforts by British officials to ensure his loyalty to Great Britain. On October 19, 1775, he was appointed colonel of the Third Regiment of Westchester County Militia. He remained colonel of the regiment until June 28, 1778, when he was replaced by John Hyatt. "Neutral Ground" During the Revolution, the Van Cortlandt Manor lands straddled two areas, one controlled by the Patriot forces and the other in the "Neutral Ground". As a result, even though the Van Cortlandt family became Whigs, the populace divided in their political allegiances during the years of conflict. In New York the colonial government began to fall apart, and a new revolutionary regime started to emerge. The regular Assembly, which had been growing increasingly more pro-British, ceased meeting in January, 1775. Meanwhile, ad hoc committees of revolutionaries soon transformed themselves into a series of four Provincial Congresses that began meeting in April, 1775. Pierre Van Cortlandt sat for Westchester County at all four and was chosen to preside over the last three. In recognition of his firm support for the Patriot cause, a number of Manor residents placed a notice in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury in April 1775, specifically thanking Van Cortlandt and John Thomas for "their firm attachment to, and seal on the late occasion for the preservation of the Union of the colonies, and rights and liberties of America." The 4th Congress, then sitting at White Plains, ratified the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776. Because these provincial congresses had difficulty maintaining a functioning quorum, they delegated authority to smaller working groups, designated as committees of safety. Van Cortlandt assumed the chairmanship of the main committee of safety on January 3, 1776. Pierre was also a colonel