People vs. Nicholas Dean, indictment for adhering to the enemies of this state
— Orange County Court of General Sessions, 1782
New York City, Long Island, and Staten Island were occupied and governed by the British army between mid-1776 and late 1783, and many New York Loyalists moved there. Jeremiah Coleman, a tailor of Goshen, informed an Orange County grand jury in November 1782 that in April 1777 he had been captured by enemy troops in New Jersey. He was imprisoned in New York City, then released to work as a tailor for the British army. He often went to a tavern run by Nicholas Dean, whom he had known before the war. In December 1777 Dean with two British officers confronted Coleman while he was drinking a “Bowl of Toddy.” Not giving Coleman “time to drink his Liquor,” Dean ordered him out, saying he “did not keep a House for Rebells.” Dean also owned a sloop that carried rum and sugar to the British troops occupying Philadelphia. The grand jury indicted Dean for “adhering to the enemies of this state.” He was convicted in the Supreme Court without a trial, in April 1783.
People vs. Nicholas Dean, Orange County
