With this volume are exhausted the Colonial muster rolls of troops who were in the service of the Province, from the capture of New York by the English in 1664 to the outbreak of the Revolution in 1775. In this interval occurred many events of great historical character, importance and value. The Stuart dynasty ended in England and was succeeded by the house of Hanover, which still reigns (1897). In the province of New York beginning with the muster rolls that appear in this volume, Colonel Thomas Dongan was appointed Governor of the province, the first Assembly under English rule was held, and the charter of liberty was adopted; the province was divided into ten counties: New York, Westchester, Dutchess, Albany, Ulster, Orange, Richmond, Kings, Queens and Suffolk; the first Colonial post-office was established in New York March 2, 1685; the following year, July 22, the city of Albany was incorporated, whose charter was published four days later; in 1687 the French invaded Seneca County, an act that was followed by the first invasion of Canada by the Colonists - war being declared between England and France in May, 1689. Then follows Frontenac's expeditions against the English Colonies, the destruction of Schenectady, the French retreat, and the failure of the English expedition that pursued Frontenac's army. Governor Leisler's refusal to turn over the fort at New York to Governor Sloughter's representative, Richard Ingoldesby; his arrest and imprisonment trial and execution for treason, form the most exciting events in the province during the year 1691.

During the next sixteen years the province was in a state of unrest, because of threatened French invasion, expeditions against Canada, troubles with the Iroquois, and the Negro insurrection in New York City. Within the next twenty years, the first newspaper was published in the province, the New York Gazette, by William Bradford, October, 1725; the boundary with Connecticut was established; the New York Weekly Journal was issued by John Peter Zenger Nov. 5, 1733, followed a year later by his arrest for libel, and his acquittal after an imprisonment of thirty-five weeks. The second Negro plot, which had as its object the destruction of New York City, disturbed the province in March, 1741. And in 1744 began the war of the Austrian succession between England and France.

Ten years later assembled the Convention to consider a Colonial Confederacy, the articles of union being drawn by Benjamin Franklin. The French and Indian War gave the Colonists their first real experience in what was to prove to be a long and sanguinary contest. The Sons of Liberty were first organized in New York City in 1765, and in that city October 7 of that year, gathered the Colonial Convention that condemned the Stamp Act. From that time on, to Lexington and Concord, the people of the province were in constant state of disquiet, unrest and uncertainty.