| James De Lancey | |
| Office: | Member of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia for the Town of Annapolis |
| Term Start: | 1786 |
| Term End: | 1793 |
| Predecessor: | Stephen De Lancey |
| Successor: | Thomas Henry Barclay |
| Office1: | Sheriff of Westchester County |
| Term Start1: | 1769 |
| Term End1: | 1776 |
| Birth Date: | September 6, 1746 |
| Birth Place: | Westchester County, Province of New York, British America |
| Death Place: | Round Hill, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Occupation: | Sheriff, militia officer, farmer, politician |
| Parents: | Peter DeLancey Elizabeth Colden |
| Children: | 10 |
| Relations: | Stephen DeLancey (brother) Alice De Lancey Izard (sister) James DeLancey (uncle) Oliver DeLancey (uncle) Etienne DeLancey (grandfather) Cadwallader Colden (grandfather) Thomas Barclay (brother-in-law) |
Colonel James De Lancey (September 6, 1746 - May 2, 1804) was an American-born military officer and politician who led one of the best known and most feared of the loyalist units, De Lancey's Brigade, during the American Revolution. He was known as the "Commander of the Cowboys" by the loyalists and by the Patriots he was known as the "Outlaw of the Bronx".[1] He later became a political figure in Nova Scotia. He represented Annapolis Township in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1786 to 1794.[2] He has become a controversial figure for unsuccessfully trying to use the courts to retrieve a slave he brought to Nova Scotia.
He was born in Westchester County, New York, the son of Peter DeLancey and Elizabeth (née Colden) DeLancey. Among his siblings was brother Stephen DeLancey, also a member of the Nova Scotia Assembly, and sister Susan DeLancey, who was married to Thomas Henry Barclay, a lawyer who also became one of the United Empire Loyalists in Nova Scotia and served in the colony's government.[3] Another sister, the socialite, Alice De Lancey Izard, married Ralph Izard, who later represented South Carolina in the United States Senate.[4]
His paternal grandparents were French immigrant Etienne DeLancey and Anne (née Van Cortlandt) DeLancey, herself the third child of Gertrude (née Schuyler) Van Cortlandt and Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the Chief Justice of the Province of New York.[5] His maternal grandfather, Cadwallader Colden, and his uncle, James DeLancey served as Colonial Governors of New York.[6]
He served as sheriff of Westchester County from 1769 to 1776 and as an officer in the militia. Because of his loyalist sympathies, he was forced to leave the area and went to New York City, where he and his uncle, Oliver De Lancey, raised a loyalist unit known as "De Lancey's Brigade", "De Lancey’s Cowboys", and "De Lancey's refugees". De Lancey himself was called the "Outlaw of the Bronx".[7]
Forces under Delancy ambushed and killed Colonel Christopher Greene and Major Ebenezer Flagg of the Rhode Island Regiment of the Continental Army at the Battle of Pine's Bridge on May 14, 1781. From one account of the attack, "his body was found in the woods, about a mile distant from his tent, cut, and mangled in the most shocking way".[8]
Around the start of 1783, following the Patriot victory in the American Revolution, he moved to Nova Scotia, settling at Round Hill in Annapolis County. De Lancey was elected to the provincial assembly after his brother Stephen accepted an office in the Bahamas. James took his seat representing Annapolis Township from Feb. 26, 1790 until he was named to the province's Council in 1794 by Governor Wentworth.[9] [5]
He resigned from his seat on the council in 1801 due to poor health. A slave owner, he was thwarted by Richard John Uniacke in his efforts to have slavery legally recognized in Nova Scotia.[10]
In 1784, he married Martha Tippett, the daughter of William Tippett and Martha (née Hunt) Tippett.[11] Together, they had six sons and four daughters.[2] [12]
De Lancey died at Round Hill three years after resigning from the Council on May 2, 1804, at the age of 57.[13] There is a prominent monument marking the burial ground.