In the early morning of October 17, 1780, a small British force of about 200 men operating from Canada, including American Loyalists and about 30 Mohawk warriors under Captain John Munro, attacked Ballstown along Middle Line Road in what are now Ballston and Milton. The raid grew out of tensions that had divided residents since war reached the colonies in 1775, when local men joined Albany County militia service under Colonel Jacobus Van Schoonhoven and Lt. Colonel James Gordon, and it came after years of British hit-and-run attacks from Canada following the surrender at Saratoga on October 17, 1777. After changing plans from an intended strike on Schenectady because of reinforcements at Ballstown fort, Munro led his force south from a camp near Kayaderosseras Creek and began the assault about 1:00 a.m. at Gordon's homestead. Moving northward, the raiders burned homes, destroyed grain, seized livestock, and captured men and older boys while women and younger children fled through the darkness to the woods and the fort. Local knowledge possessed by Munro and Captain William Fraser, both familiar with Ballstown and many of its residents, helped the attackers approach undetected and target known patriots and militia leaders. During and around the raid, John Shew was killed after capture, Isaac Stow was killed while trying to escape and warn Gordon, and George Scott was badly wounded while defending his home. The attack ended about 4 a.m. when the raiders recrossed Kayaderosseras Creek, leaving two dead, one wounded, thirty-six captured, and nineteen homesteads attacked, many of them burned. The attackers then returned to Crown Point and sent the prisoners to Montreal, arriving 16 days later, where the Ballstown captives remained for two years under harsh conditions before being released on October 16, 1782; despite their imprisonment, all survived to the end of the war and reached Boston on November 27, 1782 before making their way home. Among those captured were at least four enslaved African Americans, including Nero, Jacob, and Anne Gordon and Dublin Benedict, some of whom were sold in Montreal before later escape or return, while a few residents such as Manasseh Collins, Elisha Benedict Sr., and Cyrus Fillmore escaped capture during the night or soon after.