Billopp was captured twice by American patriots, one occasion occurred on June 23, 1779, when they rowed across the Arthur Kill from Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

He was informed that his harsh treatment was in retaliation for the suffering of John Leshler and Captain Nathaniel Fitz Randolph of Woodbridge, New Jersey, being held by the British.

You are hereby commanded to receive into your custody, the body of Col. Christopher Billop, prisoner of war, herewith delivered to you, and having put irons on his hands and feet, you are to chain him down to the floor in a close room, in the said jail; and there so detain him, giving him bread and water only for his food, until you receive further orders from me, or the commissary of Prisoners for the State of New Jersey, for the time being.

New Jersey.Sir, Sorry I am that I have been put under the disagreeable necessity of a treatment towards your person that will prove so irksome to you; but retaliation is directed, and it will, I most sincerely hope, be in your power to relieve yourself from the situation by writing to New York, to procure the relaxation of the sufferings of John Leshler, and Capt.

Elizabeth Town, Nov. 6, 1779.Another prisoner being held in the Burlington jail at the same time was John Graves Simcoe of the Queen's Rangers, who led the massacre of patriots in the William Hancock house in Salem, New Jersey, and embarked on a raid into New Jersey, dubbed "Simcoe's Raid", from "Billop's point", as Christopher Billop's land was known.

As Staten Island was firmly under British control this carried no immediate weight; prudently Billopp in 1780 started selling off his land, often at only two-thirds of market prices.

His first wife (licence issued November 2, 1762) was Francis Willett, born November 2, 1739, daughter of Thomas Willett and of Elizabeth Lawrence, their children; His second wife (licence issued February 11, 1773) was Jane Seaman, born January 16, 1754, died January 21, 1802, in New Brunswick, Canada, daughter of Benjamin Seaman and Elizabeth Mott, their children; His former New York estate, built by his great-grandfather, was the site of a failed peace conference on September 11, 1776, between the Americans, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and Edward Rutledge and the British, Lord Howe representing the crown.

[7] His gravestone reads: Sacred to the memory of the Honorable Christopher Billopp A member of His Majesty's council in this province, whose uncompromising loyalty and distinguished exertions as a Lieu.

Colonel, in the Royal cause during the American rebellion, obliged him at the termination of that contest, to abandon without compensation his hereditary property on Staten Island, and retire with his family to this Colony, wherein he has since resided universally respected.