Fort Montgomery

Hip-Hip-Hurray!

That’s the wording on my wife’s coffee mug that her surgeon sent her after her hip replacement.

She recovered quickly, in part to the excellent rehabilitation care she received from at Helen Hays Hospital in West Haverstraw, New York.

While driving across the Bear Mountain Bridge and down Route 9W to visit my wife, I passed several intriguing signs and monuments that I pledged I would return to and document.

The first one was an anchor assembly on the side of the road.

Moving closer I read the inscription on the Plaque

The plaque commemorates the mooring of the Hudson River National Reserve Defense Fleet at this spot from 1946 to 1971. Ships that had been used in WWII to ferry supplies and men to hot spots around the world were subsequently anchored here in case they were needed again.

My father, a WWII Army-Air Force plane mechanic, told me that this was where he left for his assignment overseas. He was originally told that his unit would be going to Alaska and was given winter clothing. It turned out that this was a ruse to fool any spies. Consequently, he didn’t need his US issue fur parker in North Africa.

Further down the road there is another sign honoring a different movement of troops across the Hudson River enroute to war.

This crossing was a massive undertaking. Around 4,500 French troops and 2,00 Continentals rowed from Verplank on the eastern shore to Kings Ferry on the western shore of the Hudson. They were on their way to Chesapeake Bay as was the French fleet. Additional troops from both armies remained to give the British General Henry Clinton the impression that an attack on New York City was imminent.

But why were the French fighting with the Rebels and George Washington at all? Well, here’s a brief history lesson – The French had been upset that the balance of international power was disrupted by the English being victorious in the French and Indian War in 1763. When the American Uprisers defeated the British at Saratoga in 1777, the French decided that this rebellion had a chance of vanquishing the British. So, in 1780 Rochambeau’s Army arrive in Newport, Rhode Island to give help to Washington’s troops.

 Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau 

I always wondered why people in portraits stuffed one hand inside their shirt, vest, or jacket. I found out that the most difficult body part for an artist to draw was an external limb, so they charged more for an exact rendering of hands and feet. Thus, the expression: “It cost an arm and a leg.”

Sorry for the digression. Back to the War.

This crossing might never have taken place if the British still occupied their fort on Stony Point which is right next to King Ferry. Fortunately, the Patriots under Brigadier General “Mad Anthony” Wayne captured the fort in 1779.

The original fort is no more, but the entrance is a site to behold.

As you can read, the battlefield has been repurposed as the Stony Point State Park.

I have to admit the British did know how to situate a fort for the benefit of a strategic and aesthetic point of view.

This view looks south down the Hudson River. The fort also commanded views and gun sights east across the river and to the north.

Such a weapon of war should surely give an attacking army pause before attempting to breech the fortification. However, the Patriots attacked at night when the British kept the canon unloaded. Even if it had been loaded, the canon could not be lowered to fire at the light infantry clambering up the steep escalade. According to the plaques only 3 of the 20 sappers, armed with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets, made it up the hill unscathed, yet they were successful.

One of the days that I was taking photos happened to be a day that colonial reinactors were on the site setting up tents, cooking meals, and explaining how to fire a musket. They also displayed the paper money that was used in lieu of hard currency. That was why when our allies, the French troops who were marching with Washington, paid in gold and silver, the merchants sought out their commerce.

One item that was exhibited was a 1700’s game, a game I knew well. Back then it was called “Four in a box.” I played it for hours under the brand name “Connect Four.”

Well, our soldiers may have played games in their leisure, but they did not play games on the night of July 15-16 1779 when they stormed this British outpost and claimed it for the Rebel Nation.

It was short lived victory. When the British returned in great numbers, the Americans burnt the fort and took the artillery. Even though the British rebuilt the fort, they could not sustain it because of lack of reinforcements. They abandoned the fort in October 1779.

With no opposition from the abandoned fort, Washington and Rochambeau crossed the Hudson River and the rest is history.

I hoped you enjoyed our journey to the west side of “the river that flows both ways.”