A Warm Reception in the Hudson Highlands by Dr. James M. Johnson
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merican forces in New York essentially won the war against Britain by preventing British forces in New York C ity and Canada from meeting in rhe Hudson Vall ey and thereby cutting off communications, supply and military movement berween New England and the rest of the rebelling colonies. MoscAmerican schoolchi ldren learn chat the Battle of Saratoga in October 1777, in which John Burgoyne surrendered his army-one quarter of the British troops in North America-to Horatio Gates, was the turning point in the American Revolution. Few lmow, however, that American warships on the Hudson River contributed to Gaces's victory in the north country ofNew York. T he rwo key ships in the small flotilla chat opposed the British in October 1777 were the American frigates Congress and Montgomery, built at the Continental Shipyard in Poughkeepsie, New York. T heir quest for glory wo uld be brief, ending when their crews scuttled chem to keep chem out of the enemy's hands. On 13December 1775, Co ngress passed a reso lu cion authori zing rhe construction ofa fleerof thirteen frigates co challenge rhe Royal Navy, to be built at a cost of $66,666.67 each. New York would build and ourfi r rwo of rhe thirteen, Congress and Montgomery. T he 682-con Congress was rared at 28 guns and had a deck length of 126 feet and a beam of34 feet; rhe 563-con Montgomery was rared ar 24 guns wi th a deck length of 119 feet and a beam of 32
search of rhe warships. When rhey were finally launched, the rwo new frigates spent the winter on Rondou r Creek near Kingston.
The Defense of the Highlands
A Continental friga te guards the entrance to the Hudson Highlands north of the chain below Fort Montgomery. (From a diorama at the Trailside Museum, Bear Mountain NY)
feet. Superintendents Jacobus Van Zandt, Augustus Lawrence, and Samuel Tudor would oversee rhe work in Poughkeepsie, on rhe eastern sho re of the Hudson, north of the City of New York. Despite Congress's deadline of March 1776 for the ships to put co sea, the superintendents did nor launch Montgomery and Congress until November of that year. Delayed by work stoppages, material shortages, and the diversion of naval scores co Brigadier General Benedict Arno ld 's fleet on Lake Champlain, the shipyard worked to complete and ourfir rhe fri gates even as the British landed at Staten Island and HMS Phoenix and HMS Rose ranged north as far as Peekskill Bay in July, ostensibly in
Awaiting the British at the entrance to the Hudson Highlands were Forts Montgomery (below, at right), on the north side ofPopolopen Creek, and Clinton (below, at left), the chain (bottom, center) that
SEA HISTORY 98, AUTUMN 200 I
On paper, General Israel Putnam, rhecommander of the Hudson Highlands, had eno ugh forces co give British co mm ander Sir Henry C lin ton a fight and well-placed fortifications substantial enough co make anyexpedirion against chem difficult should C linton venture north from New York C ity. Fort Montgomery on the west side of rhe Hudson, j use north of Popolopen C reek, had been established in 1776. The heart of its defenses against an attack from rhe river was the 100-fooc-long Grand Battery with walls eighteen feet chick. According co First Lieutenant William A. Patterso n of the 15th Regim ent, the battery, with its six 32pounders, "Rakes the River Pretty Well For Three Miles." The landward ramparts were "comparatively open with the works poorly situated and incomplete." On high er gro und co protect Fore Montgomery's south ern approach, and connected co ir by a bridge across Popolopen Creek, was Fore C linton . Whil e rhe rear of the fort faci ng its sister was incomplete, chis circular work was anchored by rwo star-redoubts, one of four points or bastions and rhe ocher of eight. Fifteen cannon , manned by 40 artillerymen, protected the fort itself, including the eight-pointed redoubt; rhe four-pointed redoubt co rhe southwest had three 6-pounders fired by
was intended to bar a British fleetfrom the upper Hudson, and a small flotilla. (Painting by Jack Mead; all images courtesy New York State Office ofParks, Recreation and Historic Preservation)
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