Looking from one of the fortified positions, Hook Mountain and the Tors rise up along the southern horizon. Wading through waist-deep water in a soggy marsh, Wayne’s troops silently scaled the precipitous bluffs, taking the redcoats by surprise. Reaching across the river toward Verplanck’s Point on the eastern bank of the river, Stony Point marks the division between Haverstraw Bay and the southern waters of Peekskill Bay. On JGeneral (Mad) Anthony Wayne led a night assault against a British garrison stationed on a rocky promontory on the right bank of the Hudson. Haverstraw Bay and the Tors from Stony Point. Hook Mountain and the Tors are preserved as part of the Palisades Interstate Park system, with hiking trails, lakes, and other recreational amenities. The hill upon which it stood is occupied today by Helen Hayes Memorial Hospital. The house where Arnold plotted treason was demolished years ago. The site today is maintained as a state historic site, interpreting the Revolutionary period and the 1779 battle. Along its banks near the confluence, Benedict Arnold had delivered to Major John Andre plans of the American fortifications at West Point. A few miles north of the heights, Treason Creek flows into the Hudson. The Hudson from the Wilderness to the Sea. Burning with desire to retake the forts, he applied to Washington for permission to make the attempt…The cautious Washington considered when the impetuous Wayne, scorning all obstacles, said, “General, I’ll storm hell if you will only plan it!” General Anthony Wayne… was then in command of the Americans in the neighborhood. These fortresses, commanding the lower entrance to the Highlands, were very important. General Vaughan assailed it from the rear, and the little garrison soon surrendered themselves prisoners of war. The victors pointed the guns of the captured fortress, and cannon and bombs brought by themselves, upon Fort Fayette the following morning. The fort there, and Fort Fayette 0n Verplanck’s Point, on the opposite side of the river, were captured by Sir Henry Clinton on the 1st of June of that year…The garrison at Stony Point was very small, and retired towards West Point on the approach of the British. “Stony Point was the theater of stirring events in the summer of 1779. Published also as a limited-edition in Hudson Highlands. Discover the Hudson Anew, curated by Laura Vookles. (Image and text were featured in the exhibition James McElhinney. join me in celebrating the joys of Quaranteam travel, the hope that these diversions might inspire us to value things we had taken for granted, to draw strength, wisdom and compassion from deeper engagements with nature. Immobilized for the time being, we can revisit destinations, near and far. Old friends pass away, people we loved and admired. Waiting for the crisis to pass, our thoughts go out to friends and loved-ones who also shelter in place.
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