The Battle of Stony Point

As a member of the Stony Point, New York chapter of the S.A.R., and because it’s my hometown, I figured it only befitting that my first real article for this blog be about this pivotal battle in the American Revolution.  Here’s how it went down:

Stony Point, New York is located on the Hudson River, about 10 miles south of West Point, and 35 miles north of New York City.  During the Revolution, it was a key location for British troops, whose stronghold on the Hudson’s western shore allowed them control of King’s Ferry, a strategic crossing point at a narrow point in the river.

In June of 1779, British troops seized control of Stony Point on the west bank, and Verplanck’s point on the east, as part of a plan to flush colonial troops led by General George Washington out of the nearby hills and woods and into open battle.

Over a period of weeks, Washington kept an eye on the British fortification from Buckberg Mountain, and used local colonial merchants to gather intelligence about the British troops entrenched along the river.  Once weaknesses had been identified, Washington formulated a battle plan, assembled an infantry, and assigned command of the corps to Major General Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania.

During the night of July 15-16, 1779, General Wayne led 1350 troops in a surprise attack by dividing his army and wading through marshy wetlands during low tide, outflanking the British fortification to the north and south of their encampment.  After a battle lasting only 25 minutes, the Continental army took the fortified emcampment from the British.  Continental losses stood at 15 killed and 83 wounded, while official reports list British casualties at 20 killed, and 546 captured, 74 of whom were wounded.

Three days after the battle, Continental soldiers chose to abandon the post, not having enough men to defend it.  The British briefly reoccupied the emcampment, only to abandon it themselves a short time later, as troops were needed in the Southern states for ongoing battle.  Despite the short duration of the battle, and the fact that the post was abandoned by both side shortly afterward, the Battle of Stony Point proved to be one of the major engagements of 1779, and one of the last battles in the northern colonies.

The Stony Point Battlefield has been a state historic site open to the public since 1902.  There’s a museum, as well as exhibits about the battle, and other aspects of colonial life.  I’ve been there a number of times as a kid on school field trips, and I even remember my friends and I “taking a spin down the Battlefield” on our bikes on a couple of occasions.

It’s been several years since I was there last, but I think the next time I’m home, I’ll visit again, especially since the park is slated to be among those New York Governor Paterson proposes to close in an effort to keep the state’s budget in check.

But this time, as I walk the park grounds and peruse the museum exhibits, imagining what it must have been like for the men who went to battle that night in 1779, I’ll bear in mind the message General Anthony Wayne dispatched to General Washington upon Stony Point’s capture by the Continental army:  “The fort and garrison… are ours. The men behaved like men determined to be free.”

(For a more detailed account of the battle, here’s a link.)

(Battlefield photos by Manual Santiago)