THE HUDSON HIGHLANDS

Fort Montgomery State Historic Site 

 https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/fortmontgomery/amenities.aspx

690 Route 9W 

Fort Montgomery, NY 10922

Hours: Fort Montgomery is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 5 PM and Sunday 1 -5 PM

Phone: (845) 446-2134

 

Fort Clinton at Trailside Museum

https://trailsidemuseumsandzoo.org/ 

Bear Mountain State Park

Bear Mountain, NY 10911

Hours: Open daily year-round (except Thanksgiving and Christmas); December 1 to March 31, 10 AM to 4 PM and April 1 to November 20, 10 AM to 4:30 PM

Phone: (845) 429-2960

 

Historical Description:

Begun in February 1776 Fort Montgomery had three landward redoubts and river batteries while Fort Clinton (August 1776) had a battery and two redoubts. On October 6, 1777, in a diversion to draw off American forces opposing General John Burgoyne's expedition into New York from Canada, General Sir Henry Clinton led 2,100 Loyalists, Hessians, and Regulars from King's Ferry against the landward approaches of Forts Montgomery and Clinton. American Brigadier Generals Governor George and James Clinton had to defend the two forts with a garrison of fewer than 700 men. On the river five American warships protected an iron chain on wooden rafts and boom of ships' hawsers. Despite the gallant American efforts, the undermanned twin forts fell to overwhelming British attack by nightfall. While British forces won the battles of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, these fortifications disrupted Sir Henry Clinton's timetable, complicating any attempts to relieve Burgoyne's trapped army.

 

The Site:

Fort Montgomery comprises some twenty-five archeologically significant features on 14.42 acres of land owned since 1914 by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. The ramparts of the irregularly shaped fortification follow the contours of the bluffs overlooking the Hudson River and Popolopen Creek and connect three landward redoubts-South, Round Hill, and North--and three river batteries-Grand, Putnam's, and River. Foundations of structures in the fort include the guard house, the powder magazine, the main barracks, officers' commissary, officers' barracks, storehouse, bake house, soldiers' necessary, provision stores, soldiers' hut and an additional barracks. A trail and interpretive signs tell the story of the fort and the battle. Fort Clinton has a museum with artifacts and exhibits describing the forts and the battles as well as the remarkably well-preserved Outer Redoubt.

 

Research Patron: Margaret K. Johnson; John Wort