Fort Clinton

“ At West Point were built a half-dozen earthwork fortifications, of which Fort Putnam on Mt. Independence, Fort Clinton on the extremity of the point (not to be confused with the Fort Clinton captured by the British in 1777 farther down the river) and Battery Knox, just above the river landing, were the largest. These were the fortifications that Benedict Arnold, their commander, in 1780 agreed to deliver into British hands. ”

“ The Colonel waited a favourable moment to attack Fort Clinton, which was a circular height, defended by a line for musquetry, with a barbet battery of three guns in the center, and flanked by two redoubts; the approaches to it thro’ a continued abbatis of 400 yards, defensive every inch, and exposed to the fire of ten pieces of cannon. A brisk attack on the Montgomery side; the gallies with their oars approaching, firing, and even striking the fort; the men of war that moment appearing; the extreme ardour of the troops ”

“ Another party of thirty men was sent out upon the mountain road leading from Fort Clinton to Haverstraw; and at a place called Doodletown, three miles south from the fort, they fell in with the advanced guard of the approaching British. The Americans were ordered to surrender, but refused, when the enemy fired upon them. They returned the fire with spirit, and retreated to the fort without losing a man. ”

“ The capture of Fort Clinton and Fort Montgomery was two years before Mad Anthony's successful assault on Stony Point. Early in the history of the Revolution, the British Government thought that it would be possible to cut off the eastern from the middle and southern Colonies by capturing and garrisoning commanding points along the Hudson and Lake Champlain. It was therefore decided in London, in the spring of 1777, to have Sir Henry Clinton approach from the south and Burgoyne [page 85] from the north. ”

“ The plateau, which affords ample space for all military evolutions appertaining to artillery, infantry, and cavalry, is bounded on the west by lofty and rugged hills, at the base of which are situated the various Academic buildings, the Cadet Barracks, and the residences of the officers and professors.
Proceeding on to the West Point Hotel, an old fort is seen on the north-east angle of the plain, known as Fort Arnold, until the treason of the apostate became exposed, when the name, thenceforth unknown in American history, was changed to Fort Clinton. ”

“ Campbell, in the mean time, proceeded with nine hundred men by a circuitous march to the rear of Fort Montgomery; while Sir Henry Clinton, with Generals Vaughan and Tryon, moved onwards towards Fort Clinton. Both fortresses were attacked at once, between four and five in the afternoon: they were defended with great resolution. This will be readily admitted, when it is remembered that the whole garrison consisted of but six hundred men. ”

“ They were springing into their clothing before they were entirely awake, and rushing out to form in the company street before they were half in their clothing. Those who had been into Fort Clinton were the first in line, and as the others followed they heard the cadet adjutant rattling through the [270] list of names, and Lieutenant Allen shouting orders as if trying to drown the other’s mighty voice. ”

“ Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell was killed leading his column against Fort Montgomery, but his brave troops entered and drove the garrison of eight hundred men from the place. Clinton found the approach to the fort of his own name much more arduous. But on went our brave fellows till they reached the foot of the works, where, having no ladders, they hoisted one another on their shoulders to the embrasures, through which they pushed past the cannon, and drove the Americans from their guns, and across the rampart, at the points of their bayonets. ”

“ This failure, with the fifteen hundred men it would take to garrison Stony Point against the enemy's shipping, caused Washington to demolish and abandon the fort. But Clinton re-occupied and repaired it again immediately.
"Then Washington established his headquarters at West Point in July, and from that time to December, he gave his attention to the completion of the works at that post."
"Look on the right, children! There you will see the Verplanck's Point your aunt has just been describing to you as holding Fort Lafayette," called Mr. Davis, pointing out the spot to the eager children. ”

“ I fear to say, regarding a man I heartily respect and admire, there ought only to be one. Of his personal bearing and his courage there can be no doubt; he was always eager to show it; and whether at the final charge on Breed's Hill, when at the head of the rallied troops he carried the Continental lines, or here before Sullivan's Fort, or a year later at Fort Washington, when, standard in hand, he swept up the height, and entered the fort at the head of the storming column, Clinton was always foremost in the race of battle, and the King's service knew no more admirable soldier. ”

“ The British had already tried their hand at the south, and with results not quite to their liking. In June, 1776, General Clinton came with a fleet to capture Charleston. But Colonel William Moultrie had built on an island in the harbor a low redoubt of palmetto logs and sand bags, from which his guns made sad havoc with the fleet, while the British shot could not pierce through the tough, spongy logs of the fort. After a disastrous fight, Clinton went back disheartened. The gallant defense of this fort had a most wholesome effect upon the patriot cause. ”

“ Information was at length conveyed to him that Sir Henry Clinton was in possession of advices that the American Commander-in-chief contemplated an advance on New York by way of King's Bridge. Clinton's scheme would allow the army of General Washington to move upon the city, having collected all his magazines at the fortification at West Point, but at a given moment Arnold was expected to surrender the fort and garrison and compel the army of Washington to retire immediately or else suffer capture in the field. ”

“ As soon as we returned to Camp McPherson palms of the hands were turned to the front again and the usual routine there resumed.
Some of the yearlings said that certain of the plebes had become “too fresh” out in the mountains, and as the ordinary methods would not tame them down a few fights in Fort Clinton were necessary. Seconds were chosen, and soon nearly every cadet in camp knew that there would be a fight in Fort Clinton on a certain day during the supper hour. Fort Clinton is just across Posts Nos. ”

“ Forts Clinton and Montgomery, commanded by the brothers James and George Clinton, were feebly garrisoned; in both fortresses there were not more than six hundred men, chiefly militia from Dutchess and Ulster. There was a fortification near Peekskill, called Fort Independence, which was also feebly garrisoned; in fact, the Highland posts were almost defenseless against a respectable demonstration on the part of the enemy. ”

“ During the first years of the war the north was the battle field. The south was almost unmolested except for the attack in 1776 on Fort Moultrie which was gallantly defended. In December, 1778, however, General Clinton sent thirty-five hundred men by sea from New York; these troops easily captured Savannah which was defended by only six hundred men. The British forces made themselves masters of the country defended only by scattered bands of patriots. In the spring of 1780, Clinton himself with eight thousand men went by sea to Charleston and captured the city. ”

“ After completing the fortifications on both sides the river, at King's Ferry, Sir Henry Clinton placed a strong garrison in each fort, and proceeded down the river to Philipsburg. The relative situation of the hostile armies presenting insuperable obstacles to any grand operation, they could be employed offensively only on detached expeditions. Connecticut from its contiguity to New York, and its extent of sea coast, was peculiarly exposed to invasion. ”

“ North of this fort, on the same shore, in front of the city, are two other forts of the same description, called North Battery and Fort Gansevoort; being of no use they are abandoned. Castle Clinton is now a public pleasure house. In the barrack is a coffee-house; boxes for parties are arranged within the battery, and on the platform are amphitheatrical seats, because the yard of the fort is used for fire-works, and other exhibitions. From the battery I walked to Brooklyn ferry, and was delighted with the large number of vessels, and the great life and bustle. ”

“ But learning from his scouts that the Americans had a camp in force on the high grounds between Fort Edward and Fort George, as well as parties along the whole shore, he was compelled to abandon the design.
Worn down by a series of toils and attacks; abandoned by the Indians, Provincials, and Canadians; the regulars greatly reduced by the late heavy losses, and by sickness; disappointed of aid from Sir Henry Clinton; suffering from want of provisions; invested and almost surrounded by an army of triple numbers, without the possibility of retreat ”

“ One hundred and seventy-five men were killed, and nearly as many wounded. Sir Henry Clinton, with two thousand troops and five or six hundred seamen, attempted repeatedly to cross from Long Island, and co-operate in the attack upon the fort, but was as often foiled by Colonel Thompson, with his battery of two cannons, and a body of South Carolina rangers and North Carolina regulars. ”

“ The American forces opposed to Clinton on the lower Hudson consisted of about 1200 Continentals under the command of the choleric old General Israel Putnam and were concentrated several miles south of West Point, where three forts had been built at great expense earlier in the year. Fort Independence was on the east side of the Hudson just north of Peekskill; Forts Clinton and Montgomery were on the west side directly opposite, Montgomery being the more northern of the two. South of the location of the forts stood Dunderberg Mountain, outpost of the highlands of the Hudson. ”

“ A meeting of the field officers of Orange and Ulster, was held at Mrs. Falls' in Little Britain, March 31st, 1777, pursuant to a resolve of the New York Convention empowering General George Clinton, lately appointed commandant of the forts in the Highlands, to call out the militia "to defend this State against the incursions of our implacable enemies, and reinforce the garrisons of Fort Montgomery, defend the post of Sidnam's Bridge (near Hackensack) , and afford protection to the distressed inhabitants." ”

“ Governor Clinton, who commanded, his brother, General James Clinton, and a part of the garrison availed themselves of the knowledge of the ground and escaped across the river, but the Americans suffered a loss of two hundred and fifty in killed and prisoners. Fort Constitution was immediately evacuated by the few troops that held it, and two new Continental frigates, with some other vessels, were set on fire to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. Even141 Peekskill and Fort Independence were abandoned, the stores being conveyed to Fishkill, whither Putnam retired with his forces. ”

“ But Colonel Moultrie, in honor of whom the fort was subsequently named, made a gallant defence and repulsed them. In 1779 they made a second attack upon the city, this time approaching it by land, but were again compelled to retreat. Sir Henry Clinton, with seven or eight thousand men, opened his batteries upon Charleston on the second of April, 1780. Fort Moultrie, on Sullivan's Island, was compelled to surrender on the fourteenth, and the city yielded on May eleventh. The British retained possession of the city until the close of the war. ”

“ On July 9, Clinton, in a quandary, wrote from Fort Montgomery to the president of the Convention:
The Militia which I ordered to this Post & who came in with great Expedition almost to a Man according to Custom begin to be extreamly uneasy. They want to go Home, their Corn is [93] suffering, their Harvest coming on, and they cant see that it is likely there will be any Thing for them to do here suddenly. They have been frequently on the Dunderbergh to look down the River & cant see a single Vessel in it ”

“ The fortifications in the monument were built on the most strategic defensive positions on the island. Fort Jay, constructed between 1806 and 1809, is on the highest point of the island from which its glacis originally sloped down to the waterfront on all sides. Castle William, constructed between 1807 and 1811, occupies a rocky promontory as close as possible to the harbor channels and served as the most important strategic defensive point in the entrance to the New York Harbor. ”

“ In his journal, Clark named the rock Pompy's Tower, Pompy being Clark's nickname for Sacagawea's young son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who was born at the expedition's winter camp at Fort Mandan on February 11, 1805. ”

“ The monument, part of a larger 1985 National Historic Landmark District designation, contains two important historical objects, Castle William and Fort Jay. Between 1806 and 1811, these fortifications were constructed as part of the First and Second American Systems of Coastal Fortification. Castle William and Fort Jay represent two of the finest types of defensive structures in use from the Renaissance to the American Civil War. ”