The Hudson Valley In The American Revolution

The Hudson River Valley in New York State has a wealth of Revolutionary War history. Rarely did an event take place along the Hudson that did not have broader implications for the entire American Revolutionary effort. Stretching from Manhattan Island nearly to Lake George, the Hudson was a main theater of war throughout much of the Revolutionary era. Had the British been successful in dominating it, the revolt of the mainland colonies might well have foundered. This monograph covers the highlights of the story. The narrative has been enriched with frequent glimpses of the variety of inhabitants whose lives were changed by the violence of that time. ¿Provides an admirable introduction to the people as well as the events.¿ Maps and drawings.

Offers nearly forty years of interdisciplinary scholarship on the Hudson River Valley’s role in the American Revolution. The Hudson River Valley, which George Washington referred to as the “Key to the Northern Country,” played a central role in the American Revolution. From 1776 to 1780, with major battles fought at Saratoga, Fort Montgomery, and Stony Point, the region was a central battleground of the Revolution. In addition, it witnessed some of the most dramatic and memorable aspects of the war, such as Benedict Arnold’s failed conspiracy at West Point, the burning of New York’s capital at Kingston, and the more than six-hundred-mile march of Washington and the Continental Army and Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, and his French Expeditionary Corps to Yorktown, Virginia. Compiled from essays that appeared in the Hudson Valley Regional Review and the Hudson River Valley Review, published by the Hudson River Valley Institute, the book illustrates the richly textured history of this supremely important time and place. James M. Johnson is Executive Director of the Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College, Military Historian of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, and Dr. Frank T. Bumpus Professor of Hudson River Valley History. He is also coeditor (with Christopher Pryslopski and Thomas S. Wermuth) of America’s First River: The History and Culture of the Hudson River Valley, also published by SUNY Press. At the Hudson River Valley Institute, Christopher Pryslopski is Program Director and Andrew Villani is Coordinator.

Much of the Revolutionary War took was fought along the Hudson River-which for five years was successfully blockaded by American forces by means of a massive chain across the river at West Point. Here is this important story, vividly and dramatically told, from logs, diaries, letters, and with many rare illustrations."In an almost magical sense the reader is drawn back to the time when the country drew its first breath."-The New York Times"Brings to life an extraordinary chapter of the Revolution."-Washington Post"[The] best account to date of the Revolutionary War activity in the Valley."-Hudson Valley Regional Review"Meticulously researched. Reads like good historical fiction."-American History

The untold story of the fight for the Hudson River Valley, control of which, both the Americans and the British firmly believed, would determine the outcome of the Revolutionary War. No part of the country was more contested during the American Revolution than New York City, the Hudson River, and the surrounding counties. Political and military leaders on both sides viewed the Hudson River Valley as the American jugular, which, if cut, would quickly bleed the rebellion to death. So in 1776, King George III sent the largest amphibious force ever assembled to seize Manhattan and use it as a base from which to push up the Hudson River Valley for a grand rendezvous at Albany with an impressive army driving down from Canada. George Washington and every other patriot leader shared the king’s fixation with the Hudson. Generations of American and British historians have held the same view. In fact, one of the few things that scholars have agreed upon is that the British strategy, though disastrously executed, should have been swift and effective. Until now, no one has argued that this plan of action was lunacy from the beginning. Revolution on the Hudson makes the bold new argument that Britain’s attempt to cut off New England never would have worked, and that doggedly pursuing dominance of the Hudson ultimately cost the crown her colonies. It unpacks intricate military maneuvers on land and sea, introduces the personalities presiding over each side’s strategy, and reinterprets the vagaries of colonial politics to offer a thrilling response to one of our most vexing historical questions: How could a fledgling nation have defeated the most powerful war machine of the era? George C. Daughan—winner of the prestigious Samuel Eliot Morrison Award for Naval Literature—integrates the war’s naval elements with its political, military, economic, and social dimensions to create a major new study of the American Revolution. Revolution on the Hudson offers a much clearer understanding of our founding conflict, and how it transformed a rebellion that Britain should have crushed into a war they could never win.

This book brings to life the Hudson Valley region during the American Revolution. Includes stories of battles, military maneuvers, and everyday life in this important area of the young United States. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Essays exploring rural New York during the American Revolution.

"In Land and Liberty, Thomas Humphrey recounts the story of the Hudson Valley land riots from the 1750s through the 1790s. He examines the social dimensions of the conflict, from individual landlord-tenant relations to cross-cultural alliances, in the context of colonial structure and Revolutionary politics. Humphrey offers a multilayered explanation of why inhabitants of the Hudson Valley resorted to extreme tactics - and why they achieved mixed results."--BOOK JACKET.