River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-07-31
REVOLUTIONARY TIMES

Just before it enters tue broad basin of
Haver straw and the Tappan sea below,
the Hudson has its course somewhat
rrdely contracted, forty miles above New
Yor by two of those rugged capes or
promontories which at intervals shoot out
from its already massive banks, as if still
more securedly to guard It's passage
through the highlands. A noble scenery
surrounds them. You can take your
stand at either p lint, and turning in any
direction, delight the eye with all the
charms of a varied county. Right above,
on the west side, rises old Dnnderberg,
the Thunder Peak-"thdt dangerous
mountain, the Donderberg," as General
James Clinton describes it-where in i'm
agination you may follow lrving's weird
hobgoblins as they Chamber up the tum-
bled rocks and hard ascent; or looking
across and beyond Peekskill, there stands
AnthOny's 'se, pointing straight uo
200 feet, and brovlng Its name, as being
in that vicinity the most prominent tea-
ture on natures face; or glancing north OF
south, you can take IN long stretches OF
attractive river view; or again, combi-
nation OF natural beauties, including
gimpses of land and alter, Of village
and wilderness, of slopes and sleeps, and
many and pleasant vistas remind the
sight seeker that he has entered the famed
Highlands of the Hudson. The two pro-
iections from which he looks are Stony
| Point on the est side and Verplanck 9
Point on the east.
The struggle of the Revolution in reall-
ty conferred here. No strategic position
any where in the thirteen colonies was
more eagerly coveted on the one side or
more sleeplessly watched on the other
than these same Highlands. They formed
as it were, the covered way between the
strong New Englad section and rest
OF the state to the southwark, by which
| they all kept their C ain OF communlca-
| loa, sv mpathy, and mutual assistance
unbroken 1t was to capture and occupy
this position that Burgoyne marched
down with his formidable expedition
| from Canada in 1777; and 1t was for the
same purpose that that Infamous plot OF
treachery and desertion was concocted
between Arnold and Sir Henry Clinton
| in 1880. Throughout the long struggle
the region was never for moment barred
Of defenders Here Notifications had been
commenced as early as 1915, here troops
marched and countermarched in every
campaign, and here on the Hudson lay
the last cantonment of the army of the
/ revolution, where the soldiers were dis
| missed to their homes at the close of the
war.
Naturally such spot must have hlstor-
| zeal associations almost without number.
| Hardly a house, hamlet, road, or by-path
on either side Of the Hudson, from the
| battery at Nex York to West Point, nor
| hardly mile of the river itself but what
| had at that day some tale TO tell of the
contest. Just off Castle Garden, in the
metropolis, in 1916, that persistent ge-
MUS, Bushnell, afterwards captain of sap
pers and miners, touched off his subma.
| rine contrivance--pioneer of all torpe-
| does-ro damage all concerned except
the enemy. At Harlem Height the re-
mains of Fort Washington, with those OF
/ Fort Lee on the opposite side, recall q
stunning blos the American cause first
received in the first campaign around
| New York. To the tramp of how many
thous nd soldiers passing TO and fro fol
eight wears did that little wooden affair
4 of Kings bridge across the Spuyter
Duyvel creek resound2 How much Of
Westminster county did not suffer from
the raids from one side or the other
There, near Yonkers, CORVALLIS crossed
unobserved one highland all but captured
Greene al Fort Lee. For mi es along thu
river above, Tories lived to carry ne S u