The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1913-08-01
A Chain Of fame.
The Barrier Washington Erected
Across the Hudson.
ARNOLD REMOVED ONE LINK.


Traitors Act. Served Its Purpose and
Blocked the Progress OF the British
Ships Up the River.
Somewhere In the bed of the Hudson
river just Off OF West Point lies buried
the larger part Of great iron chain.
one Of several ordered by General
Washington during the Revolution to
be constructed to prevent the enemy
from ascending certain rivers to ac
compish strategic points Of vantage.
The British were making strenuous
efforts to get hold Of the Hudson In
order to keep free communication with
Canada by the additional channels Of
the St Lawrence and Lake Champlain,
and so II was determined to obstruct
the Hudson by great chain crossing
from Fort Montgomery to Anthony's
Nose.
But this was a failure. The chain
parted within q week after It had been
stretched. and. although subsequently,
raised and again placed. 1t was de-
stroyed by the British
Finally Washington decided to forge
another aud obstruct the river between
West Point and Constitution island. for
here there was an abrup change OF
course. and a heavy tide reduced the
speed Of any ship encountering It. Be
sides. the shannei was 800 feet narrow
er at this crossing.
The forging Of chain such. as was
contemplated was then no small under
taking. Requests were secretly sent
to various iron compan ies, and among
the Sterling Iron works. situated In
one Of the most beautifuls regions Of
the east. now within the fashiona BILE
domains Of Tuxedo Park.
1t was originally organized by Lord
Sterling In 1851. u well known officer
tinued i'm operation for more than a
hundred years. meanwhile passing into
the possession Of Abel Noble. who
married niece OF Peter Townsend
and who now in association with the
latter increased the capacity Of the
works which eventually came into the
entire possession of Peter Townsend.
q patriot and filed with the spirit Of
the time.
He finally obtained few Welsh min
ers from Pennsylvania for the heavy
handling In the forging and number
of men from Connecticut with their
OK teams to do the hauling. and when
the chain was ready II was drawn
over the rough mountainous roads and
through forests that had to be pur.
posely cut In many places and so on
to New Windsor. the nearest river
point. and towed to West Point
1t was strenuous underta king from
the very start Each link weighed 800
pounds, was two feet In length and
two and quarter inches square. and
each 100 feet was secured by swivel,
a twisting link. and at every thousand
feet there was clevis. The whole
Of this weighed 1855 tons. When 1t
was stretched across from West Point
to Constitution island IL was buOyed
up by large sixteen foot logs. and
these were In turn held in place by
the anchors.
The British made no specific attack
on this then invincible obstacle. for 1t
must be remembered that in those
days there was no dynamite nor tor
pedoes, and none of the enemy's prOws
would have pushed their way through
such barrier.
Although the British did not succeed
in passing the big Hudson river chain,
the American traitor Arnold gave 1t
his particular attention and removed
a link Of 1t under the pretense Of hav.
ing 1t repaired for weakness at a near.
by smithy. He wrote to Major Andre
that 1t would not be replaced until the
forts were surrendered to the British.
But somehow the chain stood for its
purpose. and Sir Henry Clinton did
not attempt to relieve BurgOyne.
Parts Of this celebrated chain are to
be seen among various historical Gu.
rios Of prominent societies. A number
Of years ago Mayor Hewitt OF New
York. then the owner OF mine near
the Sterling properties. became inter.
ested In finding ont the whereabouts OF
the remaining portions Of the chain. A
large part Of 1t lies at the bottom OF
the river. about thirty tons were in
various possessions. and at West Point
there are thirteen links. and n staple
placed near the spot where the chain
was anchored and plate tells Of the
date and place Of forging.-Boston
HaroId