Fort Montgomery (Hudson River)
Fort Montgomery was a fortification built on the west bank of the Hudson River in Highlands, New York by the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Erected in 1776, Fort Montgomery was one of the first major investments by the Americans in strategic construction projects. Declared a National Historic Landmark, it is part of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, owned and operated by the state of New York as the Fort Montgomery State Historic Site. Background The strategic importance of the ability to control navigation along the Hudson River was obvious to both the Americans and the British from the outbreak of open hostilities. The Hudson was the major means for transportation of supplies and troops throughout a large portion of the northeast. The fort was constructed at a site noted as early as the seventeenth century for its strategic advantage in controlling navigation along the river. A month after the first open armed conflict in Lexington, the Contin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Fort Montgomery, New York
Fort Montgomery is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 1,571 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie– Newburgh– Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York– Newark–Bridgeport, NY- NJ- CT- PA Combined Statistical Area. Fort Montgomery is in the southeastern corner of the town of Highlands, on U.S. Route 9W. Geography Fort Montgomery is on the west bank of the Hudson River. Fort Montgomery is located at (41.337469, -73.982746). According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and (2%) is water. History The town is named after the first Fort Montgomery, a fortification of the American Revolution stormed by the British on October 6, 1777. Although a loss for American forces, the battle delayed the British from sailing up the Hudson River in time to relieve Burgoyne's forces at Saratoga. After the fort's ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); or where two streams meet to become the source of a river of a new name (such as the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers at Pittsburgh, forming the Ohio); or where two separated channels of a river (forming a river island) rejoin at the downstream end. Scientific study of confluences Confluences are studied in a variety of sciences. Hydrology studies the characteristic flow patterns of confluences and how they give rise to patterns of erosion, bars, and scour pools. The water flows and their consequences are often studied with mathematical models. Confluences are relevant to the distribution of living organisms (i.e., ecology) as well; "the general pattern ownstream of confluencesof increasing stream flow and decreasing s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Hessian (soldiers)
Hessians ( or ) were German soldiers who served as auxiliaries to the British Army during the American Revolutionary War, British Army during the American Revolutionary War. The term is an American synecdoche for all Germans in the American Revolution#Allies of Great Britain, Germans who fought on the British side, since 65% came from the German states of Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Hesse-Kassel and Hesse-Hanau. Known for their discipline and martial prowess, around 30,000 Germans fought for the British during the war, comprising a quarter of British land forces. While regarded, both contemporaneously and Historiography, historiographically, as mercenaries, Hessians were legally distinguished as auxiliaries: whereas mercenaries served a foreign government of their own accord, auxiliaries were soldiers hired out to a foreign party by their own government, to which they remained in service. Auxiliaries were a major source of income for many small and relatively poor German states ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Loyalist (American Revolution)
Loyalists were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolutionary War, often referred to as Tories, Royalists or King's Men at the time. They were opposed by the Patriots, who supported the revolution, and called them "persons inimical to the liberties of America." Prominent Loyalists repeatedly assured the British government that many thousands of them would spring to arms and fight for the crown. The British government acted in expectation of that, especially in the southern campaigns in 1780–81. Britain was able to effectively protect the people only in areas where they had military control, and in return, the number of military Loyalists was significantly lower than what had been expected. Due to the conflicting political views, loyalists were often under suspicion of those in the British military, who did not know whom they could fully trust in such a conflicted situation; they were often looked down upon. Pat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Robert Yates (politician)
Robert Yates (January 27, 1738 – September 9, 1801) was an American politician, attorney, jurist, and surveyor. As a delegate representing New York at the Constitutional Convention in 1787, Yates is considered a Founding Father of the United States. Best known as a leader of the Anti-Federalist movement, he was the presumed author of political essays published in 1787-1788 under the pseudonyms "Brutus" and "Sydney". The essays opposed the Constitution based on the scope of the national government and the diminished sovereignty of the states. Yates also served as chief justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1790-1798. Early life Robert Yates was born January 27, 1738, in Schenectady, New York, the oldest of twelve children of merchant Joseph Yates and Maria (née Dunbar) Yates. Among his large family was uncle Abraham Yates Jr., who served as mayor of Albany in the 1790s and cousin Peter Waldron Yates, who was a Continental Congressman and New York State Assemblyman. Hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Robert R
Robert Lee Rayford (February 3, 1953 – May 15 1969), sometimes identified as Robert R. due to his age, was an American teenager from Missouri who has been suggested to represent the earliest confirmed case of HIV/AIDS in North America based on evidence which was published in 1988 in which the authors claimed that medical evidence indicated that he was "infected with a virus closely related or identical to human immunodeficiency virus type 1." Rayford died of pneumonia, but his other symptoms baffled the doctors who treated him. A study published in 1988 reported the detection of antibodies against HIV. Results of testing for HIV genetic material were reported once at a scientific conference in Australia in 1999; however, the data has never been published in a peer-reviewed medical or scientific journal. Background Robert Rayford was born on February 3, 1953, in St. Louis, Missouri to Constance Rayford (September 12, 1931 – April 3, 2011) and Joseph Benny Bell (March 24, 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
John Jay
John Jay (December 12, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, patriot, diplomat, abolitionist, signatory of the Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served as the second governor of New York and the first chief justice of the United States. He directed U.S. foreign policy for much of the 1780s and was an important leader of the Federalist Party after the ratification of the United States Constitution in 1788. Jay was born into a wealthy family of merchants and New York City government officials of French Huguenot and Dutch descent. He became a lawyer and joined the New York Committee of Correspondence, organizing American opposition to British policies such as the Intolerable Acts in the leadup to the American Revolution. Jay was elected to the First Continental Congress, where he signed the Continental Association, and to the Second Continental Congress, where he served as its president. From 1779 to 1782, Jay served as the ambassador ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Fort Clinton
Fort Clinton was an American Revolutionary War fort erected by the Continental Army on the west bank of the Hudson River in 1776. Protecting the chain It was one of a pair of fortifications which straddled the confluence of Popolopen Creek, standing on the south side of Popolopen Gorge, with Fort Montgomery to the north. Adams, Arthur G., ''The Hudson River Guidebook'', Fordham Univ Press, 1996 The forts defended a huge wrought iron that spanned the Hudson from Fort Montgomery to [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
George Clinton (vice President)
George Clinton (July 26, 1739April 20, 1812) was an American soldier and statesman, considered one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A prominent Democratic-Republican, Clinton served as the fourth vice president of the United States from 1805 until his death in 1812. He also served as the first governor of New York from 1777 to 1795 and again from 1801 to 1804. Along with John C. Calhoun, he is one of two vice presidents to hold office under two consecutive presidents. Clinton served in the French and Indian War, rising to the rank of lieutenant in the colonial militia. He began a legal practice after the war and served as a district attorney for New York City. He became Governor of New York in 1777 and remained in that office until 1795. Clinton supported the cause of independence during the American Revolutionary War and served in the Continental Army despite his gubernatorial position. During and after the war, Clinton was a major opponent—due to disputes over la ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Defensive Wall
A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates for access to the city. From ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally, these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the Great Wall of China, Walls of Benin, Hadrian's Wall, Anastasian Wall, and the Atlantic Wall, which extended far beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial boundaries. In mountainous terrain, defensive walls such as ''letzis'' were used in combination with castles to seal valleys from potential attack. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic functions representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced. Existing ancient walls are almost always masonry ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Redoubt
A redoubt (historically redout) is a fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on earthworks, although some are constructed of stone or brick. It is meant to protect soldiers outside the main defensive line and can be a permanent structure or a hastily constructed temporary fortification. The word means "a place of retreat". Redoubts were a component of the military strategies of most European empires during the colonial era, especially in the outer works of Vauban-style fortresses made popular during the 17th century, although the concept of redoubts has existed since medieval times. A redoubt differs from a redan in that the redan is open in the rear, whereas the redoubt was considered an enclosed work. The advent of mobile warfare in the 20th century diminished the importance of stationary defence positions and siege warfare. Historically important redoubts English Civil War During the English Civ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Hudson River Chain
The Hudson River Chains were a series of chain booms constructed across the Hudson River at West Point by Continental Army forces from 1776 to 1778 during the American Revolutionary War. These served as defenses preventing British naval vessels from sailing upriver and were overseen by the Highlands Department of the Continental Army. The first chain was destroyed by British forces in the aftermath of the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery in October 1777. The more significant and successful was the Great Chain, constructed in 1778 and used through war's end in 1782. Two other barriers across the river, referred to as ''chevaux-de-frise'', were undertaken by the Colonials; the first, between Fort Washington on the island of Manhattan, and Fort Lee in New Jersey, was completed in 1776 and shortly seized by the British; another was started in 1776 between Plum Point on the east bank and Pollepel Island north of West Point but abandoned in 1777 in favor of completion of the G ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |