Stony Point occupies a rocky peninsula jutting into the Hudson River forty miles north of New York City, and in the summer of 1779 it became the site of one of the most audacious American operations of the entire war. The British seized the promontory in late May 1779 to tighten their grip on the Hudson Highlands. General Anthony Wayne's midnight assault on July 15–16, 1779 retook it in under an hour — a bayonet-only night charge that electrified the Continental Army and proved American troops could match British regulars in the kind of disciplined close-quarters action Europeans considered the ultimate test of military quality.
PEOPLE
George Washington
Continental Army Commander-in-Chief
Allan McLane
Continental Army Captain, Scout and Intelligence Officer
Anthony Wayne
Continental Army General, Light Infantry Corps Commander, Pennsylvania Brigade Commander
François-Louis Teissèdre de Fleury
Continental Army Lieutenant Colonel, French Volunteer Officer
KEY EVENTS
Wayne's Midnight Assault on Stony Point
Jul 1779
Benedict Arnold's Defection and the West Point Plot
Sep 1780
Rochambeau's Army Marches Past Stony Point Toward Yorktown
Aug 1781
Congress Awards Gold and Silver Medals for Stony Point
Jul 1779
King's Ferry Crossing Restored to American Use
Jul 1779
British Forces Seize Stony Point
May 1779
STORIES
MODERN VOICE
The River That Could Cut a Nation in Half
People come to Stony Point, see a pretty view of the Hudson and a lighthouse, and are surprised this place was worth dying for. Then you explain the geography, and it clicks. The Hudson was the one na...
HISTORICAL VOICE
No Muskets: The Logic of Bayonets Only
The order that made Stony Point possible went against every soldier's instinct: leave your muskets unloaded. If you fire before the fort is taken, you will be flogged. Wayne understood that the tradit...