Stony Point

The Rock That Changed the War's Momentum: Stony Point, New York, and the Revolutionary War

On a humid July night in 1779, roughly 1,300 American soldiers moved in absolute silence through marshland and rising tide water toward a rocky promontory on the west bank of the Hudson River. Their muskets were unloaded. Their bayonets were fixed. Any man whose weapon discharged accidentally would be executed on the spot. They wore pieces of white paper in their hats to avoid confusion in the darkness and to be used for visual recognition. The objective rising before them in the darkness—a craggy, 150-foot-high peninsula jutting into the Hudson—was Stony Point, and what happened there over the next thirty minutes would electrify a war-weary nation, restore confidence in the Continental Army, and prove that American soldiers could execute the most demanding operation in eighteenth-century warfare: a nighttime assault with cold steel against a fortified position. But the story of Stony Point's significance neither begins nor ends with that single dramatic assault. This small piece of ground in the Hudson Highlands played a role in the strategic chess match between George Washington and Sir Henry Clinton that defined the middle years of the Revolution, and it connects directly to themes of leadership, morale, alliance politics, and the long road to Yorktown.

To understand why Stony Point mattered, one must first understand the geography. The Hudson River was the strategic spine of the American rebellion. Control the Hudson, and the British could sever New England—the cradle of revolution—from the middle and southern states. West Point, the great American fortress upriver, was the linchpin of this defense, but the river narrows and crossings below West Point were nearly as important. At Stony Point on the western bank and Verplanck's Point on the eastern bank, King's Ferry operated as the most critical crossing point for American troops and supplies moving between New England and the rest of the country. King's Ferry was a major crossing point on the Hudson, connecting Stony Point on the west side of the river with Verplanck's Point on the east side, and was strategically important as the southernmost crossing site that could be safely used while the British held New York City.

Stony Point's military significance, moreover, predated the famous 1779 battle. During Britain's 1777 three-prong invasion of New York, British forces under Sir Henry Clinton landed troops at Stony Point to begin the overland march to Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton.

On the foggy morning of October 6, Sir Henry Clinton landed 2,100 men at Stony Point on the west side of the Hudson as part of an effort to create a diversion in support of General Burgoyne's faltering campaign near Saratoga. That earlier British use of the promontory as a staging point underscored the geographic reality that Washington and his engineers understood well: whoever controlled Stony Point held a key to the Hudson.

The crisis that led to the famous 1779 battle began in the spring of that year. In early 1779, Parliament sent a directive to General Sir Henry Clinton, commander of British forces in America, to bring George Washington into a general action. Clinton's plan was to throw a force up the Hudson River to threaten the vital Hudson Highlands while a smaller force raided the Connecticut coast, ideally forcing Washington out of his West Point stronghold.

In May of 1779, Clinton sailed with a force of 6,000 British troops forty miles up the Hudson River to capture the major crossing at King's Ferry. This important crossing point was protected by small American forts at Verplanck's Point on the east side of the river and Stony Point on the west. The small American garrisons there quickly abandoned the forts and the large British force easily captured the area.

Clinton took the key river crossing at Stony Point on May 31, 1779.

On June 1, Clinton, aided by British warships, began an artillery barrage of Fort Lafayette on the Verplanck's side, and American commander Captain Armstrong and his troops attempted to retreat but were met by a British force under General Peter Vaughan. The Americans returned to the fort but ultimately surrendered. With both sides of King's Ferry in British hands, Clinton improved the fort's defenses but withdrew most of his army to nearby Philipsburg (present-day Yonkers).

Possession of the forts brought a key part of the river under enemy control and threatened the American position less than 15 miles to the north at West Point. The British garrison left behind at Stony Point was formidable. In the outer works, four companies of the 17th Regiment of Foot were joined by two grenadier companies of the 71st (Fraser's) Highland Regiment. In the upper works, four more companies of the 17th were stationed, along with a company of Colonel Beverly Robinson's Loyal American Regiment and a detachment of Royal Artillery. The troops totaled about 525; with them were nearly seventy women and children. The entirety was commanded by Lt. Col. Henry Johnson of the 17th.

After reinforcing Stony Point, the British commander regarded it as a "little Gibraltar."

The British encampment about thirty miles north of New York City was a series of earthworks, with mounted cannon emplacements fronted by abatis and forested scruff. The terrain was rough, hilly, and strewn with rocks.

There was significant weakness, however: inadequate defenses near the base of the fortification along the shoreline of the Hudson River. This allowed American troops to deploy effectively in two lines: one sweeping up the northern slope of the fort while the other stormed the southern face of the prominence.

Washington didn't take the bait. Instead, his army positioned itself safely nearby in New Windsor, New York, and waited to see if Clinton would make an attempt on the nearby American defenses at West Point. But Washington had no intention of remaining passive. A concentrated intelligence-gathering effort was set in motion. Washington sent Captain Allan McLane of Delaware as a spy to gather intelligence; Washington also personally surveyed the fort with Brigadier General Anthony Wayne of Pennsylvania. McLane's infiltration was a masterpiece of field intelligence. McLane agreed to play the role of a rather simple-minded relative of a local woman who had been given permission to visit Stony Point to see her son, who had recently defected to the British from a local militia unit. While the mother spoke with her son, McLane wandered about the post, noting defensive positions, numbers of troops and the garrison's security procedures at night.

Stony Point appeared to be well fortified. However, on 2 July, he received some encouraging news —the works were still unfinished and vulnerable.

Washington chose to entrust the assault to a man with a personal score to settle. Two years earlier in September of 1777 Wayne's men had been surprised by a British night attack that resulted in more than 200 American soldiers being killed or wounded by British bayonets. Wayne survived but wanted revenge and this would be his opportunity. The devastating bayonet attack at Paoli, Pennsylvania—where British General Charles Grey had ordered his men to remove the flints from their muskets and rely solely on cold steel—had left an indelible mark on Wayne's thinking. Wayne's tactics at Stony Point mimicked those used against him earlier in the war