Spring 2000, “Washington's watch-chain' held the river"

Digitized Newsletters Series

Each Friday this summer, the Putnam History Museum is excited to share an assortment of articles from our collection of newly digitized newsletters. These newsletters are a fantastic local history resource, assembled by dedicated museum volunteers, local historians, and community members. These articles are not only useful historic narratives, but also provide us with a glimpse of the important historic talking points of the era in which they were written, commemorating anniversaries, important dates and people, and community events.

A special thank you to our team of PHM Summer Interns for transcribing these articles!

"Trophy Point" - part of the Revolutionary chain across the Hudson River

at the Military Academy, West Point, U. S. A., 1900-1901. Library of Congress.

“Washington's watch-chain' held the river,” Foundry Castings. Spring 2000.

A year after the 1777 fall of Forts Clinton and Montgomery (at the west end of today’s Bear Mountain Bridge) General Washington decided to relocate the primary defenses of the Hudson Highlands to West Point, opposite Constitution Island.

In 1778 Col. Thaddeus Kosciuszko undertook the fortification of the plateau at West Point, which included a chain to block the river. The furnaces in Sterling burned night and day for four months to produce a 750-link chain, each link two feet long and weighing 180 pounds. It was dubbed “George Washington’s watch-chain,” a jolly pun for its day.

After the war, the chain rusted in a massive pile on the west shore until 1829, when the Secretary of War contracted Gouverneur Kemble to buy most of it. So the West Point Foundry, not around for the forging of the chain, was there for its meltdown, and iron from the Revolution was recast into cannon balls for the Civil War.

Map of Philipstown by Robert C. Bielenberg, PHM Collection. See location of the Hudson River chains.

Check out this great article by Hudson Valley Magazine for more information: https://hvmag.com/life-style/history/hudson-valley-chain-american-revolution/

100 years ago, on August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote.

We invite you to learn more this fall, as we open the exhibition, HerStory: Putnam County Women and the Vote, exploring the women’s suffrage movement in Putnam County, New York State, and the nation. The exhibition features historic photographs and local newspaper articles, as well as an original 1917 pro-suffrage petition with over 800 signatures.

Please enjoy this virtual article until we see you in person: Women's Suffrage.