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REVOLUTIONARY WAR MARKERS DEDICATED - 5 May, 2004
By NANCY CACIOPPO
THE JOURNAL NEWS
The town's role in the Revolutionary War was evident yesterday as the Daughters of the American Revolution's state organization dedicated two new historic markers on Route 9W at the Park Road entrances to the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site.
Martha Erickson of Monsey, a native Kentuckian and member of the DAR's Shatemuc Chapter, has two ancestors, from Pennsylvania and what is now Kentucky, who fought at the Battle of Stony Point.
"It's wonderful to come here and find my roots are here, too," she said.
The King's Ferry marker replaces an original one that has been missing for many years. It reads: "King's Ferry — Here the American and French Armies, under Generals Washington and Rochambeau, crossed the Hudson River in August 1781 en route to capture Cornwallis at Yorktown, Va."
The Stony Point Battlefield marker was commissioned to honor this year's 225th anniversary of the 1779 battle. It reads: "Stony Point Battlefield — In July 1779, American light infantry, under Brigadier General Anthony Wayne, launched a midnight assault, capturing a British fort and its defenders."
The markers, which were installed last week, have already drawn tourists to the site, "who never knew it was here," said Julia Warger, the battlefield's site manager.
About 80 people gathered outside the battlefield museum for the morning ceremony. It featured the 12-member color guard from Rockland County Eagle Chapter of the Korean War Veterans, the battlefield's 18th-century drill team, and military historian James M. Johnson of the Hudson River Valley Institute at Marist College, who appeared in the uniform of the 5th New York Regiment.
"Nothing is really ended until it is forgotten," DAR State Regent Frances T. Pattarini said in her dedication remarks. "We dedicate these markers in grateful recognition of the significance of this site. May it help to keep alive an appreciation of our heritage."
At the suggestion of Denise D. VanBuren, state chairwoman of the 225th Anniversary Committee, Pattarini agreed to sponsor the markers as part of her State Regent's Project and presented them yesterday to Carol Ash, executive director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission.
Stony Point Supervisor A. Douglas Jobson, who said he first learned about the battle in grade school, compared the bravery of the Revolutionary War soldiers to the troops fighting in Iraq today.
"In 225 years, it still takes courage, durability and a desire to fight for what you think is right," he said.
Stony Point's importance lay in its being one of the guardian fortifications of Kings Ferry, the entrance to the Hudson Highlands and a strategic link between New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. In a midnight attack, 1,350 Continental Army troops under the command of Wayne overwhelmed the 544-man British garrison.
"The DAR is keeping this flame alive, remembering the great sacrifices of those armies," Johnson said. "And we now have the opportunity to light freedom's flame again."
Site officials are planning to mark the battle's 225th anniversary with four days of events, July 15 to 18.
Send e-mail to Nancy Cacioppo
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