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Stony Point Battlefield rededicates museum - 16 July, 2004
By NANCY CACIOPPO
THE JOURNAL NEWS
Jim Keenan brought his sons to the Stony Point Battlefield yesterday for a quick lesson in American history.
"I grew up in Stony Point," said Keenan, who was accompanied by 10-year-old Terrence and 3-year-old Andrew. "And it's great to be able to show them the awesome history of our town."
They were not alone. About 200 people, including re-enactors, gathered at the state historic site to witness the rededication of the battlefield's renovated museum on the 225th anniversary of what historians called "the last Revolutionary battle in the Hudson Valley."
Several of the speakers paid tribute to both the British and American troops who fought. County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef outlined the importance of the 1779 battle, which pitted Americans "against a well-trained British enemy who became our greatest ally."
Christopher Pushkarsh, deputy commissioner of the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said, "I am delighted to be here, at the state's fourth-oldest state historic site, where the Hudson River and our nation are even now worth fighting for. History teaches us many lessons. Our obligation is to learn from them."
Diplomat Ray Raymond from the British Consulate offered a droll view of the Revolutionary War.
"Because of a slight misunderstanding about taxes, we went through a slightly sticky patch," he said. On a more serious note, he added, "This museum honors all soldiers who died here, because what occurred here changed history and the world."
Jim Johnson, military historian for the Hudson Valley National Heritage Area and executive director of the Hudson River Valley Institute, unveiled a new map and brochure.
"To remember the battle is to understand the great sacrifices in the war for freedom," Johnson said. "To understand the American Revolution, you have to come to the Hudson River Valley."
Denae, Rebecca and Emily Tew of Thiells, who are related to the only British officer killed at the battle, sang "The Star Spangled Banner." Members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Sons of the American Revolution and Children of the American Revolution placed a wreath at the battlefield's war memorial to honor both the British and American losses. A contingent of British and American re-enactors from the Brigade of the American Revolution fired a musket-volley salute. And a bugler from the Korean War Veterans played taps.
A design team from the state's Bureau of Historic Sites created the exhibits in the newly renovated museum, which details the history of the battle. Items from recent archaeological digs are on display. Among them is a Scottish weeping heart pin, found by state archaeologists in 1996, which is thought to have belonged to one of the soldiers of Fraser's Highlanders, a Scottish unit that was stationed there.
Also on view is a display of bayonets — now used as the battlefield's logo — that figured prominently in Gen. Anthony Wayne's stealthy rout of the British, along with 18th century military items, paintings and a copy of Lee Woodward Zeigler's mural of Gens. George Washington and Anthony Wayne planning their attack from nearby Buckberg Mountain.
In 1953, the skeletons of two British soldiers were found in a worn footpath near the museum. They were reinterred nearby and marked by a war memorial. A photograph of the discovery site is on display in the museum, along with the pewter buttons that identified the soldiers as members of the British 17th Regiment of Foot. A tribute to them will be held at the war memorial on Saturday.
The exhibit also includes an expanded interpretation of the site's 1826 Stony Point Lighthouse and the lighthouse keepers who were stationed there.
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