The Hudson River Chain refers to two chains and two chevaux de frise constructed from 1776 to 1778 during the American Revolutionary War across the Hudson River as defenses to prevent British naval vessels from sailing upriver. These defenses along the Hudson River were overseen by the Highlands Department of the Continental Army. The most significant and successful was the Great Chain, constructed from West Point in 1778, and used through 1782 after the war's end. The huge links for the chains were forged at iron works in Orange County, New York.
Read more about Hudson River Chain: Background, Fort Washington's chevaux-de-frise (1776), Fort Montgomery Chain (1776-1777), Pollepel Island's Chevaux-de-frise (1776-1777), The Great Chain (1778-1782), Bibliography
Famous quotes containing the words hudson, river and/or chain:
“In America, every female under fifty calls herself a “girl.””
—H.E. Bates, British screenwriter, and David Lean. Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn)
“The murmurs of many a famous river on the other side of the globe reach even to us here, as to more distant dwellers on its banks; many a poet’s stream, floating the helms and shields of heroes on its bosom.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“How have I been able to live so long outside Nature without identifying myself with it? Everything lives, moves, everything corresponds; the magnetic rays, emanating either from myself or from others, cross the limitless chain of created things unimpeded; it is a transparent network that covers the world, and its slender threads communicate themselves by degrees to the planets and stars. Captive now upon earth, I commune with the chorus of the stars who share in my joys and sorrows.”
—Gérard De Nerval (1808–1855)