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:
“I’m so happy to be here. Instead of in a hotel full of tourists. Like me.”
—H.E. Bates, British screenwriter, and David Lean. Jane Hudson (Katherine Hepburn)
“At sundown, leaving the river road awhile for shortness, we went by way of Enfield, where we stopped for the night. This, like most of the localities bearing names on this road, was a place to name which, in the midst of the unnamed and unincorporated wilderness, was to make a distinction without a difference, it seemed to me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The name of the town isn’t important. It’s the one that’s just twenty-eight minutes from the big city. Twenty-three if you catch the morning express. It’s on a river and it’s got houses and stores and churches. And a main street. Nothing fancy like Broadway or Market, just plain Broadway. Drug, dry good, shoes. Those horrible little chain stores that breed like rabbits.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)