Hudson River Chain - The Great Chain (1778-1782)

The Great Chain (1778-1782)

In the spring of 1778, a heavy chain supported by huge logs was stretched across the Hudson from West Point to Constitution Island, opposite. It was constructed at the Stirling Iron Works, in Warwick, Orange County, by Peter Townsend, under the supervision of Timothy Pickering. The task was completed in six weeks.

The Hudson River's narrow width and sharp turns at West Point created adverse sailing conditions. The Army took advantage of this by constructing The Great Chain in 1778 as an obstacle to the movement of British ships north of West Point. The distinctive "S-Curve" of the Hudson at this point would force any large ship to tack in order to navigate it.

American soldiers positioned the chain to impede the progress of a ship should it attempt to turn into the east-west channel against the strong current and frequently unfavorable winds. Part of the estuary of the Lower Hudson River, this area is subject to significant tides, making navigation by sailing vessels particularly difficult. Cannons were placed in forts and artillery batteries on both sides of the river to destroy ships when they slowed to a halt against the obstacle.

When finally completed, the 600-yard chain contained huge iron links, each two feet in length and weighing 114 pounds. The links were carted to New Windsor, where they were put together, and floated down the river to West Point on logs late in April. Including swivels, clevises, and anchors, the chain weighed 65 tons. For buoyancy, 40-foot (12 m) logs were cut into 16-foot (4.9 m) sections, waterproofed, and joined by fours into rafts fastened with 12-foot (3.7 m) timbers. Short sections of chain (10 links, a swivel, and a clevis) were stapled across each raft and later, in the river, the chain sections were united. Peter Townsend was paid a great sum of money from the Continental Congress for manufacturing the chain.

Captain Thomas Machin, the Artillery Officer and engineer who had installed the chain at Fort Montgomery, was assigned to the same task at West Point. On 30 April 1778, he directed the installation of the chain across the river. Its southern end was secured to a small cove on the West Bank of the river and its northern end was anchored to Constitution Island. The West Point side was protected by Chain Battery and the Constitution Island side by Marine Battery. Both ends were anchored to log cribs filled with rocks.

A system of pulleys, rollers, ropes, and mid-stream anchors were used to adjust the chain's tension to overcome the effects of river current and changing tide. Until 1783, the chain was removed each winter and reinstalled each spring to avoid destruction by ice. A log "boom" (resembling a ladder in construction) was built to span the river about 100 yards (91 m) downstream (south of the chain) to absorb the impact of any ship attempting to penetrate the barrier.

The British never attempted to run the chain. Benedict Arnold claimed in correspondence with the British that "a well-loaded ship could break the chain."

The greater system of fortifications at West Point, of which the chain was part, was designed and built by the Polish engineer Tadeusz Kościuszko.

After the revolution, the portion of the chain not saved was "relegated to the West Point Foundry furnaces near Cold Spring, New York, to be melted down for other uses." The saved chain portion was first displayed at the West Point ordnance compound, along with a captured mortar (cannon), as shown in the black and white drawing to the right, which was made in 1905. More recently, it has been displayed at Trophy Point, where the chain surrounds a pile of rocks. The thirteen links of the chain represent each of the original states; the display includes one swivel and one clevis. The exhibit is maintained and preserved by the West Point Museum. Recovered in 1855 from the river, a section of the boom is displayed at Washington's Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh, New York.

Capitalizing on pride in the audacious engineering project, John C. Abbey, and later Francis Bannerman, sold counterfeited chain links to collectors and museums.