Fort Constitution - October 6, 1777

Fort Constitution was the earliest defensive position built on the Hudson River in the Highlands during the Revolutionary War...before West Point, before Fort Clinton, and before Fort Montgomery.  The fort is often considered synonymous with the island it sits on, Constitution Island.  The Island is currently part of the West Point Military Reservation and is therefore rather difficult to get access to.  A conservation group, the Constitution Island Association (constitutionisland.org) tries to preserve its history and offers a few tours during the summer.

1775 Sketch of Hudson River by Clinton and Tappan.  Annotations added.  In reality West Point juts further east and there is not an unobstructed view down river from Constitution Island.

My interest in the island is that it was well known to the Campbells and others of the Ulster militia.  It was only a short five mile boat trip from New Windsor to get there.  The inhabitants of Hanover, Newburgh, and New Windsor were the closest labor force to construct fortifications at that location.  My guess is that they were there often, perhaps willing (as some of the craftsmen (artificers) were well paid) as well as unwilling (drafted from their militia companies).

Google Terrain map of Constitution Island

During the battle of Fort Montgomery on October 6, 1777 there were about 100 militia at Fort Constitution, the majority if not all from Colonel Hasbrouck's regiment.  One author has stated that Hasbrouck's was the most highly represented militia at the battle, but the most useless.  They were six miles from the action and made no effort to come to the aide of their comrades.   The garrisons at Forts Clinton and Montgomery were outnumbered about three to one by the British.

Joel Campbell and his sons Joel, William, and Joshua were in Hasbrouck's regiment.  In addition it included Levi and Nathan Campbell, Joel's brothers, as well as William McDowell, the wife of Joel's sister, Mary.  Whether they were all there, we have no record.  We do know that by the evening of October 5, 1777 all members of the militia had been called out.  If they were not there, they were delinquent or exempt.

From Constitution Island the troops did not have direct sight six miles downriver.  They would have heard the echoes of muskets and cannon and seen the gun smoke rising.  Did the officers send out observers by land or water to gather more direct intelligence?  It appears not.

Captain Gershom Mott, commander of the 30 artillerymen on Constitution Island, testified "that no orders were rec'd for their conduct during the attack.."   They were alert, scared, and perhaps frustrated that they had been forgotten.  Apparently they were also thinking about how they would evacuate should the British break through the chain at Fort Montgomery.

At about 4 p.m., during what would have been the heat of the battle, "about 12 or 14 boats came up to the Fort from below which were sufficient to have carried off all of the cannon, stores, etc at Fort Constitution..."  Captain Mott "advised Maj [Lewis] Dubois to use them for that purpose if necessary."  According to Mott, the Major said he would look into it but the "men in the boats would not stay to take them in."  The panic was growing.

Depiction of the sea battle in front of Fort Montgomery.  Anthony's Nose is the hill covered with fall foliage.  To the left of the chain appear to be two frigates, the Congress and Montgomery.  The sloop is the Camden and two galleys involved were the Lady Washington and the Shark.  All were run aground and burned except for the Lady Washington.  In addition there were "boats and scows of all kinds sufficient to bring over 1000 men"...reinforcements that never arrived.

After dark and after the sound of cannon and musket fire had ceased, the survivors of the battle started trickling into Fort Constitution.  Captain Machin of the artillery had escaped despite a serious breast wound.  He found the Island in great confusion, "the men in a mobbish condition."  Machin (the same Machin whose engineering skills had been used to design and construct the chain at Fort Montgomery) urged Mott, his fellow Captain, to load his cannon and ammunition in boats.  He could sail them to New Windsor and make a stand there at the Chevaux de Frise (more about this obstruction in a future blog).

Once again it appears this was either not possible or that even high level officers failed in their command.  Colonel Lamb of the artillery and Colonel Dubois of the 5th New York shortly arrived at the Island.  The only higher ranking continental officer at the battle was General James Clinton who had been wounded, but successfully escaped.  Colonels Lamb and Dubois ordered the removal of the stores, but once again, either their orders were not followed or they could not be followed.

There are two accounts of the fate of the stores on the Island.  The first from Captain Machin who testified that "nothing was done...the whole fell into the Enemy's hands."  The second from Captain Mott who said "nothing was saved of any consequence but six boxes of musket cartridges and some blacksmith tools.  The rest were burnt with the barracks."  Either outcome was not a good one.

Meanwhile the frigate Congress was struggling with the wind and tide just off the shore of the Island.  The Congress had been constructed at Poughkeepsie and was undermanned, undergunned, and maybe underskippered.  It had stayed away from the action at the chain, presumably in reserve.

A drawing of the frigate Providence which was of similar design as the Congress.

It was late at night when Captain Thomas was sent out with several artillerymen to give assistance to the Congress.  But the panic was contagious.  There was no will to wait for a change in the wind and tides.  They could probably see her sister ship, the Montgomery, in flames down river.  The sloop Camden and galley Shark were also ablaze. Very early in the morning of the 7th the Congress was set on fire.

The fires in the distance were another blow to the morale of the sleepless militia as they made their way in the dark to Fishkill landing.  By late morning they had been ferried over to New Windsor.

A few of the artillery men remained on the Island.  On the 7th they fired on a flag of truce that the British forces had sent upstream.  The small ship quickly retreated.  It was one last pathetic action before totally deserting the island.

It was not until the 8th that the British landed on the Island, finding it deserted and destroyed.

Epilogue

Further up the river a battle had been fought that would change the war.  The word of the victory at Saratoga had not yet filtered down to the lower Hudson.  Within a few weeks the British would desert the Hudson Valley leaving its inhabitants to debate whether or not to rebuild Fort Constitution.  That decision would affect the Campbells and the rest of the Hudson Valley in the years to come.  

View from Fort Constitution down river.  Note that approaching ships are blocked from view by West Point on the right.

Dock at Fort Constitution where in 1778 a chain would be attached.

Remains of southwest battery on Constitution Island.  Seen from West Point.  Bull Hill in far background.