How Peter Townsend saved the nation

[brickhouse]

"Talkin' bout mmmmmmy g-g-g-generation!" 


How Peter Townsend saved the nation
http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2011/01/28/the_chronicle/news/6.txt

Reader's digest version:
Townsend owned the Sterling Iron Works near Sterling Pond in Warwick, near the Monroe border. During the Revolutionary War, the fledgling American government needed his help.

On Feb. 2, 1778, George Washington's quartermaster, Hugh Hughes, brought Townsend a contract to manufacture a massive iron chain that would extend across the Hudson River in defense against the British navy. It would protect the fort at West Point and prevent the British from sailing further up the Hudson and connecting with armies from Canada. Two earlier attempts to do this failed.

Sterling Iron Works completed the work in about two months. Each link measured approximately two feet across and weighed about 140 pounds. The whole chain weighed some 186 tons.

The individual links, swivels, and other attachment pieces were delivered to a foundry in New Windsor overseen by the supervising engineer, Capt. Thomas Machin. There they were joined together, attached to huge logs, and floated down the Hudson to an ideal location at West point -- where the river was especially narrow and bent sharply.

Once in position, the chain was stretched across the Hudson between West Point and Constitution Island on May 1, 1778. So formidable was the chain that the British never attempted to force it. This protected the fort at West Point and prevented the British from joining up with their forces in Canada.


Nothing special; it's just satisfying when Rev. War history makes the mainstream press.

[Ratchett]

Thanks Brickhouse!

Any time the Revolutionary War is in the media regardless of size, it opens up an avenue to start a conversation about Appleseed.

IHG,
Ratchett

[Xeyed]

Cool story.

I'd heard about the chain at West Point before but never the back ground.

Threw on some Baba O'riley for mood music while reading.