The most famous locality in the Highlands is West Point. "In this
beautiful place," wrote Charles Dickens, "the fairest among the fair
and lovely Highlands of the North River; shut in by deep green heights
and ruined forts, and looking down upon the distant town of Newburg,
along a glittering path of sunlit water, with here and there a skiff,
whose white sail often bends on some new tack as sudden flaws of wind
come down upon her from the gullies in the hills, hemmed in besides,
all around, with memories of Washington and events of the
Revolutionary war: is the Military School of America." Opposite
Anthony's Nose, Montgomery Creek flows in, its mouth broadened into a
little bay. Upon the high rocks at the entrance, on either side, stood
the great defenders of the lower Highlands during the early
Revolution, Forts Clinton and Montgomery, considered impregnable
then, and to bar the river passage a ponderous iron chain on timber
floats was stretched across the channel to Anthony's Nose. The
Continental Congress spent $250,000 on these obstructions, but the
British in 1777 surprised and captured the forts, destroyed the chain
and burnt the gunboats guarding it. This was a great victory, but
barren of results, for Burgoyne's surrender soon afterwards compelled
them to abandon this region and retire down towards New York. There
are traces of the forts, and a flagstaff on the hill north of the
creek marks the site of Fort Montgomery. Just above, on the eastern
bank, is the charming and symmetrical cone of the Sugar Loaf Mountain,
with several smaller companions, and the vista views along the river,
and through some of the deep valleys between these mountains, are
magnificent. The little town of Garrison's fringes the shore, the
school of the Sisters of St. Francis, formerly a popular hotel, is
perched high on the cliff on the western bank; while in front the dome
of the West Point Library and the barracks rise in view upon the Point
itself, which stretches completely across the view, its extremity
hidden by the jutting headlands of the eastern bank. Here comes down
in rainy weather the frothy current of the beautiful Buttermilk Falls,
for a hundred feet over the rocks into the river, and the West Shore
Railroad, winding along the edge of the cliffs, cuts or goes through
their extended points, and finally darts into a long tunnel bored
right under the West Point Academy.
The Hudson River, some distance above, bends sharply around the little
lighthouse on the end of West Point, its extremity being a moderately
sloping rock covered with cedars, the reef going deep down into the
water, while on its highest part is a monument to General Kosciusko,
who had much to do with constructing the original military works. The
flat and elevated surface, some distance inland, plainly visible both
from up and down the river, is the Parade Ground, the Academic
buildings being constructed around it, while behind them on higher
ground is the dome-crowned library. The surface of West Point is not
so high as the surrounding mountains, but its advanced position
completely commands the river approach both ways, and hence its
military importance. Along the water's edge at the Point the rocks are
worn smooth, it is said, by so many cadets sitting there in the summer
time. Just above is the cove, where they swim and practice at
pontoon-bridge building, and back of this cove is the artillery
ground, the guns being fired at the huge side of old Cro' Nest
Mountain to the northward. Gee's Point is also above, and from its
extremity was extended the second big chain across to Constitution
Island, used during the later years of the Revolution, to obstruct the
passage, also buoyed on timber floats; some of its huge links being
still preserved. Constitution Island was long the home of Susan
Warner, the authoress, who died in 1885, and her grave is in West
Point Cemetery. Her _Hills of the Shatemuc_ is full of Hudson River
scenes, but her best-known book was _The Wide, Wide World_, published
in 1850.
The military post and academy of West Point is about fifty miles north
of New York, the Government domain covering twenty-four hundred acres.
The buildings stand on a plain of one hundred and sixty acres,
elevated one hundred and fifty-seven feet above the river, with
mountains all around, rising in some cases fifteen hundred feet, the
highest being old Cro' Nest. South of the Academy, on a commanding
hill six hundred feet high, are the ruins of Fort Putnam, the chief
work during the Revolution. When that war began in 1775 it was ordered
that the passes of the Hudson through the Highlands should be
fortified, and Fort Constitution was built on the opposite island. As
the higher adjacent hills commanded it, this work was soon abandoned,
and three years later West Point was selected and fortified, with Fort
Clinton at the Point, and several other formidable works, becoming the
"American Gibraltar," the second massive chain being then extended
across to the island as an additional protection. It was considered
the most important post in the country, and at the time of Arnold's
treason in September, 1780, was garrisoned by over three thousand men,
and had one hundred and eighteen cannon in the various works. After
peace came, the military defenses fell into ruin; but Washington
repeatedly recommended that a military school be established at West
Point, and in 1802 it was authorized by Congress, going into operation
in 1812. The earthworks of the original Fort Clinton on the point,
built by the youthful engineer Thaddeus Kosciusko in 1778, have been
restored, and are carefully preserved. This young officer, descended
from a noble Polish family, had not completed his studies in the
military school of Warsaw when he eloped with a girl of high rank. The
enraged father pursued and captured them, and the youthful lover was
compelled either to slay the father or abandon the daughter. He chose
the latter, and going to Paris met Dr. Franklin, who soon filled him
with a desire to help the struggling Americans, and he came over and
entered the army as an engineer in 1776. He served with distinction
throughout the war, was made a General, and publicly thanked by
Congress. He fought afterwards in the Polish Revolution, and retiring
to Switzerland, died in 1817. He is buried in the Cathedral Church of
Cracow, and near that city a mound one hundred and fifty feet high has
been raised to his memory, earth being brought from every battlefield
in Poland. The Kosciusko monument of marble was erected in memory of
the noble Pole in an angle of Fort Clinton at West Point in 1829.