Palisades during the Revolutionary War
editThe Palisades vicinity saw considerable activity during the Revolutionary War. Loyalties were split more than normally in such a conflict, because the area marked the dividing line between American and British combatants.[1] This situation is demonstrated within the family of Mollie Sneden, a legendary resident whose family name was given to Snedens Landing, as Palisades was known at that time. She and most of her sons were Tories, but her son John was a loyalist and was allowed to keep the family ferry operating across the Hudson River to Dobbs Ferry during the Revolution. An action by Mollie Sneden during this period illustrates the close interaction of British and patriots in this vicinity.
The story goes that a British soldier was pursued down the gully by some patriots; she hid him in her house in a large chest on which she set pans of cream to rise, and when the patriots arrived she misinformed them; they were tired and asked for refreshment, and she offered them all the milk she had, but told them not to disturb the pans of cream which she had just set out. In the evening she is said to have ferried the soldier across the river.[2]
The British General Cornwallis crossed the Hudson with 6,000 men in November, 1776 from Dobbs Ferry and forced the evacuation of Fort Lee. His natural disembarcation would have been Snedens Landing, directly across the river; but a force of 500 patriots armed with four cannons and a howitzer at Snedens Landing caused the British to reroute their crossing to Closter, further south.[3] In 1780 George Washington ordered a blockhouse to be built at Snedens Landing to serve as a guard for the ferry service, an intelligence center and a means of communication.[3] The General is known to have passed through the area and visited the blockhouse a number of times, and the road descending to the site of the ferry is named Washington Springs Road. According to tradition Washington and his troops used a small spring bordering this thoroughfare as source of refreshment.[3] This vicinity is also associated with Benedict Arnold, who was seen by an American soldier lurking in the woods during the period he was attempting to betray West Point.[1] He is also known to have spent a day at the blockhouse avoiding patrol boats along the Hudson.[3]
Across the river at Dobbs Ferry, General Washington planned with Marshal Rochambeau the campaign which would bring the war to an end at Yorktown.[4] After its conclusion, the first official recognition of the infant United States was a 17-gun salute fired from the British warship, H.M.S. Perseverance, which had sailed to Snedens Landing for General Sir Guy Careton to meet General Washington at neighboring Tappan.[1]
- ^ a b c Savell, Isabell K. (1977). The Tonetti Years at Snedens Landing. New York, NY: The Historical Society of Rockland County. p. 3. ISBN 0-89062-052-0.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Adams, Arthur G. (1996). The Hudson Through the Years. Fordham Univ Press. p. 133. ISBN 0823216772,9780823216772.
{{cite book}}: Check|isbn=value: invalid character (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d Larson, Neil (1990). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form" (PDF). Retrieved 2011-10-11.
{{cite web}}: Text "doi" ignored (help) - ^ "Dobbs Ferry". The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press. 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-01.