Washington conquers hurdles in Newburgh

By Carol Trapani
Poughkeepsie Journal

The expectation was that unless the British made a move in New York state, or the Americans did something stupid, the Americans would emerge victorious from this terribly long and expensive War of Independence.

The British still held New York City in 1782. Loyalists were abundant in the lower Hudson Valley. In case the British made a move up the Hudson Valley, Gen. George Washington needed to keep his troops collected in a relatively safe place, yet be close to New York City. So the American soldiers settled in at New Windsor while Washington headquartered in nearby Newburgh, a few miles north of the strategically important West Point. The Hudson Highlands formed a natural barrier to the king’s men, the gigantic chain and boom across the Hudson at West Point were manmade obstacles.

‘‘The British could stay put or if they tried to do something, the Americans would know they were coming via a signal system between Ringwood, N.J., and Mount Beacon,’’ said Tom Hughes, site manager at Washington’s Headquarters State Historic Site in Newburgh.

The Hudson Valley had always figured strongly in America’s war for independence.

‘‘It was these 90,000 people in the Hudson River country who carried on and furnished a great part of the effort which won the War for Independence,’’ according to ‘‘The Valley of the Hudson: River of Destiny.’’

The Hudson River was the major transportation route in the northern colonies, said Thomas Wermuth, associate professor of history at Marist College. ‘‘It was a major conduit for goods. Plus it was fertile. The west bank served as the breadbasket of the Continental Army.’’

State viewed as critical

The river and the valley were important strategically, too. The Battles of Saratoga in September and October of 1777 — American victories that won the war in the northern colonies — were actually battles for control of the Hudson Valley, Wermuth said. New York state was seen as critical, the dividing line between New England, the rest of the mid-Atlantic states, and the South. The Hudson River provided a direct route from New York City, under British control from early on during the war, to Canada. Control the Hudson, split the newborn union.

For a year and a half, from April 1782 to August 1783, Washington made his military headquarters and residence with his wife, Martha, other officers, servants and slaves in Jonathan and Tryntje Hasbrouck’s farmhouse in Newburgh.

The man who chose the house as military headquarters had been living in it with a few other officers and Mrs. Hasbrouck, whose husband had died two years earlier, said Hughes. When Washington arrived, the commander’s party took over, building additional kitchen space, a lab for making gun powder and additional stables and barns. Most were removed after they left, at Mrs. Hasbrouck’s request.

‘‘While he was here he had some serious challenges,’’ Hughes said of Washington’s stay in Newburgh.

A letter that suggested he be-come monarch arrived in Newburgh a few weeks after Washington did. ‘‘His strong response ended that,’’ said Hughes. Washington’s reply? He read the idea ‘‘with abhorrence’’ and told the sender to ‘‘banish these thoughts from your mind.’’

Human touch pays dividends

The following March officers were invited to meet to consider what they would do about lack of pay and pensions. Washington announced he was going to delay the meeting a couple of days and then showed up on the delayed date and was allowed to speak, Hughes said. ‘‘This was about money and whether officers would ruin their reputations by abandoning the cause. Even without resources, Washington drew on his own character and his own example (for the officers) to follow his lead and not ruin the reputation of the officer corps.’’

Washington delivered his speech in nearby New Windsor.

‘‘I don’t think that alone convinced anyone not already convinced,’’ Hughes said. ‘‘He started to read a letter from a congressman and needed to take out his spectacles, which even the officers wouldn’t have seen him wear. He sort of apologized for taking them out. What that represented in the officers’ minds was ‘here’s a man who sacrificed, let’s trust him.’ ’’

Revolutionary War soldiers and officers, for the most part, were never adequately compensated, Hughes said. When they were discharged, they were told they could take their muskets, but many had to sell their muskets on the way home.

The significance of this holding together is that it succeeded in the face of such odds and disparity.

‘‘People with rebellious, independent minds worked together to create the country we enjoy today,’’ Hughes said.

The fieldstone house in Newburgh that once sheltered the Hasbroucks and Washingtons also is considered the birthplace of the Purple Heart medal.

‘‘It was Washington’s idea and he awarded it,’’ Hughes said. ‘‘It was awarded for heroism and only three people got it.’’ President Herbert Hoover revived it in 1932, but Washington gave it its heart shape and purple color and the words, ‘‘military merit.’’