Fighting at Hessian Lake

On October 6, 1777, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton landed 2,100 British troops near Stony Point and marched north to attack the Continental garrisons at Forts Clinton and Montgomery. When the army reached Doodletown, an advance guard of 900 men under Lieutenant Colonel Mungo Campbell went around Bear Mountain to attack Fort Montgomery while the main force under Major General John Vaughn continued toward Fort Clinton. After New York Governor George Clinton, who commanded the forts, learned of the British approach, he sent 50 Continental troops under Lieutenant Colonel Jacobus Bruyn and 50 militiamen under Colonel James McClaughry to Doodletown. After encountering the British column, the Americans fell back to a stone wall by Hessian Lake, where they held the British at bay briefly before retreating to the fort under cover of its cannons. After a desperate defense, the American forts were captured.

Stony Point, New York · United States