King’s Ferry Offered a Safe Crossing

In August 1781, as the Continental and French Armies headed south toward Yorktown, Virginia, for one of the American Revolution’s most crucial military engagements, they needed to cross the Hudson River far enough from New York City to avoid interference from the British stationed there. The allied generals chose King’s Ferry, a well-established ½–mile crossing between Verplanck and Stony Point. Despite the narrow crossing, ferrying two armies across the Hudson created a bottleneck. The Continental Army began crossing on August 21, 1781, and finished the next day. The French Army also began on August 21st and finished August 25th. Once across the Hudson, the two armies proceeded south through New Jersey on the march to Yorktown.

Verplanck, New York · United States