The interpretive sign reads:
Welcome to Fort Montgomery
"You are standing near the western end of Fort Montgomery:
a Revolutionary War fort built to defend the Hudson Highlands
and protect American control of the Hudson River.
On October 6, 1777, the British captured Fort Montgomery
and destroyed it in the days that followed.

"Trails from this parking area lead to two of the fort's redoubts.
The trail that passes beneath the highway will take you to
the Fort Montgomery visitor center and Fort Montgomery's
remains where interpretive signs will help you understand
the history of the fort and the battle."

Today, Fort Montgomery is an archeological site and a historic ruin.

Fort Montgomery was the scene of a fierce battle for control of the Hudson River during the American Revolutionary War; the Hudson was considered strategic by both the Americans and the British during the American War for Independence.

Building Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton
"Early in the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress realized that the Hudson River was critical to the American cause. If the British controlled the river, they could divide the rebellious colonies. Therefore, the Americans began work on Fort Montgomery in March 1776. . .

" . . . When the Americans discovered that the land on the opposite side of the Popolopen Creek was higher and would threaten Fort Montgomery if held by the enemy, they began constructing a second fort there, called Fort Clinton. They connected the two forts by a pontoon bridge. . .

"Fort Montgomery was a bustling community of hundreds of people. Soldiers, laborers, merchants, families, servants, and slaves lived at or visited the fort. Ships and boats arriving and departing added to the atmosphere of a small city.

"Supplies were often hard to obtain, morale was often low, and discipline was a chronic problem. Nevertheless, Forts Montgomery and Clinton were largely complete by October 1777, when the British attacked them."


Fort Clinton
"Originally, the commissioners in charge of the work were confident that no overland attack on the fort was possible, but misgivings led them to begin extending the fortifications inland. They began fortifying several pieces of high ground that became Fort Montgomery's three redoubts. The realization that a higher piece of ground just across the Popolopen Creek threatened Fort Montgomery led to the construction of Fort Clinton."

The interpretive sign reads:
Battle of Fort Montgomery
"To aid Lieutenant General John Burgoyne's British army stalled at Saratoga, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton sailed from New York with 3,000 British, German, and Loyalist soldiers and a flotilla of warships. On the morning of October 6, 1777, Clinton landed 2,100 of his men on the west side of the Hudson River near Stony Point. This force followed a narrow trail through the mountains, where they ran into a party of 30 men sent from Fort Clinton to detect the British advance. After beating the Americans back, Sir Henry Clinton sent 900 men around Bear Mountain to attack Fort Montgomery. The rest would wait to attack Fort Clinton until the first group had reached Fort Montgomery.

"In the afternoon, the British began an assault on both forts, which were defended by no more than 700 men. At Fort Montgomery, the Americans kept the British at bay as the two sides exchanged musket fire. When the Americans refused to surrender, the British stormed both forts. Taking advantage of the growing dark and the smoky haze from the battle, many of the Americans escaped, but as many as 275 were taken as prisoners to New York City where they remained for much of the war.

"Following the battle, the British destroyed Fort Montgomery, garrisoned Fort Clinton, and burned New York's capital at Kingston. Then, receiving orders to join Sir William Howe's army near Philadelphia, Clinton's men destroyed Fort Clinton and sailed back down the Hudson. Although captured and destroyed, the forts had presented enough of an obstacle to keep the British forces in New York from aiding Burgoyne's army. The following year, in 1778, the American began rebuilding their defenses, this time at West Point."

The American Revolution - 1777: History of Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton
The following historical accounts record the Battles of Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton from different historical perspectives:

The War of the Revolution , by Christopher Ward, Volume II (Macmillan, 1952)

"An opaque fog lay close to the surface of the Hudson River on the morning of October 5, 1777. The awakening bugles of General Israel Putnam’s Continentals at Peekskill on the eastern shore of the river seemed muted by the white and misty blanket. The slow-rising sun burned irregular holes in it, however, and through these the General’s sentinels, who had been posted south of his encampment during most of the summer, saw something that banished their accustomed boredom. There were barges and galleys downriver—many of them—and above the low lying haze rose the towering masts of British frigates. From downriver, too, came the muffled sounds of alarm guns. The long-dreaded invasion of enemy troops from occupied New York had begun.

The elderly Yankee Israel Putnam was busy at once. An oarsman, rowing desperately, bore messages across the wide stream to Fort Montgomery, an unfinished cluster of earthworks then under the command of the thirty-eight-year-old governor of the new state of New York, Brigadier General George Clinton. At this bastion, nearly a hundred and fifty feet above the spot where the Popolopen Creek joins the Hudson, the Governor received Putnam’s letter. Immediately he sent a summary of its contents to his older brother, General James Clinton, then in command of Fort Clinton, a smaller stronghold on the steep south bank of the narrow creek.

In the meantime, the British under Sir Henry Clinton (a distant cousin of the American generals of the same surname) were disembarking at Verplanck’s Point on the east bank of the Hudson, not far below Putnam’s headquarters. The grating of their boats in the shallows of the river, the sharp voices of their officers ordering immediate formations, came strangely through the thick fog to the ears of Putnam’s scouts, informing them only that the invaders were in considerable numbers . . .

. . . Perhaps the Battle of Fort Montgomery would have been utterly neglected had not two young American soldiers chosen to visit the site on a sunny spring day of the following year. Historians do not usually end their chapters on such footnotes as these men provided, but their reports have so documented the narrative that they deserve place here. One of them, a young chaplain named Timothy Dwight (later president of Yale College), wrote in his journal that while he was climbing from a river barge to the place where the battle had been fought, the stench of dead bodies caused him great distress.

We found, at a small distance from Fort Montgomery, a pond of a moderate size, in which we saw the bodies of several men, who had been killed in the assault upon the fort. They were thrown into this pond, the preceding autumn, by the British … Some of them were covered at this time; but at a depth so small as to leave them distinctly visible. Others had an arm, a leg, or a part of the body, above the surface. The clothes which they wore when they were killed, were still on them, and proved that they were militia; being the ordinary dress of farmers. Their faces were bloated and monstrous; and their postures were uncouth, distorted and to the highest degree afflictive . . ."

Battles Of The Revolutionary War : 1775-1781 by W.J. Wood (Dec 23, 2003)

"On October 6th, 300 Continental soldiers of the 5th New York regiment, 100 artillerymen of Lamb's Artillery, and some 300 Levies and militiamen defended the unfinished Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton against a combined force of roughly 2,100 Loyalists, Hessians, and British regulars led by Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton attacked Forts Montgomery and Clinton from the landward side (which was only partially completed) with support from cannon fire from British ships on the Hudson River. The land columns attacking from west of the fort consisted of the New York Volunteers, the Loyal American Regiment, Emmerich's Chasseurs, the 57th and the 52nd Regiments of Foot.

The Americans had emplaced an iron chain and a boom across the Hudson River, protected by four warships, to impede the British flotilla.

Lt. Col. Mungo Campbell and several British regulars approach the fort with a flag of truce indicating that they wish to avoid `further effusion of blood.' Clinton sends Lt. Col. William S. Livingston to meet the enemy. The British officer requests that the patriots surrender. They are promised that no harm would come to them. Livingston, in turn, invites Campbell to surrender and promises him and his men good treatment. Fuming at this audacity, the British resume the fight. British ships working against an ebb tide attack the forts and American vessels. A steady volley ensues with each side receiving a share of the bombardment. British officers Campbell and Vaughan close in on all sides of the twin forts. Leading his men into battle, Campbell is killed in a violent attack on the North Redoubt of Fort Montgomery. Vaughan's horse is shot from under him as he rides into battle at Fort Clinton.

After a fierce battle lasting until dark, the British pushed the courageous Americans from the forts at the points of their bayonets. The defenders are overpowered by sheer numbers and the British gain possession of Forts Montgomery and Clinton. American casualties numbered about 350 killed, wounded and captured, while the British paid a price of at least 190 killed and wounded. Those who were not killed or did not escape are shipped to the infamous Sugar House Prisons in New York City and then onto British "hell ships" (prison ships) in the harbor. A "return," or report of prisoners, is sent to communities in the Highlands to inform families of their loved ones' capture. It is up to the families to send provisions lest the prisoners starve. Countless patriots perish on the prison ships.

U.S. Army battle map, The Battle of Fort Montgomery, 5-6 October 1777 U.S. Army battle map, The Battle of Fort Montgomery, The British Attack, Dusk, 6 October 1777 Forts Montgomery and Clinton, located just south of West Point, were built for the defense of the Hudson Highlands in 1776. It was here that British and loyalist troops overwhelmed Clinton's outnumbered patriots in October.

Although the Americans lost the battle for the Highlands, a relative handful of Americans aided in delaying British reinforcements from joining Burgoyne in the upper Hudson Valley and allowed Gates to gain much needed militia reinforcements in time to ultimately win Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga."

A guide to the Battles of the American Revolution by Theodore P. Savas and J. David Dameron (Savas Beatie LLC, NY 2006)

American Perspective:
"Waiting within the American fortifications on Bemis Heights was the bloodied Continental Army led by Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates. Not an audacious commander, Gates was content to await General Burgoyne's next move. While Gates market time on Bemis Heights, Patriot forces assigned to defensive positions guarding the entrance to the Hudson Highlands worked to complete two forts on the Hudson River 100 miles south of Albany, New York. Their commander was Brig. Gen. George Clinton (not to be confused with the British commander with the same last name). The forts over which the American Clinton (who was also governor of New York) labored were named Montgomery, in honor of fallen Patriot Gen. Richard Montgomery, and Clinton, after himself as commander of the forces in that region. Built on opposite banks of Popolopen Creek, which emptied into the Hudson River on its western shore at a strategic bend, eight miles south of West Point, the bastions were key to the strategic defense of the Hudson Highlands.

Fort Montgomery guarded the northern bank of the creek and Fort Clinton the southern bank. To the east of both forts flowed the majestic Hudson River. All told, the American fielded 600 men and 20 pieces of heavy artillery. The Patriots strung a heavy iron chain across the river and seeded the water with log obstacles to disrupt any maritime assault upon the American forts. Patrolling the Hudson were two Americans warships, Montgomery and Congress, supported by a handful of smaller vessels . . .

. . . Fort Clinton was constructed on the south side of Popolopen Creek on a rocky ridge overlooking the Hudson River below, oriented to cover a 400-yard wide plain before the drop to the waterway. Fort Montgomery also overlooked the Hudson River, but was situated on the northern shore of Popolopen Creek, which ran west from the Hudson . . .

After a perfunctory request that the defenders capitulate (which was rejected), the twin assaults began. There was no element of surprise or effort at finesse. The British attached nearly simultaneously with the sun setting behind Lt. Col. Archibald Campbell's columns. Sir James Wallace's British river fleet also arrived and opened fire on the American vessels and forts, providing the British land forces with supporting fire.

Fort Montgomery fell first . . . Fort Clinton's defenders offered a better account of themselves, but the outcome was the same. Sir Henry Clinton ordered his command to launch a direct attach (there was little room to maneuver). His regulars and Hessian allies swept forward through a line of obstructions, taking terrible casualties during the approach and in the close-quarter fighting that followed. The weight of British metal carried the day, however, and within a short time the garrison was dead, wounded, captured, or fleeing . . .

By 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. the fighting was over. Only 300 Americans, including Generals James and Governor George Clinton, escaped, most from Fort Montgomery . . . Casualties: British: 190 killed and wounded; American: 350 killed, wounded, and captured."

Fort Montgomery as a Historic Ruin
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has decided not to recreate Forts Montgomery and/or Clinton. "Because of the limits of available information, any recreation would be inaccurate and would hide the violent end of these massive fortifications. Instead, the remains are preserved, just as the have survived the ages, as hallowed ground."

Fort Montgomery stands as an archeological site and a historic ruin.

Fort Montgomery, Today
Today, Fort Montgomery is an archeological site and a historic ruin. This Historic Site is a genuine vestige of our nation's struggle for independence. Visitors will see the actual foundations of the fort's buildings and remains of the fort's earthworks. Visit Fort Montgomery and tour the remains of the 14 acre fortification, perched on a cliff overlooking the Hudson River.

The site includes a Visitor Center and interpretive trail that guides visitors past the fort's ruins to breathtaking views of the Hudson River. The Visitor Center features artifacts discovered in Fort Montgomery, mannequin displays, a 3 dimensional map model, and a 14 minute orientation film.

Attractions Include
Audio-Visual Programs
Demonstrations
Group Tours
Hiking
Interpretive Signs
Scenic Views
Self Guided Tours
Visitor Center

"New York State's Governor, Brigadier General George Clinton, commanded Fort Montgomery during the battle on October 6, 1777. Clinton ordered his men into the fort's three redoubts, where they were attacked by 900 British and Loyalist soldiers. After mounting a brave resistance, the Americans were driven from the redoubts and were forced to abandon the fort."

One of the drawings in the sign shows that: "Aware that the British were approaching, Governor Clinton ordered some of his men to take a 3-pounder cannon down the road that lead to the fort and delay them. The Americans were able to temporarily stop the advancing British and Loyalist soldiers, but were eventually forced to abandon the gun and return to the fort."

The sign reads:
The Historic 1777 & 1779 Trails
"You are walking part of the 1777 historic trail that retraces as nearly as possible the routes taken by the British army during the Revolutionary War.

"The 1777 trail represents the route taken by British General Sir Henry Clinton's forces on October 6, 1777. After landing 2100 men at Stony Point, he marched north to capture Forts Clinton and Montgomery. At Doodletown, the trail splits. The east branch of the trail follows the march of forces under Sir Henry Clinton and Major General John Vaughn that captured Fort Clinton. The west branch follows the route of Lieutenant Colonel Mungo Campbell's force, which captured Fort Montgomery.

"The 1779 trail traces the route taken by Brigadier General Anthony Wayne's Corps of Light Infantry in its assault on the British fortifications at Stony Point just after midnight on July 16, 1779. After a brief but fierce fight, Wayne's men captured Stony Point, achieving one of the Continental Army's most spectacular victories."