Old Albany Post Road History

Dutchess County's Revolutionary History
While no Revolutionary War battles were fought here, Dutchess County played a vital role in the Patriot cause. In fact, the Village of Fishkill was home to one of the largest supply depots for the Continental Army during the war.

RevCon 2026 | June 13 | FDR Presidential Library and Museum Dutchess County continues its multi-year commemoration of America’s semiquincentennial with RevCon 2026 — the third-annual Revolutionary War Reenactment and History Fair — hosted by Destination Dutchess and the Dutchess County Department of History on June 13.

ALL ARE WELCOME!

The American Revolution in the Hudson Highlands
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
7:00 PM 8:00 PM
Beacon Historical Society

America 250 Meeting: You won’t want to miss “The American Revolution in the Hudson Highlands,” coming June 23 at 7 p.m. at Elks Lodge, 900 Wolcott Avenue. Our speaker is Col. Seanegan Sculley, who has served in the U.S. Army since 1995 and who earned his PhD in History from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 2015. He currently serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of History and War Studies at the United States Military Academy. Col. Sculley is also the author of Contest for Liberty: Military Leadership in the Continental Army, 1775-1783. We’re especially proud to share that he and his wife Jenny currently live in Beacon. All are welcome to attend – in fact, bring a friend! Come learn about our community’s role in winning our nation’s freedoms.

ATTN: 501(C)3 historic organizations:

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Please visit our modernized website featuring the three (3) newly-identified soldiers who perished in Fishkill during the American Revolution. Click on www.fishkillsupplydepot.org for this new content and be sure to visit the Tribute page www.fishkillsupplydepot.org/Xtribute.html where you can learn the stories of over 90 patriots who also "Fell in Fishkill."

WHY is the DAR not answering messages or their phone?
Daniel Butterfiled's impassioned speech at the dedication of their monument in front of the Revolutionary War Burial Ground was so incredible.

Respected once. Photo from 2023. Now tarps and signs block the Revolutionary War Burial Ground.

Debuts this Saturday in Fishkill!

From The History of Dutchess County,

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. - - PAGE 173

".... Large quantities of stores from Dutchess and adjacent counties, as well as from the eastern States, were there accumulated for the use of the Continental army. A sergeant and fourteen men from each regiment within the county were detailed to erect barracks there. They were located on the level plateau southeast of Fishkill village. Frequently large bodies of troops were stationed there. The officers' quarters were at the "Wharton House," made memorable by its association with the hero of Cooper's story of "The Spy." These barracks became the retreat for wounded and naked soldiers. After the battle of White Plains, the wounded were conveyed to Fishkill where, in addition to the barracks hospitals, the churches were used for that purpose. Of the many who died, it is asserted, their bodies were piled up as high as cord wood in places between the Dutch and Episcopal churches. Near the base of the mouiftain a short distance south of the village is the soldiers' burial ground, where moulder the remains of hundreds of patriots, whose devotion and blood helped to secure for us the inestimable boon of liberty. Small-pox which broke out in the camp added the bodies of many more. The sufferings and privations of those heroic men, who, wrote Washington, ate at one time every kind of horse food but hay, and whose clothing was patched until nearly every substance of originality was lost, is further emphasized by the Marquis de Chastellux, who remarks that they "were not even covered with rags." Gen. Washington made his headquarters in Fishkill village for brief periods, stopping at the house of Col. John Brinckerhoff."

PAGES 325-326

"About two miles south of Fishkill Village on the old Post Road is a monument, erected October 14, 1897, by the Melzingah Chapter Daughters American Revolution, to mark the spot where were buried the soldiers who died in large numbers, of diseases, while in camp here during the Revolution. The tablet on the monument reads as follows:
1776-1783
IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF THE BRAVE MEN
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY
DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
AND WHOSE REMAINS REPOSE IN THE ADJOINING FIELD.

Washington expected that the British would force their way northward through the Highlands, so he reinforced himself strongly against them in this neighborhood. A short distance below, on the Post Road, where the valley is narrow, earth-works were thrown up against the enemy's advance. They, too, have been marked by an appropriate tablet, viz. :

ON THE HILLS BACK OF THIS STONE STOOD THREE
BATTERIES GUARDING THIS PASS
1776-1783
MELZINGAH CHAPTER
DAUGHTERS AMERICAN REVOLUTION
1903."

FROM:

The history of Dutchess County, New York : Hasbrouck, Frank, 1852- : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive The metadata below describe the original scanning. Follow the All Files: HTTP link in the View the book box to the left to find XML files that contain more...

OKAY get writing! Notice to the Town of Fishkill, Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot, and all of the horticultural groups, historical societies, DAR Chapters, and maybe even the Dutchess County Historical Society and Historian.- and those who love our history!

A new $250,000 prize aims to spotlight those bringing American history to life The New York Historical has launched a $250,000 prize to honor those who help the public better understand the past. The David M.