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CHAPTER XIX 



HISTORIC KINGSBRIDGE 



Fort Independence and Other Old Fortifications — Story of General Richard 

 Montgomery, the Hero of Quebec. 



AT the unveiling of a bronze tablet, marking the 

 site of Fort Number One, by the American Scenic 

 and Historic Preservation Society upon the east 

 side of the handsome residence of Mr. William 

 C. Muschenheim at Spuyten Duyvil on Novem- 

 ber 5, 1910, Lieutenant Stephen Jenkins, author 

 of The Story of The Bronx, who delivered the 

 General Richard historical address at the exercises, spoke with- 

 Montgomery out exaggeration when he said: "With the pos- 

 sible exception of the Mohawk Valley, the Tyron 

 County of Colonial days and the Lake Champlain region, there is- 

 no section in New York State which possesses such romantic, 

 legendary and historic interest as the County of Westchester, par- 

 ticularly the Kingsbridge section. One can not help feeling a 

 thrill as one travels over this historic ground. Wherever one goes 

 or wherever one looks, he finds something of historic interest." 



The Kingsbridge section was a bone of contention dur- 

 ing the early part of the Revolutionary War. When 

 the question of taking measures for the defence of the 

 Colonies was proposed in the Continental Congress, a discussion 

 arose that was long and earnest, for many members yet hoped for 

 reconciliation. On the very day that a British reinforcement at 

 Boston with Howe, Clinton, and Burgoyne entered that harbor, 

 Duane, of New York moved, in the Committee of the Whole, the 

 opening of a negotiation, in order to accommodate the unhappy dis- 

 putes existing between Great Britain and the Colonies, and that 

 this be made a part of the petition to the King. But more deter- 

 mined spirits prevailed, and a compromise was reached on the 25th 

 of May, 1775, when directions were sent to the Provincial Congress 

 at New York to preserve the communications between the City of 



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