The purpose of this website is to promote the history and historic sites in Colonial Fredericksburg, New York.
Fredericksburg was the colonial name for the present day Hudson Valley towns of Patterson, Kent, Carmel and Southeast in Putnam County and Pawling in Dutchess County. The area is rich in Revolutionary War history.
Colonial Fredericksburg was the ancestral home of the Wappinger Indians. Chief Daniel Nimham, Sachem of the Wappingers, led his people to the aid of the British during the French & Indian Wars. While he and his men were fulfilling their service to the Crown, with Rogers Rangers, the Philippse family, who previously bought the area now known as Cold Spring and Philippstown, presented a forged Bill of Sale claiming they owned all the land to the Connecticut border, including all of Colonial Fredericksburg. With the help of William Slaughter, who attacked the Wappingers (and whose name became associated with attacking defenseless people), the tribe were forced to relocate to the Indian Village at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Upon returning from the war, Daniel Nimham went to court and fought for his people's land. The courts realized the Bill of Sale was forged and tried to stop Nimham's case from going forward. The imprisoned anyone assisting Nimham. Nimham fought for years, taking his case all the way to England.
During the Revolutionary War, Nimham returned to Colonial Fredericksburg with a Company of Stockbridge Indians, who served as regular soldiers in the Continental Army, under command of his son, Abraham Nimham. They attempted to drive back the British and Loyalists who were raiding the area. On 31 August 1778, Nimham and his brave band of soldiers were massacred by British troops in what later became the Town of VanCortlandt.
One of the first armed events that led to the American Revolution took place in Colonial Fredericksburg in November 1765. Two regiments of regular British troops were sent from Poughkeepsie, New York, along with 200 more troops from New York City. They were armed with muskets and canons and were sent to put down attempts by the local Patriots to stop the British land encroachment, which Daniel Nimham was fighting in the courts. For the first time, British troops fired upon American Patriots and men died in a bloody struggle which lasted from November of 1765 until July of 1766. This became known as the Settler's Revolt. News of the conflict appeared in Massachusetts newspapers and stirred a response which helped give birth to the Sons of Liberty. Beverly Robinson and Oliver Delancey, who led the attack to depose the Patriots in Colonial Fredericksburg, returned later, when the Revolution spread to include all the colonies. They each started a Loyalist (Tory) Regiment to continue to attempt to subdue the Patriots. This struggle produced a signer of the Declaration of Independence as well as many heroes of the Revolution.
Sybil Ludington, daughter of Col. Henry Ludington, was born and raised in Colonial Fredericksburg. On the inight of April 26, 1777, she rode 40 miles through Colonial Fredericksburg to summon the militia in response to the British burning of Danbury, Connecticut. She became known as the female Paul Revere, riding more than twice the distance of that noble partiot.
Enoch Crosby, the spy who became the inspiration for James Fenimore Cooper's book, "The Spy," on was born in Harwick, Massachusetts, but was raised in Colonial Fredericksburg. He provided valuable intellegince to General George Washington and the Continental Army.
The Fourth New York Regiment, one of the first regiments of the Continental Army, formed in 1775, included men from Colonial Fredericksburg. It produced such patriots as Philip VanCortlandt, Henry B. Livingston, Commodore Jacobus Wyncoop and Samuel Sackett, along with many others. Those men wore grey regimental coats faced in blue. Those colors later became the colors of West Point and of the prestious New York City Militia.
Due to the British naval blocade and their control of lower Westchester County and the Boston Post Road, the main military roads, which connected New England with the rest of the colonies, shifted northward and ran through Colonial Fredericksburg from 1776 through the end of the war in 1783. The intercestion of present day Route 22 and Route 311 in Patterson was the Colonial crossroads.
In September 1778, General George Washington and the Continental Army arrived in Colonial Fredericksburg after their victory over the British Army in the Battle of Rhode Island. The Continental Army made this their home from September through November of 1778.
These are just some of the events, related the Revolutionary War, which occured in Colonial Fredericksburg, New York.
Historic Sites within Colonial Fredericksburg
Patriots of the Revolutionary War Monument Park - Route 311, Patterson
Revolutionary War Crossroads – Routes 311 & 22, Patterson, Pawling & Southeast
Fredericksburg Encampment – Routes 311 & 22, Patterson & Pawling
John Kane House – Washington’s Headquarters, Pawling
Quaker Hill Meeting House, Pawling
Quaker Hill Encampment, Pawling
Ludington's Mill, Route 52, Kent
Ludington Graves, Route 311, Patterson
Colonial Stone Wall, Patterson Baptist Church, Route 311, Patterson
Settler’s Revolt, John Towner House, Route 311, Patterson
Sybil Ludington Monument, Carmel
Daniel Nimham Monument, Route 52, Kent
Historic Cemeteries, Patterson, Kent, Carmel, Southeast & Pawling
Southeast Museum, Brewster
Historic Attractions Nearby
Constitution Island, Cold Spring
The Foundry Museum in Cold Spring
Van Wyck House, Route 9, Fishkill
Revolutionary War Fishkill Encampment, Route 9
West Point Military Academy
New Windsor Cantonment
Van Cortlandt Park
Other Activities & Areas of Interest in and Around Colonial Fredericksburg
