Remarkable Revolutionary Women
Continue your journey on the Bridge-to-Bridge Tour, following the trail of some outstanding women from the American Revolution. From women who escaped slavery to those who fought in disguise and made tremendous sacrifices to protect what was important to them, their stories are ones of true heroism.
Upper Hudson Valley
Albany, Rensselaer, Columbia, Greene
1. Margaret Beekman Livingston-Clermont State Historic Site
Built in the 1730s, Clermont Mansion was home to seven generations of the powerful and wealthy Livingston family. The original home was burned in October of 1777 by British soldiers because of the family’s deep Patriot ties, and Margaret Beekman Livingston worked to have the home rebuilt. Margaret's husband, Judge Robert R. Livingston, was a member of the Stamp Act Congress and built the first gunpowder mill in New York. Her son, Henry Beekman Livingston, was colonel of the Fourth New York Regiment during the Revolutionary War. Her oldest son, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, was a member of the Continental Congress and helped draft the Declaration of Independence; he also gave the Presidential Oath of Office to George Washington in 1789. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973, Clermont is open for guided tours year-round.
Location: 1 Clermont Avenue, Germantown
Mid-Hudson Valley
Dutchess, Orange, Ulster
2. Sojourner Truth Memorial
Born into slavery as Isabella Baumfree in Dutch-speaking Ulster County around 1797, Truth was bought and sold four times and subjected to harsh physical labor and violent punishments. In her teens, she was united with another enslaved man with whom she had five children. In 1827, one year before New York’s law freeing enslaved people took effect, Truth ran away with her infant Sophia to a nearby abolitionist family, the Van Wageners. The family bought her freedom for twenty dollars and helped Truth successfully sue for the return of her five-year-old-son Peter, who was illegally sold into slavery in Alabama. (See African American Revolutionary History Itinerary and Ulster County Courthouse).
Sojourner Truth became an outspoken advocate for abolition, temperance, and civil and women’s rights in the nineteenth century. Her Civil War work earned her an invitation to meet President Abraham Lincoln in 1864.
Location: Route 9W and Salem Street, Port Ewen
3. Margaret Cochran Corbin
On November 16, 1776, Corbin joined her husband in Manhattan’s Battle of Fort Washington dressed as a man. After her husband was mortally wounded, she took over firing his cannon. She was later severely injured in the same battle. Later, she joined the Invalid Regiment at West Point where she tended to wounded soldiers. In 1779, the Continental Congress awarded her a pension in recognition of her service. In 1926, her remains were relocated to United States Military Academy West Point where she was buried with full honors.
Location: West Point, NY
Tour United States Military Academy with West Point Tours
4. Catheryna Brett/Madam Brett Homestead
The oldest house in Dutchess County, this Dutch-style home was built in 1709 by Roger and Catheryna Brett and stayed in the family for seven generations. Among its residents were Madam Brett's granddaughter, Hannah (Brett) Schenck, and her husband, Henry Schenck, who was a Major in the New York Militia and Assistant Commissary General for the Continental Army. Guests in the home during the war are said to have included George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and General Friedrich Von Steuben. Today, the home functions as a museum and is being preserved by The Melzingah Chapter and Daughters of the American Revolution. The home is open for tours on the second Saturday of each month, May through December, from 1–4 p.m. The grounds are open every day from dawn to dusk.
Location: 50 Van Nydeck Avenue, Beacon
Lower Hudson Valley
Putnam, Rockland, Westchester
5. Sybil Ludington Statue and Burial Site
Sybil Ludington “the female Paul Revere” sketched her name in history as a heroine of the American Revolutionary War. On April 26, 1777, at the age of 16, Ludington, the daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington of the Colonial militia, is said to have made an all-night horseback ride of 40 miles to rally militia forces in neighboring towns after the burning of Danbury, Connecticut, by British forces. Troops from New York and Connecticut engaged the British the next day in the Battle of Ridgefield, and the British retreated. A commemorative sculpture was made in her honor by Anna Hyatt Huntington and was erected along the shores of Lake Gleneida in Carmel, NY, in 1961.
Location of Statue: Lake Gleneida, 15 Gleneida Avenue, Carmel
Location of Burial Site: Maple Avenue Cemetery, 1062 NY-311, Patterson
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