It is not too much to say that the loss of the Highlands of the Hudson would probably have meant the downfall of the Continental cause. Never but once during that long struggle for freedom did the patriot army temporarily lose this point of vantage: that was when, after the reduction of the forts by Sir Henry Clinton in October, 1777, the chcvaux-dc-frisc and other obstructions were cleared away, the Americans hastily evacuated Forts Independence and Constitution, and the British fleet sailed up the river as far as Kingston. It was a destructive progress, but without lasting results, as the surrender of Burgoyne, on the 17th of that month, rendered abortive the plan to co-operate with him from the south. At the time of this reverse to the American arms. Fort Putnam was not yet completed, and West Point, as we know it, cannot be said to have existed. The four defences already mentioned were all that had then been erected. Fort Constitution was on the island opposite West Point, from which place one of Putnam's numerous chains was stretched. Its insular character can hardly be recognised to-day, as the

The Hudson River 38o marshes between it and the eastern shore of the river have gradually filled up and now appear as meadowland. The old house, about which the home of the Warner sisters was built in the course of years, was of colonial date and was used at one time as headquarters by the commander of the American forces in the Highlands.