Fishkill Supply Depot

The Fishkill Supply Depot was the major logistical center for the Revolutionary War in the North and contains a vast Continental Army Burial Complex, located at Fishkill, Hudson River Valley, New York (41°31′50″N 73°53′49″W). It is the largest burial ground of American Revolutionary War soldiers identified in the United States. Soldiers endured seven frigid upstate winters at the camp. In 2007, a team of archaeologists using ground penetrating radar discovered hundreds of graves at the Depot, halting commercial development. Much of the Depot site was developed in the 1970s causing the loss of many artifacts from the period. The depot complex consisted of barracks for thousands of soldiers, officer housing, hospital, magazine, prison, parade grounds, blacksmith shops, stables and store houses. The only intact structure from the period is the Van Wyck Homestead. Established by General George Washington and serving at varying times as a headquarters and nexus point for General Israel Putnam, General Alexander McDougall, General Horatio Gates, Alexander Hamilton and General Lafayette, it played an essential role in the Continental Army’s victory over British forces. In spite of its great historical significance, in the latter half of the twentieth century, rapid suburbanization obscured its stories and preservation. In 1974, the best efforts of local conservation groups failed. A substantial portion of the famous Revolutionary War site was sacrificed to build the now defunct Dutchess Mall. The Depot provided logistic operations for all of George Washington's operations in the Hudson Valley during the war. Without the Depot there would have been no victory at the Battles of Saratoga and turning point to the war. Friends of the Fishkill Supply Depot and United States Senator Charles Schumer are leading a project to save the site under the Battlefield Protection Act and to create a National Park on the site.

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