Congresswoman Lowey Asks NPS to Give Dobbs Ferry Historically Accurate Designation

Richard Borkow, Dobbs Ferry, NY

According to renowned Revolutionary War experts David Hackett Fischer and Thomas Fleming, Dobbs Ferry was the starting point of Washington’s bold 1781 march from New York to Virginia, and was a key site on the proposed Washington Rochambeau National Historic Trail.  

But Dobbs Ferry’s historical significance on the W-R Trail is not indicated on the main legislative map accompanying the Senate and House bills that pertain to the W-R Trail or in educational material prepared by the National Park Service. 

On March 31, 2008, Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY, CD-18)  expressed her concern about this matter in a letter to Mary A. Bomar, Director of the National Park Service. Responding to Ms. Lowey on April 24, 2008, Dennis R. Reidenbach, Regional Director of the Northeast Region of the NPS, stated that the main legislative map is intended only to depict geographical points of reference and is not intended to depict locations of historic prominence.  

Yet the map highlights about 18 locations in bold font, and most of them are key sites of historic prominence on the Washington-Rochambeau Trail, not merely geographical place markers. For example, Newport, RI, Lebanon, Connecticut , Newburgh, NY and Elkton, Maryland are all small locations which are, nevertheless, historically noteworthy and significant along the W-R Trail. These locations, and many of the 14 other localities now highlighted as key sites on the map, appear to have been selected precisely because of their historical prominence on the Trail.  It is difficult to imagine any other reason for having put them on the main legislative map.  

In a letter to Deputy Mayor David Koenigsberg of Dobbs Ferry, Ms. Lowey wrote on May 8, 2008: “Rest assured that I will continue to monitor this situation closely, working to ensure that all communities in the Hudson Valley are represented in a historically accurate manner.” Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY, CD-17),  Dobbs Ferry’s other representative in the House, has also expressed support for historically accurate designation of Dobbs Ferry. 

Washington’s secret march was arguably the most important military movement of the entire eight year war, since it was quickly followed by the decisive American and French victory at Yorktown, Virginia (October 19, 1781). The victory at Yorktown broke a long military stalemate, dramatically altered the military fortunes of the United States, greatly brightened the political prospects of the young republic and led to the end of the war. 

Mr. Reidenbach did not explain why the NPS has declined to designate Dobbs Ferry as the starting point of Washington’s crucial 1781 march. From the technical point of view, it would be exceedingly easy to add Dobbs Ferry to the main legislative map and highlight its historical significance, along with the other 18 key sites that are presently depicted on the map in bold font.

Thomas Fleming, author of many acclaimed works about the Revolutionary War, and President of the Society of American Historians, sent a letter strongly supportive of Dobbs Ferry to many Senate and House staff professionals on January 6, 2008. In the letter he expressed his puzzlement over the unwillingness of the NPS to designate Dobbs Ferry as the starting point of Washington’s 1781 march. Mr. Fleming wrote: 

"As a former chairman of the American Revolution Round Table and the author of many books on the struggle for independence, I have become interested  in the contest between the town of Dobbs Ferry, NY, and the National Park Service. To put it simply, I cannot understand why the NPS persists in opposing Dobbs Ferry’s request to be included on the official map of the route that General Washington and his French ally, General Rochambeau, followed on their historic march from Westchester County to Yorktown in 1781.  

This is a serious matter in our era of growing historical tourism. The proposed Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail is likely to become a very popular attraction for hundreds of thousands of people. 

The Dobbs Ferry Historical Society  submitted a 14 page comment to the NPS on December 2, 2006, with ample evidence that the town was the actual starting point for the march.  My investigation confirms the validity of their maps and citations.  

Mr. Fleming’s letter can be read in full on www.VillageHistorian.org .