In the late spring and early summer of 2007, when imminent passage of the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail bill was expected in the Senate, the chief sponsor of the legislation, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, a co-sponsor of the bill, jointly requested that the National Park Service correct the main map accompanying the legislation by adding the starting point of Washington’s 1781 march from New York to Virginia, Dobbs Ferry, NY. The W-R Trail bill did not reach the Senate floor for a vote, however, and the actual starting point of Washington’s march is still not shown on the map.
The request for improved historical accuracy which was made by Senators Clinton and Lieberman in 2007 has been reinforced in recent months by the intervention of two of the most highly regarded historians in the United States, Thomas Fleming and David Hackett Fischer, both of whom are widely respected for their expertise in the Revolutionary War era.
The omission of references to Dobbs Ferry’s historical significance on NPS maps and in NPS educational material related to the W-R Trail is a serious deficiency which, if not corrected, is certain to confuse the public about the starting point of Washington’s strategically important 1781 march. Representatives of the NPS have not challenged the historical documentation presented to them by Dobbs Ferry, and it is unclear why the NPS has declined to make the corrections.
Correction of the main legislative map has been proposed by Dobbs Ferry as a first step, since that correction would be very easy to make, and would show a readiness on the part of the NPS to correct fully all NPS educational material pertaining to Dobbs Ferry’s historical significance on the W-R Trail.