The history of the Hudson River Valley : from wilderness to the Civil War Vernon Benjamin

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Benjamin, Vernon (College teacher), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.)--History.

Hudson River Valley (N.Y. and N.J.).

United States--History.

United States.

Physical Description:

xv, 560 pages : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : The Overlook Press, 2014.

Summary:

"Sailing down the river that would later bear his captain's name, explorer Robert Juet described the Hudson River Valley in 1609 as a "drowned land" submerged by a "great lake of water." Over the next two centuries, this drowned landscape would be the site of a truly historic flowering of art, literature, architecture, innovation, and revolutionary fervor--drawing comparisons to another fertile cultural haven built around a mighty river in Western Europe. As historian Vernon Benjamin chronicles, the Hudson River Valley has been a place of contradictions since its first settlement by Europeans. Discovered by an Englishman who claimed it for the Dutch, the region soon became home to the most vibrant trading outpost for the New World colonies--the Island of Manhattan--even as the rest of the valley retained the native beauty that would inspire artists from James Fenimore Cooper to Thomas Cole. Because of its unique geography and proximity to Canada, the Hudson Valley became the major theater for the battle between empires in the French and Indian War. When the colonists united in rebellion against the British several decades later, conflict came to the region once again, with decisive military engagements from Saratoga to West Point to the occupied New York Harbor. In the aftermath, New York emerged as the capital of a new nation, and wealth from the city flowed north to the burgeoning Valley, leading to a renaissance of culture and commerce that is still evident today."--Publisher's website.

Contents:

I. "All Creation, Lad"

1. Paleo Prelude

2. The View from the Pine Orchard

3. How Old Is the Hudson Valley?

4. Life Comes to the Hudson Valley

5. The Silence in the Stones

6. The Coming of the Wilden

7. Trails to M'skatak

II. New Netherland

8. The First Europeans

9. Thirty-Two Days on the Road to Cathay

10. The Two Row Wampum

11. The Stamppot Thickens

12. An Astonishing Plentitude

13. Season of the Kiwit

14. Rensselaerswijck

15. Esopus and the Indian Wars

16. Petrus Stuyvesant's World

17. The Coming of the English

III. The English Period

18. The New Hegemony

19. An Inglorious Evolution

20. Boat People Tales

21. The Invisible Man

22. Disposition of the Patents

23. The Manor World

24. The Yankee Doodle Dandies

25. The Looming Conflict

IV. From Revolution to Federalism

26. Flight of the Continentals

27. The Phoenix and the Rose

28. A State on the Run

29. The Turning Point

30. The Borders War

31. A Gallows at Tappan

32. With the Army at Newburgh

33. Salutations and Adieus

34. Twilight and Prelude

35. A Hot Summer in Poughkeepsie

36. The Death of Federalism

V. An Emerging Nationalism

37. Boy Politicos

38. What Rip Van Winkle Saw

39. A Pastoral Era

40. The Saddlebags

41. Steeples Rising

42. Feats of the Engineers

43. By Water and Rail

VI. The Romantics

44. The Antecedents

45. Inventing Diedrich

46. Fireside Chats

47. Tidewater Literature

48. Poe in the Valley

49. II Bello e II Buono

50. Vanderlyn's Choice

51. Three Paintings in a Window

VII. Coming of Age in the Hudson River Valley

52. An Expanding Economy

53. The Antebellum Wars

54. Calico Warriors

55. Destination Ways

56. The Croton Bug

57. Manifest Destiny News

VIII. The Rising Fury

58. Sam, Gramp and Ren

59. Freedom Deferred

60. Isabella Journeys

61. The Immediatists

62. The Struggle

IX. The Civil War

63. The Bearded Stranger

64. Mobilizing the Valley

65. Custer's First Stand

66. Faces Across a Field

67. By Pen and by Sword

68. Bouquets for Abraham.

Notes:

Map on endpapers.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 493-538) and index.

ISBN:

9781590200797

1590200799

OCLC:

869802223