The History of the Hudson River Valley: From Wilderness to the Civil War

by Vernon Benjamin

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 might 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. Richly illustrated and scrupulously researched, Vernon Benjamin’s magisterial new history will be the definitive text for years to come.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, New York, American History, United States, Travel, Local History

576 pages, Hardcover

First published April 3, 2014

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not flawless, but is truly enjoyable, full of events and people I didn’t know even after having read many books about the Hudson Valley in my seventy years of living here. If I were to recommend one, just one, book about Hudson Valley history, this would be it.

It is more comprehensive than Carl Carmer’s The Hudson, my personal favorite on the subject. Carmer’s book is a more a series of regional essays than a flowing chronicle.
For any particular epoch of history, better treatments can be found. The Tituses’ The Hudson Valley in the Ice Age, for example, is longer and more authoritative than Mr Benjamin’s well-done pages on geological and climatological history. For fish of the river, read Robert Boyle's The Hudson River . For Kingston consult Alf Evers's book on that city. Yet no one has put so much entertaining and, yes, enlightening, material into a single work as has Vern Benjamin in this one. It does digress at times, for example, into Civil War actions in Virginia that have only a slight connection to Hudson Valley residents. There is also a half-page on the heroic Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick, whose only link to the Valley is that there is a statue of him at West Point.

The book is chronological from the Ice Ages to the end of the Civil War. A vast bibliography makes this a good reference book.

There are big sectors I’d been ignorant about on which this book added to my understanding. Relationships between colonizers and Indians is one (see p. 70), Indian culture another. Slavery in the Hudson Valley is an ugly not-so-secret that no book I’d come across takes up so bravely. Much more ink is given, gracefully, to painters and sculptors, poets architects and writers than one expects from a ”history” book. This volume takes up geology, war, politics, industry, culture, daily lives and more. It even has the first game of golf in America, played on the ice at Fort Orange in 1650 (p. 91).

Here are a few haphazardly-chosen sections that I especially like, to represent the hundreds of other like them. Some are pure trivia that appeals to me; others, broader, like the chapters about slavery and abolition.
p. 130 Mehitabel Wing’s ride (beautifully done at greater length in Carmer’s book) 141 Stephen Moore’s winter journey 1863 from Trois Rivieres to New York City on skates and snowshoes; 164 fire ships and Bushnell’s Turtle, the first combat submarine p.341 books by Susan Warner (1819-95) and Anna Bartlett Warner I never knew about
362 Robert W. Weir of West Point was father of impressionist J. Alden Weir pp. 276-277 doctors and diseases 408 bringing water to the city 418 plank roads p. 431 “Isabella journeys” about Sojurner Truth and Harriet Tubman.

Often the usually colorful details come too fast, as in a recitation of which counties mustered how many companies of what kind of soldiers for the Civil War. Sometimes the vignettes are gossipy, but seldom mean. The writer focuses his criticism on institutions more than individuals; he does not bring out all the dirty laundry that he could. There is a pastiche flavor to some parts, but I did not mind that a bit, being so keen on the whole arena.

I’ll list some minor quibbles, all completely forgivable, easily fixed in the second edition that I hope will come. Sone are stylistic, others matters of fact or opinion. P. 47 Bering Sea where Barents Sea must be meant p. 86 at the Sawyerkill, “a Rensselaerwick sawyer operated along the river in the 1650s.” I happen to believe this, but it is folklore without documentation. See also p. 123, which gives the sawyer a name that is now thought to have been made up by the Rev. Randall Hoes. p. 92 the word squaw should now be avoided unless it is quoted from an original source. p 145 speaks of John Jay’s marriage “after his rejection by a DeLancey” Even if there was such a rejection (I don’t know), it does not add to the narrative except perhaps to hint at Jay’s early Loyalist tendency. If that’s why the phrase is there, we should be told so. p. 215 writing like a daily journalist, Mr Benjamin often elaborates too much, e,g, “were bereft of” instead of “lacked;” Lewis Mumford “cerebrally opined.” p. 441 “provoked mighty umbrages”

On several pages, e.g. 93 “Brownists” are mentioned but I could not find who they were. p 348 in re Poe, a grammatical slip that glares in a book of this quality. p. 377 Henry Barclay founded a Protestant church in Saugerties, but not in Red Hook. The first minister of Trinity Episcopal Church in Saugerties lived in Red Hook (Tivoli, actually) p. 397 fine treatment of the 1844-45 rent wars does not tell us that the heroic Dr Smith A. Boughton was pardoned soon after being jailed with a life sentence. He lived another forty years. 414 “Wet Farms” must mean “West Farms” in today’s Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx. On p. 440 the sculptor Mary Edmonia Lewis -- other biographies do not show her to have attended the Oneida Institute, which had become the Whitestown Seminary by the time she was born. She did attend Oberlin. ”Governor E. Dennison Morgan” should be spelled Denison. New York’s “Civil War Governor,” Edwin Denison Morgan, whose support of Lincoln was crucial to the latter’s election, reappears on p. 475 as “Governor Edward D. Morgan” p. 486 The play President Lincoln was watching when shot was called “Our American Cousin,” not “The Country Cousin “

Everyone who loves the Hudson Valley should read this book.

The author is a friend of mine, but I bought my copy at the local bookstore and he did not ask me to review it. Doesn't know I own it. If I didn’t really like this book a lot I would not have read it carefully and not have spent time reviewing it.

[Andrew Morin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite good, reasonably compelling regional history. Best when it maintains a stronger focus on the development of the river towns, cities, and people which it does quite well at the start and through the midsections. Has some tendency to get bogged down in long, relatively superficial narrations whenever national events intersect with the Hudson Valley (Especially in the section on the Revolution, which spends far too long on military details not entirely relevant to the main theme). This flaw is forgivable, however. It's a good sketch of several centuries of the Hudson region.

The accompanying illustrations are nice, but it would certainly benefit from maps (thematic as well as geographic).

[Bap · Rating 4 out of 5]

The HudsonRiver Valley is a beautiful place with a remarkable history with the Dutch, English and Americans vying for control together with the Iroquois. More battles were fought in upstate NY during the revolution than anywhere else and the Americans hung on despite the perfidy of Benedict Arnold. Hamilton courted the wonderful Schuyler sisters on the banks of the Hudson and he would later author most of the Federalist papers to assure that the new constitution would be ratified. Hudson New York would briefly become a major whaling port and later the first steam ships would ply the Hudson. The Hudson Valley benefited by the Erie Canal which opened the mid west to ship its goods and later Tarrytown would be the dividing line between upstate Republicans who strongly favored Lincoln from downstate which had southern sympathies. The book is idiosyncratic and the author is not a polished writer but anyone who loves the Valley as I do, will be delighted by this book, the first of a two volume history

[Bryan Blackburn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very academic, thoughts scatter from time to time. Would probably be better if I was well versed in many of these pre-Civil War New York characters, knowing their individual stories before trying to tie them together in a larger sense (as this book does). Anyway, plenty of interesting history of the area. It was amazing to learn how much was going on in NY before the revolution and even before the Brits took over the state.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a the first of a two volume history of the Hudson River Valley. The Hudson Valley from a historical perspective is typically put in the shade by the metropolis to the South, from which vantage point it is seen as a backward hinterland. Not so this book, it integrates the city to some extent into the valley, but the Hudson community really comes alive on it's own and it does indeed have a rich and independent history and, particularly in the early days, the commerce and influence between the two was mutual and two-way. The Hudson Valley also had national importance from the mid seventeenth century onward, militarily during the French and Indian War and particularly during the revolution, and culturally and economically during the early Republic. The Erie Canal is often overlooked but this was the beginning of Westerward expansion and what made it what it was, was the connection to the Hudson Valley economy and much of the project was planned, financed and executed by interests in the valley. This is a great book, I learned a ton, and am looking forward to volume 2.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A look at this important part of the United States from the Civil War to the present. A vital waterway, the towns on its banks (culminating in New York City) have witnessed success and failure. The author covers many areas--the large estates (Rockefeller!), the important governors (Rockefeller), the graft, the success....the bribes. It is a very good look at commerce, politics, race relations, development....
Sometimes the author goes into too much detail, but generally a well-written book.

[Peggy Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exceptional book. It is one of my 5 best books ever. I live in the Hudson Valley and it was great learning about the origins of so many roads and town names. And, as this is a long read, I have visited some of these historic homes and several of the cemeteries where these luminaries have their final rest.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched but unfortunately lacking in the narrative department. A rough read.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very inclusive survey of the history of he Hudson River Valley and its place in American history. A good starting place for deeper reading on the various epochs and topics covered.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed, excellent organization of chapters, from the New Netherland to the civil war

[M C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard copy.

[Maura Alia Badji · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive and enjoyable history of my beloved Hudson River Valley. I learned a few things I didn't know about Sojourner Truth and that slavery was more extensive in New Paltz than I had imagined.