Peekskill Revolutionary War Panels To Be Dedicated On June 17

From the City of Peekskill: Peekskill was identified as “Camp 37” by the French Army in America during the 1780s. The important contributions made by French military forces are commemorated by two colorized plaques installed in Peekskill’s downtown.

A dedication of these historical panels will take place on Saturday, June 17 starting at 1pm at the Gazebo, located at Park and Division Streets.

Mayor Frank Catalina will be Master of Ceremonies, Colonel Jim Johnson, Hudson Valley Military Historian, will give the Keynote Address, and City Historian Frank Goderre will share remarks.

Colonel Johnson and Joe Ryan, President of the Living History Foundation, clad in the red uniforms of Dillon’s Irish Regiment in French Service, will form a color guard at the outdoor event.

Two panels identify Peekskill as a significant site along the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail. The trail, a.k.a W3R, runs through nine states starting in Rhode Island, where French soldiers commanded by General Rochambeau arrived in 1780, and through New York, where they crossed the Hudson River between Verplanck and Stony Point. They traveled to victory in Virginia and returned through New York to Boston, where the French sailed away at the end of 1782.

The combined armies of Rochambeau and George Washington’s Americans compelled the surrender of British forces at Yorktown, VA in October 1781. This battle pointed to the end of the Revolutionary War, and independence for the United States.

A reception follows at the Peekskill Museum, 124 Union Avenue.

Photo courtesy of the City of Peekskill