Today I have been doing some research on one of my ancestors.

My 4th great-grandfather Adolphus Van Duzer served in the Revolutionary War.

Adolphus was born in 1762, so he was just a teenager when the Revolutionary War took place.

His first action took place at Fort Montgomery. From what I can find it would have been mainly helping construct the fort starting on July 1st for month and a half. He would have been back home before the battle of Fort Montgomery on October 6, 1777.

Fort Montgomery was just south of West Point, and was abandoned soon after the battle in favor of the more strategic location to the north.

The Van Duzer family lived in Cornwall, which was less than 10 miles from West Point.

It was not long before Adolphus was back in the army. In 1778 in May and June he was helping construct Fort Put (Putnam) which overlooked the Hudson at West Point.

In 1779 to 1781 he worked in other areas of the West Point fortifications for several months at a time.

It is interesting to think that in 1780 he was working there at the time of Benedict Arnold’s treason. I will have to do some more research to see how close he was to the events that transpired. It is known that British Major John André was held in Fort Putnam after his capture.

Since 1778 West Point has been continuously occupied by the military, the longest of any military post in the US. It is nice to look back to the role my ancestor played in the beginning of West Point.

Steven