05/31/2026
, May 31, 1776, the Continental Army officers in charge of Fort Montgomery made a list of the Loyalist prisoners kept there “at the laborious part of the duty.” Twelve men from Dutchess County and one from Westchester were held prisoner there, put to work doing the hardest labor of building the fortifications.
They were sent to Fort Montgomery by order of the Dutchess County Committee of Safety, and had come from the East Camp, Claverack, and Rhinebeck precincts, all located on the Manor of Livingston. Except for one, a man listed only as “Johnson of Peaks Kill,” who had been sent by the Westchester County Committee of Safety.
We know very little about Nathaniel Finch, George Shannon, John Johnson, Dennis Riley, Philip Teed, Benjamin Dubois, David Close, Johannis Couper, Philip Blum, Frederick Row, Cornradt Hoffman, and Martinus Couper, Jr.
So far we have yet to discover how long they remained at Fort Montgomery, or their ultimate fates. A June 21, 1776 list of workers at Fort Montgomery lists none of them, though the workers on the list all appear to be professionals with their wages noted. Perhaps prisoners weren’t considered true workers, or because they weren’t paid, it wasn’t worth recording them.
On June 1, 1776, William Alexander, Lord Stirling enclosed the list of Tory prisoners along with his report on the status of the construction of Forts Montgomery and Constitution in a letter to George Washington. Of the prisoners, he noted, “There have lately been brought into Fort Montgomery, several persons, as notorious Tories, they are sent by District Committees of the Counties Albany, Dutchess & West Chester, with directions to the Commanding Officer to keep them at hard labour, untill their further order. How far this accords with the Resolutions or Intentions of the Continental, or Provincial Congress, I cannot determine; & have therefore directed the Commanding Officer to employ them in the Works, & to keep a Watchfull Eye over them, untill further order.”
If anyone has any information on the Loyalists who were put to work building Fort Montgomery, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected].
Images:
1. Plan no. 2, Fort Montgomery by Thomas Palmer, enclosed in Lord Stirling’s letter to Washington, 1 June 1776 (Department of Rare Books, Cornell University Library), courtesy Founders Online.
2. George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Fort Montgomery, New York, May 31, 1776, List of Tory Prisoners. Library of Congress.
