Why George Washington Choose West Point to make a Stand:
There is a little known branch of geology called "Military Geology" that uses geological principles to determine whether or not a particular piece of ground makes military sense to defend or launch an attack. West Point, New York overlooking the Hudson River from the west bank is such a place. By denying it and passage up the Hudson River to the British he virtually made it impossible for the British to win the Revolutionary War.
There are a number of places in this country that bear the title Gibraltar of this place or that, but you can make a terrific case for this place. The ground above the river is high enough to place gun emplacements to command the river. Across the river is a small low-lying island that can also hold gun emplacements. There are two right angle turns above and below on the river. The river here is narrow enough to allow for the placing of chains supported by logs to block the river from any ships either coming up or going down the river from the hinterland. George Washington did exactly that keeping the British confined to the lower part of the Hudson with several chains. Both to the North and South of West Point the river narrows with stony mountains coming right down to the water's edge. Bear Mountain is to the South, Storm King and Anthony's Nose are to the North. Either of these mountains is virtually impassable by ground troops, and would be capable of being defended by a small force of riflemen.
The first fortification was built on Constitution Island on the east side of the Hudson River by Bernard Romans, a Dutch born amateur engineer who envisioned a series of 5 blockhouses and batteries at several locations. The centerpiece of Romans design was a fortification he called the "Grand Bastion." This proved to be to expensive, and impractical.
The Polish patriot Thaddeus Kosciuszko, who was hired by George Washington in 1777, engineered many of West Point's early fortifications. The first fort he built was Fort Clinton, the second was Fort Putnam. These were armed by cannon made at Salisbury, Connecticut. Salisbury contributed over 850 cannon to the Colonial cause during the revolution. This was more then 75% of all cannon possessed by the Colonists during the war.
The Hudson River was the key to getting into the heart of the colonies. Take the river, and you can split New England off from the rest of the Colonies. This would have spelled defeat for the Colonial cause. In British hands it would have allowed British ships to sail all the way north to Albany. Smaller craft could have made it to Canada via Lake Champlain and the Richelieu River to the St Lawrence River. In American hands it prevented the British from conquering the river and the Hudson valley in effect making them powerless.
This is a good example of military geology.
The fifteen mile wide belt of the Hudson Highlands made this area an effective geological choke-point. Whoever held this critical area controlled the Hudson. Fortunately for the Americans it was us.