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The Great Chain at Trophy Point

 

The West Point Museum collection contains several rare Revolutionary War artifacts.

13 links of the Great Chain which was stretched across the Hudson River from West Point to Constitution Island in April, 1778, flanked by two cannon from the Revolution: to the left a French 4 pounder, one of many guns sent as military aid for the Continental Army by France, and to the right a British Eight Inch howitzer made by William Bowen in 1758 and captured at the Battle of Saratoga.
 


As a department of the United States Military Academy, the museum's mission is to "collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret historically significant artifacts pertaining to the United States Military Academy from its inception to the present, and the profession of arms as it relates to the United States Army. As an educational institution, the museum supplements cadet academic, cultural and military instruction in the profession of arms and provides educational programs and services for military and civilian personnel. As a public institution, the museum stimulates interest in the United States Military Academy, the United States Army and the military profession in general. The West Point Museum is the oldest Museum in the U.S. Army Museum System, being opened to the public since 1854.

Courtesy of the West Point Museum.

 

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