Moses Kill Explained

Moses Kill
Name Other:Moss Kill, Moses Kil
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:United States
Subdivision Type2:State
Subdivision Name2:New York
Subdivision Type3:Region
Subdivision Name3:Hudson Valley
Subdivision Type4:County
Subdivision Name4:Washington
Subdivision Type5:Towns
Subdivision Name5:Argyle, New York,
Source1 Location:Argyle, New York
Source1 Coordinates:43.2956°N -73.4117°W
Source1 Elevation:720feet
Mouth:Hudson River at Fort Edward, New York
Mouth Location:Fort Edward, New York
Mouth Coordinates:43.1992°N -73.5819°W
Mouth Elevation:118feet
River System:Hudson River
Tributaries Left:Dead Creek
Tributaries Right:Gillis Brook

The Moses Kill is an approximately 22adj=midNaNadj=mid[1] tributary stream of the Hudson River in New York state. The source is in the foothills of the Taconic Mountains in Hartford in Washington county. The stream flows thru the town and village of Argyle before entering the Hudson River at Fort Edward, just south of Griffin Island.

History

Beginning in the late 1760s the Moses Kill's water was dammed at a few locations to support several small mills near Argyle Village.[2] In July 1777, Polish military engineer Col. Thaddeus Kościuszko under the command of American Major General Major Philip Schuyler heavily entrenched and fortified an American camp along the south side of the Moses Kill, where it empties into the Hudson River in hopes of defeating or slowing British General Burgoyne’s army. Burgoyne’s army, advancing from Canada, was part of a British campaign attempting to divide the American colonies. On 30 July, 1777, Schuyler and his army retreated from the Moses Kill southward towards Saratoga owing to an understrength of military forces, lack of adequate supplies, and the potential of being outflanked. A New York State Historical Marker erected in 1927 at the corner of Patterson Road and US Route 4, south of the Moses Kill marks the former intrenchment’s location. [3]

In Popular Culture

In 2022, the American Indie Rock Band Sadurn released its debut album Radiator, which includes a song/music video titled Moses Kill. The lyrics mention a river, with a farm nearby, which empties into the Hudson River.

See also

Notes and References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed October 16, 2020
  2. Book: The Argyle History Group . 1996 . I Remember...Argyle, A Book of Memories.
  3. Book: Tefft . Tim . Reid . Arthur . 2002 . A Season of Terror Including Reminiscences of the Revolution or LeLoup’s Bloody Trail. Being a Chronicle of the Events of the Summer and Early Fall of 1777 in and on the Borders of present day Washington County, New York . Greenwich Journal and Salem Press.