Monument at the Fishkill Supply Depot site

WASHINGTON – The Dutchess County Legislature unanimously went on record supporting a federal bill to preserve Revolutionary War battlefields and related sites.  The bill is pending in Congress.

Local preservation expert and Fishkill Depot advocate Mara Farrell will be testifying before the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks, tomorrow, in favor of Senator Charles Schumer’s legislation to make the Supply Depot in East Fishkill eligible for federal preservation funds.  

The existing preservation program that provides funding for communities to purchase and preserve significant historic locations, the American Battlefield Protection Program, currently only applies to sites that are listed in the 1993 Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields. Schumer’s legislation will expand this program to include historic sites that are listed in the 2007 Report to Congress on the Historic Preservation of Revolutionary War and War of 1812 Sites in the U.S.– the Fishkill Supply Depot is included.  The legislation would also double the authorized funding for the program from $10 million per year to $20 million per year. 

The hearing in the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks is a critical step in the legislative process.  Next the bill will go to the full committee on Energy and Natural Resources, then to the full Senate for a vote.  The legislation has already passed the House of Representatives. 

The Fishkill Supply Depot was used during the Revolutionary War as a hub for food and supplies and as a camp for soldiers of the Continental Army. An important supply center in the New York region, the depot was visited by George Washington and was actively used by the army from 1776-1783.  The site played an important role in the Continental Army’s fight to prevent the advance of the British Army and ultimately win independence.