The Continental Army first occupied West Point, New York, on 27 January 1778, and it is the oldest continuously operating Army post in the United States. Between 1778 and 1780, the Polish engineer and military hero Tadeusz Kościuszko oversaw the construction of the garrison defenses.

However, Kościuszko's plan of a system of small forts did not meet with the approval of New York Governor (and General) George Clinton or the other general officers. It was determined that a battery along the river to "annoy the shipping" was more appropriate, and Washington's chief engineer, Rufus Putnam, directed the construction of a major fortification on a hill 500 feet (150 m) above sea level that commanded the West Point plain. General Alexander McDougall named it Fort Putnam.

The Great Hudson River Chain and high ground above the narrow "S" curve in the river enabled the Continental Army to prevent the Royal Navy from sailing upriver and dividing Patriot forces in the Northern colonies from the south. While the fortifications at West Point were known as Fort Arnold during the war, as commander, Benedict Arnold committed his act of treason, attempting to turn the fort over to the British. After Arnold betrayed the patriot cause, the Army changed the name of the fortifications at West Point, New York, to Fort Clinton, named after General James Clinton. With the peace after the American Revolutionary War, various ordnance and military stores were left deposited at West Point.

West Point’s role did not end with its Revolutionary War earthworks. The river chain and elevated batteries belonged to a wider defence of the Hudson corridor, whose control affected movement between New England and the rest of the rebelling colonies. The attempted betrayal by Benedict Arnold in 1780 made the post a lasting symbol of military loyalty and vulnerability. Fort names and later markers can obscure how many separate positions formed the system.

Congress founded the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1802, turning the former wartime position into an enduring centre of officer education. Its campus grew over two centuries as new barracks, academic buildings and memorials altered the landscape. Some defensive traces survive, while others are interpreted through reconstruction or display. Visitors should distinguish the academy, its museum and its guided campus tours because each has different access arrangements. The river’s curve and steep banks remain visible, even where the eighteenth-century defensive system has been altered by a working military campus.