Three New Videos on Westchester’s Role in the American Revolution Released

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French soldiers join Patriots in holding off British. David R.Wagner, “Soissonnais Regiment, July 16,1781," Hudson River Valley Institute, Dr. Frank P. Bumpus Collection.

January 5, 2022

By Barrett Seaman–

Revolutionary Westchester 250, the non-profit created to celebrate and promote the county’s role in the American Revolution, has released three new videos covering significant local players in the War for Independence.

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The three-and-a-half minute videos focus on each of three characters—Mollie Dobbs Sneden, John “Jack” Peterson and Captain George Hurlbut. Following a strategy designed to reach a younger audience, each video is narrated by a Westchester student.

Piya Karthikeyan, 11, of Ardsley tells the story of Mollie Sneden who operated a family-run ferry service across the Hudson River from Dobbs Ferry to what became known as Sneden’s Landing in Rockland County. Of the three featured in the videos, Mollie was the only loyalist.

Mollie Dobbs Sneden

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Omar Mansouri, 11, of Edgemont, narrates the account of how John “Jack” Peterson, raised in what is now Sleepy Hollow, played a vital role in foiling traitor Benedict Arnold’s plan to turn West Point over to the British.

John “Jack” Peterson

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And Lucy Richer, 15, of Hastings-on-Hudson relates Captain George Hurlbut’s heroism in an action against the British on the Hudson near Tarrytown in which American patriots were aided by French soldiers in a prelude to an alliance that eventually led to the decisive Franco-American victory at Yorktown in Virginia in 1781.

Captain George Hurlbut

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Revolutionary Westchester, referred to in shorthand as RW250, is part of a national lead-up to the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776. Its president is Constance “Connie” Kehoe, a resident and longtime trustee of the Village of Irvington. The videos, produced by Nader Sadre and Skylar Apter, add to a library of 16 earlier videos that can be viewed on RW250’s YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQOMXjRq2pXu71gy2k8TvRg.

The last three videos were funded in part with a $5,000 grant from the Greenway Heritage Conservancy HRV (https://hudsongreenway.ny.gov/), a nonprofit established by New York State in 1981. The underlying research is largely the work of historian Dr. Erik Weiselberg who also teaches at Irvington High School. The totality of RW250’s work can be seen on its web site (www.rw250.org). Eleven of Dr. Weiselberg’s essays and related articles can be found here at The Hudson Independent.

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