Benson Lossing wrote about the important role of the King’s Ferry in The Hudson From the Wilderness to the Sea:
"This was the old King’s ferry of the Revolution, where the good Washington so often crossed, and where battalion after battalion of troops, royal, French, and American at various times spanned the Hudson with their long lines of flat boats, for it was the main crossing place of armies moving between the Eastern and Middle States. It was here, too, that a portion of the forces of Burgoyne crossed the Hudson on their march from Massachusetts to Virginia. "
Arthur Adams in The Hudson Through the Years, emphasizes the importance of this ferry crossing.
"In order to understand the importance of this crossing we must remember that both the Americans and the British understood that control of the Hudson between West Point and the Tappan Zee, and particularly the King’s Ferry, could determine the entire results of the war. Much of the history of the Revolution revolves around British attempts to gain control of the Hudson to sever New England from the Middle and Southern colonies. ...The King’s Ferry was at the narrowest point of the Hudson, which made it a desirable crossing for scows, barges and rowboats, such as were used to transport an Army. However neither terminus was in a populated area and, once the war was over, other more direct routes of travel along the seaboard became more attractive."