Yorktown Police Officer 'Sculpting a Diverse Truth'

Yorktown police officer Michael Kahn is 'sculpting a diverse truth' with his efforts to create a  in town.

As project leader of the Battle of Pines Bridge Monument Committee, Kahn will speak this Saturday about the crucial Revolutionary War battle in Yorktown and the current efforts to memorialize it with a monument entitled: Sculpting a Diverse Truth.

He will give his presentation at The Little Red Schoolhouse in Cortlandt Manor on Saturday, April 20 at 2 p.m. Sponsored by the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society, the event is open free to the public.

The planned monument will be comprosed of three bronze statues depicting the diversity of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives defending the Pines Bridge Pass over the Croton River on May 14, 1781. The statues would be life-sized (approximately 8 feet tall), and made of bronze. Bronze is the best material to be used due to its low susceptibility to the outdoor elements.

The memorial will be situated in Downing Park across from the Presbyterian Church where Colonel Greene was buried on Route 202 in Yorktown.

It will be the first Revolutionary War memorial showing together in combat all three races: African Americans, Native Americans, and European-American settlers, who all fought in The 1st Rhode Island Regiment under the command of Colonel Christopher Greene.

Kahn is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Yorktown Historical Society. In addition to his expertise on the Pines Bridge Battle and longtime interest in history, he is a student of archaeology and anthropology and a member of the Archaeology Institute of America. He and his wife Elisabeth have two sons.

The Little Red Schoolhouse is located at 297 Locust Avenue, the northern end of Locust Avenue next to Old Saint Church and cemetery, on the hill just south of Oregon Road in the town of Cortlandt.

For more information, visit the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society website or call (914) 736-7868.

For further reading: 

• Pines Bridge Monument's Fundraising Thermometer Shows Progress
• One Brick at a Time: Pines Bridge Monument Needs More Money
• Buy a Brick and Help Pines Bridge Monument Bring Yorktown History to Life