Stony Point was defended by a meager force totaling around 40 American Patriots, and before escaping to the north the small garrison set fire to the wooden blockhouse that was the unfinished fort built atop Stony Point. The British forces, in order to capture nearby Fort Lafayette, hauled several cannons up the steep and rugged slopes of Stony Point and used the vantage point to shell Fort Lafayette. This move effectively closed King's Ferry, a major river crossing at that narrow point in the river, about south of West Point and north of New York City.