The Hudson, From the Wilderness to the Sea (Empire State Historical Publications Series No. 99)

Lossing unforgettably captured pre-Civil War America, when NYC numbered 300,000 people, and steamboats and railroads plied the Hudson River and its banks. The Hudson Valley was pastureland and farmland surrounding a few sleepy villages and a handful of bustling river ports, and Revolutionary War exploits were still a hot topic of conversation.