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Gc 974.702 N422b v.2 1830664
M. L
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01126 3883
HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF NEW YORK.
BY
MARY L. BOOTH,
TRANSLATOR OF "MARTIN'S HISTORY OF FRANCE," ETO.
V.2
.*
Illustrated.
VOL. II.
NEW YORK : W. R. C. CLARK, 5 BECKMAN STREIT. 1867.
1830664
HISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XV.
1769-1773.
Change in the Assembly-Lord North's Administration-Removal of Taxes-Resumption of Importations- Conflicts about the Liberty Pole-Battle of Golden Hill.
IT was not long before Colden, through the instrumen- tality of De Lancey, won over the members of the new Assembly to the interest of the royalists. They com- plied without much reluctance with most of the require- ments of the Mutiny Act, and projected another scheme which was viewed by the patriots with much distrust, as concealing some insidious snare for the liberties of the colonies. This was the emission of bills of credit to the amount of one hundred and twenty thousand pounds, to be loaned to the people, the interest of which was to be applied to the support of the colonial government. A grant of a thousand pounds from the treasury, together with a thousand more of the bills about to be issued, was made for the maintenance of the troops, and a' strong disposition was evinced in favor of the royalist party.
This new scheme for raising money excited the dis
4-13
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, BY W. R. C. CLARK,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.
BRADSTREET PRESS.
: 1
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HISTORY OF THE
trust of the people, and rumors were circulated that the Assembly had betrayed the country to the governor and the British ministry. On the 16th of December, an inflammatory handbill, signed by a Son of Liberty, appeared, addressed to the betrayed inhabitants of the city. This document, which was ably and earnestly written, warned the people against the subtle attack made on their liberties by the emission of the bills of credit, as a scheme devised to separate the colonies ; and, denouncing the Assembly in no measured terms, closed with an invitation to the people to meet the next day in the fields and discuss the conduct of their representatives.
The next day, a large assemblage gathered on the Commons. John Lamb was chosen chairman of the meeting. The proceedings of the Assembly were unani- mously disapproved, and a committee was appointed, with Lamb at the head, to convey the sense of the meeting to the Legislature. The latter received the deputation with courtesy, but refused to make any change in their policy, declaring that the law was satisfactory to the mass of the people. On the follow- ing day, another handbill appeared, over the signature of "Legion,"* written evidently by the same hand as
* We give this handbill verbatim.
" TO THE PUBLIC .- The spirit of the times renders it necessary for the inhabitants " of the city to convene, in order effectually to avert ture destructive consequences of " the late BASE INGLORIOUS conduct of om General Assembly, who have in opposition " to the toud and general voice of their constituents, the dictates of sound policy, "the ties of gratitude, and the glorious struggle we have engaged in for our " invaluable birthrights, dared to vote supplies to the troops without the least shadow " of a pretext for their pernicious grant. The most eligible place will be in the Fields.
1
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
the first, and openly charging the Assembly with a betrayal of their trust. This second attack roused the ire of the body ; they at once denounced the papers as libellous, and offered a reward of one hundred and fifty pounds for the discovery of the writers, Philip Schuyler alone voting against it. Lamb was accused and brought before the bar of the House, where he boldly justified all that he had done, declaring that he had only exercised the right of every Englishman. His colleagues on the committee-Isaac Sears, Caspar Wistar, Alexander Mc- Dougall, Jacobus Van Zandt, Samuel Broome, Erasmus Williams and James Van Vaurk-seconded his defence, fearlessly avowing that they were implicated with Lamb, and equally ready to answer for their conduct, and the charge, which had been made at the instance of De Noyellis, was finally dismissed by the Assembly. But they did not relax their efforts to discover the authors of the so-called libels. The type afforded a clue to the printing-office of James Parker, who was at once arrested, confined in the fort, and threatened with the loss of his place as Secretary of the Post-office, unless he would reveal the name of the writer. The menace produced the desired effect ; Parker denounced Alex- ander McDougall, who was at once arrested and imprisoned in the new jail, where a daily ovation was tendered him by his friends, who regarded him as a
" near Mr. De La Montaigne's, and the time-between 10 and 11 o'clock this m.orri. " ing, where we doubt not every friend to his country will attend.
" LEGION "
The original of this and the other handbills quoted here are preserved in the Library of the Historical Society,
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HISTORY OF THE
martyr to the cause of liberty. The ladies flocked in crowds to the cell of the imprisoned patriot, and so numerous were his visitors, that, in order to gain leisure for the defence of his cause, he was obliged to publish a card, fixing his hours for public reception. He remained in the jail from February to the April term of the court, when the grand jury found a bill against him, to which he pleaded "not guilty." A few days afterward, he was released on bail.
The Sons of Liberty, meanwhile, continued their opposition to the Assembly, watching vigilantly over the maintenance of the Non-importation Act, which the merchants, on their part, had not ceased to observe. They also attempted to substitute the vote by ballot for the old mode of the open vote, but the plan, though warmly approved by the people, was rejected in the House by a large majority. In the spring of 1770, a change took place in the disposition of the British ministry. Lord North assumed the charge of affairs, and, under his direction, the tax was at once removed from all the articles enumerated in the bill of Towns- hend, with the exception of that on tea. This, indeed, was retained rather in proof of the right of Great Britain to tax the colonies, than for any considerable difference in the revenue. But the principle was equally dear to the American patriots ; they were sworn to resist parliamentary taxation, and they resolved that they would not yield a single point which might be construed into a precedent for future oppression.
In the meantime, the contest had been renewed about the Liberty-Pole, which, for three years, had -remained
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
unmolested. On the 13th of January, 1770, a party of soldiers belonging to the 16th regiment attacked it, and, cutting off the wooden supporters about it, made a fruit- less attempt to blow it up with gunpowder. Failing in this, they next fell upon a knot of citizens who had gathered in front of Montagne's public-house in Broad- way near Murray street-at that time the head-quarters of the Sons of Liberty-and forced them into the house at the point of the bayonet. The besieged vainly attempted to barricade the doors, but the soldiers broke in, sword in hand, and demolished the windows and fur- niture. In the midst of the destruction, some officers came up, and ordered the soldiers back to their bar- racks.
On the two following nights, the attempts. were repeated without success ; but, on the night of the 16th, taking shelter in a ruined building near by, which had formerly been used for barracks, the soldiers accom- plished their design, and, levelling the pole to the ground, sawed it into pieces, and derisively piled it up before Montagne's door.
This insult aroused the Sons of Liberty. Handbills were circulated the next day through the city,* calling on the people to meet that night on the Commons to dis- cuss the outrage. Three thousand citizens assembled in answer to the call. The meeting was quiet but earnest. Resolutions were passed, declaring unemployed soldiers
* Taling warning by the defection of Parker, to escape detection, the Liberty Boys went a't night to Holt's printing-office in Broad street near the Exchange, where they set up the type and printed the bandbills themselves, then circulated them by their emissaries the next day through the city.
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HISTORY OF THE
to be dangerous to the peace of the city, while their employment by the citizens when off duty was detri- mental to the interests of the laboring classes and should therefore be discontinued. They further resolved that all soldiers under the rank of orderly, with the exception of sentinels, who should appear armed in the streets, together with all, both armed and unarmed, who should be found out of their barracks after the roll-call, should be regarded as enemies of the city and dealt with accordingly. Committees were also appointed to demo- lish the ruined building which had sheltered the soldiers ยท in their attack on the Liberty-Pole, and to ask permis- sion of the Common Council to erect another in its stead.
The next day, three soldiers were detected by Isaac Sears and Walter Quackenbos in the act of posting throughout the city, scurrilous placards, signed by the 16th Regiment of Foot, and abusive of the Sons of Liberty .* Incensed at this proceeding, Sears instantly
. "God, and a Soldier, all Men most adore, In Time of War, and not before ; When the War is over, and all things righted,
God is forgotten, and the Soldier slighted."
" WHEREAS, un uncommon and riotous disturbance prevails throughout the city by " some of its inhabitants, who style themselves the S-s of L-y, but rather mey " more properly be called real enemies to society ; and whereas, the army now quar- " tered in New York, are represented in a heinous light, to their officers and others, " for having propagated a disturbance in this city, by attempting to destroy their Lib- "erty-Pole, in the fields; which, being now completed, without the assistance of the "army, we have reason to laugh at them, and beg the public only to observe how " chagrined these pretended S- of L- look as they pass through the streets; " especially as these great heroes thought their freedom depended on a piece of wood, "and who may well be compared to Esau, who sold his birth-right for a mess of pot- " tage. And although those shining S- of L- have boasted of their freedom,
CITY OF NEW YORK. 449
grasped one by the collar, while Quackenbos laid hold of the other. The third of the party rushed upon Sears with his bayonet and endeavored to free his comrade from his grasp, but the latter, seizing a friendly ram's
" purely they have no right to throw an aspersion upon the army, since it is out of the "power of military discipline to deprive them of their freedom, However, notwith- "standing, we are proud to see. these elevated geniuses reduced to the low degree of " having their place of general rendezvous made a (Gallows Green) vulgar phrase for " a common place of execution for murderers, robbers, traitors and r-s, to the lat- " ter of which we may compare those famous L -- B-s (Liberty Boys) who have " nothing to boast of but the flippancy of tongue, although in defiance of the laws "and good government of our most gracious sovereign, they openly and r ---- y " (riotously) assembled in multitudes, to stir up the minds of his majesty's good sub- "jects to sedition; they have in their late seditious libel, signed BRUTES, expressed " the most villainous falsehoods against the soldiers. But as ungrateful as they are " counted, it is well known, since their arrival in New York they have watched nigl.t "and day for the safety and protection of the city and its inhabitants ; who have suf- " fered the rays of the scorching sun in summer, and the severe colds of freezing " snowy nights in winter, which must be the case and fifty times worse had there been "a war, which we sincerely pray for, in hopes those S-s of L -- (Sons of Lib- "erty) may feel the effects of it, with famine and destruction pouring on their heads. "'Tis well known to the officers of the 16th Regiment, as well as by several others, " that the soldiers of the sixteenth always gained the esteem and good will of the "inhabitants, in whatever quarter they lay, and were never counted neither insolent " or ungrateful, except in this city. And likewise the Royal Regiment of Artillery, " who always behaved with gratitude and respect to every one. But the means of " making your famous city, which you so much boast of, an impoverished one, is " your acting in violation to the laws of the British government; but take heed, lest "you repent too late-for if you boast so mightily of your famous exploits, as you " have heretofore done (witness the late Stamp Act) we may allow you to be all " ALEXANDERS, and lie under your feet, to be trodden upon with contempt and dis- "dain ; but before we so tamely submit, be assured we will stand in defence of the "rights and privileges due to a soldier, and no farther ; but we hope, while we have " officers of conduct to act for us, they will do so, as we shall leave it to their discre- " tion to act impartially for us, in hopes they, and every honest heart, will support " the soldiers' wives and children, and not whores and bastards, as has been so mal .- " ciously, falsely and audaciously inserted in their impertinent libel, addressed to the " public; for which, may the shame they mean to brand our names with, stick one " theirg.
" (Signed by the 16th Regiment of Foot.""
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HISTORY OF THE
horn which happened to lie near by, hurled it with force into the face of his assailant, who reeled back from the shock, and left the Sons of Liberty to make their way with the captives to the office of the mayor.
A reinforcement of twenty soldiers now came up with drawn swords and bayonets to the rescue of their com- rades. The unarmed citizens, who had flocked in num- bers to the spot, wrenched the stakes from the carts and sleighs that stood about, and, surrounding their pri- soners, prepared to guard them at all hazards. Mayor Hicks now interfered, and ordered the soldiers to their barracks. Yielding a partial obedience, they retired as far as Golden Hill, in John street between William and Cliff streets, closely pursued by the citizens, where they were joined by a fresh reinforcement, headed by a pre- sumed officer in disguise, who gave the command to halt and charge upon the populace. The few of the people who had been able to secure weapons ranged themselves in front of their defenceless friends, and a sanguinary con- test ensued, in which numbers were injured on either side. Francis Field, a peaceable Quaker, who was stand- ing in his doorway watching the affray, received a severe wound in his cheek. Three other citizens were wounded, one of them being thrust through with a bay- onet. At some distance from them, a sailor was cut down. A boy was wounded in the head, and fled to a neighboring house for shelter. A woman kindly opened the door for him, when a brutal soldier made a thrust at her with a bayonet, fortunately missing his aim. One of the citizens who had been foremost in securing the prisoners at the mayor's office was attacked by two sol-
451
CITY OF NEW YORK.
diers at once, but he defended himself vigorously with a cane, his only weapon, and forced his assailants back to the hill. Another citizen who was standing in the door of his house was attacked by a party of soldiers who attempted to enter-but, being armed, he succeeded in beating off the intruders .*
During the whole of the affray, the citizens had con- tinued to surround the hill, and thus to keep their enemies in a state of blockade. Many of the soldiers were severely wounded, and many more disarmed ; yet this was done chiefly in self-defence ; the people stand- ing on the defensive, and contenting themselves with merely repelling the attacks, when they might easily, if disposed, have massacred the aggressors. At this june- ture, a fresh party from the barracks came up, and called to their comrades to charge on the citizens, while they would support them by an attack on the rear, but just as they were preparing for the assault, a party of officers appeared, and ordered them to their barracks. The people at once opened their ranks and raised the siege, thus ending the first day of the contest in a drawn battle.
The next morning-the 19th-the soldiers recom- menced the conflict by thrusting a bayonet through the cloak and dress of a woman who was returning from market. This dastardly act awakened the indignation of the citizens, and knots of people gathered ominously
Michael Smith, the last survivor of the Battle of Golden Hill, as well as of the Kow York Liberty Boys, died in 1817, at the advanced age of ninety-four years. musket which he took from a soldier in the fray, and which did active service in bis bands through the whole of the Revolution, is still preserved as a relic in his family
HISTORY OF THE
about the corners of the streets to discuss the outrage together with the affray of the day before. About noon, a group of sailors, who were invariably found on the popular side, came in collision with a party of soldiers from the barracks. A violent altercation ensued, from words they came to blows, and, in the conflict, an old sailor was run through the body. In the midst of the strife, the mayor appeared on the ground, and ordered the military to disperse, but the infuriated soldiers refused to obey. He then dispatched a messenger to the barracks to summon the officers, but the troops inter- cepted him, and, barring the way with their drawn bayonets, refused to suffer him to proceed. At this juncture, a party of Liberty Boys, who had been playing ball on the corner of Broadway and John street, came to the rescue and soon dispersed the soldiers, and hos- tilities ceased for a few hours.
In the afternoon, the battle commenced anew. Seeing a group of citizens assembled on the Commons in front of the New Jail, a party of soldiers approached them in a body and insultingly endeavored to force their way through, when the citizens quietly opened their ranks, and gave them free passage. Determined at all hazards to provoke an affray, they next assaulted the people, and endeavored to disarm them of their canes. This inso- lence awakened the ire of the citizens, who turned at once upon their assailants. A party of Liberty Boys in the neighborhood, on hearing of the fray, hastened to the spot, and a sharp conflict ensued, in which the dis- comfited soldiers were driven to the barracks. Several of the soldiers were disarmed by the citizens, one was
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
badly wounded in the shoulder, and another who had distinguished himself in the conflict of the day before, was arrested and committed to prison for trial. Thus ended the battle of Golden Hill-a conflict of two days duration-which, originating as it did in the defence of a principle, was an affair of which New Yorkers have just reason to be proud, and which is worthy of far more prominence than has usually been given it by stand- ard historians. It was not until nearly two months after that the "Boston Massacre " occurred, a contest which has been glorified and perpetuated in history ; yet this was second both in date and in significance to the New York " Battle of Golden Hill." * .
On the day after the defeat of the British troops, the mayor issued orders that no soldiers should appear out- side the barracks when off duty unless accompanied by a non-commissioned officer ; and the Sons of Liberty, thus relieved from the annoyance of their presence,
* The following extract from a London journal, dated Thursday, March 15, 1770, kindly furnished us by Henry B. Dawson, Esq., whose researches have done much to rescue the history of the New York Liberty Boys from oblivion, proves by the testimony of the British themselves that, in the streets of the city of New York, the first blood was shed-the first life sacrificed to the cause of Liberty in the Ameri- can Revolution.
" Extract of a letter from New York, dated January 22.
" We are all in Confusion in this City ; the Soldiers have cut and blowed up Liberty- "Pole, and have caused much Trouble between the Inhabitants : on Friday last "(January 18, 1770) between Burling Slip and the Fly Market, was an Engagement " between the Inhabitants and the Soldiers, when much Blood was spilt: One " Sailor got run through the Body, who since Died: One man got his Skull ent in " the most cruel Manner. . On Saturday (January 19, 1770) the Hall Bell rang for " an Alarm, when was another Battle between the Inhabitants and Soldiers ; but " the Soldiers met with Rubbers, the Chiefest part being Sailors and Clubs to " revenge the Death of their Brother, which they did with Courage, and made " them all run to their Barracks What will be the end of this God knows !"
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turned their attention again to the erection of a Liberty- Pole. We have already mentioned the appointment of a committee to ask permission of the mayor and Com- mon Council to erect a pole in the place of the one that had been cut down by the soldiers. This measure was opposed by John Lamb and some others, who declared that the corporation had no voice in the matter, but their objections were finally overruled by the majority. On the 30th of January, the committee presented a memorial to Mayor Hicks and the Common Council, stating that the token of gratitude to the king and his minister which had been erected by the patriotic citizens of New York had been repeatedly overthrown by the riotous soldiery, and craving permission to vindicate the rights of the people by setting up another monument to constitutional liberty in its stead .* The request was
* "TO THE SONS OF LIBERTY IN THIS CITY.
" GENTLEMEN : It's well known, that it has been the custom of all nations to erect "monuments to perpetuate the Remembrance of grand Events. Experience has . " proved that they have had a good effect on the Posterity of those who raised " them, especially such as were made suered to Liberty. Influenced by these Con- " siderations, a number of the Friends to Liberty in this City erected a Pole in the " Fields, on Ground belonging to the Corporation, as a temporary memorial of the " unanimous Opposition to the detestable Stamp Act ; which, having been destroyed " by some disaffected Persons, a Number of the Inhabitants determined to ereet " another, made several applications to the Mayor, as the principal member of the "Corporation, for Leave to erect a new Pole in the place where the old one stood. " The Committee that waited on him the last Time, disposed to remove every " Objection, apprehensive that some of the Corporation might be opposed to the "erection of the Pole, from a supposition that those Citizens who were for its being " raised, were actuated solely by a Party spirit, offered, when the Pole was finished, "to make it a present to the Corporation, provided they would order it to be " erected either where the other stood, or near Mr. Van Bergh's, where the two "roads meet. But even this, astonishing as it may seem to Englishmen, was " rejected by the Majority of the Corporation and the other Requisitions denied.
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CITY OF NEW YORK.
refused. In the meantime, Lamb and his associates had purchased a piece of ground eleven feet wide by a hun- dred feet deep, near the site of the former pole, and, while the memorial was yet before the board, made preparations for the erection of a Liberty-Pole, inde- pendent of the corporation. Here, on the 6th of February, 1770, a mast of great length, cased two-thirds its height with iron hoops and bars, firmly riveted together, was sunk twelve feet deep into the ground, amid the shouts of the people and the sound of music. This pole was inscribed, "Liberty and Property," and was surmounted by a gilt vane, bearing a similar inserip- tion in large letters. Thus was raised the fifth Liberty- Pole in the city, with a motto far less loyal than that which had so deeply offended the royal soldiery.
Montagne's house had heretofore been the head-quar- ters of the Sons of Liberty, but, ere long, the proprietor suffered himself to be won over by the opposite party who engaged his rooms for the approaching celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act. The Liberty Boys however, were not to be balked by this arrangement , determining to support an establishment of their own, they purchased a house on the site of Barnum's Museum, kept by Henry Bicker, which they christened Hampden
" We question whether this Conduet can be paralleled by any Act of any Corpora- " tion in the British Dominions, chosen by the Suffrage of Free People.
" And now, Gentlemen, seeing we are debarred the privilege of Public Ground " to erect the Pole on, we have purchased a place for it near where the other " stood, which is full as publie as any of the Corporation Ground. Your Attend- " ance and countenance are desired at nine o'clock on Tuesday morning, the 6th " instant, at Mr. Crommelin's Wharf, in order to carry it up to be raised.
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