USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V.1 > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29
* " A ludicrous incident, illustrative of the height of the popular fury, occurred during the riot, which was nearly attended by disastrous conse- quences. While the excitement was at its height, a party of the rioters chanced to pass the house of Sir John Temple, then resident British consul at New York, and, mistaking the name of . Sir John' for ' Surgeon,' attacked it furiously, and were with difficulty restrained from leveling it to the ground." - Mise Booth's History of New York City.
237
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
position to their mother country." The address sent in to the Governor by the House, on the 17th, was conceived in the same spirit that dictated the opening speech. It accorded high praise to the brief administration of the Earl of Dunmore, for its equity, impartiality, and disin- terestedness ; and expressed strong confidence in the wis- dom which was to mark that of his lordship's immediate successor, as shown more particularly in his beneficent administration of his former government !
Indeed, it seemed as if, in this address, the last linger- ing embers of resistance to ministerial tyranny in the colony of New York had expired. A few stanch patriots, such as Philip Schuyler, it is true, still remained in the Assembly; but their voices were powerless to turn back the tide which now rolled in from the ocean of ministerial patronage. William Tryon, a man fully as subservient as Hutchinson, without his ability, backed by the Upper House, and rendered, moreover, independent of the colony by a recent order of the Crown, that his salary should hereafter be paid from the revenue chest, was well fitted for the purpose for which he had been transferred to the chair lately occupied by the mild, but passive and inefficient, Dunmore. Indeed, if anything was wanting to show the subserviency of the present Assembly, it was supplied by the utter indifference with which this attempt to render the Executive independent of the people was received. In former Assemblies, such an announcement would have been met with an outburst of indignation before which no . Governor could have stood; but now a message from Tryon, in February, refusing to receive a salary from the people, produced not a word of comment; and the removal of this strong bulwark of their liberties was quietly acquiesced in. Far different, however, was the action of the Assemblies of Massachusetts and the other colonies, . to whom the ministerial instruction in relation to salaries
238
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
also extended. In the former body, especially, the recent act of Parliament was boldly denounced; other colonial Legislatures did the same. New York was silent. True men looked on in amazement, and in anxious expectation strained their eyes for the first rays of the day-star of hope.
But while the representatives of the people were thus unmindful of their liberties, they were more attentive to the local interests of the colony. At the close of the present session, many praiseworthy acts were passed ; and among them one for founding the present New York Hos- pital, and another for dividing Albany county into three counties, Albany, Tryon, and Charlotte.
Meanwhile, blind to their own interests, the ministry thought only of reducing their " rebellious subjects " into submission. Mortified and exasperated at the signal fail- ure to foist the Stamp Act upon the colonists, they were ready to embrace any scheme which promised to soothe their wounded pride. An opportunity for doing this soon came. The East India Company were now suffering severely from the effect of the non-importation agree- ments. Unable to make their annual payments to the Government, of £1,400,000, they found themselves, in the spring of 1773, with seventeen million chests of tea on their hands, on the very verge of bankruptcy. In this state of affairs, the company, in April, petitioned Parlia- ment for permission to export their teas to America, and other countries, free of duty. This request, however, the ministry, jealous of relinquishing in the least their right to tax the colonies, would not grant; but, by a special act of Parliament passed on the 10th of June, allowed the company to ship their tea to America, free of any export duty-thus putting it in the power of the company to sell their tea at a lower price in America than in Eng-
-
239
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
land. No act that the Home Government had hitherto passed, showed more plainly its utter inability to compre- hend the great principle for which the colonists were con- tending, than this. It was clear that the ministry sup- posed that the motive of the colonists in resisting taxation was merely of a sordid nature. This idea was in itself sufficiently humiliating; and now, when, by making con- cessions to the East India Company, a direct attempt was made to buy them off by an appeal to their pockets, the indignation of the colonists was raised to the highest pitch.
The plan of union as proposed by Virginia, and which had now been adopted by all the New England colonies, rendered concert of action much easier than heretofore. Accordingly, as soon as it was known that the tea-ships were on their way to America, measures were immediately taken to prevent the landing of their cargoes. The non- importation agreements, which had of late grown lax, became again stringent; and the correspondence between the vigilant committees of the several colonies was renewed with greater activity than ever. On the 18th of October, 1773, the inhabitants of Philadelphia assem- bled in the State House; and, having in several spirited resolutions denied the right of Parliament to tax America, and denounced the duty on the tea, compelled the agents of the East India Company, by the mere force of public opinion, to resign. In Boston, the patriots were no less active. Town meetings were constantly held, and com- mittees appointed to confer with committees from the neighboring towns upon the best method of "preventing the landing and sale of the teas exported from the East India Company." Unlike, however, the excitement pro- duced by the Stamp Act, everything was now done " decently and in order." The burning of the Gaspe in the waters of the Narraganset, on the night of the 17th of
240
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
June, 1772, was suggestive. On the night of the 16th of December, 1773, three tea-ships, which lay moored at Grit-
fin's Wharf, were boarded by a party of men dis-
1773. guised as Mohawk Indians, and their cargoes, con- sisting of three hundred and forty chests of tea, thrown into the waters of the bay.
Nor was New York behind her sister colonies in resist- ing this new feature of ministerial oppression. Two day's after the meeting in Philadelphia, the Sons of Liberty held a public meeting, in which they denounced in unequivocal terms the importation of the hateful article ; and declared with such effect that tea-commissioners were fully as obnoxious as stamp-distributers, that the commissioners appointed for New York forthwith resigned. Public sen- timent, moreover, was not confined merely to resolves. A remark of Governor Tryon, that " the tea should be delivered to the consignees, even if it was sprinkled with blood," was not calculated to pour oil upon the troubled ·waters; and so soon as it was known that consignments of tea would shortly reach the city, another mass-meeting of the citizens was held at their old rendezvous-" the fields " -- to devise measures for preventing the landing of the tea from a vessel which was hourly expected. Hardly had the people assembled, when Whitehead Hicks, the Mayor, hastened to the meeting, charged with a message from the Governor, to the effect that, when the vessel arrived, the tea should be publicly taken from the ship into the fort, and there kept until the advice of the coun- cil could be taken, or the King's order could be known. The moment was critical, but John Lamb-by whose influence undoubtedly the meeting had been called-at once saw through the artifice. He immediately arose and addressed the Assembly. After giving a summary of the grievances which had brought them together, he read the act of Parliament (which prescribed the payment of the
E
. MONTCOMER .
اسبيلسان قدزجةبخطفها.
241
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
duty, if the article was landed), and then asked, "Shall the tea be landed ?" A unanimous " NO !" (repeated three times) clearly showed the mind of his audience.
But this spirit of resistance to Parliamentary usurpa- tion was not shared in by the Assembly, whose members were more subservient than ever. Notwithstanding the conduct of the Governor, they did not hesitate, in the spring session, to vote five thousand pounds toward rebuilding the Government House, which had been recently destroyed by fire; and, in response to his open- ing speech, in which they were informed that he had been called home to confer with the ministry in relation to the New Hampshire grants, they expressed the hope that his return to a grateful people would be speedy. Indeed, as Mr. Dunlap remarks, if the number of compliments paid him upon his departure were any test, it would seem as if he was very much beloved. Several of the loyalists residing in the city gave him a public dinner ; General Haldimand, who had succeeded Gage as Commander-in-Chief, honored him with a ball; corporations and societies vied in pre- senting addresses ; King's College created him a doctor in civil law; and the General Assembly tendered him an address, in which, after expressing their appreciation of the uprightness and integrity of his conduct, they added, in yet more fulsome eulogy, that they thought it their duty, as the representatives of a free and happy people, to pay this tribute of applause and acknowledgment to a Governor who had so eminently distinguished himself by his constant attention to their care and prosperity. The
-
Governor, in return, thanked them for their "truly loyal and affectionate address ; " and having, on the 19th of March, summoned the General Assembly to his house, he gave his assent to the acts that had been passed, and closed the session by prorogation.
Thus ended the third session of the Legislature of the
31
£
242
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
colony and the administration of Governor Tryon, without having in a single instance come into collision with his excellency, or even with the legislative council, save in the matter of a disagreement between the two bodies in respect to an amendment to the militia bill, proposed by the council, but to which the House disagreed. An attempt was made in the council, on motion of Mr. Smith, `to obtain a conference, but the proposition was voted . down. The amendment referred to, according to the rea- sons of dissent recorded by Mr. Smith, was an invasion of the royal prerogative ; and, had the bill been passed in the shape insisted upon by the House, Mr. Smith maintained that it would have received the Governor's negative. . According to the reasons of dissent, the rejection of the amendment of the council evinced a determination by the House to control the action of the Governor in command- ing the services of the militia, while there were indications that their services would be required to quell insurrection in the New Hampshire grants. . Mr. Smith set forth that a similar amendment sent to the House in 1772 had been concurred in by that body, and that no reason was per- ceptible justifying a change of sentiments upon the ques- tion ; and he thought a friendly conference might induce the House to yield. Other reasons for his assent were given ; and he referred to open surmises abroad, that the Legislature was losing its confidence in the Governor, and the loss of the bill with the provision in question might be viewed as an evidence that the Legislature had not been "sincere in the testimonials they had given and justly awarded to his excellency for an administration wise and impartial, fair and generous, and steadily con- ducted upon principles unbiased by party feuds, and acknowledged to be equally friendly to the rights of the Crown and the weal of the colony." But the conference was not asked, and, in fact, there was no collision.
243
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
This profound tranquility which had succeeded the election of the present General Assembly in 1770, was the more remarkable for the raging of the political elements all around New York, and from the circumstances under which the preceding Assembly had been dissolved, and the feelings attending the new election. The preceding Assembly had been dissolved for its strong declaration of those constitutional principles which had been planted in the bosoms of the colonists from their settlement, and which were striking deeper root every hour; and yet, neither under Sir Henry Moore, who had dissolved the preceding and summoned the present Legislature, nor under Lord Dunmore, nor under Governor Tryon, had a breeze moved upon the political waters, so far as the Leg- islature was concerned, save only by its concurrence in the Virginia resolutions of May, 1769; nor did that act of concurrence occasion any visible agitation. But it was the deep, solemn calm, which often precedes the lightning and the whirlwind !
But the storm was to break sooner than was antici- pated. The utterances of James Otis and Patrick Henry had created a tide of public feeling which ordinary barri- ers were powerless to resist. Events followed each other in startling rapidity. On the night of the 22d of April, 1774, the Sons of Liberty, following the example 1774. of their Boston neighbors, and, like them, also dis- guised as Mohawks, threw over a cargo of tea, brought by the Nancy, into the waters of New York Bay. New York, imitating the example of her sister colonies, formed a Provincial Congress in opposition to the regular Assem- bly, whose members still remained lukewarm, and ap- pointed five delegates to the Continental Congress, which had already convened in Philadelphia. Tryon, in amaze at the turn affairs had taken, sailed, as we have seen, for England, on the 7th of April, 1774, to represent to the
.
-
-
. 244
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
ministry the alarming state of things in the colonies. The Province of New York was ordered by the Continental Congress to contribute her quota of three thousand men to the general defense. The battle of Lexington had been followed by the battle of Bunker Hill; the brave Mont- gomery was preparing to undertake his ill-fated expedition against Quebec; and Putnam, and Heath, and Pomeroy, and a score of brave spirits, laid close siege to Boston.
Such was the condition of affairs when Washington, on the 21st of June, 1775, set out from Philadelphia for
Boston, with the purpose of taking New York in 1775. his way. All disguise had now been thrown off; and it was his purpose to place that important post under the command of one of his generals upon whom he could rely. But the approach of Washington toward the city threw the Provincial Congress into a quandary. It had usurped the powers of Governor Tryon in his absence, while professing, at the same time, a semi-loyalty to the parent Government. To add, also, to its perplexity, Tryon, who had just arrived from England, was in the lower bay, and might arrive at the wharf at any moment. A middle course was therefore adopted. The militia was ordered out, and the commanding officer directed " to pay military honors to whichever of the distinguished func- tionaries should first arrive." As it chanced, Washington arrived first on the 25th, and was escorted into the city by a committee of the Provincial Congress, by whom he had been met at Newark. As soon as the customary mili- tary honors had been paid, Peter Van Burgh Livingston. as President of the New York Congress, advanced and delivered a congratulatory address. "Confiding in you, sir," said the speaker, "and in the worthy generals under your command, we have the most flattering hopes of suc- cess in the glorious struggle for American liberty, and the fullest assurances that whenever this important contest
2
لاعات
-
245
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
shall be decided by that fondest wish of each American soul, an accommodation with our mother country, you will cherfully resign the important deposit committed into your hands and resume the character of our worthiest citizen."
Hardly had these honors been paid to Washington, when, at eight o'clock of the same evening, Tryon landed, and was in turn greeted by the same militia, and, in addi- tion, by the Mayor and Common Council, who, by their transports of loyalty, seemed anxious to neutralize, as far as possible, the reception given a few hours previous to . Washington. Meanwhile, the latter, having placed the city under the command of General Schuyler, departed for Boston; leaving the citizens in great doubt as to the future steps which would be taken by Tryon.
Their suspense, however, was to be short. The Pro- vincial Congress, regarding the guns in the battery as a standing menace to the patriot party, and wishing them for the defense of the Highlands, ordered their removal. The indomitable Lamb, at the head of his Liberty Boys, among whom was Alexander Hamilton, at once volun- teered for this service ; and, in the face of the guns of the Asia, which opened her batteries upon the party, succeeded in carrying away to a place of safety the whole of the pieces of cannon, twenty-one in number. This event at once brought things to a crisis ; and the Governor, alarmed for his personal safety among an incensed populace, took refuge on board of the Asia.
Meanwhile, the Assembly of New York, not wishing to join in the radical action of the Provincial Congress, and yet feeling keenly the course of the parent Govern- ment, had prepared and sent to the Crown a memorial for a redress of their grievances-a fact which the ministry soon learned, and not without mortification. . " We claim," the address said, in conclusion, "but a restoration of the
246
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
rights which we enjoyed by general consent before the .close of the last war; we desire no more than a continua- tion of the ancient government, to which we are enti- tled by the principles of the British Constitution, and by which alone can be secured to us the rights of English- men." The address was presented to the House of Com- mons by Mr. Burke, but was never called up. Incensed at this insult to themselves, those faint hearts in the Assembly who had heretofore wavered, now boldly joined the patriots; and when, on the 10th of July, 1776, 1776. the news was received in the city of the Declaration of Independence, the enthusiasm was well-nigh universal -almost all hastening to aid General Putnam (who had succeeded Lee in the command) in fortifying the city. The principal fortifications were as follow : A grand bat- tery of twenty-three guns was erected directly south of the Bowling Green; McDougall's battery of four guns stood on a little eminence to the west of Trinity Church. On the East-River side were Coenties' battery, Water- bury's battery, Badlam's battery of eight guns near the Jewish burial-ground on Chatham Street, and the Inde- pendent battery on a slight elevation on the corner of the present Grand and Center Streets. "Breast-works were also erected at Peck, Beekman, Burling, and Old Slips; at the Coffee-house, the Exchange, and in Broad Street." Ditches were cut across the island from the East to the North River; and, at the same time, strong fortifications were thrown up on Governor's Island, Paulus Hook (Jer- sey City), Brooklyn Heights, and Long Island.
These fortifications were erected at the suggestion of the Commander-in-Chief, who, rightly anticipating, on the evacuation of Boston by General Howe, that his next point of attack would be New York, detached General Greene, with a portion of the army, to put Long Island and the harbor of New York in a posture of defense. Washington
Toturds Hill
Glior landts
ofIndepen Ammcafee
a If. Bring.
AF: Independence
William's
Bridge
Valentine
R.
. Philips of Drkmun. Br.
Redoubt
Sunku
O de Mise
Fort Lee
H Fort
Serveres Washington
Hook
ON THE HEIGHTS -August 27th 1776.
Seule of Miles
N
-
HUDSO
R.
Pláin,
Varten
Buchanan's [
Bloomingdale
Mono
THE SOLT
OR
>
D)
>Blackwells 1.
F. Ruse
Camped Sep. 331776
s. H.
a
Newiown
W
Greenwich
Chenedy
Busha
m
Bergen
Bushach
RK
Bucking I.
Battery
Gallows P!
Bedtoes I
BAY
Gowmers
RedGos
Roebuck
H
& Oyster [.
Bedford"
Rubens Reet .*
2Earl Pen
Constable Flock
The New Lots
March of the British in one columns
Buyyaye
White Rock Wateriny Plare
Klutbush
Lar
it's August to the
Flatland
Mark's Ferry
-
Lord Cornwalls
Fer
1
Gravesend
Jumdeventer's
To Hand's Rent reuring
on thy landing of the french
Phant.r
I. G. Heister
FOR K'S Thunder sa
NORTH
Homans
Juri Gawe
It Indebury
Tartle
avsuy Auity ysmity
Mushind
L
Ferry
sh Muer
B.1.6
YSTER
ricans Retiring
British
New l'irecht
ar' the British
Harlem
Morris anin
Plan of NEW YORK ISLAND and part of LONG ISLAND, Showing the position of the
AMERICAN & BRITISH ARMIES before, at & after the Engagement .
3
247
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
followed soon afterward himself, and established his head- quarters in the city. Having been joined by his brother, Lord Howe, as commander of the fleet at Halifax, General (afterward Sir William) Howe arrived with his reinforce- ments off Sandy Hook-the latter on the 25th of June, 1776, and the former on the 12th of the following month. General Clinton arriving at about the same time from the unsuccessful attempt against Charleston with Admiral Hotham, the combined forces of the enemy now amounted to nearly twenty-four thousand men, including the Hes- sians.
On the 22d of August, the British army landed upon Long Island at Gravesend. The American army, consist- ing of fifteen thousand men, under Sullivan, was encamped in the neighborhood of Brooklyn. The battle of Long Island, which was severely, though ineffectually, contested by the American forces under Sullivan and Lord Stirling, was fought on the 27th of August. On the 30th, the
Qua
KIP'S BAY HOUSE.
Americans effected a masterly retreat across the East River to New York. The enemy made immediate dispo- sitions to attack the city; and a hasty evacuation was deemed advisable. The British fleet was divided into two squadrons, one of which entered the East and the other the North River. Under cover of the former, Sir Henry Clinton crossed from Long Island and landed at Kip's Bay with such celerity that the Americans fled in disorder.
--------
248
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
Indeed, the evacuation resembled rather a flight than a retreat-all the heavy artillery, military stores, baggage, and provisions, falling into the hands of the enemy. A large portion of the American forces, at that time, con- sisted of militia, the conduct of which was scandalous beyond endurance. They deserted, not only in small numbers, but in companies and squadrons, whenever they could ; and their conduct, in the face of the enemy, or rather when running from the faces of the enemy, was most cowardly. So disorderly was their demeanor, and so like poltroons did they behave when flying from Sir Henry Clinton, that even Washington himself lost his patience, and was excited to a degree of hot exasperation. In writing from Harlem Heights to a friend, General Greene said that " two brigades of militia ran away from about fifty men, leaving the Commander-in-Chief on the ground, within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed with the conduct of his troops that he sought death rather than life. His attempts to stop them were fruitless. He drew his sword and threatened to run them through, and cocked and snapped his pistols .* But all his exertions were to no purpose." In a letter upon the subject of this infamous conduct of the militia, to the President of Con- gress, the Commander-in-Chief declared that, "were he called to give his opinion upon oath, he should say that militia did more injury to the service than good."
General Greene strongly urged the destruction of the city by fire-a measure afterward so effectively adopted by Count Rostopchin, Governor of the ancient capital of Muscovy, to arrest the career of Napoleon-that the enemy might be deprived of the advantage of establishing their winter-quarters therein. His reasons for this meas- ure were sound, and ought, doubtless, to have been
* Mr. Bancroft, it is true, discredits this statement; but, it seems to me, without sufficient reason.
1
HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY. 249
adopted. Washington, also, was believed to be of the same opinion, especially as two-thirds of the property which it was proposed to destroy, belonged to undisguised loyalists. But Congress would not allow the sacrifice ; und, on the 15th of September, 1776, the City of New
VIEW FROM FORT LEE.
York was in full possession of the British-General Washington having retired with the army to King's Bridge.
For several weeks, Washington occupied Harlem Heights above Manhattanville, residing meanwhile at the 32
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.