USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, Vol. II > Part 3
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The next day was the one appointed for the festival, for which they had now an additional hero. At nine in the morning, the people assembled in front of the Coffee House in Wall street where Lockyer was lodging. The whole city wore an air of festivity, the bells were ringing in merry chorus, the City Hall and King's College* alone refusing to contribute to the chime, the flag was hoisted on the Liberty Pole, and the ships in the harbor displayed
* Dr. Myles Cooper, the President of King's College, was a stanch loyalist, and soon became obnoxious to the people by his support of the British government. Hearing soon after that the Liberty Boys intended to attack his cottage, he fled to Stuyvesant's house on the shores of the North. River, whience he escaped to the Asia man-of-war then lying in the harbor. He afterwards went to England, where he remained during the war.
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their colors in triumph. The committee who had Captain Lockyer in charge brought him out on the balcony and introduced him to the people, by whom he was received with ironical cheers, the bands, meanwhile, playing " God save the King." The presentation over, his new acquaintances escorted him to the foot of Wall street where a pilot boat was in waiting, where they parted with him, wishing him a pleasant journey. As he entered . the boat, a royal salute was fired from the cannon at the foot of the Liberty-Pole in honor of his departure. Captain Chambers, meanwhile, had been escorted to the ship with less ceremony by another committee, and the Nancy set sail with both worthies on board, still under the guard of the Vigilance Committee, who did not sur- render possession of the vessel until she was three leagues from Sandy Hook.
The British ministry, meanwhile, incensed at the colonial reception of the consignments of tea, had made the refractory provinces feel the weight of their ven- , geance. The tax was insisted on more strongly than ever, new provisions were made for quartering troops in America, Franklin was removed from his office of colonial post-master, and Boston was punished for her rebellion by a Port Bill, closing her harbor and removing her custom house to Salem. In this emergency, the Bostonians, on the 13th of May, resolved to renew the non-importation agreement, and dispatched a letter by Paul Revere to the Sons of Liberty in New York, urging their cooperation in the measure. This missive was crossed on the way by another from the Liberty Boys, bearing date the 14th, urging the Bostonians to
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energetic measures, and assuring them of the hearty sup- port of their New York brethren.
On the 16th of May, a meeting of the citizens was held at the Exchange to consult on future action. A new Committee of Fifty-one was nominated to corres- pond with the other colonies, and a general meeting of the people was called for the 19th to reject or confirm the nomination. At the latter meeting, the ticket was confirmed, and the request of the Bostonians referred to a sub-committee, consisting of Alexander MeDougall, Isaac Low, James Duane and John Jay, to prepare and report an answer. The majority of this Committee,- for the impetuous MeDougall indignantly withdrew, demanding the adoption of more ultra measures -- deemed it inexpedient for the present to renew the com- pact, but recommended a General Congress of Deputies from all the colonies instead, and requested the Bosto- nians to fix the time and place of meeting. For this action, they were then and afterwards censured severely, yet the future career of the men who composed the committee in question is conclusive proof that they were actuated by no lack of patriotism, and that, though their resolves seemed for the moment to chime with the wishes of the royalist party, they only sought to postpone the compact until it could be better matured by concerted deliberation. But the enthusiastic Sons of Liberty would listen to no temporizing, and summoned a meeting of the people in the fields on the 6th of July at six o'clock in the evening, to discuss the conduct of the Committee of Fifty-one.
On the day appointed, an immense multitude gathered
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N.ORR - CO.
ANMY
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Pomrait of Alexander Hamilton, from the Original Portrait in the Possession of the Family.
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on the Commons-Alexander McDougall presiding over the assembly-known henceforth as the " great meeting " in the fields." Resolutions were passed, denouncing the Boston Port Bill and sustaining the action of the people of that city ; a subscription was opened for the relief of the sufferers, and the non-importation agreement was again renewed. The Congress recommended by the Committee of Fifty-one was also approved by the meet- ing, and it was resolved that deputies should at once be appointed, and instructed to insist upon the enforcement of the non-intercourse agreement until every duty should be repealed. At this meeting, Alexander Hamilton, then a youth of seventeen, and a student in King's Col- lege made his maiden speech, and gave an earnest of his future brilliant career.
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On the following day, the Committee of Fifty-one met and disavowed the proceedings of the meeting. Upon this, eleven of the Sons of Liberty-Francis Lewis, Joseph Hallet, Alexander McDougall, Isaac Sears, Thomas Randall, Leonard Lispenard, Peter V. B. Liv- ingston, Abram P. Lott, John Broome, Jacob Van Zandt and Abraham Brasher-withdrew from the com- mittee, and published an address to the people, in justification of their conduct. The plan of the general Congress had now been decided upon, and polls were opened under the inspection of the mayor and aldermen for the election of delegates, at which all tax-payers were allowed to vote. The nominations had been made by the Committee of Fifty-one, in conjunction with a Committee of Mechanics, and consisted of Philip Living- ston, John Alsop, Isaac Low, James Duane and John
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Jay. For the latter, the seceders endeavored to sub- stitute McDougall ; but the attempt was defeated, the whole ticket was elected, and the delegates soon after- wards set out to join the second Colonial Congress, which assembled at Philadelphia early in September. This Congress adopted a Declaration of Colonial Rights, the composition of which is attributed to John Jay, in which they claimed for themselves all the privileges enjoyed by British subjects, protested against standing armies and parliamentary taxation, and declared eleven acts which had been passed since the accession of George III., to be infringements upon their rights, and therefore unconstitutional. They likewise leagued themselves into an American Association, pledging themselves to import no goods from Great Britain or the West Indies until the obnoxious acts should be repealed, and forbidding traders to increase the price of their goods in consequence of this agreement. The slave trade was also denounced by the Association, and the citizens were urged to develop the internal resources of their country by the encouragement of home manu- factures ; and vigilance committees were appointed throughout the country to see that none of these regu- lations were evaded. The patriots in the New York Assembly endeavored to obtain the sanction of that body to the proceedings of the Colonial Congress, but were overruled by the majority of conservatives ; yet, despite this dissent, the House addressed a remonstrance to Parliament so bold in its tone that the ministry refused its reception. The attempt to procure the indorsement of the resolves of Congress was subse-
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quently renewed with the same result, and on the 3d of April, 1775, the Assembly adjourned, never to meet again. A Committee of Sixty was appointed in the city of New York to enforce the observance of the aforesaid regulations. An opportunity was soon offered them for action. On the 16th of February, the ship James of Glasgow arrived with a cargo of goods, which the consignees attempted to land, but were prevented by the committee, who ordered the vessel to put to sea again immediately. This order was countermanded by the lieutenant of a man-of-war, then lying in the harbor, the captain of which happened to be on shore at the time. The latter was immediately seized by the com- mittee, and threatened with their vengeance if he did not at once retract the commands of his subordinate. Terrified by their menaces, he promptly obeyed, and ordered that the vessel should be suffered to return- a command which was speedily executed under the supervision of the committee.
The Assembly having refused to make any provision for the appointment of delegates to the next Colonial Congress, it was determined that they should be chosen by a Provincial Congress, composed of delegates from the respective counties. This Congress assembled on the 20th of April in the city of New York, and appointed five delegates to the Continental Congress, which convened at Philadelphia in the ensuing month. In this Provincial Congress-the first in New York- the city and county was represented by Isaac Sears, who had but recently escaped the imprisonment before suffered by MeDougall.
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A short time previous to this, the seventy-four gun ship, Asia, had been ordered from Boston, and anchored off the Battery with her guns bearing on the town, while, at the same time, the troops stationed in New York and New Jersey had been transferred to Boston, to make room for the reinforcements which were daily expected. More barracks became needed in that city in consequence of this arrangement, but the governor found it impossible to induce any Bostonian either to furnish the materials or to aid in the erection. In this extremity, he applied to New York ; but the Sons of Liberty forbade the citizens to render any assistance under penalty of being considered as traitors to their country. Such traitors, however, were found, and the committee was soon apprised that a vessel had been fitted out with a cargo of boards and straw for the barracks at Boston. Upon the receipt of this intelli- gence, a meeting was at once summoned upon the Commons, John Lamb and Marinus Willett were chosen chairmen, and it was resolved to seize the ship and to prevent her voyage. At this meeting, Sears was the chief orator, urging the people to arm and to supply themselves with twenty-four rounds of ammunition- a recommendation which was at once adopted. For this bold proposition, Sears was arrested on a warrant and carried before the mayor. Like his predecessor, McDougall, he refused to give bail, and was committed to prison, but was rescued on his way by the people, who bore him through the streets of the city in triumph, in ironical defiance of the legal authorities.
On Sunday, the 24th of April, 1775, the news of the
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battle of Lexington reached the city. This was the sig-
nal for open hostilities. Business was at once sus- pended ; the Sons of Liberty assembled in large num- bers, and, taking possession of the City Hall, distributed the arms that were stored in it, together with a quantity which had been deposited in the arsenal for safe keeping, among the citizens, a party of whom formed themselves into a voluntary corps under the command of Samuel Broome, and assumed the temporary government of the city. This done, they demanded and obtained the keys of the Custom House, closed the building, and laid an embargo upon the vessels in port destined for the eastern colonies ; then notified the members of the fraternity in the other cities of what they had done calling upon them to follow their example.
It now became necessary to organize some provisional government for the city, and, for this purpose, on the 5th of May a meeting of the citizens was called at the Coffee- House, at which a Committee of One Hundred was chosen and invested with the charge of municipal affairs, the people pledging themselves to obey its orders until different arrangements should be made by the Con- tinental Congress .** This committee was composed in
* This committee was composed of Isaac Low, chairman, John Jay, Francis Lewis, John Alsop, Philip Livingston, James Duane, E. Duyckman, William Seton, William W. Ludlow, Cornelius Clopper, Abraham Brinkerhoff, Henry Remsen, Robert Ray, Evert Bancker, Joseph Totten, Abraham P. Lott, David Beeckman, Isaac Roosevelt, Gabriel H. Ludlow, William Walton, Daniel Phoenix, Frederick Jay, Samuel Broome, John De Lancey, Augustus Van Horne, Abraham Duryee. Samuel Verplanck, Rudolphus Ritzema, John Morton, Joseph Hallet, Robert Ben- son, Abraham Brasher, Leonar.1 Lispenard, Nicholas Hoffman, P. V. B. Livingston, Thomas Marston, Lewis Pintard, John Imlay, Eleazar Miller, jun., John Broome, John B. Moore, Nicholas Bogert, Jolin Anthony, Victor Bicker, William Goforth,
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part of men inclined to the royalist cause, yet, such was the popular excitement at the time, that they were car- ried away by the current, and forced to acquiesce in the measures of their more zealous colleagues. An address to the Lord Mayor and citizens of London, justifying the course which the colonists had taken, and assuring them that the city was "as one man in the cause of " liberty," was drawn up and signed by most of the assembly.
The committee at once assumed the command of the city, and, retaining the corps of Broome as their execu- tive power, prohibited the sale of weapons to any per- sons suspected of being hostile to the patriotic party. They also ordered that all the cannon of the city not belonging to the colony should be carried away, and appointed a sub-committee to inquire into the supply of arms and ammunition then in the city. Everything wore a martial appearance, the stores and workshops were closed throughout the town, and armed citizens paraded the streets, as if the city were in a state of siege. The moderate men of the committee succeeded in pre- vailing on their colleagues to present a placable address to Lieutenant-Governor Colden, explanatory of their
Hercules Mulligan, Alexander McDougall, John Reade, Joseph Ball, George Jane- way, John White, Gabriel W. Ludlow, John Lasher, Theophilus Anthony, Thomas Smith, Richard Yates, Oliver Templeton, Jacobus Van Landby, Jeremiah Platt, Peter S. Curtenius, Thomas Randall, Lancaster Burling, Benjamin Kissam, Jacob Lefferts, Anthony Van Dam, Abraham Walton. Hamilton Young, Nicholas Roose- velt, Cornelius P. Low, Francis Basset, James Beeckman, Thomas Ivers, William Denning, John Berrien, Benjon.in Helene, William W. Gilbert, Daniel Dunscomb, John Lamb, Richard Sharp, John Morin Scott, Jacob Van Voorhis, Comfort Sands, Edward Fleming, Peter Goelet, Gerret Ketteltas, Thomas Buchanan, James Des- brosses, Petrus Byvanck and Lott Embren.
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appointment, and assuring him that they should use every effort to preserve the public peace ; yet ominous precautions were taken to put the arms of the city in a serviceable condition, and to survey the neighboring grounds with a view to erecting fortifications.
A rumor was now spread that a large body of troops were on their way to New York, and the people at once petitioned Lieutenant-Governor Colden to use his influ- ence with General Gage, at this time the commandant at New York, to prohibit their landing. The Conti- nental Congress, however, recommended that the troops should be permitted to land and take peaceable posses- sion of the city, but, on no account, should be suffered to erect fortifications, and also, that the warlike stores should be removed from the town, and a safe retreat secured for the women and children in case of a siege.
Some time previous to this, a quantity of military stores belonging to the royal troops had been deposited at Turtle Bay, near the foot of Forty-seventh street on the North River, which the Liberty Boys now deter- mined to take into safe keeping. Headed by their dar- ing leader, John Lamb, they obtained a vessel from Con- necticut, sailed up to the storehouse under cover of the night surprised the guard, and carried off the booty, a part of which was dispatched to the army at Cambridge, while the rest was expended in the Northern campaign. A boat belonging to the Asia was soon after destroyed by the people, but this act was disapproved by the com- mittee and the corporation, and the boat restored at the expense of the city ; and, anxious to prevent all future excesses, as well as to secure the people from possible
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retaliation, the Provisional Congress requested General Wooster, who was hovering in the suburbs, to take up his head-quarters in the city, with which request he com- plied early in June, and encamped with his troops at Harlem.
In the meantime, the expected troops had arrived and encamped in the city, whence they were soon afterwards ordered to repair to Boston. The Sons of Liberty urged that the whole regiment should be made prisoners, but the committee, who were not yet prepared for such a step, gave them permission to depart, stipulating that they should take with them nothing but their arms and accoutrements ; but, heedless of this order, they prepared to embark with all the spare arms in their possession. Intelligence of this proceeding was speedily conveyed to a knot of the Liberty Boys assembled at the tavern of Jasper Drake, in Water street near Beekman Slip, at that time a well-known rendezvous of the patriots, who at once determined to stop the embarkation, and hastily set out by different routes to rally their friends and take forcible possession of the weapons. Colonel Marinus Willett, who was one of the number, hastened to the Coffee-House to give public notice of the course deter- mined on by the party ; then proceeded through Water street to the Exchange at the lower end of Broad street, where he discovered the troops coming down the street, with five carts loaded with chests of arms in front under a small guard. Without a moment's hesitation, he advanced to meet them, and, coming in contact with them at the corner of Broad and Beaver streets, seized the horse that was drawing the foremost cart, and
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brought the whole company to a full stop. The major at once rode forward to learn what was the matter, upon which Willett informed him that the committee had given the troops no permission to carry arms out of the city, and that he intended to stop the proceeding. While remonstrating with the officer, the mayor, who was strongly suspected of inclining to the side of the roy- alists, came up and ordered Willett to suffer the carts to pass, reprimanding him severely for thus disturbing the peace of the city, in which he was supported by Gou- verneur Morris, who happened to arrive at the same time, and who supposed that permission for the removal of the arms had been granted the troops by the committee. Staggered by this opposition, Willett was on the point of yielding, when John Morin Scott came up, and, catching the last words of his remonstrance with Morris, exclaimed in a loud voice, "You are right, Willett ; the committee "have not given them permission to carry off any spare " arms !" Hardly had the words been spoken when the intrepid colonel seized the horse's head, which he had let go in the strife, and, calling upon all of the soldiers who were unwilling to shed the blood of their country- men, to come from the ranks to the side of the people, turned the cart to the right, and ordered the carman to
drive up Beaver street. A single soldier stepped from the ranks in compliance with the invitation. He was received with three hearty cheers by the crowd which had gathered about the scene of contention, then mounted on one of the carts and escorted in triumph to the corner of Broadway and John street, where the arms were deposited in the yard of Abraham Van Wyck, a stanch
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Whig who kept a ball-alley at this place, which was a favorite resort of the Sons of Liberty. These arms were afterwards used by the first troops raised in New York by the order of Congress. The soldiers, meanwhile, were escorted to the wharf, where they embarked amid the hisses of the citizens .*
Open hostilities had now commenced. Ticonderoga and Crown Point had been taken ; the battle of Bunker Hill had been fought, and George Washington had been appointed commander-in-chief of the American army. Yet the people had not yet grown to the idea of inde- pendence, and the Committee of Safety, when accused of the thought, indignantly repelled it as treasonable and preposterous, while even the Sons of Liberty freely acknowledged the right of England to regulate trade, only denouncing the principle of parliamentary taxation. On the 25th of June, Washington entered New York on his way from Mount Vernon to Cambridge to take command of the army assembled there. The Provincial Congress received him with a cautious address. Despite their patriotism, they still clung to the shadow of loyalty ; fearing to go too far, they acted constantly under pro- test that they desired nothing more than to secure to themselves the rights of true-born British subjects. The next morning, Washington quitted the city, escorted on his way by the provincial militia. Tryon had entered it the night before, and thus had been brought almost face to face with the rebel who was destined to work such a transformation in his majesty's colonies of
Sce Willett's Narrative, pp. 25-32.
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America. The mayor and corporation received the returning governor with expressions of joy, and even the patriot party were glad of the change which relieved them from the government of Colden. But the city had greatly changed during his absence. He had left it mutinous, yet anxious to obey him as far as was pos- sible, and always disposed to treat him with respect ; he found it in a state of open rebellion, preserving the semblance of loyalty without its substance, and far less disposed to yield obedience to his orders than to those of the Provincial Congress, now established among them.
Meanwhile, the colony of New York had been ordered by the Continental Congress to contribute her quota of three thousand men to the general defence, and four regi- ments were accordingly raised, which were placed under the command of Colonels Alexander MeDougall, Gozen Van Schaick, James Clinton, and Holmes. Of the first of these, which was raised from the city of New York, Adolph Ritzma, the son of the domine of the Dutch Church, was lieutenant-colonel ; Frederic Wisenfelts, a Prussian of fine military talents, first captain, and Mari- nus Willett, second captain. A Swiss officer, by the name of Zedwitz, served as major of the regiment ; both he and Ritzma afterwards proved traitors to their trust. John Lamb was appointed to the command of a com- pany of artillery, and Wiley, Oswald, Sears and others of the Liberty Boys entered the ranks, and soon after- wards set out on the Northern campaign.
The city now presented a curious spectacle, as the seat of two governments, each issuing its own edicts, and denouncing those of the other as illegal authority.
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It was not long before the two powers came into colli- sion. Regarding the guns on the Battery as dangerous to the patriot interest, and needing them for the forti- fications of the posts in the Highlands, the Provincial Congress directed their removal ; and, on the night of the 23d of August, Captain Lamb with a party of Liberty Boys and a number of citizens, among whom was Alexander Hamilton, proceeded to execute the order ; a part of the company remaining under arms while the rest were employed in removing the cannon. While thus engaged, a musket was discharged from the barge of the Asia, which had been stationed near the shore to recon- noitre. The fire was returned by Lamb and his company, killing one of the crew, and wounding several others, upon which the barge at onee made her way to the ship. No sooner had she reached it than a heavy cannonading was opened on the town, riddling the houses near the Bat- tery, and severely wounding three of the citizens. The drum beat to arms ; a rumor was spread that the British intended to destroy the city, and many of the people fled with their wives and children in apprehension of the impending catastrophe. The intrepid Liberty Boys, meanwhile, coolly continued their task in the face of the enemy's fire, nor did they quit the Battery until the last of the twenty-one pieces had been carried away in safety. The next day, Captain Vandeput, the com- mander of the Asia, dispatched a letter to the mayor, complaining of the murder of one of his men, and demanding .immediate satisfaction. A correspondence of mutual recrimination, resulting in nothing, ensued, and on the 29th of August, the Provincial Congress issued
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an order declaring that, as the Asia had seen fit to can- nonade the city, she must henceforth cease to receive supplies from it, and must obtain them instead by the way of Governor's Island.
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