USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume I > Part 29
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CHAPTER X.
INVENTION AND ENTERPRISE.
T is a common platitude that great events cast their shadows before them. In 1797 the historic but now vanished Col- lect Pond, exposing its limpid surface to the sky where the Tombs has frowned for so many years, bore upon its waters a frail boat with a curious piece of mechanism in it, moved by the then recently applied power of steam. John Fitch, of Phila- delphia, was its inventor and constructor, who ten years before had shown his steamboat to astonished spectators upon the Delaware. Fitch had with him in his boat on the Collect Chancellor Livingston and John Stevens of Hoboken. Nor was this ex- periment or construction the only one that preceded the final triumph of steam navigation. Fulton's glory con- sists in having made practicable and serviceable what had been merely ex- perimental before, rather than in the absolute originality of his idea. Toy- boats and clumsy mechanisms had been made to " go "; but there was no real business of navigation about it all until he had perfected his design.
Chancellor Livingston was evidently impressed with his trips around the Collect in Mr. Fitch's queer boat. The next year, 1798, he went before the ROBERT FULTON. State Legislature, then sitting for the first time in Albany. through the intervention of his friend the eminent scientist, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell. He represented to the Legislature that he was in possession of a plan for applying the steam engine in such a way as to propel a boat; but that he hesitated to carry the plan into effect because the experiment was expensive, and he wished to be as- sured of deriving the exclusive advantages from its operation should it be successful. The bill was met by a storm of laughter and ridi- cule, but Dr. Mitchell persisted in presenting and pushing it against all the witticisins of the wags, until in a burst of good nature,
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caused no doubt by its own merriment, the Legislature passed the act in March, 1798, endowing Judge Livingston " with the exeln- sive right and privilege of navigating all kinds of boats which might be propelled by the force of fire or steam, on all the waters within the territory or jurisdiction of the State of New York, for a term of twenty years from the passing of the act-upon condition that he should within a twelvemonth build such a boat, the mean of whose progress should not be less than four miles an hour." Twenty years would carry us to 1818; and it is also well to remember the condition as to speed-fonr miles per hour.
The Chancellor did not materialize this project. What he did pro- duce failed to attain the required speed. But all things come to him who waits,-or can wait ( peut attendre). A few years later and Liv- ingston was in France, the accredited Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. Here he became acquainted with Robert Fulton, who had gone over to Europe to study art, but whose head was full of schemes for building steamboats. He had interested Joel Barlow, a man of means, who perpetrated the extreme of the foolish in at- tempting an epic poem called the "Columbiad," and touched the extreme of the wise in fostering the plans of Fulton. Fulton had come to him in 1797, was made an inmate of his house in Paris, and by Barlow's aid had constructed a model steamboat and exhibited it on the Seine. Livingston and Fulton were two men well met on such a subject. The Chancellor, with his experience, saw at once that there was more in Fulton's idea or model than in Fitch's or his own. They agreed to enter into partnership, Barlow guaranteeing Fulton's share of the finances. An engine was ordered in England, and Fulton went to New York in 1806 to build the boat to contain it. Livingston could not stay in France with this scheme under way and resigned his dip- lomatic position in order to prepare for more lasting honors at home. He had been on the Committee to draft the Declaration of Independ- ence; he had administered the oath to Washington; what he was to accomplish now has placed his name upon a far higher pinnacle of fame.
At the Brown Brothers' shipyard on the East River, at the foot of Houston Street, the mysterious craft that was ambitious to plow the waters without the aid of sails, and was the first to do so, was con- structed. It was no small vessel for those days, and for river naviga- tion : its length was 130 feet. its beam 18 feet, and its depth 7 feet; its bnrden one hundred and sixty tons. A deckhouse pierced by win- dows and fitted np inside with twelve berths, reached within a short distance of both bow and stern, leaving a space open to the sky at either end. There were two masts that conld be fitted with sails. and were rigged for the purpose. There was as yet nothing startling about these details. But now strange things began to happen. Ma- chinery was put up piece by piece within the boat. just like that used
THE CLERMONT AND ITS MACHINERY.
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at the Manhattan Water-works, or like what might be seen in saw- mills. A great iron pipe rose from the center, almost as high as the masts; and, last of all, great wheels were hning on either side like those moved by mill-races. Then, in the newspapers of Friday morning. Angust 4, 1807, appeared an advertisement which capped the climax of people's astonishment. This strange craft. christened the Cler- mont, after Livingston's country-seat on the Hudson, was announced to sail from the foot of Cortlandt Street at 6.30 o'clock on Monday morning. August 7, and would take passengers to Albany at seven dollars a piece. One or two trial trips around the island to Jersey City and back had been made, so that Fulton and his partners were perfectly sure of their strange craft. By Monday morning all the twelve berths had been taken, and ten thousand people were lining the shore in the vicinity of the starting point to see the novel depart- ure. When the signal to move was given the Clermont started with- out a hitch, and was soon in mid-stream, her open paddle-wheels dash- ing the water on either side of her. and propelling the boat at a goodly pace toward the north. Then there was a burst of applause to make up for all the previous ridicule and incredulity.
But what was the amazement of the citizens when the Clermont was seen coming back again about four in the afternoon on Friday. Had she really been as far as Albany? Fulton soon settled that question by making an official and sworn statement. published in the newspapers, that he had reached Clermont, Livingston seat, in exactly twenty-four hours, had rested there over night, and gone to Albany in eight hours on Wednesday; starting thence on Thursday at 9 a.m .. and stopping only one hour at Clermont, he had accomplished the one hundred and fifty miles in just thirty hours coming down. Thus the average speed attained was five miles per hour, or one mile more than was required by the act of the Legislature. By this time Livingston had seenred a renewal of that act, although the partners were still within the term of the twenty years. But apart from these calenla- tions, the people were astounded at the speed of the journey to Albany. Under the most favorable circunstances a packet would achieve the trip thither in four days, so that it would take from Monday to Friday barely to get there. And here was this wonderful craft back again in that very time. We cannot begin to realize what this earliest in- stance of the annihilation of time and distance meant to the genera- tions that lived upon this earth in the first decade of the nineteenth century. It seemed nothing short of a miracle. Within four years the Clermont was improved and enlarged, and its name changed to North River, and the partners added two other boats, the Car of Nep- time and the Paragon, to their line. They were much troubled by rival companies and their boats, and their profits were much redneed by lawsnits; but nevertheless steam navigation was an established fact, and the glorious Hudson the first river in the world to be regu-
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larly traveled by these marvels of advancement in the method of transportation.
Of particular interest to our city was the fact that steam naviga- tion could so effectively solve the problem of bridging the broad rivers that separated her from the neighboring shores. Yet it was some years before steam ferry-boats were put into operation. In 1810 sail- and row-boats still conveyed passengers from the foot of Fulton Street to Long Island. In 1812 a ferry-boat made up of two keels ten feet apart and joined together like a catamaran, with wheels moved by steam placed in center, ran every half hour in daylight from Paulus Hook to Cortlandt Street. There were floating bridges at either landing, and the trip consumed from fifteen minutes to one hour, according to the winds and tides. As late as 1814 similar boats, but with the wheels moved by literal, live horse power, ran between New York and Long Island. Eight horses were made to walk a sort of horizontal treadmill, and carried the people across in from twelve to twenty min- utes. It was but a step from this contrivance to horse power as applied by steam. and in May, 1814, the Nassau, the first stcam ferry-boat. was put on the Fulton Ferry. The floating bridges, regu- lated by weights and pulleys and the tide, were Fulton's invention; the yielding row of piles, to receive the impact 0 of the boat and guide it safely and gently to the landing, WASHINGTON HALL. was the invention of John Stevens. The latter has the credit of having perfected a steamboat a little later than Fulton, which he sent around by sea to Philadelphia, as the monopoly excluded him from New York waters. He, too, has the honor of having first suggested or used the screw propeller, which was not thought worth attention until 1836, when JJohn Ericson revived the idea, leading to that perfection of ocean-navigation by steam which has since been attained. Among the men brought for- ward by this new era of navigation was Cornelius Vanderbilt. Before the war of 1812 he ran a sail ferry-boat between Staten Island and New York. Saving his money, he was able to in- vest in steamboats, soon owned one, running her as its captain, and ere long had a line plying regularly between New York and New Brunswick, having in partnership with him his brother-in-law, James van Pelt. This steamboat journey materially shortened and facili- tated intercourse with Philadelphia, and hence it proved a very profit- able enterprise.
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In the same year of Fulton's triumph there were already the pre- monitions of the " war of 1812." sometimes called the second war for independence. Napoleon Bonaparte was now Emperor of the French. and master of nearly the whole continent of Europe. England, in her insulated position and with her unparalleled navy, was the only power that could bid him defiance. To cripple her commerce Napo- leon issued his " Berlin Decrees," to which England replied with her "' Orders in Council "; and between them American ships became the prey of the cruisers of both nations. In December, 1807, Congress passed the Embargo Act, forbidding American vessels to leave their harbors and expose themselves to the risks of capture. Nothing could have been more ruinous to commerce. In New York everything was changed in five months from business and bustle to stagnation and idleness at wharves and on the streets. Rnin was everywhere ram- pant; deserted ships lay idle and rotting in the docks, and one hun- dred and fifty bankruptcies had occurred before the spring of 1808. Added to this injury came deliberate insults on the part of Great Britain, acts of aggression that amounted to war. She claimed the right to search our ships for alleged deserters from her navy. In 1806 the British frigate Leander fired point blank into an American sloop and killed one of her men. The English captain's punishment was demanded by our government. He was sent home to be tried by a conrt-martial, but was acquitted. In June. 1807. a bolder trespass was committed: the American frigate Chesapeake was accosted off the coast of Virginia by the British man-of-war Leopard. An officer came aboard onr ship and demanded the surrender of four of her crew. The demand was refused, when the Leopard fired a broadside into the Chesapeake, killing three men and wounding eighteen. The cap- tain was unprepared for war, and was compelled to strike colors and allow the four sailors to be abducted. Only war could follow such proceedings, and on June 19, 1812. the formal declaration was made by President Madison. On June 20, the news was already in New York, and awakened the hearty approval of the merchants and citi- zens. Of the loan of $16.000.000 called for by the Federal Govern ment. New York furnished five and a half millions, Pennsylvania seven millions, and Maryland nearly three millions. But Now Eng- land was opposed to the war, and carried her aversion almost to the point of secession. All the five New England States together took only $486,700 of the loan. They actually called a convention of dele- gates, which met at Hartford, at which it was voted deliberately not to raise money for the war except for their own defense.
New York citizens, with Mayor De Witt Clinton at their head, en- thnsiastically entered upon all the measures made necessary by the war. The city was practically defenseless against a naval attack: vessels of the enemy might pass both through the Narrows and Hell Gate without being molested. The construction of forts at points of
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vantage was pushed with vigor, and soon both shores of the Narrows bristled with walls and parapets which pointed their guns at too ven- turesome strangers. Castle William was erected on Governor's Island, and Castle Clinton (now Castle Garden) off the Battery, con- nected with the shore by a drawbridge. Another fortification called the North Battery arose at the foot of Hubert Street, on the North River. A mortar battery was placed on Bedlow (now Liberty) Island. On Horn's Hook and Mill Rock, facing Hell Gate, redoubts were built, and Fort Stevens crowned the hill at Astoria, commanding a view of the outer and inner approaches to Hell Gate. The block-house in Central Park, facing the plains of Harlem, is a relic of those days of alarm. To construct these many and widely separated defenses vol- unteer labor was called for, and there was a ready and enthusiastic response from all classes of citizens. Merchants. lawyers, teachers, professors, clerks, students of the colleges, boys in school, seized pick- axes and shovels, and the work went on day and night. Daily they went out in squads to Brooklyn Heights or to Harlem, the new for- ry boats serving admirably for their convey- ance to the points demanding their labor. And this was no sudden burst of enthusiasm; it lasted all through the war. As late as 1814. after the disgraceful burning of Wash- ington by the British invaders, the work was resumed with new vigor. Mayor and cor- poration disdained not to lead the citizens in work so honorable. The rush of volunteers was so great that turns had to be taken by the various trades. Squads of bakers, bar- HALLET'S POINT TOWER. bers, butchers, students, cartmen, divided into those hailing from different wards, would be sent out one day, and squads of other trades or professions on the next. The harvest moon in August was utilized so as to give employment to those who could not be given places in the daytime. When there was a call for twenty thousand men to be stationed in and abont the city to man these fortifications, the corporation raised the requisite funds, trusting for reimbursement by the government. Volunteers also came forward in ample numbers to fill the quota, and Major-General Ebenezer Stevens was placed in command. He had been an officer in the war of the Revolu- tion; though not before a resident of New York, so many of the men of the regiment he had commanded were from that city that he was induced to settle there after the Evacuation. He became a leading merchant, avoiding partisan connection in politics. The fort at As- toria was named after him because he owned a country-seat there.
A feature of the war of 1812 in local New York history was the
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frequent honors paid by corporation and citizens to the heroes of our brilliant naval victories. In quick succession occurred the defeat of the British frigate Guerrière by Captain Hull in the Constitu- tion, on August 19, 1812; that of the Frolic by the Wasp. under Captain Jones, October 18; of the Macedonian by Captain De- catur in the United States, October 25; of the Java by the Con- stitution, under Captain Bainbridge, October 29; while on Feb- ruary 24, 1813, Captain Lawrence, one of her own citizens. in the Hornet, defeated the British sloop-of-war Peacock. All these officers, as they passed through the city, were received with great ceremony, and presented with the freedom of the city in a gold box; a subscription was raised privately among the citizens and handsome swords presented to Hull and his officers, and he was requested to sit for his portrait at the city's expense. Swords were also presented to some of the other victors, and a grand banquet given to both Hull and Decatur after the latter's exploit. Nor was the crew of the Macedonian forgotten when that ship was brought into port. They were given a dinner at the City Hotel, to which four hundred of the brave tars sat down. Lawrence's and Bainbridge's portraits were also requested. On June 1. 1813, occurred the fatal action between the Chesapeake and Shannon, in which Captain Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow were killed. On September 13 their bodies were brought to New York, and conducted to their graves in Trinity church-yard in the presence of a concourse of from twenty to thirty thousand people. The line of the procession was formed at ten o'clock in the morning, yet the march was not finished till late in the after- noon, so eager were men of all ranks and parties to do honor to the fallen heroes of the new and rising navy of the Union.
While men were still fighting in distant America, a treaty of peace was signed at Ghent by the commissioners of the United States and England, on December 24. 1814. Had the telegraph then bound Europe and America together the battle of New Orleans would not have been fonght on January 8. 1815; but then we would have missed one of the greatest triumphs of om arms, and Jackson might never have been President of the United States. It was on St. Val- entine's Day, February 14. 1815, that the news of peace reached New York, while on the 6th had come that from New Orleans. The two circumstances put the citizens into a humor for celebrating. and Washington's birthday being so near at hand, that day was set apart for a grand public dinner. In the evening, at the request of the cor- poration, the citizens made bright their honses with illuminations.
It was almost with a frenzy of joy that the news of peace was re- ceived in the city. The vessel supposed to be the bearer of the tidings was sighted just as night set in. So there was suspense until a boat was seen to approach by those eagerly peering into the darkness from the edge of the Battery. On landing, the occupants made known
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their errand. The news spread like wildfire. Men shouted " Peace! peace! peace! " as they ran like mad along the streets. Those within their houses, as they heard the shouts, left home and gathered in groups to discuss the glad deliverance. A concert was going on in the City Hotel. Suddenly a man rushed into the andience room, waved a handkerchief and shouted " Peace! Peace! Peace!" The instruments and singers were of no further account to the people- the hall was empty in a moment. Tens of thousands of people were out all night, going up and down with candles, lamps, and torches. No one could find it in his heart to settle down to sleep on such an occa- sion. Neither was this excessive joy to be wondered at, for no other city had so conspicuously felt the calamity of the war and of the canses that led to it. It had been to it the sudden paralysis of all business and prosperity. Now, soon matters readjusted themselves. Commerce revived rapidly; indeed, received such a stimums that men grew reckless in investments and schemes for money-making, and a mild panic contributed to bring them to their senses in 1818-1819. It is recorded that this prosperity in trade was largely due to the action of the great continental powers of Europe, who were anxious to estab- lish trade relations with the United States. As after the Revolution, Great Britain was so foolish and short-sighted as to nurse her spite for comparative defeat. She could not forgive the naval victories especially. Whatever other nations might desire to do in the way of trade with us, the two countries that are always bound to derive from and to bestow upon each other the greatest benefits in commerce, are unquestionably Great Britain and the United States. But we will return to these commercial aspects of our history later in the proper place, and follow the course of events of a more general nature.
One still meets occasionally an old inhabitant (if not " the oldest ") who can tell as a reminiscence of his childhood days of the exodus of the citizens from the lower parts of the city to Greenwich, in 1822, on account of the visitation of the yellow fever. There had been several severe winters in rapid succession from 1817 to 1820. But none the less, the microbes returned or were imported on vessels not too strictly quarantined in those days. In the year 1819 the scourge was present in the city, but it was particularly virulent in 1822, " the year of the yellow fever," as we have often heard it called. On July 13 its ravages began. and by November 2, twelve hundred and thirty-six people had been carried off. There was a perfect stampede out of town. Carts, wagons, carriages conveying everything that was mov- able were constantly going out on Broadway and Greenwich Street toward the open portions of the island. Greenwich was at that time quite a village by itself. There were no signs of approaching blocks along Broadway anywhere above Canal Street. Between Canal Street and. say, abont where Clarkson and Carmine streets now are, the openness of the country was quite marked, although somewhat of
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a settlement had grown about the Spring Street Market. At the foot of Amos (now West 10th) Street stood the State Prison. It was the second reared in the United States at the time of its erection in 1796, being a large stone building, surrounded by a high wall, duly paced by an armed sentry at'all hours of the day and night. It was afterward converted into a brewery. In the neighborhood of this institution.
Even in 1809 a house would be found here and there in Bleecker too, houses had begun to be built on the streets laid out in its vicinity.
Street or Grove or Christopher, or beyond. But now the whole of lower New York seemed to be coming to Greenwich. There was no longer any business done below Liberty Street, a high board fence
papers were published there. The Rev. to-day still records that fact. The news- banks were at Greenwich, and Bank Street street as a quarantine measure. All the being stretched across the island along this
MURRAY STREET IN 1822.
Mr. Marselus, pastor of the Reformed Church, at the corner of Amos (West 10th) and Bleecker streets, tells of some of the trans- formations taking place around him. The corner of Hammond (West 11th) and Fourth streets was a cornfield on Saturday, and on Monday there was a boarding-house or hotel there capable of accom- modating three hundred guests. Of course, ouly frame buildings could be put up in such a hurry, and all the structures in the vicinity were but of a temporary nature. Yet in 1823 the scourge was worse. if possible, and the flimsy buildings had to be occupied again. Even the ferry-boats changed their landing-places, and came up toward Greenwich on both sides of the island. In 1821 a Quarantine Station had been established on Staten Island. Perhaps the working of it
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was not very efficient in the earlier years, but these visitations must have put it upon its mettle, for the yellow fever did not again attain the proportions of an epidemic in our city after 1823.
It affords a pleasant relief from the tales of war and pestilence to turn to an event signalizing the year 1824, when the city outdid itself in paying honors to a distinguished visitor who brought with him memories of the war for independence. Lafayette had revisited the scenes of the war and his beloved Washington, in the year after the Evacuation, or 1784, staying from August till about Christmas. Dur- ing the French Revolution he had borne a noble part, and would have restrained his countrymen from their radical and sanguinary pro- ceedings, having in mind the self-restraint wherewith liberty was utilized as a blessing in America, and making for himself as a model the nobly unselfish and unambitious conduct of the great Washing- ton. Yet, for the part he took against the men who instituted a reign of terror he was forced to flee his native country for his life; and for the service to liberty he had rendered in America and in France he was imprisoned by the despot of Austria. In that prison he lin- gered until Napoleon's victories laid Austria at his feet, and he re- fused to negotiate a peace until Lafayette had been set free. Such a man, for all he had done for America and suffered in the cause of liberty, appealed strongly to the enthusiasm of our citizens. When after an interval of just forty years he conceived the wish to visit the United States, it fortunately came to the knowledge of our govern- ment, and one of our gallant ships was placed at the disposal of him- self and his son, George Washington Lafayette, and suite, to convey them to our shores. But Lafayette declined the offer, not wishing to be a burden on the nation, but to come as a private citizen on a friend- ly and informal visit. So he took passage on a packet sailing be- tween Havre and New York. The passage was prosperous and rapid; leaving Havre on July 13, it passed the Narrows on Sunday, August 15, 1824, and anchored off Staten Island. Daniel D. Tompkins, who had been Governor of New York, and was now Vice-President of the United States, resided on Staten Island, and the distinguished visitor was waited upon by him and invited to spend the night at his house. The next day, ere the packet proceeded to her landing-place, a bril- liant naval procession was seen to wind around out of the East River and past Governor's Island toward Staten Island. As they came near the yardarms of ships were manned, the vessels dressed in all their colors, and bands of music were heard to play. Lafayette was taken entirely by surprise. He had no suspicion that all this display was meant to do him honor. He found from this hour that the nation he had served so well would not allow him to come to our shores and pass through her cities like a private gentleman. He was assured that he was looked upon as the nation's guest.
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