Liveblogging the American Revolution: September 21, 1776: The Great Fire of New York
Great Fire of New York (1776) - Wikipedia:
The Great Fire of New York was a devastating fire that burned through the night of September 21, 1776, on the west side of what then constituted New York City at the southern end of the island of Manhattan. It broke out in the early days of the military occupation of the city by British forces during the American Revolutionary War. The fire destroyed 10 to 25 percent of the city and some unburned parts of the city were plundered. Many people believed or assumed that one or more people deliberately started the fire, for a variety of different reasons. British leaders accused revolutionaries acting within the city, and many residents assumed that one side or the other had started it. The fire had long-term effects on the British occupation of the city, which did not end until 1783....
When the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, the city of New York... occupied only the lower portion of the island of Manhattan, and had a population of approximately 25,000... was politically divided, with active Patriot organizations and a colonial assembly that was strongly Loyalist. After Lexington and Concord, Patriots seized control of the city, and began arresting and expelling Loyalists....
British General William Howe... occupying Staten Island in July... launched a successful attack on Long Island in late August.... George Washington recognized the inevitability of the capture of New York City, and withdrew the bulk of his army about 10 miles (16 km) north to Harlem Heights.... General Nathanael Greene and New York's John Jay advocated burning the city down to deny its benefits to the British. Washington laid the question before the Second Continental Congress, which rejected the idea....
On September 15, 1776, British forces under General Howe landed on Manhattan. The next morning, some British troops marched toward Harlem, where the two armies clashed again, while others marched into the city.... The tables were turned, and the property of Patriots was confiscated for the British army's use....
In the early hours of September 21, 1776, fire broke out in the city. According to the eyewitness account of John Joseph Henry, an American prisoner aboard the HMS Pearl, it began in the Fighting Cocks Tavern, near Whitehall Slip. Abetted by dry weather and strong winds, the flames spread north and west, moving rapidly among tightly packed homes and businesses. Residents poured into the streets, clutching what possessions they could, and found refuge on the grassy town commons (today, City Hall Park). The fire crossed Broadway near Beaver Street, and then burned most of the city between Broadway and the Hudson River. It raged into the daylight hours, and was stopped as much by changes in the wind as by the actions of some of the citizenry and British marines sent, according to Henry, "in aid of the inhabitants." It may also have been stopped by the relatively undeveloped property of King's College, located at the northern end of the fire-damaged area.
The total number of buildings destroyed is not known with precision; estimates range from 400 to 1,000, between 10 and 25 percent of the 4,000 city buildings..... General Howe's report to London implied that the fire was deliberately set: "a most horrid attempt was made by a number of wretches to burn the town". Royal Governor William Tryon suspected that Washington was responsible, writing that "Many circumstances lead to conjecture that Mr. Washington was privy to this villainous act" and that "some officers of his army were found concealed in the city". Many Americans also assumed that the fire was the work of Patriot arsonists. John Joseph Henry recorded accounts of marines returning to the Pearl after fighting the fire in which men were "caught in the act of firing the houses."... Some Americans accused the British of setting the fire so that the city might be plundered....
According to historian Barnet Schecter, no accusation of arson has withstood scrutiny. The strongest circumstantial evidence in favor of arson theories is the fact that the fire appeared to start in multiple places. However, contemporary accounts explain that burning flakes from wooden roof shingles spread the fire....
Major General James Robertson confiscated surviving uninhabited homes of known Patriots and assigned them to British officers. Churches, other than the state churches (Church of England) were converted into prisons, infirmaries, or barracks. Some of the common soldiers were billeted with civilian families. There was a great influx of Loyalists refugees into the city resulting in further overcrowding, and many of these returning Loyalists encamped in squalid tent cities on the charred ruins. The fire convinced the British to put the city under martial law rather than returning it to civilian authorities. Crime and poor sanitation were persistent problems during the British occupation, which did not end until the city was evacuated in November 1783.
