Speaker 1: This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
Speaker 1: and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
Speaker 1: from the arts to sports, and from business to history
Speaker 1: and everything in between, including your story. Send them to
Speaker 1: our Americanstories dot com. There's some of our favorites. Today,
Speaker 1: our regular contributor, Bill Brake brings us a fascinating story
Speaker 1: about the day British troops finally left American soil after
Speaker 1: the end of the Revolutionary War. Here's Bill.
Speaker 2: The British Army held New York City for two years.
Speaker 2: After Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown on October nineteenth,
Speaker 2: seventeen eighty one. The city's population had fallen below ten
Speaker 2: thousands of the residents were Loyalist refugees from revolutionary terrorism, accident, disaster,
Speaker 2: and the war had disrupted its civic life. The Great
Speaker 2: Fire of September twenty one, seventeen seventy six had burned
Speaker 2: everything between Whitehall and broad Streets, as far up Broadway
Speaker 2: as Rector Street and as far up Broadway as Beaver Street.
Speaker 2: Rents had risen four hundred percent within the first year
Speaker 2: of occupation. The price of food and other goods and
Speaker 2: services eight hundred percent. The Provincial Assembly, city council and
Speaker 2: courts were dormant, although nothing indicates the politicians had stopped
Speaker 2: drawing their salaries. The city was governed by the British Army,
Speaker 2: and its government, in the absence of a free press,
Speaker 2: had become corrupt. Some New Yorkers made fortunes. Mister Joshua Loring,
Speaker 2: who had pimped his blonde wife to General Sir William
Speaker 2: Howe to gain appointment as Commissary of Prisoners, became wealthy
Speaker 2: by selling provisions meant for prisoners of war on the
Speaker 2: black market. Others cloaked their sadism in the red coat.
Speaker 2: Captain William Cunningham, the Provo Marshal, commanded the jails and
Speaker 2: prison ships holding American prisoners of war. The Sons of
Speaker 2: Liberty had roughed him up before the war. He repaid
Speaker 2: the debt with interest. He enjoyed torturing people. According to
Speaker 2: Burrows and Wallace's Gotham, Cunningham admitted to murdering as many
Speaker 2: as two thousand American prisoners by starvation, hanging, or poisoning
Speaker 2: their flower rations with arsenic. At night, he swaggered through
Speaker 2: his domains wearing the red coat with silver lace and epaulets,
Speaker 2: the cocked hat, the powdered wig, and the tall glossy
Speaker 2: boots and spurs, with a whip in his hand, sending
Speaker 2: his prisoners to bed, shouting Kenneye sons of Kennelmye. On
Speaker 2: November thirtieth, seventeen eighty two, the American and British delegates
Speaker 2: signed preliminary Articles of peace. The first article reads His
Speaker 2: Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States to be free
Speaker 2: and independent states. The articles were proclaimed in the King's
Speaker 2: name from the steps of the City Hall on Wall Street.
Speaker 2: The loyalists were horrified. William Smith, a longtime resident merchant
Speaker 2: and fervent loyalist, wrote that the news shocks me as
Speaker 2: much as the loss of all I had in the
Speaker 2: world and my family with it. Thousands sold everything, furniture, houses,
Speaker 2: land goods at fire sale prices and prepared to leave.
Speaker 2: A few committed suicide. A few were confident of their
Speaker 2: ability to survive any change of regime. James Riker recorded
Speaker 2: that a New Yorker said to his tailor, how does
Speaker 2: business go? Not very well? The tailor replied, my customers
Speaker 2: have all learned how to turn their own coats. Sir
Speaker 2: Guy Carlton, Commander in chief of His Majesty's forces in
Speaker 2: North America, began organizing his command's withdrawal from the city
Speaker 2: in April seventeen eighty three. Concerned about personal reprisals against
Speaker 2: the loyalists, he held out until every Tory who wanted
Speaker 2: to get out had left. In the meantime, his staff
Speaker 2: arranged transportation, settled accounts, paid bills, and auctioned off huge
Speaker 2: quantities of army surplus. The first five thousand Loyalists left
Speaker 2: New York for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on April
Speaker 2: twenty seventh, seventeen eighty three. Thousands more followed with them
Speaker 2: were numerous African Americans, former slaves freed by the British
Speaker 2: military government for their services in the King's armies. On
Speaker 2: September third, seventeen eighty three, Americans, British, French, and Spanish
Speaker 2: signed the Treaty of Paris. The news reached New York
Speaker 2: in early November. On November twenty one, seventeen eighty three,
Speaker 2: Carlton ordered all British forces to withdraw from Long Island
Speaker 2: and Upper Manhattan. That morning, George Washington met George Clinton,
Speaker 2: the governor of New York, at Terrytown. They rode south
Speaker 2: through Yonkers to Harlem, where they stopped at a tavern
Speaker 2: near what is now Frederick Douglas Boulevard and one hundred
Speaker 2: twenty sixth Street. The day chosen for the evacuation was Tuesday,
Speaker 2: November twenty fifth, seventeen eighty three. It dawned cold with
Speaker 2: a bitter northwest wind. During the morning, a Missus Day
Speaker 2: ran up the stars and stripes over her tavern and
Speaker 2: boarding house on Murray Street, its first appearance in the
Speaker 2: city since September seventeen seventy six. Captain Cunningham, resplendent in
Speaker 2: redcoat and white wig, pounded on the door. Take in
Speaker 2: that flag, He roared, the city is ours until noon.
Speaker 2: He then tried to pull it down. She belted him
Speaker 2: full in the face with her broomstick, bloodying his nose,
Speaker 2: and then dealt the captain such lusty blows as made
Speaker 2: the powder fly in clouds from his wig and forced
Speaker 2: him to beat a retreat. Washington had chosen General Henry
Speaker 2: Knox to command the American troops marching from McGowan's past
Speaker 2: in what is now Northeastern Central Park into the city.
Speaker 2: Knox had been a bookseller, a dumpy, bespectacled little man
Speaker 2: who had read every book in his stock. The war
Speaker 2: transformed his theoretical passion for artillery, after all, he'd read
Speaker 2: all the books about it, into practical experience. Behind the
Speaker 2: glasses in the big belly was the soul of a lion.
Speaker 1: And you're listening to Bill Brake tell the story of
Speaker 1: the British troops finally leaving New York. The British had
Speaker 1: come to win, and my goodness, the battle inside this
Speaker 1: country a loyalist taking one side. That was one third
Speaker 1: of the country siding with the Crown, one third with
Speaker 1: the Patriots, and one third hiding under their desks hoping
Speaker 1: for it to pass over. And New York City chaos,
Speaker 1: people fleeing. It was an exodus. The town had twenty
Speaker 1: seven thousand people at certain points it got down to
Speaker 1: eight thousand. When we come back. More of this remarkable story,
Speaker 1: the British finally leaving America once and for all. That
Speaker 1: story here on our American Stories, folks. If you love
Speaker 1: the stories we tell about this great country, and especially
Speaker 1: the stories of America's rich past, know that all of
Speaker 1: our stories about American history, from war to innovation, culture
Speaker 1: and faith are brought to us by the great folks
Speaker 1: at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the
Speaker 1: things that are beautiful in life and all the things
Speaker 1: that are good in life. And if you can't get
Speaker 1: to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free
Speaker 1: and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu to
Speaker 1: learn more. And we're back with our American stories and
Speaker 1: the story of Evacuation Day, the now forgotten holiday which
Speaker 1: celebrated the twenty fifth of November in seventeen eighty three.
Speaker 1: On that day, the British armies finally left the now
Speaker 1: free United States after the Revolutionary War. When we last
Speaker 1: left off, Bill Brake was telling us how General Washington
Speaker 1: had chosen a bookseller turned general to take over as
Speaker 1: the British left our new country. Here's Bill to tell
Speaker 1: us more about General Henry Knox.
Speaker 2: In seventeen seventy five, in the dead of winter, he
Speaker 2: inspired continentals and militiamen to drag the cannon seized at
Speaker 2: Tykhonderoga in the name of the Great Jehovah and the
Speaker 2: Continental Congress to Albany and across the Berkshires to Washington
Speaker 2: Army at Boston, and he had marched with them. As
Speaker 2: a boy, I noticed a monument near my family's home
Speaker 2: in Latham, New York. It read through this place past
Speaker 2: General Henry Knox in the winter of seventeen seventy five
Speaker 2: seventeen seventy six to deliver to General George Washington at
Speaker 2: Cambridge the train of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga used to
Speaker 2: force the British Army to evacuate Boston. Knox set out
Speaker 2: early for mcgown's pass, heading a column of some eight
Speaker 2: hundred foot dragoons and artillery. He paused at the Bowery
Speaker 2: and Third Avenue, near today's Cooper Union until one pm,
Speaker 2: chatting with the British officers commanding the Redcoats standing a
Speaker 2: block or so before him. The last British detachments now
Speaker 2: received orders to move. They moved down the Bowery in
Speaker 2: Chatham Street, picking up their outposts as the passed, and
Speaker 2: wheeling into Pearl Street, marched to the east river wards,
Speaker 2: where they were rowed to the fleet. Knox followed the
Speaker 2: British down Chatham Street and then turned onto Broadway. He
Speaker 2: marched south to Cape's Tavern, a little below Trinity Church
Speaker 2: and formerly took possession of New York City in the
Speaker 2: name of the United States. On receiving a message from
Speaker 2: Knox that he had done so, Washington swung into the
Speaker 2: saddle and rode downtown, Governor Clinton at his side. At
Speaker 2: the new Jail at the northeast corner of today's City
Speaker 2: Hall Park, Captain Cunningham paraded the Provo Guard for the
Speaker 2: last time, accompanied by the Hangman in his yellowjacket. Cunningham's
Speaker 2: command passed between a platoon of British troops, which fell
Speaker 2: in behind them as they marched down Broadway. They and
Speaker 2: the City Hall's main guard thus became the last enemy
Speaker 2: forces in history to occupy New York City. Washington rode
Speaker 2: down Pearl Street to Wall Street, and then went on
Speaker 2: walled Broadway. At Cape's tavern, a group of citizens welcomed
Speaker 2: the commander in chief, and eyewitness said the troops just
Speaker 2: leaving us were as if equipped for show, and with
Speaker 2: their scarlet uniforms and burnished arms, made a brilliant display.
Speaker 2: The troops that marched in on the contrary, were ill
Speaker 2: clad and weather beaten and made a forlorn appearance. But
Speaker 2: then they were our troops. And as I looked at
Speaker 2: them and thought upon all they had done for us,
Speaker 2: my heart and eyes were full, and I admired and
Speaker 2: gloried in them, the more because they were weather beaten
Speaker 2: and forlorn. The British had left the Union flag flying
Speaker 2: over for George on the battery. The halliards, the lions
Speaker 2: for raising and lowering the flag were gone. The banner
Speaker 2: had been nailed to the staff, and the pole was
Speaker 2: greased heeled to truck to prevent or hinder the removal
Speaker 2: of the emblem of royalty and the raising of the
Speaker 2: stars and stripes. The grease rebuffed all efforts to climb
Speaker 2: the staff. In the crowd was Captain John Van Harsdale,
Speaker 2: a New Yorker revolutionary soldier and peacetime sailor. Recalling Peter
Speaker 2: Gulay's hardware store about ten minutes away in Hanover Square.
Speaker 2: He sprunt it across town and liberated a saw, hatchet, cleats, rope,
Speaker 2: and nails. He began nailing the cleats into the greasy pole.
Speaker 2: He climbed a little, drove in more cleats, and climbed
Speaker 2: farther bit by bit he ascended the pole. He reached
Speaker 2: the top, he ripped down the British flag and flung
Speaker 2: it to the cheering crowd. Then he attached new halliards
Speaker 2: and scrambled down the pole as the stars and stripes
Speaker 2: ran up it. General Knox's field guns began a thirteen
Speaker 2: gun salute as the colors went up and the cannon roared.
Speaker 2: The British weight anchor and made for the open sea.
Speaker 2: That night, Washington and his officers met with General Clinton
Speaker 2: in France's tavern at broad in Pearl Street for a
Speaker 2: feast of reason and a flow of soul. They offered
Speaker 2: thirteen toasts to allies, friends, comrades, living and dead, their
Speaker 2: hopes for their new country, and certain immutable principles. The
Speaker 2: next nine days were marked by what one observer called
Speaker 2: good humor, hilarity, and mirth. Thus, at Governor Clinton's dinner
Speaker 2: for the French ambassador on Tuesday, December second, seventeen eighty three,
Speaker 2: is one hundred twenty guests consumed one hundred thirty five
Speaker 2: bottles of madeira, described as it may not look like much,
Speaker 2: but it can fell an elephant, thirty six bottles of
Speaker 2: port sixty bottles of beer and thirty bowls of punch,
Speaker 2: while breaking sixty wine glasses and eight cut glass decanters.
Speaker 2: On Thursday, December fourth, Washington breakfasted with his officers in
Speaker 2: the Long Room on the second floor of France's Tavern.
Speaker 2: Then the Commander in chief rose to his feet, and
Speaker 2: there was silence. Most intelligent warriors who have written of
Speaker 2: their experiences, from Xenophon to William Manchester, admit that they
Speaker 2: fought not for king, flag or country, but for the
Speaker 2: guise they were with. The revolutionaries were no exception. Washington said,
Speaker 2: with a heart full of love and gratitude, I now
Speaker 2: take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your
Speaker 2: later days may be as prosperous and happy as your
Speaker 2: former ones have been glorious and honorable. Then he could
Speaker 2: say no more. General Knox stepped forward, embraced him, and
Speaker 2: both men wept. At last, composure regained. The Commander in
Speaker 2: Chief went down the stairs, popped on his cocked hat,
Speaker 2: and strode into Pearl Street. The infantrymen snapped to present arms.
Speaker 2: He acknowledged the salute. Then he walked west. Orders were barked.
Speaker 2: The column moved out behind him near the Battery at
Speaker 2: the foot of Whitehall Street. A barge waited to take
Speaker 2: him to Paulus Hook on the New Jersey Shore. From
Speaker 2: there he traveled to Philadelphia, where he resigned his commission
Speaker 2: to Congress and returned to private life. November twenty fifth
Speaker 2: was celebrated as Evacuation Day in New York from more
Speaker 2: than a century, but Evacuation Day was gradually overwhelmed by R. H.
Speaker 2: Macy's aggressive promotion of Thanksgiving, a rival end of November holiday.
Speaker 2: Around the beginning of the First World War, it faded away.
Speaker 2: Yet in nineteen eighty three, through the support of Manhattanboro
Speaker 2: President Andrew Stein, New York City commemorated the bi centennial
Speaker 2: of the evacuation. A parade marched down Broadway to the battery,
Speaker 2: featuring hundreds of re enactors in the uniforms of the
Speaker 2: British and Continental Forces. The British Union flag was flying
Speaker 2: from the staff of Castle Clinton. Then Harry van Arsdale,
Speaker 2: the Union leader and direct descendant of Captain Van Arsdale,
Speaker 2: stepped forward to lower the British colors, which were presented
Speaker 2: to Her Majesty's Consul General, who kissed them. Van Arsdale
Speaker 2: clipped the stars and stripes to the lanyards and ranted
Speaker 2: up the pole. A dozen brass muzzle loader cannon along
Speaker 2: the battery began firing a salute, and the crowd cheered wildly.
Speaker 2: On August sixteenth, eighteen twenty four, Marie Joseph Paul Eve's
Speaker 2: roche Gilbert de Mortier, Marquis de Lafayette, the last living
Speaker 2: general of the Revolution, the hero of two worlds, landed
Speaker 2: at the battery to begin his tour of the United States.
Speaker 2: Tens of thousands were awaiting him. Among them was a
Speaker 2: company of veterans of the Revolution. The Marquis insisted on
Speaker 2: inspecting them and slowly walked down the line, greeting and
Speaker 2: shaking hands with each man. Fluffia took a second look
Speaker 2: the last man. Then he smiled Van Arsdale. He said,
Speaker 2: I remember you. Then the captain who had ascended the flagpole,
Speaker 2: and the Marquis who had been a major general at
Speaker 2: nineteen embraced.
Speaker 1: And we thanked Bill Brake for that beautiful storytelling. And
Speaker 1: my goodness, well, that's why we do what we do
Speaker 1: here at our American stories, what we've lived through as
Speaker 1: a country, what George Washington did Evacuation Day the day
Speaker 1: of the British troops finally leave America in seventeen eighty three.
Speaker 1: Put that on your celebration calendar. Folks, what a great day,
Speaker 1: especially if you're a New Yorkers. This is our American Stories.