WEBVTT - Before Thanksgiving, New Yorkers Celebrated Evacuation Day 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:15.080 This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories, 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:17.759 and we tell stories about everything here on this show, 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.440 from the arts to sports, and from business to history 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.880 and everything in between, including your story. Send them to 0:00:23.960 --> 0:00:28.240 our Americanstories dot com. There's some of our favorites. Today, 0:00:28.360 --> 0:00:32.479 our regular contributor, Bill Brake brings us a fascinating story 0:00:32.520 --> 0:00:36.720 about the day British troops finally left American soil after 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:45.520 the end of the Revolutionary War. Here's Bill. 0:00:45.800 --> 0:00:48.760 The British Army held New York City for two years. 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:53.840 After Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown on October nineteenth, 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:58.760 seventeen eighty one. The city's population had fallen below ten 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:07.360 thousands of the residents were Loyalist refugees from revolutionary terrorism, accident, disaster, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:11.200 and the war had disrupted its civic life. The Great 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.440 Fire of September twenty one, seventeen seventy six had burned 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.319 everything between Whitehall and broad Streets, as far up Broadway 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.560 as Rector Street and as far up Broadway as Beaver Street. 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:25.479 Rents had risen four hundred percent within the first year 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.560 of occupation. The price of food and other goods and 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:33.440 services eight hundred percent. The Provincial Assembly, city council and 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:37.000 courts were dormant, although nothing indicates the politicians had stopped 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:41.160 drawing their salaries. The city was governed by the British Army, 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:43.920 and its government, in the absence of a free press, 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:49.520 had become corrupt. Some New Yorkers made fortunes. Mister Joshua Loring, 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:52.520 who had pimped his blonde wife to General Sir William 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:56.160 Howe to gain appointment as Commissary of Prisoners, became wealthy 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:58.880 by selling provisions meant for prisoners of war on the 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:03.120 black market. Others cloaked their sadism in the red coat. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:07.680 Captain William Cunningham, the Provo Marshal, commanded the jails and 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.880 prison ships holding American prisoners of war. The Sons of 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:14.760 Liberty had roughed him up before the war. He repaid 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:22.040 the debt with interest. He enjoyed torturing people. According to 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.079 Burrows and Wallace's Gotham, Cunningham admitted to murdering as many 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:30.640 as two thousand American prisoners by starvation, hanging, or poisoning 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:36.200 their flower rations with arsenic. At night, he swaggered through 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:41.680 his domains wearing the red coat with silver lace and epaulets, 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:44.840 the cocked hat, the powdered wig, and the tall glossy 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.320 boots and spurs, with a whip in his hand, sending 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:55.360 his prisoners to bed, shouting Kenneye sons of Kennelmye. On 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:59.079 November thirtieth, seventeen eighty two, the American and British delegates 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:04.080 signed preliminary Articles of peace. The first article reads His 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:08.720 Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States to be free 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:13.280 and independent states. The articles were proclaimed in the King's 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:16.239 name from the steps of the City Hall on Wall Street. 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:21.920 The loyalists were horrified. William Smith, a longtime resident merchant 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:25.880 and fervent loyalist, wrote that the news shocks me as 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.560 much as the loss of all I had in the 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:34.040 world and my family with it. Thousands sold everything, furniture, houses, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.440 land goods at fire sale prices and prepared to leave. 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:43.320 A few committed suicide. A few were confident of their 0:03:43.360 --> 0:03:48.040 ability to survive any change of regime. James Riker recorded 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.080 that a New Yorker said to his tailor, how does 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:54.000 business go? Not very well? The tailor replied, my customers 0:03:54.000 --> 0:03:58.400 have all learned how to turn their own coats. Sir 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:01.840 Guy Carlton, Commander in chief of His Majesty's forces in 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:05.960 North America, began organizing his command's withdrawal from the city 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:11.520 in April seventeen eighty three. Concerned about personal reprisals against 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:15.160 the loyalists, he held out until every Tory who wanted 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.600 to get out had left. In the meantime, his staff 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:23.640 arranged transportation, settled accounts, paid bills, and auctioned off huge 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:28.240 quantities of army surplus. The first five thousand Loyalists left 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.120 New York for Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on April 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:36.320 twenty seventh, seventeen eighty three. Thousands more followed with them 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.560 were numerous African Americans, former slaves freed by the British 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.839 military government for their services in the King's armies. On 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:49.560 September third, seventeen eighty three, Americans, British, French, and Spanish 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:53.159 signed the Treaty of Paris. The news reached New York 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:57.360 in early November. On November twenty one, seventeen eighty three, 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:01.719 Carlton ordered all British forces to withdraw from Long Island 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:07.200 and Upper Manhattan. That morning, George Washington met George Clinton, 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:11.200 the governor of New York, at Terrytown. They rode south 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.000 through Yonkers to Harlem, where they stopped at a tavern 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:16.799 near what is now Frederick Douglas Boulevard and one hundred 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:21.359 twenty sixth Street. The day chosen for the evacuation was Tuesday, 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:28.599 November twenty fifth, seventeen eighty three. It dawned cold with 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.640 a bitter northwest wind. During the morning, a Missus Day 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.080 ran up the stars and stripes over her tavern and 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.159 boarding house on Murray Street, its first appearance in the 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:43.919 city since September seventeen seventy six. Captain Cunningham, resplendent in 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:46.920 redcoat and white wig, pounded on the door. Take in 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:50.159 that flag, He roared, the city is ours until noon. 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:53.520 He then tried to pull it down. She belted him 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.440 full in the face with her broomstick, bloodying his nose, 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.280 and then dealt the captain such lusty blows as made 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.480 the powder fly in clouds from his wig and forced 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:08.599 him to beat a retreat. Washington had chosen General Henry 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.799 Knox to command the American troops marching from McGowan's past 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:15.640 in what is now Northeastern Central Park into the city. 0:06:16.520 --> 0:06:20.640 Knox had been a bookseller, a dumpy, bespectacled little man 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.920 who had read every book in his stock. The war 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.839 transformed his theoretical passion for artillery, after all, he'd read 0:06:27.880 --> 0:06:32.159 all the books about it, into practical experience. Behind the 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.480 glasses in the big belly was the soul of a lion. 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:44.440 And you're listening to Bill Brake tell the story of 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:48.320 the British troops finally leaving New York. The British had 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.839 come to win, and my goodness, the battle inside this 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.160 country a loyalist taking one side. That was one third 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:59.000 of the country siding with the Crown, one third with 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:03.520 the Patriots, and one third hiding under their desks hoping 0:07:03.560 --> 0:07:06.960 for it to pass over. And New York City chaos, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:10.119 people fleeing. It was an exodus. The town had twenty 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.640 seven thousand people at certain points it got down to 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:16.720 eight thousand. When we come back. More of this remarkable story, 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.720 the British finally leaving America once and for all. That 0:07:20.880 --> 0:07:30.800 story here on our American Stories, folks. If you love 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.720 the stories we tell about this great country, and especially 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:36.800 the stories of America's rich past, know that all of 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:40.440 our stories about American history, from war to innovation, culture 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.880 and faith are brought to us by the great folks 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.000 at Hillsdale College, a place where students study all the 0:07:46.000 --> 0:07:48.360 things that are beautiful in life and all the things 0:07:48.440 --> 0:07:50.280 that are good in life. And if you can't get 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.760 to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:56.720 and terrific online courses. Go to Hillsdale dot edu to 0:07:56.840 --> 0:08:11.480 learn more. And we're back with our American stories and 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:15.440 the story of Evacuation Day, the now forgotten holiday which 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:19.880 celebrated the twenty fifth of November in seventeen eighty three. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:22.480 On that day, the British armies finally left the now 0:08:22.560 --> 0:08:26.760 free United States after the Revolutionary War. When we last 0:08:26.840 --> 0:08:29.560 left off, Bill Brake was telling us how General Washington 0:08:29.800 --> 0:08:34.040 had chosen a bookseller turned general to take over as 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.440 the British left our new country. Here's Bill to tell 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.000 us more about General Henry Knox. 0:08:45.480 --> 0:08:48.000 In seventeen seventy five, in the dead of winter, he 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:52.000 inspired continentals and militiamen to drag the cannon seized at 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:55.680 Tykhonderoga in the name of the Great Jehovah and the 0:08:55.720 --> 0:09:00.000 Continental Congress to Albany and across the Berkshires to Washington 0:09:00.200 --> 0:09:05.240 Army at Boston, and he had marched with them. As 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.440 a boy, I noticed a monument near my family's home 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:14.479 in Latham, New York. It read through this place past 0:09:14.520 --> 0:09:18.280 General Henry Knox in the winter of seventeen seventy five 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:22.280 seventeen seventy six to deliver to General George Washington at 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:27.000 Cambridge the train of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga used to 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:34.360 force the British Army to evacuate Boston. Knox set out 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.920 early for mcgown's pass, heading a column of some eight 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.920 hundred foot dragoons and artillery. He paused at the Bowery 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.679 and Third Avenue, near today's Cooper Union until one pm, 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:48.040 chatting with the British officers commanding the Redcoats standing a 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:52.120 block or so before him. The last British detachments now 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:57.520 received orders to move. They moved down the Bowery in 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:01.160 Chatham Street, picking up their outposts as the passed, and 0:10:01.240 --> 0:10:04.720 wheeling into Pearl Street, marched to the east river wards, 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.319 where they were rowed to the fleet. Knox followed the 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.920 British down Chatham Street and then turned onto Broadway. He 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:15.240 marched south to Cape's Tavern, a little below Trinity Church 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.240 and formerly took possession of New York City in the 0:10:18.360 --> 0:10:22.040 name of the United States. On receiving a message from 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.960 Knox that he had done so, Washington swung into the 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:30.240 saddle and rode downtown, Governor Clinton at his side. At 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.199 the new Jail at the northeast corner of today's City 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:37.679 Hall Park, Captain Cunningham paraded the Provo Guard for the 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:43.199 last time, accompanied by the Hangman in his yellowjacket. Cunningham's 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:46.840 command passed between a platoon of British troops, which fell 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.600 in behind them as they marched down Broadway. They and 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:53.800 the City Hall's main guard thus became the last enemy 0:10:53.880 --> 0:11:01.840 forces in history to occupy New York City. Washington rode 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.400 down Pearl Street to Wall Street, and then went on 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:08.600 walled Broadway. At Cape's tavern, a group of citizens welcomed 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:12.679 the commander in chief, and eyewitness said the troops just 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.200 leaving us were as if equipped for show, and with 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.960 their scarlet uniforms and burnished arms, made a brilliant display. 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.120 The troops that marched in on the contrary, were ill 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:28.080 clad and weather beaten and made a forlorn appearance. But 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.960 then they were our troops. And as I looked at 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.560 them and thought upon all they had done for us, 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.240 my heart and eyes were full, and I admired and 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:39.760 gloried in them, the more because they were weather beaten 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:44.880 and forlorn. The British had left the Union flag flying 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.720 over for George on the battery. The halliards, the lions 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.880 for raising and lowering the flag were gone. The banner 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:54.680 had been nailed to the staff, and the pole was 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:58.720 greased heeled to truck to prevent or hinder the removal 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:01.600 of the emblem of royalty and the raising of the 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:06.120 stars and stripes. The grease rebuffed all efforts to climb 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:10.400 the staff. In the crowd was Captain John Van Harsdale, 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:16.040 a New Yorker revolutionary soldier and peacetime sailor. Recalling Peter 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:19.480 Gulay's hardware store about ten minutes away in Hanover Square. 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.880 He sprunt it across town and liberated a saw, hatchet, cleats, rope, 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.880 and nails. He began nailing the cleats into the greasy pole. 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:31.079 He climbed a little, drove in more cleats, and climbed 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:35.160 farther bit by bit he ascended the pole. He reached 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.439 the top, he ripped down the British flag and flung 0:12:38.480 --> 0:12:42.200 it to the cheering crowd. Then he attached new halliards 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:45.160 and scrambled down the pole as the stars and stripes 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.880 ran up it. General Knox's field guns began a thirteen 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.920 gun salute as the colors went up and the cannon roared. 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.120 The British weight anchor and made for the open sea. 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:02.319 That night, Washington and his officers met with General Clinton 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:05.360 in France's tavern at broad in Pearl Street for a 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:09.520 feast of reason and a flow of soul. They offered 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:13.079 thirteen toasts to allies, friends, comrades, living and dead, their 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:17.120 hopes for their new country, and certain immutable principles. The 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:20.600 next nine days were marked by what one observer called 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:25.480 good humor, hilarity, and mirth. Thus, at Governor Clinton's dinner 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:29.360 for the French ambassador on Tuesday, December second, seventeen eighty three, 0:13:29.760 --> 0:13:33.440 is one hundred twenty guests consumed one hundred thirty five 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:37.840 bottles of madeira, described as it may not look like much, 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.360 but it can fell an elephant, thirty six bottles of 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:44.320 port sixty bottles of beer and thirty bowls of punch, 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:48.600 while breaking sixty wine glasses and eight cut glass decanters. 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:54.560 On Thursday, December fourth, Washington breakfasted with his officers in 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:57.559 the Long Room on the second floor of France's Tavern. 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:01.440 Then the Commander in chief rose to his feet, and 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:06.000 there was silence. Most intelligent warriors who have written of 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:10.720 their experiences, from Xenophon to William Manchester, admit that they 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.600 fought not for king, flag or country, but for the 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:19.640 guise they were with. The revolutionaries were no exception. Washington said, 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:23.520 with a heart full of love and gratitude, I now 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:27.600 take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.680 later days may be as prosperous and happy as your 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:37.600 former ones have been glorious and honorable. Then he could 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:41.800 say no more. General Knox stepped forward, embraced him, and 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:49.320 both men wept. At last, composure regained. The Commander in 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.560 Chief went down the stairs, popped on his cocked hat, 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:56.920 and strode into Pearl Street. The infantrymen snapped to present arms. 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:01.640 He acknowledged the salute. Then he walked west. Orders were barked. 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.440 The column moved out behind him near the Battery at 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:07.960 the foot of Whitehall Street. A barge waited to take 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:11.040 him to Paulus Hook on the New Jersey Shore. From 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.480 there he traveled to Philadelphia, where he resigned his commission 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:21.120 to Congress and returned to private life. November twenty fifth 0:15:21.240 --> 0:15:23.920 was celebrated as Evacuation Day in New York from more 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:28.320 than a century, but Evacuation Day was gradually overwhelmed by R. H. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:33.240 Macy's aggressive promotion of Thanksgiving, a rival end of November holiday. 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.400 Around the beginning of the First World War, it faded away. 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.200 Yet in nineteen eighty three, through the support of Manhattanboro 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.119 President Andrew Stein, New York City commemorated the bi centennial 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.240 of the evacuation. A parade marched down Broadway to the battery, 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.240 featuring hundreds of re enactors in the uniforms of the 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:57.600 British and Continental Forces. The British Union flag was flying 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.400 from the staff of Castle Clinton. Then Harry van Arsdale, 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:05.200 the Union leader and direct descendant of Captain Van Arsdale, 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:08.840 stepped forward to lower the British colors, which were presented 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:14.360 to Her Majesty's Consul General, who kissed them. Van Arsdale 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.400 clipped the stars and stripes to the lanyards and ranted 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:20.840 up the pole. A dozen brass muzzle loader cannon along 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:25.040 the battery began firing a salute, and the crowd cheered wildly. 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:35.080 On August sixteenth, eighteen twenty four, Marie Joseph Paul Eve's 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:39.880 roche Gilbert de Mortier, Marquis de Lafayette, the last living 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:44.920 general of the Revolution, the hero of two worlds, landed 0:16:44.960 --> 0:16:47.560 at the battery to begin his tour of the United States. 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:51.760 Tens of thousands were awaiting him. Among them was a 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:56.400 company of veterans of the Revolution. The Marquis insisted on 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.280 inspecting them and slowly walked down the line, greeting and 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:04.800 shaking hands with each man. Fluffia took a second look 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:10.280 the last man. Then he smiled Van Arsdale. He said, 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:15.600 I remember you. Then the captain who had ascended the flagpole, 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.199 and the Marquis who had been a major general at 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:20.600 nineteen embraced. 0:17:21.800 --> 0:17:25.080 And we thanked Bill Brake for that beautiful storytelling. And 0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:26.840 my goodness, well, that's why we do what we do 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:30.119 here at our American stories, what we've lived through as 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:34.560 a country, what George Washington did Evacuation Day the day 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:38.320 of the British troops finally leave America in seventeen eighty three. 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:41.679 Put that on your celebration calendar. Folks, what a great day, 0:17:41.800 --> 0:17:45.120 especially if you're a New Yorkers. This is our American Stories.