the greater part of them from the service, | retention was a matter of vital imporand, for the British, the settlement of tance. From that point they carried on claims according to treaty, the disposition of Tories, the gathering up of paraphernalia, and final departure. At the time of the peace announcement the enemy occupied but two points on the coast of the thirteen States-New York and the mouth of the Penobscot. The latter post they had held since 1779 as a protection for English settlers and refugees, and to secure a valuable lumber region. The name recalls the miserable failure of an expedition on our part to effect its capture in August of the same year. New York had been in British hands since September 15, 1776. It had ever since been their head-quarters and base of operations. Its OLD TRINITY CHURCH, 1783. the war, and from that point they had expected to begin the work of reconstruction by gradually occupying the surrounding country and re-establishing civil authority. The area which they actually controlled included Manhattan Island, Staten Island, points on the Jersey side, and the whole of Long Island, although its eastern end was not greatly disturbed. The number of inhabitants within this jurisdiction, exclusive of the military, may have ranged between fifty and sixty thousand. Exactly what the population of the city itself was in 1783 it is difficult to determine. In its most prosperous colonial days, or just before the war, it was estimated at thirty thousand, the number of houses being set down at four thousand two hundred. The troubles in 1776, when the American army turned the place into a fortified camp, caused a general exodus of the people, both Whigs and Tories -not more than one-twentieth of the whole, according to the British Quartermaster Butler, being found in the city when the enemy took possession. These were mainly loyalists. In the seven years that followed, the city filled up again with the same element. Tories, doubtful Whigs, and refugees flocked in or were sent in by "rebel" committees from all di rections, and given the empty dwellings. The destructive fire on the night of September 21, 1776, swept away some five hundred buildings, and about seventy more were burned in the Dock Ward in 1778, which seriously curtailed accommodations. To provide for the emergency, shanties or temporary structures were erected on vacant lots, and refugee settle ments established at one point and another. Under the circumstances, it is hardly possible that the city proper could have contained as many inhabitants in 1783 as it had before the Revolution. What part of this war population remained after the evacuation it is equally difficult to ascertain. The British official reports show the number that embarked for Nova Scotia and other points, but not the number that staid behind. The great majority were unwilling, and many afraid, to place themselves in the power of the Americans, and obtained grants of lands in Canada, where they settled. Accord ing to the manuscript report of Brook Watson, British Commissary-General, dated New York, November 24, 1783, the total number of persons-men, women, and children-who left New York during the year was twenty-nine thousand two hundred and forty-four. Over fourteen thousand went to River St. John, nearly nine thousand to Port Roseway or Shelburne, two thousand six hundred to Annapolis, about a thousand to Halifax, and the remainder to Port Moulton and Cumberland. These were all to be "victualled" by the government for a certain number of months. Nor were they all loyalists or inhabitants proper, for the returns include a large proportion of discharged soldiers, with families, and "black companies," while, on the other hand, those who went to England (a small number) are not included. The number of negroes who were taken away as personal property is officially given at three thousand. Any estimate, accordingly, of the strength of the loyalist or indifferent population that remained under the American régime in 1783 must be mere guess-work. Soon after the announcement of peace in April the exiled Whigs returned in considerable numbers, and, under fixed regulations, secured their former houses and lands. If we put the figures at about fifteen thousand as representing those who staid and those who came in, we may have an approximate estimate of the population of New York on the day she first became distinctly an American city. Such a general flight of the loyalists was due, of course, to the bitter resentment which had been harbored against them by the other side during the struggle. The excitement ran so high in some communities that public resolutions were passed threatening them with personal insult and injury if they failed to remove from the country; and they removed almost in a body, to what has since proved to be the advantage of the Canadian Dominion. While, no doubt, we suffered the loss of a respectable element, it may be questioned whether its presence in New York, and the attitude of opposition into which it must naturally have thrown itself in the formation of a republican government, would not have worked very serious mischief. Tory temper even then was no more moderate or conciliatory than was the Whig, if the following letter from William Bayard to General Haldimand, commanding in Canada, reflected a common sentiment. "NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 1783. "GOOD SIR,-The shocking alteration in this once happy Country and the good People * In regard to this, David Matthews, then Mayor of it since I had the Honor of taking your Exof the city, writes as follows: "The fire which concellency by the Hand last, owing to the Wicked, sumed great part of the city in 1776, together with Infamous, and unprovoked Rebellion, it's not the number of buildings required for the conven- possible to commit to paper nor Tongue to exiency of the troops, public departments, and itiner-press-and the peace, as it is termed, worse ants of the army, made it impossible for the great number of distressed loyalists from the different provinces who were obliged to take refuge in this city to find any sort of shelter for themselves and families. "Sir William Howe, in order to alleviate their distress, gave me orders, as Mayor of the city, to grant, without any fee or reward whatever, permission (to any persons who were willing) to erect temporary habitations on the vacant lots of persons residing without the lines......The evacuation of Philadelphia and the second great fire in New York made the demand for vacant lots still greater and more necessary, which induced his Excellency Sir than all, both for poor old England, as well as the King's Truly Loyal Friends in this Country. The Rebels-for I shall never call them anything else have confiscated every shill'g of my valuable property in this Country and passed an Act of Attainder against my person, so that I am now going off in a manner a Beggar to my children and Friends in old England -the reflection almost too shocking for Human Nature to bear, but such is mine and the hard Fate of many others. . . . WM. BAYARD."* So much for the evacuation of New Henry Clinton to direct me to proceed agreeable to York by her hostile population. Passing Sir William Howe's former orders."-MS. Letter, August 25, 1783, in Carleton Papers, Royal Institu tion, London. Haldimand Papers, British Museum. in sufficient number to accommodate them at once. The fleets had to make several voyages to the different points, and that took time. Moreover, the delay put the Americans in bad humor-some eying it suspiciously as a piece of trickery in the interests of the Tories, and fresh expressions of indignation against that class arose, which only increased the alarm in New York, and caused many more to leave. This, in turn, added to the delay, and the time dragged on into November, when Carleton was able to fix the 22d of that month as the day of his departure. Washington meanwhile had disbanded nearly all the Continental army at Newburgh and West Point, and stood ready with a small force to occupy New York the moment the enemy left it. On the 19th he arrived at Day's Tavern, near the corner of One-hundred-and-twenty-fifth Street and Eighth Avenue, in company with Governor Clinton and several State and army officers, while the troops preceded them and took post a short distance below. On the 22d a rain set in, and there was another postponement to the 25th, when we reach the interesting event. on to the hostile forces, we may recall the | the city that transports could not be secured fact that Sir Henry Clinton, so long the commander-in-chief of the British here, was succeeded in May, 1782, by Sir Guy Carleton, who commanded at Quebec in 1775 when Montgomery fell. A general of ability, with clear head and kindly heart, he was deservedly popular with soldiers and citizens alike. He came when the fighting was done with, and contented himself with preserving a strict defensive, in anticipation of peace. When peace was declared he prepared for the evacuation of the city by disbanding all the loyalist regiments, and sending off many of the regulars to the West Indies, to Nova Scotia, and to England. By the returns of November 10, 1783, it appears that the number of troops retained “to be removed at the final evacuation" was a trifle over six thousand. The British corps were the Royal Artillery, Seventeenth Dragoons, the Light Infantry and Grenadiers, and the Seventh, Twenty-second, Twentythird, Thirty-eighth, Fortieth, Forty-third, Seventy-sixth, and Eightieth regiments of foot, whose total effective strength, including officers, sergeants, drummers, and rank and file, is given at three thousand seven hundred and ninety-five. The Ger- The small body of Continental troops man troops included the Chasseurs, regi- intended for the military occupation of ments Lengercke, Donop, Losberg Jun- the city had moved down leisurely from ior, and a few artillerists-in all three West Point and encamped at McGowan's thousand seven hundred and sixty-two.* Pass, within and near the present northThe British fleet then in our waters was eastern entrance of Central Park. Maincommanded by Robert Digby, Rear-Ad- ly old soldiers, bronzed and scarred, repmiral of the Red. An old sea-dog" of resentative of the protracted struggle, some repute, it was under him that King the honors of the occasion were eminentGeorge's third son, Prince William Hen- ly theirs. The infantry belonged to the ry, afterward William IV., came as a mid- Massachusetts line, the artillery to New shipman to New York in 1781, where he York, the troops from the other States was received with humble "addresses" having been all disbanded. Of the two and much ceremony. After returning to foot regiments, one, the Second, was comEngland, the admiral married Mrs. Jaun-manded by Colonel Joseph Vose, who had cey, daughter of Andrew Elliott, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of New York, and retired from the service. Among his whims was an aversion to portraits, and he declined to have his own painted. 66 Much vexatious delay occurred before the British got off. Washington and Carleton held a personal interview in May on board the Greyhound, off Dobbs Ferry, on the Hudson, where Carleton gave assurances that the evacuation should be effected as speedily as possible. But so many loyalists expressed a wish to leave * Official Returns, Public Record Office, London. been in service from the beginning; the other, a composite corps known as "light infantry," formed of picked troops from the four regiments at West Point, was led by Lieutenant-Colonel William Hull, another veteran and well-known officer. From the artillery there were but two companies present, Captain Doughty's and Moodie's-all that were left of Colonel Lamb's famous Second Regiment of that arm-with Major Sebastian Bauman at their head, whose services on many fields, and notably at Yorktown, were long remembered. Add to these a troop of militia horsemen, under Captain John Stakes, of New York, and we have the entire detachment, thus composed, numbering some eight hundred men, and commanded immediately by Brevet - Brigadier - General Henry Jackson, of Boston, then the ranking infantry officer on duty. The chief of all the troops remaining in the service, to whom Washington had practically transferred his responsibilities, was MajorGeneral Henry Knox, who was here to take part in the ceremonies of the day. It is not difficult to imagine the sensations which these soldiers must have experienced as they drew up in line on the morning of November 25 to march into the city. There were men and officers there who stood on familiar ground, and could recall events to which the present contrast was of the most pleasing kind. It was on that very spot, at Mrs. McGowan's, that Washington and his generals were compelled, more than seven years before, on the 12th of September, 1776, to decide upon the abandonment of New York, which had been fortified with so much toil, but whose retention was impossible after the disaster on Long Island. It was there that the British fixed one of their main outposts three days later, September 15, when Howe took the city, and sent the militiamen flying pell-mell across the fields and up the highways to Washington Heights; and not a mile over lay the narrow Bloomingdale Road, which proved the salvation of Putnam and a whole division of American troops on the same occasion. It was a day to be remembered. Knox especially could not have forgotten it, when so many of his guns were lost, while in Bauman's memory the event must have been still more vivid as he recalled the sweltering and successful efforts he had made to save his two pieces by getting them across to the Jersey side. Both these men now enjoyed a quiet revenge, for the only artillery they had brought down to grace the coming procession were four 6-pounders taken from the enemy in after-actions of the war, and conspicuously engraved with the time and place of their capture.* Nor *This fact is mentioned by Quartermaster-General Pickering in one of his published letters.-Pickering's Life, Vol. I. |