The Story of Manhattan Part 8

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SONS of LIBERTY at TURTLE BAY

Now in New York almost everybody was anxious to carry out the decision of this First Continental Congress.

But the a.s.sembly said that the Congress had not been a lawful gathering and must not be obeyed. The colonists replied that they would do as they thought best, no matter what the King's a.s.sembly ordered.

You must know that some of the people supported the royal cause and were called Royalists or Tories. The others were called Patriots or Whigs.

The English called the patriots rebels.

It had now come to be the year 1775, and matters in Boston where the port had been closed were growing worse and worse. In the month of April some British soldiers pa.s.sing through Lexington shot down a number of patriots. Messengers on horseback sped through the colonies carrying news of this ma.s.sacre. It was the first serious encounter of the Revolution and the colonists realized that they were now at war with the British. Men rushed to arms. Farmers left their homes. Professional men hurried from the towns. Within a few days an army surrounded Boston and penned in the British troops there.

When the messenger reached New York with the news of the Lexington ma.s.sacre, a Provisional a.s.sembly was formed which was to look after the city without regard to the a.s.sembly which already existed. And this is the way it came about that there was a king's government and a people's government. Shops were closed and armed citizens paraded the streets.

Matters went on in this fashion for a month, when a Second Continental Congress met at Philadelphia.

As it was now seen that there was to be a serious conflict with Great Britain, the army gathered about Boston was adopted as the beginning of the forces to be a.s.sembled and was termed the Continental Army, and George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief.

[Ill.u.s.tration: East River Sh.o.r.e, 1750, from an Old Print.]

Knowing that they would soon need guns and powder, the Sons of Liberty seized those held by the royal troops in New York. There was quite a quant.i.ty in a storehouse at Turtle Bay, a quiet little cove three miles above the town, that curved into a wild and rocky part of the East River sh.o.r.e. Nowadays the city extends for miles and miles above it. If you go to Forty-ninth Street and the East River you will see all that remains of it. Although the houses are built thick about it, there is still an air of seclusion. Everywhere else along the sh.o.r.e are piers and bath-houses and wharves and ships and shipping.

So at this Turtle Bay, far from the town, the royal troops had a storehouse for their arms. A small band of the Sons of Liberty, one dark night, floated down the river, guided their vessel into the bay, overpowered the guards before they were fairly aroused, and loaded their boat with the enemy's powder and guns. Then they made off, and before the morning dawned had placed the stores safe in the hands of the patriots.

Then the War of the Revolution broke in full fury.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE WAR of the REVOLUTION

In this month of June, in the year 1775, there were quite a number of British soldiers in the city, and many of the patriots believed that they should be made prisoners. But the Provisional a.s.sembly decreed that the orders of the Second Continental Congress must be obeyed. And these orders were not to molest the soldiers as long as they did not try to build fortifications or remove powder and guns from the city.

But early in this month of June it was learned that the soldiers were about to go to Boston. More than that, it was known that there was a secret order under which they were to take guns and powder with them.

The Sons of Liberty were hastily called to a meeting. One of them, Marinus Willett, was hurrying through Broad Street toward the Coffee-House where the meeting was to be held, when he came upon the soldiers moving silently along with five carts loaded with chests of arms. Alone, and without an instant's hesitation, Willett clutched at the bridle of the first horse. The company stopped. There was an angry parley, the officers claiming the right to leave the city with the arms, and making an effort to do so without raising a general alarm. But friends of Willett came to his a.s.sistance. The five carts were driven away by the patriots and the soldiers went on but without the arms. Long years afterward a bronze tablet was placed on a house in Broad Street close by Beaver (and is there now), to mark the spot where the brave Willett stopped the ammunition wagons.

In this same month a battle was fought between the British army in Boston and the Continental army which was encamped outside of Boston.

It was fought on a bit of high ground near the city, and was called the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Just at this time word came that General George Washington, the newly appointed commander-in-chief, was on his way from Philadelphia to the Continental army, and would pa.s.s through New York City. Washington with his aides and a company of soldiers were hurrying across New Jersey on horseback, and when they reached the city they were met by a committee from the Provisional a.s.sembly, with a number of patriot soldiers.

The next morning Washington set out for Boston. He had not yet left the town when a ship appeared in the bay having on board Governor William Tryon, who had been visiting in England for nearly a year. Governor Tryon did not remain long in the city though, as it was not a comfortable place for a royal Governor just then. He hurriedly left one night and went aboard one of the British ships in the bay.

At the close of this year Washington was still before Boston with the Continental army. Another section of the army was in the North, fighting against the British in Canada. This last branch was encamped about the walls of Quebec in the last month of the year. It was under the command of General Richard Montgomery, of New York, a brilliant soldier who had fought in the French and Indian wars. Quebec was stormed, but was too strong to be taken. Montgomery fell crying, "Men of New York, you will not fear to follow where your general leads." He was buried with military honors in Quebec, for the British honored him as a brave man.

Forty-three years later his remains were removed to New York, and placed beneath the portico of St. Paul's Chapel, where his tomb may now be seen.

Fighting by the side of Montgomery when he fell was a youth who was singled out for his bravery. His name was Aaron Burr. You are to hear more of him, for many and many a time in after years the eyes of the entire country were turned upon him.

CHAPTER XXV

A BATTLE on LONG ISLAND

And now, early in the next spring, George Washington came again to New York, having at last forced the British troops from Boston. The city, which was under the control of the patriots, was in a state of excitement, as it seemed probable that this was to be the next point of attack. Every person who favored the cause of the King, or who was suspected of favoring it, was looked upon with distrust. One-third of the citizens had fled. The soldiers of the Continental army were arriving daily. Women and children were rarely seen upon the streets.

Many of the royalists' houses, which had been closed when their owners fled, were broken open to give sleeping quarters to the soldiers.

At the outbreak of the war the people's grievance had been simply taxation without representation, but by this time the desire for complete independence had taken fast hold of them. This feeling swept through the colonies, and when the Continental Congress met in June of this year, it voted that the united colonies should be free and independent States and have no further political connection with Great Britain. A declaration of independence was adopted on July 4th, and the British colonies became the United States of America.

A horseman brought the news to New York, and there was great rejoicing.

The soldiers of the new Union then in the city were ordered to the Common, and there, early in the evening, standing in a hollow square--close by where the City Hall is now--and surrounded by a great concourse of people, Washington read the address that proclaimed the birth of a free and independent nation.

Following the reading the great throng applauded and then, filled with enthusiasm, rushed away. At the City Hall in Wall Street they tore down the painting of King George III. and trampled it under foot. On again they went to the Bowling Green, and there they dragged down the statue of the same royal person which had been erected only a few years before.

The scattered fragments of the leaden statue were afterward gathered up and moulded into bullets.

This same month General William Howe, commander of the British army, had landed on Staten Island, with his brother, Admiral Howe of the British navy, and with the soldiers and sailors of their commands, made up a fine, well-drilled army of 35,000 men, who had come to fight a force of 20,000 recruits; men not at all well-versed in war, and nearly half of whom were ill and not able to be on duty.

But Washington calmly watched the British on Staten Island, and the British ships, more than 400 of them, in the bay, and was not at all dismayed. Once General Howe wrote to Washington suggesting measures that would lead to peace, but nothing came of it.

Late in the month of August the fighting commenced. General Howe led his forces to Long Island--led 21,000 men, for he thought that the best way to capture New York was to first vanquish the army on Long Island by an overwhelming force. Then the subduing of the city across the river would be easy.

Washington hurried what men he could across to Long Island to a.s.sist those already there. But even then the Americans were outnumbered as two to one. The patriots fought long and well, but they were defeated. Two hundred or more were killed, and three times as many, including three generals, were made prisoners. But more than 300 of the British were also killed.

The day after the battle, the American army was in Brooklyn, penned in on the land side by the British troops and on the other by the wide, swift-running river. It was raining in torrents. Washington was there.

He planned a retreat that was to save his army. All the boats to be found along the sh.o.r.es of the Island of Manhattan were taken to Brooklyn in the dead of night. Silently the soldiers were put aboard, so silently that, although the British were almost within speaking distance, no sound of the departing army reached them. The point where they embarked was close by where the East River Bridge now touches the Brooklyn sh.o.r.e.

It was daylight before the last of the troops got aboard, but a heavy fog shielded them as well as had the darkness.

When the sun swept the fog away, General Howe gazed in wonder at the spot where the American forces had been the night before. But they were gone, with the swiftness and silence of magic! The magician was Washington, who had not slept from the hour of defeat until his men were safe again in New York. But they were not to remain there long, as more exciting work was before them.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE BRITISH OCCUPY NEW YORK

Miles and miles above the little city of New York, on a road which led up through the Island of Manhattan, there was a stately house in a stretch of country and forest land overlooking the Hudson River. This was the house of Charles Ward Apthorpe and was known as the Apthorpe mansion. Here General Washington went after the retreat from Long Island, to devise a plan for the battles that were to come.

The city was well fortified, but Washington understood full well that it could not be held long against a British attack. For the British soldiers were already on the islands of the East River, and the British ships held possession of the harbor and of both rivers. So Washington sent the main body of his army to Harlem Heights at the northern end of the Island of Manhattan, and left only a force of 4,000 men, under General Putnam, in New York.