I'm posting from Bowling Green, at the foot of Broadway, NYC's oldest park, established by the Royal Government in 1733. I like to come here at lunchtime and check out secretaries that are hotter than mine.
On this date in 1776, after the Declaration of Independence was read to to the Continental Army by order of George Washington at the current site of City Hall, a mob of soldiers and local citizens rushed down Broadway to this spot, where they toppled a lead, equestrian statue of George III. The statue had been such a frequent target of attacks by New Yorkers that special anti-desecration laws were passed, and the Royal Governor ordered a cast-iron fence, topped with British Crowns, to be built around the statue of his King. The crowns were torn off that day, but the fence is still there. The King was chopped into several pieces.
The King's head was impaled upon a spike and paraded about town before coming to rest outside a tavern favored by the Sons of Liberty. The balance of the statue was shipped to Norwalk, Connecticut from whence it would be carted to Litchfield, the home of Gen. Oliver Wolcott, who erected a shed in his orchard and supervised a group of family members and neighbors in casting 42,088 bullets to be fired upon His Majesty's Troops. The King's head was shuffled amongst various Patriots until it was captured by the British two months later. It was sent to London, and was last seen at the home of former Prime Minister Lord Townshend (of the hated Townshend Acts)a year later. It has never been seen since.
The celebrations did not last. On August 27, Washington was badly beaten by General Howe in the Battle of Long Island. Washington fled across the east river to the city from a spot not far from my house. On September 15, Howe landed 12,000 British Regulars and Hessians on Lower Manhattan and seized the City. Washington was chased up the length of Manhattan, into Westchester and across New Jersey, suffering defeat and retreat until Christmas, when he crossed the Delaware and suprised the Hessians at Trenton.
On September 21, about one-quarter of the city was destroyed in what became known as the "Great Fire." Thereafter, the British and their Loyalist flunkies siezed the remainging structures, leaving the city's inhabitants to fend for themselves. The fire also was the pretext for a series of mass arrests that netted, amongst others, the Patriot and Spy Nathn Hale, who was executed the following day. Others died on the infamous Prison Ships anchored in the East River, near the present site of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. More than 10,000 Patriots perished due to deliberate neglect on these rotting hulks, more American deaths than from every battle of the war combined. Slave ships were little worse than these.
New York remained in British hands until the end of the war in 1783. The City celebrated Evacuation Day each November 25, until 1917, when somebody convinced the Mayor that the celebration would piss off our new British allies in World War I. I'd love to see it revived. Boston still celebraties it's Evacuation Day each March 17.
Today, a fountain stands at the spot where the King was toppled; and, instead of a Tyrant, a statue of a
Charging Bull, symbol of Wall Street and American Capitalism, graces the park. There's free wi-fi, courtesy of the Downtown Alliance, many stores, a post office and the obligatory Starbucks. Most of all, it's a nice quiet place to escape from the grind in the Financial District. I like to drink a beer here each July 9 (Sam Adams, natch) and toast the New York Patriots of 1776. And having done that, I'm headed to the Bar where it's air-conditioned. It's supposed to hit 95 today.
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