The Story of Manhattan Part 10

In the year 1780 the American cause came very near receiving a serious check, when an officer high in rank turned traitor. This man was Benedict Arnold, and had been a vigorous fighter. But now he bargained with the British to turn over to them West Point, where he was chief in command. Major John Andre, a brilliant young officer under the British General Clinton, was sent to make the final arrangements. Andre was returning to New York when he was captured with the plans of West Point concealed in his boots. He was hanged as a spy, and Arnold, escaping to the British in New York, fought with them, despised by the Americans and mistrusted by the English; for a traitor can never be truly liked or respected even by those who benefit by his treachery.

The War of the Revolution went on until the fall of the year 1781, when General Was.h.i.+ngton made a sudden move that drew his men away from the vicinity of New York before the British army could foresee it. Then he hurried to the South. There, at Yorktown, in Virginia, the combined American army hemmed in, and after a battle forced to surrender, Lord Cornwallis, the British commander in the South, and all his men.

This victory was so great that it really ended the war. Great Britain gave up the struggle, and a treaty of peace was signed.

And now you will see how the British army left the city of New York.

CHAPTER x.x.x

AFTER the WAR

On a crisp, cold day, late in the fall, a tall, mild-faced man on a spirited horse pa.s.sed down the Bowery Road, followed by a long train of soldiers whose shabby clothes and worn faces told of days of trial and hards.h.i.+p. This was General George Was.h.i.+ngton with a portion of the Continental army. They were entering New York on this same day when the British troops were leaving it.

But although the British were leaving under the terms of the treaty of peace, and had gone on board s.h.i.+ps that were to take them to England, there were many who were filled with rage at this enforced departure.

At the fort by the river-side they had knocked the cleats _off_ the flag-pole, and had greased the pole so that no one could climb it to put up the United States flag and thus flaunt it in the face of the departing troops. But the soldiers of Was.h.i.+ngton who reached the fort just as the last British company was leaving, set to work with hammer and saw. They made new cleats for the pole. Then a young sailor--his name was John Van Arsdale--filling his pockets with the cleats and nailing them above him as he climbed the pole step by step, was able to put the flag in position. And as it floated to the breeze a salute of thirteen guns sounded while the British troops were still within hearing.

So now the city of New York, which for seven years the British had occupied, was again in possession of the citizens.

General Was.h.i.+ngton only remained here a few days. He made his head-quarters in Fraunces's Tavern, in Broad Street, and there at noon on December 4th, his officers a.s.sembled to hear his words of farewell.

It was an affectionate parting of men who had suffered danger and privations together. There were tears in Was.h.i.+ngton's eyes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: North Side of Wall Street East of William Street, Taken a Few Years after the Revolutionary War.]

"With a heart full of love and grat.i.tude," said he, "I now take my leave of you, and most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable."

It was not a time for much talking, and Was.h.i.+ngton was soon gone, leaving real sorrow behind him. Within a few weeks he had resigned his commission as commander-in-chief, and had retired as a private citizen to his home at Mount Vernon.

The city of New York was in quite a deplorable state. The wide tract swept by the fire of 1776 still lay in blackened ruins. No effort had been made to rebuild except where temporary wooden huts had been set up by the soldiers. The churches, all of which had been used for one purpose or another, were dismantled, blackened, and marred. There was scarcely a house in all the little town that had not been ill-used by the soldiers. Fences were down, and the streets were filled with rubbish. It was a city stricken with premature decay. Business life was dead, and would have to be begun all over again. The citizens were divided against themselves. Feuds existed everywhere. Patriots who had fled and had now come back felt a deep bitterness against those who had adopted the royal cause for the purpose of keeping possession of their property. These, however, complained just as bitterly because now their homes were taken from them in the adjustment.

King's College, of which you have been told, had been closed all during the war, and had been used as a hospital. It was opened now, but was called Columbia College, as the King no longer had any claims on the city or its inst.i.tutions.

During the next few years business slowly revived, and day by day the city was rebuilt, growing into something like its old self.

Some little distance above the Common was the City Hospital. There came rumors at this time that the bodies of the dead were being stolen from the graveyards and used by the students for dissecting purposes. There was no truth in these stories, yet many persons became alarmed. They gathered, broke into the hospital and destroyed everything of value.

The doctors fled to the jail on the Common for protection. The mob determined to seize them, and tore down the fences about the jail. Then the Mayor gathered a body of citizens to oppose the mob. As night came on, the rioters, becoming more and more destructive, were fired upon and five were killed. After this they scampered away, the trouble was over, and that was the last of the Doctors' Mob.

CHAPTER x.x.xI

THE FIRST PRESIDENT of the UNITED STATES

Rebuilding a city and forming a new nation is such a great task that you can readily believe it was not accomplished without some difficulty. The colonies were free from the rule of the English King, but it was necessary for them to learn to govern themselves.

Each of the new States now had its own government. It was thought by many that there should be some powerful central government to control all the States. So after a great deal of deliberation a convention was held in Philadelphia over which George Was.h.i.+ngton presided. After four months of hard work the present Const.i.tution of the United States was given to each State to be approved.

There was strong need for this step to be taken, but there were a great many who did not want it, because they thought it would give the President as much power as a king, and as they had gone to some cost to rid themselves of a king, they did not wish another. Those who wanted a central government were called Federalists. Those who did not want it were called Anti-Federalists.

In New York there was one man who did everything that man could do to convince others that the central government was the best thing for the good of the new nation. His name was Alexander Hamilton. He was a young man who had been, ever since he was a boy, a friend of George Was.h.i.+ngton; who had lived in Was.h.i.+ngton's family and had fought as an officer side by side with Was.h.i.+ngton, and was a man of much power and deep learning.

This Const.i.tution of the United States had been approved by nine of the States, when, in June, 1788, a convention was held to determine whether New York was to approve it or not. At this convention Alexander Hamilton spoke eloquently, in an effort to have the Const.i.tution approved.

The convention was still meeting in July, having come to no decision, when the followers of Hamilton, the Federalists, had a great parade through the streets of New York. It was the first big parade in the city, and the grandest spectacle that had ever been seen in America up to this time.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Celebration of the Adoption of the Const.i.tution.]

The most imposing part of it was a great wooden s.h.i.+p on wheels, made to represent the s.h.i.+p of State, and called the "Federal s.h.i.+p Hamilton."

The parade was a mile and a half long and there were five thousand men in it. It pa.s.sed along the streets of the city, past the fort, and on up Broadway over the tree-covered hill above the Common, and on to the Bayard Farm beyond the Collect Pond. There a halt was made and the thousands of people sat down on the gra.s.s to a dinner.

Three days after this the convention approved of the Const.i.tution for the State of New York. And so the majority of the States having agreed to it, in the next year George Was.h.i.+ngton was chosen as the first President of the United States, and the city of New York was selected as the temporary seat of the general government.

CHAPTER x.x.xII

THE WELCOME to GEORGE WAs.h.i.+NGTON

Now that New York was the seat of the national government, the old City Hall in Wall Street was made larger and fitted up in grand style and was called Federal Hall.

In April George Was.h.i.+ngton came to this city from his home at Mount Vernon. Every step of his way, by carriage and on horseback, was a march of triumph. The people in towns and villages and countryside greeted him with shouts and signs of affection. But it was in New York that the greatest welcome was given him.

The city had taken on a most picturesque appearance. Every house was decorated with colors, and when Was.h.i.+ngton landed from a barge at the foot of Wall Street, he walked up a stairway strewn with flowers. The streets were so thronged that way could scarcely be made. Not only were the streets filled, but every window and every house-top. The people waited for hours, and when Was.h.i.+ngton arrived a wild hubbub commenced that kept up all the day long.

[Ill.u.s.tration: View of Federal Hall and Part of Broad Street, 1796.]

Was.h.i.+ngton was escorted to the house that had been prepared for him, a little way out of town at the top of a hill.

If in the days that you read this you walk along Pearl Street until you come to the East River bridge at Franklin Square, a part of the city crowded with tenements and factories, you will stand close by where the house was. On the abutment of the bridge you will find a tablet that has been riveted to the stone, so that all who pa.s.s may know that Was.h.i.+ngton once lived there. The house was built by Walter Franklin, a rich merchant, and was therefore called the Franklin House. The square, however, does not take its name from this man, but from the renowned Benjamin Franklin.

Very soon, on a bright, suns.h.i.+ny day, Was.h.i.+ngton stood on the balcony of Federal Hall, surrounded by the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, with the citizens thronging every inch of the nearby streets. And there he took the oath of office, and having taken it the cry was raised, "Long Live George Was.h.i.+ngton, First President of the United States," a cry that was echoed from street to street, and went on echoing out into the country beyond.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The John Street Theatre, 1781.]

The life of the First President was a simple and a busy one. He rose at four o'clock each morning and went to bed at nine in the evening. Many hours a day he worked at matters of state, receiving all who called, so that there was quite a stream of people going to and from the Franklin House at all times. Sometimes during the day he took a long drive with Mrs. Was.h.i.+ngton, which he called the "Fourteen Miles 'round," going up one side of the island above the city and coming down the other.

Sometimes of an evening he attended a performance at the little John Street Theatre. Always on Sunday he and all his family went to St.

Paul's Chapel. And the pew in which they sat you can sit in if you go to that old chapel, for it has been preserved all these years.

By this time the fort by the Bowling Green, which had stood since the days of the Dutch, was torn down to make room for a mansion that was to be called the Government House and be occupied by the President.

The mansion was built, but you shall see presently why no President ever occupied it.