NYC: Sons of Liberty, 18th Century Broad Street


Visiting big cities can get overwhelming quickly.  Vast and endlessly sprouting concrete facades, blinking lights, the chaos of people in and out of traffic, the questions of who to trust, which way to go, how to get there?  It helps in all of this to be able to see past the facades and chaos and envision instead the network of significance underneath it all.  With history as a silent tour guide, there's direction in trusting what you already know or what you're determined to find out. Times Square has its brilliant allure, no doubt, but you might find me at a little place called Fraunces Tavern, not far from Delmonico's near Wall Street,

a good spot to fire-up the historical imagination and see New York's early role in the Revolutionary War. Fraunces is one of the three oldest buildings in Manhattan – now a restaurant and museum – and which served not only as a hub of activity for the Sons of Liberty pre-1776, but would also famously host the party for George Washington's farewell speech in 1783

after eventual Patriot victory (the farewell address is one of the few historical examples of an all-powerful leader willingly relinquishing power at the height of a military career.  Washington wanted to retreat back to domestic life and farming, a deliberate act against the dangers of monarchy). The tavern would also come to serve as the Dept. of Treasury and War under Henry Knox from Dorchester Heights Boston fame.  You would not have wanted to be at Fraunces in August of 1775, however.  At the beginning of the Battle for Manhattan (Fort Washington), the tavern received an 18 pound cannonball through its roof from the British warship Asia.  The Sons of Liberty restored the building in 1907.

This time period marked some of the first military actions revolving around the attempted taking of New York, a critical geographical Eastern port at the time.  After evacuating Boston at the Siege of that city, General Howe retreated to Nova Scotia and recalculated his troops' next moves.  Washington  anticipated accurately that Howe would come for New York and built fortifications at the high points at what is now Washington Heights and across the Hudson at Fort Lee, New Jersey.  

Although the Washington Bridge now conveniently connects these two points, it was at the time a

critical narrows leading inland to control.  With the aid of some 3,000 Hessian soldiers (hired mercenaries from the German province of Hesse...don't think I'm related),

the British would take the Fort against a Connecticut regiment that General Washington became so angered over its performance that he berated the retreating soldiers and came supposedly within 100 yards of the battle lines with sword slashing only to be pulled back to safety by aides.  This defeat was one of the worst in the history of War.  New York was not merely a critical port, but in such taverns as Fraunces the infant network of Revolution had become an important political center.  British soldiers would occupy the tavern themselves until 1783.  At one point, Fraunces, the founder, fled to New Jersey only to be captured by the Redcoats, brought back to the tavern, and forced to cook for British generals.  The food must have been good too.