Chapter VII.
FROM THE OCCUPATION OF NEW YORK TO THE
TAKING OF FORT WASHINGTON, SEPTEMBER
15TH TO NOVEMBER 16TH, 1776.
There is not much to remind the present inhabitant
of New York of the little city that lay at the south
end of Manhattan Island a hundred years ago. It was
a pretty place, with large, comfortable houses, built
mostly of yellow brick. Within were low studded
rooms, with sanded floors, and high, painted
wainscots. The sideboards, of solid mahogany, in the better
houses, shone with pewter for every-day use; and
there was often solid silver, for state occasions. The
streets were crooked and had gutters in the middle,
but were fairly clean, and bordered with trees. Before
the war there had been over twenty thousand
inhabitants, but many of these had fled on the approach
of the contending armies. There were many Tories,
especially among the rich.
At the time when Washington retreated from Brooklyn, New York was defended by a permanent fort, called Fort George, at the west end of the Battery, and by temporary works thrown up at various places along the shore. On the north, or landward, side, a barrier crossed Broadway near the Bowling Green, and there was another near the site of the present Centre Market.
