OLD FORT GEORGE, ON THE BATTERY, NEW YORK CITY
On July 30, 1904, the contractors who were excavating for the Rapid Transit tunnel in Battery Park, New York City, dug up at a point twenty feet west of the center line of State street and eighty-seven feet north of the center line of Bridge street, a small monumental stone of great historical significance. This stone, which was two feet nine inches below the surface of the ground, marked the site of the southwest bastion of Old Fort George.
The great historical value of this monument was immediately appreciated by the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society and the New York Historical Society, for it supplied the datum for the exact location of the boundaries of the old fort, which, under various names, had occupied the site of the birthplace of the Metropolis.
The Secretary of the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society on August 1, wrote to Mayor McClellan, and President Orr of the Rapid Transit Commission, requesting that the bearings of the exact site of the monument be carefully taken, and that the stone be replaced above ground on the same spot as soon as Battery Park was restored to its normal condition. On August 12th, the Scenic Society’s letter was formally approved by the Rapid Transit Board, and the acting chief engineer was authorized to construct a proper pedestal for the monument and restore it as soon as practicable.
The New York Historical Society, through whose instrumentality the stone was originally erected in 1818, also manifested the liveliest interest in the matter, and when the stone is replaced will probably hold formal ceremonies.
The circumstances of the original erection of the monument are extremely interesting:
Under date of June 10, 1817, Mr. John Pintard, Secretary of the New York Chamber of Commerce, wrote to the New York Historical Society as follows:
New York, 10th June, 1817.
The subscriber, as Secretary of the Corporation of the New York Chamber of Commerce (instituted 5th April, 1768), in reviewing the minutes of that respectable Association, found the following astronomical observations for determining the Latitude of the City of New York made in October, 1769, by Mr. David Rittenhouse of Philadelphia, and Captain John Montresor of the British Corps of Engineers, at that period stationed in this City.
These observations, it is presumed, have never been published, and may be considered of sufficient importance to be preserved in the archives of the New York Historical Society.
John Pintard.
The accompanying extracts from the minutes of the Chamber of Commerce were as follows:
New York Chamber of Commerce,
7th November, 1769.
At the desire of several members of the Chamber, they had requested the President to apply to Messrs. David Rittenhouse and John Montresor to take the Latitude of the Flag Bastion on Fort George in the City of New York.
New York, October 12th, 1769.
At your request, in behalf of the Chamber of Commerce of the City of New York, I have made the following observations with the Pennsylvania sector of six feet radius on the Southwest Bastion in this city.
| Zenith distance on the Meridian of Capella | |||||
| ° | ′ | ″ | |||
| Octr. | 9th, | morn | 5 | 2 | 0½ |
| 10th, | do | 5 | 1 | 59 | |
| of Castor | |||||
| ° | ′ | ″ | |||
| 10th, | morn | 8 | 19 | 51 | |
| 12th, | do | 8 | 19 | 51 | |
Having carefully computed the Declinations of the above stars from their latitudes as settled by Dr. Bradley, reduced to the present time and corrected by the observation of light and variable motion of the earth’s axis, I find, the Latitude of the place from the observations of Capella to be 40° 42′ 9″ and from those of Castor 40° 42′ 7″, a mean whereof is the Latitude of the Fort, 40° 42′ 8″.
I am sir, your very humb. servt.
David Rittenhouse.
to John Cruger
President
of the Chamber of Commerce
Observations made at the Flag Bastion in Fort George in the City of New York, principally with the sector belonging to the Province of Pennsylvania, of six feet radius, by Messrs. David Rittenhouse and John Montresor, Engineers, October, 1769.
| Zenith Distance of Capella | |||||||
| October | 9th | 3h | 50′ | morn | 5° | 2′ | 0½″ |
| 10th | 3 | 46 | do | 5 | 1 | 59 | |
| Zenith Distance of Castor | |||||||
| October | 10th | 6h | 6′ | 8 | 19 | 51 | |
| 12th | 5 | 58 | 8 | 19 | 51 | ||
| === | === | === | |||||
| Declination of Capella | 45 | 44 | 14 | ||||
| Zenith distance of Capella Refraction | 5 | 2 | 5 | ||||
| Latitude | 40 | 42 | 9 | ||||
| === | === | === | |||||
| Declination of Castor | 32 | 22 | 7 | ||||
| Zenith distance of Castor | 8 | 19 | 51 | ||||
| Refraction | 0 | 0 | 9 | ||||
| Latitude | 40 | 42 | 7 | ||||
| === | === | === | |||||
The mean of the above observations ascertain the Latitude of Fort George in 40° 42′ 8″.
I am, with respect
Sir, Your most Humb. Servt.
John Montresor.
John Cruger Esq.
President
of the Chamber of Commerce
of New York.
(End of extract of minutes.)
The Chamber of Commerce appropriated 20 pounds to pay Mr. Rittenhouse for his services in the above matter.
In 1790,[[30]] Fort George was razed to the ground, part of the material was used for filling in and enlarging Battery Park, the Government Building was erected on part of the old fort site, and all trace of the southwest bastion where the observations of Montresor and Rittenhouse were made was lost.
The New York Historical Society, on June 10, 1817, therefore voted to apply to the Corporation of the City to ascertain the site of the bastion an which Messrs. Rittenhouse and Montresor made their observations in 1769 and to erect a monument with suitable inscriptions to mark the same. Messrs. John Pintard, Dr. John Griscom and Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill were appointed a committee to prepare the memorial to the Common Council and present it to that body. The memorial, dated June 16, 1817, recited the facts here given and said: “It is conceived by the Historical Society that it is worthy the care of a cultivated and enlightened people to ascertain and perpetuate by a monumental stone the aforesaid site.” It also called attention to the fact that “Your magnificent City Hall has been erected considerably to the northward of the place where Fort George formerly stood,” and requested that its latitude also be accurately determined and marked by a monument with appropriate inscriptions.
On July 8, 1817, the New York Historical Society Committee reported to the Society that the Committee of Arts and Sciences of the Common Council, to whom their Memorial had been referred, had reported favorably thereupon.
The report of the Common Council Committee, after reciting the facts of the survey in 1769, proceeds as follows:
“The communication from the Historical Society having stated this fact as taken from the minutes of the Chamber of Commerce, request that the Corporation would endeavor to find the site of the Flag Bastion of Fort George and erect on the spot a stone with an inscription stating the latitude, when and by whom taken, and that a suitable person or persons be employed to take the latitude of the City Hall and erect a stone in front or near it with the latitude marked thereon which shall serve as a monument or milliarium from which all distances shall be reckoned and which will be considered the proper latitude of the place, being taken from the largest and most elegant and permanent building in the City.
“Your Committee think that the subject of this communication is of great importance and that so large and growing a city as New York, should not longer remain without its latitude being accurately ascertained and that a place of observation should be known and designated; wherefore they recommend,
“1, That the Street Commissioner be directed to ascertain as nearly as possible the site of the Southwest Bastion of Fort George and to erect thereon a monumental stone on which shall be marked the latitude as taken in 1769 and by whom;
“2, That a suitable person or persons be employed under the direction of your committee to find the Latitude of the City Hall and to erect a monumental stone near it with suitable inscriptions from which mileage or distances from the city shall hereafter be computed.
“One other subject connected with the one before your committee, though not in the petition under consideration, they beg to submit to the Board. The City Surveyors frequently differ in their computations of distances and direction in consequence sometimes of the different variations of the magnetic needles used by them. If a place was fixed in some elevated situation, (as the cupola of the City Hall, for instance) from which some permanent object on Long Island or the Jersey Shore could be observed, and the true direction ascertained, it might serve the purpose of regulating surveys and in some measure of correcting errors, as thereby the compasses of all surveyors might at any time be adjusted. Wherefore your committee recommend the adoption of the following resolution:
“Resolved, That the Street Commissioner be directed to ascertain if any proper object can be seen from the Cupola of the City Hall which may be fixed upon as a mark to ascertain the direction of the compass from the said cupola; and that a stone slab be fixed somewhere on the top of the Hall with marks thereon by which the true direction of the magnetic needle of surveyors’ compasses may at all times be regulated and adjusted.
“Respectfully submitted.
Samuel Ackerly,
J. Warren Bracket,
Thomas R. Smith,
John Remmey,
Arthur Burtis.”
The inscription originally drafted by the New York Historical Society for the Fort George monument was as follows:
To perpetuate
The site of the S. W. Bastion of
Fort George
The Latitude of Which, 40° 42′ 8″
was taken at the order of the N. Y. Chamber of Commerce[[31]]
by Capt. John Montresor and David Rittenhouse Esq.
In October, 1769
The Corporation of the City of New York
(at the request of the N. York Historical Society)
have erected
This Monument
A D 1817
The monument was not erected until 1818, and the inscription actually carved on it reads as follows:
To perpetuate
The Site of the S. W. Bastion of
Fort George
In 40° 42′ 8″ N. Latitude
As observed by
Capt. John Montresor, and David Rittenhouse
in October 1769.
The Corporation of the City of New York,
have erected
This monument
A. D. MDCCCXVIII.
New York City Edward Hagaman Hall