During the winter of 1775—6, disaffection to the Republican cause prevailed extensively throughout the province, and in Queen's county and vicinity, on Long Island, the people began to arm in favor of the crown.
Tryon expected to see the province speedily declare in favor of royalty, and from the Duchess of Gordon (armed ship), where he made his headquarters, he kept up an active correspondence with Hicks, Delancey, and other Loyalists in the city. The Continental Congress promptly opposed the progress of disaffection, and vigorous measures were adopted for a general disarming of the Tories throughout the colonies. * Early in January,1776 Washington, then at Cambridge, was informed that General Sir Henry Clinton was about to sail on a secret expedition. He doubted not that New York was his destination, where Tryon was ready to head the Loyalists in a formal demonstration in favor of the crown. Fearing that province might be lost to the patriots, Washington readily acceded to the request of General Charles Lee, then in Connecticut, to embody volunteers in that colony, and march to New York. Governor Trumbull lent his aid to the service, and within a fortnight Lee, having the bold Isaac Sears for his adjutant general, was in rapid march toward New York with twelve hundred men. His approach produced great alarm, and many Tories fled, with their families and effects, to Long Island and New Jersey. The Committee of Safety, yet dozing over the anodyne of disaffection, were aroused by fear, and protested against Lee's entrance into the city, because Captain Parker, of the Asia, had declared his intention to cannonade and burn the town if rebel troops should be allowed to enter it. ** Lee was unmoved alike by Parker's threats and the committee's protest, and encamping the larger portion of his troops in "the fields" (the present City Hall Park), he made his head-quarters at the house of Captain Kennedy, No. 1 Broadway. *** He proclaimed his mission, and said, "I come to prevent the occupation of Long Island or the city by the enemies of liberty. If the ships of war are quiet, I shall be quiet; if they make my presence a pretext for firing on the town, the first house set in flames by their guns shall be the funeral pile of some of their best friends." Lee's energy of expression and action was potential. The Tories shrunk into inactivity; a glow of patriotism was felt in the Provincial Congress, and measures were speedily adopted for fortifying the city and the approaches to it, and garrisoning it with two thousand men.
Sir Henry Clinton arrived at Sandy Hook on the day when Lee entered the city. He sailed for North Carolina,March, 1776 was followed thither by Lee, and in June
* Resolutions to this effect were adopted on the second of January, 1776, and on the same day Lord Stirling was directed to "seize and secure all the ammunition and warlike stores belonging to the enemy'' then or thereafter in New Jersey.—See Journal, ii., 5, 6, 7.
** Parker did not fire a shot because of the "rebel troops" in the city. His reasons were ludicrous. He said Lee desired the destruction of the city, and he would not gratify him.—Lee's Letter to Washington.
*** This house (yet standing) was built by Captain Kennedy, of the royal navy, at about the time of his marriage with the daughter of Colonel Peter Schuyler, of Newark, New Jersey, in April, 1765. The above engraving exhibits the locality in the vicinity of the Kennedy House. On the extreme left is seen the Broadway front of the Kennedy House (No. 1), where Lee, Washington, and afterward Sir Henry Clinton, Robertson, Carleton, and other British officers, were quartered, and where André wrote his letter, to Arnold. The building next to it (No. 3) is the one occupied by Arnold (see page 209) when Champe attempted his capture. The two high buildings beyond (Nos. 5 and 7) are more modern; the small, low one (No. 9, Atlantic Garden) was Gage's head-quarters in 1765. On the right of the picture is part of the Bowling Green, where the statue of the king stood. The view is taken from the site of the northwest bastion of Fort George.
Fortifications upon York or Manhattan Island.