CHAPTER XXX
AFTER the WAR
On a crisp, cold day, late in the fall, a tall, mild-faced man on a spirited horse passed down the Bowery Road, followed by a long train of soldiers whose shabby clothes and worn faces told of days of trial and hardship. This was General George Washington 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 ships 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 Washington 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 Washington 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 assembled to hear his words of farewell. It was an affectionate parting of men who had suffered danger and privations together. There were tears in Washington's eyes.
