Before doing anything else, the General's custom during his morning's ride was to look at the batteries near his house, known then as Fort George and Grand Battery. The former was a regular fortification, and the latter mounted 94 guns. They were situated where the Castle Garden—for the reception of emigrants—and the South Ferry House now stand. They commanded the river between New York and Brooklyn heights, and New York and Staten Island. The fortifications on Brooklyn heights, especially Fort Stirling, had been immensely strengthened by General Pattison, and not a point on New York Island was left unarmed by him. He availed himself of many breast-works and trenches, and of large works like Fort Independence, which the Americans had built when they contemplated the defence, instead of the evacuation of New York: and he strengthened them in the most laborious and efficient manner. To his efforts more than any other's, was the fact due that the City remained unmolested during the whole war. His labours and duties were enormous. His command being co-extensive with the North American continent, he would one day receive demands for powder and guns from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the next day from Florida, or from Captain Traille in Virginia. Captain Traille was one of those men to be met with even now in the Artillery, a man with a grievance. He had been made local Major, and had applied without success to have the rank made substantive. He took his revenge out of the Government by demanding stores in the wildest manner. The first thing he always did on arriving at a new station was to send in requisitions, as if he were going to fortify Gibraltar.
The soreness on Captain Traille's part appears in other ways in the records of the time. A young gentleman, named Black, who, according to the custom in those days, had carried arms in his company with great distinction, refused a commission in the Artillery offered him by the Master-General, and accepted one instead in Lord Rawdon's New York Volunteers. It is easy to imagine the lad going to his Captain for advice, and finding him brooding over the unfortunate Majority, or calculating how next to worry the authorities with store-demands. And having imagined this, it is not difficult to imagine what the Captain's advice would be.
While talking of stores, it is worthy of mention that at one time so heavy had been the demands on the General from out-stations, particularly from Halifax, which was reduced to barely seven rounds a gun, that there were only 476 barrels of powder left in the whole city and district of New York, under British rule. There was, as is apparent from contemporary correspondence, not a little anxiety on the subject in the Commandant's office.
Although General Pattison was saved much laborious and unpleasant correspondence by having a very competent staff, he occasionally took the pen himself in official differences, even with his regimental subordinates. One, Captain William Johnstone, had entered a remonstrance showing that two of the officers posted to his company were prisoners in the hands of the rebels, and the other two were in England. Had he remained content with a bare statement of facts, he would have done well, but he went on to make insinuations; and after also disparaging the men who had been sent to his Company with the last draft, he concluded by hinting that the climate of Pensacola, where he was stationed, disagreed with him. To whom the General: "As to the idea which you think proper to throw out, and which I cannot but think an extraordinary one, of officers endeavouring to get out of their commands, no such applications have ever been made to me; consequently, I cannot have granted the improper indulgences you allude to; but with respect to indulgences to officers under my command, I must desire to be considered the best judge how far they may be bestowed, consistent with the good of the service.... The men whom you think so bad were not picked out, but impartially drafted; and if any of them carry the marks of bad behaviour on their backs, I hope the end will be answered by their correcting it for the future, and that their good conduct under you will be the means of soon wearing them out.... I am very sorry that the climate of Pensacola disagrees with you so much, but hope that you will soon recover your health."
The reader will now be good enough to accompany the General up Broadway, towards Hester Street, in the Bowery, then one of the extreme streets yet built in New York, and near the spot where the British landed on 16th September, 1776, to occupy the city. It was close to the place where St. Mark's Church now stands; and at that date was marked by the existence of the house of the last Dutch Governor of New York, built of yellow brick, imported from Holland, now unfortunately destroyed. In Hester Street lived Mrs. Douglas, the young wife of as brave a subaltern of Artillery as ever stepped. The General had just received a despatch from Sir Henry Clinton, then engaged in operations up the Hudson, in which young Douglas's bravery, coolness, and skill had been mentioned in the highest terms. Before writing to his subaltern to express the satisfaction he derived from such a report, the General hastened to tell the good news to Mrs. Douglas; thus killing two birds with one stone, for it enabled him to add to his letter a postscript which he knew young Douglas would value, giving all the latest news from his home. It was this thoughtfulness which endeared him to his officers; it is from such little data as this that the student learns how loveable as well as able this gallant officer was. The day shall come—and not so far distant—when the General shall stop in the same street at a door not much farther on, but his face shall be sad, and his step slow, as he mounts the staircase to tell of a young husband lying under the turf near Charlestown, wounded to death in the battle, and dying with his wife's name on his lips, and love for her in his glazing eye. As he enters the room, there shall be that in his face which a woman's wit shall too quickly read, and the cry of a broken heart shall echo on the old man's ears for years to come!
Leaving Hester Street the General rode towards Ranelagh House, then a species of Tea Gardens, out of the city, but only a little east of the present intersection of Anthony Street and West Broadway. About twenty-five years before the British occupation of New York, to which this chapter refers, this house was the residence of Major James, of the Royal Artillery, a man of great taste and considerable private means. He went on one occasion on leave to England; and, during his absence, the celebrated Riot on the arrival of the Stamps took place. A mob, which took the name of the "Sons of Liberty," having first burnt the Lieutenant-Governor in effigy, and broken his Coach of State to pieces, went off playfully to Major James's unprotected house, burned his valuable library and large collection of works of art, and ruined his beautiful garden. A few months later, it became a public-house, kept by one John Jones, who sent fireworks off in the evening, and by day and night gratified the thirst of the Sons of Liberty. It was a curious heaping of coals of fire, that a few years later it should fall to this very Major James—after a six weeks' passage from Plymouth, to bring the joyful news of the repeal of the Stamp Act. Ranelagh House had become during the War a great place for recruiting for the various Regiments raised for the King's service in New York. During General Pattison's command, no less than 4000 Loyalist Volunteers were doing duty in the city, and 3000 more were away on duty in the South. Some statistics regarding these volunteer corps may be interesting. The New Jersey Gentlemen Volunteers, embodied—as the recruiting notices said—"during this wanton rebellion," received each 20 dollars bounty, and "everything necessary to complete a gentleman soldier;" Lord Rawdon's Ireland Volunteers received each 30s. bounty; and men were tempted to enlist into Colonel Simcoe's Queen's Ranger Hussars by the promise of "an elegant horse, cloathing &c., to the amount of 40 guineas: the bringer to get 2l. 2s." Men enlisting into the regular army got one guinea bounty; and on one occasion when men were wanted for regiments in the West Indies, the married men of New York were tempted by the offer of 5s. a week for the husband, 3s. 9d. a week for his wife, and 2s. 6d. a week for each child, over and above prize-money.
Side by side with these various notices, as well as on every public place and in every newspaper, an intimation was to be found, characteristic of the General's method and accuracy, calling upon any one who had any claim against the Royal Artillery, or the Ordnance, to submit it without delay. This same method is visible in all his internal civil arrangements, showing that he possessed admirable qualifications for the post of Home Secretary as well as General. He ordered every stranger on arrival in the city to report himself on pain of suspicion; the citizens had to form a nightly watch in their respective wards, subject to 24 hours' imprisonment, or 1 dollar fine, if absent, in addition to making up the duty; each chimney had to be swept once a month under penalty of a 5l. fine; a certain number, only, of public-houses was licensed, on the recommendation of the principal officers of the Army and Navy, or of respectable inhabitants; and any one selling liquor without a licence was fined 5l. and the money given to the poor. All carmen were obliged to have licences; and if any one overcharged his fare, he was fined 40s., one half going to the poor, and the other half to the informer.
A favourite punishment for misdemeanours and theft was banishment beyond the lines, accompanied by further severe punishment if the offender should return. The inhabitants were liable to confinement in the main-guard, but their cases had to be inquired into by the civil magistrates before 11 A.M. on the following day. Negro slaves and others deemed worthy of corporal punishment were sent to a court-martial; and able-bodied offenders were not unfrequently sent on board the Admiral's Fleet.
The General's arrangements for the various ferries were excellent, and all the profits went to the poor. Boatmen had to take out licences, and in event of overcharge they were punished in the same way as the carmen. Auctioneers had not merely to provide themselves with licences, but also to find sureties to the amount of 5000l. New York currency. And at any meeting of the vestry which concerned the disbursement of public money, the Mayor was compelled to be present, and make a report to the Commandant, as well as to see that his wishes were complied with.
A good deal of trouble arose from what was called the Neutral Ground, extending some 30 miles above the Island of New York, and not included in the lines of either army. It was a fertile and populous country, but much infested by bands of plunderers, called cow-boys and skinners. The cow-boys lived within the British lines, and bought, or stole, cattle for the use of the troops. The rendezvous of the skinners was within the American lines. They professed to be great patriots, making it their ostensible business to plunder those who refused to take the oath of allegiance to the State of New York. But they were ready in fact to plunder any one, and the cattle they thus obtained were often sold to the cow-boys in exchange for dry goods from New York. It was when traversing this neutral ground, that the unfortunate Major André was captured. By the way, the General in his morning's ride passed the house where André was to dine the evening before he should start on his ill-fated journey. It was an old Dutch house which remained standing until 1850, near the present intersection of 2nd Avenue and 34th Street; and was occupied during the British occupation, as an officer's quarter, by Colonel Williams of the 80th Regiment.