In transferring the scene across the river to New York, it is best in the first place to trace the topography of the town and island by the maps of the period, and to follow the cartographical records of the military movements during the campaign, before classifying the authorities.
John Hill's large plan of New York, extending as far north as Thirty-fourth Street, surveyed in 1782, and dedicated to Gov. George Clinton, was drawn in 1785.[780] He marks all the works of the Revolution,—coloring yellow those thrown up by the Americans in 1776; orange, those of the Americans which the British repaired; and green, those later erected by the royal forces. Johnston's map[781] adopts these yellow lines. Loosing (Field-Book, ii. 593, 799), in describing the New York lines, differs somewhat from Hill's map. Johnston controverts Jones and De Lancey (Jones's New York during the Revolutionary War), who claim that the American lines were levelled by the British; he also cites Smythe, who described them in March, 1777, as was also done by Thomas Eddis in Aug., 1777,[782] and by Anburey in 1781, and he depends on Hill's draft of them in 1782. Johnston (p. 36) also describes the appearance of the town at the opening of the war.[783] Johnston (p. 194) claims that his eclectic map is the first to give the entire island as it was in 1776. He followed the surveys of Ratzer and Montresor as far north as Fiftieth Street, and from that point to Kingsbridge he used the map of 1814, made by Randall for the commissioners to lay out streets. The annexed sketch of Johnston's map shows the fortifications surrounding the town of New York.
The following key explains the figures: 1, Fort George; 2, Trinity Church; 5, Old Dutch Church; 6, New Eng. Dutch Church; 8, Presbyterian meeting; 10, French Church; 11, Lutheran Church; 13, Calvinist Church; 16, New Scots' meeting; 17, Quakers' meeting; 18, Jews' synagogue; 20, Free English School; 21, Secretary's office; 22, City Hall; 25, Exchange; 26, Barracks; 27, Fish Market; 28, Old slip; 31, Oswego Market.
This is the best contemporary map on a large scale of the city of New York. It is dedicated to Gov. Moore, and made after surveys by Lieut. B. Ratzer in 1767. The whole map is given in Valentine's Manual, 1854; Dawson's New York City during the Amer. Rev. (1861); Jones's N. Y. during the Rev. War, i. 388. There is an original in Harvard College library. Cf. Map Catal. Brit. Mus., 1885, col. 2972. It was reissued in 1776 and 1777. Cf. Lamb's New York, i. 757, 760. This map of the town is a different one from Ratzer's map of the city and vicinity, which has at the bottom a southwest view of the town.
Thomas Kitchen, the English cartographer, published a map, after Ratzer's surveys, of New York city and vicinity in the London Mag., 1778. It has been reproduced in Shannon's N. Y. City Manual, 1869, and in the Mag. of Amer. Hist., 1885, p. 549.
A Plan of the City of New York and its Environs, "surveyed in the winter of 1766", and dedicated to Gen. Gage by John Montresor, is given in Jefferys' General Topog. of North America and the West Indies (London, 1768). Another form of it, purporting to be a later work, is the large folding Plan of the City of New York and its environs, ... surveyed in the winter, 1775, also dedicated to Gen. Gage by John Montresor, and published in London. It has been reproduced in D. T. Valentine's N. Y. City Manual, 1855, p. 482. It has a corner chart of the bay from Hoboken to Sandy Hook. Cf. the American Atlas, nos. 20 and 25. Montresor's plan was reproduced in Paris by Le Rouge in 1777.
Major Holland, the British surveyor-general, made a plan of the city of New York, which appeared separately and as a part of his Map of New York and New Jersey (1776). Cf. Valentine's Manual, 1863, p. 533, and the small plan of New York and vicinity, eight miles to an inch, which is given in New York City in the Revolution (1861). A plan of part of the city made in 1771 is given in Valentine's Manual, 1856, p. 426. There are among the Rochambeau maps several plans of New York and its environs, rather coarse and faded (nos. 26, 27, 28, 31). Contemporary printed maps are in Gaine's Universal Register (N. Y., 1776) and in the Universal Mag., 1776.
A survey of the region of Turtle Bay in 1771 is given in Valentine's Manual, 1860, p. 572, and a view at a later day in Ibid., 1858, p. 600. A MS. plan of Fort George (New York) by Sauthier is among the Faden maps (no. 95) in the library of Congress.