On the 4th of July, 1807, the Society of the Cincinnati partook of their annual dinner at the house of Joseph Baker, No. 4 Wall Street, corner of New, which for many years after this was a well known and popular house. About 1815, a select little circle, composed of the handsomest and most companionable young men of that day to be found in New York City, made this little tavern their rendezvous, where they held frequent convivial meetings. This was the Ugly Club and Baker’s Tavern, or porter house, was styled Ugly Hall. Fitz-Greene Halleck was a member of this club and was honored by the appointment of “Poet Laureate to the Ugly Club.”
Baker’s Tavern was for a time the starting place, or terminus of the route, of the stages which ran to Greenwich village. On the road to Greenwich a little beyond Canal Street was Tyler’s, a popular suburban resort, some years before known as Brannon’s Tea Garden. Many of the old graduates of Columbia College, who were living not so many years ago, cherished pleasant memories of Commencement suppers indulged in at this place.
The sportsman could find not far from the city, on Manhattan Island, abundance of game; and it was no unusual thing in the gaming season to see well known men with guns on their shoulders and followed by their dogs, making their way up Broadway or Greenwich Street to the open country. In the Bowery Lane, at the second mile stone, was the Dog and Duck Tavern, which was frequented by those who chose to visit the salt meadows which were covered in the autumn with water-fowl. Further up the island, near the five mile stone, was the Dove Tavern, where those had their quarters who sought the woodcock and quail in the fields and glades, or the wild pigeon in the woods which covered a large part of the land.
XIII
The Shakespeare Tavern
War
On June 19, 1812, President Madison issued his formal proclamation of war with Great Britain. The news reached New York at nine o’clock on the morning of Saturday, June 20th. On the same day orders came to Commodore Rodgers to sail on a cruise against the enemy. He was in entire readiness and put to sea within an hour after receiving his instructions. He passed Sandy Hook on the afternoon of June 21st, with his squadron consisting of the President, 44; the United States, 44; the Congress, 38; the Hornet, 18; and the Argus, 16—in all, five vessels, carrying 160 guns. The British force cruising off the coast consisted of eight men-of-war, carrying 312 guns, with a number of corvettes and sloops. In a few months the victories of the American ships thrilled the country with satisfaction and delight and fairly stunned the English who had regarded the American navy as beneath contempt.