Old Taverns of New York

by W. Harrison Bayles

On Monday, November 14, 1768, a report was current in the city that the effigies of Bernard, the obnoxious governor of Massachusetts, and Greenleaf, the sheriff of Boston, were to be exhibited in the streets that evening. At four o’clock in the afternoon the troops in the city appeared under arms at the lower barracks, where they remained until about ten o’clock at night, during which time parties of them continually patrolled the streets, in order, it is supposed, to intimidate the inhabitants and prevent the exposing of the effigies. Notwithstanding this vigilance on the part of the soldiers, the Sons of Liberty appeared in the streets with the effigies hanging on a gallows, between eight and nine o’clock, attended by a vast number of spectators, and were saluted with loud huzzas at the corner of every street they passed. After exposing the effigies at the Coffee House, they were publicly burned amidst the clamor of the people, who testified their approbation and then quietly dispersed to their homes. The city magistrates had received notice of what was intended, and constables were sent out to prevent it, but either deceived or by intention they did not reach the scene of action until all was over. This seems strange, as the Coffee House was not far from the City Hall, and the lime tree in front of it, the scene of the burning, was in full view.

The Boston Letter

The letter which the assembly of the Massachusetts colony had sent to her sister colonies in the early part of the year 1768, inviting united measures to obtain redress of grievances, was denounced by the Earl of Hillsborough, then lately appointed secretary of state for America, “as of a most dangerous and factious tendency.” The colonies were forbidden to receive or reply to it, and an effort was made to prevent all correspondence between them. This was ineffectual. Committees were appointed to petition the King and to correspond with Massachusetts and Virginia. Some of the assemblies, for refusing to comply with the demands of Hillsborough, were prorogued by the governors. A great public meeting was called in New York for Thursday, November 24, at which instructions to the city members of the assembly were adopted and signed by many of the principal citizens. The instructions called for the reading in the assembly of the Boston letter, which had fallen under the censure of Hillsborough, and to which he had forbidden the colonies to make reply. That these instructions were delivered is more than probable. Whether influenced by them or not, the assembly, in committee of the whole on December 31, declared for “an exact equality of rights among all his Majesty’s subjects in the several parts of the empire; the right of petition, that of internal legislature, and the undoubted right to correspond and consult with any of the neighboring colonies or with any other of his Majesty’s subjects, outside of this colony, whenever they conceived the rights, liberties, interests or privileges of this house or its constituents to be affected,” and appointed a committee of correspondence. These resolutions could not be tolerated by Governor Moore. He dissolved the assembly. This caused a new election which was attended with considerable excitement. It was called for Monday, January 23, 1769. The Church of England party put up as candidates, James DeLancey, Jacob Walton, John Cruger and James Jauncey. These were the former members, with the exception of John Cruger, who took the place of Philip Livingston, who declined the office. A meeting in the interest of the above candidates was called at the house of George Burns, the New York Arms, for Saturday, the 21st, at five o’clock in the evening. They were elected and on Friday the 27th, after the closing of the polls, they were escorted from the City Hall with music playing and colors flying down Broadway and through the main street (now Pearl Street) to the Coffee House. The windows along the route were filled with ladies and numbers of the principal inhabitants graced the procession. It was “one of the finest and most agreeable sights ever seen in the city.” The four gentlemen elected generously gave two hundred pounds for the benefit of the poor.

Saturday, March 18, 1769, being the anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, the Liberty Colors, inscribed with “G. R. III, Liberty and Trade,” were hoisted on the ancient Liberty Pole, and at the house of Edward Smith, on the corner of Broadway and Murray street, the Genuine Sons of Liberty dined and drank toasts appropriate to the occasion, one of which was to “The ninety-two members of the Massachusetts assembly who voted the famous Boston letter.” There was another meeting to celebrate the day at the house of Vandewater (“otherwise called Catemut’s”), which was conducted in much the same manner and where similar toasts were drunk.

By common consent the taverns on Broadway, fronting on the Common or Fields, near the Liberty Pole, were the places selected for celebrating the anniversaries of the important events connected with the stamp act period. It was on Wednesday, November 1, 1769, that a number of the Sons of Liberty met at the house of Abraham De La Montagnie to celebrate “the day on which the inhabitants of this colony nobly determined not to surrender their rights to arbitrary power, however august.” De La Montagnie had succeeded Bardin, and was now the landlord of the house which Edward Bardin had occupied for some years, fronting on the Common. Here the entertainment was given and after dinner appropriate toasts were drank “in festive glasses.” Among the first of these was “May the North American Colonies fully enjoy the British Constitution.”

CORNER OF BROADWAY AND MURRAY STREET, 1816

Liberty Pole Destroyed
Battle of Golden Hill

On the night of January 13, 1770, an attempt was made by the soldiers to destroy the Liberty Pole by sawing off the spurs or braces around it and by exploding gunpowder in a hole bored in the wood in order to split it. They were discovered and the attempt was unsuccessful. Exasperated at this, they attacked some citizens near, followed them into the house of De La Montagnie with drawn swords and bayonets, insulted the company, beat the waiter, assaulted the landlord in one of the passages of the house and then proceeded to break everything they could conveniently reach, among other things eighty-four panes of glass in the windows. Officers appearing, they quickly withdrew to their barracks. Three days after this, in the night of January 16, the soldiers succeeded in destroying the pole completely, which they sawed into pieces and piled before De La Montagnie’s door. The next day there was a great meeting in the Fields, where the pole had stood, when it was resolved by the people that soldiers found out of barracks at night after roll-call should be treated as enemies of the peace of the city. In reply to these resolves a scurrilous placard was printed, signed “The Sixteenth Regiment of Foot,” and posted through the city. Attempts to prevent this was the cause of several serious affrays, the principal one of which took place a little north of the present John street, a locality then called Golden Hill, in which one citizen was killed and several severely wounded. Many of the soldiers were badly beaten. This affair has been called the Battle of Golden Hill, and it has been claimed that here was shed the first blood in the cause of American Independence.

At the meeting in the Fields on the 17th, a committee had been appointed who, as instructed, petitioned the corporation for permission to erect a new pole on the spot where the one destroyed had stood or if preferred, opposite Mr. Vandenbergh’s, near St. Paul’s Church, a small distance from where the two roads meet. It was stated in the petition that if the corporation should not think proper to grant permission for erecting the pole, the people were resolved to procure a place for it on private ground. The petition was rejected and purchase was made of a piece of ground, eleven feet wide and one hundred feet long, very near to the place where the former pole had stood. Here a hole was dug twelve feet deep to receive the pole which was being prepared at the shipyards. The lower part of the mast was covered to a considerable height with iron bars placed lengthwise, over which were fastened strong iron hoops. When finished the pole was drawn through the streets by six horses, decorated with ribbons and flags. Music was supplied by a band of French horns. The pole was strongly secured in the earth by timbers and great stones, so as to defy all further attempts to prostrate it. On the top was raised a mast twenty-two feet in height with a gilt vane and the word Liberty in large letters.