Captain Marriner is said to have been eccentric, but whether this be so or not, he was undoubtedly a brave man and was engaged during the war in several daring adventures. He presented a picturesque character in the history of that period.
Capt. Marriner’s Raid
When Captain Marriner was held as a prisoner in the early part of the war, on his parole, quartered with Rem Van Pelt, of New Utrecht, Long Island, one day at Dr. Van Buren’s Tavern in Flatbush, his sarcastic wit brought on him abusive language from Major Sherbrook of the British army. When Marriner was exchanged, he determined to capture the Major and some others. For this purpose he repaired to New Jersey and procured a whale-boat, which he manned with a crew of twenty-two well armed volunteers, with whom he proceeded to New Utrecht, landing on the beach about half-past nine o’clock in the evening. Leaving two men in charge of the boat, with the rest he marched unmolested to Flatbush Church, where he divided his men into four squads, assigning a house to each party, who, provided with a heavy post, were to break in the door when they should hear Marriner strike. General Jeremiah Johnson, in his account of the affair states that Marriner captured the Major, whom he found hidden behind a large chimney in the garret, but the New York newspapers state that he carried back with him to New Jersey Major Montcrieffe and Mr. Theophylact Bache. On another visit to Long Island, Captain Marriner carried off Simon Cortelyou, of New Utrecht, in return for his uncivil conduct to the American prisoners. On a large rock in the North River, not far from the shore, stood a bath house surmounted by a flagstaff. Noting this, Marriner determined to give the English fresh cause for chagrin. He accordingly procured the new American flag which had just been adopted, and taking with him a few men, boldly rowed into the river one night and nailed it to the pole, where it was discovered early next morning. Sailors, sent to remove it, were obliged to cut away the pole, amid the jeers and protests of the boys gathered on the beach.
Marriner was keeping a tavern in New York City before the war. An important meeting was held at Marriner’s Tavern at the time of the election of delegates to the first Continental Congress, in 1774. After the war he returned to the same business, and in 1786 was the landlord of a house on the corner of John and Nassau Streets, where he offered to serve his customers “in the neatest and most elegant manner,” with oysters, cooked in a variety of ways, beef steaks, etc., with the very best of liquors. He, at one time kept the Ferry House at Harlem, and ran the ferry to Morrisania. In the early part of the nineteenth century Captain Benson built a large tavern at the junction of the Kingsbridge road with the road from Harlem, which was for some years conducted by Captain Marriner, who gained great celebrity for the excellent table he set, and for the stories of whale-boat exploits during the war, which he was never tired of relating.
When the St. Andrew’s Society celebrated their anniversary on November 30, 1790, at the City Tavern, they had as guests at their dinner, Governor Clinton, the Mayor of the City, General Horatio Gates and the principal officers of the other humane national societies of the city. In an account given of the dinner, it is stated that, “A few hours passed happily away, divided between the animating tale, the cheerful glass and the heart enlivening song.”
The annual election of officers of the Society of the Cincinnati was held on the 4th of July each year, after which there was a dinner, followed by toasts. For several year its meeting place was at Corré’s Hotel in Broadway. Joseph Corré, at one time landlord of the City Tavern, opened, in 1790, a house at No. 24 Broadway, which was for some years one of the best and most popular taverns or hotels in the city. Meetings of societies, concerts, balls and political meetings were held here.
Dinners on Evacuation Day
On Monday, November 25, 1793, the tenth anniversary of the evacuation of New York by the British troops, was celebrated in the city with great enthusiasm. At sunrise a salute was fired from the Battery followed immediately by the ringing of all the bells in the city. This was repeated at noon, when the corporation, the officers of the militia, the French officers in town and many citizens waited on the Governor to congratulate him on the occasion. The militia officers then waited on the mayor of the city, the chief justice of the United States and the minister of the French Republic. The Ambuscade Frigate was elegantly decorated and at one o’clock fired a salute of twenty-one guns. The militia officers, honored with the company of the Governor, General Gates and a number of French officers, sat down to an elegant dinner prepared for them at the City Tavern, “where they spent the remainder of the day in great spirits and good fellowship.” Toasts were drunk under the discharge of artillery. The gentlemen of the corporation celebrated the day at the Tontine Coffee House, where an elegant dinner was served up by Mr. Hyde and patriotic toasts were drunk. The Society of Tammany also celebrated the day. At the tavern of Robert Hunter, in Wall Street, a dinner was served up to a number of citizens in celebration of the day, and the same was done in several other of the principal taverns of the city. The dinner on Evacuation Day at Bardin’s was one of the last notable dinners given in the old City Tavern. Preparations were being made to take it down and build on its site a fine hotel.
In 1793 the City Tavern was still owned by John Peter De Lancey, son of Lieutenant-Governor James De Lancey, who sold it to the Tontine Association, who, taking down the old house, built upon its site the City Hotel. In the deed of transfer, dated March 3, 1793, John Peter De Lancey and Elizabeth, his wife, for the consideration of six thousand pounds (£6,000), lawful money of the State of New York, convey the property to Philip Livingston, John Watts, Thomas Buchanan, Gulian Verplanck, James Watson, Moses Rogers, James Farquhar, Richard Harrison and Daniel Ludlow, all of the city and state of New York, in trust for all the subscribers to the New York Tontine Hotel and Assembly Room and their heirs, upon such terms, conditions and restrictions, and with such right of survivorship as may be hereafter agreed upon and settled by the majority of the said subscribers or their representatives.
In November, 1793, Nicholas Cruger, chairman of the committee having the business in charge, gave notice that they would pay a premium of twenty guineas for the best plan of the building about to be erected, to be handed in before the first day of January next, requesting that the plans may not be signed, but designated by a private mark, accompanied by a letter to the chairman, with the same mark on the outside.