The Great New York Fire of 1776 : a lost story of the American Revolution
Publication Information
New Haven : Yale University Press, [2023]
Physical Description
viii, 345 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm
Summary
"New York City, the strategic center of the Revolutionary War, was the most important place in North America in 1776. That summer, an unruly rebel army under George Washington repeatedly threatened to burn the city rather than let the British take it. Shortly after the Crown's forces took New York City, much of it mysteriously burned to the ground. This is the first book to fully explore the Great Fire of 1776 and why its origins remained a mystery even after the British investigated it in 1776 and 1783. Uncovering stories of espionage, terror, and radicalism, Benjamin L. Carp paints a vivid picture of the chaos, passions, and unresolved tragedies that define a historical moment we usually associate with "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."--
Contents
- Introduction: Was it just the wind?
- a small city still standing
- Destroying towns in a civil war
- The armies approach New York
- The rankled rank and file
- General Washington's bad options
- The loss of New York City
- The great fire
- Firebrands
- Surveying the wreckage
- The commandant's conundrum
- The story of the fire takes shape
- The fates of three captains
- A war of devastation and restraint
- The unresolved war
- Forgetting the fire.