. The city of New York. me were taken to oldhulks in the Wallabout. Many died ofstarvation and disease contracted in theseplaces. The Martyrs monument in Trinitychurchyard is erected to their memory. The long occupation of the British leftthe city desolate and discouraged. A disas-trous conflagration in 1776 almost leveledit to the ground. _ In addition to the rigorsof war, this calamity caused the inhabitantsacute suffering, and to make matters worseif possible, a second fire in 1778 destroyedalmost the few remaining houses. Upon the evacuation by the British in1783, therefore, it seemed that
. The city of New York. me were taken to oldhulks in the Wallabout. Many died ofstarvation and disease contracted in theseplaces. The Martyrs monument in Trinitychurchyard is erected to their memory. The long occupation of the British leftthe city desolate and discouraged. A disas-trous conflagration in 1776 almost leveledit to the ground. _ In addition to the rigorsof war, this calamity caused the inhabitantsacute suffering, and to make matters worseif possible, a second fire in 1778 destroyedalmost the few remaining houses. Upon the evacuation by the British in1783, therefore, it seemed that ruin anddevastation could have gone no citizens of New York were naturallyin a greatly depressed frame of mind, andit looked for the moment as if there was nopossible hope for the future. With thedeparture of the last British boat, however,and the entrance into the city of the Amer-ican troops with General Washington, com-mander-in-chief, Hamilton, Lincoln, Knoxand other victorious generals of the Conti- 57. The statue of George III which stood in Bowling Green. Destroyed during Revolution and melted into bullets. nental Army, the citizens regained their cour-age and viewed the future cheerfully. Withina short time Washington was elected firstpresident of the newly formed republic, andNew York was selected as the FederalCapital. This inaugural, fraught with somuch importance, is worthy of a descrip-tion from an eye-witness: Mrs. Eliza Susan Morton Quincy, wifeof Josiah Quincy thus describes the event: I was on the roof of the first house inBroad Street, which belonged to CaptainPrince, the father of one of my school com-panions, and so near to Washington that Icould almost hear him speak. The windowsand the roofs of the houses were crowded,and in the streets the throng was so densethat it seemed as if one might literally walkon the heads of the people. The balcony ofthe hall was in full view of this assembledmultitude. In the centre of it was placeda table with a r
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