Carleton Commission on the Great Fire of New York in 1776 (Dated 1783)
Page 64
"Samuel Bayard
Sen. Was sworn and examined. –
That for some time about three weeks before the King's Troops possession of the City of New York in the month of Sept. 1776. – It was generally and publickly threatened by the People in the City that it should be burned whenever the King’s Troops took possession of it, that about ten days before they took possession of it one Joseph Smith an inhabitant of the City and intimate acquaintance of the Deponent, said to the Deponent, that rather than the King’s Troops get possession of the City, he Smith would himself set fire to the Deponent's house – that on the day the King's Troops landed at Kipp's Bay on Long Island one Capt. (Bowman) a Capt. Of Artillery in the American Service passing by the Deponent with his Company marching out..."
Page 65
"...of the City, said to the Deponent – take care of yourself the City will certainly be set on fire and further said that one or two of the houses on Pearl street had the night before been set on fire, that he Bowman had put it out and with a great part of his Company were under the (necessity) of being up the greatest part of the night to prevent one Capt. Forster’s Company from setting the City on fire
who intended to have effected it that night. That on the night of the great fire in this City in the month of Sept. that year the Deponent was up on top of his own house in Broad way, upon which the Sparks were falling from the houses on fire the wind being in that direction – the nearest house then on fire being about 100 yards distt. That he did not conceive his house to be in great danger from the Sparks falling on it – that the house next to the Deponent’s belonging to one Brookman who had left the City was a wooden building the side of which was about ten inches (of) distant"
Page 66
"...from the Deponent's house, that both their houses were three stories high and that between them the sides of Gutters so near that nothing could pass between the two houses unless below the roof, that the Deponent went below, when opening the door of a middle room in his own house on the ground floor between the front and back parlor he saw (thru/there) a window, the house next to him on fire in the lower part of it there being no fire then in the upper part of either of these houses, that he doth not think that the fire was accidental as he doth not believe that any Sparks could have fallen between the two houses to set fire to the lower part of them. – that the Deponent's house was in a very short time in flames below when no fire had yet caught the top of it – that a Company of American Artillery had been quartered in Brookma(fis) house as a Barrack, that it had..."
Page 67
"...been very common for them Soldiers of (fastin) Company to have quantities (jrost) fires as the Deponent was informed and the Deponent imagines the house next to him…that the house next to him had remained empty and open from the time the Brit. Troops took possession of the City to the time of the fire…must have been designedly set fire to in the manner before mentioned by some of these (Port) fires or in some such way
New list of Questions
1. The fire began at Whitehall
2. The wind was very violent I believe at S.E.
3. I do not
4. I never did
5. I never did
6. The American Soldiers made use of the (fire) here (but) for their common purposes before the King's troops took possession of the City and left them carelessly about in such a way that many of them must have been destroyed."
7. A short time after the fire upon searching some houses with Col. Wm. Bayard I saw a number of matches deposited under a flight of wooden steps leading into a house in little Dock Street.
Page 68
"8. No.
9. No.
10. Yes they were taken away
11. No.
12. No
13. Already answered
14. I saw two or three return to the City who were prevented from getting off by the landing of the British Troops – An officer named Van Dyke was said to have returned and I believe on the same account.
The Board adjourned to Wednesday 11 o'Clock
Wednesday 5th Oct.
Page 69
William Ellsworth
was sworn and examined and thereupon saith that about ten days before the fire in NY in Sept 1776 he retired from the City into the Country with his Effects..."
"...That he had been for several years before this time employed as a fireman to attend and manage the fire engines in the City that in the course of the Summer of 1776 he with two or three others were directed by a Committee which he believes was approved by order of the Prov. Congress, to open and search of the houses as had been vacated by Inhabitants leaving the City, and collect from these houses all the fire buckets that could be found, that he with others accordingly pick'd the locks on the Doors of such of the houses as they found vacated and (loclin) up and took from them all the fire buckets they could find and collected and hung them up in City hall, that they might be come at in case a fire should happen in the City. – that in many of these houses they found the fire buckets secreted in different places.
Q. Did these buckets remain hung up in the City hall at the time you left the City
A. To the best of my knowledge they did"
Page 70
"Q.3. – Answer – I never did, except that several individuals said they would sooner set fire to their own houses than leave them for the use of B. Troops
Q. Were any of these individuals in the City at the time of the fire
A. I believe not.
Q. Were any fire buckets collected by you or the others employed in that Service with you, from any houses in which any Inhabitants remained.
A. There were not. – (sk)
Peter (Bilter) was then sworn and examined
1. I cannot
2. I don't recollect
3. I don't know
4. – I always supposed the City was designedly set on fire
5. I do not
6. No"
Page 71
"7. I was up late on the night of the fire working in my father's house in the Fly Market – in the Evening and heard a man walking upon the Shop (board) outside the Window and saw his Eyes looking thro the holes made in the Window Shutter outside the Window – I immediately went to the Door, but the man had gone off. – in the morning I found some bundles of matches under the same window, which I then thought had been put there by the Man I saw looking thro' the Window Shutter, with design to set fire to the house
Q. Did you observe any marks of fire outside the Window or any appearance of the Matches having been set fir to.
A. I did not
The Board adjourned to Friday . 7th . 12 oClock"
Page 72
"Friday. 7th. Nov. The Board met pursuant to adjournment
Mr. James Wells
was sworn and examined That he lives in his own house in little Dock Street in the City of New York. In Sept 1776. That he was alarmed by his Dog who was a very watchful Animal, endeavouring to pull him out of his bed between 11 and 12 o’C on the night of the fire as nearly as he can recollect – that convinced something extraordinary was the matter he immediately got up and went out and ran towards White-hall, where he got within 60 yards of which heard a noise to which he directed his Course and soon after perceived a small store-house next to the Corner house, to be on
fire on the inside, the fire having just then taken the boards which formed one of the sides of the house, that the fire was then small that with a little assistance he could have extinguished it, that it very soon spread so rapidly that all efforts to put it out were in vain."
Page 73
"Q. Had this fire the appearance of being designed or accidental and were there any matches or combustibles in the house. –
Answer – It appeared to me to be accidental, The Day after the fire I saw a woman named Lynch who informed me that in the Evening preceeding the fire,*
*upon her arrival in the City from Staten Island
she found in her house, which was three doors from the house first on fire an old man and two women whom she supposed to have been left behind belonging to the American Army they appeared to be drinking and would not quit her house upon which she applied to Gen. Robertson who sent down an orderly man that turned them out, That they remained drinking between two piles of board near her house till about 9 oClock when they went into this small house with a candle. from this information I suppose that this house caught fire by this man and the two women being drunk carelessly burning the candle I saw no matches or Combustibles in the house, there was a barrel with bottles in it burnt almost to the bottom"
Page 74
"Q. _ Was this small house the first that was on fire and was then no other house or place on fire when you first saw that on fire
A. I perceived no other house or place on fire at that time I saw the fire communicated from the house to the adjoining building
2nd. The wind blew about S. and was very light in the beginning of the fire, soon after which it shifted to S.E. and blew fresh and rained
3rd. It had reached about one third part of the way from Whitehall as mainly I could judge
4th. I always did
5. I never did
6. I do not
7th: Within two or three days after the fire I was directed by Gen. Robertson to take with me some other persons and search the houses in the City for Combustibles. We found in the Chamber in the second story in a house in on the east side of broad Street between Princes Street and Garden Street a bundle of matches weighing 60 (#D) – a woman in the house said they were made for privateering use and that they had sold about 100 (#D)- We left these matches wound them and reported the circumstances to Gen. Robertson."
Page 75
"During the fire I saw a man shabbily dressed with a barrel of Powder lashed on his shoulder in the custody of some Sailors – the Sailors said that they had lashed it on him because they had found him in a cellar with it – I rescued this man from them and delivered him to Col. (Shirrest).
Q. What became of this man
A. I don’t know but suppose Col. (Shirrest) ordered him to be confined
9. _ I had been absent from the City 8 months and returned 3 Days before the fire, when I found my own buckets at home in their proper place – I know nothing about any others. A Captain of the American Army had been in possession of my house as a barracks with a number of soldiers and took great care of it.
10 I do not know
11 – no
12 – no –
13 - It had been frequently threatened by the lower class of people before I quitted the City.
14 I do not
Q. In what part of little Dock St. did you then live
A. Near Coenties Dock"
Page 76
"Q. How far was this from the house wh first caught fire?
A. About 160 yards
Q. Did you hear a cry of fire when you first went out on the night of the fire
A. I do not remember any
Q. How came you to direct your course towards Whitehall
A. There possibly might be a voice calling out fire, but I do not recollect it – or whther it was not altogether accidental.
Q. Did you perceive any persons endeavoring to extinguish the fire within side the small house when you first entered it.
A. I did not
Q. Were any persons in the house
A. There were none
Q. Did you find any person at that time there that mentioned how the fire originated
A. I did not, - all the information I rec'd about it was from the woman I have mentioned
Q. Were there any persons near the small house on fire when you first arrived at it"
Page 77
"A. There were several about the house
Q. Could not these persons have extinguished the fire at that time had they exerted themselves
A. Undoubtedly they could
Q. Were they disinclined to it
A. – I don’t know who they were I went in at the back door wh. Was open – these persons were in front of the house and the door between shut
Q. Was any person in the house on fire with you
A. Nobody but Cap. T. W. (Moore) who entered soon after (and) the same door.
Q. Was the small house on fire adjoining to the Ferry House
A. The house on fire was rather a shed communicating with the ferry house on one side and (Hilyard's) tavern on the other both of which were wooden buildings
Q. Which side of the house did you first see on fire
A. The East side next to (Hilyard's) tavern.
Q. From your observation during the fire do you think it was increased or the extinguishing it obstructed by the behavior..."
Page 78
"...of any persons then in the City
A. I do not
Q. To what cause do you suppose it owing that so great a part of the City was burnt
A. – Because most of the firemen were absent from the City – the People present at the fire mostly strangers unacquainted with the business, and the rapidity of the flames very great.
Q. Do you mean to remain in the City after the British Forces leave it
A. I do –
The Board adjourned to Monday 12 o'Clock
Monday 10th Nov: The Board met pursuant to adjournment"