n, and all foul and loathsome. Fences
enclosing the churches and cemeteries had disappeared, and the very
graves and tombs lay hidden by rubbish and filth! No public moneyed or
charitable institutions, no insurance offices existed; trade was at the
lowest ebb, education wholly neglected, the schools and college shut up!
But the long-wished-for event, which was to light up this dark picture,
and work a happy transformation, was at hand.

Finally, the day fixed upon for the evacuation, and for the triumphal
entry of Washington and the American army, to take possession of the
city, was Tuesday, the 25th of November. At an early hour, on that cold,
but radiant morning, the whole population seemed to be abroad, making
ready for the great gala day, regardless of a keen nor'wester. During
the forenoon many delegations from the suburban districts began to
arrive, to share in the public festivities, or to witness the exit of
the foreign troops, and the entrance of the victorious Americans; while
with the latter was expected a host of patriots, to re-occupy their
desolate dwellings, from which they had been so long cruelly exiled; or
otherwise, only to gaze upon the charred and blackened ruins of what
was once their homes![1]

To guard against any disturbance which such an occasion might favor, in
the interval between the laying down and the resumption of authority,
and as rumors were afloat of an organized plot to plunder the town when
the King's forces were withdrawn; the hour of noon had been set for the
Royal troops to move, and by an understanding between the two
commanders-in-chief, the Americans were to promptly advance and occupy
the positions as the British vacated them; the latter, when ready to
move, to send out an officer to notify our advance guard. There was no
longer any antagonism between these, so recently hostile, forces; the
plans for the _evacuation_, on the one part, and the _occupation_, on
the other, being carried out in as orderly a manner, and to all
appearance, with as friendly a spirit, as when, in time of peace, one
guard relieves another at a military post.

Major Gen. Knox, a large, fine looking officer, had been appointed to
command the American troops which were first to enter and occupy the
city. With his forces, consisting of a corps of dragoons, under Capt.
John Stakes, another of artillery, and several battalions of infantry,
with a rear guard under Major John Burnet, Knox marched from McGown