n without
representation,"--withdrew from our war-scarred city, with the honors of
_defeat_ thick upon them, but leaving our patriotic fathers happy in the
enjoyment of their independence, so gloriously won in a seven years'
conflict.

With the expiring century has also disappeared the host of brave actors
in that eventful drama! Memory, if responsive, may bring up the
venerable forms of the "Old Seventy Sixers," as they still lingered
among us two score years ago; and perchance recall with what
soul-stirring pathos they oft rehearsed "the times that tried men's
souls." But they have fallen, fallen before the last great enemy, till
not one is left to repeat the story of their campaigns, their
sufferings, or their triumphs. But shall their memories perish, or their
glorious deeds pass into oblivion? Heaven forbid! Rather let us treasure
them in our heart of hearts, and speak their praises to our children;
thus may we keep unimpaired our love of country, and kindle the
patriotism of those who come after us. To-day they shall live again, in
the event we celebrate. And what event can more strongly appeal to the
popular gratitude than that which brought our city a happy deliverance
from a foreign power, gave welcome relief to our patriot sires, who had
fought for their country or suffered exile, and marked the close of a
struggle which conferred the priceless blessings of peace and liberty,
and a government which knows no sovereign but the people only. Our aim
shall be, not so much to impress the reader with the moral grandeur of
that day, or with its historic significance as bearing upon the
subsequent growth and prosperity of our great metropolis; but the rather
to present a popular account of what occurred at or in connection with
the evacuation; and also to satisfy a curiosity often expressed to know
something more of a former citizen, much esteemed in his time, whose
name, from an incident which then took place, is inseparably associated
with the scenes of Evacuation Day.

At the period referred to, a century ago, the City of New York contained
a population of less than twenty thousand souls, who mostly resided
below Wall Street, above which the city was not compactly built; while
northward of the City Hall Park, then known as the Fields, the Commons,
or the Green, were little more than scattered farm houses and rural
seats. The seven years' occupation by the enemy had reduced the town to
a most abject condition; many