NYC: "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." 1/8: The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution by Benjamin L. Carp
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 18 March 2024
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Great-New-York-Fire-1776/dp/0300246951
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.”
1776 KIP'S BAY LANDING OF THE BRITISH ARMY
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is |
| 0:04.8 | This is CBS Eye on the World. Here's John Bachelor |
| 0:10.2 | New York City, 1776, it is springtime, the arrival of a man who was not |
| 0:17.4 | successful in Boston and is looking to be more successful in New York, his name |
| 0:22.2 | George Washington. This event introduces the drama that |
| 0:27.4 | is in a new book, The Great New York Fire of 1776, a lost story of the American Revolution by Professor Benjamin |
| 0:37.6 | El Karp, Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the Kunie Graduate Center. |
| 0:42.1 | Professor, a very good evening to you, congratulations. College and the Cuney Graduate Center. |
| 0:42.6 | Professor, a very good evening to you. |
| 0:44.4 | Congratulations. |
| 0:46.3 | As George Washington arrives, he had sent one of his trusted generals, |
| 0:51.2 | General Lee there beforehand, but now he comes into New York City looking to |
| 0:56.0 | establish an anchor for the rebel cause the continental army his army is |
| 1:02.0 | chiefly made up almost entirely made up at this time, of men from |
| 1:06.0 | New England. What is the city that George Washington finds in the spring of 76? |
| 1:12.4 | Good evening to you, Professor. |
| 1:14.0 | Thank you, good evening. |
| 1:15.0 | I'm glad to be here. |
| 1:17.0 | I, well, Washington, what Washington finds is a city that had been diverse and mixed for almost the entire history of European settlement. |
| 1:28.0 | He finds a city that had been politically divided, some people favoring independence and others very much not, others |
| 1:35.9 | wanting to be left alone and just carry on commerce. |
| 1:39.4 | It was the city of big business. |
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