NYC: "When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions." 4/8: 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
🧾️ Download transcript
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 MANHATTAN
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Are you ready for a Monzo Business Bank Account? |
| 0:03.0 | It's made to help you navigate cash flow and tax season. |
| 0:06.0 | Perfect for bosses with a growing business, |
| 0:09.0 | freelancers searching for financial freedom, |
| 0:11.0 | side hustlers juggling 9-to-5s with 5-9s, and over 350,000 businesses |
| 0:16.9 | already with us. |
| 0:19.0 | Sell through your business banking. |
| 0:20.9 | Apply for an account in minutes. Search Monzo Business. |
| 0:24.0 | Tees and sees apply. |
| 0:25.0 | Soul traders or limited company directors in the UK can apply. This is the great New York Fire of 1776. |
| 0:33.0 | A Lawyer. I'm John Bachelor with Professor Benjamin Carper, Brooklyn College and |
| 0:38.7 | Cuny Graduate Center. His new book is The Great New York Fire of 1776. a law story of the American Revolution. Nearly 250 years |
| 0:46.9 | later there's no resolution. All the testimony gathered at the time from inquiries, from investigation, from |
| 0:55.2 | eyewitnesses, from stories told. An inquiry years later in Britain, run |
| 1:01.0 | officially by the crown, still no resolution, because we're now talking |
| 1:05.2 | about fire perhaps at 12 points, perhaps at 15, perhaps at 20. |
| 1:10.0 | But there are people now rushing to answer the fire breaking out in empty houses or houses that have |
| 1:17.0 | occupants. This got my attention immediately, Professor. I had to read it several times pumps and buckets are |
| 1:26.2 | sabotage cutting of the bucket handle breaking of the pump how do we explain that unless |
| 1:32.1 | there was someone with a design? |
| 1:35.0 | I mean the only other explanation, well two other explanations. |
| 1:38.0 | One is that these eyewitnesses are lying or mistaken. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from John Batchelor, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of John Batchelor and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.