Happy Evacuation Day!

Overshadowed by Thanksgiving these days, Evacuation Day (November 25) used to be a big deal for New Yorkers. This is the day that the British finally departed after a war-long occupation of New York City.

As they departed, the British offered today's version of a a rude gesture by hoisting the Union Jack and then greasing the flagpole so it could not retrieved. On their way out of the harbor, the sore losers saw that some intrepid Yank had managed to make his way up the flagpole (using spikes on his boots) to yank down the hated flag. Incensed at the American flag now waving in the breeze, one captain ordered his men to fire a round but it fell harmlessly into the water. The last shot of the war was truly a dud.

After the ships had left, General Washington and New York Governor Clinton repaired to a popular drinking hole called Fraunces Tavern and offered a series of thirteen toasts to the departed British including:

"May America be an Asylum to the Persecuted of 

       the Earth."

"May a close Union of the States guard the Temple

       they have erected to Liberty."

 "May the Remembrance of THIS DAY, be a Lesson to Princes."

(capitalization from the original  document.)

Evacuation Day was a major holiday every year in New York City until World War I when Americans needed to be nice to the Brits again (they were, after all, our allies against the Germans). It was such a big deal that Confederate spies planned to burn the city's major hotels and capture the treasury building on November 25, 1864, hoping the drunken revelry would cover the fires until they were full-blown blazes. (Somehow, they missed the big party and actually set the fires days later when they were easily discovered and the plot foiled.)

After World War I, Evacuation Day lost much of its rowdiness. Today, it's just a small commemoration in Battery Park. But, hey, we historians can celebrate it.

For more, see New York Archives magazine, Fall 2010 (pictured above) and a marvelous 2004 story at The New York Times.

Get lost in the past for a while.

If you find old photos fascinating, especially ones like this one taken at a place much in the news these days--Rockaway Beach--you must bookmark Shorpy.com.

This is a phenomenal resource for the urban historian, the late 19th century historian, the 20th century historian, and anyone else who likes to look into the past.

It's also an addictive website, so if you have five minutes to spare and want to poke around at the thousands of high-res historical photographs, you might find that an hour has gone by.

The site is searchable, although the search engine only looks for words in the title and the captions (which are frustratingly brief), but it's astonishing what you can find.

And all the photos enlarge to amazing size and detail. Click on the original and watch it balloon to proportions that allow you to feel as if you've walked onto the street right there from your desktop. You can do this, of course, from your smartphone, but save any real exploration for your computer screen--the photos are such high quality that you'll want to see them in all their full size. 

So, go look at Shorpy. com and get lost in the past for a while.