Samuel Fraunces - Revolutionary War

Revolutionary War

A month after the April 19, 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, the British warship HMS Asia sailed into New York Harbor. Its presence was a constant threat to the city. On August 23, revolutionaries stole the cannons from the fort on The Battery. This event prompted the Asia to bombard the city with cannonfire that night, causing no deaths, but injuries and damage to buildings, including Fraunces's tavern. Philip Freneau wrote a poem about the bombardment, "Hugh Gaines Life," that included the couplet: "At first we supposed it was only a sham. Till she drove a round ball through the roof of Black Sam."

The tavern was used for more than entertainment during the Revolutionary War. Fraunces rented out office space, and meetings of the New York Provincial Congress were held there. In April 1776, General Washington was present at a court-martial conducted at the tavern.

Washington's headquarters in June 1776 was at Richmond Hill, a villa two miles north of the tavern. Fraunces provided meals for the officers, and later claimed to have discovered and foiled an assassination plot against Washington. The supposed plotter, Thomas Hickey, one of Washington's life-guards, was court-martialed, and executed on June 28, although the formal charges against him were for counterfeiting.

British troops captured lower Manhattan on September 15, 1776, and soon occupied all what is now New York City. Fraunces and his family fled to New Jersey, but he was captured in June 1778, brought back to New York, and impressed into working as the cook for a British general. Fraunces claimed that he used this as an opportunity to smuggle food to American prisoners, giving them clothing and money, and helping them to escape. He also claimed to have passed information about the British occupation and troop movements to General Washington and others.

General Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown in October 1781, but British forces continued to occupy New York City. In May 1783, Fraunces was at the DeWint House in Tappan, New York where he provided meals for General Washington and British General Sir Guy Carleton during peace negotiations. His tavern was the meetingplace for negotiations between American and British commissioners to end the 7-year occupation of New York City. A November 25 dinner at the tavern celebrated the evacuation of the British.

On December 4, 1783, at a dinner in the tavern's Long Room, Washington said an emotional farewell to his officers and made his famous toast:

With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you: I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as you former ones have been glorious and honorable.