The Great New York Fire of 1776
A Lost Story of the American Revolution

"New York City was the most important spot on the map in 1776." This was a relatively dry read. The author name-dropped incessantly and I read more about the individual people (that I will never remember) than I did the actual event. There were also more quotes from people who wrote about the Great F......more

The Great Fire of New York The Great Fire of New York was a significant event during the early stages of the American Revolution. It occurred on the night of September 21, 1776, just a few weeks after the British forces captured the city of New York. The fire destroyed over 500 to 1,000 buildings. T......more

Benjamin Carp's The Great New York Fire of 1776 followed directly after my reading of The Cause: The American Revolution and Its Discontents by Joseph Ellis. Consequently, to a limited extent I did find some similarities of content here and there. However, because the two historians come to the stor......more

Even avid students of the American Revolution may fail to appreciate the far-reaching political and social consequences the New York Fire of 1776 had for the new nation that emerged from the ashes of war. Who started the fire and why? Was it, as Carp askes, "a war crime, callous [military] strategy,......more