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

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 was not the only fire that American set–several weeks later, American soldiers burned down the courthouse and other buildings in White Plains.  Professor Benjamin L. Carp’s book is the first 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, Professor 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”.