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By Root 7279 0

following Dunmore’s lead, issued a proclamation of his own promising “every Negro who shall desert the Rebell Standdard full security to follow within these lines any Occupation which he shall think Proper.” Many chose to take up arms against their former masters and enlisted in one or another of several army units composed of blacks from all over the colonies, among them the Black Pioneers and Guides, the Royal African Regiment, the Ethiopian Regiment, and the Black Brigade. Led by the dashing Captain Tye, an escaped slave from New Jersey, the Black Brigade won notoriety for its lightning raids on patriot farms and villages in nearby Monmouth County. As early as 1777 a unit of Virginia freedmen occupied a redoubt guarding the strategically important Boston Post Road (now Van Cortlandt Avenue East in the Bronx); area residents called it the “Negro Fort.”

Numerous other fugitives served with regular British units as pilots, guides, and couriers or worked as laborers for the Quartermaster General’s Department, the Wagonmaster, or the Forage and Provision departments of His Majesty’s army. Still others found employment as cartmen, carpenters, and the like, trades from which they had hitherto been excluded. More than a few married, established families, and sent their children to the school for blacks opened in 1778 by the Anglican Church. Many found shelter in or around various “Negro Barracks” located on Broadway, Church Street, and elsewhere. When they died, they were interred in the Negro Burial Ground above Chambers Street—as happened to “great numbers” of Virginia runaways, whose camp in an open field on the west side of Broadway was swept by a smallpox epidemic. The burgeoning numbers, autonomy, and self-confidence of New York’s freedmen were unmistakable and got a good deal of attention throughout the colonies. “Ethiopian Balls,” where African Americans and British officers mingled freely, drew particular criticism in the rebel press.

“HERRINGS IN A BARREL”

Rich men, officers, and runaway slaves excepted, most inhabitants of occupied New York had little to cheer about. Their hopes for the prompt restoration of civilian government proved embarrassingly naive. General Howe imposed martial law on the city and environs and resisted every appeal to relent, as did his successors, Generals Henry Clinton (1778-82) and Sir Guy Carleton (1782-83). Year after discouraging year, the provincial assembly, city council, and courts remained officially dormant. Governor William Tryon and Mayor David Mathews, though restored to their offices, exercised little or no real power. Nor did William Smith, former stalwart of the Whig Triumvirate, who showed up in New York in 1778 and accepted appointment as chief justice of the colony.

Under martial law, a commandant, appointed by the commander-in-chief, exercised more or less dictatorial power over the day-to-day administration of municipal affairs. Answerable to the commandant was a small coterie of other officials and bureaucrats. A police department enforced military regulations, maintained a night watch, and regulated ferries (by the end of 1780 a two-judge police court had been set up to try cases involving civilians). Andrew Elliot, head of the department for many years, also supervised the collection of customs as superintendent of exports and imports. A Barracks Board arranged housing for soldiers. The Chamber of Commerce, which resumed its meetings in 1779, informally advised the commander-in-chief and commandant on economic matters. Two volunteer companies, the Military Club and the Fire Club, equipped themselves with buckets and pumps to protect the town from the kind of disaster that befell it in 1776.

General Clinton and other officers talked of the need “to gain the hearts & subdue the minds of America,” but the military regime produced exactly the opposite effect. Merchants lost patience with the maddeningly arbitrary system of restrictions, passes, and permits; it didn’t help that the wharves and warehouses of loyal traders were often summarily commandeered for military