Evacuation Day in New York City

Washington’s Entry into New York in 1783 by Currier and Ives 1857.

Today is Evacuation Day in NYC. On this date, back in 1783, the War of Revolution came to an end when the British evacuated New York. The war had officially ended in September, however New York was the last British military position in the U.S.

After the British evacuated, General George Washington triumphantly led the Continental Army from his former headquarters, north of the city, across the Harlem River south down Manhattan through the town to The Battery at the foot of Broadway in Lower Manhattan.

Evacuation Day and Washington’s Triumphant Entry into New York City.

The last shot of the war was reportedly fired on this date when a British gunner fired a cannon at jeering crowds gathered on the shore of Staten Island, as the ship passed through a section called the Narrows at the mouth of New York Harbor where the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is today. The shot fell well short of the shore.

1883 print showing a variant of the Cowpens flag and a Union Jack on the day the British evacuated New York at the end of the Revolutionary War on November 25, 1783.

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Updated 2020

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