British Occupation of New York

September 21

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury [Newark] (September 21, 1776).

“AN assortment of dry goods … at the house of Mr. John Dixen, near Mr. Horton’s Meeting House, in Morris County, New-Jersey.”

When Samuel Loudon discontinued publication of the New York Packet, his advertisement in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury explained that the “City of New-York, is now invaded by a powerful Fleet and army” so the “Inhabitants are obliged to seek a Retreat in the Country.”  Hugh Gaine, the printer of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, was one of those inhabitants who decided to leave New York at the beginning of the British occupation.  The September 21, 1776, edition featured a new location in the colophon: “Newark, in East-New-Jersey.”  That issue consisted of only two pages instead of the usual four, perhaps the result of paper shortages, perhaps because Gaine did not have time to publish a full issue, or perhaps due to other circumstances related to getting out of the New York.  He printed only seven issues in Newark before returning to New York.

The masthead proclaimed that newspaper “Contain[ed] the freshest Advices Foreign and Domestic.”  In the three most recent news updates, Gaine reported that “Yesterday Morning a very heavy firing was hear on York Island from Bergen Town,” “We hear there are no more than one thousand of the King’s troops now in New-York, and those principally Englishmen,” and “About 3 o’clock this morning, a most dreadful fire was discovered from the heights back of this town, which upon the appearance of day light was supposed to be the city of New York in flames.”  That was the first newspaper coverage of the burning of New York City.

The first Newark edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury had half a dozen advertisements placed by customers as well as one for bibles, writing supplies, and patent medicines that Gaine sold ay his new printing office.  The news and advertisements, as Clarence S. Brigham notes, “were expressly intended for New Jersey.”[1]  The advertisement that appeared immediately below news about the conflagration in New York City promoted an “assortment of dry goods (not before exposed to sale) just opening at the house of Mr. John Dixen, near Mr. Horton’s Meeting House, in Morris County, New-Jersey.”  It listed dozens of items to entice prospective customers.  The advertisement concluded with a nota bene drawing attention to a “small assortment of the above goods, particularly such articles as will suit the army, … opened at Mr. John Halstead’s, in Elizabeth-Town.”

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 513.

September 2

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury (September 2, 1776).

“THE City of New-York, is now invaded by a powerful Fleet and Army.”

Samuel Loudon summarized recent events in the first line of his advertisement in the September 2, 1776, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.  Residents of the city and nearby towns already knew that the British had captured New York.  Most other readers likely learned about the British occupation of New York before reading Loudon’s advertisement, probably hearing about it before reading about it in any newspaper.

Still, delivering the news was an important precursor for what Loudon needed to share with subscribers to his newspaper, the New York Packet.  Due to the occupation, the “Inhabitants [of New York] are obliged to seek a Retreat in the Country.”  Among those who sight refuge in the countryside, Loudon “remov[ed] his Printing-Office to FISH KILLS, where the Provincial Congress now reside.”  That location offered safety as well as access to news about the state government, once he managed to open a printing office there.  “With regret,” Loudon continued, “he is under the Necessity of Informing his Customers, that he will be obliged to discontinue the Publication of the NEW-YORK PACKET, for several Weeks, occasioned. By the Trouble of moving as well as the great Scarcity of Printing Paper.”

Loudon had been publishing the New York Packet for only eight months before circumstances caused him to retreat to Fishkill.  He distributed the first issue on January 4, 1776, and suspended it with the August 29 edition, just before the British entered the city.  It took longer than he anticipated to resume publication.  According to Clarence S. Brigham, “The first Fishkill issue was undoubtedly that of Jan. 16, 1777, vol. 1, no. 36, but the earliest located is that of Feb. 6, 1777, vol. 1, no. 39.”[1]  Loudon continued the volume and issue numbering uninterrupted despite the suspension and relocation.  The British occupied New York throughout the remainder of the war.  Loudon remained in Fishkill, publishing his newspaper there until the end of August 1783.  He then returned to New York and continued the newspaper without changing the volume numbering in November 1783.  The war disrupted publication of the New York Packet, yet Loudon persevered.  He managed to continue supplying subscribers and other readers with news (and advertisements) despite the challenges of “removing his Printing-Office” beyond occupied New York.

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 1690-1820 (Worcester, Massachusetts: American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 570.