British Occupation of New York

November 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 [Newark] (November 2, 1776).
“Members of the New York Whaling Company are desired to meet … in Newark.”

The advertisement called on “Members of the New York Whaling Company … to meet at the House of Josiah Pierson, in Newark,” on November 9, 1776.  It ran in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury published by Hugh Gaine in Newark following the British occupation of New York.  Gaine left the city, as did the New York Whaling Company, yet the printer did not remain in Newark for long.  The November 2 edition that carried the New York Whaling Company’s notice happened to be the last one that Gaine printed in Newark before returning to New York to resume publication of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury in the occupied city.  He published a total of seven issues in Newark from September 21 through November 2.

Meanwhile, according to Clarence S. Brigham, “Gaine’s New York office, under the inspection of the British authorities, had been used for the publication of a paper with the same title, and the same volume numbering, … but issued weekly” from September 30 to November 4.[1]  Gaine’s name remained in the imprint in the first of those issues, but did not appear in subsequent ones.  It returned with the November 11 issue.

In his History of Printing in America, Isaiah Thomas provided a brief overview of Gaine and his newspaper during the imperial crisis and the war.  The New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury “appeared rather a neutral paper.  Gaine seemed desirous to side with the successful party; but not knowing which would eventually prevail, he seems to have been unstable in his politics.”  When the war began, Gaine “leaned toward the country,” but then left New York for Newark just before the occupation.  He soon returned “and printed under the protection of the king’s army; and … devoted his paper to the royal cause.”[2]  He apparently believed “that appearances were against the ultimate success of the United States,” but after the American victory Gaine petitioned the state legislature for leave to remain in the city, and having obtained permission, his press was employed in book printing.”[3]  He discontinued the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury after the British left the city, having published it for thirty-one years.

Ironically, the first item on the first page of the last issue published in Newark was “An ACT to punish TRAITORS and disaffected PERSONS” passed by the state government in Princeton on October 4, 1776.  Gaine would soon become one of those “disaffected PERSONS” when he returned to New York and resumed publication of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury there.

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[1] Clarence S. Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspaper, 1690-1820 (Worcester: American Antiquarian Society, 1947), 512-513.

[2] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America: With a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 497-498.

[3] Thomas, History of Printing, 472-473.

October 25

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

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

Connecticut Gazette (October 25, 1776).

“SAMUEL LOUDON, (Late Printer and Bookseller in NEW YORK).”

When the British invaded New York late in the summer of 1776, Samuel Loudon, a printer and bookseller who was, according to Isaiah Thomas, “decidedly a whig,” decided that it was time to suspend the newspaper he established in January, the New York Packet, and get out of the city.[1]  In an advertisement in the September 2 edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, he announced that he was “removing his Printing-Office to FISH-KILLS, where the Provincial Congress now resides” because the “City of New-York, is now invaded by a powerful Fleet and Army.”  He advised other “Inhabitants” of the city “to seek a Retreat ion the Country.”  He resumed publication of the New York Packet in Fishkill on January 16, 1777, and continued printing it there throughout the war.  After the war ended, Loudon returned to New York and once again published his newspaper there.

Before he managed to resume printing the New York Packet in Fishkill, Loudon got involved in another venture.  The October 25, 1776, edition of the Connecticut Gazette, published in New London, carried an advertisement that announced that “SAMUEL LOUDON, (Late Printer and Bookseller in NEW YORK) Has just opened in NORWICH” a store that stocked a “large Assortment of Books, In Divinity, History, Physic,” and other subjects as well as “a variety of Pamphlets.”  At first glance, it appeared that Loudon operated the store himself.  After all, his name appeared in capital letters as the deadline for the advertisement.  On closer inspection, however, readers learned that “Mr. Eliphalet Huntington” sold the books, pamphlets, maps, prints, and “a Set of Globes, of the best Construction” listed in the advertisement.  Loudon and Huntington apparently entered some sort of partnership, perhaps on an equal basis or perhaps Loudon employed Huntington.  Whatever the arrangement, they attempted to leverage the visibility that Loudon had achieved as a bookseller and, especially, the printer of the New York Packet, to entice prospective customers to visit the bookstore in Norwich or to send orders for any of the items listed in the advertisement.  Curiously, the advertisement that ran in the Norwich Packet on October 21 did not mention Eliphalet Huntington at all.  It deployed Loudon’s name as the headline, like the advertisement in the Connecticut Gazette, and stated that he “Has just opened at Col. JEDEDIAH HUNTINGTON’S Store … A Neat Assortment of BOOKS, to be Sold cheap.”  Perhaps Huntington was merely an employee rather than even a junior partner.  If that was the case, then, like so many artisans who received sole credit for the work of journeymen, apprentices, enslaved workers, and others who labored in their workshops, the proprietor of the new bookstore in Norwich was the public face of the business even though customers primarily or exclusively interacted with an employee.

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[1] Isaiah Thomas, The History of Printing in America with a Biography of Printers and an Account of Newspapers (1810; New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), 482.

October 14

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury [New York] (October 14, 1776).
“All kinds of business will be transacted on commission … in the manner practised in London.”

The British occupation of New York created opportunities for William Tongue to open a “MERCHANT BROKER’S OFFICE, AND AUCTION OR PUBLIC VENDUE ROOM … in Hanover-Square.”  The enterprising broker announced that he “arriv’d lately with his Majesty’s fleet from England,” yet also confided that he “has been a resident in this province 16 years, in the character of a merchant.”  Although he had recently taken up residence in New York when British forces took control of the city, he was not a newcomer to the colony (now state).  He had years of experience living in New York and working as a merchant, so clients could draw on his familiarity with the region.  Tongue underscored that he “has had such experience in London and America, as to have acquir’d a general knowledge of mercantile affairs, and from those advantages hopes to render this office of public utility.”

The broker sought to strike a balance between the experience he gained in London and his knowledge of American markets.  He stated that “all kinds of business will be transacted on commission either in buying, selling, or bartering European, West-India, or American merchandize.”  To that end, he promised, “Masters of vessels may immediately be inform’d the state of the market, and enabled to sell their cargoes to advantage.”  In addition, clients could utilize his services to sell enslaved people, ships, and “other articles … in the brokerage way in the manner practised in London.”  Tongue also emphasized his connections to “the officers of his Majesty’s guards, and the Hessian officers,” declaring that he supplied them with “the best of wines, Jamaica spirits, brandy,” and other items.  He hoped to leverage that aspect of his business to gain additional clients among “the other gentlemen of the army and navy.”

Tongue quickly set up shop after arriving in New York “with his Majesty’s fleet.”  He inserted two advertisements in the September 30 edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury published in the city at the behest of the British.  Hugh Gaine, the printer of that newspaper, had relocated to Newark, New Jersey, and resumed publication there, but the British, lacking a local newspaper, arranged for Ambrose Serle to publish an alternate New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.   Tongue, who conducted business “At the house where Henry Wilmot lately liv’d, nearly opposite Mr. Gaine’s, printer,” quickly submitted copy for both advertisements.  The lengthy one that gave an overview of his new business ran for several weeks while a shorter one announced a sale of “SUNDRY articles of dry goods” and other items “THIS MORNING.”  Tongue wasted no time in launching his new brokerage office and auction house when the British occupied New York.

October 5

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

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

Pennsylvania Evening Post (October 5, 1776).

“A MAP of the present seat of war, with the harbours of New-York and Perth Amboy.”

In early October 1776, John Norman, a “print-seller and engraver,” announced that he had for sale a “MAP of the present seat of war, with the harbours of New-York and Perth Amboy” at his shop on Second Street in Philadelphia.  Such a map would have been of great interest to many readers, whether political leaders, military officers, or civilians, considering that it depicted the British invasion of Long Island and occupation of New York along with the retreat of the Continental Army in August and September.  The map, a visual depiction of the region overlaid with troop movements, served as an important supplement for understanding news about current events.

The phrase “JUST published” that opened Norman’s advertisement did not necessarily mean that he was the engraver or publisher of the map, but it seems likely since he had already established his reputation as an engraver when he produced American editions of architectural manuals and he eventually gained acclaim for engraving other maps depicting the Revolutionary War as well as portraits of Patriot leaders.  At the time of writing this entry, I cannot locate a surviving copy of any map by Norman showing “the present seat of war, with the harbours of New-York and Perth Amboy,” published in 1776.  By the end of the year, engravers and publishers in London issued similar maps, but Norman certainly did not advertise and sell any of those maps.  In addition, his purpose in producing and selling such maps would have been very different than the inspiration for the London editions.  Consider, for instance, The Seat of Action, between the British and American Forces: Or an Authentic Plan of the Western Part of Long Island, with the Engagement of the 27th August 1776 between the King’s Forces and the Americans published by Robert Sayer and John Bennett in London in November 1776.  The catalog entry for that map maintained by the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon explains that the map “contained recent information regarding the British campaign to take New York City.  Printed as a broadside, the information could be transmitted in a timely manner – in this case, two months after the events depicted on the map.  After an embarrassing defeat at Bunker Hill …, Britain was eager to transmit the news of the victory in New York … to an eager audience back in England.”  Considering that Norman previously marketed prints and political cartoons that supported the American cause, he probably sold this “MAP of the present seat of war” as a means of keeping the public informed about current events rather than as a piece of pro-British propaganda.

October 1

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , ,

Who was the subject of an advertisement in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet (October 1, 1776).

“A Negro man named MOSES … has been endeavouring to … join the ministerial army.”

Moses, an enslaved man, made his own declaration of independence in 1776 when he liberated himself by running away from his enslaver.  Charles Read of Evesham, “in the county of Burlington,” New Jersey, provided a brief account in an advertisement on the front page of the October 1, 1776, edition of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet.  According to Read, Moses, “about five feet four inches high, a thick well set fellow,” made his escape on September 9.  When he went away, he was wearing “a short light coloured coat, with binding of the same colour a pair of strong new shoes, with large plated buckles, a pair of homespun linen trowsers, and a black stock with a steel buckle.”  That should have made Moses easy to recognize, but there was also a chance that he would change clothes since he “stole and took with him, a blue great-coat with white metal buttons” and “the other part of his cloaths [were] not known” to Read.

While those details were specific to Moses, his enslaver followed a formula for advertisements that described enslaved people who liberated themselves by running away.  The next part of Read’s account, however, revealed that current events played a part in Moses’s decision about when to seek his freedom.  Read lamented that Moses “has been endeavouring to prevail upon the Negroes in this neighbourhood” in New Jersey “to go with him to join the ministerial army.”  In other words, Moses planned to join the British and encouraged other enslaved people to join him.  He did not merely hope to elude his enslaver by getting away from Evesham and keeping a low profile elsewhere; instead, he aimed to secure his freedom by “join[ing] the ministerial army.”  Moses almost certainly knew that nearly a year earlier John Murray, Lord Dunmore, the king’s governor in Virginia, offered freedom to enslaved people “appertaining to Rebels” (or enslaved by Patriots) in exchange for “joining his Majesty’s troops, as soon as may be.”  Many enslaved men and women responded to the call, alarming and enraging both their enslavers and other residents of Virginia.  The final grievance in the Declaration of Independence referred to Dunmore’s Proclamation, stating that the king “has excited domestic insurrections amongst us” by encouraging enslaved people to fight against those who enslaved them.  Moses left Evesham just as the British occupation of New York began.  He likely saw his best opportunity yet to secure his freedom.  That gave additional urgency to Read’s efforts to capture him.  Readers of Dunlap’s Pennsylvania Packet, he declared, should assist not only for the “TEN DOLLARS REWARD” but also out of a sense of patriotism.  Read called on “every lover of his country [to] endeavour to apprehend so daring a villain” who had the audacity to seek his freedom by siding with those who promised him liberty rather than a life of enslavement.  Moses was not the first or only such “villain” featured in newspaper advertisements during the Revolutionary War, yet stories of joining the British were not a common element of what have become known as “runaway advertisements.”  Though rare, advertisements that reported enslaved people sought to join the British appeared on occasion, supplementing similar stories that circulated in conversation and in print.  Read meant to condemn Moses, but the additional details he provided about the circumstances of his escape contributed to a complicated and nuanced narrative of the American Revolution.

September 30

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , ,

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

New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury [New York] (September 30, 1776).
“To be sold at public VENDUE … SUNDRY articles of dry goods.”

The September 30, 1776, edition of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury consisted of only two pages printed on a half sheet rather than the usual four on a broadsheet.  About a dozen advertisements, including one for a vendue or auction of “SUNDRY articles of dry goods,” filled the final column on the second page.  It was the first issue published in the city in three weeks.  It was also the first issue published there since the British occupation of New York began a few weeks earlier.

However, it was not the first issue of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury published in that time.  Hugh Gaine left New York just before British forces arrived and set up a printing office in Newark, New Jersey.  On September 21, he printed the newspaper with updated publication information in the masthead: “Printed by Hugh Gaine, at Newark, in East-New-Jersey.”  He continued the same volume numbering with issue 1301.  As Clarence S. Brigham explains, “The Newark issues were evidently edited and printed and in Newark, since the type of the heading differs from the New York issues, and the news and advertisements were expressly intended for New Jersey.”[1]

Yet the September 30 edition printed in New York featured Gaine’s name in the masthead, as usual, and continued the volume numbering with issue 1301.  The printer was not publishing newspapers in both Newark and New York.  The British found themselves in possession of one of the largest cities in America but without a newspaper.  They tasked Ambrose Serle with printing the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.  He produced only one issue with Gaine’s name in the masthead.  Starting with the October 7 edition, “the printer’s name was omitted from the imprint.”[2]  It simply stated, “PRINTED AT THE BIBLE AND CROWN, IN HANOVER-SQUARE.”  Serle published six issues of the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury before Gaine decided to return to New York and resume printing his newspaper there with the November 11 edition.

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

[2] Brigham, History and Bibliography of American Newspapers, 640.

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.