Phase 1: The Gathering Storm
The Revolutionary War in New York in 1776
The Challenge
* * * * *
Another year has passed away,
And brings again the glorious day
When Freedom from her slumber woke,
And broke the British tyrant’s yoke ---
Unfurled her standard to the air,
In gorgeous beauty, bright and fair ---
Pealed forth the sound of war’s alarms,
And called her patriot sons to arms!
They rushed, inspired by Freedom’s name,
To fight for liberty and fame;
To meet the mercenary band,
And drive them from their native land.
Almighty God! grant us, we pray,
The self-same spirit on this day,
That, through the storm of battle, then
Did actuate those patriot men!.
...first two stanzas of Ode for the Fourth of July by James M. Whitfield
* * * * *
American patriots under the command of General George Washington set out to free themselves from the rule and tyranny of King George III. The British set forth to subdue the uprising and accumulated in New York the largest expeditionary force in their history prior to the great embarkations and landings of World Wars I and II.
A monumental battle was in the offing.
Phase 1 visits lower Manhattan where political intrigues against the British crown developed.
About the 1776 cache series: This series of caches take you through the political intrigues and armed battles in the city of New York during the Revolutionary War in 1776. Each cache Phase consists of a tour of the local area’s Revolutionary sites. You will gather clues that will provide the coordinates for the cache container for that Phase. Containers will vary from ammo cans, plastic containers and magnetic micros limited by the locale – woods, parks and urban street. The larger containers will have memorabilia such as replicas of revolutionary coins, paper money, musket balls, Declaration of Independence on parchment, etc. as well as more traditional cache treasure. Please take one memento only and leave the rest for other cachers. Leave something if you take something but don't stuff the smaller containers.
This Phase 1 cache was converted from a Multi to a Virtual. There are no physical cache containers. To log a Find, post a photo of your GPS device or a personal item at each of the 5 locations - A, B, C, D, and E. Or you can post photos of the geocacher at the locations. Your face is not required in the photos if you don't want to include them.
Phases 2-8 remain Multi's with a cache container at the end of each Phase. Although not required to complete this cache, to see the original archived Multi for Phase 1, click GC12GQ4.
Click on Bookmark List of 1776 Revolutionary War in NYC - all 8 Phases for a list of all 1776 cache phases. Each stands on it’s own. You do not have to follow any particular order although doing so gives a better prospective of the action. Cachers logging finds in all 8 phases will have their names added to the Cacher's Honor Roll in the Phase 8 cache web page. Campaign maps in the photo section provide orientation for each Phase and for the whole City. However, these are not needed to do the cache.
The caches follow much of this companion tour guide and book. For those traveling on foot, it provides public transportation methods for getting around. However, they are not required to find the cache.THE BATTLE FOR NEW YORK: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution by Barnet Schecter.
Start your Phase 1 tour at The Common. Note that satellite reception is crazy around the tall buildings.
A. The Common N40 42.796 W 074 00.409
In the 1700’s the triangular block that contains City Hall, the Tweed Courthouse and City Hall Park was called the Common. (At that time, City Hall stood at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets now occupied by Federal Hall). Eleven years before the Declaration of Independence, the Stamp Act protesters gathered on the Common in 1765, and the first blood of the Revolution was shed here in August 1766, when residents clashed with British soldiers who had cut down the first Liberty Pole. The various structures that occupied the Common are marked today by plaques and architectural footprints. These include the soldiers’ barracks, the Liberty Pole and the provost prison, called the Bridewell, all of which are located to the west of City Hall where you should now be standing. The first reading of the Declaration of Independence in New York on July 9, 1776, also took place on the Common. Bring bread to feed the pigeons. They'll alight on your hand to eat the crumbs.
After the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the crowd left the Common and headed down Broadway to Bowling Green, along the same route as the Stamp Act protesters about a decade earlier.
B. St. Paul’s Chapel N40 42.673 W74 00.522
Imagine yourself as one of the protestors and travel along the same path to visit St. Paul’s Chapel, the oldest church in Manhattan which was then on the outskirts of town. This is the original building, which escaped a great fire of unproven origins later in 1776 after the British captured the city because bucket brigades were able to stand on its flat roof and douse it with water. The rest of the city was not as fortunate. A third of it burned to the ground.
C. John Street Methodist Church N40 42.545 W74 00.480
Panels of text on the façade of the church and on a sign planted in the sidewalk tell the history of the church and explain that John Street east of William Street (the next corner) was once called Golden Hill. The clash here between British soldiers and colonists in 1770 came to be known as the Battle of Golden Hill, and like the riot on the Common in 1766, it has been called the first bloodshed of the Revolution.
D. Trinity Church N40 42.464 W74 00.702
Return to Broadway and turn left. Five blocks south, at Wall Street, stands Trinity Church, reconstructed after the fire. Visit the cemetery, where Alexander Hamilton and Richard Montgomery are buried.
Proceed down Broadway to Bowling Green, past the Raging Bull sculpture N40 42.325 W74 00.808 to the elliptical lawn rented to the wealthy residents of the adjacent houses in colonial times for the token annual fee of one peppercorn. The Stamp Act rioters burned Lieutenant Governor Colden’s carriage on the lawn, using the fence for kindling. Here Colden dedicated the equestrian statue of King George III in 1770, and the iron fence that now surrounds the green was installed in 1771. The fence has been designated a City Landmark. After the reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 9, 1776, the crowd toppled the equestrian statue. Now the biggest sculpture is the bull. Monarchy has been replaced by a free-market democracy. New York has always been a town of commerce, however. The Customs House, facing Bowling Green, occupies the site of Fort George, where the Stamp Act rioters pounded on the wooden gates.
As you face the Customs House, Broadway’s right fork becomes State Street, the original shoreline where the guns of the Grand Battery faced the harbor. (The 22 acres of Battery Park beyond State Street are mostly landfill). Here John Lamb’s artillery company began removing the cannon in August 1775 and provoked a broadside from the British man-of-war Asia. In February 1776 Charles Lee continued the job of transferring the British guns to the Common for safekeeping after he arrived to fortify the city.
Now head east to Fraunces Tavern.
E. Fraunces Tavern N40 42.207 W74 00.682
Although out of chronological order with the military battle, but convenient for your current location at this time, Fraunces Tavern is where Washington gave his farewell address to his officers in 1783, at the end of the War.
Congratulations on completing Phase 1. Now that Phase 1 is over, you can set off to Phase 2 in Staten Island or do one of the other 1776 caches in Manhattan, Brooklyn or The Bronx. The rest are Multi's with a container at the end of each Phase.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.