Evacuation Day
Evacuation Day
EVACUATION DAY. 25 November 1783. The departure of British troops from New York City on this date was coordinated with the city's reoccupation by the remnants of the Continental Army. Major General Henry Knox directed the operation. Colonel Henry Jackson, the senior infantry officer still in service, was in immediate command of the two infantry regiments (Colonel Joseph Vose and Lieutenant Colonel William Hull), two artillery companies (Major Sebastian Bauman), and militia troop of horse (Captain John Stakes) that composed the 800-man force. The last British ships sailed from the harbor on 4 December. The term applies uniquely to New York City because it was the last city to be evacuated by the British under the terms of the Treaty of Paris (3 September 1783).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Freeman, Douglas Southall. George Washington: A Biography. Vol. 5: Victory with the Help of France. New York: Scribners, 1952.
Johnston, Henry P. "The Evacuation of New York by the British, 1783." Harper's Magazine, November 1883.
Schecter, Barnet. The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution. New York: Walker and Co., 2002.
revised by Harold E. Selesky