1776 жылғы Нью-Йорк қаласындағы өрт

Major fire in New York
the 1776 fire during the American Revolution
Early in the summer of 1776, when the war was still in its early stages, British General William Howe embarked on a campaign to gain control of the city and its militarily important harbor. After occupying Staten Island in July, he launched a successful attack on Long Island in late August, assisted by naval forces under the command of his brother, Admiral Lord Richard Howe. American General George Washington recognized the inevitability of the capture of New York City, and withdrew the bulk of his army about 10 mile (16 km) north to Harlem Heights. Several people, including General Nathanael Greene and New York's John Jay, advocated burning the city down to deny its benefits to the British. Washington laid the question before the Second Continental Congress, which rejected the idea: "it should in no event be damaged." On September 15, 1776, British forces under Howe landed on Manhattan. The next morning, some British troops marched toward Harlem, where the two armies clashed again, while others marched into the city. A civilian exodus from the city had begun well before the British fleet arrived in the harbor. The arrival the previous February of the first Continental Army troops in the city had prompted some people to pack up and leave, including Loyalists who were specifically targeted by the army and Patriots. The capture of Long Island only accelerated the abandonment of the city. During the Continental Army's occupation of the city, many abandoned buildings were appropriated for the army's use. When the British arrived in the city, the property of Patriots was similarly appropriated for the use of the British army. Despite this, housing and other demands of the military occupation significantly strained the city's available building stock.

According to the eyewitness account of John Joseph Henry, an American prisoner aboard HMS Pearl, the fire began in the Fighting Cocks Tavern, near Whitehall Slip. Abetted by dry weather and strong winds, the flames spread north and west, moving rapidly among tightly packed homes and businesses. Residents poured into the streets, clutching what possessions they could and found refuge on the grassy town commons (today, City Hall Park). The fire crossed Broadway near Beaver Street and then burned most of the city between Broadway and the Hudson River. The fire raged into the daylight hours and was stopped by changes in wind direction as much as by the actions of some of the citizenry and British marines sent in aid of the inhabitants. Estimates for the number of buildings destroyed range from 400 to 1,000, representing between 10 and 25 percent of the 4,000 city buildings in existence at the time. Among the buildings destroyed was Trinity Church; St. Paul's Chapel survived. Many Americans also assumed that the fire was the work of Patriot arsonists. John Joseph Henry recorded accounts of marines returning to the Pearl after fighting the fire in which men were "caught in the act of firing the houses." In a letter to his cousin Lund, Washington wrote, "Providence—or some good honest fellow, has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves". According to historian Barnet Schecter, no accusation of arson has withstood scrutiny. The strongest circumstantial evidence in favor of arson theories is the fact that the fire appeared to start in multiple places. However, contemporary accounts explain that burning debris from wooden roof shingles spread the fire. One diarist wrote that, "the flames were communicated to several houses" by the debris "carried by the wind to some distance."

Major General James Robertson confiscated surviving uninhabited homes of known patriots and assigned them to British officers. Churches, other than the state churches (Church of England) were converted into prisons, infirmaries, or barracks. Some of the common soldiers were billeted with civilian families. There was a great influx of Loyalist refugees into the city resulting in further overcrowding, and many of these returning and additional Loyalists from patriot controlled areas encamped in squalid tent cities on the charred ruins. The fire convinced the British to put the city under martial law rather than returning it to civilian authorities. Crime and poor sanitation were persistent problems during the British occupation, which did not end until they evacuated the city on November 25, 1783.