THE CITY PLAN
It is interesting at this time to read how the streets came to be just
where they are. The city was growing more rapidly than ever and the
streets and byways met one another at every sort of angle, forming a
tangled maze. To remedy this, a commission was formed of several of the
prominent citizens to determine just what course the streets should
take. Now this commission decided not to interfere with those that
existed, but to map out the island above the city and plan for those
that were to be. They worked for four years and then submitted, in the
year 1811, what they called the City Plan. If you will look at a map,
you will see at the lower part of the Island of Manhattan that the
streets cross and recross each other in the most bewildering manner. And
you will also see that above this jumble the streets and avenues extend
through the island in a regular and uniform way. This change was the
result of the City Plan.
While the commission was making its plan, there came threatenings of
war. Again England was at war with France, and those two countries in
fighting one another very often injured the American ships. Besides, the
British war-ships had a disagreeable way of searching American ships and
taking charge of any Englishmen they found on them, even those who had
become American citizens. These same British war-ships often fired upon
those American vessels whose captains objected to their being searched.
So it came about that American ships carrying merchandise to other
countries and bringing merchandise to American ports were interfered
with more and more, and American commerce was thus ruined, for no
American ship was safe. The end came early in the year 1812, when the
United States declared war against Great Britain.
[Illustration: Castle Garden.]
As soon as war was declared, the citizens of New York united for
defence, and when news came that the city was to be attacked, a great
meeting was held in City Hall Park, and everybody decided, then and
there, to support their country with their fortunes, their honor, and
their lives. Then they went to work, stopping all other employment, and
night and day they built forts and defences. They built forts on the
islands in the bay to defend the approach to the city from the ocean,
and they built forts in the Hell Gate to defend the approach by way of
Long Island Sound, and they built batteries on the Island of Manhattan
itself. One fort built at this time was on a little island close by the
Battery, and was called Fort Clinton. This afterward became Castle
Garden.
But though the British had sent soldiers and ships to fight the forces
in America, they made no effort to capture the city of New York.
The war went on for two years; there were battles, many of them, on the
land and on the sea. Very often the British had the best of it, and then
again the Americans would have the best of it. But in the end, although
the British fought hard, the Americans fought harder, and in the first
month of the year 1815 the war ended with a great battle in New Orleans,
which the Americans won.