Chapter IX: The Panic and Flight

The publication of the foregoing proclamation in the late editions of the evening newspapers of New York and Brooklyn, on the evening of its issue (May 15th), occasioned the wildest excitement and terror in those two cities. At first, many of the inhabitants regarded it as a cruel hoax, and utterly refused to believe it. They had been so thoroughly convinced that the British fleet had been practically annihilated on the night of the 11th, and had yielded themselves up so completely to the current feelings of joy and triumph at the supposed success of the American fleet, that they could not seem to realize that their rejoicings had been premature; and that, although partially destroyed, the British fleet was still formidable enough to carry out its instructions, and bombard New York and Brooklyn.

The transition from joy to terror was too sudden to be at once comprehended in all of its force. The streets and squares uptown were crowded all the evening, and late into the night; and wherever there was a newspaper bulletin, or a transparency, thousands of excited men and woman congregated in the hope of getting the latest news. It is safe to say that but few people slept any that night, in either city. Even the doubters and unbelievers tossed sleeplessly in their beds, anxiously watching for the coming of day; or else remained up all night, packing their clothing and valuables, so as to be ready to start on short notice, in case remarkable proclamation, should prove to be genuine. All doubt upon this point, however, was set at rest the next morning.

All of the newspapers contained the Proclamation of the British Admiral, and supplemental ones by the Mayors of the two cities, calling the attention of the inhabitants to the imminent peril; and advising all non-combatants to seek places of safety without delay. The news columns of the newspapers also contained full details of the movements of the hostile fleet, and the astounding fact was made manifest beyond question, that British guns were even then in positions from which they could shell the two cities.

After the first momentary paralysis which these announcements occasioned, the whole population was seized with a wild panic. An irresistible desire for immediate flight seemed to possess them in a moment, and a scene began which beggared description, and whose like has probably never been seen before or since.

"Anything to get uptown or out of town," seemed to be the cry.

Husbands who had gone to business as usual, early in the morning, telephoned to their wives and children to meet them at High Bridge, at the Grand Central Station, or at some of the landing places of the steamboats going up the Hudson River. The Sound boats were tabooed, by reason of a rumor that the attacking fleet had been divided into two sections, and that one division was coming through Long Island Sound to attack the city from the Hell Gate side.

By ten o'clock on the morning of the 16th of May, the flight had fairly commenced. Frantic crowds of men, women and children, thronged every possible avenue of departure from the doomed cities, and pushed and pulled and struggled and wrestled with each other, in their wild and headlong rush to reach their several points of escape. The streets leading to the Grand Central Station in Forty-second Street, were blocked for nearly half a mile in every direction, by carriages, cabs, and express wagons, as well as by hurrying and anxious pedestrians, all rushing pell mell to get beyond the reach of the terrible bombshells.

Many amusing tales were told as tending to illustrate the absolute and unreasoning terror of the fugitives.

"Where to?" inquired the railway ticket seller of an excited and pale faced man, whose hands trembled violently as he handed a roll of bills in through the ticket window.

"Oh! Anywhere! Albany; Buffalo; Chicago; Denver! Anywhere to get beyond the reach of those d--d shells," was the trembling response. The train service was doubled and quadrupled.

Passengers took no thought as to whether or not they could secure seats; but packed themselves in like sardines, filling the aisles and closets and platforms of the cars to suffocation. The entire passenger equipment of the road was called into requisition, and utterly failed to supply the demand; and milk, freight, and ordinary platform and gravel cars were pressed into the service; and the crazy fugitives absolutely fought each other for precedence in securing positions on them.

Similar scenes were enacted at all the railway stations and steamboat docks. The "Mary Powell," a passenger steamboat, which then ran every afternoon up the Hudson River to Rondout, was obliged to leave her slip more than an hour before her regular starting time, simply because the people could not be prevented from forcing themselves on board of her, even after she was dangerously overcrowded.

Numerous excursion steamboats were pressed into the service, and the most exorbitant prices were paid for tugs and launches, or craft of any kind, on which persons could reach places of comparative safety up the river. Similarly all sorts of wheeled vehicles were pressed into the traffic; and the east and west drives of Central Park were crowded with hurrying fugitives of both sexes, and of all ages and conditions, in public and private carriages, cabs, hansoms, omnibuses, butcher carts, dumping carts, and grocery and express wagons. Even hearses were utilized as a means of escape; and the mad prank of a lot of Columbia College students, shocked a great many people, and amused a great many more.

These young men, desiring to go out of town in style, went to a fashionable undertaker's establishment, and hired his handsomest hearse and four of his best horses, and having fitted up a lot of seats on top of the hearse, and supplied themselves with two or three coaching horns, drove wildly up through Central Park to Yonkers, waking the echoes from one end of the route to the other, with the shrill notes of their horns, and attracting universal attention to this novel style of a four-in-hand drag.

Anything that had wheels to run on, and horses to draw it, was eagerly snapped up at the most exorbitant price. The hegira was something unprecedented, and almost incredible. It was estimated at the time, that not less than 500,000 persons left the city between the hours of noon and midnight, on that memorable sixteenth of May. Of course there was a vast amount of inconvenience and suffering involved in such a hasty invasion by such a horde of people, of a country totally unprepared to receive them; and thousands of cases of illness and death resulted from the exposures and discomforts to which the fugitives were subjected. It was also the occasion of many ludicrous and embarrassing incidents, which were fully described in the newspapers in the racy and sensational style so prevalent at that time.

I have ample material in the shape of extracts and clippings from those journals, to make a chapter which would be both thrilling and amusing to the reader. But I forego the introduction of such matter here, lest it should be deemed too trivial in its nature, to be incorporated into a sober and truthful historical work like this.

The exodus continued, but in diminishing proportions, throughout the two following days; until by noon of the 18th (the time fixed upon for the commencement of the bombardment) there remained probably less than 100,000 people in the two cities of New York and Brooklyn. Those who remained, were either unable from illness or some similar cause, to get away; or else they had determined, through curiosity or indifference to consequences, to remain and "see the thing through." But their members were so few, that they merely emphasized the magnitude of the exodus which had taken place.

Immediately upon the announcement of the intended bombardment, the Sub-Treasurer had telegraphed to Washington for instructions. There were in the Sub-Treasury vaults gold and silver coin and bullion, amounting to nearly $300,000,000. In case of the capture of the city, this would be at the mercy of the British; and as they had practically announced money to be their chief object in coming across the Atlantic, it was not at all probable that they would fail to snatch such a rich booty as this. What, therefore, was to be done? A Cabinet meeting decided to order the removal of this vast amount of treasure to a place of safety; and instructions to that effect were telegraphed to the Sub-Treasurer, who was also authorized to demand a suitable Military escort from the force of regulars, which had been hurriedly summoned to New York as soon as war was declared.

Accordingly, the Sub-Treasurer at once set about securing transportation for the gold and silver. The proportions were about one-third gold and two-thirds silver; and the total weight of the two metals was found to exceed 5,000 tons. It was found almost impossible to secure men and teams enough to transport this enormous amount of metal. The flight of the inhabitants had taken so many horses and trucks from the lower part of the city, that it was found necessary to telegraph to all neighboring places; and Newark, and Elizabeth and Staten Island, and the nearby portions of Westchester County, were scoured for horses or ox teams, or any thing that could draw a load of money. There were heavy trucks and brewery wagons in abundance, which had been deserted for lighter vehicles by their owners and drivers, so that the only imperative need was animal power to drag the loaded vehicles.

The supply of horses, mules, and oxen having been exhausted, it was necessary to fall back on men, and the strange spectacle was seen of a procession of heavily loaded trucks and beer wagons being dragged up Broadway from Wall Street to the Thirtieth Street freight station of the N.Y.C. and H.R.R.R., by long lines of men, pulling drag ropes, in the same manner as had formerly been the method of dragging fire engines and hook and ladder trucks to fires. A large number of freight trains were accumulated here by the railroad company, into which the gold and silver were stowed; and then, with a strong military guard on each car, the cars were made up into trains, and taken up the river to Albany.

A very large proportion of those who remained in the city, belonged to the idle and criminal classes, and this fact soon made itself apparent in the sudden breaking out of what might be called an epidemic or carnival of crime. Numerous incendiary fires occurred, and hundreds of residences, which had been abandoned by their owners and tenants in their mad flight, were broken into and rifled of their valuable contents, by troops of thieves and tramps, who seemed to rise out of the ground, as it were, by magic; and were so numerous and so bold, that they bid utter defiance to the over-worked police. During the days of the bombardment, these outcasts of society, would lounge around Central Park, out of reach of the exploding shells, which were creating such havoc in the lower portions of the city, and then at night-fall, when the fire from the fleet slackened, they would organize themselves into little supper parties, and deliberately break into any private residence whose imposing exterior happened to strike their fancy, and proceed to make themselves at home.

As long as the bombardment and the armistice lasted, the aristocratic regions of Fifth Avenue and Murray Hill, resounded nightly with the songs and shouts of these rough and drunken revellers of both sexes, who seemed never to tire of their unaccustomed surroundings, and exhibited the most remarkable diligence and perseverance in searching for mansions (as yet undisturbed) whose larders and wine-cellars were liberally stocked. These little parties were sometimes broken up by the police; but probably less than half of them were interrupted in this way; as they were so numerous in all parts of the city, and the police were so thoroughly over-worked and exhausted, that it was impossible for them to afford anything like adequate protection to the property of the absentees.