In our recent post about plaques in New York City that are lost or just plain wrong, we revealed one last plaque that marked the site of the first “Battle “of the Revolution. On July 4th, we thought it would be fitting to commemorate this lost spot on what is now Gold Street in downtown Manhattan. Gold Street was named after Golden Hill, named golden bergh by the Dutch, when Manhattan was still hilly downtown. According to Robert Sullivan in his book Rats, in 1770, British soldiers attacked the unofficial leader of the colonial masses, Isaac Sears, over a marker called the Liberty Pole, which the British resented for its message of freedom-mongering. A skirmish ensued between the British and the Liberty Boys on what is now Eden’s Alley. For historians, this first “battle” of the American Revolution is sometimes also classified as a riot, depending on whom you ask. What’s for sure is that blood was… Read More