Washington Acknowledges Captains Circumstantially Linked to the Arson Plot Professor Benjamin L. Carp, Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center | The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution Three

The John Batchelor Show

1. Washington Acknowledges Captains Circumstantially Linked to the Arson Plot Professor Benjamin L. Carp, Professor of History at Brooklyn College and the CUNY Graduate Center | The Great New York Fire of 1776: A Lost Story of the American Revolution

Three Continental captains were circumstantially linked to the arson: Amos Fellows (died in prison, possibly caught with incendiary materials), Abraham Van Dyck (accused of planning the fire by the British, later recommended for a captaincy by Washington), and Abraham Patten (spy who confessed on the gallows in 1777 to setting the fire). Following Patten's death, Washington eulogized him, and Congress awarded funds to his widow, suggesting recognition for his services. Washington never admitted ordering the fire but thought it beneficial, stating "Providence or some good honest fellow has done what we didn't think to do for ourselves."