CityRoom points out that 225 years ago, the last of the British Red Coats "left from a longboat in the Battery after occupying the city for seven years. Happy Evacuation Day!"
In between the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the 1783 signing of the Treaty of Paris, many American loyalists fled to Nova Scotia. Sotheby's is auctioning a letter from George Washington dated November 27, 1783 that was in reply to grateful colonists who thanked him for liberating New York (they wrote, "Permit us to Welcome you to this City, long torn from us by the hard hand of Oppression, but now, by your Wisdom and energy, under the guidance of Providence, once more the seat of Peace and freedom; we forbear to speak our gratitude or you Praise").
Washington replied by welcoming back citizens to Manhattan. The full text is after the jump, but the passage from the letter pictured above reads: "May the Tranquility of your City be perpetual. May the Ruins soon be repaired, Commerce flourish, Science be fostered; And all the civil and social Virtues be cherished, in the same illustrious Manner, which formerly reflected so much Credit on the Inhabitants of New York." The letter is expected to sell for $300,000-500,000 next month.
