troops in Battle of Harlem Heights in northern Manhattan. September 21: Approximately 1000 houses, a quarter of the city, are destroyed in the Great Fire of 1776 a week after British troops captured the city during the American Revolution. Arson is speculated (with Gen. George Washington and the British being among those blamed) and, during a round-up of suspicious persons by British forces, Nathan Hale is arrested. September 22: Execution of Nathan Hale by the British as a spy. November 16: Battle of Fort Washington, as Royal Navy warships sail north up the Hudson River and attack Forts Washington and Lee; British now controlling the river and in power in the area. 1778 – August 3: Fire near Cruger's Wharf destroys 64 homes. 1780 – Black population reaches 10,000; New York becomes the center of free black life in North America. 1783 – November 25: British troops depart; New Yorkers celebrate Evacuation Day, the day Gen. George Washington returned to the city with his Continental Army and the last British forces left the newly recognized independent United States. War veteran John Van Arsdale climbs up a greased pole to remove the Union Jack left in defiance by the British, replacing it with the Stars and Stripes. 1785 – New York Manumission Society founded. 1786 – First Mass held in St. Peter's Church on Barclay Street, the city's first Catholic Church. 1787 October 27: The Federalist Papers begin publication. New-York African Free-School founded. 1789 March: 1st United States Congress begins. April 30: Inauguration of Washington as U.S. president. 1790 January 8: U.S. president Washington delivers country's first State of the Union Address. February: Supreme Court of the United States convenes. Population: 33,131. New York becomes the largest city in America, surpassing Philadelphia. 1794 – Minor yellow fever epidemic leads to creation of Bellevue Hospital. 1795 – Yellow fever epidemic kills 732 between July 19 and October 12, from a total population of about 50,000. 1796 Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church founded. December 9: The "Coffee House Slip Fire" burns from the foot of Wall Street and East River to Maiden Lane. 1797 – Newgate Prison built. 1798 The "great epidemic", a major yellow fever epidemic, kills 2086 people from late July to November. 1800s 1800s–1840s 1800 – Population: 60,489. 1801 – New York Evening Post newspaper begins publication. 1802 – American Academy of the Fine Arts founded. 1804 – New-York