This is the ninth in a series.

In September 1776 only days after the British army had occupied New York City, it was ravaged by a great fire. The Pennsylvania Evening Journal reported, “In our last, we informed our readers that the city of New York was in flames on Saturday morning, the 23rd instant since which we had many and different reports concerning that melancholy affair, the most authentic of which, we believe, is as follows, that the fire originated at or near Whitehall, soon extended to the Exchange, took its…