This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER V. THE BATTERY AND BOWLING GREEN. The lower end of Manhattan Island, below the Fort, was a narrow point of land terminating in a ledge of rocks, called Capskie or Little Cape. This name was afterwards corrupted into Copsie. It was in the earliest days known as Schreyers Hoek, or Shouters Point. The existence of a war between England and Spain was the cause of the erection of a battery at the end of the point, and it gave a name to the locality which still remains, although the fortification has been gone for more than a hundred years. The battery was built during the governorship of William Cosby, and was finished in July, 1735. This was the subject of a grand celebration, which ended with a most mournful accident. The full account is given in the "New York Gazette" of July 21 of that year: "The foundation and Ground Works of the new Battery on Whitehall rocks being finished on Wednesday the 16th instant, that day was appointed for the laying of the first stone of the Platform and the giving it a name. Accordingly his Excellency the Governor, attended by the Gentlemen of his Majesties Council, with the principal Gentlemen and merchants of the City performed the ceremony under the general discharge of the cannon planted for the occasion, and was pleased to call it George Augustus Royal Battery. Afterward his Excellency repaired to the booth erected on the Battery, where an elegant entertainment was prepared for him and the Company. After dinner, his Majesty's and the several Royal Health were drank, amid several discharges of the cannon, together with success to George's Battery. His Excellency gave an ox roasted whole upon it. to the workmen. Soldiers and people, with several barrels of Punch and Beer." "It is remarkable that...