United States, 1883 AD., British evacuation of New York centennial medal, by Robert Lovett, Jr., white metal, Baker 461.

United States, British evacuation of New York centennial medal, by Robert Lovett, Jr., 1883 AD.,
white metal medal (31 mm / 8,97 g), holed,
Obv.: PEACE PROCLAIMED & ARMY DISBANDED IN 1783 , around Houdon style bust of George Washington facing right.
Rev.: 1783 CENTENNIAL 1883 / CELEBRATION / OF THE / EVACUATION / OF / THE CITY OF / NEW YORK / NOVEMBER 25 , 8 line Evacuation Centennial inscription, 13 stars below.
Baker 461 .

Following the American Revolution, Evacuation Day on November 25 marks the day in 1783 when the last vestige of British authority in the United States — its troops in New York — departed from Manhattan. The last shot of the American Revolutionary War was reported to be fired on this day, as a British gunner on one of the departing ships fired a cannon at jeering crowds gathered on the shore of Staten Island, at the mouth of New York Harbor (the shot fell well short of the shore).
Following the first and largest major engagement of the Continental Army and British troops in the American Revolutionary War, at the Battle of Long Island (also known as the Battle of Brooklyn) on August 27, 1776, General George Washington and the Continental Army retreated to Manhattan Island. The Continentals withdrew north and west and, following the Battle of Fort Washington on 16 November 1776, evacuated the island. For the remainder of the Revolutionary War much of what is now Greater New York and its surroundings were under British control. New York City (then occupying only the southern tip of Manhattan) became, under Lord Howe and his brother Sir William, the British political and military center of operations in North America. Correspondingly, the region became central to the development of a Patriot intelligence network, headed by Washington himself. The famous Nathan Hale was but one of Washington's operatives working in New York, though the others were generally more successful. The city suffered two devastating fires of uncertain origin during the British occupation. These resulted in the British forces and prominent Loyalists occupying the remaining undamaged structures, relegating the fire-scarred ruins for the rest of the city's residents to live in squalor. In addition, over 10,000 Patriot soldiers and sailors died through deliberate neglect on prison ships in New York waters (Wallabout Bay) during the British occupation — more than died in every single battle of the war, combined. These men are memorialized, and many of their remains are interred, at the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, overlooking the nearby site of their torment and deaths.

In mid-August 1783, Sir Guy Carleton received orders from London for the evacuation of New York City. He told the President of the Continental Congress that he was proceeding with the withdraw of refugees, liberated slaves and military personnel as fast as possible, but it was not possible to give an exact date because the number of refugees entering the city had increased dramatically. More than 29,000 Loyalist refugees were evacuated from the city. The British also evacuated former slaves they had liberated from the Americans and refused to return them to their US enslavers as the Treaty of Paris had required them to do.
Carleton gave a final evacuation date of noon on November 25. Entry into the city by George Washington was delayed until after a British flag had been removed. A Union Flag was nailed on a flagpole in the Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. The pole was allegedly greased. After a number of men attempted to tear down the British color - a symbol of tyranny for contemporary American Patriots - wooden cleats were cut and nailed to the pole and with the help of a ladder, a veteran, John Van Arsdale, was able to ascend the pole, remove the flag, and replace it with the Stars and Stripes before the British fleet had sailed out of sight. General George Washington led the Continental Army in a triumphal march down Broadway to The Battery immediately afterward.
Sir Guy Carleton, the British-appointed governor Andrew Elliot, and some other former officials left the city on December 4. Washington left the city shortly after the British departure.
Even after Evacuation Day, British troops still remained in frontier forts in areas which had clearly been defined by the Treaty of Paris (1783) to be part of the United States. Britain would continue to hold a presence in the old Northwest until 1815, at the end of the War of 1812.

For over a century this event was commemorated annually with boys competing to tear down a Union Jack from a greased pole in Battery Park, as well as the anniversary in general being celebrated with much adult revelry and corresponding beverages. In the 1890s the anniversary was celebrated in New York at Battery Park with the raising of the Stars and Stripes by Christopher R. Forbes, the great grandson of John Van Arsdale. Van Arsdale descendants with the assistance of a Civil War veterans' association from Manhattan — the Anderson Zouaves. John Lafayette Riker, the original commander of the Anderson Zouaves, was also a grandson of John Van Arsdale. Riker's older brother was the New York genealogist James Riker, who authored Evacuation Day, 1783 for the spectacular 100th anniversary celebrations of 1883, which were ranked as “one of the great civic events of the nineteenth century in New York City.


Robert Jr. is probably the member of the Lovett family most well known to numismatist for his engraving and striking of the Confederate Cent. Born in Philadelphia in 1818 he moved with his family to New York City in 1824 and at the age of 16 began his apprenticeship with his father. By 1839 he had set up his own shop back in Philadelphia, possibly to avoid competition with family members. Although not nearly as prolific as his brother George his works cover a broad range of types, from merchant tokens, to award medals for schools and institutions, to political medalets. He did work for several prominent numismatists of the time, including Edward Cogan, William Idler, and Montroville Dickinson. A few of his dies were used after his death in 1879 by his George H. and others. A complete set of his works would be a serious undertaking if at all possible.