# Talk:Great Fire of New York (1776)

This review is transcluded from Talk:Great Fire of New York (1776)/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.
Reviewer: Nikkimaria (talk) 03:22, 18 September 2010 (UTC)
Hello! I'll be reviewing this article for possible GA status. My review should be posted within the next day or two. Cheers, Nikkimaria (talk) 03:22, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

In my opinion, the article meets the GA criteria. Consider the below suggestions for potential further improvement. Nikkimaria (talk) 21:23, 18 September 2010 (UTC)


### Writing and formatting
First sentence could be split to improve readability
"Many people believed or assumed that one or more people deliberately started the fire, for a variety of different reasons" - is there any way to reword this to be slightly less vague? I know that it's not a fact, but it can be worded more directly
"After Lexington and Concord" - clearer to specify "Battles of Lexington and Corcord"
"the tables were turned" - reword for tone
"marines returning the Pearl after fighting the fire" - word missing?


### Accuracy and verifiability
Refs 19 and 22 are identical


### Broad
If more information on the aftermath is available, it should be included


### Neutrality
"Was it arson?" could be changed to "Cause" or a similar, more neutral title.
The article talks of British occupation of New York. Surely it would be historically more accurate to say that it had been recovered from the insurrectionists/revolutionaries. and was therefore not under occupation but restored to the rightful government?


### Stability
No issues noted


### Images
No issues noted

Thanks for taking the time to review it! I'll get to your prose suggestions soon. Magic♪piano 23:24, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

This article notes that the British made some efforts to fight the fire.  Has anything been written about what effect this had on the ongoing battle with the Continental forces?  We know Washington escaped, I can't help but wonder if this was a factor.  If so, it would be a welcome addition to this article, which already has a section on the effect on British occupation.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.73.140.230 (talk) 14:08, 31 March 2017 (UTC) 

There wasn't an ongoing battle. After the Battle of Harlem Heights on the 16th, the New York campaign entered a period of inactivity, with both sides just fortifying their opposing camps on the Upper West Side/Harlem area. Both side's diaries just say "We can see the enemy strengthening their works" every day for several days straight. (William Heath wrote to Washington requesting permission to fire cannon at Montresor's Island/the ships in the East River, IIRC, and Washington wrote back saying hell no, don't poke them.) The campaign affected the fighting of the fire somewhat, because Frederick Mackenzie says no soldiers were sent to help fight the fire during the night because William Howe was worried Washington planned to use the fire as a distraction to launch an attack, but not the other way around. Binabik80 (talk) 21:33, 28 August 2025 (UTC)

The previous coordinates in this article pointed into what was the water at the time. The tip of Manhattan has grown through landfill in the intervening years. Abductive (reasoning) 15:15, 21 September 2019 (UTC)

Several citations mention "Chester" without giving any information but the page number. Could it be "hidden" somehow? Can someone provide the reference, or should these be flagged as "citation needed"? Humphrey Tribble (talk) 21:57, 18 August 2022 (UTC)

That event was portrayed in various works, such as in Assassin's Creed III. IdanST (talk) 10:13, 4 October 2025 (UTC)