Statue of King George III

The Statue was installed on the birthday of Prince Frederick, George III's son.  The celebration included members of the Colonial and city governments, the Corporations of the Chambers of Commerce, and the Marine Society as well as the officers of the Royal Army & Navy waiting with the Lieutenant Governor at the fort nearby, where toasts were drunk to the accompaniment of military music and artillery. 

With the rapid deterioration of relations with Britain after 1770, the statue became a magnet for the Bowling Green protests. In 1773, the city passed an anti-graffiti and anti-desecration law to counter vandalism against the monument, and a protective cast-iron fence was built along the perimeter of the park which cost nearly as much as the sculpture; the fence is still extant, making it the city's oldest fence.

After the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the soldiers joined by members of the Sons of Liberty marched down Broadway and turned their attention to the gilded equestrian statue of King George in the Center of Bowling Green.  Armed with axes,  they made quick work of the 2 ton sculpture.  Lead which was in short supply in the colonies was much needed for ammunition.  Most of it was loaded into oxcarts and was brought to Litchfield, Connecticut where General Oliver Wolcott's foundry melted it down into 42,088 bullets.  That actually used only one ton of lead.  Consequently, a lot of the pieces went missing.  King George's head was put on a spike and was placed outside of a tavern near Fort Washington.  British Captain John Montresor rescued it and had it sent back to England where it ended up in the estate of Charles Townshend.  The tail ended up at the New York Historical Society.  It is currently on loan to the Museum of the American Revolution.  Some of it was buried in loyalist estates in Connecticut. Every so often a piece is discovered and auctioned off.  

In retaliation for the destruction of King George III's statue the statue of William Pitt was destroyed by the British.