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.

The July 9, 1776 reading of the Declaration of Independence in "the Fields," or City Hall Park by George Washington, incited a lively demonstration of support. Forty Massachusetts militia men led by Captain Oliver Brown and Sons of Liberty by Isaac Sears  proceeded down Broadway and toppled the statue of George III. The finials/ornaments at the top of the fence posts were also cut off.The statue was chopped up and shipped to Oliver Wolcott's Connecticut foundry.  Half of the pieces were stolen by Loyalists and the remainder was made into 42,088 patriot bullets at 20 bullets per pound (2,104.4 pounds). The statue's head was to have been paraded about town on pike-staffs but was recovered by Loyalists and sent to England." Headquarters, " New York, July 10, 1776. "Though the General doubts not the persons who pulled down and mutilated the statue in the Broadway last night were actuated by zeal in the public cause, yet it has so much the appearance of riot and want of order in the army, that he disapproves the manner, and directs that in future these things shall be avoided by the soldiery, and left to be executed by proper authority."In retaliation for the destruction of King George III's statue the statue of William Pitt was destroyed by the British.