Revolutionary Era Recalled
For 130 years or so, evacuation day
- the day the British troops finally left after the Revolution - was a bigger New York City holiday than Thanksgiving. World War I ended the practice.
Yesterday, a couple of hundred people at City Hall revived it (two days early, but who would be around for a party on the Friday after a holiday?). The basement corridors were decorated with flags of nations that had helped the colonies and with 13-star American flags.
George Seuffert, music adviser to Mayor Koch, brought along piano music of the era. Paul O'Dwyer, the former City Council president and an outspoken supporter of independence for his native Ireland, spoke on the desirability of the British leaving anywhere.
On Nov. 25, 1783, when the British left, they nailed a Union Jack to a flagpole at the battery, then cut the halyard and greased the pole, according to Joseph M. Fitzpatrick, public information officer for the City Council and organizer of the party.
''A young sailor named David Van Arsdale managed to climb the pole and cut down the British flag,'' Mr. Fitzpatrick said. So the party also honored David's descendant, Harry Van Arsdale, head of the Central Labor Council.
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