In 1776, Angry New Yorkers Tore Down a Statue of George III With a Revolutionary Fervor. A New Exhibition Lets You Do It, Too

New York City played a pivotal role in the American Revolution. This museum brings the city’s 18th-century history to life through artifacts, immersive environments and interactive experiences

Ellen Wexler | Writer and Special Projects Editor

May 27, 2026 3:00 p.m.

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The imposing 4,000-pound statue of George III arrived in Manhattan in 1770, five years before the start of the American Revolution. Dressed in a full suit of armor, the king sat on horseback with his right arm raised. He was presented as an ancient Roman emperor—and as the New York Times’ David W. Dunlap wrote in 2016, “his message to a colony in revolutionary turmoil was plain enough: Don’t even think about it.”

New York’s colonists didn’t heed this warning. On July 9, 1776, General George Washington gathered members of the Continental Army in lower Manhattan to hear the recently signed Declaration of Independence read aloud. That night, a few blocks away, some 40 men memorably tore down George’s statue. The colonists later fashioned the scrap metal into 42,088 musket balls.

Today, only a few fragments of the statue survive. But for history buffs interested in recreating the frenzied scene, look no further than the Museum of the City of New York, about seven miles uptown from where George once stood, where visitors can grab a rope and pull until a virtual reproduction of the statue topples to the ground.

This simulation is part of “The Occupied City,” an exhibition marking America’s semiquincentennial. The show focuses on New York City’s pivotal role in the Revolutionary War, tracing “the first sparks of rebellion” in 1763 to the city’s brief stint as the new nation’s capital from 1785 to 1790.

“This revolution is not a story that happened out there somewhere,” Sarah Henry, a senior scholar and curator emerita at the museum, tells Spectrum News NY1’s Roger Clark. “This is a story that belongs to us, and it happened here.”

The exhibition, which stretches across the museum’s third floor, covers 7,000 square feet. Created in partnership with the Gotham Center for New York City History, it features Revolutionary-era artifacts, immersive environments and interactive experiences that bring the 18th-century city to life.

In early 1776, patriot and British leaders understood the city as central to unifying—or breaking—the revolutionary cause. “If you could capture New York, you could split the Massachusetts folks from the Virginia folks,” Henry adds. “You could just slice the revolution in half.”

New York City and the Hudson River were “kind of key to the whole continent,” John Adams wrote to George Washington in a January letter. “No effort to secure it ought to be omitted.”

In late August, just weeks after the colonists toppled the king’s statue, thousands of British troops trapped Washington and 9,000 of his men in Brooklyn Heights. This incident, now known as the Battle of Brooklyn or the Battle of Long Island, was the largest battle of the war. The British would occupy New York until late 1783, imposing martial law on the city.

The exhibition is grounded in the stories of individuals—“from revolutionaries and loyalists to enslaved and free Black New Yorkers and Native peoples”—who lived in the city during this fateful time.

“The people whose lives unfold in this exhibition, whether their names are familiar to us or brand new, were living through their own contemporary moment,” Elisabeth Sherman, curator and deputy director at the museum, tells the New York Post’s Katherine Donlevy. “It was as urgent and immediate as our moment is to us today.”

Museumgoers will see a log of enslaved laborers, many of whom joined the British in exchange for their freedom. The show also commemorates the thousands of Americans who died as prisoners of war aboard British ships in Wallabout Bay, where they endured starvation and disease.

“They die in prison ships in Brooklyn Navy Yard at three times the level of people who die on the battlefield,” Peter-Christian Aigner, director of the Gotham Center, tells WABC’s Michelle Charlesworth.

“The Occupied City” showcases a collection of belongings of founding father Alexander Hamilton, who lived in New York, including a desk, an armchair, portraits and a preserved segment of a tree he planted. Other artifacts on display include handwritten letters, cannonballs, uniforms worn by soldiers, a gown worn to Washington’s inaugural ball and a water bucket used to put out the Great Fire of 1776.

Porcelain cups and a “No Stamp Act” teapot are on view in a recreated coffeehouse, and a recreated tavern features 17th- and early 18th-century bottles, plates and tableware. “Rather than being presented as isolated highlights, these objects function as part of a lived-in environment, immersing visitors in the material culture of everyday social and political life,” per the museum.

In addition to the statue incident, several other key events feature in multimedia installations. Visitors can also see a recreation of 18th-century New York using scenes from the video game “Assassin’s Creed III.”

In the popular imagination, the American Revolution is often associated with cities like Boston and Philadelphia. Scholars say the semiquincentennial is a unique opportunity to help establish New York City’s pivotal role in the country’s early history.

“You have to catch these waves when they come,” Aigner, who also co-created an app featuring sites from the city’s Revolutionary history, told the Times’ James Barron last year. “You have to talk about these things over July 4 or Memorial Day. Otherwise, people tune you out.”

After the war, Washington took the oath of office in New York City’s Federal Hall in 1789. The city also served as the United States’ first official capital until 1790. That year, the Residence Act declared that the capital would relocate to Philadelphia for a decade before ultimately moving to a permanent site on the Potomac River—now known as Washington, D.C.

“The Occupied City” is on view at the Museum of the City of New York through spring 2027.

Ellen Wexler | | Read More

Ellen Wexler is a staff writer and special projects editor, digital, for Smithsonian magazine.