New York City, however, obliged Washington’s earlier wishes by burning down anyway. On the night of Sept. 19, his troops watched from Harlem as a fire of mysterious origin, which had started around midnight at the southern tip of Manhattan, consumed most of the city from Broadway to the Hudson River, destroying roughly 500 houses, or about one-quarter of the city.

“The British never found proof that patriots were involved,” Mr. Chernow writes.

Convinced, however, that Washington’s agents had set the fire, the irate occupiers detained more than 100 suspects.

One of them, captured in Huntington, on Long Island, was Nathan Hale, who was hanged in Manhattan as a spy the morning of the 22nd.

Q. The Long Island Rail Road departure boards at Pennsylvania Station almost always include one or two trains with the destination “West Side Yard.” They show departure times of 12:00 or 12:01 (no matter what time of day it actually is), as well as announced tracks. Presumably no passengers want to go to the yard. What is the purpose of these postings?