Yorktown (VA) the town where British general Charles, Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army and in effect brought an end to the war, is the most famous York in the Revolutionary War. But the city of the same name in south central Pennsylvania deserves mention.
Most notably, York, Pennsylvania, was the Capital of the United States from September 30, 1777, until June 7, 1778. This happened when the Continental Congress fled the approaching British army that occupied Philadelphia that winter after victories at Brandywine and Germantown. The legislators set up shop in York, about 100 miles west of Independence Hall.
Settled in 1741, York was the first town established by English colonists west of the Susquehanna River. Its population was primarily of German and Scotch-Irish descent and by the time of the Revolution, York was a bustling trade and manufacturing center.
York’s nine months as the capital city was an eventful time. It was at York on November 15, 1777, that Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the framework that more or less governed the “perpetual union” until the Constitution was ratified in 1788. With the adoption of these Articles, the “Continental Congress” became the “Confederation Congress” and the “United States of America” was officially born. (This is what justifies the claim by York boosters that York was the first capital of the “United States of America.”)
The very next day and nearly 2000 miles away, the American ship Andrew Doria, fired a salute upon entering the harbor of Dutch Sint Eustatius Island. The ship was there to purchase weapons, a lucrative trade carried on by American merchants and the Dutch, despite strong British displeasure. Knowing full well that the British would consider it an act of war, the Dutch governor ordered his garrisons to give full honors to the American ship, which was the first ship flying the flag of the United States to enter the Dutch harbor. The Dutch garrisons surrounding the harbor returned the salute. This marked the first official recognition of the United States by a foreign country.
This first recognition was shortly followed by an even more momentous action: official recognition by and a formal alliance with England’s principal rival, France. A month before Congress moved to York, a British army under the command of “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne, defeated in the battles of Saratoga and surrounded, surrendered to American forces commanded by General Horatio Gates. America’s ambassador to France, Benjamin Franklin, used this sign of American viability to wring not just recognition but a treaty of alliance from France. The treaty was signed February 2, 1778, and ratified by Congress, still meeting in York, May 4 the same year. From then on, the British were at war not only with some rebellious farmers, but with France and other European powers.
Finally, the most serious general’s plot against Washington, the so-called “Conway Cabal,” was hatched at the Golden Plough Tavern and the next-door General Gates house in York. The “cabal” was a loose-knit collection of congressmen and officers who (briefly) advocated replacing George Washington with the “hero of Saratoga,” Horatio Gates. Washington got wind of it and confronted the leaders, who promptly insisted their total devotion to Washington.
Having taken the rebel capital, the British quickly found that it did them no good: the Rebels didn’t even seem to notice that their adversaries had seized their capital city. Congress sat defiantly in York and Washington’s army remained intact in an encampment in Valley Forge. Now facing a world war, the British had to retrench. As soon as campaigning season arrived the next spring, the Redcoats abandoned Philadelphia and returned to New York City. Congress promptly returned to the urban pleasures of Philadelphia, ending an extremely eventful nine months in York.
