07/07/2026
THE BIRCH TRIALS were held at Fraunces Tavern in NYC
Following communications between General George Washington and Sir Guy Carleton, and ahead of the British Army's evacuation of New York City in November 1783, a joint British and American Board of Commissioners was formed "to superintend all embarkations." The Board of Commissioners met at Fraunces Tavern to evaluate claims that some Black Loyalists were ineligible to evacuate the City with the British.
An order issued by British Adjutant-General Oliver De Lancey states that the "Board will assemble at Frances's Tavern, every Monday and Friday, at ten o-Clock, where they will attend from that hour till two o-Clock, to receive and settle all claims relative to Negros." This was published in Rivington's Royal Gazette on May 30, 1783. A similar order appears in handwritten form in the official record known today as the Book of Negroes (noting the Commission was to meet on Wednesdays).
The Commission was overseen by British Brigadier General Samuel Birch, Commander of the 17th Regiment of Light Dragoons and Commandant of New York, who was appointed by Carleton to oversee the proceedings. As a result, these proceedings have now come to be called the "Birch Trials." Both testimony and documentary evidence were presented during these proceedings.
Contemporaneous records do not specify where in Fraunces Tavern the Board of British and American Commissioners met. It is likely that the Long Room on the second floor of Frances Tavern (or another room on the second floor) would have been used, since a room on the second floor would provide an appropriate location separate from the common public rooms of the Tavern for a proceeding of this nature. The fact that George Washington's farewell to his officers later in 1783 took place in the Long Room (which is documented in Benjamin Tallmadge's memoirs) underscores the use of the Long Room for occasions of this nature at the time.
