Great Fire of New York (1776)
E194447
The Great Fire of New York (1776) was a massive blaze that destroyed a large portion of New York City shortly after the British captured it during the American Revolutionary War.
All labels observed (4)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Great Fire of 1776 in New York | 1 |
| Great Fire of New York (1776) canonical | 1 |
| Great New York City Fire of 1776 | 1 |
| New York City fire of September 1776 | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1736603 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Great Fire of New York (1776) Context triple: [British occupation of New York City, significantEvent, Great Fire of New York (1776)]
-
A.
Great New Orleans Fire of 1788
The Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 was a devastating blaze that destroyed much of colonial New Orleans and prompted the extensive Spanish-era reconstruction that shaped the modern French Quarter’s architecture.
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B.
Fire of 1823
The Fire of 1823 was a devastating blaze that largely destroyed Rome’s ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, prompting its extensive 19th-century reconstruction.
-
C.
Great Holland Fire of 1871
The Great Holland Fire of 1871 was a devastating conflagration that destroyed much of Holland, Michigan, during the same period as the Great Chicago Fire and other major Midwest fires.
-
D.
Great Fire of 1698 at Whitehall
The Great Fire of 1698 at Whitehall was a devastating blaze that destroyed much of England’s principal royal residence, effectively ending the Palace of Whitehall’s role as the main seat of the monarchy.
-
E.
Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a catastrophic urban conflagration that destroyed much of Chicago, killed hundreds, left thousands homeless, and spurred major changes in building codes and city planning.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Great Fire of New York (1776) Target entity description: The Great Fire of New York (1776) was a massive blaze that destroyed a large portion of New York City shortly after the British captured it during the American Revolutionary War.
-
A.
Great New Orleans Fire of 1788
The Great New Orleans Fire of 1788 was a devastating blaze that destroyed much of colonial New Orleans and prompted the extensive Spanish-era reconstruction that shaped the modern French Quarter’s architecture.
-
B.
Fire of 1823
The Fire of 1823 was a devastating blaze that largely destroyed Rome’s ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, prompting its extensive 19th-century reconstruction.
-
C.
Great Holland Fire of 1871
The Great Holland Fire of 1871 was a devastating conflagration that destroyed much of Holland, Michigan, during the same period as the Great Chicago Fire and other major Midwest fires.
-
D.
Great Fire of 1698 at Whitehall
The Great Fire of 1698 at Whitehall was a devastating blaze that destroyed much of England’s principal royal residence, effectively ending the Palace of Whitehall’s role as the main seat of the monarchy.
-
E.
Great Chicago Fire of 1871
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a catastrophic urban conflagration that destroyed much of Chicago, killed hundreds, left thousands homeless, and spurred major changes in building codes and city planning.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
disaster in New York City
ⓘ
historical event ⓘ urban fire ⓘ |
| affected |
British military authorities in New York
ⓘ
civilian population of New York City ⓘ |
| after |
Battle of Long Island
ⓘ
British capture of New York City in 1776 ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Great Fire of New York (1776)
ⓘ
surface form:
Great Fire of 1776 in New York
Great Fire of New York (1776) ⓘ
surface form:
New York City fire of September 1776
|
| causeStatus | cause disputed ⓘ |
| chronologicalOrder | early in the British occupation of New York City ⓘ |
| cityStatusAtTime | New York City under British control ⓘ |
| contemporaryAccusation |
accusations against American patriots of setting the fire
ⓘ
accusations against British soldiers of looting during the fire ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| destroyed |
a large portion of New York City
ⓘ
hundreds of buildings ⓘ large parts of the west side of Lower Manhattan ⓘ many structures around Broadway ⓘ many structures around Whitehall Street ⓘ many structures around the tip of Manhattan ⓘ |
| era | 18th century ⓘ |
| hasEndDate | 1776-09-21 ⓘ |
| hasStartDate | 1776-09-21 ⓘ |
| hasTimePeriod | September 1776 ⓘ |
| hasTopic |
historical debates over responsibility for the fire
ⓘ
military occupation and civilian life in the American Revolution ⓘ urban disaster history of New York City ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
occurred shortly after George Washington’s forces retreated from New York
ⓘ
took place during the early phase of the American Revolutionary War ⓘ |
| languageOfPrimarySources | English ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
Manhattan
ⓘ
New York City ⓘ Province of New York ⓘ |
| notableFeature |
broke out at night
ⓘ
limited firefighting resources under wartime conditions ⓘ strong winds helped spread the flames ⓘ |
| occurredDuring | British military occupation of New York City ⓘ |
| partOf | American Revolutionary War ⓘ |
| possibleCause |
accidental fire
ⓘ
deliberate arson ⓘ |
| resultedIn |
homelessness for many residents
ⓘ
long-term changes to the urban landscape of Lower Manhattan ⓘ significant property loss ⓘ |
| spared |
most of the East Side of Lower Manhattan
ⓘ
most of the area around Wall Street ⓘ most of the area around the East River waterfront ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Great Fire of New York (1776) Description of subject: The Great Fire of New York (1776) was a massive blaze that destroyed a large portion of New York City shortly after the British captured it during the American Revolutionary War.
Referenced by (4)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Great New York City Fire of 1776
this entity surface form:
Great Fire of 1776 in New York
this entity surface form:
New York City fire of September 1776