<P> The British interrogated more than 200 suspects, but no charges were ever filed . Coincidentally, Nathan Hale, an American captain engaged in spying for Washington, was arrested in Queens the day the fire started . Rumors attempting to link him to the fires have never been substantiated; there is nothing indicating that he was arrested (and eventually hanged) for anything other than espionage . </P> <P> Major General James Robertson confiscated surviving uninhabited homes of known Patriots and assigned them to British officers . Churches, other than the state churches (Church of England) were converted into prisons, infirmaries, or barracks . Some of the common soldiers were billeted with civilian families . There was a great influx of Loyalist refugees into the city resulting in further overcrowding, and many of these returning and additional Loyalists from Patriot - controlled areas encamped in squalid tent cities on the charred ruins . The fire convinced the British to put the city under martial law rather than returning it to civilian authorities . Crime and poor sanitation were persistent problems during the British occupation, which did not end until they evacuated the city on November 25, 1783 . </P>

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