Evacuation Day in Boston marks the departure of the British on March 17, 1776, ending the 11-month “Siege of Boston.” This painting by Gilbert Stuart shows Washington at Dorchester Heights, where he surprised the British with new fortifications and cannons. The “Evacuation” took troops and Tory citizens to Halifax, NS. In Boston, Evacuation Day a local holiday, often combined with St. Patrick’s Day. Dorchester Heights is in South Boston.
Tag Archives: State Street
Boston Massacre woodcut by Paul Revere
Boston Massacre – March 5, 1770 – photo
USS Constitution freedom photo
Boston Historic Park – Bunker Hill photo – Freedom Trail
Old State House July 4
Boston Massacre + Old State House photo
The Boston Massacre occurred on a snowy evening, March 5, 1770, in front of the Old State House. Troops occupying Boston to enforce the new British taxes fired into a mob of about sixty rowdy Bostonians, wounding eight and killing five. Crispus Attucks, an African-american, was among the first to die.
Old State House photo Freedom Trail
Boston’s oldest public building, erected in 1713 overlooking Long Wharf, replaced an old wooden Town House dating from 1658. After the Great fire of 1711, the town financed a brick building with a room for the Elder’s meeting, a library, an arsenal, and an arcaded farmers’ market “for the country people that come with theire provisions…to sitt dry and warme both in colde raine and durty weather.” It became the hub of the colony’s trade.
Preserved and operated by The Bostonian Society.