USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Celebration of the centennial anniversary of the evacuation of Boston by the British Army, March 17th, 1776 > Part 2
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
wharf was known first as " Boston Pier," and in the act of incorporation, granted in 1772, is described as " Boston Pier, otherwise called the Long Wharf."
The property was divided into twenty-four shares, and descendants of some of the original owners still retain the ownership of shares and stores. In 1745, during the war with France, the town erected a breast- work and planted a line of guns upon the end of the wharf. This appears to be the only instance of the town's availing itself of the reservation contained in the grant to the proprietors.
After the fall of Louisburg, Governor Shirley landed here, and met with a brilliant reception. General Gage landed here in 1774, and was received by the members of the Council and House of Representatives. Some of the principal inhabitants of the town, with the company of cadets, escorted him to the Council Chamber amid salutes of artillery and the cheers of the people. Most of the British troops landed here, and the 5th and 88th British regiments embarked from here for Bunker Hill. When the British evacuated the town this was the principal point of embarkation. A large quantity of stores was left upon the wharf, and General Gage's chariot was taken from the dock broken. A brigantine, a sloop, and a schooner were scuttled and left there, and many articles were found in the dock, which had been thrown over by the British.
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
ILLUMINATIONS.
On the evening of March 17, 1876, the following buildings were illuminated by the city authorities : -
Faneuil Hall, City Hall, the Old State-House, and the Old South Church. The State-House was illuminated by the State authorities. Calcium lights were exhibited from the top of Bunker Hill Monument, at Dorchester Heights, from the top of the Lawrence School-house, and from the Cochituate stand-pipe at the Highlands.
Fortifications were constructed by the Americans during the siege on Dorchester Heights, on the hill where the stand-pipe is situated, and on what was then known as Nook's Hill, the site of the Lawrence School-house.
The following is a brief account of the last-mentioned places : -
DORCHESTER HEIGHTS.
The works on Dorchester Heights were constructed with a view of forcing the enemy to attack the American lines. On the 26th of February, Washington wrote: "I am preparing to take a post on Dorchester Heights, to try if the enemy will be so kind as to come out to us."
The work of constructing the fortifications was commenced about eight o'clock, on the night of the 4th of March, and when morning dawned, the works were in a condition to afford a good defence against small arms and grape-shot.
The works commanded both the harbor and the town, and left the British but one alternative, either to evacuate the town, or to drive the Americans from their fortifications.
The latter course was determined upon. and twenty -four hundred men were ordered to rendezvous at Castle William, for the purpose of making a night attack upon the works.
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
That afternoon a furious storm arose ; the surf was so great upon the shore where the boats were to have landed that they could not have lived in it, and the design was abandoned. A council of war was held, and it was determined to evacuate the town.
ROXBURY FORT.
The Cochitnate stand-pipe marks the site of what was considered one of the strongest forts constructed by the Americans during the siege.
It was built under the direction of General Knox, and was known as the Roxbury Fort, sometimes called the High or Star Fort.
The strength of its construction, and its position on the top of a steep hill, rendered it almost impregnable.
NOOK'S IIILL.
The appearance, on the morning of March 17th, 1776, of the fortifica- tions on Nook's IIill hastened the departure of the British troops. It completely commanded the town, and its possession by the Americans would place the British forces at their mercy.
An attempt was made by the Americans to fortify it, on the 9th of March, a strong detachment being sent for that purpose ; but one of the men kindled a fire, which was seen by the British, who commenced a severe cannonade upon them. Five Americans were killed, and the detachment was forced to retire.
On the 16th another detachment was sent to the hill, and succeeded in fortifying it, in spite of a heavy cannonade, and the next morning the British evacuated the town.
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RECEPTION OF THE WASHINGTON MEDAL.
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THE WASHINGTON MEDAL.
The gold Medal commemorative of the Evacuation of Boston became the property of George Steptoe Washington, the son of Samuel Wash- ington, who was the General's elder brother. The next owner of the Medal was Dr. Samuel Walter Washington, eldest son of George Steptoe Washington. On the deccase of the doctor at Hasewood, Vir- ginia, in 1831, his widow became possessed of the relic. She is still living. She had given it to her only son, George Lafayette Washington, who had married the daughter of her brother, the Rev. Dr. John B. Clemson, of Claymont, Delaware. On the recent decease of George Lafayette Washington, the Medal became the property of his widow, Mrs. Aun Bull Washington, from whom with proper certificates and vouchers, by the generous co-operation of fifty citizens of Boston, it has now been secured to the permanent ownership of this city, with which it is so gratefully identified, and has been deposited in the Public Library.
Thus it appears that the Medal has been transmitted through the descendants, in successive generations, of General Washington's elder brother. They have fully appreciated its intrinsic and symbolic value, and have anxiously taken care for its safety under the risks and perils which have attended its preservation. It is, itself, a most beautiful and perfect specimen of workmanship of the die and mint, and is without a blemish or any perceptible wear of its sharp outlines. During our civil war its then owner, George Lafayette Washington, was residing eleven miles from Harper's Ferry, on the main route to Winchester, where the belligerents held alternate possession. The Medal, in its original case of green seal-skin, lined with velvet, was enveloped in cotton, and, de- posited in a box, was buried in the dry cellar of a venerable mansion where General Washington usually spent many months of the genial portion of the year. The original case, which fell into decay by this exposure, accompanies the Medal in its present repository.
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
The successive owners of this precious heir-loom have often been solicited to part with it by private importunity, or for public institutions, but have always declined to do so, having in view that if ever it passed out of their hands it should be to find its resting-place in the City of Boston. The losses to which its owners were subjected during the late war, concurring with the interest of the occasion of the centennial day which it commemorated, combined to induce the measures which have had such a felicitous result.
. A member of the Washington family residing in Texas, being aware of the willingness of his kinswoman in Delaware to part with the Medal, on the conditions just referred to, addressed a letter, on the 6th of last December, to his Honor, Mayor Cobb, making proposals to bring about the intended object.
As the Mayor did not judge it expedient to propose any official action to the city government, he consulted with the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop on the subject, who immediately prepared a subscription paper, which he, with the hearty co-operation of the Mayor and of ex-Mayor the HIon. Otis Norcross, succeeded in having filled to the necessary amount.
While this measure was in progress the Rev. Dr. Clemson, the uncle of the late George Lafayette Washington, and the father of his widow, Mrs. Ann Bull Washington, not being aware of the facts just stated, on February 22, 1876, addressed a letter to the HIon. John C. Park, of this city, opening a direct communication between the owner of the Medal and those who were interested in its transfer. In this letter Dr. Clem- son writes : " I might state that the Medal was verbally purchased by Governor Andrew; of your State, and on this honored day [the birth- day of Washington] was to have been presented to your citizens. But his premature death prevented the consummation."
This Medal, of which a description will be found in the following pages of this volume, was the only gold medal given by Congress to General Washington. Between the date of March 25, 1776, when this gift was bestowed by a resolve of Congress, and the year 1786, by votes of the same body, a series of ten more gold medals was struck at the Paris mint commemorative of the great events and the great men of the War of the Revolution. The French Government presented a set of these in silver, including also one in the same metal of that which had been given to him
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
in gold, to General Washington. It is asserted that they were prepared substantially under the direction of Lafayette. This series of eleven, known as the " Washington Medals," on the decease of the childless General, were disposed of with other similar treasures, under the direc- tion of his administrator, Judge Bushrod Washington, among the heirs- at-law. They afterwards came into the possession of the IIon. Daniel Webster, and, soon after his decease, into the hands of his friend, the Hon. Peter Harvey, of Boston. This gentleman, in April, 1874, most generously bestowed them upon the Massachusetts Historical Society, in whose cabinet they are now gratefully treasured. Thus all the " Washington Medals " are now in the City of Boston.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CITY COUNCIL RELATIVE TO THE WASHINGTON MEDAL.
At a meeting of the Board of Aldermen, March 20, 1876, the following communication was received : -
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, March 20, 1876. TO THE HONORABLE THE CITY COUNCIL. : -
Gentlemen, - It affords me much pleasure to inform you that the gold Medal presented to General George Washington by the American Con- gress in 1776, commemorative of the evacuation of Boston by the British troops, was recently purchased of the Washington family by a few of our citizens, to be given by them to the City of Boston and preserved in the Boston Public Library. This most valuable relic, so peculiarly interesting to Boston as commemorating the most important event in her history, has been placed in my hands, and by me transferred to the Trustees of the Public Library, in whose custody it is to remain, in accordance with the wishes of the donors. A copy of the subscription list, with the preamble stating the object of the subscription, is enclosed herewith.
SAMUEL C. COBB, Mayor.
OTPOR NO KOTTABOAVI
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
[corr.]
The large gold Medal presented to Washington, by Congress, for his services in expelling the British forces from Boston on the 17th of March, 1776, having remained in the Washington family for a hundred years, is now, owing to the circumstances of its immediate owner, privately offered for sale. The undersigned, feeling deeply that such a memorial should be among the most cherished treasures of our city, and should certainly go nowhere else, hereby agree to be responsible to an amount not exceeding one hundred dollars each, for the purchase of the Medal, to be presented to the City of Boston, and preserved forever in the Boston Public Library.
DECEMBER, 1875.
Robert C. Winthrop, John Amory Lowell, W. Amory,
S. D. Warren, Nathaniel J. Bradlee, J. Ingersoll Bowditch,
George W. Wales, E. R. Mudge,
William W. Tucker,
John L. Gardner,
Henry L. Pierce,
Henry G. Deny,
Samuel C. Cobb,
T. G. Appleton,
· James L. Little, P. C. Brooks,
Charles Francis Adams, William Endicott, Jr.
Sidney Brooks,
Otis Norcross, N. Thayer,
Henry Lee, William S. Appleton,
Richard C. Greenleaf,
Martin Brimmer,
Mary Brewer,
Thomas Wigglesworth,
William Gaston,
C. A. Brewer,
Alvah A. Burrage,
Edward Austin,
George C. Richardson, Alexander II. Rice,
Abbott Lawrence, Amos A. Lawrence, James Davis,
1I. P. Kidder,
E. B. Bigelow,
James Parker,
Eben D. Jordan, Walter Hastings, Charles Whitney.
11. H. Hunnewell, J. Huntington Wolcott,
Sent down.
Henry A. Whitney,
Cora F. Shaw,
Charles Faulkner,
Isaac Thacher,
Robert M. Mason,
William Appleton,
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
At the meeting of the Common Council, March 23d, the com- munication was read and placed on file, and Mr. Guild, of Ward 9, after some appropriate remarks, offered the following resolves : -
Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be presented to IIon. Robert C. Winthrop and his associates, for their active interest and successful effort in procuring and presenting to the City Council of Boston the valuable Medal which was given to General Washington in commemoration of his distinguished services in compelling the surrender of the Town of Boston by the British Army in 1776.
Resolved, That the members of the City Council are especially grati- fied that this precious memorial of Washington is henceforth to abide in this city, whose relief from peril was the occasion of its emission one hundred years ago.
The resolves were read twice and passed.
Sent up for concurrence.
In Board of Aldermen, March 27, 1876, the foregoing resolves were passed in concurrence, and were approved by the Mayor March 28, 1876.
OITAUOAVS
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SERVICES IN MUSIC HALL.
SERVICES IN MUSIC HALL.
The Music Hall was well filled by an intelligent and apprecia- tive audience, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the occasion. The Legislature, the City Council, and members of the City Gov- ernment occupied seats upon the floor. "Upon the platform were seated the principal civil, military and naval United States officers ; His Excellency the Governor and Staff'; His Honor the Lieutenant Governor ; His Honor the Mayor; the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, together with many leading citizens.
The decorations were confined almost entirely to the platform, and were appropriate to the occasion. In front of the organ, extending from one side of the platform to the other and half way to the ceiling, was a maroon-colored curtain, the border trimmed with bunting of the national colors. In the centre of the upper edge was a tablet bearing the date " 1776," surmounted by an eagle. At the corners to the right and left respectively were fac- similes of the obverse and reverse of the Washington Medal. Below the centre tablet hung a white banner bearing upon it a representation of the Pine-Tree. Below this was an English flag and a representation of the first American flag, the staff's crossed. The front of the platform was decorated with evergreens and calla lilies. Upon the face of the upper balcony was a repre- sentation of the city seal, decorated with bunting of the national colors.
Attached to the front of the reading desk was the old oaken tab- let, bearing, in carving, the King's Arms, taken from the Province
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CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY OF THE
House a hundred years ago ; preserved in the cabinet of the Mass. Historical Society, and loaned for the occasion,
At 2.30 o'clock, after music by the Germania Band, His Honor the Mayor addressed the audience in the following words : -
The members of this assembly are invited to give their attention while prayer is offered by the Rev. Dr. Manning, and at the close to unite in repeating the Lord's prayer.
Rev. Dr. Manning, pastor of the Old South Church, then offered the following prayer : -
PRAYER BY REV. DR. MANNING.
Almighty God, whom we worship as the maker and upholder of worlds; we give Thee our humble and most hearty thanks for all Thy favor and mercy toward our na- tive land. Especially do we now thank Thee for Thy goodness to this beloved Commonwealth: for Thy favor- ing providence in the days of its infancy and feebleness; and for the men whom Thou didst raise up in our own city, at the time to which our thoughts now go back, who forsook their homes and their dearest treasures and asso- ciations, and risked their lives, that they might drive out the armed invader, and secure the blessings of liberty to themselves and to us their children. We thank Thee for the great deliverance which Thou didst send them, which we are this day met to commemorate. We thank Thee that the mother-country, that Old England whose oppres- sions provoked our fathers to take up arms against her, is to-day our firm friend and ally among the nations of the earth; and that the mother and daughter are united in
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON. 35
efforts to maintain a spirit of peace and good-will be- tween themselves, and to extend the blessings of a Chris- tian civilization throughout the world. We thank Thee that Thou hast preserved to so great a degree the valor and soundness of our New England stock, so that to-day the eyes of the nation are turned hitherward in the time of extremity, for men who shall stem the floods of corruption at home, and who shall worthily represent our spirit and guard our interests in foreign courts. Prepare us now, we beseech Thee, to profit by the lessons of historic scenes and events which may pass in review before our minds. Let it be impressed upon us, while we are listen- ing to Thy servant, that a pure and upright character is the most precious relic of our past history which we can cherish; and that such a character, built up in us and our children, is the noblest monument we can erect to the memory of the men who laid the foundations of our gov- ernment. Bless, we beseech Thee, our entire land; all its rulers and all its people. Bless this beloved Common- wealth, the citizens and those who are in authority over us. Be gracious unto the city in which we dwell, bestow- ing Thy favor upon its government, upon its industries, upon its churches, its schools and its homes. Let us never degenerate from the heights of moral excellence where our fathers stood. But as the centuries pass away, one after another, may the character of our people be lifted nearer and nearer to that perfect standard of recti- tude which is set before us in the teachings and example of Thy Son, Jesus Christ.
Our Father, which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in carth as
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it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
At the conclusion of the prayer, the Germania Band played a selection, after which the Mayor spoke as follows : -
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OF MAYOR COBB.
FELLOW CITIZENS: - One hundred years ago to-day the British army, after standing a siege of almost a year, vacated the town of Boston at daybreak, and sailed down the harbor, bound for Halifax. The Continental troops immediately marched in and took triumphant possession. From that day to this no hostile force has trod the streets of the good old town. The nearest approach to such a humiliation was in 1863, when the Confederate army, at the culminating point of its successes and hopes, reached Gettysburg. That army did not arrive in Boston at that time. It did arrive on the 17th of June, 1875, by some of its representative organizations; not, however, breathing threatenings and slaughter, but bearing the olive-branch of Peace, coming with fraternal confidence and receiving a fraternal welcome; and on this very platform placed the palmetto beside the pine-tree, - the two symbols never to be separated again, so they said, and so we said.
In a like spirit we will celebrate this anniversary of the Evacuation, hoping, amid the grateful and patriotic mem- ories that cluster about the occasion, to strengthen still further the bonds of concord between the lately hostile
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
sections of the country, and also the relations of cordial amity between the revolted colonies and the mother-coun- try, - foes a hundred years ago, but friends to-day by every motive of mutual interest and every sentiment of kinship and every generous hope for the world's peace and the progress of humanity.
We do well, fellow-citizens, in coming together to-day to listen to the story of the Siege and Evacuation. The telling of it has been confided to one eminently fitted by his studies and tastes to tell it thoroughly and well.
May we so listen to it as to be inspired with new thank- fulness to the God who upheld our fathers in their great struggle, and who has carried their children through all the trials and perils of the century, and with new vows of de- votion to the unity and welfare of our country, our whole country, and the preservation and purity of its institu- tions.
By a most happy coincidence with the spirit of this oc- casion, I am privileged to announce a circumstance which will be a welcome delight to all our citizens. The orator of the day would have had to remind you, that, in com- memoration of the great event of this day, and as an expression of the profound respect of the people for Washington, - the head of our armies, - the Congress at Philadelphia, which had appointed him to his command, on learning that he had regained the possession of Boston, passed votes expressing their warmest praise and grati- tude, and providing that a Medal in gold, commemorating the event, should be struck to be presented to him.
That Medal, after the lapse of a hundred years, now visits for the first time the city with which it has so vitally
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interesting associations. It has been cherished in the line of the Washington family, fondly prized, and watchfully guarded. It has come here to stay, and is the property of the city. By the consent of its recent owner, and the thoughtful liberality of a few of our citizens, it is hence- forward, with proper vouchers for its authenticity and transfer, to be deposited in the Public Library of the city.
I now put it into your hands, sir, as you are about to rehearse the history of the event which it commemorates.
At the conclusion of the Mayor's remarks, the orator of the day, George E. Ellis, D.D., delivered the following address : -
[The address is here printed at length, as it was written. Considerable parts of it were omitted in the delivery.]
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EVACUATION OF BOSTON.
ADDRESS OF GEORGE E. ELLIS, D. D. 1
Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens: -
The Memorial Medal which you have put into my hands is itself the golden text, and substantially the orator and the discourse of this Centennial Day. In the discharge of the grateful and enviable office which you have assigned to me, I can at best but interpret the de- vice and expand the legend of this precious token. Wrought of the purest of the metals, coined into grati- tude and reverence, a magnetic power of subtle and refin- ing potency ought to inhere in it from the pure hands into which it first came.
It was the first gift, a complimentary tribute accom- panying a hearty recognition of high service, -made by what we must call, by anticipation, our republic. It ex- pressed the incipient nation's gratitude to its foremost man, then, ever since, and never more than now. An illegal assembly of delegates meeting at Philadelphia, from twelve rebelling colonies, - not yet asserting their Independence, but writing loyally their grievances and petitions to the King of Great Britain, who had expressly forbidden their assembling, - had nevertheless commis- sioned a military chieftain to head and lead an array of armed patriots against the invading forces of that mon-
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arch. He had done so for nine of the eleven months through which those troops, reinforced and supplied by a fleet in the open harbor, had been beleaguered on this peninsula. The skill and energy of that commander devised measures by which the humiliated army and fleet of Britain were driven away, never to return here again.
The Congress at Philadelphia - a thirteenth colony being now represented in it - voted its thanks and grati- tude to the commander-in-chief, and provided for this golden medal to be struck and presented to him. John Adams, with two associates, was charged with arranging for its device and inscription, when it should be struck in Paris. The decorator of this hall for to-day's exercises has thrown out the semblance of the medal, in proportions not one whit too enlarged. It bears, on the obverse, a profile head of Washington, - said to have been an ad- mirable likeness, - encircled with an inscription in Latin, which reads in English, - "The American Congress to George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of its Armies : The Assertor of Liberty." On the reverse, Washington and his aids appear on horseback on the Heights of Dor- chester, amid field-works and muniments, the town of Boston in view, while the chief points to the fleet of ves- sels, whose sterns show that they are leaving the harbor. The inscription, Englished, is, "The enemy being first routed, Boston was recovered March xvii. MDCCLXXVI."
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