Alexandersmap

    Tag: Colonel Henry Knox

    • Evacuation Day

      March 17th is of course St. Patrick’s Day, and Boston celebrates this day as well as anyone with the parade in South Boston and taverns overflowing with Irish and Irish-for-the-day revelers.  But Boston has another reason to celebrate the day that is unique to the city.  On March 17, 1776 Boston’s long siege ended as the British evacuated the city and sailed to Halifax.  Boston has marked this date forever since as Evacuation Day, and it remains a city holiday to this day.

      The siege may have continued on indefinitely had Colonel Henry Knox not pulled off the Herculean task of hauling cannon from Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point to Dorchester Heights.  The British had the naval strength to continue controlling the harbor, meaning the siege was an inconvenience but the loyalists and British in Boston wouldn’t starve.  It was only when they saw the cannon on Dorchester Heights that they realized the dangerous position that put them in and chose to pull out.

      There are many people who roll their eyes at Evacuation Day as a city holiday.  They surmise, perhaps correctly, that it’s an excuse to have a day off for the drinking, parade and extracurricular activity of St. Patrick’s Day.  But if you’re a history buff it’s a great day to celebrate.

      Today is Evacuation Day at home as well, as both kids head back to college.  This is bittersweet of course, but ultimately a necessary rite of passage as they both move deeper into adulthood.  My hope is that they get safely back to school before the drunks hit the road after a long day of celebratory drinking.

    • Perspective on the Weather

      Perspective on the Weather

      It’s bitterly cold outside.  Snow boots, winter parka, bomber hat flaps tight to the face when you’re letting the dog out cold.  In general I don’t complain about the weather.  Hell I live in New England and while some call it our birthright, I view it as whining about something you can control.  Don’t like it?  Move to Florida.

      When it gets like this I think about the people who were out in these elements fighting the Revolutionary War or the French & Indian War.  No creature comforts for Colonel Henry Knox and the soldiers in his command as they hauled artillery 300 miles through the wilderness from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston to help free the city from the British siege in the winter of 1775 – 1776.  Nor for Rogers Rangers and slowly starved to death as they evaded the French and Native Americans who were actively hunting for them on lands they knew better.  No reprieve for George Washington and the soldiers hunkered down at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777 – 1778.  I could write another hundred examples but I think you get the point.

      History offers great perspective on what real hardship is.  It isn’t living in the suburbs with a gas furnace and six supermarkets within ten minutes drive and pizza delivery a call away.  No, this isn’t hardship, and I tune out those who complain about it.