George Washington Archives

Boston’s Independence Day: Evacuation Day at 250 (episode 348)

2026 marks the 250th anniversary of American independence, and here in Boston Independence Day comes early, on a holiday we celebrate every year on March 17 as Evacuation Day. In the early months of 1776, the American Revolution was stuck in a freezing, muddy stalemate. For nearly a year, George Washington’s fledgling Continental Army had kept the British regulars pinned inside the city of Boston, but without heavy artillery, they lacked the muscle to actually end the occupation. Washington, frustrated and desperate, even fantasized about a suicidal frontal assault across the ice of the Charles River. But the arrival of Henry Knox and his “noble train of artillery”—dozens of cannons hauled 300 miles through the winter wilderness from Fort Ticonderoga—flipped the script overnight. This episode explores the high-stakes gambit that followed: the secret, overnight fortification of Dorchester Heights.

We’ll dive into the primary accounts of those who lived through it—from Abigail Adams listening to the earth-shaking roar of a diversionary bombardment, to British officers waking up to find a “miraculous” fortress staring down their throats. You’ll learn how Washington used the best tactics and technology of 18th-century military engineering, like portable bulletproof shields crafted of wicker and dirt, known as Gabions, Fascines and Chandeliers, pulling off a logistical feat that left the British commander, General Howe, stunned. It’s a story of military brinksmanship, a providential storm that changed the course of history, and the chaotic, plundering retreat of the British that we remember every March 17th as Evacuation Day. Join us as we go behind the lines of the first great American victory of the war.

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Hot Siege Summer (episode 334)

After the Battle of Bunker Hill in June, the siege of Boston reverted to a stalemate through the summer of 1775. While Benedict Arnold would lead some of the Continentals north from Cambridge into Canada and Henry Knox tried to wrestle Fort Ticonderoga’s cannons south from upstate New York to Cambridge, there was not a lot of action around Boston. Instead, as we’ll explore in this episode, the focus shifted to preparation, with riflemen from the far western frontier in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland joining the lines, with Continentals building new forts to consolidate their siege lines, and with the redcoats venting their frustrations on Boston’s Liberty Tree. We’ll also see how the new Continental commander in chief, George Washington, could barely be restrained from ordering a direct, frontal assault on the superior British force in Boston, even though there wasn’t enough ammunition in the Continental camp to go around.

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The Well Known Caesar Marion (was committed to prison) (episode 333)

In this episode, we go in search of a Black Bostonian who was “well known” to his contemporaries, including Boston newspapers, but who was all but forgotten by history. If not for a one-paragraph news article and work by historians to reconstruct aspects of his life from notarial records, we may not know the name Caesar Marion. In this somewhat brief episode, we’re going to look at why Mr. Marion was thrown into Boston’s notorious jail 250 years ago this week, and then we’ll compare his treatment inside British-occupied Boston with the experience of Black volunteers in the Continental Army outside Boston, once Virginia enslaver George Washington took command.

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George Washington Takes Command at Cambridge, featuring the American Revolution Podcast (episode 330)

This week we celebrate another important anniversary in the lead up to America’s 250th birthday. On July 3, 1775, George Washington assumed command of the newly created Continental Army at their headquarters in Cambridge, and Mike Troy of the American Revolution podcast is going to tell us how it happened. Mike was our guest last week, but this week he’s allowing me to play clips from two of his classic shows. I’m going to play part of episode 64 of the American Revolution Podcast, which was titled “The Second Continental Congress Begins,” and all of episode 67, “Washington Takes Command.” Both these episodes originally aired on the American Revolution Podcast in the fall of 2018, and they will allow us to understand why the Continental Army was created, how George Washington was chosen as our first Commander in Chief, and the challenges Washington faced upon taking command in Cambridge 250 years ago this week.

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Mutiny at Prospect Hill (episode 256)

During the summer of 1775, when the siege of Boston was at its peak, about 1500 Pennsylvania Riflemen answered a call for volunteers. By the time they reached the American lines in Cambridge, expectations for these troops were through the roof. Thanks in no small part to a publicity campaign engineered by John Adams, the New England officers commanding the troops around Boston believed that these fresh troops were capable of nearly everything. Their reputation was based in part upon the riflemen’s origins on the frontier, and in part on the advanced weaponry they carried. While they’re the status quo today, rifles were new to both armies that were facing off in Boston and nearly unheard of here in New England. However, fame went to these soldiers’ heads, and after only a couple of months on the front line, they were nearly ungovernable. They refused to take part in the regular duties of an American soldier, they staged jailbreaks when their comrades were locked up for infractions against military discipline, and on September 10th, they staged the first mutiny in the new Continental Army.

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Hostibus Primo Fugatis: The Washington Before Boston Medal (episode 253)

Back in 2015, I was at the Boston Public Library for a special exhibition called “We Are One,” which showcased items from their collection dating from the French and Indian War to the Constitutional Convention, showing how thirteen fractious colonies forged a single national identity. Libraries have a lot more than just books, of course. The BPL has everything from streaming movies and music to historic maps to medieval manuscripts to Leslie Jones’ photos to one remarkable gold medal. Some of the items on display were breathtaking, like a map hand drawn by George Washington, Paul Revere’s hand drawn diagram showing where the bodies fell during the Boston Massacre, and a gorgeous 360 degree panorama showing the view from the top of Beacon Hill during the siege of Boston. What stopped me in my tracks, though, was a solid gold medal. It was about three inches in diameter, but it was hard to tell through the thick and probably bulletproof glass protecting it.

On the side facing me, I could see a bust of George Washington and some words, but they were too small to read. A special bracket held the medal in front of a mirror, and on the back I could make out more lettering, as well as a cannon and a group of men on horses. Later, I learned that this was the Washington Before Boston Medal, commemorating the British evacuation of Boston. It was the first Congressional gold medal, and the first medal of any kind commissioned by the Continental Congress during our Revolutionary War. This illustrious medal’s journey to the stacks of the Boston Public Library will take us from Henry Knox’s cannons at Dorchester Heights to John Adams at the Second Continental congress in Philly to Ben Franklin in Paris to a Confederate’s dank basement in West Virginia during the Civil War.

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