Happy Evacuation Day!!

Today is not only Saint Patrick's Day - but here in Boston it is "Evacuation Day"- which is a holiday! Now not all of you may be as much of a history loving geek as my mom so let me fill you in...

March 17th in the greater Boston area is Evacuation Day, an official holiday commemorating the evacuation of the city Boston by the British forces during the American Revolutionary War. (My human says if you get HBO you really should watch the Adams miniseries all about John Adams - Bostonian and founding father. All I can say is I slept through the whole show - YAWN!)

ANYHOW......
On March 17, 1776 the 11-month siege of Boston ended when the Continental Army, under the command of General George Washington, fortified Dorchester Heights with cannons captured at Ticonderoga, forcing General Howe’s's garrison to attack or flee. To prevent what could have been a slaughter of his troops, Howe agreed to retreat to Nova Scotia via his ships without setting the city on fire as he left.

Boston was one of the most important ports in the New World, and one of the most defensible (there is only a single channel into Boston Harbor which is ringed with islands). That the Americans were able to drive off several thousand hardened troops and 1,100 loyalists with only a few warning shots fired and no loss of life or property was a major accomplishment and was Washington's first victory of the war. It was also a huge morale boost for the new country, as the city where the rebellion against England started was the first to be liberated. Boston was never attacked again.

My mom loves this holiday, not because it is really Saint Patrick's Day and not because it commemorates a historic time - she just thinks it's cool that the cannons came from her very own beloved upstate New York to save the day!!
I like the holiday because I am styling in my shamrock collar! Have a happy day!