On this day in 1776, British forces evacuate Boston following an 8-year occupation and 11-month siege when General George Washington’s Continental Army fortified Dorchester Heights with cannons captured at Ticonderoga.
The “Evacuation” was General Washington’s first victory of the war, and significant psychologically as the first city to be liberated is where the rebellion began.
Saint Patrick’s Day parades have been held in Boston since 1876, though Evacuation Day was not declared a state holiday until 1901.
The Evacuation reminds us, as Washington himself said: “No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States.”
Even with some cursory research, it is clear that “the invisible hand” played a major role in the life of St. Patrick as well.
The George Washington “Invisible Hand” t-shirt will be available on April 30, the same day he said those words above, in his first inaugural address in 1789.
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