March 17 is annually celebrated in Boston as “Evacuation Day,” commemorating the departure of the British from the city¹ after an extended eleven month occupation² at the start of the American War for Independence. That occupation lasted from April 19, 1775, through March 17, 1776, encompassing the Siege of Boston³ and including early notable events of the War, such as the Battles of Lexington and Concord,⁴ Bunker Hill,⁵ and George Washington taking command of the American army.⁶

The occupation started when British leader Thomas Gage led troops into Boston, and then dispatched hundreds to seize or destroy ammunition stored in Concord.⁷ Riders such as Paul Revere set out to warn local inhabitants,⁸ and also to alert John Hancock and Samuel Adams (who were under threat of death by the British⁹) of the approach of the British army.

Hancock and Adams were staying in the home of Lexington Pastor Jonas Clark.¹⁰ Pastor Clark and 77 militia from his church¹¹ gathered to meet the approaching British–a skirmish easily won by the 800 British troops.¹² (In the WallBuilders library is a sermon preached by Jonas Clark on the one-year anniversary of the Battle of Lexington.¹³)

After Lexington, the British pressed on to Concord, where they were met by Rev. William Emerson and some 400 Americans.¹⁴ After the British suffered casualties in that skirmish, they retreated to Boston,¹⁵ and all along the way, British forces were fired upon by American militias from the surrounding countryside, including those led by pastors such as Philips Payson and Benjamin Balch.¹⁶ (Many additional preachers also fought in other engagements throughout the War.¹⁷)

Evacuation Day is a reminder of the courage and backbone shown by the spiritual leaders of earlier generations–a spiritual leadership still badly needed today!

Endnotes

¹ “March 17, 1901: Boston Celebrates First Evacuation Day,” Mass Moments, accessed January 17, 2024.
² “Siege of Boston,” Massachusetts Historical Society, accessed January 17, 2024.
³ Richard Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston, and of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), 91-119.
⁴ “Lexington and Concord,” US History, accessed January 17, 2024.
⁵ Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston (1851), 121-132.
⁶ “Washington takes command of Continental Army in 1775,” US Army, April 15, 2016.
⁷ Frothingham, History of the Siege of Boston (1851), 55.
⁸ “The Real Story of Paul Revere’s Ride,” The Paul Revere House, accessed January 17, 2024.
⁹ “Attempted Capture of John Hancock and Samuel Adams,” WallBuilders.
¹⁰ J. T. Headley, The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution (NY: Charles Scribner, 1864), 78.
¹¹ Jonas Clark, “Sermon-Battle of Lexington-1776,” WallBuilders.
¹² Benson J. Lossing, A History of the United States for Families and Libraries (NY: Mason Brothers, 1860), 232.
¹³ Jonas Clark, “Sermon-Battle of Lexington-1776,” WallBuilders.
¹⁴ Benson J. Lossing, A History of the United States, From the Discovery of the American Continent (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1864), VII:290, 299.
¹⁵ Lossing, History of the United States (1864), VII:303-306.
¹⁶ Headley, Chaplains and Clergy (1864), 60; Balch Leaflets (Salem, MA: Eben Putnam, 1896-1897), 28.
¹⁷ Daniel Dorchester, Christianity in the United States From the First Settlement Down to the Present Time (NY: Hunt & Eaton, 1889), 265.