Summary
Boston marked the 250th anniversary of Evacuation Day with a Tuesday program that mixed Revolutionary War reenactment, music, and a procession through South Boston, followed by ceremonies at Dorchester Heights. The observance highlighted March 17, 1776, when British forces withdrew from the city, a moment tied to the end of an 11-month siege of Boston, according to the event’s framing.
In the morning, participants in 18th-century military-style coats and tricorn hats filled the pews of one of the country’s oldest Catholic churches, St. Augustine Chapel and Cemetery, before firing replica muskets outside and marching through neighborhood streets. Residents watched from stoops as reenactors and others moved past in the wind, and some said they appeared to have been awakened by the sound of drums and bagpipes.
Evacuation Day commemorates the day British troops evacuated Boston, a breakthrough that organizers and attendees connected to George Washington’s fortification of Dorchester Heights. The story of the lead-up, as described in the commemoration, included artillery hauled from Fort Ticonderoga by Col. Henry Knox, which helped prompt the British withdrawal.
The program’s schedule began at St. Augustine Chapel and Cemetery with Mass in the 1818 building. After the service, participants formed a procession that moved through South Boston toward Dorchester Heights, the hill where colonial forces positioned artillery overlooking the harbor.
At Dorchester Heights, the day’s commemoration continued with a ceremony that featured Revolutionary War reenactment units, music, and a wreath-laying. The event also marked the reopening of the Dorchester Heights monument following a $37 million renovation project.
Ronald White, of Milton, stood with reenactors firing replica muskets in the church’s graveyard after the service, and he said the anniversary carried personal meaning. White, who described himself as a member of the New Hampshire Sons of the American Revolution tracing his lineage to a Revolutionary War ancestor, said he felt moved by the example of the founders. “To think that 250 years ago Henry Knox made such a courageous stand, I get choked up thinking about it,” White said. “They really were going up against a force — it was kind of a suicidal idea to stand up against Great Britain. And we did it. Here we are remembering it.”
Other attendees described the anniversary as a way to see history up close. Richard Vige, who lives in a Boston suburb, said he came to Dorchester Heights for the first time to mark the 250th anniversary, despite a long interest in American history. “I’ve always been interested in history, really since grade school,” he said. “I’ve visited many of the sites along the Freedom Trail, but I had never been here before. I wanted to take advantage of the 250th to see what was going on.”
Vige said attending the commemoration offered a chance to reflect on the changes since the nation’s founding, from a set of Atlantic colonies to a country of more than 340 million people. Greta Gaffin, a Boston University theology student studying American religious history, said the Catholic Mass at the Evacuation Day observance struck her as historically ironic. “I’m here because I think having a Catholic Mass in honor of Evacuation Day is conceptually absurd,” she said. “They would have hated this — I had to see it.”
Gaffin said she came for the pairing, and added, “And I love parades.” She pointed to how, in colonial Massachusetts, Catholic worship faced restrictions and Catholic churches did not take root in Boston until after the Revolution as religious freedoms expanded and Irish immigration reshaped the city. She also cited the broader historical backdrop in which anti-Catholic sentiment had been widespread in New England, including during a period when the American cause relied in part on Catholic France.