Teachers’ Workshop on the Siege of Boston

This week I’m working with the Massachusetts Historical Society and Longfellow House–Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site on a workshop for history teachers. (The workshop is funded in large part by the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati.)

Our topic is the siege of Boston, but the participants’ real task is developing ways to use primary-source documents in classroom lessons. I’m just there to distract them with facts and complications. There will be twelve teachers, divided into three teams. One of my early tasks was to choose documents from the many that the M.H.S. has preserved and digitized for the teams to study.

To start with, we’ll all use Henry Pelham’s map of Boston during the siege. It’s also available through the Boston Public Library and the Library of Congress.

For the team looking at military strategy and confrontations:

• Pvt. Peter Brown’s letter on the Battle of Bunker Hill from the provincial side.
• Lt. John Waller’s letter on the same battle from the British side.
• Col. Henry Knox’s diary of his trek to bring cannon from Lake Ticonderoga to the siege lines.
• Gen. John Thomas’s letter about fortifying Dorchester Heights.

For the team looking at life in besieged Boston:

• Sarah Deming’s diary as a refugee who left the town.
• William Cheever’s diary as a young merchant who went into town to look after family property.
• Gen. William Howe’s proclamation on Loyalist militia companies.
• Gen. John Sullivan’s letter to John Adams about the British evacuation.

For the team studying life in the American camps:

• Pvt. Nathaniel Ober’s diary, May-September 1775.
• Gen. Artemas Ward’s orderly book, 3-8 July 1775.
• Abigail Adams’s letter on 10 Dec 1775 about visiting Cambridge and the prices of goods.
• Pvt. Obadiah Brown’s diary, January-March 1776.

Follow along at home!

TOMORROW: What’s missing?