Boston 1775

Yesterday we left schoolteacher Jonathan Hastings, Jr. , and the rest of Col. Thomas Gardner ’s Cambridge militia contingent caught near...

Here’s an account of the start of the Revolutionary War that I don’t believe has been published before. It’s a letter dated 11 June 1775 f...

Yesterday I wrote about Dr. Hall Jackson ’s career as colonial New Hampshire ’s premier amputator (if he did say so himself). Today I’m ...

After Lt. Col. Abijah Brown and his Waltham company reported to the Massachusetts army at Cambridge in late May 1775, there was a questio...

The Boston Whigs weren’t surprised there was pushback against their Convention from Massachusetts towns where friends of the royal govern...

Earlier this month the Cambridge Chronicle reported on the mystery of Cato Stedman/ Freeman’s gravesite. Cambridge records show that ...

On Saturday, 8 July, John Koopman will once again portray Gen. George Washington at his Cambridge headquarters, now the  Longfellow Hous...

Looking for documents about African-Americans in the New England ranks before Gen. George Washington ’s arrival, I checked the new Harvar...

After the Battle of Bunker Hill , the Ezekiel Russell print shop in Salem issued “AN ELEGIAC POEM” on the battle. That broadside probabl...

Here’s another account of the Battle of Bunker Hill from an American participant. In early 1818 the Analectic Magazine published the map...

The Longfellow National Historic Site , which served as Gen. George Washington ’s headquarters from July 1775 to April 1776, will host two R...

Just back from this year’s Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife , and in time to post Boston selectman Timothy Newell ’s account of the B...