Tag: revwar

A Forgotten Battle on Boston Harbor (episode 186)

245 years ago this week, provincial militia and royal marines battled it out in what is now East Boston.  The battle of Chelsea Creek was sandwiched between the battle of Lexington in April and Bunker Hill in June, and it’s often overshadowed by the larger battles in our memories.  While the casualties and stakes were lower than those familiar battles, this skirmish over livestock was an important testing ground for the new American army.  It proved that the militias of different colonies could plan and fight together, it confirmed the wisdom of maneuvering and firing from cover instead of facing the redcoats head-on, and it bolstered provincial morale with a decisive victory.  The ragtag American army even managed to destroy a ship of the Royal Navy in the fighting!


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Henry Knox’s Noble Train, with William Hazelgrove (episode 184)

Henry Knox commanded the Continental Army’s artillery, founded the academy that became West Point, and went on to become the first Secretary of War for the new United States.  Before any of that, though, he was a young man in Boston.  He was a Whig sympathizer who was in love with the daughter of a Tory, and he owned a bookstore frequented by both sides.  Young Henry Knox was catapulted to prominence after one nearly unbelievable feat: bringing 60 tons of heavy artillery 300 miles through the New England wilderness in the dead of winter, from Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York to Cambridge.  William Hazelgrove joins us on the show this week to describe how Knox accomplished this nearly impossible task.  He’ll also tell us about his new book Henry Knox’s Noble Train: The Story of a Boston Bookseller’s Heroic Expedition That Saved the American Revolution, which comes out this week.


Continue reading Henry Knox’s Noble Train, with William Hazelgrove (episode 184)

The Bloody Flux of 1775, with Judy Cataldo (episode 181)

In the late summer of 1775, a terrible epidemic struck Boston, and much of New England.  As the Revolutionary War heated up, and the siege of Boston reached its peak, both armies faced an invisible enemy.  Judy Cataldo will join us on the show this week to explain the disease that was known at the time as the bloody flux.  Today, we might know it better by the name dysentery or shigella.  The bloody flux was a diarrheal disease that took a terrible toll on the region’s children, but now it’s barely remembered, as it’s overshadowed by a smallpox outbreak of the same year.


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Dr. Thomas Young, the Forgotten Revolutionary, with Scott Nadler (episode 179)

Doctor Thomas Young was a native of New York’s Hudson Valley who seemed to be present at all of Boston’s revolutionary events, from the creation of the committee of correspondence, to the Boston Massacre, to the Tea Party.  He had been an early and influential friend of Ethan Allen, and he was a critic of established religious practice at the time. Though he died early in the Revolutionary War, he was instrumental to the revolutionary movements in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.  Strategy consultant and independent researcher Scott Nadler will explain who Thomas Young was and why he is a forgotten revolutionary today.


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Remembering the Boston Massacre, with Nat Sheidley (episode 174)

March 5th marks the 250th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, when a party of British soldiers fired into a crowd of civilians, killing five. It was a terrible personal tragedy in a small town of 15,000 residents, and it almost immediately became politicized.  Nat Sheidley, the president and CEO of Revolutionary Spaces, is going to remind us what happened on that terrible night, how tightly intertwined the lives of the soldiers and town residents were at the time, and how every generation reinterprets what the tragedy means.


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Boston’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman (episode 163)

At just 19 years old, Gilbert du Motier, the Marquis de Lafayette joined our American Revolution.  Commissioned as a Major General in 1777, he served with distinction as an aggressive combat commander and trusted adviser to George Washington.  Nearly a half century later, the aging general would return to his beloved United States for a nationwide tour, and his first and urgent destination after arriving on this continent was Boston.  In the summer of 1824, he arrived in our city as the greatest celebrity it had yet seen. He was received by Governor William Eustis, former President John Adams, and Boston mayor Josiah Quincy before launching his national tour.  The next spring, he returned, presiding over the dedication of the Bunker Hill monument on the 50th anniversary of the battle.


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The Birth of Historic Preservation in Boston (episode 151)

From the mid-19th century through the nation’s centennial in 1876, some of Boston’s most important historic sites and attractions were destroyed or nearly so.  Starting with the Beacon Hill home of founding father John Hancock in 1863, and going right through the 20th century, Old South Meetinghouse, the Old State House, the Old Corner Bookstore, and many other buildings that help lend Boston its unique character, were threatened with demolition in the name of progress.  After early losses, Boston was faced with the prospect of midwestern cities like Chicago or St Louis buying up and moving iconic buildings in order to save them from the wrecking ball. Through this threat, Bostonians learned to value their cultural heritage and banded together to protect early historic sites, especially those connected to the Revolutionary War that were of importance to all Americans.  


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The Dread Pirate Rachel (episode 147)

History records that Rachel Wall was the last woman to be hanged in Massachusetts, and legend remembers her as the only woman pirate from Boston.  Her highly publicized trial took place as America implemented its new constitutional government. The state attorney general who prosecuted her had been a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  A few weeks after the trial, the presiding judge became one of the first US Supreme Court justices, and her defense attorney, who had helped ratify the constitution, soon became the first US Attorney for Massachusetts under the constitution.  Not only that, but her death warrant carried perhaps the most famous signature in US history, that of governor John Hancock. On this week’s episode, we uncover the fascinating true story of Rachel Wall’s life, trial, and death that’s hiding within the legend.  


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Love Behind Enemy Lines (episode 131)

We’re trying something new this week by bringing in a guest for our upcoming historical event segment.  Clara Silverstein from Historic Newton tells us about their “Crossing Borders” series.  Sticking with the theme, our show this week recounts a romance between young lovers that crossed enemy lines and political allegiances, uniting patriot Billy Tudor and loyalist Delia Jarvis.  Even as the Revolutionary War began and Boston was besieged, Billy risked everything and swam across the harbor to visit Delia.  As the war continued and they were separated by many miles, Billy would address his letters to Delia to “my fair loyalist,” and then sign them from “your ever faithful rebel.”


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Founding Martyr (episode 103)

In this week’s show, we are talking about all things Joseph Warren. Author Christopher di Spigna joins us to discuss his book Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution’s Lost Hero, a new biography of our favorite patriot. We’ll start with his boyhood in a Roxbury filled with farms and apple orchards, then cover his education at Harvard, his rise in politics, his untimely death at the start of the revolution, and the recent discovery of living descendants.


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