I had come to Cambridge to follow the footsteps of our founding fathers, stopping in this elegant Georgian mansion that Washington made his headquarters during the crucial period from July 1775 to April 1776, after its wealthy Loyalist owner fled a scant two miles to Boston and the safety of British lines. Washington had come to the Cambridge post to take command of a raw, undisciplined army that still had no official name or flag — and very little gunpowder.
As portrayed in David McCullough's book, 1776 , the capable general was under tremendous stress in unfamiliar surroundings. The conscientious Washington had accepted a nearly impossible job — organize a fighting force for a beleaguered new nation with plenty of internal strife, then lead it to victory over Europe 's most formidable army and navy. I found it amazing that Washington took on the task — and astonishing that he succeeded.
So it was easy for me to imagine the anguish Washington must have felt as he gazed at the Charles River from the windows of that house, which today is a treasure devoted to literature, art and history. Our guide delighted us throughout the tour by reciting passages of Longfellow's poetry, and when he heard that I was interested in Washington 's sojourn there, he obligingly quoted heartfelt passages from letters the general wrote under that roof.
About a half mile from Washington's headquarters, I found Harvard Square and Cambridge Common, where the general officially assumed his new command on July 3, 1775, to the enthusiastic sounds of drums and fifes. Hoofprints in brass mark the spot where the general's horse stood that momentous day, and where I imagine him encircled by the cheering troops who were encamped there and in the nearby residences of Harvard University .
Setting the Stage
I headed down nearby Massachusetts Avenue through Arlington , which saw bloody fighting during the Battle of Lexington and Concord , and on to those two towns where the Revolution began. I had no trouble finding Lexington 's Battle Green, a peaceful park just outside the busy downtown. But the pleasant scenery and the relaxing families made it a challenge to imagine the violence of that long-ago dawn. Here, on April 19, 1775, an expeditionary force of British regulars searching for a cache of arms encountered the local militia. Someone opened fire, leaving eight minutemen dead before the British moved on to Concord .
I followed their path, visiting Concord 's North Bridge Visitor Center and the North Bridge itself, where the minutemen had their turn. The bridge is surrounded by woods and fields, much as I imagined it from the description by Concord 's Ralph Waldo Emerson. There the “embattled farmers” shed the first British blood in what Emerson immortalized as the “shot heard round the world.” Supposedly, Emerson's grandfather was cheering for the colonists as he watched the clash from the nearby Old Manse. I admired the evocative Minute Man statue by Daniel Chester French and then noticed the modest memorial plaque to the fallen British regulars. I wondered what thoughtful person had left the flowers below it — a poignant reminder of the human cost paid by both sides.
The Minute Man Visitor Center provides a chronology of that battle, which turned into a running fight between ragtag heroes, Hessian mercenaries and fleeing Redcoats. I was fascinated by the story of the daring night riders, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott and, of course, Paul Revere. Supposedly, when a sleepy resident complained to Revere about the noise he was making, Revere shouted back, “Noise! You'll have noise enough before long — the regulars are coming out!”
And the noise didn't stop. Two months later, on June 17, 1775, the regulars and the rebels met once again in Boston 's Charlestown neighborhood. This time, the British won, but they paid such a high price for their victory (a casualty rate of almost 50 percent) that, says McCullough, British General Burgoyne pronounced the colonies as good as lost. With its picturesque streets and antique houses spanning several periods, Charlestown proved a pleasant place for a stroll as I made my way to Bunker Hill, the site of the Breed's Hill battle.
When a fellow tourist pointed out that there's no evidence that patriot Col. William Prescott actually gave the order, “Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes,” I became somewhat disillusioned. But true or not, his men clearly had deadly accuracy. I climbed the steps to the Bunker Hill Monument and then to the top of the obelisk itself, where I was rewarded with a panoramic view of the stately brick townhouses of Monument Square and the city below.
In Charlestown , history resembled a crossroads, as I visited the USS Constitution , which John Adams commissioned in 1797. In fact, one of Adams ' great achievements as president was putting the Navy on a firm footing, building it from a minimal force to 50 ships in less than two years. On my tour of the venerable frigate — still the Navy's oldest commissioned vessel — an active-duty sailor offered more stories of the heroic ship, nicknamed “Old Ironsides” for its steadfast performance in the War of 1812.
Overnight Success
From Charlestown , I headed to Dorchester Heights in South Boston , where the fledgling Continental Army scored a stunning surprise victory in March 1776. Today the site is pleasant Thomas Park, which includes the Dorchester Heights Monument and National Historic Site. Like the defenders of 1776, I took in the expansive view of the city and coastline — only mine was augmented by climbing the monument's white tower. Instead of whispering patriots shivering in the predawn, I saw a pair of friendly retrievers eagerly chasing frisbees thrown by their owner.
The park is where Henry Knox, an intrepid 25-year-old bookseller turned gunnery officer, positioned British cannons that he had commandeered from New York's Fort Ticonderoga and hauled on heavy sleds through the frozen wilderness to Boston. McCullough quotes Knox's diary (in 1776 ): “It appeared to me almost a miracle that people with heavy loads should be able to get up and down such hills.”
But Knox made it to Boston with all 59 guns intact, and Washington at once put him in command of the artillery. Placing cannons on Dorchester Heights would put the British encampment and fleet within range. To surprise the British, Knox and his men noiselessly hauled the cannons up the steep, smooth slopes to the heights in a single night.
The date was March 5, already significant as the anniversary of the 1770 Boston Massacre, when nine men were shot by British soldiers — six fatally — in a confrontation at Boston 's Old State House. The British soldiers were tried, defended by prominent patriot lawyer John Adams, and acquitted. Adams took a considerable risk in defending the soldiers, but he accepted the case because he believed everyone is entitled to legal counsel. Ultimately, it was a move that enhanced his reputation as able and fair-minded. When I visited the massacre site, now on the edge of Boston 's bustling financial district, I was happy to find a preserved island in the busy traffic and an informative exhibit inside the Old State House, itself a stately gem dating from 1712.
No doubt buoyed by the thought of vengeance for the massacre victims, thousands of Washington 's troops fortified Dorchester Heights . The job required hundreds of carts and wagons — and 800 oxen to pull them. McCullough reports that Washington eased the tension of waiting out that night by writing to African-American poet Phillis Wheatley, who had written a poem in his honor. “Proceed great chief, with virtue on thy side,” she wrote.
By dawn, the monumental task was completed. The maneuver broke the stalemate in Boston and forced the British to withdraw. On March 17, a date still observed in Boston as Evacuation Day, the British set sail, never to return.
A Family of Patriots
While Washington focused on establishing the new nation militarily, John Adams worked tirelessly to stabilize it politically. Adams contributed substantially to the proceedings of the First and Second Continental Congress, served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, and was a driving force behind its acceptance in Congress. Adams became Washington 's vice president in 1789, serving two terms, and became president himself (1797–1801).
As a boy, Adams' son, John Quincy Adams, had watched the smoke of the Battle of Bunker Hill from 10 miles away — near the family farm in Quincy . As an accomplished lawyer, he served the nation as secretary of state under President James Monroe, helping to formulate the Monroe Doctrine, and then as president himself (1825–1829).
To visit the birthplaces of these two remarkable leaders, I made an easy trip on the trolley, Red Line “T” to Quincy Center , where I found the Visitor Center of the Adams National Historical Park . A park shuttle took me to the country's two oldest preserved presidential birthplaces — classic saltbox houses — and then on to the comfortable Old House, built in 1731, where four generations of the Adams family made their home. The house itself is lovely, but I was fascinated by its contents — more than 78,000 original artifacts, all owned by the family, including the only portrait Washington sat for and John Adams' desk and favorite armchair. Outside, sits Abigail Adams's 18th-century-style formal garden where — much like the contributions of this remarkable family — the York roses brought over from England still bloom.
RESOURCES
Adams National Historical Park, 617.770.1175; nps.gov/adam
Buckman Tavern , 781.862.5598; lexingtonhistory.org
Bunker Hill Monument , 617.242.5669; nps.gov/bost/bunker_hill.htm
Charlestown Navy Yard , 617.242.5641; charlestown.ma.us
Concord Inn , 978.371 . 1533; concordscolonialinn.com
Concord Museum , 978.685.9763; concordmuseum.org
Dorchester Heights National Historic Site , nps.gov/bost/dorchester_heights.htm
Hancock-Clarke House , 781.861.0928; lexingtonhistory.org
Les Zygomates , 617.542.5108; leszygomates.com
Lexington Town Visitors' Center , 781.862.1450; lexingtonchamber.org
Longfellow National Historic Site , 617.876.4491; nps.gov/long
Minute Man National Historical Park , 978.369.6993; nps.gov/mima
Munroe Tavern , 781.674.9238; lexingtonhistory.org
Old Manse , 978.369.3909; thetrustees.org
Old State House , 617.720.3290; bostonhistory.org
USS Constitution , 617.242.5601; ussconstitution.navy.mil
USS Constitution Museum , 617.426.1812; ussconstitution.navy.mil
Warren Tavern , 617.241.8142; warrentavern.com |
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