During the final week of this month, buck tradition and celebrate Evacuation Day, November 25—a huge holiday in old New York marking the day the last British troops sailed out of the city in 1783.
For most of the Revolutionary War, New York was under British control. Hours after the Red Coats left, a Union flag was yanked down from a flagpole at Battery Park and replaced with the Stars and Stripes. George Washington returned to Manhattan, leading the Continental Army triumphantly down Broadway.
General George W., post-Colonial New York’s first celebrity
Evacuation Day used to be celebrated every November 25 with the raising of the U.S. flag at Battery Park. But once relations with England warmed up during World War I—and a certain other late-November holiday grew in popularity—Evacuation Day slipped into the dustbin of holiday history.
Tags: 1783 New York City, Battery Park, Colonial New York City, Continental Army, Evacuation Day, George Washington in New York, Revolutionary War in New York City
November 4, 2009 at 5:19 pm |
[...] you had it with Thanksgiving? Celebrate Evacuation Day, an old New York holiday marking the evacuation of the last British troops in 1783, on Nov. 25. [...]
November 4, 2009 at 6:45 pm |
[...] Day was a significant holiday in old New York, as it celebrated the end of British control. On November, 25 1783, the last [...]
November 9, 2009 at 3:11 am |
I didn’t know that other states celebrated an Evacuation Day. Boston, Cambridge and Somerville, Mass celebrate it also. Here the evacuation of the British is commemorated on March 17th which conveniently coincides with Saint Patrick’s Day.
Liz
November 25, 2009 at 3:11 pm |
I’ve posted Howard Pyle’s 1883 depiction of the British departure here:
http://howardpyle.blogspot.com/2009/11/evacuation-day-november-25-1783.html