Evacuation Day (March 17)
Evacuation Day is an official public holiday observed in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, on March 17 each year, commemorating the withdrawal of British forces from Boston on March 17, 1776, following an eleven-month siege of the city. The date aligns with St. Patrick's Day, a coincidence that has shaped the holiday's cultural character and generated political controversy spanning more than a century. Evacuation Day stands as one of the few American civic holidays to mark a military withdrawal rather than a battle victory, and its dual significance—patriotic and ethnic—has made it a recurring subject of debate in Boston's civic life.
Historical Background
The events commemorated on Evacuation Day grew directly out of the early months of the American Revolution. Following the opening engagements of the war in April 1775, colonial forces under George Washington encircled the British garrison occupying Boston. The resulting standoff lasted roughly eleven months, during which the city remained under British control while American troops maintained pressure from surrounding positions.[1]
A turning point came in the winter of 1775–1776 with what historians have called the Noble Train of Artillery, an extraordinary effort to transport captured British cannons from Fort Ticonderoga in New York to the hills surrounding Boston. The artillery, hauled overland through difficult terrain during January 1776, gave American forces a decisive tactical advantage.[2] Once the guns were positioned on Dorchester Heights, the British position in Boston became untenable.
On March 17, 1776, the British army completed its evacuation of Boston, departing by sea along with Loyalist civilians who had aligned with Crown authority during the occupation. The withdrawal marked the end of British military presence in the city and represented an early significant achievement for the Continental forces. As part of their departure, British troops destroyed or damaged several installations, including Boston Light, the lighthouse at the entrance to Boston Harbor, which was set afire as the fleet departed.[3]
The Coincidence with St. Patrick's Day
March 17 is also observed globally as St. Patrick's Day, the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland. In Boston, a city with a large Irish-American population, this coincidence has never been incidental. The overlap means that the holiday carries a dual identity: an American patriotic occasion and an ethnic cultural celebration woven together on the same calendar date.
As early as the beginning of the twentieth century, the dual nature of March 17 in Boston was being discussed openly in the press. A 1902 report in The New York Times described the date as a "ruse to honor St. Patrick," suggesting that Irish Americans in the city were leveraging the patriotic commemoration as a vehicle for ethnic celebration at a time when municipal government was less enthusiastic about official St. Patrick's Day recognition.[4] The framing acknowledged that Irish-American organizations intended to celebrate March 17 regardless of how official Boston classified the occasion.
By the early 1920s, the political dimensions of Evacuation Day were drawing national attention. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding rejected a request from Boston's Irish community for use of naval or other federal resources in connection with March 17 observances, a decision covered by The New York Times under a headline describing the holiday as a demonstration of loyalty that no opponent of the cause could suppress.[5] The episode illustrated how Evacuation Day had become entangled with broader questions of ethnic identity, federal authority, and the politics of recognition.
The Holiday in Practice
Evacuation Day is an official holiday in Suffolk County, which includes the City of Boston as well as Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop. As a county holiday, it results in closures of certain government offices and courts within the county. This status has distinguished Evacuation Day from ordinary commemorative occasions and placed it in the same administrative tier as state and federal holidays for purposes of government scheduling.
The practical effects of the holiday have been the subject of ongoing civic debate. In 2010, the state of Massachusetts passed legislation requiring government offices to remain open and staffed on Evacuation Day, a measure that reflected legislative concern about absenteeism and the perception that the holiday was being used primarily as an occasion for St. Patrick's Day festivities rather than genuine patriotic commemoration.[6] Critics of the holiday within state government and media circles have referred to Evacuation Day and the related holiday Bunker Hill Day as "hack holidays"—a term implying that they primarily benefit public employees seeking paid days off rather than serving a meaningful commemorative function.
The Boston City Council has faced recurring pressure regarding both holidays. Defenders of Evacuation Day argue that the date marks a genuine and significant moment in American history and that dismissing it as a political convenience ignores the historical record of the siege and evacuation. The dual character of the date—military history and Irish-American cultural identity—means that debates about the holiday tend to involve both questions of historical memory and questions about ethnic politics in Boston.
Tourism and Public Memory
Evacuation Day has also served as an occasion for public education and tourism focused on the Revolutionary War history of Boston. A heritage center opened in Boston to help visitors understand the events of the Revolution made use of the date's profile, with an illuminated map allowing tourists to trace routes to historic sites connected to the siege and evacuation.[7] The city's position at the center of early American Revolutionary history means that March 17 offers a natural focal point for programming aimed at residents and visitors alike.
Fort Hill, the site of a dirt redoubt constructed during the siege, is among the locations directly associated with the military history commemorated on Evacuation Day.[8] Such earthworks and fortifications were characteristic of the siege strategy employed by both sides, and several physical remnants and memorial markers in and around Boston connect present-day residents to the landscape of 1775–1776.
Dorchester Heights, where American artillery was positioned in the decisive phase of the siege, is preserved as a national historic site administered by the National Park Service as part of Boston National Historical Park. The monument at Dorchester Heights serves as the primary commemorative landmark for the events of March 17, 1776, and the site draws visitors throughout the year, with particular interest around the anniversary date.
Relationship to Bunker Hill Day
Evacuation Day is often discussed alongside Bunker Hill Day, observed on June 17 in Suffolk County. Both holidays are county-level observances tied to Revolutionary War events and both have faced similar criticism regarding their practical function as employee holidays. The pairing has made Suffolk County distinctive among Massachusetts counties for its concentration of locally designated public holidays, and both dates have been subjects of legislative scrutiny over the years.
The comparison between the two holidays highlights a broader question about how cities and counties balance genuine historical commemoration with the administrative realities of public employment. Supporters of both holidays contend that local observances of Revolutionary War milestones are appropriate for a city that played a central role in the founding of the United States. Opponents have focused on cost to taxpayers and the argument that the holidays have lost meaningful connection to their historical origins for most residents.
Legacy and Significance
The events of March 17, 1776 represented a concrete military and political achievement for the American cause at an early and uncertain stage of the Revolutionary War. The British departure from Boston removed Crown military power from a major colonial city and demonstrated that the Continental forces, under Washington's command, could compel a well-supplied professional army to withdraw. The achievement preceded the Declaration of Independence by several months and provided the revolutionary movement with a significant boost in credibility and morale.
For Boston specifically, the evacuation shaped the city's relationship to the broader American founding narrative. Boston had already been central to pre-war tensions—the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, and the opening battles at Lexington and Concord all took place in or near the city. The evacuation of March 17, 1776 marked the conclusion of the direct British military occupation of Boston and the beginning of the city's postwar development as a free community no longer under Crown authority.
The holiday's survival into the twenty-first century, despite repeated legislative challenges and persistent criticism, reflects the durability of both its historical significance and its cultural associations. In a city where Irish-American identity has long been a major element of civic culture, the alignment of Evacuation Day with St. Patrick's Day ensures that March 17 retains a complexity that purely patriotic or purely ethnic holidays lack. Whether viewed as a commemorative occasion, a cultural celebration, or a controversial government holiday, Evacuation Day on March 17 continues to occupy a distinctive place in Boston's civic calendar.
See Also
- Siege of Boston
- Bunker Hill Day
- Dorchester Heights
- Boston National Historical Park
- St. Patrick's Day in Boston