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Life under siege in Boston
By adamg on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 7:24am
The Massachusetts Historical Society has put together an online exhibit on Boston under martial law in the eleven months before the original Evacuation Day, when the city was surrounded by Minute Men and the town's residents tried to deal with food shortages and the military occupations. It includes first-hand reports from a dozen people on both sides of the conflict (both hi-res photos of the original documents and transcription) and maps - such as a letter from the wife of a British captain to her niece:
Many a time have I tho't that could I be out of Boston, toge-
ther with my family, & friends, I could be content with the meanest
fare, & slenderest accomodations. Out of Boston, out of Boston at
almost any rate --away as far as possible from the infection
of small pox, & the din of drums & martial Musick as its call'd, & hor-
rors of war -- but, my distress is not to be described -- I attemet
not to describe it.
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Comments
Don't mess with "Evacuation Day".
Didn't a Mass GOPER introduce legislation last year to get rid of Boston's holidays- bunker hill day and evacuation day? How'd that go over?
it's a little tricky...
... the FY2011 budget that was passed mandates that city and county offices remain open on bunker hill day and evacuation day.
but they remain legal holidays.
so, for example, i work for the state, and my union gets those two holidays. our office stays open, and some people gotta work. but they will just get a different day off in it's place.
basically, holiday remains, but government stays open.
Ehhh.
Don't like that. Local government should shut down for those days. Local holidays are important and should be enjoyed by all. This sorta half-way measure says they are not real holidays in my view.
Not everyone has a cushy job though
Fake holidays cause problems though. Like the holidays where stores and restaurants and whatnot are open, but your kid's school is closed so your kid needs a place to stay. Even worse when it's a fake holiday that only Massachusetts (or only some towns or some counties...) observes, because then nearly everyone is working unless they work for the government, but their kid is out of school and needs to be watched.
At least on major holidays like Xmas and Thanksgiving and stuff, most people are off and able to watch their own kids. Yes, there are programs that don't close like nursing homes and residential programs and things, but they drop down to minimal staffing and they work out amongst themselves who needs to have which day off. They anticipate that people have kids to watch and have policies for trading days with people and giving others double overtime to work and such. Jobs don't anticipate though that a couple of random hourly workers who don't get sick and vacation time are going to need Bunker Hill Day off to watch a kid on what one would think would be a regular school day. Parents already have to ask for enough (often unpaid) time off for conferences, sick kids, etc. No need to add fake holidays to the mix.
Good points.
I wasn't even thinking about that. Yeah- that's not a good deal for everyone else when you lay out it like that.
It would be better if it were everyone. That compromise doesn't sound as bad now.
just to be clear...
... at least for my agency -- the new rules on evacuation day and bunker hill day changed *nothing* for us. we have always been open on those days.
i know for some suffolk county places, that wasn't true. so it's different for them. but i have worked every evacuation day since i started in state government. we never shut down for them. most people take the day off, but the place is always open for business with at least a small crew.