FINANCIAL DISTRICT — With drums beating, the 13-star colonial flag was raised in Lower Manhattan on Friday morning, as men in military costume saluted and several dozen onlookers snapped photos.
The ceremony, historians say, is a small, but significant revival of Evacuation Day, an anniversary once celebrated with more fanfare than the Fourth of July. The former U.S. holiday marks the last British troops shipping off from The Battery on Nov. 25, 1783, ending Britain’s occupation during the Revolutionary War.
The raising of the Stars and Stripes on Friday commemorated what historians called a rather tough feat — 233 years ago a U.S. soldier managed to rip down the British flag at Bowling Green and replace it with the colonial flag, after the last British troops sailed away from Lower Manhattan, seven years after they'd taken over.
Library of Congress
George Washington then triumphantly marched through Lower Manhattan to Bowling Green, after the American flag was waving.
Library of Congress
For more than 100 years, the holiday was feted with over-the-top parties across the country — but by the early 1900s, Evacuation Day had been overshadowed by Thanksgiving.
Friday's commemoration was run by the Lower Manhattan Historical Society, a group that's worked over the past several years to bring attention back to the historic day. After a concerted push from the organization, the City Council last year approved a co-naming sign for Bowling Green, which now also reads "Evacuation Day Plaza." Despite the day's significance, its somewhat grim sounding name caused initial resistance to the co-naming, in a neighborhood marred by 9/11 memories — but its historic importance won out.
“The purpose of this ceremony is to help New Yorkers understand the great historical significance of this area of Lower Manhattan," said James Kaplan, the president of the Lower Manhattan Historical Society. "By reviving the very important but long forgotten holiday of Evacuation Day we hope to educate New Yorkers and others about the importance of New York City’s Revolutionary War history, and create a new historical tourist attraction in New York City.”
