Description: Revolutionary War researcher and weather historian John Horrigan will retrace the steps of a historic military expedition that helped free Boston from British occupation during the Revolutionary War. Horrigan will present a slide show about the amazing engineering feat undertaken by the Knox brothers (Henry and William) in the Winter of 1775-76. The brothers used 80 yoke of oxen to drag 59 cannons a total of 300 miles in 56 days, which culminated in a clandestine battery placement at Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston Harbor. This swayed the British to evacuate Boston on March 17th, 1776. Mr. Horrigan will also discuss the favorable weather conditions that the expeditionary force encountered during the operation. He'll digress about a massive blizzard that just missed Boston in January of 1776 - but gave Quebec and the besieged Benedict Arnold expedition twenty-foot snowdrifts! John will expound upon a freak 'gullywasher' that hit Boston early on March 6th, 1776 and consequently thwarted a planned British counter-attack on Dorchester Heights. Because his marines were ill from the rolling sea conditions, General Howe then decided to evacuate his 7,000 troops from Boston and relocate them to Nova Scotia. John has a version of this lecture ("Evacuation Day For Kids") that is a good learning tool for students ages 9 through 15 as it gives a broad and basic background of the American Revolution. Listen to the speech in the audio archive.

IMAGES

General Henry Knox

Knox Trail Plaque

Knox Trail Marker (Watertown)

Henry Knox oil painting posing with cannon

Dorchester Heights

This painting is "The Nobel Train of Artillery" by Tom Lovell, used by permission of the Dixon Ticonderoga Company Collection, and currently on exhibit at the Ticonderoga Museum.





THIS LECTURE HAS BEEN PERFORMED FOR:

NOTE: Lecture entitled "Evacuation Day For Kids" which includes a broad and basic overview of the American Revolution. The target audience is ages 9 to 15.

Organization: Massachusetts Brownie Troop #1806

Contact: Maria Russo

Date: March 17th, 2009

Location: Northeast Elementary School in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Email: click to email

LISTEN TO THIS LECTURE

Running Time: 52 minutes Size: 47 MB

Organizations: Massachusetts Society of the Order of the Founders and Patriots of America; The Society of the War of 1812 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and for the Society of the Sons of the Revolution in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Contact: Deborah Nowers

Date: October 23rd, 2008

Location: Boston, Massachusetts at the Union Club

Email: click to email

LISTEN TO THIS LECTURE

Running Time: 55 minutes Size: 51 MB

Organization: Westford Historical Society

Contact: Dan Lacroix

Date: April 10, 2008

Location: Westford, Massachusetts at Westford Museum

Email: click to email

LISTEN TO THIS LECTURE

Running Time: 1 hour, 7 minutes Size: 62 MB

Organization: Lincoln Minutemen

Contact: Steve Humphrey

Date: January 2nd, 2007

Location: Lincoln, Massachusetts at Bemis Hall

Email: click to email

LISTEN TO THIS LECTURE

Running Time: 48 minutes Size: 45 MB





RETURN TO JOHN HORRIGAN HISTORICAL LECTURES


JOHN'S AUDIO CATALOGUE