What does it mean to lose your home to a war you hoped would never come? In the popular imagination, the American Revolution is a black and white story of “Good Patriots” versus “Bad British,” but the reality on the streets of occupied Boston was far more gray, hungry, and heartbreaking. By the time the British fleet finally sailed out of the harbor on March 17, 1776, the city was a shell of its former self—a place where residents had been reduced to eating rats and burning their neighbors’ houses for warmth.

Our last episode examined the nearly miraculous American victory at Boston that forced the occupying British troops and Massachusetts residents who sympathized with them to evacuate Boston. In this episode, co-host emerita Nikki sits down with historian Dr. Patrick G. O’Brien to explore Evacuation Day from the perspective of the Bostonians who later became known as “loyalists.”

From the economic fallout of the Boston Port Act to the shocking sight of British soldiers sleeping in tattered tents on a frozen Boston Common, this conversation explores the human cost of civil war, from the 1774 arrival of thousands of Redcoats to the desperate 10-day scramble of the March 1776 evacuation. From the rocky, fog-drenched shores of Halifax to the lonely streets of London, it’s a story of divided families, broken kinship bonds, and the long, bitter road to reintegration, reminding us that for many, March 17th was not a day of liberation, but a day of profound loss.

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Loyalists in the Evacuation of Boston

Dr. Patrick G. O’Brien is a historian of the American Revolution who studies British sympathizing women and families, their experiences as exiles in Nova Scotia, and their return to the United States in the late 18th century. He is an associate professor of history at the University of Tampa.

Check out Dr. O’Brien’s past talks for Old North Illuminated on Loyalist Exile and Return in Revolutionary Massachusetts and on the book Johnny Tremain.
Sign up for Old North Illuminated’s upcoming talk by Lori Rogers-Stokes about the modern influence of 17th century Massachusetts Puritans
The quote from General Nathanael Greene is from a letter to Gov Nicholas Cooke of Rhode Island, dated August 9, 1775.
- Money is scarce, provisions bad, and fuel scarce, and that there [is] no harmony among the troops. The inhabitants are now permitted to come out of town by giving in their names to the Town Major, who procures them certificates and passes. Many of the people that come out are real objects of pity ; their suffering has been exceeding severe, especially among the poorer sort. Great violence is done to the cause of humanity in that town. It has been very sickly there among the inhabitants, and troops too. Thirty a week are buried, among the troops.
- It’s on page 15 of this PDF
J.L. Bell tracked the source of General Howe’s comment about the Continentals doing more work in one night than his army could do in three months a few days before Abigail’s letter to a British deserter. He also has a past ONI talk about Major John Pitcairn.
Our header image is Henry Sandham’s The Coming of the Loyalists, which is in the public domain.