Evacuation Day

Time was when all of New York would celebrate every Nov. 25 with fireworks, pole climbing contests, parades and concerts.

It was Evacuation Day — the day British troops abandoned their last outpost in America, New York City, in 1783.

July 4, of course, the day we declared our independence, is still given its due, but the Revolutionary War ground on for seven long, hard years after 1776. 

The British continued their brutal occupation of the city even after Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown in 1781.

In Abraham Lincoln’s day, Thanksgiving supplanted Evacuation Day as our November day of celebration, and we do have much to be thankful for, but let’s take a moment to remember the sacrifice of the Founding Fathers and ordinary citizens who fought for an ideal against  the most powerful empire on earth.