Liberty Tree

“Liberty Tree. I am indebted to the Hon. David Sears, of Boston, for this sketch of the ‘Liberty Tree,’ as it appeared just previous to its destruction by the British troops and Tories, during the siege of Boston in August, 1775. Mr. Sears has erected a row of fine buildings upon the site of the old grove of elms, of which this tree was one; and within a niche, on the front of one of them, and exactly over the spot where the Liberty Tree stood, he has placed a sculptured representation of it, as seen in the picture. From the time of the Stamp Act excitement until the armed possession of Boston by General Gage and his troops in 1774, that tree had been the rallying-place for the patriots, and had fallen, in consequence, much in disfavor with the friends of government. It was inscribed ‘Liberty Tree,’ and the ground under it was called ‘Liberty Hall.’ The Essex Gazette of August 31st, 1775, in describing the destruction of the tree, says, ‘They made a furious attack upon it. After a long spell of laughing and grinning, sweating, swearing, and foaming with malice diabolical, they cut down the tree because it bore the name of liberty. A soldier was killed by falling from one of its branches during the operation.’"—Lossing, 1851

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