November 25th – A Historic Day Largely Forgotten
Today most Americans will celebrate what is known as Thanksgiving. A national holiday due in part to Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation on October 3rd, 1863. A portion of the proclamation stated the following.
“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
Sadly, these words are foreign and unknown to many Americans, but there is something else that is also largely unknown about this date. On November 25th, 1783, British forces left New York Harbor, a final shot was fired, and the Revolutionary War concluded. Subsequently, November 25th was known as Evacuation Day (New York). By the time of Abraham Lincoln and the War Between the States, this celebratory day had faded from the memory of many Americans just a mere 80 years prior. It should remind us that even with passionate vows to “Never Forget,” time moves on, and a new generation often forgets or does not care.
Yet another historical note about November 25th happened in 1864, just one year following Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation. Some historians consider this the first major domestic terrorist attack in America. Confederate officers scattered throughout lower Manhattan with a plot to burn the city to the ground. Seven officers checked into various hotels armed with “Greek fire,” a highly flammable liquid, and a predetermined time to set their hotel rooms on fire with a desire to cause massive devastation. It was only ten days earlier, November 15th, that General Sherman had captured and burned Atlanta, Georgia.
As the New York fires began, so did the emergency alarms. One of the hotels where a fire started was next to the Winter Garden Theater, where a performance of Julius Caesar was underway. It was a benefit production to raise funds for a statue of William Shakespeare that stands in Central Park today. Another interesting tidbit about the performance is there were three brothers with the last name Booth in the play and you guessed it; one of the brothers was the infamous John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.
The various fires did not spread as planned, and amazingly there was not a single loss of life. Although a city-wide fire was averted, the search for the suspects began, and a new fire of Union hostility began toward the Confederates.
Finally, the reference to Abraham Lincoln brings up another interesting but largely forgotten historical note for this date. November 25th is also when another assassinated president was placed in his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery in 1963, John F. Kennedy.
So ends a brief look at a historic day largely forgotten. Have a Happy Thanksgiving on this November 25th, of 2021.