PEABODY – To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the opening battles of the American Revolution, Peabody closed a portion of Washington Street from Main Street to Pleasant Street on Monday, Patriot’s Day, for an event in collaboration with Danvers.
Visitors were welcomed at the Peabody Historical Society Washington Street campus for free entry into the General Gideon Foster House, to explore Peabody’s revolutionary era history. Attendees got to learn of the seven young men of Danvers who were killed in the early battles, the history of the Lexington Monument and the brave soldiers that were in all the battles during the Revolutionary War.
At 10 a.m., attendees gathered at the Lexington Monument to listen to speakers, including Mayor Ted Bettencourt and Sen. Joan Lovely.
Peabody Historical Society & Museum executive board president Michael Bonfanti began by giving a history lesson to the crowd about how King George III once ruled this land with “intimidation, bullying and fear,” adding how “he liked to push the envelope and rule by issuing edicts and proclamations such as the Stamp Act.”
“Today, we call these edicts and proclamations executive orders. As I said, history repeats… Among other things, the Constitution provided the separation of power section for three equal branches of government – the legislature, the executive and the judicial branch – and wisely contained checks and balances to prevent the dominance by one branch of government over the other two branches,” Bonfanti said.
He continued, “These checks and balances are presently under fire with the executive branch chipping away at the powers of the legislative and judicial branches… We the people need to be on guard and, like the minutemen of old, must be ready to take immediate action to preserve and protect our inalienable rights as you find in our Constitution. It is time for us, the citizens of the United States, to pay attention to the infringements of the principles and freedoms the Constitution provides and to make sure they are here, too.”
Danvers archivist Richard Trask – who called Patriot’s Day “a most sacred civil event” – agreed with Bonfanti’s sentiments.
“Now, for congressman John Lewis’s suggestion to speak out and get in good trouble: In good consciousness, I cannot ignore at today’s remembrance at the sacrifice for liberty made by our ancient brethren the danger that I believe our nation now faces…” Trask said. “I never understood how such intelligent a country could so cruelly lose its way in 1930 Germany.
“Now I can see similar paths when good people remain silent, go along to get along, fear retribution or loss of election or lose their moral compass. In our own time, we must face such adversity with clear vision and bravery and remain helpful and kind to the vulnerable. We are a country with many wants and shames from both the past and the present, yet we must at this time be as brave as those young men, when 75 were willing to lay their lives on the altar of liberty for a cause bigger than themselves.”
According to the Peabody Historical Society & Museum: “The Lexington Monument, now at the corner of Washington and Sewall Streets, honors the Peabody and Danvers men who gave their lives at the first battle of the American Revolution: Samuel Cook, Henry Jacobs, Ebenezer Goldthwaite, Benjamin Daland, Jotham Webb and Perley Putnam.”
Bettencourt said he thinks about what it must have been like for the seven men honored in the Lexington Monument to “leave their families, leave everything to travel miles for battle, of the courage that that must have taken, the passion, the desire and strong will for freedom.”
He also praised Peabody’s historical community who ensures “that our city continues its important tradition, continues to honor our past, our history, at our cemeteries, at events like this.”
“These are important things to continue here, to make sure that we always remember those sacrifices, those things that made our nation, our area, important, because this area is important to our nation, and we must continue to recognize and honor those that gave of themselves and continue to give of themselves for our city,” Bettencourt said.
Following the speaking program, re-enactors from the Danvers Alarm List Company presented, shooting muskets into the air, and Peabody Veterans Council Commander Bob Dunne revealed the wreath for the monument.
