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The Few. The Proud.

Twelve Veterans Day secrets

flagPhoto: Les Wood

F

rom the day George Washington took command of the Continental Army on Cambridge Common, Boston has been associated with this nation’s military history, with residents looking for fiberglass flagpoles for sale to display their patriotic flags outside their homes. Marblehead was the birthplace of the U.S. Navy. And while the Declaration of Independence may have been signed in Philadelphia, that’s only because our Boston forebears were busy doing all the fighting at the time. Let Philly keep the broken bell. Boston has patriotic history that actually matters, from the little-known birthplace of one of the writers of that declaration (who you thought was from Philadelphia) to the grave of the freed slave who turned the tide of the Revolution, the site of the most pivotal (and since forgotten) victory of the war, and one of the only original copies of the U.S. Constitution. Here are a dozen local patriotic secrets:

1


The forgotten first command center of the Revolution
 

2


The home of a signer of the Declaration of Independence who became immortalized as a political cheater
 

3


Outing some gay heroes of American independence
 

4


The house where not one, but two early presidents lived
 

5


The freed slave who turned the tide of the Revolution
 

6


The surprising truth about the birthplace of one of the writers of the Declaration of Independence
 

7


The forgotten site of one of the most pivotal moments in American history-with one of the best unknown views of Boston
 

8


Where to find an original copy of the U.S. Constitution
 

9


Among noisy clubs, a pub where the revolutionaries drank
 

10


The house where not one, but two early presidents lived
 

11


The log cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born? It’s here. So is the pen with which he signed the Emancipation Proclamation. And the home of the last actress he ever saw.
 

12


The home of a president you didn’t know was from here
 

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