Eagle Feathers #255 – Charlestown

By Bob (Monty) Doherty

She is 225 years old this year and the pride of Charlestown, the United States Navy and America. The USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides or the Eagle of the Sea, is one of New England’s main attractions.

Launched in 1797, the wooden navy frigate is the oldest floating commissioned war ship in the world. She fought in the first Tripolitan War and the War of 1812. She also won two domestic attempts to scuttle her. Today, she is a National Historic Landmark and has merited that distinction for over two centuries.
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On June 17, 1775, at Charlestown’s Bunker/Breed’s Hill, the infant Colonial American Army lost its first major battle of the Revolution. They fought toe to toe against the British Army, the best trained in the world.
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After opposing three assaults, inflicting terrible losses on the enemy and running out of gunpowder, the Americans were forced to withdraw to Winter Hill. At that time, General Washington was leery of leading the Colonials believing that Lexington and Concord were only skirmishes. Then, upon hearing of the appalling losses the New England militia inflicted on the British, he decided to lead these men.

Charlestown territory once stretched from the Charles River to the Merrimack River, mothering ten towns. It took 200 years to break up this historic old lady. Woburn was the first to break away in 1642, and Somerville was the last to leave in 1842.

What did these last two settlements have in common?
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• The first Governor of Massachusetts, John Winthrop, lived in both the locales of Somerville’s Ten Hills and Charlestown’s Winthrop Square.
• On April 18,1775, Paul Revere began his famous ride that skirted both sides of Charlestown’s Neck, the narrow strip of acreage separating the two lands. In 1803, he copper-sheathed the USS Constitution’s hull.
• One year later, heroic Captain Richard Somers, spent his last day on this famous ship. He is thought to be the namesake of Somerville.
• In 1621, Myles Standish explored both lands for the pilgrims.
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• Charles Taylor, father of the Boston Globe, the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park, lived in both cities.
• The first telephone numbers were issued in Somerville and Charlestown.
• The Powder House attack, the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Prospect Hill flag-raising and the burning of the Ursuline Convent happened in Charlestown/Somerville.
• The heart of the Bunker Hill battle was fought at its earthworks fort. Upon running out of gunpowder, they retreated toward the neck and the sanctuary of Winter and Prospect Hills. This is when General Joseph Warren was killed in Charlestown. It is thought that if he survived, he might have been our first president.
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• Another of Charlestown’s historic gems was its 87-acre Navy Yard, one of the best known in the country. Between opening its first berth in 1800 and its closing in 1974, its patriotic workers built more than 200 warships and overhauled and repaired thousands of others.

Today, the Charlestown Navy Yard is part of Charlestown’s pride and is a National Park Service site.