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Chasing the Green Dragon |
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Photograph by Chris Poh
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Other
than my regional attachment and loyalty to those gentlemen from the
South Bronx that don the pinstripes, I've always held the city of Boston
and its feisty spirited citizens in the highest regard. The town that
is the very embodiment of our founding cause also played an important
role in my own personal quest for identity and independence. During my
formative years, the ultimate extension of the boundaries of that
restless suburban teenage rebel was a road trip to Beantown. Once I got
over the elation of having put over two-hundred miles between myself and
my parents point of view about proper public behavior, I would on most
occasions give into that more circumspect side of my personality. So following a few much appreciated pints of Watney's Red Barrel at the now defunct Pooh's Pub over on Kenmore Square, I would let my legs carry me across town and down those same cobble stoned streets and alleyways that wore away the boot heels of British Regulars, local militia and Continental soldiers alike. After enduring some rather chilling blows off the Charles River in the course of my fall and winter perambulations, I was grateful that Henry Knox's artillery perched on the Dorchester Heights had not permanently removed all traces of English culture from the city after the strategic departure of William Howe's troops in March of 1776. Nearly 200 years after the end of the siege of Boston, and long before there was a Harpoon IPA or a Samuel Adams Old Fezziwig, at a time when most future New England craft brewers were still pilfering an occasional Narragansett from their father's basement reserves, it was an English ale that fortified my constitution as I chased history's ghosts down the path of partisans and patriots. |
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During my last visit to Boston, myself and David McBride, a fellow
student of America's falling out with King George III, decided to
indulge our love of colonial history by taking some pre-Christmas cheer
at the Green Dragon Tavern. What could provide a more authentic setting
to ponder the merits of rebellion than an old brick pub with a sign
outside the door that read, "Headquarters of the Revolution 1773-1776?"
Unfortunately, this was not the same public house where the likes of
Hancock, Adams, Warren, Revere and other prominent Bostonian Freemasons
and the Sons of Liberty conspired against the Crown. That particular
tavern, located on another site, ceased to provide comfort and safe
haven to its enlightened clientele in 1854. And while the current Green
Dragon is an absolutely eye-catching pub that always offers its patrons a
friendly and inviting atmosphere, it was not quite the eighteenth
century touchstone that we had envisioned. So we instead focused our
journalistic attentions on the Warren Tavern in nearby Charlestown. That
particular trip was over two years ago, but the current tragedy and
needless bloodshed that has befallen the people of Boston as a result of
the Marathon Bombings led me to reconsider some our own past cause
oriented actions. |
Photograph by Chris Poh
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When we think about the American Revolution, we tend not to recount the
carnage and immense suffering of those who fought, and those who were
the unintended victims of the conflict. The telling of that glorified
story has always tended to skip over the gruesome and less than
honorable aspects of our nation's founding. And until the advent of
modern photography, no one other than the direct participants and
witnesses could fully grasp the realities of war. That is why an
Alexander Gardner photograph from Antietam is much more likely to
present an honest unsanitized accounting of events as opposed to artist
John Trumbull's depiction of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The
camera seldom lies—but the artist's brush is always subject to a desired
effect or particular point of view. |
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Then there are of course the points of view of those on either side of
the struggle to consider. British authorities and loyalists referred to
the Sons of liberty as the "Sons of Iniquity." Even Benjamin Franklin
was uncomfortable with the more extreme behaviors of some of his
compatriots. Throughout human history, the cruel and sadistic have
justified their atrocities by echoing the words of some greater
cause—God, freedom, liberty and justice. And while I suspect that I
would have been among those plotting the uprising at the Green Dragon
had my soul's time and space been eighteenth century Boston, I would
have stood in forceful opposition against any individual that
tortured, murdered and lynched those whose loyalties remained rooted on
the other side of the Atlantic. All too often, one man's
celebrated dissident has become another man's terrorist. Thankfully, on American soil, the vast majority of our insurrectionists and iconoclasts have exercised a fair degree of restraint when voicing their displeasure with the status quo. For the most part, the rule of law, ethical standards and our governing principles have prevailed, thus sparing the general population from the terror and senseless loss of life that is all too common on so many parts of the globe. But there have been those periods throughout our own history when some of our more self-serving malcontents have inflicted undue amounts of harm and hardships on our fellow citizens. Among those singled out in these campaigns of targeted terror were women, Blacks, Native Americans and homosexuals. And all too often, these extremists and assassins have operated with impunity because the institutions of government, law enforcement and religion turned a blind eye—in effect providing cause and cover to this brutal criminality. It was only after those institutions were pressured to assert their legal and moral authority to prosecute and marginalize those guilty of such heinous illegality, that these waves of domestic terrorism finally subsided. While we may never fully understand the motives of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, it is important that those that may have influenced their ideology clearly stand in condemnation or be held accountable for their culpability. For it is only the unified voices of moral clarity that will make possible the peaceful pursuit of life, liberty and happiness as envisioned by those that raised their tankards and consciousness at that ever elusive Green Dragon. |
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Green Dragon Tavern 11 Marshall Street, Boston Massachusetts 02108 greendragonboston.com (617) 367-0055 Directions \ |
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