The Escape, Midnight Flight to Freedom | The Heritage Art Gallery

Boston, April 16,1775

By early April, 1775, one of the more radical Whigs (patriot) and friends of Isaiah Thomas including Dr. Warren (known soon after as General Warren, later killed in the battle of Bunker Hill), believed that the British navy would burn Boston as soon as the war began.

During the first week of April, Thomas met with John Hancock and other members of the Provincial Congress in Concord. The Massachusetts Spy publisher was advised to move his press to a country town where it would be safe and accessible to do their printing.

The final Massachusetts Spy issue emanating from Union Street in Boston was printed on April the 6^th, 1775.

Late into the night on April the 16^th, 1775, Thomas dismantled his printing office, and with the help of Dr. Warren, Timothy Bigelow (a Worcester Whig) sent his press and types by ferry across the Charles River to Charles Town and then to Worcester where they have been preserved in The American Antiquarian Society, later established by Isaiah Thomas in 1812.

The painting depicts Thomas, Warren, Bigelow and others as they cautiously move the press and supplies onto the ferry and off to Charlestown as seen in the distance. From there, it was then brought by carriage to Worcester.

Designing the Painting.

When I began the painting, my original idea was to have the drama take place in front of the location that was thought to be the printing office of Isaiah Thomas, now the Union Oyster House.

At this point in the progress of the commission, I had not yet completed a lot of the research of the surrounding area. Thus, I didn’t know too much about the building of the oyster house except what was presently in existence and a few photos from the early 20^th century.

I interpreted that the view in this scene would be a straight forward depiction of the building with the activity of Isaiah Thomas and his friends loading a carriage with his printing press and equipment. I was imagining that the building hadn’t changed since the 1770s, but as I learned more of the history, things just didn’t seem to add up.

One night, while studying the building and the nighttime atmosphere, a horse and buggy happened to be parked in front of the oyster house. I photographed it and found that it would be a perfect subject for the action. Also, I photographed the building and street to help imagine how things may have looked.

In June 17, 1775 the British would set the abandoned town of Charlestown ablaze to rid it of snipers. The British were going to start their bombardment with the cannons from the Copp’s Hill battery, just above the ferry landing, and with the cannons from the British war ships; the Somerset, Lively and Falcon, which were parked in the river.

But this is still April. Since the cannons in the battery up on Copp’s Hill, overlooked the ferry landing, it seemed possible, to be prudent, that Thomas and his crew would have avoided being seen by any British soldiers that were encamped at those cannons. It seemed that Thomas’s most logical point of departure from Boston to access the Charlestown ferry, would possibly have been Gree’s Ship yard, just to the left of the battery. As there is no record of the details of his passage, one can only guess. Therefore, I imagined he would have taken the ferry to Charlestown from Gree’s ship yard where he wouldn’t have to pass in front of the cannons and the British encampment.

I set up the scene from the vantage point of the landing at Gree’s ship yard, looking toward Charlestown. Through the mist, one can see a ship as it silently waits in the Charles River between Boston and Charlestown.

Thomas is in the foreground on the carriage holding the lantern as he oversees the transport of his press and equipment.

On the boat would be some of his friends as they load the printing supplies, anxiously peering into the darkness, watching for any British soldiers who might possibly spot them.