Carty Parade Ground - Redcoat Field

Near 48 Beacon St

Carty Parade Ground had earned a bit of a reputation for its rioting. Boston was home to nearly 30 riots in about 65 years from ‘the draft’, customs regulations, brothers, impressment of sailors, Catholicism, taxes, and food. Even the Police went on strike.

The reason for the Press Gang Riots was that the British Royal Navy had a predilection for capturing or impressing random American seamen and tradesmen and forcing them to work aboard British warships. Gov William Shirley tried to call out the upper-class, but militiamen refused to respond. These responses taught Boston that authorities couldn’t do much to suppress large-scale uprisings.

Also referred to as a "training field," over 1,000 Redcoats made camp on the Common in this area during the British occupation of Boston in 1775. It was from here that three brigades of Redcoats embarked to make the fateful trip to Lexington and Concord. Boston Common has, and continues to, serve a higher purpose as a place for public and military displays for three centuries. Carty Parade Ground and was only officially named Carty Parade Ground in 1963 for Thomas J. Carty, Captain, Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. There is a round plaque in pavement where all the paths intersect, but it encompasses this entire flat area of the Commons, as the original shoreline was on the other side of Charles St.

(The video linked is of the British Strategy during the Revolutionary War.)

-Source Links-

https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/boston%20Common%20History%20&%20Map_tcm3-30691.pdf

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/british-army-boston

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d235/9b3c69f09b3313fc74cc8e892ed7b098eb93.pdf