PHOTO BY REBA SALDANHA
Seamus Daly of Marblehead’s Glover’s Regiment, gives a eulogy at Glover’s tomb on Burial Hill to mark the 220th anniversary of Gen. John Glover’s death on Saturday.
By ADAM SWIFT
MARBLEHEAD — If it were not for the actions of General John Glover and his regiment of Marblehead mariners, there’s a good chance we’d still be living under the rule of British monarchs.
On three occasions during the early days of the American Revolution, Glover’s Marblehead Regiment stepped into action to help make the dream of freedom from tyranny a reality.
On Saturday evening, the modern-day Glover’s Marblehead Regiment held a memorial march, in Revolutionary period garb, from the Old Town House to Burial Hill to honor the 220th anniversary of Glover’s death in 1797. The regiment was reformed in 1974 to celebrate the Bicentennial and is a group of living historians and custodians of the role of Marblehead in the Revolutionary War.
The regiment has marched for more than four decades to honor Glover’s life and death, and Captain Seamus Daly of Glover’s Marblehead Regiment said it is one of a number of events it undertakes to keep the memory of the general and Marblehead’s role in the Revolution alive.
“The regiment was famous for three events in 1776,” said Daly. Those events included the evacuation of 9,000 Continental troops and all of their equipment, guns and horses from under the nose of the British regulars from Long Island, the fighting of a holding action against the British attempting to cut off Washington’s army in Manhattan, and the famous crossing of the Delaware on Christmas night to surprise the Hessian garrison at Trenton.
On Saturday evening, the regiment marched by lamp light to Glover’s tomb at Burial Hill, followed by several dozen local residents.
At the cemetery, the regiment offered a military salute to Glover, and Daly recounted the exploits of the role the general and his men played in the Revolution.
“We gather here to commemorate the life of General John Glover, a true hero of the Revolutionary War,” said Daly. “This event focuses on General Glover and his men in the events of late 1776, however, it is also right that we pay deference to his other war service when he came back after the war.”
Glover was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution, quickly rising from colonel to general of the regiment that came to bear his name. His commitment to the war led to the loss of his personal fortune.
“But after the war, Glover was not done with public service,” Daly said. “He served six terms as a town selectman and two terms in the state legislature.”
After the ceremony at Burial Hill, the regiment returned to the Old Town House with a stop in Glover Square.