Patriot, Son, and Symbol: Josiah Quincy

Join Historic New England for a digital presentation that sheds light on an often overlooked Revolutionary figure - Josiah Quincy II.

In March 1775, Josiah Quincy II set sail for Boston after spending a year in England meeting with British authorities to clear up any “gross misrepresentations and falsehoods” spread about the “state of rebellion” among the American colonists.

Despite his failing health, Quincy returned to Boston with information that could only be delivered by word of mouth, claiming “my going now must be of great advantage to the American Cause.” Sadly, he never made it home, dying of tuberculous within sight of the New England shoreline – and just days after the events at Lexington and Concord set in motion the battle for American independence.  

Hailed by John Adams as a man “as great in proportion to [his] age, as any that I have ever known in America,” the historical significance of Quincy’s contributions to the Provincial cause were later eclipsed by the friends and fellow patriots who survived him. Yet among his family and descendants, the loss of this young man spurred multiple efforts to preserve his memory. 

This program uses the collections at Historic New England’s Quincy House to rediscover this Revolutionary figure and his posthumous transformation into a symbol of American patriotism.