On the morning of August 14, 1765, the people of Boston discovered two effigies hanging from an elm tree in protest of the Stamp Act, and from that day forward the tree became known as the Liberty Tree. It stood in silent witness to countless meetings, speeches, and celebrations, became the rallying place for the Sons of Liberty, and in August 1775 British soldiers cut it down as a last act of violence before their evacuation of Boston because it bore the name Liberty.
