History

In September of 1777, the republic was only a year old and its army, commanded by Gen. George Washington, faced another crisis. Washington was unable to keep the British out of the capital city of Philadelphia, having lost the Battle of Brandywine. The new nation was about to fall into enemy hands. The British believed that if they could occupy the capital, this “colonial rebellion” could be stopped.

During a war, metal becomes scarce, so it was feared that the British might melt down the city’s church bells and the bells of the State House, including the bell we now know as the Liberty Bell. The Supreme Executive Council decided to remove the eleven bells from the city so they would not fall into enemy hands. The bells would eventually make their way to a distant village of Northampton Towne, presently called Allentown, 50 miles to the north, for safekeeping while the British occupied Philadelphia.

A train of 700 wagons was organized to carry military stores to Bethlehem. Carefully camouflaged by hay and manure, the Liberty Bell and other bells were transported on sturdy wagons. The trek began and the wagons, with their guard of 200 cavalrymen, arrived in Bethlehem on September 24, 1777. That night the bells were hauled to Allentown where they were hidden under the floorboards of old Zion’s Reformed Church. There, they remained in safety until the following July.

By the end of June, 1778, the British had evacuated Philadelphia and the Liberty Bell and the church bells were restored to their rightful places. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia continues, to this day, to “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof.”