Mischianza, Philadelphia

MISCHIANZA, PHILADELPHIA. 18 May 1778. Also known as "Howe's Farewell Party," this extravaganza was organized and directed by Captain John André and Captain Oliver De Lancey to mark General William Howe's departure as commander in chief of the British army in America. The Mischianza, which is an Italian term for a medley or mixture of different forms of entertainment, featured a grand regatta of decorated barges, gun salutes, a mock tournament between the Knights of the Blended Roses and the Burning Mountain, a banquet, fireworks, and a concluding exhibition in which an allegorical Fame saluted Howe with the words, "Thy laurels shall never fade." Loyalist American girls graced the event, and soldiers participated as silk-clad pages. The hosts sent 750 invitations, and the affair lasted from 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. A London firm is said to have sold 12,000 pounds' worth of silk, laces, and other fine materials for use in the event. Not everyone in the city was impressed. In her diary, Elizabeth Drinker, an affluent Philadelphia Quaker, dismissed these displays of excess as just so many "scenes of Folly and Vanity." André wrote a long account of the party that was published in the Annual Register for 1778 and can be found in The Spirit of Seventy-Six, edited by Henry Steele Commager and Richard B. Morris.

SEE ALSO André, John; De Lancey, Oliver (1749–1822); Howe, William.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Commager, Henry Steele, and Richard B. Morris, eds. The Spirit of 'Seventy-Six: The Story of the American Revolution as Told by Participants. New York: Da Capo Press, 1995.

                          revised by Michael Bellesiles