As I left off in my last article on cataloging Bunker Hill documents and searching in the newspapers, on May 1, 1822, the land on Breeds Hill had been purchased and an association formed to make plans for it. They decided that: “It is intended to erect at MONUMENT, which shall be consecrated to the great leading characters and events, both civil and military, of the American Revolution, up to the 17th of June 1775, to bear appropriate inscriptions of the names and dates.”
By 1824, the Bunker Hill Monument Association had come up with a plan for the monument and published an article which stated: “We understand, that the summit of the Hill, where the Redoubt of the 17th June was raised, is to be laid out in an oblong square, six hundred feet long, and four hundred broad. This quadrangle is to be surmounted by a double row of trees, including a walk, within which is to be placed the MONUMENT. The whole, we learn, is to be so arranged as to disturb the form of the land and the relics of the works, as little as possible.” It is pretty obvious that the plans they were making would disturb the land and graves of men from both sides who fought and died during the battle. The bodies of those killed had been buried close to where they had fallen.
Donations to the monument came in, and in June 1825 work commenced on the foundation. Stone blocks were brought in from a nearby quarry in Quincy, Massachusetts. As workmen began: “In Digging for laying the foundation of the Monument on Bunker Hill, a few days since, a considerable number of human bones were found, which were carefully preserved to be deposited in a suitable place.” This certainly wouldn’t be the last time that human remains were found while working in that area of Charlestown.
Over the years as the monument rose from its foundation, monies ran out and construction stopped. More funds would need to be raised to continue. Other than donations, how could they raise the funds? The association held the land surrounding the monument and the rise of the hill was cut, and other areas filled to create house lots. A May 17, 1834, newspaper article states that fifty house lots prepared for sale were all sold, and the association was now out of debt and could continue the monument.
Not everyone was happy about the desecration of the land: “How the wicked populace of Suffolk and Middlesex counties may relish this imputation, is their business. They are inferentially charged with being stupid, ignorant, and prone to encourage “a wanton destruction of PUBLIC PROPERTY.” It is to be presumed that if the accuser should ever find himself across a rail upon Bunker hill, clad in a comfortable dress of tar and feathers, he would feel the same reasonable disposition to recommend a removal of the Monument itself, out of the precincts of such a community of vandals!” Grading work continued and more human remains were found. Finally, the monument was completed and dedicated in 1843.
Today, Charlestown is a bustling city with the massive Bunker Hill monument as its centerpiece. Could have been left alone and saved? I guess it doesn’t matter anymore. Occasionally, I still go there and try to envision what it looked like at the time of the battle.
