INTRODUCTION

I. THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT

As early as 1776, steps were taken toward the commemoration of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the heroic death of Dr. Joseph Warren, who was buried upon the hill the day after the action. At the time of the battle, Warren was a major-general in the Continental Army. The Massachusetts Lodge of Masons, over which Warren had presided, applied to the provisional government of Massachusetts for permission to take up his remains and to bury them with the usual solemnities. The council granted this request, on condition that the government of the Colony might have an opportunity to erect a monument to his memory. A eulogy on General Warren was delivered, but no measures were taken toward building a monument.

A resolution was adopted by the Congress of the United States on the 8th of April, 1777, directing that monuments should be erected to the memory of General Warren, in Boston, and of General Mercer, at Fredericksburg; but this resolution has remained unexecuted.

On the 11th of November, 1794, a committee was appointed by King Solomon's Lodge, at Charlestown, to take measures for the erection of a monument to the memory of General Joseph Warren, at the expense of the lodge. This resolution was promptly carried into effect. The land for this purpose was presented to the lodge by the Hon. James Russell, of Charlestown, and it was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies in 1794. It was a wooden pillar of the Tuscan order, eighteen feet in height, raised on a pedestal eight feet square, and of an elevation of ten feet from the ground. The pillar was surmounted by a gilt urn.

Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat, in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.

GEORGE WASHINGTON.

INTRODUCTION

I. THE BUNKER HILL MONUMENT

As early as 1776, steps were taken toward the commemoration of the Battle of Bunker Hill and the heroic death of Dr. Joseph Warren, who was buried upon the hill the day after the action. At the time of the battle, Warren was a major-general in the Continental Army. The Massachusetts Lodge of Masons, over which Warren had presided, applied to the provisional government of Massachusetts for permission to take up his remains and to bury them with the usual solemnities. The council granted this request, on condition that the government of the Colony might have an opportunity to erect a monument to his memory. A eulogy on General Warren was delivered, but no measures were taken toward building a monument.

A resolution was adopted by the Congress of the United States on the 8th of April, 1777, directing that monuments should be erected to the memory of General Warren, in Boston, and of General Mercer, at Fredericksburg; but this resolution has remained unexecuted.

On the 11th of November, 1794, a committee was appointed by King Solomon's Lodge, at Charlestown, to take measures for the erection of a monument to the memory of General Joseph Warren, at the expense of the lodge. This resolution was promptly carried into effect. The land for this purpose was presented to the lodge by the Hon. James Russell, of Charlestown, and it was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies in 1794. It was a wooden pillar of the Tuscan order, eighteen feet in height, raised on a pedestal eight feet square, and of an elevation of ten feet from the ground. The pillar was surmounted by a gilt urn.