1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:19,240 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. While I was getting ready 4 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: to kind of wind down for the evening on June fourth, 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: I was scrolling on my phone. Great thing to do 6 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: for your mental health in the evening. I'm kidding, try 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:32,919 Speaker 1: not to. I'm trying not to, But I was scrolling 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: and saw a headline from the Washington Post that said, quote, 9 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: Park Service orders removal of woke quotes at Boston's Bunker 10 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: Hill Monument. So we've talked about interpretive material being removed 11 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: from National parks and other federally managed properties for more 12 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,000 Speaker 1: than a year now, after that Restoring Truth Insanity to 13 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: American History executive order that came out in March of 14 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, So this headline was not really surprising, 15 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: but I had this initial reaction that was like another one, 16 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,240 Speaker 1: and then as I read the article, it veered more 17 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:13,400 Speaker 1: toward confusion. A visitor complaint had led to a quote 18 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:17,839 Speaker 1: about women's suffrage, prompting a review, and then that led 19 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: to the order to take all of this other material 20 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: down and According to the article, the quotes that were 21 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: flagged to be removed did not actually include the one 22 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:29,120 Speaker 1: about suffrage from the initial complaint, but it did include 23 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: one about the Vietnam War, one from a letter to 24 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 1: the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, and one that was supportive 25 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: of foreign born citizens, so immigrants to the United States. 26 00:01:40,959 --> 00:01:44,200 Speaker 1: And then I was just confused because there was really 27 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: no context in the article about why these quotes were there. 28 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting that they didn't belong there, It just 29 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: it didn't quite make sense. There seemed to be no context. 30 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,360 Speaker 1: All of these quotes dated to one hundred years or 31 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: more after the Battle of Bunker Hill, only one of 32 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: them seemed to reference it directly. An article in the 33 00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: Boston Globe that I saw the next morning had some 34 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: more context, and it actually had pictures of the panels 35 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: that the quotes are on. But I still felt like 36 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: I was having to piece together for myself what kind 37 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:19,400 Speaker 1: of exhibit these quotes might have been a part of. 38 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:24,040 Speaker 1: None of the news reporting I read explained that part 39 00:02:24,080 --> 00:02:27,360 Speaker 1: of it, and that included after some more information was 40 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: added to the Washington Post article that I had originally 41 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:33,040 Speaker 1: read later on, so I went down to the Bunker 42 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:35,920 Speaker 1: Hill Monument, and I came away with a sense that 43 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,240 Speaker 1: very soon after that monument was completed, it started to 44 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: be about a lot more than just the battle that 45 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,000 Speaker 1: took place on June seventeenth of seventeen seventy five. But 46 00:02:47,080 --> 00:02:49,680 Speaker 1: we will start with the Battle of Bunker Hill as 47 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:54,280 Speaker 1: background for this. Tensions had been escalating between Britain and 48 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 1: its colonies in North America for a while. When the 49 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:02,280 Speaker 1: first shots were fired in Massachusetts April nineteenth, seventeen seventy five, 50 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:07,080 Speaker 1: British forces had marched to Lexington and Conquered to seize 51 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,519 Speaker 1: the colonist's weapons and gunpowder. Riders rode out from Boston 52 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: to raise the alarm, which was of course the inspiration 53 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:19,480 Speaker 1: for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's eighteen sixty poem Paul Revere's Ride. 54 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:24,359 Speaker 1: Thanks to that warning, colonial militia, including minutemen, who were 55 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: required to be ready for battle at a moment's notice, 56 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,239 Speaker 1: were ready. They successfully defended Lexington and conquered and drove 57 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: the British back to Boston. After this, militia from Connecticut, 58 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: New Hampshire, and Rhode Island all marched to the area 59 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: around Boston to help defend it. Soon, the British were 60 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,720 Speaker 1: besieged in Boston, while the colonies defended and fortified the 61 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: surrounding settlements in the area around Boston. By the late 62 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 1: spring of seventeen seventy five, there were still two sites 63 00:03:55,320 --> 00:04:00,640 Speaker 1: in particular that were vulnerable to British artillery fire, Dorchester 64 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:03,280 Speaker 1: Heights to the south of Boston, and the hills of 65 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: Charlestown to the north across the Charles River. Dorchester Heights 66 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: and Charlestown are both part of Boston today, but at 67 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: the time they were not. They were separate settlements, and 68 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: the landscape around Boston was also a lot different. The 69 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: area that's called Back Bay today was an actual bay, 70 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:25,039 Speaker 1: and Boston and Charlestown were peninsulas kind of facing each other, 71 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: and each of them connected to the surrounding land by 72 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:32,960 Speaker 1: a narrow neck. British General Thomas Gage intended to seize 73 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,080 Speaker 1: both Dorchester Heights and Charlestown in an effort to weaken 74 00:04:37,120 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: the colonists Uprising colonial forces found out about this plan 75 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: and decided to fortify Bunker Hill in Charlestown, which was 76 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,919 Speaker 1: the tallest hill in the area for unclear reasons the 77 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: militia started fortifying Breed's Hill instead. This may have just 78 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,679 Speaker 1: been a misunderstanding since these hills were known by multiple 79 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: names and Bunker Hill Hill and Breed's Hill are basically 80 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: next to each other. The colonial forces built a redoubt 81 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: basically a ditch with a wall made from the earth 82 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: dug out of it during the night of June sixteenth, 83 00:05:11,880 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: seventeen seventy five. That was followed by a chest high 84 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: fortification called a breastwork off to the side. Building these 85 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,400 Speaker 1: kinds of fortifications was one of the strengths of the 86 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: colonial militias since many of them were farmers and they 87 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: were very used to this kind of manual labor. Yeah, 88 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: there are several different battles where the British were like, 89 00:05:33,960 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: where did the sport come from? How'd you do that? 90 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:41,800 Speaker 1: Wasn't here yesterday? When the sun came up on June seventeenth, 91 00:05:41,880 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: the British quickly realized what was happening on the hill. 92 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,039 Speaker 1: British General William House sent troops to attack the fortification 93 00:05:49,240 --> 00:05:51,839 Speaker 1: and to try to take the hill. That hill was 94 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:56,400 Speaker 1: defended by forces led by Colonel William Prescott. A couple 95 00:05:56,560 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: of questionable details have become part of the lad lore 96 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:04,479 Speaker 1: around this battle. One is that the Colonial volunteers were 97 00:06:04,480 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: told to hold their fire until they could see the 98 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: whites of the British soldier's eyes. This saying actually predates 99 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: this battle, and its connection to Bunker Hill was apparently 100 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: popularized by Mason lock Weems, the same person who invented 101 00:06:19,480 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: the story about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree. 102 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: Another bit of lore is about the first fatality, which 103 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: is often cited as being Asa Pollard of bill RecA, 104 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,039 Speaker 1: who was struck in the head by a cannonball that 105 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:36,599 Speaker 1: was fired from a ship anchored in the harbor during 106 00:06:36,640 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: an initial bombardment, so before the fighting had really started. 107 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: He was decapitated, to the absolute horror of the men 108 00:06:44,640 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: around him. Some of those men fled because they were 109 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 1: so terrified. There are some inconsistencies in the accounts of this. 110 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: There are multiple accounts of somebody being struck in the 111 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:00,240 Speaker 1: head by a cannonball, but articles definitively saying that it 112 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: was Ace of Pollard did not appear until around the 113 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:08,960 Speaker 1: fiftieth anniversary of the battle. Regardless of these sort of 114 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: problematic and incorrect pieces of lore, the Colonial militia successfully 115 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,600 Speaker 1: defended Breed's Hill against two advances by the British army, 116 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: but by the third advance the men defending the hill 117 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: were exhausted and they were running out of ammunition. The 118 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: British force also received reinforcements, while the American force did not, 119 00:07:29,760 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: so the remaining defenders retreated and the British captured the hill. 120 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: By that point, a lot of Charlestown had been destroyed. 121 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: Most of its population had already fled, leaving only about 122 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,360 Speaker 1: two hundred people there and a lot of empty buildings. 123 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: General Howe ordered Charlestown to be burned when it became 124 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: clear that colonial militia were using the rooftops and the 125 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:54,960 Speaker 1: windows of abandoned buildings as vantage points to fire on 126 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: the British. So the Battle of Bunker Hill was a 127 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,840 Speaker 1: loss for the colonies. Most sources frame it as a 128 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: pueric victory for the British. About four hundred and fifty 129 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,640 Speaker 1: Americans were killed, wounded or captured, compared to one thousand, 130 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: fifty four on the British side that included nineteen officers. 131 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: The British also faced disproportionately greater losses than the Americans. 132 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: There were about two thousand, two hundred colonial militia at 133 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: the battle and three thousand from the British army. Yes, 134 00:08:26,160 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: so there were more on the British side, but not 135 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,200 Speaker 1: enough to account for the difference in the casualty numbers. 136 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:37,040 Speaker 1: After this encounter, the British dropped their plan to try 137 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: to capture Dorchester Heights, and that remained unclaimed and undefended 138 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: until the Continental Army took possession of it in March 139 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: of seventeen seventy six, and then brought up some cannons 140 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 1: they had captured at Fort Ticonderoga. That ultimately led to 141 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:57,480 Speaker 1: the British evacuation from Boston on March seventeenth of that year. 142 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,839 Speaker 1: That's now celebrated annually in Boston and other parts of 143 00:09:00,840 --> 00:09:05,760 Speaker 1: Suffolk County, Massachusetts as Evacuation Day. The battle also had 144 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: an impact on the colonists and on the Continental Army, 145 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: which was established on June fourteenth, seventeen seventy five. In 146 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: the speech he gave at the dedication of the Bunker 147 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 1: Hill Monument after it was completed, Daniel Webster summed those 148 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: impacts up this way, quote, it was the first great 149 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:26,760 Speaker 1: battle of the Revolution, and not only the first blow, 150 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:30,400 Speaker 1: but the blow which determined the contest. It did not 151 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: indeed put an end to the war, but in the 152 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 1: then existing hostile state of feeling, the difficulties could only 153 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: be referred to the arbitration of the sword. And one 154 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: thing is certain that after the New England troops had 155 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: shown themselves able to face and repulse the Regulars, it 156 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,800 Speaker 1: was decided that peace never could be established, but upon 157 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,720 Speaker 1: the basis of the independence of the colonies. When the 158 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,160 Speaker 1: sun of that day went down, the event of independence 159 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: was no longer doubtful. In a few days, Washington heard 160 00:10:03,160 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: of the battle, and he inquired if the militia had 161 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: stood the fire of the regulars. When told that they 162 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: had not only stood that fire, but reserved their own 163 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: till the enemy was within eight rods, and then poured 164 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: it in with tremendous effect, then exclaimed he the liberties 165 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: of the country are safe. The consequences of this battle 166 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: were just of the same importance as the revolution itself, 167 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:31,000 Speaker 1: or you will get to the consequences after a sponsor break. 168 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: The Battle of Bunker Hill lasted for about two hours, 169 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,120 Speaker 1: but the Revolutionary War continued for eight years until the 170 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:52,559 Speaker 1: Treaty of Paris of seventeen eighty three. Some time passed. 171 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:56,320 Speaker 1: Then seventeen ninety four, King Solomon's Lodge, which is a 172 00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:00,200 Speaker 1: Masonic lodge that still exists today, erected a monument to 173 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: honor their Masonic brother and Grandmaster, doctor Joseph Warren, who 174 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: had died in the battle. Warren was second General in 175 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: command of the Massachusetts forces, but he fought on the 176 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 1: front lines of the battle alongside the regular volunteer militia. 177 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: This monument was shaped like a pillar with an urn 178 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:21,679 Speaker 1: on the top, and it was placed at the approximate 179 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:26,079 Speaker 1: site on Breed's Hill where Warren was killed. At first, 180 00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: there wasn't much discussion of some kind of other Bunker 181 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:33,200 Speaker 1: Hill monument. But in the eighteen twenties, people around the 182 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: US started becoming more interested in the Revolutionary War and 183 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,679 Speaker 1: in battles that had taken place near where they lived. 184 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,200 Speaker 1: By then, even the youngest veterans of the war were 185 00:11:43,240 --> 00:11:46,840 Speaker 1: getting into their sixties. People wanted to honor them and 186 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 1: to preserve their memories of the war before they died. Also, 187 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: the War of eighteen twelve had ended in eighteen fifteen, 188 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:58,160 Speaker 1: and it had been controversial and divisive. Some people thought 189 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: commemorating the Revolution could bolster patriotism and unity in the 190 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: wake of that later conflicted war. The fiftieth anniversary of 191 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: the Declaration of Independence was in eighteen twenty six, and 192 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: of course there were other fiftieth anniversaries related to the 193 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: Revolutionary War before and after that, so people were also 194 00:12:18,760 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 1: just interested in building monuments and planning commemorations throughout this period. 195 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 1: In Charlestown, someone who owned part of the Bunker Hill 196 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:32,400 Speaker 1: Battlefield planned to sell it. The Bunker Hill Monument Association 197 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: was formed in eighteen twenty three to purchase this land 198 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: and preserve the battlefield, as well as to construct a 199 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,480 Speaker 1: monuments and to maintain their tradition of commemorating the battle 200 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: every June seventeenth. The Association took out a loan to 201 00:12:46,320 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: buy fifteen acres of the battlefield site in eighteen twenty four, 202 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: and then raised funds to repay that loan and to 203 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:58,840 Speaker 1: start construction on a monument. King Solomon's Lodge also donated 204 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:01,320 Speaker 1: their original monument and the land that it was on, 205 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 1: with the understanding that their monument would be represented somehow 206 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:10,240 Speaker 1: at the new monument. It had fallen into disrepair already, 207 00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:13,440 Speaker 1: so it couldn't just be left standing. There is a 208 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: model of that monument in the bottom of the Bunker 209 00:13:16,200 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 1: Hill Monument today. In eighteen twenty five, a call went 210 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: out for artists to submit proposals for the monument's design. 211 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: The winner was Horatio Greenow, who would go on to 212 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: become one of the first American sculptors to attain international recognition. 213 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,840 Speaker 1: He would also do some controversial commissions for the federal government. 214 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: I feel like that's a whole other story. The Monument 215 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: Association had planned for it to be shaped like a pillar, 216 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: but Greenhouse's design was an obelisk. As he said in 217 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:51,440 Speaker 1: his memoirs, quote the obelisk has to my eye a 218 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,679 Speaker 1: singular aptitude in its form and character to call attention 219 00:13:55,800 --> 00:14:00,600 Speaker 1: to a spot memorable in history. It says, but what word? 220 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: But it speaks loud. If I understand its voice, it 221 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: says here it says no more. The Marquis de Lafayette 222 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,079 Speaker 1: laid the monument's cornerstone at a ceremony on a fiftieth 223 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,240 Speaker 1: anniversary of the battle. On an earlier visit to the battlefield, 224 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,120 Speaker 1: he had called it quote where the blood of American 225 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: patriots early and gloriously spilled, aroused the energy of three millions, 226 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: and secured the happiness of ten millions and of many 227 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: other millions of men in times to come. So side note. 228 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: The Marquis de Lafayette was another freemason, and another side note. 229 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:41,600 Speaker 1: He collected soil from the battlefield during that earlier visit, 230 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: and his son sprinkled it on his grave after Lafayette 231 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: died in eighteen thirty four. In eighteen twenty five, Solomon 232 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: Willard was hired to be the architect and superintendent of 233 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,000 Speaker 1: the monument. A plan evolved for the obelisk to have 234 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: a spiral staircase on the end side and to be 235 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: built from granite quarried from Quincy, Massachusetts, eleven miles away. 236 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: These granite blocks were transported to the Naponset River by 237 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: one of the first horse drawn railways in the US. 238 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: It was the first known to operate commercially, and then 239 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 1: they were carried the rest of the way by ship. 240 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 1: This project ran out of money repeatedly. Part of the 241 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: battlefield was sold off in the eighteen thirties because of 242 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: a lack of funds. Their first wave of construction built 243 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: eighty five feet of obelisk out of a planned two hundred, 244 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: and then it stopped. The obelisk just sat there, not 245 00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: quite half finished. For about a year and a half. 246 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: There were repeated fundraisers, including a donation drive that was 247 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,760 Speaker 1: specifically aimed at women and children, hoping they would donate 248 00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:54,400 Speaker 1: the small amounts of money they had. In eighteen forty, 249 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: Sarah Josepha Hale organized a lady's Fair at faniel Hall Market, 250 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: which is now known as Quincy Market. Hale was already 251 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: a big part of the fundraising efforts, especially it came 252 00:16:06,160 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: to those ones that were aimed at getting women and 253 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,440 Speaker 1: children to donate small amounts, and her efforts were pretty controversial. 254 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: There were people who thought that women had no right 255 00:16:16,080 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: to give money from their household funds, which really belonged 256 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: to their husbands. Although charitable women's fares already existed, some 257 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,200 Speaker 1: people thought this one, in particular, was unseemly because the 258 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:32,120 Speaker 1: women were raising money for a war monument, not doing 259 00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: something like helping the poor. In spite of all this, 260 00:16:35,720 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 1: over the course of September tenth through fifteenth of eighteen forty, 261 00:16:39,600 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: this fair raised more than thirty thousand dollars. That was 262 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,120 Speaker 1: about a quarter of the money that was still needed, 263 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: and that success inspired a couple of other major donations, 264 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,760 Speaker 1: along with a lot of smaller fundraising efforts. The Bunker 265 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: Hill Monument was finally completed in eighteen forty two, seventeen 266 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,800 Speaker 1: years after Lafayette had laid that first corner stonn At 267 00:17:02,840 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: two hundred and twenty one feet, it was the tallest 268 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:08,200 Speaker 1: monument in the US until the creation of the Washington 269 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 1: Monument that wouldn't be completed until eighteen eighty four. There 270 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,439 Speaker 1: are two hundred and ninety four steps inside leading up 271 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: to the top. The Bunker Hill Monument was dedicated on 272 00:17:19,359 --> 00:17:23,400 Speaker 1: June seventeenth, eighteen forty three, on the sixty eighth anniversary 273 00:17:23,440 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 1: of the battle. Daniel Webster, again another freemason, gave its 274 00:17:27,840 --> 00:17:31,119 Speaker 1: dedication speech, and that speech makes it clear that the 275 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: monument already was not just about the battle. He called 276 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:40,119 Speaker 1: the monument a shrine to liberty and said quote it 277 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: brings to our contemplation on the seventeenth of June seventeen 278 00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:48,080 Speaker 1: seventy five, and the consequences which have resulted to us, 279 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:51,159 Speaker 1: to our country, and to the world from the events 280 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,600 Speaker 1: of that day, and which we know must continue to 281 00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:58,239 Speaker 1: reign influence on the destinies of mankind to the end 282 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:02,640 Speaker 1: of time. The elevation with which it raises us high 283 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: above the ordinary feelings of life, surpass all that the 284 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: study of the closet, or even the inspiration of genius 285 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 1: can produce. Today, it speaks to us, its future auditories 286 00:18:14,880 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: will be the successive generations of men, as they rise 287 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:21,880 Speaker 1: up before it and gather around it. Its speech will 288 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: be of patriotism and courage, of civil and religious liberty, 289 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:31,360 Speaker 1: of free government, of the moral improvement and elevation of mankind, 290 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: and of the immortal memory of those who, with heroic devotion, 291 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: have sacrificed their lives for their country. Later, he said, 292 00:18:41,440 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: let us remember that we have duties and obligations to 293 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:49,239 Speaker 1: perform corresponding to the blessings which we enjoy. Let Us 294 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:53,160 Speaker 1: remember the trust, the sacred trust attaching to the rich 295 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:56,840 Speaker 1: inheritance which we have received from our fathers. Let us 296 00:18:56,840 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: feel our personal responsibility to the full extent of our 297 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: power and influence, for the preservation of the principles of 298 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 1: civil and religious liberty. And let us remember that it 299 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,160 Speaker 1: is only religion and morals and knowledge that can make 300 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:15,000 Speaker 1: men respectable and happy. Under any form of government. Let 301 00:19:15,080 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: us hold fast the great truth that communities are responsible 302 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:23,120 Speaker 1: as well as individuals, that no government is respectable, which 303 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:27,479 Speaker 1: is not just that without unspotted purity of public faith, 304 00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: without sacred public principle, fidelity and honor, no mere forms 305 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:36,119 Speaker 1: of government, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to 306 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: political society. In our day and generation, let us seek 307 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: to raise and improve the moral sentiments, so that we 308 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,880 Speaker 1: may look not for a degraded but for an elevated 309 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,720 Speaker 1: and improved future. And when both we and our children 310 00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:53,840 Speaker 1: shall have been consigned to the house appointed for all living, 311 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: may love of country and pride of country glow with 312 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: equal fervor among those to whom our names and our 313 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:05,440 Speaker 1: blood shall have descended. And then when honored and decrepit 314 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: age shall lean against the base of this monument, and 315 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,439 Speaker 1: troops of ingenuous youths shall be gathered around it, And 316 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: when that one shall speak to the other of its objects, 317 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,160 Speaker 1: the purposes of its construction, and the great and glorious 318 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: events with which it is connected, there shall rise from 319 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:26,919 Speaker 1: every youthful breast to the ejaculation. Thank God, I I 320 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 1: also am an American, obviously an intensely patriotic work, but 321 00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:39,560 Speaker 1: also one that's basically like, this work isn't done yet, 322 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: we must all carry it on with us. Other work 323 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: at the monument, meaning physical work, not sort of the 324 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,400 Speaker 1: moral work of the country followed afterward, including a statue 325 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 1: of Joseph Warren installed in eighteen fifty seven and one 326 00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,240 Speaker 1: of Colonel William Prescott in eighteen eighty one. A Greek 327 00:20:58,280 --> 00:21:01,199 Speaker 1: Revival style lodge was built next to the monument to 328 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 1: act as both a museum and a place to sell 329 00:21:04,080 --> 00:21:08,119 Speaker 1: tickets to climb up those interior steps, with that money 330 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: helping to pay for the monument's ongoing maintenance and upkeep. 331 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: That lodge was finished in nineteen oh three. In nineteen nineteen, 332 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:20,480 Speaker 1: the Bunker Hill Monument Association handed the monument, lodge and 333 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:26,120 Speaker 1: grounds over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston National Historical 334 00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,640 Speaker 1: Park was established in nineteen seventy four, and the monument 335 00:21:29,800 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: was transferred to the National Park Service a year later. 336 00:21:33,680 --> 00:21:36,399 Speaker 1: The Bunker Hill Museum opened in a building across the 337 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: street from the monument in two thousand and seven. That 338 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: building had been home to the Charlestown branch of the 339 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:45,360 Speaker 1: Boston Public Library, which had moved to a new location. 340 00:21:46,359 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 1: Some of the displays and dioramas that had been in 341 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 1: the lodge moved into the new museum. On the seventy 342 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,040 Speaker 1: fifth anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill in eighteen 343 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:00,840 Speaker 1: fifty seven, years after the monument's completion, at the Word Everett, 344 00:22:00,960 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 1: one of the founders of the Monument Association, gave a speech. 345 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,439 Speaker 1: He talked about the Battle of Bunker Hill and the 346 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: growing division between the North and the South, and his 347 00:22:11,119 --> 00:22:14,119 Speaker 1: hope for the union to be preserved, and he also 348 00:22:14,160 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 1: talked about the monument's meaning beyond just commemorating that one 349 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:22,920 Speaker 1: battle quote. We borrowed the form of the monument from 350 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,960 Speaker 1: the structures of ancient Egypt, but we did not intend 351 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,119 Speaker 1: that it should stand, like the obelisks and pyramids, a 352 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 1: silent mystery to the successive generations that gaze upon them. 353 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:36,199 Speaker 1: We wished that from time to time there should go 354 00:22:36,359 --> 00:22:40,040 Speaker 1: forth a faithful record of the glorious event and of 355 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:43,680 Speaker 1: the all important principles to which the monument is consecrated. 356 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: And while the majestic shaft itself from the clouds to 357 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,480 Speaker 1: which it towers, shall address its solemn eloquence to the 358 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,719 Speaker 1: eye that the pen and voice to the end of 359 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: time should interpret its illustrious significance to the understanding and 360 00:22:59,600 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: the heart. I would say, I don't know that he 361 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:07,160 Speaker 1: thoroughly understands the purpose of ancient Egyptian monuments and structures, 362 00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:11,919 Speaker 1: but these again saying that this is a monument for 363 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,720 Speaker 1: works and ideas that are continuing. We will get to 364 00:23:17,560 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: this idea and how it manifested after we pause for 365 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:33,520 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. To my knowledge, the panels that I 366 00:23:33,560 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: saw when visiting the Bunker Hill Monument on June six, 367 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: twenty twenty six are still up now ten days later 368 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 1: as we are recording this on Friday, June twelfth, which 369 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:48,119 Speaker 1: is now four days ago. As of this recording, United 370 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:52,600 Speaker 1: States District Judge Angel Kelly forbade the Department of the 371 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: Interior and the Park Service from taking any further action 372 00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:00,040 Speaker 1: to implement the Secretary of the Interiors Restoring Truth in 373 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,919 Speaker 1: Sanity to American History order at National Park sites. So 374 00:24:04,280 --> 00:24:06,239 Speaker 1: they are not supposed to be taking things down at 375 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: the National Parks anymore, pending further court work. So this 376 00:24:12,800 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 1: is the second time that I have written an entire 377 00:24:15,560 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: episode of this podcast about material being removed from the 378 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:23,480 Speaker 1: National parks, and then the legal situation surrounding that material 379 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: has changed in between writing it and recording it, and 380 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,680 Speaker 1: I have had to go in and make additions and changes. 381 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: We are still going to talk about these panels, though, 382 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,160 Speaker 1: even though to min as far as I know, unless 383 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:39,840 Speaker 1: something else changes legally, they are not currently at risk 384 00:24:39,880 --> 00:24:43,359 Speaker 1: of being removed, because again, this whole episode was already 385 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 1: written when that happened. Some of what is on the 386 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:50,480 Speaker 1: panels is the kind of material that people would probably 387 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 1: expect at this kind of monument. There's a quote from 388 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 1: the Bunker Hill Monument Association about the monument, and that 389 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: is paired with a painting by John Trumbull depicting the 390 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:05,680 Speaker 1: death of Joseph Warren. There's information about the original memorial 391 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: that was raised by King Solomon's Lodge, about the formation 392 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, how long it took 393 00:25:13,560 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: to build the monument, and how expensive it was. There 394 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: is a quote from Sarah Josepha Hale about raising those funds. 395 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:25,119 Speaker 1: But the panels are not just about the battle and 396 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: the building of the monument. The way that the room 397 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 1: is laid out, the panel that a person would probably 398 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:34,399 Speaker 1: walk past first on the way to go climb all 399 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,399 Speaker 1: those steps end quote. Today, more than two hundred and 400 00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: fifty years later, you are visiting the legacy of many 401 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:46,959 Speaker 1: generations since they came here to build, create, retail, and 402 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: challenge stories about the Battle of Bunker Hill and the 403 00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 1: creation of the United States of America. The challenges start 404 00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:58,879 Speaker 1: on the very next panel with a quote from Caleb Stark, 405 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,240 Speaker 1: whose name is as Caleb Strong on the banner. Caleb 406 00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:06,560 Speaker 1: Stark was only sixteen years old and too young to 407 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:09,240 Speaker 1: serve in the militia, but he ran away from home 408 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:12,640 Speaker 1: to do it anyway. After the Battle of Bunker Hill. 409 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: He spent the next eight years in the Continental Army. 410 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,960 Speaker 1: After the war was over, Stark got married and had 411 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: children and started advocating for the rights of veterans. By 412 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:27,840 Speaker 1: this point, a lot of veterans viewed the Revolutionary War 413 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:33,159 Speaker 1: as a whole string of broken promises and unmet obligations 414 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: on the part of the government. Some soldiers were promised 415 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 1: land in lieu of back pay, and they never received it. 416 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:44,160 Speaker 1: The first pension programs applied only to soldiers who had 417 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: served in the Continental Army, not in the militias or 418 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 1: the state regiments. That way, more people served in. While 419 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:56,119 Speaker 1: there was some state and federal support for impoverished and 420 00:26:56,200 --> 00:27:00,639 Speaker 1: disabled veterans, the first really broad pension program applying to 421 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,720 Speaker 1: all veterans was the Pension Act of eighteen thirty two 422 00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,159 Speaker 1: that was passed almost fifty years after the end of 423 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:11,560 Speaker 1: the Revolutionary War, after a lot of those veterans had 424 00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:17,439 Speaker 1: already died. Stark's own land grant came through only after 425 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: a lawsuit against the government that ended in eighteen twenty eight. 426 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:25,639 Speaker 1: To my knowledge, Stark was not focused on the rights 427 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,159 Speaker 1: of the enslaved people who had volunteered thinking that it 428 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,119 Speaker 1: would help free them, But that is another thing that 429 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:34,280 Speaker 1: was going on. Regardless, though, Stark thought that all of 430 00:27:34,320 --> 00:27:36,639 Speaker 1: that stuff that I just said about broken promises and 431 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,360 Speaker 1: mispayments and all of that, he thought that was not right. 432 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 1: So when he was elected to the Bunker Hill Monument Association, 433 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 1: he refused to join. In his letter to the association, 434 00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 1: he wrote, quote, I have powerful national objections to the 435 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:57,200 Speaker 1: adoption of this project for the following reasons. First, those 436 00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:00,720 Speaker 1: who made this notable stand on this sanguinary hill have 437 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: almost all passed to those shades where military honors are 438 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,199 Speaker 1: not more highly appreciated than they have been in the 439 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:12,000 Speaker 1: United States. Secondly, the actors in this bloody scene the 440 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: Revolutionary War, after having performed their part in a manner 441 00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: perhaps unparalleled in ancient or modern history, were refused by 442 00:28:20,760 --> 00:28:23,760 Speaker 1: the government the rewards that were so solemnly promised in 443 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: the hour of the most critical danger. And while the 444 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: government has found ways and means to satisfy all other 445 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:35,400 Speaker 1: legal and many illegal demands, they still continue a deaf 446 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: ear to the crying demands for justice claimed by the 447 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 1: disbanded officer and soldier and now sir in room of 448 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: giving them the bread that was solemnly promised. The debt 449 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,680 Speaker 1: is to be paid by a stone. Stark was not 450 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 1: alone in these feelings. During that period when the monument 451 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: stood half finished, it really became emblematic of the unpaid 452 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:03,200 Speaker 1: soldiers and the unfulfill promises. Today. In the exhibit in 453 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 1: the Lodge at Bunker Hill, an abridged version of this quote, 454 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:09,560 Speaker 1: ending in the part about it being paid in a stone, 455 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:14,080 Speaker 1: is juxtaposed with information about the King Solomon's Lodge monument 456 00:29:14,240 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: and the building of the one that still stands today 457 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 1: at Bunker Hill. When they were built, both of these 458 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: monuments were really criticized as being a big waste of money, 459 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 1: especially given all of that about the veterans. Another panel 460 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: at the monument pairs a quote from Daniel Webster's eighteen 461 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,640 Speaker 1: forty three dedication oration with one from a letter published 462 00:29:34,720 --> 00:29:39,200 Speaker 1: in William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper The Liberator that was 463 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 1: published in eighteen forty six. Webster's quote describes the monument 464 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,680 Speaker 1: as quote, a memorial of the last and a monitor 465 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:51,320 Speaker 1: to the present and to all succeeding generations. The quote 466 00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:54,320 Speaker 1: from the letter in The Liberator, written by GB Stebbins, 467 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: is one of the ones ordered to be removed. It 468 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: reads quote, as we drew near to Boston, there stood 469 00:30:01,280 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 1: Bunker Hill Monument, towering up towards the heavens, as if 470 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,480 Speaker 1: in silent, bitter mockery of the millions of slaves, guarded 471 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,200 Speaker 1: by the professed lovers of liberty who reared its lofty column. 472 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: This letter was written only three years after the monument 473 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: was completed, but before the Civil War and the abolition 474 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: of slavery in the US except in punishment for a crime. 475 00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:29,959 Speaker 1: So within three years of the monument's completion, abolitionists were 476 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:33,240 Speaker 1: talking about the contrast between the Bunker Hill Monument as 477 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,719 Speaker 1: a monument to the freedom of the Revolution and the 478 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: freedom that was denied to the nation's enslaved, which is 479 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: reflected in this panel in the Lodge. Another of the 480 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: quotes to be removed from the monument was published in 481 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,640 Speaker 1: an Irish Catholic newspaper called The Pilot that was printed 482 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:54,360 Speaker 1: in Boston on May eighth, eighteen seventy five. This followed 483 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: an address that George William Curtis had given on the 484 00:30:56,920 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Kong. 485 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:04,040 Speaker 1: Curtis had been an abolitionist and was a supporter of 486 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: women's suffrage, and he also advocated for the rights of 487 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,840 Speaker 1: black and indigenous people. But he had anti Catholic and 488 00:31:12,000 --> 00:31:15,280 Speaker 1: anti immigrant views, and in this address he criticized the 489 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:19,640 Speaker 1: changes that he thought immigration was causing in the United States. 490 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:24,280 Speaker 1: He said, quote, this enormous influx of foreigners has added 491 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:29,080 Speaker 1: an immense ignorance and entire unfamiliarity with Republican ideas and 492 00:31:29,120 --> 00:31:33,360 Speaker 1: habits to the voting class. He claimed that newcomers to 493 00:31:33,400 --> 00:31:37,400 Speaker 1: the US had no connection with the revolution or its ideals. 494 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 1: This peace, published in the Pilot, which was published by 495 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: the Archdiocese of Boston, was in response to this The 496 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:48,960 Speaker 1: quote on display in the lodge at Bunker Hill read's quote, 497 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: Now that a public orator has declared that foreign born 498 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,680 Speaker 1: men have no association with the men of the Revolution, 499 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: it is our duty to show that, in love of 500 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,680 Speaker 1: freedom and loyalty to the Republic, the citizens of foreign 501 00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:07,680 Speaker 1: birth take no second place. This piece went on to 502 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: say that Curtis's newspaper was known to publish malevolent attacks 503 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: on foreign born citizens and had a record for attacking 504 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:20,000 Speaker 1: Catholics and Irish people. It called Curtis quote too small 505 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 1: in heart and brain to grasp the significance of the centennial, 506 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:27,480 Speaker 1: before going on to say quote, a full grown adult 507 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: man would exult in the vast power of the one 508 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:34,040 Speaker 1: hundred year Republic, would proudly point to the world ships 509 00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: steering westward, laden with strong men, foreign men like the 510 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,720 Speaker 1: fathers of those who drove the British from conquered. Such 511 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:43,960 Speaker 1: a man would find hope and power in the thought 512 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:46,600 Speaker 1: that our generous country is great enough to take to 513 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,520 Speaker 1: her breast the people of all races and creeds, there 514 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:54,440 Speaker 1: to live in peace and goodwill. The writer of this 515 00:32:54,600 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: piece did not really make note of all the people 516 00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 1: who fought on the side of the Revolution in spite 517 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: of not being born in North America, people like the 518 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 1: Marquis de Lafayette, who's come up a bunch in this episode, 519 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: and Kasimir Pulaski, who we just talked about on the show, 520 00:33:09,600 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: and all of the other European military men who joined 521 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,840 Speaker 1: the fight something we talked about in that Kasimir Pulaski episode, 522 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,240 Speaker 1: and just people who were immigrants before the revolution started. 523 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: He did note that there were many men of foreign 524 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,480 Speaker 1: birth who fought for the Union during the Civil War, 525 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: including the Irish Brigades. By the time Curtis gave this 526 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: oration and the response was printed in the Pilot, Charlestown 527 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:39,560 Speaker 1: had a large and growing Irish Catholic population, many of 528 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,160 Speaker 1: whom had immigrated to the United States in the wake 529 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:45,920 Speaker 1: of the Great Famine. The annual observance of the Bunker 530 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:50,280 Speaker 1: Hill Anniversary was becoming interconnected with Irish identity and pride 531 00:33:50,360 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 1: in the neighborhood. In eighteen seventy five, Irish American Catholics 532 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:58,160 Speaker 1: explicitly put out a call for Irish people to take 533 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:00,720 Speaker 1: part in the procession that took place at Bunker Hill 534 00:34:00,760 --> 00:34:04,680 Speaker 1: that year, solidifying this tradition through the nineteenth and into 535 00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 1: the twentieth century. The panel containing this quote from the 536 00:34:09,040 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: pilot also shares a quote from Lucy Stone, which I 537 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:18,520 Speaker 1: think is the quote that provoked this whole investigation, but 538 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:22,320 Speaker 1: was not actually slated to be taken down. It reads quote, 539 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,760 Speaker 1: the battle is celebrated for the justice of the cause, which, 540 00:34:25,920 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 1: because it was just was triumphant. The woman's suffrage battle 541 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,319 Speaker 1: is like that of Bunker Hill, not one today, but 542 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:38,360 Speaker 1: sure to be later. Meantime, Bunker Hill Monument is our monument. 543 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:41,880 Speaker 1: The third quote ordered for removal from the monument is 544 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,520 Speaker 1: from a letter printed in the Boston Globe. It was 545 00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:48,680 Speaker 1: written by Arthur Johnson and Bester Cram, New England, coordinators 546 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:52,480 Speaker 1: of the Vietnam Veterans against the War, and it reads quote, 547 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:56,040 Speaker 1: we find upon reflection that our duty to our country 548 00:34:56,080 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 1: has not ended. We as Vietnam veterans, feel strongly that 549 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:03,400 Speaker 1: the United States should cease to build memorials to death 550 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:08,239 Speaker 1: and begin to glorify life. So there's an ellipsis in 551 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,279 Speaker 1: that quote, and part of what is left out is 552 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: just before that last part of the statement, and it 553 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,560 Speaker 1: says quote, later this month, this country celebrates Memorial Day, 554 00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:23,239 Speaker 1: a day which commemorates all American war dead. It's after 555 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:25,440 Speaker 1: saying that that they say that the United States should 556 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:30,200 Speaker 1: stop building memorials to death and instead glorify life. Elsewhere 557 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,920 Speaker 1: in the letter, Johnson and Cram also wrote, quote, we 558 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:37,040 Speaker 1: find in retrospect that what we believed to be patriotism 559 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 1: was in fact a disservice to humanity. This letter was 560 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:45,920 Speaker 1: printed on May twenty third, nineteen seventy one, days before 561 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:50,000 Speaker 1: Vietnam Veterans against the war held a protest in Massachusetts. 562 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:54,719 Speaker 1: More than two hundred people marched from Lexington and conquered 563 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:58,560 Speaker 1: to the Bunker Hill Monument, essentially following the reverse route 564 00:35:58,600 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 1: of Paul Revere's famous They camped overnight at the monument, 565 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,440 Speaker 1: with the protest ending on May thirty first, which was 566 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:12,400 Speaker 1: Memorial Day. This protest was deliberately intended to draw parallels 567 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: between the American Revolution and the march and the ideas 568 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:19,840 Speaker 1: behind it. It was called Operation Pow, based on the 569 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:23,239 Speaker 1: idea that in the context of the ongoing Vietnam War, 570 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: all Americans were prisoners of war. Organizers also made a 571 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,880 Speaker 1: lot of connections between the American occupation of Vietnam and 572 00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:35,560 Speaker 1: the British occupation of North America before and during the 573 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,880 Speaker 1: Revolutionary War. On the display at the monument, the quote 574 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: from the Boston Globe appears alongside one from journalist and 575 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:48,000 Speaker 1: civil rights advocate William Monroe Trotter's Bunker Hill Day Addressed 576 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:52,040 Speaker 1: from nineteen twenty five, and that quote reads quote Colored 577 00:36:52,080 --> 00:36:55,759 Speaker 1: Americans were here that day fighting with other patriots, our 578 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:59,480 Speaker 1: own ancestors, of whom we are justly proud, and on 579 00:36:59,560 --> 00:37:03,040 Speaker 1: whom we base our claim for full liberty and equality 580 00:37:03,080 --> 00:37:07,120 Speaker 1: as citizens. There is also a photo of the protesters 581 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:10,399 Speaker 1: gathered at the monument on May thirtieth, nineteen seventy one. 582 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,840 Speaker 1: So this is like two different statements with very different 583 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:18,120 Speaker 1: perspectives about how to think about veterans, including ones who 584 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:21,600 Speaker 1: died in a war. So the last panel that a 585 00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:24,760 Speaker 1: person would walk past into the obelisk as you're walking 586 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: through the lodge has a quote from the twenty twenty 587 00:37:27,440 --> 00:37:31,440 Speaker 1: five Bunker Hill Day Address from author and historian Nathaniel Philbrick, 588 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:35,160 Speaker 1: whose books include Bunker Hill, A City, A Siege, a Revolution, 589 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,680 Speaker 1: which was published in twenty thirteen, and then at the 590 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:41,880 Speaker 1: bottom of the panel, there's a statement that to me 591 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:45,440 Speaker 1: really ties together what all of the other panels in 592 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:49,560 Speaker 1: this exhibit are doing. It reads quote, as you prepare 593 00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:52,600 Speaker 1: to climb the monument, or simply take in the views 594 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:57,000 Speaker 1: from the ground, consider the many voices this monument echoes. 595 00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:02,160 Speaker 1: What voice might you add today the message to future generations? 596 00:38:02,600 --> 00:38:05,399 Speaker 1: And to be clear, the voices from these panels are 597 00:38:05,520 --> 00:38:07,400 Speaker 1: not the only ones that have been part of the 598 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:12,279 Speaker 1: legacy of protest and advocacy and involvement that has surrounded 599 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:14,719 Speaker 1: the Bunker Hill Monument over the last two hundred and 600 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:18,920 Speaker 1: fifty plus years. There is also an online exhibit at 601 00:38:18,960 --> 00:38:22,880 Speaker 1: the National Park Service website called Bunker Hill Memory that 602 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: includes more information about all of these quotes that we've discussed, 603 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:29,840 Speaker 1: along with a number of others, and it discusses what 604 00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:32,920 Speaker 1: the monument has meant over the years and the concept 605 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:37,040 Speaker 1: of historical memory quote, the ways that people understand and 606 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:41,719 Speaker 1: interpret their shared past. So beyond that, beyond what is 607 00:38:41,800 --> 00:38:45,080 Speaker 1: part of the exhibition there in the lodge and online, 608 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:49,600 Speaker 1: just as some other examples. In the nineteen seventies, Boston 609 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 1: faced a court order to integrate its school system, and 610 00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:55,600 Speaker 1: that was being done through bussing. A lot of the 611 00:38:55,680 --> 00:39:00,560 Speaker 1: anti bussing protests were ostensibly about keeping children their local 612 00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,960 Speaker 1: neighborhood schools, but there was often an underlying threat of 613 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:08,200 Speaker 1: racism in these arguments. On September eighth, nineteen seventy five, 614 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:13,200 Speaker 1: protesters against the buzzing of black students rallied at Bunker Hill. 615 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:18,239 Speaker 1: There was explicit racism involved, including burning an effigy of 616 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: a black student, but demonstrators at this protest still tied 617 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,880 Speaker 1: what they were doing to the ideals of freedom and liberty. 618 00:39:25,400 --> 00:39:27,400 Speaker 1: In this case, they were arguing that it was the 619 00:39:27,440 --> 00:39:30,560 Speaker 1: freedom to control where their children went to school and 620 00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:34,000 Speaker 1: who they went to school with. In nineteen ninety eight, 621 00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,799 Speaker 1: a protest against a newly passed gun control law in 622 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:42,960 Speaker 1: Massachusetts also took place in Bunker Hill. This law banned 623 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,960 Speaker 1: the sale of twenty five types of military style assault weapons, 624 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:50,480 Speaker 1: it set greater penalties for certain gun crimes, and it 625 00:39:50,560 --> 00:39:54,360 Speaker 1: prohibited people with felony convictions from getting a gun license, 626 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:58,960 Speaker 1: as well as other reforms. Organizers said Bunker Hill was 627 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,879 Speaker 1: chosen as the protes test site because it was symbolic 628 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:06,880 Speaker 1: of Americans defending their freedoms. That same year, a public 629 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:11,720 Speaker 1: art installation at the Bunker Hill Monument also drew intense controversy. 630 00:40:12,280 --> 00:40:16,920 Speaker 1: Artist Christoph Whdischko filmed family members talking about the loss 631 00:40:16,960 --> 00:40:20,000 Speaker 1: of their loved ones due to street violence in Charlestown. 632 00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:23,480 Speaker 1: He filmed these family members from below and then he 633 00:40:23,560 --> 00:40:26,239 Speaker 1: projected this video at the top of the monument, and 634 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,120 Speaker 1: it was accompanied by a sixteen minute audio loop of 635 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:33,200 Speaker 1: their interviews. From the nineteen seventies to the nineteen nineties, 636 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:37,760 Speaker 1: Charlestown had an alarmingly high murder rate and a code 637 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,319 Speaker 1: of silence meant that most of these cases went unsolved. 638 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,920 Speaker 1: Among the interviewees was Sandray King, whose sons Chris and 639 00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:50,120 Speaker 1: j were both murdered several years apart. She described being 640 00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,279 Speaker 1: devastated and almost unable to get out of bed when 641 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:56,480 Speaker 1: Chris was murdered, but when Jay was murdered it was 642 00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,120 Speaker 1: quote the murder heard round the world. She said, you 643 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:04,240 Speaker 1: would never stop fighting for justice for him. People involved 644 00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:07,240 Speaker 1: with this art installation also tied it to the idea 645 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:10,000 Speaker 1: of freedom. There was the freedom of speech for the 646 00:41:10,040 --> 00:41:15,480 Speaker 1: installation itself, and Marty Blatt, supervisory historian for Boston National 647 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,440 Speaker 1: Historical Park, was quoted as saying, quote what could be 648 00:41:19,040 --> 00:41:22,360 Speaker 1: more symbolic of freedom than these women who have lost 649 00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:25,880 Speaker 1: their loved ones. It was the ultimate denial of freedom 650 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 1: to have no one come forward. This was the most 651 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:33,399 Speaker 1: extraordinary moment I've ever seen in public art. The artist 652 00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,520 Speaker 1: also said that he felt that these women were as 653 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: brave for speaking out as the volunteers who fought at 654 00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:43,000 Speaker 1: the Battle of Bunker Hill. One of the reasons this 655 00:41:43,160 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: installation was so controversial was that the residents of Charles 656 00:41:46,040 --> 00:41:49,320 Speaker 1: Down thought that it was basically airing their dirty laundry. 657 00:41:49,680 --> 00:41:53,040 Speaker 1: There is more information about this installation at the National 658 00:41:53,080 --> 00:41:56,799 Speaker 1: Park Service website for the Bunker Hill Monument. In two 659 00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 1: thousand and three, historians Sarah J. Purcell published a pay 660 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:04,279 Speaker 1: for in the Public Historian about the monument and this installation, 661 00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:07,560 Speaker 1: and in it she says something that also runs parallel 662 00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:11,720 Speaker 1: to the exhibit currently installed at the lodge, writing quote, 663 00:42:11,960 --> 00:42:14,879 Speaker 1: the meaning of a monument is never fixed, but rather 664 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:21,200 Speaker 1: is always determined by an intersection of architectural intentions, viewer reactions, 665 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: and historical interpretation. The Bunker Hill Monument has been a 666 00:42:25,560 --> 00:42:29,960 Speaker 1: site of dialogue between past and present, local and national 667 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:36,120 Speaker 1: male and female partisanship and impartiality. Almost since its inception. 668 00:42:37,080 --> 00:42:39,160 Speaker 1: Before we get to listener mail, I just want to 669 00:42:39,200 --> 00:42:41,680 Speaker 1: shout out to the folks at the National Park Service 670 00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:44,840 Speaker 1: who created this installation and its online exhibit back in 671 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:48,319 Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. I'm truly indebted to them, both for 672 00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:51,319 Speaker 1: inspiring this episode and for the exhibits themselves and the 673 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:55,200 Speaker 1: creation of this episode. I found the whole exhibit really 674 00:42:55,239 --> 00:42:58,400 Speaker 1: thought provoking in a way that I don't often find 675 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:02,600 Speaker 1: in these kinds of exhibits. And also just thanks to 676 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:04,560 Speaker 1: the rangers who were there when I went. Both of 677 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:08,080 Speaker 1: the ranger talks that I saw were very enjoyable and informative. 678 00:43:08,880 --> 00:43:13,120 Speaker 1: Three cheers to the National Park Service. Yeah, I have 679 00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:17,360 Speaker 1: listener mail from Martha. Great. Martha said some very kind 680 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,720 Speaker 1: things in the first paragraph, and I'm just gonna skip 681 00:43:19,719 --> 00:43:23,120 Speaker 1: over them because I feel self congratulatory trying to read 682 00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:27,120 Speaker 1: them out loud, and then said the other prompting episode 683 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:30,120 Speaker 1: was on the history of the IUD. The references to 684 00:43:30,360 --> 00:43:33,560 Speaker 1: camels and stones brought to mind the practice of putting 685 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:37,760 Speaker 1: a sterile glass marble in a mare's uterus to suppress 686 00:43:37,960 --> 00:43:41,680 Speaker 1: estras coming into heat as a method of reducing marrish 687 00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:46,240 Speaker 1: behavior that can accompany estras. This technique carries several risks 688 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:49,000 Speaker 1: and their other methods of behavioral management. I am not 689 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:52,400 Speaker 1: a proponent of the marble technique, but your mention of 690 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,000 Speaker 1: the camel stones made me wonder if there may be 691 00:43:55,320 --> 00:43:59,560 Speaker 1: some camel based story behind the development of the practice. 692 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 1: Before I close, I wish to add one more thing. 693 00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:06,760 Speaker 1: Some time ago, you had a discussion regarding camping versus Marriott. 694 00:44:07,239 --> 00:44:10,440 Speaker 1: In my book, it's definitely hotel, and the more stars 695 00:44:10,480 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 1: the better. My questions during a vacation should be pool 696 00:44:14,239 --> 00:44:17,640 Speaker 1: or ocean and restaurant or room service turned down, service 697 00:44:17,719 --> 00:44:20,360 Speaker 1: with chocolates on the pillow adds just the right touch. 698 00:44:20,440 --> 00:44:23,960 Speaker 1: Insert laughing emoji here for pet tax. Here are two 699 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: photos of my thirteen year old dog, Tiva. I did 700 00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:29,960 Speaker 1: not try to figure out how to pronounce that, so 701 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,440 Speaker 1: I hope it was correct. In one, he probably holds 702 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:35,440 Speaker 1: a street find a piece of cardboard. The other he's 703 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:39,160 Speaker 1: enjoying some sunshine in the yard. Thank you for your podcast, Sincerely, Martha. 704 00:44:39,200 --> 00:44:43,040 Speaker 1: We have very cute dog pictures, hopers. I had not 705 00:44:43,520 --> 00:44:47,360 Speaker 1: heard that there was this practice of putting a sterile 706 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:51,239 Speaker 1: glass marble into the uterus of a mare, and that 707 00:44:51,360 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: makes me wonder if there is maybe more to this 708 00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:59,200 Speaker 1: whole camel Stone story. Yeah, then I gave it credit 709 00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,759 Speaker 1: for Yeah, you can say maybe. So. Thank you so much, 710 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:06,040 Speaker 1: Martha for writing to us about this. We will talk 711 00:45:06,160 --> 00:45:09,560 Speaker 1: more about the Bunker Hill Monument on Friday if you 712 00:45:09,560 --> 00:45:11,240 Speaker 1: would like to send us a note, or at History 713 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:14,520 Speaker 1: Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com. If you want to see 714 00:45:14,520 --> 00:45:17,720 Speaker 1: our show notes, including links to all of these things 715 00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:20,680 Speaker 1: that we used as research today and all that stuff 716 00:45:20,680 --> 00:45:24,040 Speaker 1: from the National Park Service, we are at mistonhistory dot com, 717 00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:27,040 Speaker 1: and you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio 718 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 1: app and anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. 719 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:38,040 Speaker 1: Stuff you missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 720 00:45:38,360 --> 00:45:42,960 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 721 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,960 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.