Happy Bunker Hill Day!

Today, 17 June 2011, marks the 236^th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.  The battle that occurred on that "decisive day" has taken on an almost mythical quality in telling the story of the American Revolution and is still being studied and interpreted by scholars and history enthusiasts here in Boston and around the globe. The MHS holds a number of original documents, maps, and artifacts that help tell the story of the early days of the American Revolution, including the Battle of Bunker HIll.  As you mark this day please visit our website and check out a few of those Bunker HIll related items.

View a high resolution image of this manuscript map, drawn by a British soldier several months after the battle, here.

Read a letter written by Colonel William Prescott, a leader of the rebel troops at Bunker HIll, to John Adams, attending the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, describing the events of Bunker Hill here.

Also, this month our Object of the Month web display features an important MHS artifact related to the battle. The swords of Colonel Prescott and Captain John Linzee, of the Royal Navy, were brought together when William Hickling Prescott, a grandson of Colonel Prescott, married Susan Amory, a Linzee descendant, in the 19th century.  You can read the full story, and view a high resolution image of the swords here.