Bunker Hill Veteran Ribbons

In 1825, 50 years after the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), more than 200 Revolutionary War veterans gathered to commemorate the anniversary. Like the other veterans present, Reverend Joseph Thaxter received these ribbons (now displayed in a frame) at the event. The left ribbon reads “B.H.M.A.,” which stands for the Bunker Hill Monument Association, the group dedicated to erecting a stone monument at the battlefield. Reverend Thaxter, a chaplain in the Continental Army during the early years of the Revolutionary War, led a prayer during the ceremony. The commemoration began the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument with the Marquis de Lafayette laying the first stone. The towering monument was completed and dedicated on June 17, 1843, with 100,000 people in attendance.  

Object Details

• Ribbons 
  Probably Boston, Massachusetts 
  1825 
  Silk, Ink 
  Museum of the American Revolution 
  2018.05.01