Pod Insights Stuff You Missed in History Class The Many Meanings of the Bunker Hill Monument About this episode Very soon after it was completed in 1842, the Bunker Hill monument started to be about a lot more than just the battle that took place on June 17, 1775.
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Speaker 00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.
0:04 Speaker 01 Attention chicken nugget fans. Burger King heard that a lot of you didn't like the old chicken nuggets, so they got to work and reinvented them. These new chicken nuggets are their tastiest, crispiest, juiciest nuggets ever. And because better chicken nuggets deserve better sauces, they've reinvented several of their sauces and they created a brand new one. The new special savory sauce, which is only available for a limited time at participating US restaurants, don't wait around. You gotta try the new Burger King Chicken Nuggets today.
0:33 Tracy V. Wilson? You ever show up late to the game and your friends already saved your seat, your drink, even a plate? That's looking out. That's having your back. And that's exactly what AT&T does with the AT&T Guarantee. They know staying connected matters, so they actually guarantee a network that comes through when it counts. AT&T has connectivity you can depend on, or they'll proactively make it right, just like that friend who takes care of things before you even ask. AT&T: Connecting Changes Everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.com/guarantee for details. The Old Gays are back with Silver Linings, their lovable podcast from iHeart's Ruby Studio in partnership with Vive Healthcare.
1:14 Tracy V. Wilson? Robert, Mick, Bill, and Jessa strut back down memory lane for season two, sharing lessons on life, love, and loss. These are the kind of insights that only come from experience. So tune in to Silver Linings with The Old Gays on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Workplace chaos. We've all been there. Deadlines are slipping, projects are piling up, and suddenly you realize the missing piece is the right person. That's when you say, this is a job for sponsored jobs. With Indeed Sponsored Jobs, your job post gets a boost so you can connect with quality candidates faster. In fact, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95% more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs.
1:57 Tracy V. Wilson? Spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Jobs.
2:11 Holly Frey? We've all tumbled down an internet rabbit hole trying to self diagnose and it leaves us more anxious than informed. Our feeds are full of wellness trends, but how do we know what's real, what's exaggerated, and what's just wrong? Health versus Hype from the American Medical Association breaks it all down. Emmy nominated science communicator Trace Dominguez talks to doctors, influencers, and real people trying these trends, not to cancel them, but to understand them. Because when it comes to your health, who you listen to matters. So listen to Health versus Hype wherever you get your podcasts.
2:44 Holly Frey? Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio.
2:54 Tracy V. Wilson? Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson. And I'm Holly Frey. While I was getting ready to kind of wind down for the evening on June 4th, I was scrolling on my phone. Great thing to do for your mental health in the evening. I'm kidding. Try not to. I'm trying not to. But I was scrolling and saw a headline from the Washington Post that said, quote, "Park Service Orders Removal of Woke Quotes at Boston's Bunker Hill Monument."
3:26 Tracy V. Wilson? So we've talked about interpretive material being removed from national parks and other federally managed properties for more than a year now after that Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History executive order that came out in March of 2025. So this headline was not really surprising, but I had this initial reaction that was like, oh, another one? And then as I read the article, it veered more toward confusion. A visitor complaint had led to a quote about women's suffrage prompting a review, and then that led to the order to take all of this other material down. And according to the article, the quotes that were flagged to be removed did not actually include the one about suffrage from the initial
4:10 Tracy V. Wilson? complaint, but it did include one about the Vietnam War. One from a letter to the abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, and one that was supportive of foreign-born citizens, so immigrants to the United States. And then I was just confused because there was really no context in the article about why these quotes were there. I'm not suggesting that they didn't belong there. It just didn't, it didn't quite make sense. There seemed to be no context. All of these quotes dated to 100 years or more after the Battle of Bunker Hill. Only one of them seemed to reference it directly. An article in the Boston Globe that I saw the next morning had some more context and it actually had pictures of the panels that the quotes are on.
4:53 Tracy V. Wilson? But I still felt like I was having to piece together for myself what kind of exhibit these quotes might have been a part of. None of the news reporting I read explained that part of it. And that included after some more information was added to the Washington Post article that I had originally read later on. So I went down to the Bunker Hill Monument. And I came away with the sense that very soon after that monument was completed, it started to be about a lot more than just the battle that took place on June 17th of 1775.
5:29 Holly Frey? But we will start with the Battle of Bunker Hill as background for this. Tensions had been escalating between Britain and its colonies in North America for a while when the first shots were fired in Massachusetts on April 19th, 1775. British forces had marched to Lexington and Concord to seize the colonists' weapons and gunpowder. Riders rode out from Boston to raise the alarm, which was, of course, the inspiration for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1860 poem, "Paul Revere's Ride." Thanks to that warning, colonial militia, including minutemen, who were required to be ready for battle at a moment's notice, were ready.
6:11 Holly Frey? They successfully defended Lexington and Concord and drove the British back to Boston.
6:17 Tracy V. Wilson? After this, militia from Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island all marched to the area around Boston to help defend it. Soon, the British were besieged in Boston, while the colonies defended and fortified the surrounding settlements in the area around Boston. By the late spring of 1775, there were still two sites in particular that were vulnerable to British artillery fire. Those were Dorchester Heights to the south of Boston, and the hills of Charlestown to the north across the Charles River. Dorchester Heights and Charlestown are both part of Boston today, but at the time, they were not. They were separate settlements. And the landscape around Boston was also a lot different. The area
7:00 Tracy V. Wilson? that's called Back Bay today was an actual bay, and Boston and Charlestown were peninsulas kind of facing each other, and each of them connected to the surrounding land by a narrow neck.
7:12 Holly Frey? British general Thomas Gage intended to seize both Dorchester Heights and Charlestown in an effort to weaken the colonists' uprising. Colonial forces found out about this plan and decided to fortify Bunker Hill in Charlestown, which was the tallest hill in the area. For unclear reasons, the militia started fortifying Breed's Hill instead. This may have just been a misunderstanding, since these hills were known by multiple names, and Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill are basically next to each other. The colonial forces built a rudout, basically a ditch with a wall made from the earth dug out of it, during the night of
7:53 Holly Frey? June 16, 1775. That was followed by a chest-high fortification, called a breastwork, off to the side. Building these kinds of fortifications was one of the strengths of the colonial militias, since many of them were farmers, and they were very used to this kind of manual labor.
8:12 Tracy V. Wilson? Yeah, there are several different battles where the British were like, where did this fort come from?
8:18 Holly Frey? How'd you do that?
8:19 Tracy V. Wilson? Wasn't here yesterday.
8:22 Tracy V. Wilson? When the sun came up on June 17th, the British quickly realized what was happening on the hill. British General William Howe sent troops to attack the fortification and to try to take the hill. That hill was defended by forces led by Colonel William Prescott.
8:37 Holly Frey? A couple of questionable details have become part of the lore around this battle. One is that the colonial volunteers were told to hold their fire until they could see the whites of the British soldiers' eyes. This saying actually predates this battle, and its connection to Bunker Hill was apparently popularized by Mason Locke Weems, the same person who invented the story about George Washington chopping down the cherry tree.
9:05 Tracy V. Wilson? Another bit of lore is about the first fatality, which is often cited as being Asa Pollard of Bilreka, who was struck in the head by a cannonball that was fired from a ship anchored in the harbor during an initial bombardment, so before the fighting had really started. He was decapitated to the absolute horror of the men around him. Some of those men fled because they were so terrified. There are some inconsistencies in the accounts of this. There are multiple accounts of somebody being struck in the head by a cannonball, but articles definitively saying that it was Asa Pollard did not appear until around the 50th anniversary of the battle.
9:48 Holly Frey? Regardless of these problematic and incorrect pieces of lore, the colonial militia successfully defended Breed's Hill against two advances by the British Army. But by the third advance, the men defending the hill were exhausted and they were running out of ammunition. The British force also received reinforcements, while the American force did not. So the remaining defenders retreated, and the British captured the hill.
10:17 Tracy V. Wilson? By that point, a lot of Charlestown had been destroyed. Most of its population had already fled, leaving only about 200 people there and a lot of empty buildings. General Howe ordered Charlestown to be burned when it became clear that colonial militia were using the rooftops and the windows of abandoned buildings as vantage points to fire on the British.
10:39 Holly Frey? So, the Battle of Bunker Hill was a loss for the colonies, but most sources frame it as a Pyrrhic victory for the British. About 450 Americans were killed, wounded, or captured, compared to 1,054 on the British side. That included 19 officers. The British also faced disproportionately greater losses than the Americans. There were about 2,200 colonial militia at the battle and 3,000 from the British Army.
11:08 Tracy V. Wilson? Yes, there were more on the British side, but not enough to account for the difference in the casualty numbers. After this encounter, the British dropped their plan to try to capture Dorchester Heights, and that remained unclaimed and undefended until the Continental Army took possession of it in March of 1776, and then brought up some cannons they had captured at Fort Ticonderoga. That ultimately led to the British evacuation from Boston on March 17th of that year. That's now celebrated annually in Boston and other parts of Suffolk County, Massachusetts as Evacuation Day.
11:47 Holly Frey? The battle also had an impact on the colonists and on the Continental Army, which was established on June 14, 1775. In the speech he gave at the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument after it was completed, Daniel Webster summed those impacts up this way. Quote, "It was the first great battle of the revolution, and not only the first blow, but the blow which determined the contest. It did not, indeed, put an end to the war, but in the then-existing hostile state of feeling, the difficulties could only be referred to the arbitration of the sword." And one thing is certain, that after the New England troops had shown themselves able
12:27 Holly Frey? to face and repulse the regulars, it was decided that peace never could be established but upon the basis of the independence of the colonies. When the sun of that day went down, the event of independence was no longer doubtful. In a few days, Washington heard of the battle and he inquired if the militia had stood the fire of the regulars. When told that they had not only stood that fire, but reserved their own till the enemy was within eight rods and then poured it in with tremendous effect, then exclaimed he, "The liberties of the country are safe." The consequences of this battle were just of the same importance as the revolution itself.
13:10 Tracy V. Wilson? We will get to the consequences after a sponsor break.
13:17 Speaker 04 First thought is like, wow, how are we going to do all this?
13:20 Tracy V. Wilson? Hey, everybody. It's Tracy from Stuff You Missed in History Class. That's Alan Goya, a planning engineer at AT&T. He's talking about Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where every seat, screen, phone, and transaction is connected with AT&T fiber and 5G, defining the fan's experience. And Alan's master plan made it all possible.
13:40 Speaker 04 It was could rival anything that was already built. And that takes quite a bit of people and different teams to all be on the same page.
13:48 Tracy V. Wilson? That includes field services manager Drexel Jones. His team made sure it all came together and held up on game day.
13:54 Speaker 05 Through what Alan's whole crew designed, we connected the event visitors to the world.
14:00 Tracy V. Wilson? And after years of hard work and collaboration, it was opening night.
14:04 Speaker 05 To actually see the whole stadium light up and data is flowing is a beautiful thing.
14:08 Speaker 04 What the fans experience is incredible. It gave me a lot of pride.
14:11 Tracy V. Wilson? AT&T, connecting fans to what they love.
14:14 Holly Frey? Connecting changes everything. AT&T.
14:18 Tracy V. Wilson? So you're considering getting a home security system, but you want something that fits your space. Well, with ADT Blue, it's easy to customize a system that's right for you and set it up yourself. Just pick the kit and monitoring plan that makes sense for your home. Let's say you're worried about package theft. The ADT Plus app can walk you through setting up a new doorbell camera kit. Once it's installed, ADT Pros can help you keep tabs on it 24/7, or you can manage it yourself from the ADT Plus app. There are no long-term contracts, so you can change your monitoring plan whenever you want. The flexibility doesn't end there. You can add to your system. As you need to with things like extra cameras or motion sensors. Some life decisions are hard, but thanks to ADT Blue, you can DIY trusted ADT home
15:03 Tracy V. Wilson? security in a snap. Head to ADT.com/BLU to build your system today. And to hear more about home protection and other grown up topics, check out new episodes of Grown Up Stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
15:23 Speaker 06 Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds up to $200,000 right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
15:55 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. Tune in for season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a Ruby Studio production in partnership with Argenx. Hosted by public health and policy expert Dr. Martine Hackett, Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition pushes the conversation within the rare disease community forward. Featuring guests living with MG, CIDP, myositis, SMA, and other rare autoimmune conditions, each episode explores hope, progress, and connection. How does research create new opportunities? How do shared experiences help light the way forward? How do we best show up for each other?
16:39 Holly Frey? Tune in to find out. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
16:50 Speaker 01 This is Mario Lopez from all Mario Lopez Daily Podcast. Buy smart, drive for less and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability. And it starts with a great deal on an all wheel drive Camry, Corolla Cross, or a Corolla sedan with the latest features in tech. Or test drive a spacious Grand Highlander or adventure-ready RAV4. And with so many hybrid models available, you can enjoy longer trips without all the stops. While Toyota's legendary resale value means you could get more at traded. So get a great deal today and great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for deals and details. Toyota, let's go places.
17:32 Tracy V. Wilson? The Battle of Bunker Hill lasted for about two hours, but the Revolutionary War continued for eight years until the Treaty of Paris of 1783. Some time passed, then in 1794, King Solomon's Lodge, which is a Masonic Lodge that still exists today, erected a monument to honor their Masonic brother and Grand Master, Dr. Joseph Warren, who had died in the battle. Warren was second general in command of the Massachusetts forces, but he fought on the front lines of the battle alongside the regular volunteer militia. This monument was shaped like a pillar with an urn on the top, and it was placed at the approximate site on Breed's Hill where Warren was killed.
18:17 Tracy V. Wilson? At first, there wasn't much discussion of some kind of other Bunker Hill monument. But in the 1820s, people around the US started becoming more interested in the Revolutionary War and in battles that had taken place near where they lived. By then, even the youngest veterans of the war were getting into their 60s. People wanted to honor them and to preserve their memories of the war before they died.
18:42 Holly Frey? Also, the War of 1812 had ended in 1815, and it had been controversial and divisive. Some people thought commemorating the revolution could bolster patriotism and unity in the wake of that later conflicted war. The 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was in 1826, and of course, there were other 50th anniversaries related to the Revolutionary War before and after that. So people were also just interested in building monuments and planning commemorations throughout this period.
19:16 Tracy V. Wilson? In Charlestown, someone who owned part of the Bunker Hill Battlefield planned to sell it. The Bunker Hill Monument Association was formed in 1823 to purchase this land and preserve the battlefield, as well as to construct a monument and to maintain the tradition of commemorating the battle every June 17th. The association took out a loan to buy 15 acres of the battlefield site in 1824, and then raised funds to repay that loan and to start construction on a monument.
19:48 Holly Frey? King Solomon's Lodge also donated their original monument and the land that it was on, with the understanding that their monument would be represented somehow at the new monument. It had fallen into disrepair already, so it couldn't just be left standing. There is a model of that monument in the bottom of the Bunker Hill Monument today.
20:10 Tracy V. Wilson? In 1825, a call went out for artists to submit proposals for the monument's design. The winner was Horatio Greenow, who would go on to become one of the first American sculptors to attain international recognition. He would also do some controversial commissions for the federal government. I feel like that's a whole other story. The Monument Association had planned for it to be shaped like a pillar, but Greenow's design was an obelisk. As he said in his memoirs, quote, "The obelisk has to my eye a singular aptitude in its form and character to call attention to a spot memorable in history. It says but one word, but it speaks loud.
20:54 Tracy V. Wilson? If I understand its voice, it says here. It says no more."
20:58 Holly Frey? The Marquita Lafayette laid the monument's cornerstone at a ceremony on the 50th anniversary of the battle. On an earlier visit to the battlefield, he had called it, quote, "where the blood of American patriots, early and gloriously spilled, aroused the energy of three millions and secured the happiness of 10 millions and of many other millions of men in times to come." So, side note, the Marquis de Lafayette was another Freemason. And another side note, he collected soil from the battlefield during that earlier visit and his son sprinkled it on his grave after Lafayette died in 1834.
21:40 Tracy V. Wilson? In 1825, Solomon Willard was hired to be the architect and superintendent of the monument. A plan evolved for the obelisk to have a spiral staircase on the inside and to be built from granite quarried from Quincy, Massachusetts, 11 miles away. These granite blocks were transported to the Naposet River by one of the first horse-drawn railways in the US. It was the first known to operate commercially. And then they were carried the rest of the way by ship.
22:12 Holly Frey? This project ran out of money repeatedly. Part of the battlefield was sold off in the 1830s because of a lack of funds. Their first wave of construction built 85 feet of obelisk out of a planned 200, and then it stopped. The obelisk just sat there, not quite half finished, for about a year and a half. There were repeated fundraisers, including a donation drive that was specifically aimed at women and children, hoping they would donate the small amounts of money they had.
22:45 Tracy V. Wilson? In 1840, Sarah Giuseppe Hale organized a ladies' fair at Faneuil Hall Market, which is now known as Quincy Market. Hale was already a big part of the fundraising efforts, especially it came to those ones that were aimed at getting women and children to donate small amounts. And her efforts were pretty controversial. There were people who thought that women had no right to give money from their household funds, which really belonged to their husbands. Although charitable women's fairs already existed, some people thought this one in particular was unseemly because the women were raising money for a war monument, not doing something like helping the poor.
23:26 Tracy V. Wilson? In spite of all this, over the course of September 10th through 15th of 1840, this fair raised more than $30,000. That was about a quarter of the money that was still needed, and that success inspired a couple of other major donations, along with a lot of smaller fundraising efforts.
23:44 Holly Frey? The Bunker Hill Monument was finally completed in 1842, 17 years after Lafayette had laid that first cornerstone. At 221 feet, it was the tallest monument in the US until the creation of the Washington Monument. That wouldn't be completed until 1884. There are 294 steps inside, leading up to the top.
24:09 Tracy V. Wilson? The Bunker Hill Monument was dedicated on June 17th, 1843, on the 68th anniversary of the battle. Daniel Webster, again another Freemason, gave its dedication speech, and that speech makes it clear that the monument already was not just about the battle. He called the monument "a shrine to liberty" and said, quote, "It brings to our contemplation on the 17th of June, 1775, and the consequences which have resulted to us, to our country, and to the world from the events of that day, and which we know must continue to rein influence on the destinies of mankind to the end of time.
24:51 Tracy V. Wilson? The elevation with which it raises us high above the ordinary feelings of life, surpass all that the study of the closet or even the inspiration of genius can produce. Today it speaks to us. Its future auditories will be the successive generations of men as they rise up before it and gather around it. Its speech will be of patriotism and courage, of civil and religious liberty, of free government, of the moral improvement and elevation of mankind, and of the immortal memory of those who, with heroic devotion, have sacrificed their lives for their country."
25:31 Holly Frey? Later, he said, "Let us remember that we have duties and obligations to perform corresponding to the blessings which we enjoy. Let us remember the trust, the sacred trust, attaching to the rich inheritance which we have received from our fathers. Let us feel our personal responsibility to the full extent of our power and influence for the preservation of the principles of civil and religious liberty. And let us remember that it is only religion and morals and knowledge that can make men respectable and happy under any form of government. Let us hold fast the great truth that communities are responsible as well as individuals, that
26:13 Holly Frey? no government is respectable which is not just, that without unspotted purity of public faith, without sacred public principle, fidelity, and honor, no mere forms of government, no machinery of laws, can give dignity to political society. In our day and generation, let us seek to raise and improve the moral sentiments so that we may look not for a degraded but for an elevated and improved future. And when both we and our children shall have been consigned to the house appointed for all living, may love of country and pride of country glow with equal fervor among those to whom our names and our blood shall have descended.
26:55 Holly Frey? And then, when honored and decrepit age shall lean against the base of this monument, and troops of ingenuous youth shall be gathered around it, and when that one shall speak to the other of its objects, the purposes of its construction, and the great and glorious events with which it is connected, there shall rise from every youthful breast the ejaculation, 'Thank God, I, I also am an American.'"
27:23 Tracy V. Wilson? Obviously, an intensely patriotic work.
27:27 Tracy V. Wilson? But also one that's basically like, this work isn't done yet. We must all carry it on with us. Other work at the monument, meaning physical work, not sort of the moral work of the country, followed afterward, including a statue of Joseph Warren installed in 1857 and one of Colonel William Prescott in 1881. A Greek revival-style lodge was built next to the monument to act as both a museum and a place to sell tickets to climb up those interior steps. With that money helping to pay for the monument's ongoing maintenance and upkeep, that lodge was finished in 1903.
28:06 Holly Frey? In 1919, the Bunker Hill Monument Association handed the monument, lodge, and grounds over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Boston National Historical Park was established in 1974, and the monument was transferred to the National Park Service a year later. The Bunker Hill Museum opened in a building across the street from the monument in 2007. That building had been home to the Charleston branch of the Boston Public Library, which had moved to a new location. Some of the displays and dioramas that had been in the lodge moved into the new museum.
28:43 Tracy V. Wilson? On the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1850, seven years after the monument's completion, Edward Everett, one of the founders of the Monument Association, gave a speech. He talked about the Battle of Bunker Hill and the growing division between the North and the South, and his hope for the Union to be preserved. And he also talked about the monument's meaning beyond just commemorating that one battle. Quote, "We borrowed the form of the monument from the structures of ancient Egypt, but we did not intend that it should stand like the obelisks and pyramids, a silent mystery to the successive generations that gaze upon them."
29:25 Tracy V. Wilson? We wish that from time to time, there should go forth a faithful record of the glorious event and of the all-important principles to which the monument is consecrated. And while the majestic shaft itself, from the clouds to which it towers, shall address its solemn eloquence to the eye, that the pen and voice to the end of time should interpret its illustrious significance to the understanding and the heart. I would say I don't know that he thoroughly understands the purpose of ancient Egyptian monuments and structures, but he is again saying that this is a monument for works and ideas that are continuing.
30:07 Holly Frey? Uh, we will get to this idea and how it manifested after we pause for a sponsor break.
30:16 Speaker 06 Cash Flow Crunch, OnDeck's small business line of credit, gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.
30:47 Holly Frey? A rare disease diagnosis can change your life, but it doesn't have to define your future. Tune in for season seven of Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition, a Ruby Studio production in partnership with Argenx. Hosted by public health and policy expert Dr. Martine Hackett, Untold Stories: Life with a Severe Autoimmune Condition pushes the conversation within the rare disease community forward. Featuring guests living with MG, CIDP, myositis, SMA, and other rare autoimmune conditions, each episode explores hope, progress, and connection. How does research create new opportunities? How do shared experiences help light the way forward? How do we best show up for each other? Tune
31:32 Holly Frey? in to find out. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
31:43 Speaker 01 This is Mario Lopez from all Mario Lopez Daily Podcast. Buy smart, drive for less and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability. And it starts with a great deal on an all wheel drive Camry, Corolla Cross, or a Corolla sedan with the latest features in tech. Or test drive a spacious Grand Highlander or adventure-ready RAV4. And with so many hybrid models available, you can enjoy longer trips without all the stops. While Toyota's legendary resale value means you could get more at trading. So get a great deal today and great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com for deals and details. Toyota, let's go places.
32:19 Speaker 06 This is Danielle Fishel.
32:20 Speaker 01 Ryder Strong.
32:21 Speaker 04 And Will Friedle from Pod Meets World.
32:23 Speaker 06 Halloween has a funny way of making you buy things you'd never normally buy. A 10-foot skeleton? Sure.
32:30 Speaker 01 Full-size fog machine? Why not?
32:32 Speaker 04 Three bags of candy that somehow become six bags of candy? It happens.
32:37 Speaker 06 Which brings us to the Chase Freedom Flex Card, the savvy decision that will earn you more cash back on the everyday purchases, plus the extraordinary Halloween tricks and treats.
32:47 Speaker 01 With Freedom Flex, you earn even more treats on your Halloween and everyday needs. You get 5% cash back on popular rotating quarterly categories, 3% on dining and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases.
33:00 Speaker 04 More ways to earn, more ways to get rewarded. That's no tricks, all treats.
33:05 Speaker 06 More ways to earn, more ways to get rewarded. So sign up for the Chase Freedom Flex Card. Learn more at chase.com/getflex.
33:13 Speaker 01 This is a paid collaboration with Chase Freedom Flex. Cards issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., member FDIC. Subject to credit approval. Offer subject to change. Terms apply.
33:23 Speaker 06 Your business operates under pressure and you need control of your data. But IBM Research shows only 9% of companies have real oversight of their technology. IBM's Open Hybrid Cloud approach is designed to give you visibility with built-in governance tools, data sovereignty, and compliance reporting. It's another way IBM helps you stay in control of your data. Let's create smarter business. IBM. Visit ibm.com to learn more.
33:59 Tracy V. Wilson? To my knowledge, the panels that I saw when visiting the Bunker Hill Monument on June 6, 2026 are still up now, 10 days later, as we are recording this. On Friday, June 12, which is now four days ago as of this recording, United States District Judge Angel Kelly forbade the Department of the Interior and the Park Service from taking any further action to implement the Secretary of the Interior's Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History order at national park sites. So they are not supposed to be taking things down at the national parks anymore, pending further court work.
34:39 Tracy V. Wilson? So this is the second time that I have written an entire episode of this podcast about material being removed from the national parks and then the legal situation surrounding that material has changed in between writing it and recording it, and I have had to go in and make additions and changes. We are still going to talk about these panels, though, even though, as far as I know, unless something else changes legally, they are not currently at risk of being removed, because, again, this whole episode was already written when that happened. Some of what is on the panels is the kind of material that people would probably expect at this kind of monument.
35:21 Tracy V. Wilson? There's a quote from the Bunker Hill Monument Association about the monument, and that is paired with a painting by John Trumbull depicting the death of Joseph Warren. There's information about the original memorial that was raised by King Solomon's Lodge, about the formation of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, how long it took to build the monument, and how expensive it was. There is a quote from Sarah Giuseppe Hale about raising those funds. But the panels are not just about the battle and the building of the monument. The way that the room is laid out, the panel that a person would probably walk past first
36:01 Tracy V. Wilson? on the way to go climb all those steps, ends, quote, "Today, more than 250 years later, you are visiting the legacy of many generations since. They came here to build, create, retell, and challenge stories about the Battle of Bunker Hill and the creation of the United States of America." The challenges start on the very next panel with a quote from Caleb Stark, whose name is shown as Caleb Strong on the banner. Caleb Stark was only 16 years old and too young to serve in the militia, but he ran away from home to do it anyway. After the Battle of Bunker Hill, he spent the next eight years in the Continental Army.
36:44 Tracy V. Wilson? After the war was over, Stark got married and had children and started advocating for the rights of veterans. By this point, a lot of veterans viewed the Revolutionary War as a whole string of broken promises and unmet obligations on the part of the government. Some soldiers were promised land in lieu of back pay and they never received it. The first pension programs applied only to soldiers who had served in the Continental Army, not in the militias or the state regiments that way more people served in. While there was some state and federal support for impoverished and disabled veterans,
37:25 Tracy V. Wilson? the first really broad pension program applying to all veterans was the Pension Act of 1832. That was passed almost 50 years after the end of the Revolutionary War, after a lot of those veterans had already died. Stark's own land grant came through only after a lawsuit against the government that ended in 1828. To my knowledge, Stark was not focused on the rights of the enslaved people who had volunteered, thinking that it would help free them, but that is another thing that was going on. Regardless, though, Stark thought that all of that stuff that I just said about broken promises and mispayments and all of that, he thought that was not right.
38:08 Tracy V. Wilson? So when he was elected to the Bunker Hill Monument Association, he refused to join.
38:14 Holly Frey? In his letter to the association, he wrote, quote, "I have powerful national objections to the adoption of this project for the following reasons. First, those who made this notable stand on this sanguinary hill have almost all passed to those shades where military honors are not more highly appreciated than they have been in the United States. Secondly, the actors in this bloody scene, the Revolutionary War, after having performed their part in a manner perhaps unparalleled in ancient or modern history, were refused by the government the rewards that were so solemnly promised in the hour of the most critical danger. And while the government has found ways and
38:57 Holly Frey? means to satisfy all other legal and many illegal demands, they still continue a deaf ear to the crying demands for justice claimed by the disbanded officer and soldier. And now, sir, in room of giving them the bread that was solemnly promised, the debt is to be paid by a stone."
39:17 Tracy V. Wilson? Stark was not alone in these feelings. During that period, when the monument stood half-finished, it really became emblematic of the unpaid soldiers and the unfulfilled promises. Today, in the exhibit in the lodge at Bunker Hill, an abridged version of this quote, ending in the part about it being paid in a stone, is juxtaposed with information about the King Solomon's Lodge monument and the building of the one that still stands today at Bunker Hill. When they were built, both of these monuments were really criticized as being a big waste of money, especially given all of that about the veterans.
39:54 Holly Frey? Another panel at the monument pairs a quote from Daniel Webster's 1843 Dedication Oration with one from a letter published in William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. That was published in 1846. Webster's quote describes the monument as, quote, "a memorial of the last and a monitor to the present and to all succeeding generations." The quote from the letter in The Liberator, written by G. B. Stebbins, is one of the ones ordered to be removed. It reads, quote, "As we drew near to Boston, there stood Bunker Hill Monument, towering up towards the heavens as if in silent, bitter mockery of the millions
40:36 Holly Frey? of slaves guarded by the professed lovers of liberty who reared its lofty column."
40:43 Tracy V. Wilson? This letter was written only three years after the monument was completed, but before the Civil War and the abolition of slavery in the US, except in punishment for a crime. So, within three years of the monument's completion, abolitionists were talking about the contrast between the Bunker Hill Monument as a monument to the freedom of the revolution and the freedom that was denied to the nations enslaved, which is reflected in this panel in the lodge.
41:11 Holly Frey? Another of the quotes to be removed from the monument was published in an Irish Catholic newspaper called The Pilot that was printed in Boston on May 8, 1875. This followed an address that George William Curtis had given on the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Curtis had been an abolitionist and was a supporter of women's suffrage, and he also advocated for the rights of Black and Indigenous people. But he had anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant views, and in this address, he criticized the changes that he thought immigration was causing in the United States. He said, quote, "This enormous influx of foreigners has added an immense ignorance
41:54 Holly Frey? and entire unfamiliarity with Republican ideas and habits to the voting class." He claimed that newcomers to the US had no connection with the revolution or its ideals.
42:06 Tracy V. Wilson? This piece published in The Pilot, which was published by the Archdiocese of Boston, was in response to this. The quote on display in the lodge at Bunker Hill reads, quote, "Now that a public orator has declared that foreign-born men have no association with the men of the revolution, it is our duty to show that in love of freedom and loyalty to the republic, the citizens of foreign birth take no second place."
42:34 Holly Frey? This piece went on to say that Curtis's newspaper was known to publish malevolent attacks on foreign-born citizens and had a record for attacking Catholics and Irish people. It called Curtis, quote, "too small in heart and brain to grasp the significance of the centennial" before going on to say, quote, "A full-grown adult man would exalt in the vast power of the 100-year republic, would proudly point to the world's ships steering westward laden with strong men, foreign men like the fathers of those who drove the British from Concord. Such a man would find hope and power in the thought that our generous country is great enough to take to her breast the people of all races
43:17 Holly Frey? and creeds, there to live in peace and goodwill."
43:21 Tracy V. Wilson? The writer of this piece did not really make note of all the people who fought on the side of the revolution in spite of not being born in North America. People like the Marquis de Lafayette, who's come up a bunch in this episode, and Casimir Pulaski, who we just talked about on the show, and all of the other European military men who joined the fight, something we talked about in that Casimir Pulaski episode, and just people who were immigrants before the revolution started. He did note that there were many men of foreign birth who fought for the Union during the Civil War, including the Irish Brigades.
43:58 Holly Frey? By the time Curtis gave this oration and the response was printed in the pilot, Charlestown had a large and growing Irish Catholic population, many of whom had immigrated to the United States in the wake of the Great Famine. The annual observance of the Bunker Hill anniversary was becoming interconnected with Irish identity and pride in the neighborhood. In 1875, Irish-American Catholics explicitly put out a call for Irish people to take part in the procession that took place at Bunker Hill that year, solidifying this tradition through the 19th and into the 20th century.
44:35 Tracy V. Wilson? The panel containing this quote from the pilot also shares a quote from Lucy Stone, which I think is the quote that provoked this whole investigation, but was not actually slated to be taken down. It reads, quote, "The battle is celebrated for the justice of the cause, which, because it was just, was triumphant. The women's suffrage battle is like that of Bunker Hill. Not one today, but sure to be later. Meantime, Bunker Hill Monument is our monument."
45:07 Holly Frey? The third quote ordered for removal from the monument is from a letter printed in the Boston Globe. It was written by Arthur Johnson and Bester Cramm, New England coordinators of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War. And it reads, quote, "We find upon reflection that our duty to our country has not ended. We, as Vietnam veterans, feel strongly that the United States should cease to build memorials to death and begin to glorify life."
45:34 Tracy V. Wilson? So there's an ellipsis in that quote, and part of what is left out is just before that last part of the statement. And it says, quote, "Later this month, this country celebrates Memorial Day, a day which commemorates all American war dead." It's after saying that that they say that the United States should stop building memorials to death and instead glorify life. Elsewhere in the letter, Johnson and Cramm also wrote, quote, "We find in retrospect that what we believed to be patriotism was, in fact, a disservice to humanity."
46:09 Holly Frey? This letter was printed on May 23, 1971, days before Vietnam Veterans Against the War held a protest in Massachusetts. More than 200 people marched from Lexington and Concord to the Bunker Hill Monument, essentially following the reverse route of Paul Revere's famous ride. They camped overnight at the monument with the protest ending on May 31, which was Memorial Day.
46:36 Tracy V. Wilson? This protest was deliberately intended to draw parallels between the American Revolution and the march and the ideas behind it. It was called Operation POW based on the idea that in the context of the ongoing Vietnam War, all Americans were prisoners of war. Organizers also made a lot of connections between the American occupation of Vietnam and the British occupation of North America before and during the Revolutionary War. On the display at the monument, the quote from the Boston Globe appears alongside one from journalist and civil rights advocate William Monroe Trotter's Bunker Hill Day Address from 1925.
47:18 Tracy V. Wilson? And that quote reads, quote, "Colored Americans were here that day, fighting with other patriots, our own ancestors, of whom we are justly proud and on whom we base our claim for full liberty and equality as citizens." There is also a photo of the protesters gathered at the monument on May 30, 1971. So this is like two different statements with very different perspectives about how to think about veterans, including ones who died in a war. So the last panel that a person would walk past into the obelisk, as you're walking through the lodge, has a quote from the 2025 Bunker Hill Day Address from author and historian Nathaniel Philbrick, whose books include Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution,
48:03 Tracy V. Wilson? which was published in 2013. And then at the bottom of the panel, there's a statement that to me really ties together what all of the other panels in this exhibit are doing. It reads, quote, "As you prepare to climb the monument or simply take in the views from the ground, consider the many voices this monument echoes. What voice might you add today as a message to future generations?"
48:30 Holly Frey? And to be clear, the voices from these panels are not the only ones that have been part of the legacy of protest and advocacy and involvement that has surrounded the Bunker Hill Monument over the last 250-plus years.
48:45 Holly Frey? There is also an online exhibit at the National Park Service website called Bunker Hill Memory that includes more information about all of these quotes that we've discussed, along with a number of others. And it discusses what the monument has meant over the years and the concept of historical memory. Quote, "The ways that people understand and interpret their shared past."
49:08 Tracy V. Wilson? So beyond that, beyond what is part of the exhibition there in the lodge and online, just as some other examples. In the 1970s, Boston faced a court order to integrate its school system, and that was being done through busing. A lot of the anti-busing protests were ostensibly about keeping children in their local neighborhood schools, but there was often an underlying thread of racism in these arguments. On September 8th, 1975, protesters against the busing of Black students rallied at Bunker Hill. There was explicit racism involved, including burning an effigy of a Black student. But demonstrators at this protest still tied what they were doing to the ideals of freedom and liberty. In
49:53 Tracy V. Wilson? this case, they were arguing that it was the freedom to control where their children went to school and who they went to school with.
50:01 Holly Frey? In 1998, a protest against a newly passed gun control law in Massachusetts also took place in Bunker Hill. This law banned the sale of 25 types of military-style assault weapons. It set greater penalties for certain gun crimes, and it prohibited people with felony convictions from getting a gun license, as well as other reforms. Organizers said Bunker Hill was chosen as the protest site because it was symbolic of Americans defending their freedoms.
50:33 Tracy V. Wilson? That same year, a public art installation at the Bunker Hill Monument also drew intense controversy. Artist Kristoff Wadischko filmed family members talking about the loss of their loved ones due to street violence in Charlestown. He filmed these family members from below, and then he projected this video at the top of the monument, and it was accompanied by a 16-minute audio loop of their interviews.
50:59 Holly Frey? From the 1970s to the 1990s, Charlestown had an alarmingly high murder rate, and a code of silence meant that most of these cases went unsolved. Among the interviewees was Sandra King, whose sons Chris and Jay were both murdered several years apart. She described being devastated and almost unable to get out of bed when Chris was murdered. But when Jay was murdered, it was, quote, "the murder heard round the world." She said she would never stop fighting for justice for him.
51:31 Tracy V. Wilson? People involved with this art installation also tied it to the idea of freedom. There was the freedom of speech for the installation itself. And Marty Blatt, supervisory historian for Boston National Historical Park, was quoted as saying, quote, "What could be more symbolic of freedom than these women who have lost their loved ones? It was the ultimate denial of freedom to have no one come forward. This was the most extraordinary moment I've ever seen in public art." The artist also said that he felt that these women were as brave for speaking out as the volunteers who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill. One of the reasons this installation was so controversial
52:13 Tracy V. Wilson? was that the residents of Charlestown thought that it was basically airing their dirty laundry. There is more information about this installation at the National Park Service website for the Bunker Hill Monument.
52:24 Holly Frey? In 2003, historian Sarah J. Purcell published a paper in The Public Historian about the monument and this installation. And in it, she says something that also runs parallel to the exhibit currently installed at the lodge, writing, quote, "The meaning of a monument is never fixed, but rather is always determined by an intersection of architectural intentions, viewer reactions, and historical interpretation. The Bunker Hill Monument has been a site of dialogue between past and present, local and national, male and female, partisanship and impartiality, almost since its inception."
53:05 Tracy V. Wilson? Before we get to listener mail, I just want to shout out to the folks at the National Park Service who created this installation and its online exhibit back in 2023. I'm truly indebted to them both for inspiring this episode and for the exhibits themselves and the creation of this episode. I found the whole exhibit really thought provoking in a way that... I don't often find in, in these kinds of exhibits. And also just thanks to the Rangers who were there when I went. Both of the Ranger talks that I saw were very enjoyable and informative.
53:37 Holly Frey? Three cheers to the National Park Service.
53:39 Tracy V. Wilson? Yeah. I have listener mail from Martha.
53:43 Holly Frey? Great.
53:44 Tracy V. Wilson? Martha said some very kind things in the first paragraph, and I'm just going to skip over them because I feel self-congratulatory trying to read them out loud. And then said, "The other prompting episode was on the history of the IUD. The references to camels and stones brought to mind the practice of putting a sterile glass marble in a mare's uterus to suppress estrus coming into heat as a method of reducing mairish behavior that can accompany estrus. This technique carries several risks and there are other methods of behavioral management. I am not a proponent of the marble technique, but your mention of the camel stones made me wonder if there may be some camel-based story behind the development of the practice."
54:28 Tracy V. Wilson? Before I close, I wish to add one more thing. Sometime ago, you had a discussion regarding camping versus Marriott. In my book, it's definitely hotel and the more stars, the better.
54:39 Holly Frey? Yes.
54:39 Tracy V. Wilson? My questions during a vacation should be, "Pool or ocean?" And, "Restaurant or room service?" "Turn-down service with chocolates on the pillow adds just the right touch." Insert laughing emoji here for pet tax. Here are two photos of my 13-year-old dog, Tiva. I did not try to figure out how to pronounce that, so I hope it was correct. In one, he proudly holds a street find, a piece of cardboard. The other, he's enjoying some sunshine in the yard. Thank you for your podcast, sincerely, Martha. We have very cute dog pictures.
55:09 Holly Frey? Hoppers.
55:10 Tracy V. Wilson? I had not heard that there was this practice of putting a sterile glass marble into the uterus of a mare. And that makes me wonder if there is maybe more to this whole camel stone story.
55:25 Holly Frey? Yeah.
55:26 Tracy V. Wilson? Than I gave it credit for.
55:27 Holly Frey? Yeah, maybe.
55:28 Tracy V. Wilson? Who can say?
55:29 Holly Frey? Maybe.
55:30 Tracy V. Wilson? So, thank you so much, Martha, for writing to us about this. We will talk more about the Bunker Hill Monument on Friday. If you would like to send us a note, we're at [email protected] . If you want to see our show notes, including links to all of these things that we used as research today and all that stuff from the National Park Service, we are at missedinhistory.com. And you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app and anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. Stuff You Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite
56:13 Tracy V. Wilson? shows. Whether you're calling the wise women in your life, video calling your girlfriends across the country, or checking in on someone who always knows how to make you smile, staying connected matters. Those small conversations, shared laughs, and quick hellos are what keep relationships strong even when life gets busy. Some of the most life-giving conversations start with just a phone call. That's why AT&T guarantees the network you can rely on so you can focus on the moments and people that matter most. That's the AT&T Guarantee. AT&T: Connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.com/guarantee for details.
56:52 Speaker 01 Building with AI should feel simpler, not harder to navigate. The challenge is finding the right resources to move from exploring AI to building with it. The Microsoft AI Innovators Hub brings together code samples, guided labs, and practical guidance to help you move from exploring AI to building with it. Learn by building at the AI Innovators Hub. Visit aka.ms/ai-innovators. That's aka.ms/ai-innovators. This is Colin Cowherd from the Colin Cowherd Podcast. Buy smart, drive for less, and trade for more. That's Toyota affordability. All starts with a great deal on an off-road ready Tacoma or a half-ton Tundra to a Toyota's most capable and
57:37 Speaker 06 Longest lasting trucks. Built on a reputation for quality and reliability, Toyota trucks are known for holding their value, which could mean big savings when it's time for your next Toyota. For a great deal today to a great value tomorrow. Shop toyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. Hey, I'm Niall Rogers. This fall, I'll be driving across the country, meeting some of today's coolest and most fascinating artists. We'll explore the stories before the moments that changed everything. Because every musician remembers the moment where it all began. Experience Before the Moment, a Lincoln original series on the iHeartRadio app, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
58:26 Speaker 00 This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.
Previous SYMHC Classics: Four Paperclippers Next Elizabeth Blackwell's Curious Herbal Page updated October 29, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated