CHARLESTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS—Every American schoolchild learns of the brave stand Revolutionary War Patriots made during the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill. Because they were low on ammunition, soldiers were told not to fire until they saw the “whites” of British soldiers' eyes. Much less is known, however, about the ordinary citizens whose lives were upended when British forces burned the nearby neighborhood of Charlestown to the ground during the day’s events. Boston’s WBUR reports that excavations currently taking place are providing new insight into the lives of the locals who lost everything they owned that day. “The battle is something that we kind of glorify today, but also there was this deep loss, this trauma that hundreds and hundreds of people went through on that day, in addition to the people at the battlefield who lost their lives,” said Boston City Archaeologist Joe Bagley. One aspect of civic life that is particularly being highlighted are the remnants of the town’s once thriving pottery industry. Among the ruins are warehouses, workshops, and kilns that were completely wiped out when the British fired heated cannonballs onto the town’s streets. Bagley refers to the traces of one particular tavern, called Three Craves Tavern, as Boston’s very own “Pompeii.” When the townsfolk returned to Charlestown, they decided not to rebuild the popular establishment, but instead buried all of the broken and charred objects in the building’s foundation, creating a well-preserved eighteenth-century time capsule. To read about archaeological traces of a lesser-known 1775 skirmish in Massachusetts, go to "Finding Parker's Revenge."
