_From reflecting upon the bullet that came so close to disposing of Major Samuel Lawrence at Bunker Hill I was led to the history of the monument commemorating the battle, in the building of which his son--and my great-grandfather--Amos Lawrence took a leading part. Much has been written about Bunker Hill Monument, but the splendid article by Mr. E. H. Cameron in_ The Technology Review _for May 1952 and June 1952 summarized its history so well that I was anxious to have it available in more permanent form. Mr. Cameron and the editors of_ The Technology Review _very kindly gave permission for this reprint, and Mr. Walter Muir Whitehill, Director and Librarian of the Boston Athenæum, has seen the pamphlet through the press. Mr. Whitehill has also selected the illustrations, and has included in them a hitherto unpublished drawing, owned by the Boston Athenæum, of Bunker Hill Monument under construction in 1837. This was obviously the source for the somewhat inaccurate wood engraving published in_ The American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge, _III_ (1839), 404 _and subsequently reproduced in later accounts of the monument. The illustrations include portraits of the two largest individual contributors to the building of the monument--Amos Lawrence and Judah Touro, the Jewish merchant of Newport, Rhode Island. I am grateful to the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company and the Redwood Library and Athenæum of Newport for furnishing photographs of these portraits and permitting their reproduction, and to Mr. T. Temple Pond, President of the Bunker Hill Monument Association, for allowing this reprint to be published by the Association._ JOHN S. LAWRENCE _OF YANKEE GRANITE_ PROLOGUE On Saturday, 17 June 1775, on a fortified hilltop farm near Bunker’s Hill, Charlestown, Mass., a volunteer force of American citizens faced the professional soldiery of the world’s strongest nation. When their scant supply of ammunition gave out, the survivors retired in good order, to learn later that 140 of their neighbors and other companions had been killed in the fight. Their battle is therefore registered as an American defeat. It proved to be a striking victory, however, for historians agree that the Battle of Bunker Hill set the pace that led to ultimate victory in the American War of Independence. This little force of farmers, mechanics, tradesmen, and professional men had demonstrated how Americans should fight, when their independence is threatened. On the field where the battle was fought, the Bunker Hill Monument has now stood for over a century, the rugged lines of its granite masonry symbolizing the enduring strength of the stern spirit of American independence that it commemorates.