nhgoddess Uncategorized

Jude Hall was at Bunker Hill 250 Years Ago

What do Bunker Hill day and Juneteenth have in common??

On June 17th, 1775, Jude Hall was fighting at Bunker Hill. And less than a year ago I learned that my ancestor, James Andrews of Essex, MA, was there, too! I wonder if they interacted that day? Maybe it was karmic that I would end up researching/championing Jude Hall here in Exeter, NH.

All last week I was doing “Bunker Hill 250” things. First, I spent three days in Charlestown with the newly created lineage group for descendants of the soldiers, “Brothers of the Battle”. Forty of us came from all over the US, and two from Canada. (hey Vancouver:) We marched in the annual parade, attended ceremonies, lectures, exhibits, lunches and more. I did not see a descendant of Jude Hall there.

(If you are interested in joining this group, please contact the Charlestown Historical Society directly.)

The CHS headquarters where we met each day was in the Bunker Hill Museum, located across from the monument. To my astonishment, I saw this new plaque there in the rotunda about Jude Hall. A surprise hooray-moment!

One of the tours was to the American Ancestors headquarters in Boston. This outfit heads up the “10 Million Names” project. I was excited to speak with the leader and suggest Jude Hall’s story for inclusion in a special 250 project they are working for 2026. Stay tuned!

Later in the week, I went to Gloucester, MA where about 1000 reenactors had been hired to make a living history splash. And they sure did. They had camped overnight in small white tents. About 8000 people attended. The weather was gorgeous, featuring a jaunty sea breeze.

At the top of the hill was the “redoubt”, a kind of high foxhole made of bales of hay covered with dirt. That is where the Massachusetts troops were. So this is where my James would have been. The NH men were stationed on the side rail-fence down by the beach. This would have been where Jude was. (I saw a Black man in colonial garb there and I asked him who he was portraying. He replied “Prince Whipple”. Not Jude, too bad.)

The day was faithful to the exact timing of the original battle day. The British were in ships in the harbor, rowed ashore at 8:15am, assessed, drilled, then made the three assaults up the hill. It was over at 4:30pm when they finally over ran the redoubt, and Gen. Warren was killed.

It must have been terrifying for the men on both sides. (Over 1000 British and 450 “Americans” were killed or wounded that day.) But for us 250 years later it was thrilling. The whole event was very well done. Kudos to the organizers for such a smooth day.

It was really very interesting to be a fly on the wall and watch how it all went down, while thinking about James and Jude. Thinking about freedom and equality. And thinking about the courage and conviction of those original people on that bloody hill. They enabled us to live in a democratic society today. I thank them.

I thank them for the freedom to write this, to attend any church I choose, to exercise my equal-ish rights as a woman, to protest …and to celebrate. Despite this contentious season, I choose to celebrate.

And I choose to make large efforts to celebrate others as well, as we all ride the bend in the moral arc. See that little sign on the sunflower below?

That’s right – Juneteenth, also called “freedom-day” falls inside Bunker Hill week each year. Two events where people said loud and clear: “you’re not the boss of me” and threw off injustice. Think about that coincidence.

Jude-teenth?

And to finish this post off, I experienced another “hooray-moment” this week when I got a phone message from a friend who had seen me on the TV show NH Chronicle. “Really? Why?” I asked. I had no idea.

It was a Juneteenth special edition about the Black Heritage Trail of NH, and it included the other half of an interview I had filmed with a News 9 reporter last February (Black History Month) in the cemetery where Jude Hall is buried. I thought it had been cut and trashed. But no, it had been saved and sent to the TV show for Juneteenth. Wonderful!

250 years later, Jude Hall is finally honored and celebrated on a local, state and national level. Hooray! Or as he might say, Huzzah!

nhgoddess black exeter nh

Heaps of Flowers for Juneteenth!

The new Black Heritage Trail of NH (BHTNH) stone marker is finally complete in Exeter. Just in time for Juneteenth this Wednesday!

This BHTNH monument is housed in the new “Exeter’s Black Heritage Pocket-Park” at the corner of Water Street & Swasey Parkway. This park is owned by Exeter Parks & Recreation, with beautiful gardens donated by local resident, Mark Damsell. An ad-hoc group of citizens, “Exeter’s Black Heritage Pocket-Park Committee” worked with public input and selectboard support for nearly four years to bring this park to fruition.

An unveiling ceremony was held on May 4th, 2024. Well over 100 people came to witness and celebrate. Pastry was provided by St. Anthony’s Bakery and Clyde’s Cupcakes. The Folsom Tavern, located directly across the street, held a free open house after the ceremony. Video of this ceremony can be viewed on Exeter TV’s YouTube channel.

The public is invited to bring a cut flower to the monument in honor of Juneteenth. Juneteenth is a holiday celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people in the US. The holiday was first celebrated in Texas, where on that date in 1865, in the aftermath of the Civil War, enslaved people were declared free under the terms of the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation.

At least two, and probably many more, Black Revolutionary War veterans are buried in the Winter Street Cemetery in Exeter: Jude Hall and Tobias Cutler. (In total, over 30 Revolutionary War veterans – both Black and White – are buried in that yard!)

The NH State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, a non-partisan civic service organization of women, has selected Exeter to kick off the statewide 250th anniversary of the USA (1776-2026) celebrations, with a focus on that cemetery.

The NHDAR, along with the Exeter Chapter, will partner with other local groups to host a public ceremony at the Winter Street cemetery to honor all NH Black Revolutionary War soldiers on the afternoon of November 2, 2024 with a post-ceremony reception at the American Independence Museum’s Folsom Tavern. All 25 DAR chapters in New Hampshire have donated to a large historical sign which honors all (nearly 400, according to NH historian Glenn Knoblock’s Strong & Brave Fellows) Black soldiers and sailors from NH that served in the Revolutionary War. Often times, history did not correctly cite the contributions of the Black community. Today’s scholarly research is is helping to correct the omissions.

In fact, in 1790’s Exeter, walking down the street you would have seen that English, Scottish, and West African were the three highest population groups in the community. Many Blacks had businesses downtown, owned homes, and schools were integrated. The Exeter Historical Society has much information on this subject that is available to the public.

The above-mentioned facts are things to ponder as you place your cut flower at the new marker in Exeter. I hope to see HEAPS!! Thanks 🙂

The marker reads:

“Exeter, the Revolutionary capital of New Hampshire, included a Black community which was nearly 5 percent of its population in 1790. Although enslaved Africans were forcibly brought here in the early 1700s, after the American Revolution several free Black men and their families, many of whom had fought for American independence, found community by coming together and living here.

These veterans included Cato Fisk, Cato Duce, London Daly and Jude Hall, whose grandson, Moses U. Hall, was a Civil War veteran. London Daly and Rufus Cutler proposed the first society to benefit people of color in the region. Leaders in subsequent generations include ministers Thomas Paul, Nathaniel Paul, Benjamin Tash, and abolitionist poet James M. Whitfield. In the 1800s, philanthropists Harriet P. C. Harris and Catherine Merrill provided ongoing support and generous bequests. They were among many Black residents of Exeter who supported one another through struggles and victories.”