The year 2025 marks the 250th anniversary of the opening stage of our country’s fight for independence as patriotic citizen-soldiers fearlessly fought the British regulars at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. Later that spring, our town history records that George Shannon and 13 additional townsmen left Canterbury to join Captain Gordon Hutchins’s Company in the state capital of Concord. As part of the New Hampshire 1st Regiment under the command of Colonel John Stark, they assembled in Medford, Massachusetts. On June 17, George Shannon and 32 other New Hampshire patriots were killed in a bloody confrontation against a superior British force on Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

His remains were either buried on the battlefield or interred in the Salem Street Burying Ground in Medford. His name and his/our town are memorialized on a monument on the Bunker Hill Training Field. George Shannon was survived by his wife, Mercy, and a son, John, age 6, who resided near the east end of Ayers Road. Though numerous citizens of Canterbury fought in many of the major engagements in the American War for Independence, George Shannon is the only known resident of Canterbury to have made the ultimate sacrifice for the sake of our country’s sovereignty.

The Canterbury Cemetery Association, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, is planning to raise $2,500 to have a memorial stone designed to honor George Shannon and those who fought for our country’s independence. The stone will be gray granite, with a 42-inch high arched top, 18 inches wide and 4 inches deep, placed in the northeast corner of the Center Cemetery with this inscription:

  IN MEMORIAM

  GEORGE SHANNON

  CITIZEN – SOLDIER

  CANTERBURY, NEW HAMPSHIRE

  CAPT HUTCHINS’ COMPANY

  COL STARK’S REGIMENT

  KILLED IN ACTION

  BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL

  JUNE 17, 1775

  AND TO ALL THOSE

  WHO FOUGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE

  CITIZENS OF CANTERBURY, 2025 

The memorial stone will be dedicated at the town’s Memorial Day Remembrance in May 2025. 

Checks should be made payable to the Canterbury Cemetery Association with “George Shannon” placed on the memo line, and forwarded to the Canterbury Cemetery Association, 34 Iris Lane, Loudon, NH 03307. All contributors will be publicly acknowledged (unless otherwise requested) and contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law. 

If there are any questions, please contact John Goegel, Canterbury Cemetery Trustee, at jtgoegel@gmail.com.