Francis Merrifield was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts the son of Thomas and Mercy Merrifield. He served at Ticonderoga in the French and Indian War and in 1759 married Hannah Lakeman with whom he had 13 children.
He is reputed to have been cheerful, modest and quiet and "his comrades in arms testified that ... the Christian graces always shone in his character in an unusual degree" (Ipswich H.S. description).
After hostilities with the British began in 1775, Merrifield joined the Ipswich militia which pursued British soldiers retreating from the battles of Concord and Lexington, bringing this Bible with him. He fought at Bunker Hill as a sergeant in the company of Captain Nathaniel Wade in the 17th Regiment commanded by Colonel Moses Little.
More than 100 American troops were killed and 300 wounded in the battle on June 17, 1775. Merrifield survived heavy fighting during the battle and was one of the last to leave the field, according to the Museum of the American Revolution's Historian and Curator Philip Mead.
Merrifield records his experience the day of the battle on the verso of the title-page: "Cambridge, Jun 17 1775. I desire to bless God for his Kind aperince in delivering me and sparing my life in the late battle fought on Bunker's Hill. I desire to devote this spared life to His glory and honour. In witness my hand, Francis Merrifield." The inscription on the inside back cover reads: "1775. Cambridge, June 17th. A batel fought on bunkers hill, on Saterday in the afternoon, which lasted an hour and a quarter, two men were wounded, and ... the number of my gun, one hundred eighty three, 183, the seventeenth Rigement, 17."
Francis survived the Revolutionary War and died in 1814.
He is reputed to have been cheerful, modest and quiet and "his comrades in arms testified that ... the Christian graces always shone in his character in an unusual degree" (Ipswich H.S. description).
After hostilities with the British began in 1775, Merrifield joined the Ipswich militia which pursued British soldiers retreating from the battles of Concord and Lexington, bringing this Bible with him. He fought at Bunker Hill as a sergeant in the company of Captain Nathaniel Wade in the 17th Regiment commanded by Colonel Moses Little.
More than 100 American troops were killed and 300 wounded in the battle on June 17, 1775. Merrifield survived heavy fighting during the battle and was one of the last to leave the field, according to the Museum of the American Revolution's Historian and Curator Philip Mead.
Merrifield records his experience the day of the battle on the verso of the title-page: "Cambridge, Jun 17 1775. I desire to bless God for his Kind aperince in delivering me and sparing my life in the late battle fought on Bunker's Hill. I desire to devote this spared life to His glory and honour. In witness my hand, Francis Merrifield." The inscription on the inside back cover reads: "1775. Cambridge, June 17th. A batel fought on bunkers hill, on Saterday in the afternoon, which lasted an hour and a quarter, two men were wounded, and ... the number of my gun, one hundred eighty three, 183, the seventeenth Rigement, 17."
Francis survived the Revolutionary War and died in 1814.
Francis Merrifield was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts the son of Thomas and Mercy Merrifield. He served at Ticonderoga in the French and Indian War and in 1759 married Hannah Lakeman with whom he had 13 children.
He is reputed to have been cheerful, modest and quiet and "his comrades in arms testified that ... the Christian graces always shone in his character in an unusual degree" (Ipswich H.S. description).
After hostilities with the British began in 1775, Merrifield joined the Ipswich militia which pursued British soldiers retreating from the battles of Concord and Lexington, bringing this Bible with him. He fought at Bunker Hill as a sergeant in the company of Captain Nathaniel Wade in the 17th Regiment commanded by Colonel Moses Little.
More than 100 American troops were killed and 300 wounded in the battle on June 17, 1775. Merrifield survived heavy fighting during the battle and was one of the last to leave the field, according to the Museum of the American Revolution's Historian and Curator Philip Mead.
Merrifield records his experience the day of the battle on the verso of the title-page: "Cambridge, Jun 17 1775. I desire to bless God for his Kind aperince in delivering me and sparing my life in the late battle fought on Bunker's Hill. I desire to devote this spared life to His glory and honour. In witness my hand, Francis Merrifield." The inscription on the inside back cover reads: "1775. Cambridge, June 17th. A batel fought on bunkers hill, on Saterday in the afternoon, which lasted an hour and a quarter, two men were wounded, and ... the number of my gun, one hundred eighty three, 183, the seventeenth Rigement, 17."
Francis survived the Revolutionary War and died in 1814.
He is reputed to have been cheerful, modest and quiet and "his comrades in arms testified that ... the Christian graces always shone in his character in an unusual degree" (Ipswich H.S. description).
After hostilities with the British began in 1775, Merrifield joined the Ipswich militia which pursued British soldiers retreating from the battles of Concord and Lexington, bringing this Bible with him. He fought at Bunker Hill as a sergeant in the company of Captain Nathaniel Wade in the 17th Regiment commanded by Colonel Moses Little.
More than 100 American troops were killed and 300 wounded in the battle on June 17, 1775. Merrifield survived heavy fighting during the battle and was one of the last to leave the field, according to the Museum of the American Revolution's Historian and Curator Philip Mead.
Merrifield records his experience the day of the battle on the verso of the title-page: "Cambridge, Jun 17 1775. I desire to bless God for his Kind aperince in delivering me and sparing my life in the late battle fought on Bunker's Hill. I desire to devote this spared life to His glory and honour. In witness my hand, Francis Merrifield." The inscription on the inside back cover reads: "1775. Cambridge, June 17th. A batel fought on bunkers hill, on Saterday in the afternoon, which lasted an hour and a quarter, two men were wounded, and ... the number of my gun, one hundred eighty three, 183, the seventeenth Rigement, 17."
Francis survived the Revolutionary War and died in 1814.
