Winthrop Square and Training Field Monument

Why is it significant?

Step onto the gently sloping lawn of Winthrop Square, known since 1630 as the historic Charlestown Training Field.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Step onto the gently sloping lawn of Winthrop Square, known since 1630 as the historic Charlestown Training Field. Set aside in the earliest colonial land grants as communal militia muster ground, this peaceful square served for over two centuries as the mandatory gathering place where local citizens assembled with muskets, powder horns, and pikes for compulsory military drill to defend the colony against foreign invasions and raids.

In the center of the square stands the heroic Soldiers and Sailors Monument, dedicated in 1872 to honor the five hundred and ninety-two men of Charlestown who gave their lives for the Union during the American Civil War. Designed by celebrated sculptor Martin Milmore, the bronze grouping depicts Columbia, representing the nation, placing laurel wreaths upon the brows of a fallen soldier and sailor.

Framing the square is an extraordinary architectural ensemble of early nineteenth-century Federal and Greek Revival townhouses, built by wealthy shipwrights, naval officers, and merchant captains between 1810 and 1845. In June 1775, colonial militia companies gathered on this very green before marching up to Breed's Hill to construct the earthen redoubt that withstood three ferocious British frontal assaults. Two rare British naval cannons captured during the Revolutionary War flank the Civil War memorial, their weathered iron barrels pointing silently toward the harbor. Ancient elms and sugar maples cast deep shade over the brick pathways, where local residents walk dogs and sit on granite benches in peaceful contemplation.

Standing in the center of the old Training Field, the spirit of citizen soldiering resonates deeply. For four centuries, citizens from these very townhouses stepped forward to defend the ideals of liberty and democratic self-governance. The historic training field remains a sacred civic sanctuary where generations of Massachusetts citizens answered the call of duty to defend freedom and constitutional democracy.

Walk north along Monument Avenue toward the towering granite obelisk of Bunker Hill.