This obelisk, now alongside Pleasant Street near Concord Hospital, commemorates the killing of Obadiah Peters, John Bean, John Lufkin, Samuel Bradley and Jonathan Bradley on Aug. 11, 1746, by Abenaki warriors. The deaths are honored as victims of an Indian massacre, but in fact they were something else. What was it?
The deaths took place long ago, but the monument plays a role in the 20th century. That story is told in “Crosscurrents of Change,” the Concord Historical Society's history of the capital city in the 20th century. Look for it later this year.
