Ceremony For PVT John Bickford Canterbury
The new headstone provided by the VA for Pvt. Bickford.
Paying their respects during taps on the left center Dan
Barnhart Northwood VFW Commander and on the right Shannan Brown
past State Commander.
Honor guard from the Stark’s 1st NH Regiment historical
group.
On
Saturday June 16, 2018 after an over 150 year wait Pvt. John
Bickford of Dearborn’s Company, Stark’s 1st NH Regiment finally
received a headstone from a grateful nation. His remains are
interned next to his wife, who died several years before him, in
the Canterbury Cemetery in Northwood. Her location was
marked but for some reason his was not.
Pvt. Bickford served along with some 60 other residents of
Northwood, Nottingham and Deerfield in the Continental Army.
He saw action in the attack on the British in Quebec, at Bunker
Hill, in Rhode Island and was at West Point NY when Benedict
Arnold tried to turn it over to the British. He returned
home in 1777 and like most veterans became a productive member
of his community by taking up his trade as farmer again.
It
was a two year journey to get him his marker, but now that we
know how it is done will be looking to see how many other
Revolutionary War heroes are not properly marked and get the
them the recognition that they deserve.
We
of the VFW want to thank all those people who assisted us along
the way. Your assistance was greatly appreciated.
