Ralph Farnham, born in Lebanon, Maine in 1756, led a relatively quiet life until his 104th year. His notoriety as the last survivor of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and one of Maine’s few living Revolutionary War veterans, propelled him into the national spotlight in 1860. Farnham was celebrated for his service and age in his hometown of Acton, Maine as well as Boston, Massachusetts. His life story was published in the Biographical Sketch of the Life of Ralph Farnham of Acton, Maine by C.W. Clarence. Sales from this booklet and images of Farnham helped support him beyond the $61.66 yearly pension he received for his military service.

The booklet includes Farnham’s memories of the “dark day” of May 19, 1780. On that day, Farnham was attending a social gathering at a neighbor’s house when a young woman noticed the abrupt darkness, saying that “it was growing dark, though not a cloud was visible.”

As Farnham and others hastened homeward, he had not gone far into the forest before it was too dark to proceed. Noticing the sudden quiet, he sat on the trunk of a fallen tree, and “awaited the sound of the Archangel’s trump, expecting to see the dead arise, and the heavens unroll—for he thought the judgment day had come.” Farnham did not know how long he sat there, but as it began to grow lighter, he found his way home.

While the author of Farnham’s book insisted that the event was a total solar eclipse, of which one was visible in October 1780, Farnham remained resolute, “No, ‘twas no eclipse.” To him, it was a spiritual sign. The true source of the “dark day” that encompassed much of New England remained a mystery for over two centuries. Today, evidence by the University of Missouri Center for Tree-Ring Science has shown it was most likely caused by massive wildfires burning in Canada. Large smoke columns were carried into the upper atmosphere, blocking out the sun from New Jersey to eastern Canada.

Image: Ralph Farnham photographed in 1860. MSM2024.9