One of the most prominent features of Arlington's Old Burying Ground is the nineteen-foot-tall obelisk of pure New Hampshire granite encircled by a stone and iron fence, honoring those killed in Menotomy on April 19, 1775, the first day of the Revolutionary War.

At the time, Jason Russell and eleven other patriots were buried in a mass grave, without coffins and in the clothes in which they fell. A headstone for Jason Russell was erected near the site of the mass grave reading:

“Mr. Jason Russell was barbarously murdered in his own house by Gage's bloody troops, on the 19th of April, 1775, aetatis 59. His body is quietly resting in this grave with Eleven of our friends, who in like manner, with many others, were cruelly slain, on that fatal day. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.”

The remains of the twelve were disinterred and placed in a stone vault set under Arlington's Revolutionary War Monument on April 22, 1848.

The initiative to create the monument was spearheaded by a committee and funded with money raised by popular subscription at a cost of $460.67.  In the archives of the Arlington Historical Society is a letter from the Honorable James Russell on behalf of the committee to the subscribers detailing the process through which the monument was completed including the history of its location, account of funding and expenses, details of construction and the names of those it honors.

In the April 29, 1848 feature article, “Interesting Relics” by Edmund Tufts in the Boston Statesman the disinterment of the bodies is described. Noting their remarkable state of preservation, he writes “The snows of seventy-two winters had covered them, yet still to be seen were remnants of their clothing, rusty buttons and old shot pouch, two flints, stockings adhering to their shoes…”

Tufts further opines that the erection of the monument over their remains is fitting and of a touching character; a credit to those who conceived, executed, and liberally funded its completion.

Erected and dedicated in June of that year, it was described in the June 26th edition of the Boston Daily Times as “a beautiful granite obelisk…..creditable to the artistic skill of the workmen who erected it, as well as the Patriotism of the people of West Cambridge who freely furnished the funds required to defray the expenses of the work.”

Two additional plaques have been added to Arlington's Revolutionary War Monument since its dedication. One lists the names of soldiers from area towns killed at the Battle of Menotomy and the other, erected by the Menotomy Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1941, acknowledging those from Arlington known to be buried in the Old Burying Ground.

The inscription reads:

Erected by the Inhabitants of West Cambridge, A.D. 1848, over the common grave of Jason Russell, Jason Winship, Jabez Wyman and nine others, who were slain in this town by the British Troops on their retreat from the Battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19th, 1775. Being among the first to lay down their lives in the struggle for American Independence.