Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier

The Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier honors the soldiers who died during the American Revolutionary War. Many of those soldiers were buried in mass graves in Washington Square, where the monument is located. The memorial was conceived in 1954 by the Washington Square Planning Committee and completed in 1957. The monument, designed by architect G. Edwin Brumbaugh, features an eternal flame and a bronze cast of Jean Antoine Houdon’s George Washington statue. An unknown soldier — either British or a colonial soldier — is encased in the memorial. Both the tomb and Washington Square are part of Independence National Historical Park.