During a series of events in 1860 commemorating the Battle of Bunker Hill, autographed handbills were sold to benefit aging Revolutionary War veteran, Ralph Farnham. Each handbill included an albumen print of Farnham and an autograph in his handwriting. Ralph Farnham (1756-1860), was reported to be the last surviving soldier from the Battle of Bunker Hill.

In reality, Farnham enlisted in Captain Philip Hubbard’s Co. of James Scammon’s Regiment on May 15, 1775. He arrived at Cambridge shortly before the battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. While it doesn’t appear his regiment was on Breed's Hill (the actual location of the battle), they were in Charlestown. Some blamed Scammon for not reinforcing the hill, but having so recently joined the larger army at Cambridge, his orders the day of the battle were unclear. They reached the top of the actual Bunker Hill about the time the retreat from Breed’s Hill started. Farnham stayed in the army until his enlistment ended in December. He re-enlisted several times in 1777, eventually witnessing the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga, New York.

A biographical pamphlet published just before Farnham's death inflated the "last surviving Bunker Hill Soldier" rumor, but his pension record does not claim he was at the hill and Farnham was not known to have claimed this during his lifetime. Originally from New Hampshire, he moved to Acton, Maine in or around 1780, after receiving land for his service. Ralph Farnham died on December 26, 1860, at the age of 104 (although the handbill stated his age as 105).