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PREFACE.
When preparing, in 1849, an
introduction to a narrative of the military transactions
in 1775
and 1776, contained a volume entitled "History of the Siege of
Boston," etc.,
I found but meagre accounts of the revolutionary
movement in the town from 1767 to 1775.
The space allotted to it
in Dr. Snow's History is about thirty pages. It was not a part
of
the plan of William Tudor, in his "Life of James Otis," or of Josiah
Quincy, in his
"Memoir of the Life of Josiah Quincy, Jr.," to
describe it in these valuable works; nor
could the subject be
treated with the fulness it requires in a history of
Massachusetts
or of the United States.
I found, moreover,
that Joseph Warren was identified with the whole of this movement
as
an official political leader. The only accounts of his great
service, however, were a
brief memoir by Reverend Doctor John
Eliot, in the "Boston Magazine" of 1784, which, in
1809, was
enlarged into the five pages of his "Biographical Dictionary," an
intersting
sketch of his life, in 1816, in "Rees's
Cyclopedia," supplied by Dr. John C. Warren; the
"Memoir of
Joseph Warren," of ten pages, by Samuel L. Knapp, in the "Boston
Monthly
Magazine" of April, 1826, which was enlarged from his
"Biographical Sketches," printed
in 1826, which was enlarged
from his "Biographical Sketches," printed in 1821; a
little
volume, entitled, "Stories of General
vi.
PREFACE.
Warren in relation to the Fifth-of-March Massacre
and the Battle of Bunker Hill, by a
Lady of Boston," printed in
1835; and the "Life of Joseph Warren, by Alexander H. Ever-
ett,"
printed in 1845, incorporated into Sparks's "American Biography,"
the most of which
will be found in an oration delivered in 1836.
This "Life" contains ninety pages, fifty-
five being devoted to a
description of the Battle of Bunker Hill. These
publications
do not contain one of Warren's letters.
In
1849, I began to frame a narrative of Warren's career, and my
collections soon became
large. In 1852, fresh material was
supplied in the valuable historical contribution of
"The Hundred
Boston Orators," by James S. Loring, who devotes to Warren
twenty-six pages.
In 1854, additional matter relative to him
was printed in Mr. Bancroft's fourth volume
of the "History of
the United States," in which Warren is assigned a just position
in
our Revolutionary story. That year, Dr. John C. Warren
issued the elegant volume of
the genealogy of the family, which
contains several of the letters of Warren, and Dr.
John Warren's
Journal. In 1855, Samuel G. Drake printed his elaborate "History of
Boston,"
which,
however, does not come down later than 1770. In 1857, there
appeared
a pamphlet entitled "Biography of General Joseph Warren
by a Bostonian," which consists
of eighty-five pages, forty of
them being taken up with three orations.
None of these
publications contain a description of the proceedings of the
patriots of Boston from 1767 to 1775. I have attempted in this
volume to supply a deficiency in American history, by describing
those scenes which had a direct bearing on momentous political
events. From the date of 1774, the material for biography is
abundant; and I have given Warren's letters in full, and have dwelt
on his personal action.
vii
PREFACE.
I am indebted to Jared Sparks
for the free use of the collection, in folio volumes, of
the
"Letters and Papers" of Francis Bernard; to George Bancroft for the
use of a manu-
script life of Samuel Adams by Samuel Adams Wells,
the Journals of the Boston Committee
of Correspondence, and the
papers of Samuel Adams, in which were preserved the
letters
addressed by Warren to Samuel Adams, now carefully bound
in a separate volume, none of
which have been printed; to the
librarians of the Boston Anthenaeum, Harvard College,
the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Antiquarian
Society and the New-
York Historical Society, for every facility
in making researches; to the courteous City
Clerk of Boston,
Mass., Samuel F. McCleary, for access to the files of papers and
re-
cords in his office; to the successive Secretaries of State
for facilities in consulting
the Massachusetts archives; and to
Dr. J. Mason Warren for the use of the plate from
which is
printed the portrait of the General. I am indebted for favors
to Dr. Nathaniel
B. Shurtleff. I am under special obligations to
Dr. John Appleton, Assistant Librarian
of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, for the drawing of the facsimile of
Warren's
last letter, and for critical service in revising the
proof-sheets.
In all cases where it was possible, I have
resorted to original authorities. I have
spent much time in
examing the letter-books and papers of Thomas Hutchinson, which
are
among the rich collection of Massachusetts archives at the
State House; and I have
copied much from them. This material and
the papers of Francis Bernard contain authen-
tic revalations of
the principles and objects of two confidential agents of the
British
Administration, who exerted an important influence in
bring about the events that were
the proximate cause of the
Revolutionary War.
viii.
Preface.
THE PROVIDENCE OF
GOD.
I will only add, that I have aimed to be precise and
accurate, not only in the con-
struction of the narrative but in
the statement of opinion. The history contained in
this volume
has a general bearing. There will be found in it much to show the
beginnings
of that Union which the Fathers of the Republic
recognized to be a manifestation of the
Providence of God; and
much to illustrate the way in which the thirteen English
colonies
passed from the sovereignty of Great Britain to become
an American nation.
Charlestown, Massachusetts, October 2,
1865.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOSEPH
WARREN.
CHAPTER I.
1741 to
1763.
Joseph Warren was one of the popular leaders of Boston
during the early stage of the
American Revolution. He grasped its
basic idea of civil freedom, and aimed to impress
on the public
mind its dignity and glory. By ten years of devotion to the
patriot
cause, he rose to be the head of public affairs in
Massachusetts, and became one of the
most prominent characters of
New England.
Joseph Warren, through life, was a man of
action, whose words were deeds. To repel the
aggressions of
arbitrary power, and to maintain the principles of liberty, he wrote
in
the political journals, was zealous in the private clubs and
was a leader in the public
meetings.
footnote: Both in
civil and military affairs, the most prominent man in New England.
-
Life of Warren, by Alexander H. Everett, 107.
p.2
LIFE OF JOSEPH
WARREN.
When his townsmen desired an exponent of their
sentiment, he became their orator; when
the time arrived for
American union, he was active in organizing committees of
corres-
pondence; and, when revolutionary action was required, he
appeared in the front of re-
sponsibility in destroying the tea,
and in resisting the acts altering the
Massachusetts
Charter.
HIS DEATH IN THE BATTLE OF BUNKER
HILL.
As the virtual executive of a free State, he acted with
the comprehensiveness of the
patriot, and the administrative
ability of the statesman. On the field of war, he im-
pressed his
associates with his coolness, judgment and resources. He volunteered
to
share, with a band of militia, the perils of an extreme post;
and when he fell in the
Bunker Hill battle, co-laborers in the
cause, who felt the magnetism of his influence,
and knew the
value of his service, declared that his memory would be endeared to
the
worthy, in every part and every age of the world, as long as
virtue and valor should
be esteemed among mankind.*
CROWNED AN
IMMORTAL
The tributes paid to Warren, when he was crowned an
immortal, indicate a career of no
ordinary character - and the
future seemed burdened with his death. But so scanty is
the
material relative to him, of a strictly personal cast, that
the greater part of his civic
service has been overlooked. The
Boston records place him in the front rank of great
political
action, but are barren of details. Contemporary eulogy,
however abundant, is
not copious in facts; and his letters are
but few in number, until the last fifteen
months of his life.
Then, utterances,
*footnotes. 1 Massachusetts Committee of
Safety, July 25, 1775.
2 Bancroft, vii. 488.
3
The first public appearance of Dr. Warren, in connection with
the
political affairs of the day, was on the occasion
of the delivery of
the Anniversary Address of 1772 - Everett's Life
of Warren, p.114.
p.3
THE EARLY DAYS.
elicited by his
public labors, often in a prophet's tone, and always aglow with
patriot-
ic fire, reveal the inner springs of a noble life, and
justify the judgment that Warren
lived an ornament to his
country.*
His words, interpreted in action, show his
grasp of issues, his motive, and his aim; but
to see him as a
social power, it is necessary to follow him through scenes when the
public passion was roused, and high resolve ruled the hour, and when
he was a leader in
company with kindred spirits. These scenes
must ever be of interest from their connect-
ion with the events
that led to national independence. In weaving descriptions of them
into a biography which demands traits of personal character,
there is a liability of en-
croaching on the province of history
on the one hand, and, on the other, of being in-
complete; and,
while a view will be given of the great popular demonstration in
which
he was an actor, only so much general history will be
related as may be necessary to show
the working of political
influences on the community among whom he passed his
life.
The career of many of the Revolutionary men extends
over a long period than that of
Warren; but few have connected
their names more enduringly with vital principles or
salient
events, and seldom is there seen a life of nobler devotion to
country, and
hence better calculated, by its lesson, to
strengthen patriotic influences. The contem-
plation of such a
character as the self-devoted martyr of the Battle of Bunker Hill,
is
the nobles spectacle which the moral world
affords.2
footnotes: 1. As he lived an ornament to his
country, his death reflected a lustre upon
himself, and the cause
he so warmly espoused - Eliot's Biographical Dictionary.
2.
Everett's Warren. p. 182.
ANOTHER SOURCE.
Subject: Joseph
Warren
Source: Heroes of Wars - Biographical Sketches of the Most
Distinquished
by Willard W. Glazier.
p.43
JOSEPH wARREN.
No brighter
name illumines our country's Roll of Honor than that of Joseph
Warren,
the hero of Bunker Hill. When the heel of British
tyranny would have crushed to
earth the sacred liberties of the
American people, this young patriot, distinguished already in the
councils of State, sprang to the defence of his
country, and
willingly laid down his life for the principles he had so
fearless-
ly advocated.
The Tree of Liberty grew apace,
watered by such martyr-blood as that of Joseph
Warren, and a
grateful people hold his name in immortal memory.
When a man
thus makes himself the exponent of an idea, when life itself
becomes
a secondary consideration to justice and to right - the
world, always a hero-
worshipper - is anxious to learn every
detail of that life, to penetrate, if
possible, the hidden
springs of its action, and discover, if it may, out of
what soil
the hero took his growth.
REVOLUTIONARY WAR HERO.
p.44
Joseph Warren was born in
Roxbury, Massachusetts, in 1740, but the accounts we
have of his
childhood days are too meagre to furnish any hint of the boy that
was
"father to the man." It is supposed that he attended the
grammar school of Master
Lovell, where our forefathers received
the training which prepared them for
Harvard College. When
only fifteen years old he entered college, and graduated
with
honors in 1759.
During his university days he was looked upon
as a boy of talent, and also acquired the reputation of great
personal bravery. After leaving college, young
Joseph Warren
began the study of medicine, and soon became distinguished in
his
profession. He was especially active during the year
1764, when the small-pox
spread throughout Boston. At this time
he is described as an accomplished gentle-
man, of fine presence
and engaging address, winning favor alike from the learned
and
the humble. But his energies were not confined to the limits of his
profess-
ion. He soon became known as a fine writer and an
eloquent speaker.
From the year of the Stamp Act to the final
breaking out of hostilities between
the colonies and Great
Britain, he did not cease to advocate by pen and voice,
the
rights of the colonies - fearlessly condemning taxation as tyranny,
and opnely
advocating resistance to it.
THE SONS OF
LIBERTY.
During these years, when the seeds of the Revolution
were being sown, a secret
society, called the "Sons of Liberty"
flourished in Boston, which wielded a
powerful influence in
politics. From the year 1768, Dr. Warren was among its
principal
members, and there formed an intimacy with Samuel Adams. "Many of
the
p.45
JOSEPH WARREN.
members of this club filled public offices, and
few in the outside world knew
from whence the public measures of
resistance to British tyranny originated."
In 1772 their
numbers were increased and they met in a house near the
"North
Battery," where over sixty persons were present at their
first meeting. Dr.
Warren drew up the society regulations, and it
is recorded that "no important
measures were taken without first
consulting him and his particular friends."
Here were matured
those plans of defence, which saw their first fulfilment
at
Lexington and Bunker Hill.
After the tea was destroyed
in Boston Harbor, the meetings of this society were
no longer
secret, but their place of rendezvous was changed in the spring of
1775, from the "North Battery" to the "Green Dragon" No
member of this organi-
zation was more zealous than Dr. Joseph
Warren, no one more active in patriotic
measures. After the
bloody scenes of the Boston Massacre, he was a prominent
leader
in the efforts made by the town to effect the removal of the troops,
and
was appointed by the town, one of a committee of three to
prepare an account of
the affair, "that a full and just
representation may be made thereof." The
account was
published, and sent to England in a vessel chartered especially
for
that purpose.
Dr. Warren was elected member of the
State Legislature from Boston for the term
of 1770, and his name
figures conspicuously in the controversies of the times,
and on
committees appointed to draft important state papers. In 1773
he was re-
elected and served his term with distinguished
success. In March of the year
previous, he delivered the
anniversary oration on
p.46
the Boston
Massacre of 1770, to a large audience in the Old South Church,
Boston.
It was delivered on invitation of the town committee, and
was said to be a brill-
iant effort. In this address he
fearlessly charged Great Britian with an invasion
of colonial
rights and called on his audience to resist the torrent of
oppression
which was being poured upon them. In the course of his
oration, he gave utterance
to the following memrable
words:
Joseph Warren.
"The voice of your fathers' blood cries to you
from the ground, 'My sons, scorn
to be slaves! In vain we met the
frowns of tyrants - in vain we crossed the
boisterous ocean,
found a new world, and prepared it for the happy residence
of
LIBERTY - in vain we toiled - in vain we fought - we bled in
vain, if you, our
offspring, want valor to repel the assaults of
her invaders!"
This address was printed and widely
distributed and a duly appointed committee
returned the thanks of
the town to the speaker.
During the exciting years of 1772,
1773 and 1774, Joseph Warren seems to have
been foremost in every
movement looking towards the liberties of the colonies.
Then, as
now, there was a conservative party in politics, which was afraid
to
offend the British Lion, and which desired reconciliation at
almost any price.
But if the minions of royalty cried,
"Peace, Peace!" Warren told them there was
no peace. His voice
rang out everywhere, counselling opposition to unjust
laws,
encouraging the weak, and winning, by force of logic, the
faltering.
In 1772 he was one of the celebrated Committee of
Correspondence which, November
20th, handed in its famous report
of grievances. This important
p.47
WARREN.
document was arranged under three heads: First, "A
Statement of the Rights of the
Colonists." Second, "A List
of the Infringements of those Rights." And Third,
"A Letter of
Correspondence with other Towns."
Dr. Warren was the author
of the second paper and Mr. Barry sums up the "formid-
able array
of complaints" as follows:
.The assumption of absolute
legislative powers.
. The imposition of taxes without consent of
the people.
.The appointment of officers unknown to the Charter -
supported by income de-
rived from such taxes.
.The investing
these officers with unconstitutional powers - especially
the
Commissioners of his Majesty's Customs.
.The annulment of
laws enacted by the Court after the time limited for
their
rejection had expired.
.The introduction of fleets and
armies into the colonies.
.The support of the executive and
judiciary, independently of the people.
.The oppresive
instructions sent to the Governor.
.The extension of the powers
of the Court of Vice-Admiralty.
.The restriction of
manufacturers.
.The act relating to dock-yards and stores which
deprived the people of the
right of trial by peers in their own
vicinage.
.The attempt to establish the American
episcopate.
.The alteration of the bounds of Colonies by
decisions before the King and his
Council."
The paper was
a masterly production and its statements were clear and
forcible.
The the march of events went forward until a crisis
was precipitated on the
colonies by the arrival of the
celebrated tea in Boston Harbor. Immediately,
the country
was filled with excitement. "The Committee of Correspondence and
the Selectmen of the towns summoned meetings; and every friend
of his country
p.48
A HERO
OF THE WAR.
was urged to make a united and successful resistance
to this 'last, worst, and
most destructive measure of the
administration.'"
November 29, 1773, a meeting was held at
Faneuil Hall which, for want of room,
adjourned to the Old South
Church, Boston, where Joseph Warren and John Hancock
and others
were the leading spirits of the occasion.
THE BOSTON TEA PARTY.
Of this
meeting was born the Boston Tea Party - the first Congress - and,
event-
ually, American Independence!.
In 1774, Dr. Warren
was chosen a Delegate from Suffolk County to the General
Assembly
of Massachusetts, and became thenceforward the leading man of the
province. At this time John Hancock was President of the
Provincial Congress,
but when he went to the Continental Congress
at Philadelphia, Joseph Warren was
elected to fill his
place. Meantime, the fourth anniversary of the Boston
Mass-
acre was at hand, and some of the British officers had
threatened that "they would
take the life of any man who should
dare to speak on that occasion."
Warren, hearing of the
threat, solicited the privilege of delivering the anni-
versary
address !
On the day appointed, the Old South Church was
filled with an expectant throng.
Large numbers of British
soldiers crowded the aisles, stairways and even the
pulpit.
An ominous silence reigned throughout the vast multitude as the
waited
the arrival of Joseph Warren.
At last he came,
entering the church through a window in back of the pulpit.
His
friends were on the qui vive of alarm - fearing his
assination. Though standing
ready to avenge such a cowardly act,
would that atone for the murder of their be-
loved
Warren?
p.49
JOSEPH
WARREN.
But the crisis passed as Warren, commencing his speech in
a firm voice, waxed
eloquent as he went on. He pictured the
wrongs of the colonies; he proclaimed
the corner-stone of his
faith - "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God" -
he painted
the scenes of the Boston Massacre in such colors and with such
pathos
of appeal, that the soldiery who had come there to awe him
by their presence, shed
tears at the sad picture. To the relief
of the friends of Warren, no outbreak
occurred during the
address, though it was frequently interrupted by the groans
and
hisses of the Tories, and the applause of the Patriots.
This
speech aroused the enthusiasm of the Country to the highest pitch -
and all
hearts beat with the common sentiment which he had
proclaimed -
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to
God."
One of Warren's biographers, speaking of this time, says,
"Such another hour has
seldom appeared in the history of Man, and
is not surpassed in the records of
Nations."! The thunders
of Demosthenes at a distance from Philip and his host;
and Tully
poured the fiecest torrent of his invectives when Cataline was at
a
distance, and his dagger no longer to be feared; but Warren's
speech was made to
proud oppressors, resting on their arms, whose
errand it was to overawe, and
whose business it was to
fight. If the deed of Brutus deserves to be
commemorated
should not this instance of patriotism and bravery
be held in lasting remembrance?"
Samuel Adams was moderator
of this meeting, and notwithstanding some disturbance
at the
close of the oration, succeeded in finishing the business on hand
and dis-
persing the audience peaceably.
p.50
On the
fifteenth of April the Provincial Congress adjourned - warned
probably of
the approach of General Gage with an armed
force. Hancock and Adams, who re-
mained at Lexington,
were, it seems, the special objects of British hatred, and a
plot
was concocted for their seizure. That their lives were saved at this
time is
no doubt due to the efforts of Dr. Joseph Warren.
Paul Revere says that "on the
evening of April 18, 1775, he was
sent for in great haste by Dr. Warren who begged
that he would
immediately set off for Lexington and aquaint Adams and Hancock
of
their danger." But when the impetuous Revere arrived at
Warren's house, he found
that an express had already preceded
him. It is said that Dr. Warren participated
in the battle of the
next day - April 19th - when the first blood was shed in be-
half
of American Independe3nce, and that a ball took off part of his
ear-lock.
The Revolutionary War is Inaugurated.
Warren
was a member of the Committee of Safety and on May 19th this
Committee was
delegated full powers by the Provincial Congress to
manage the military force of
the province. Everywhere, men were
flocking around the standard of liberty, and
the war of the
Revolution was now fully inaugurated.
WARREN - FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE BATTLE OF
BUNKER HILL.
Dr. Joseph Warren was commissioned a
Major-General four days before the Battle
of Bunker Hill, but did
not assume command on that historic day, choosing rather
to fight
as a volunteer.
The day before the battle, in a conversation
with Mr. Gerry at Cambridge, he dis-
cussed "the determination of
Congress to take possession of Bunker Hill." He said,
that for
himself he had been opposed to it, but that the majority had
determined
upon it, and he would hazard his life
to
p.51
BUNKER
HILL.
carry that determination into effect. Mr. Gerry
expressed his disapprobation of
the measure, as he considered it
impossible to hold, adding, "but if it must be
so, it is not
worth while for you to be present; it will be madness for you
to
expose yourself where your destruction will be almost
inevitable."
"I know it," Joseph Warren replied, "but I live
within the sound of their cannon,
how could I hear their roaring
in so glorious a cause and not be there?"
Again, Jr. Gerry
remonstrated, and concluded with saying, "As sure as you go
there
you will be slain!"
General Warren replied
enthusiastically, "It is sweet to die for one's
country."!
That night he was busily engaged with public
affairs at Watertown, and did not
reach Cambridge until five
o'clock the next morning. Throwing himslef on a bed,
he
slept until nearly noon, when he was aroused with the news of the
approaching
battle at Charlestown. Hastily rising, he
mounted his horse and rode to the
scene of action - reaching
Breed's Hill a short time before the opening of the
battle.
Colonel William Prescott rode forward to resign his command and
report
for orders, but Joseph Warren did not choose to take the
position at that time,
saying that he considered it honor enough
to fight under so brave an Officer.
He borrowed a musket and a
cartridge-box, and rushing into the hottest of the
fray,
encouraged the men by his brave words and braver example. Three
times the
British charged the redoubt on the hill, and were twice
driven back. At the third
charge, when the ammunition of the
Provincials gave out, and when a terrible en-
filading fire swept
the inner line of the redoubt, they were obliged to fall
back.
p.52
DR. JOSEPH WARREN
KILLED.
Warren was killed after the retreat began - one of
the last to leave the redoubt.
The fatal bullet pierced his
brain, producing almost instant death. He was buried
on the spot
where he fell.
"And thus Warren fell - happy death, noble
fall.
To perish for country at Liberty's call. !"
His
presentiment had been fulfilled. His life had been freely given for
the cause
he held dearer than life.
Transcribed byJanice Farnsworth
Source: Killed in Action at the Battle of
Bunker Hill by Richard Frothingham.
Boston: Little,
Brown & Company.
1865.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in
the year 1865 by Richard Frothingham
In the Clerk's Office
of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts.
|
Adams
National Historical Park
When a person dies suddenly, tragically,
especially in the “prime of life”, we tend to frame his /her
life in those final moments. We can all name such people: John
F. Kennedy, Amelia Earhart, the victims of September 11th.
These are our heroes. Such a man was Joseph
Warren.
Joseph Warren was, undoubtedly, the hero of
Bunker Hill and by dying on that hill that June day in 1775;
he became the embodiment of the young nation’s sacrifice. The
question remains; how do we separate the hero from the man?
How did Joseph Warren, physician, find himself on that fated
hill just six days after his 34th birthday?
Joseph
Warren was born in Roxbury, MA on June 11, 1741, the eldest of
four sons of Joseph Warren, a farmer, who died after falling
out of an apple tree. Joseph, Jr. would attend Harvard, teach
briefly at the Latin School and then study to be a physician
(as his mother’s father had been). He married Elizabeth Hooten
on 6 September, 1764. Elizabeth brought as her dowry a
considerable fortune she had inherited.
Dr. Warren
began his participation in the radical cause in 1767, with the
passage of the Townsend Acts. Warren’s response was a series
of articles in the Boston Gazette under the pseudonym “A True
Patriot”. These articles so angered the royal governor that he
attempted to charge Warren and the publishers of the newspaper
with libel, but the grand jury refused to bring forth a true
bill.
After the publishing of the articles, Warren’s
star began to rise in the radical circles. His friendship with
Samuel Adams as well as family ties with James Otis (his
brother-in-law) and Masonic connection with Paul Revere and
other rebel luminaries would put him in the thick of the
separatist movement. Warren would become chairman of the
Committee of Safety after the “Boston Massacre” of 1770 and
would deliver two of the famous orations on the anniversaries
of that event.
While Samuel Adams was away in
Philadelphia in 1774, attending to the business of the
Continental Congress, Joseph Warren assumed Adam’s leadership
role in Boston and became involved with the raising of
militias and procurement of arms and powder. A few months
later Adams and John Hancock would return to Massachusetts to
find the Crown had placed a price on their heads. It was
Joseph Warren, who would direct Paul Revere and William Dawes
to warn the two leaders that British soldiers were heading
toward their sanctuary in Lexington, MA to arrest them on 18
April, 1775.
The news of the skirmishes at Lexington
and Concord would cause Warren to leave his patients in the
care of his assistant, William Eustis and ride toward the
scene of battle. He would spend the next six weeks readying
the militia for the inevitable battles to come. For his
efforts, he was elected second general in command of the
Massachusetts forces by the Provincial congress on 14 June,
1775.
After meeting with the committee of safety at
General Artemas Ward’s headquarters on Cambridge common on the
morning of 17 June, Warren learned that British forces had
landed at Charlestown. About noon, he rode over to the
American fortifications on Breed’s Hill. The rest is the stuff
of legends: Warren refused to take command, instead going into
the line as a regular volunteer. On the third and final
British assault near the redoubt, while attempting to rally
the militia, Warren was instantly killed by a ball between the
eyes. The men that Warren had rallied in those last moments
were a spectrum of Massachusetts society: merchants, farmers,
mechanics, laborers; red men, black men, white men, both slave
and free; all fighting for their freedom. How ironic
that the leader was a slave owner.
The British forces,
upon taking the field, placed Warren’s body in a common mass
grave. His remains were later identified by Paul Revere, who
identified him by the set of false teeth he had fashioned for
him.
Joseph Warren became an instant hero. His death
was immortalized in John Trumbull’s painting; “The Death of
General Warren” King Solomon’s Lodge honored their Grand
Master with the first Bunker Hill Monument, which now resides
in the base of the present monument. In New England, every
state has a town named in his honor. In death he was a hero,
his life cut tragically short, and his potential
unknown.
He left four small children orphaned (their
mother had died in April, 1773), whose welfare remained in
dire straits until 1778, when General Benedict Arnold (who had
befriended Warren at Cambridge) gave $500 for their education
and petitioned Congress for the amount of a major –general’s
half pay for their welfare until the youngest reached
majority.
In the course of just a decade, Dr. Joseph
Warren married, fathered four children, furthered the
revolutionary movement in Boston and died a hero’s death.
Perhaps, Edna St. Vincent Millay could have been speaking of
Joseph Warren when she wrote, “My candle burns at both ends;
It will not last the night; But ah, my foes and oh, my
friends, it gives a lovely light!”
http://www.nps.gov/bost/historyculture/warren.htm
Joseph
Warren
To the tune of "The British Grenadiers"
That Seat of Science Athens, and Earth's great
Mistress Rome,
Where now are all their Glories, we scarce
can find their Tomb;
Then guard your Rights, Americans!
nor stoop to lawless Sway,
Oppose, oppose, oppose, oppose,
-- my brave America.
Proud Albion bow'd to Caesar, and
num'rous Lords before,
To Picts, to Danes, to Normans, and
many Masters more;
But we can boast Americans! we never
fell a Prey;
Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza, for brave
America.
We led fair Freedom hither, when lo the
Desart smil'd,
A paradise of pleasure, was open'd in the
Wild;
Your Harvest, bold Americans! no power shall snatch
away,
Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza, for brave America.
Torn from a World of Tyrants, beneath this western
Sky,
We form'd a new Dominion, a Land of liberty;
The
World shall own their masters here, then hasten on the Day,
Huzza, huzza, huzza, huzza, for brave America.
God
bless this maiden Climate, and thro' her vast Domain,
Let
Hosts of Heroes cluster, who scorn to wear a Chain;
And
blast the venal Sycophant, who dares our Rights betray.
Preserve, preserve, preserve, preserve my brave America.
Lift up your Heads my Heroes! and swear with proud
Disdain,
The Wretch that would enslave you, Shall spread
his Snares in vain;
Should Europe empty all her force,
wou'd meet them in Array,
And shout, and shout, and shout,
and shout, for brave America!
Some future Day shall
crown us, the Masters of the Main,
And giving Laws and
Freedom, to subject France and Spain;
When all the Isles
o'er Ocean spread shall tremble and obey,
Their Lords,
their Lords, their Lords, their Lords of brave America.
SOURCE: Freedom Songs
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Somewhat
impetuous in his nature, but brave to a fault, Bro. Warren
craved the task of doing what others dared not do-the same
courage imbued in Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, and other
patriots. On the anniversary of the Boston Massacre(March 3,
1770) Warren was the orator. While it was a duty which won him
distinction, it was also one of peril. English military
officers usually attended in order to heckle Warren and it
required a brave man to stand up in Old South Church, in the
face of those officers, to boldly proclaim their bloody deeds.
It required cool head and steady nerves, and Grand Master
Joseph Warren had both.
The crowd at the church was
immense; the aisles, the pulpits stairs, and the pulpit itself
were filled with officers and soldiers of the garrison, always
there to intimidate the speaker. Warren was equal to the task
but entered the church through a pulpit windows in the rear,
knowing he might have been barred from entering through the
front door. In the midst of his impassioned speech, and
English officer seated on the pulpit stairs and in full view
of Warren, held several pistol bullets in his open hand. The
act was significant; while the moment was one of peril and
required the exercise of both courage and prudence, to falter
and allow a single nerve or muscle to tremble would have meant
failure-even ruin to Warren and others.
Everybody knew
the intent of the officer and a man of less courage than
Warren might have flinched, but the future hero, his eyes
having caught the act of the officer and without the least
discomposure or pause in his discourse, he simply approached
the officer and dropped a white handkerchief into the
officer's hand! The act was so adroitly and courteously
performed that Breton[British Officer] was compelled to
acknowledge it by permitting the orator to continue in
peace.
SOURCE: Warren Tavern
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
Harvard-educated medical doctor and skilled orator, Dr. Warren
arrived at Bunker Hill with fresh news of his commission as
Major-General in the militia. When Warren asked the militia
commander where he might be of service in combat, General
Israel Putnam replied much the same as Elbridge Gerry had
implored the evening before. The new Major-General was too
valuable to be risked at the front lines and would be of great
assistance in fortifying Bunker Hill to the rear of the
American line. As president pro tempore of the Provincial
Congress, Warren was indeed a valuable man to risk in combat.
But he would have none of it.
Where, he asked General
Putnam, would the most fierce fighting likely take place?
Putnam pointed to nearby Breed's Hill, where Colonel William
Prescott and his men were finishing construction of a redoubt
at the top of the hill. The Breed's Hill redoubt was much
closer to the likely landing point for any British attack, and
the view offered by the hill would make it useful to the
British in taking Bunker Hill afterward. Putnam reluctantly
allowed Warren to go up to the redoubt, and soon Warren was
among those inspiring the rank and file to hold fast when the
British attacked. As Warren arrived on the scene at Breed's
Hill, Colonel Prescott offered General Warren command of the
redoubt. But Warren deferred to Prescott who had the greater
military experience.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr.
Warren was among the last of the patriots cut down during the
third and final British charge up Breed's Hill; he had stayed
behind with a few other volunteers to give the main force time
to withdraw.
SOURCE: THE NEW AMERICAN
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In
1775 a Harvard College graduate named Joseph Warren, M.D.
volunteered to fight in the Revolution. He refused the
position of physician-general to the Massachusetts militia
saying he wanted a more hazardous service. This led to his
appointment as a major general of the colony’s fighting
force.
Joseph Warren, M.D. was well known for his
studies of smallpox. He also served as president of the
Council of Safety as well as Grand Master of Freemasons for
North
America.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr.
Warren at age 35, became the first high-ranking officer to
fall in the American Revolution. A decision was made to bury
him at the spot where he fell. The next year after the British
had been driven out, Dr. Warren was reinterred in King’s
Chapel with military and Masonic rites. Later the Masons of
Charlestown Mass. erected a 35-foot monument at the spot where
he fell. It stood for 40 years before being replaced by the
Bunker Hill Monument. A scale model of the Warren maker was
placed inside the tall granite obelisk.
SOURCE: How Warren
County Got Its Name
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warren,
MG Joseph
Despite a lack of military experience,
Warren, a physician by profession, was chosen as a Major
General by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He lead men
into combat on April 19th, 1775. In this battle he was not so
much a military leader, but an inspiration to those men he
commanded.
Warren also served in the Battle of Bunker
Hill, even though he had not yet received his commission by
the day of the battle. He served at the redoubt as an ordinary
volunteer, where he was killed. Warren's death contributed as
much as the respectable performance of the American troops to
strengthening the radicals politically and making
reconciliation impossible after Bunker Hill.
SOURCE:
Worcester PolytechnicInstitute
On the eve of
our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of
the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren,
President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow
Americans, "Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired
of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to
decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness
and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of
yourselves."
Well, I believe we, the Americans of
today, are ready to act worthy of ourselves, ready to do what
must be done to ensure happiness and liberty for ourselves,
our children and our children's children.
SOURCE: Ronald
Reagan
http://roswell.fortunecity.com/fate/389/warren.html
There
is a statue of Gen. Joseph Warren at 3 Park Street in Boston,
MA,
on land once owned by his son-in-law Gen. Arnold
Welles.
The four Warren brothers, sons of Joseph WARREN
and Mary STEVENS of
Roxbury:
1. Gen. Joseph WARREN,
a doctor
2. Samuel "Sam" WARREN, wanted to stay on the farm
in Roxbury.
3. Ebenezer "Eben" WARREN took a liking to
law.
4. John "Jack" WARREN was devoted to his oldest
brother and followed in
his footsteps as a doctor. Jack was
the child who found their father in
the family apple
orchard where he had fallen from a tree and died.
All
the Warren brothers were Patriots. Joseph treated the wounded
at
the Battle of Lexington and was killed during the Battle
of Bunker
Hill. Samuel fought at the Battle of Lexington.
John "Jack" enlisted
in Col. Pickering's Reg. of the Foot,
which marched from Salem to
Charleston but arrived too
late.
1. JOSEPH WARREN m Elizabeth HOOTON (age 18) on
6 Sep 1764 at the
Congregational Church, Brattle Street,
Boston, MA. She has been
described as sweet, kind and
beautiful, "the only daughter of the late
Richard HOOTON,
merchant, deceased." Elizabeth (Hooton) WARREN d 27
Apr
1773, age 26. Their children went to Roxbury to live
with Grandma Mary
WARREN after Elizabeth's untimely death.
Then Joseph became engaged to
Mercy SCOLLAY of Boston and
he took his children to live with her
family. (The Scollays
were not allowed to leave during the siege of
Boston.) Paul
REVERE named one of his sons Joseph WARREN REVERE.
Joseph
was elected as 2nd Major General of the Continental Army. He
had
refused the Surgeon-in-Chief position because he wanted
to fight with
the soldiers. He died at the Battle of Bunker
Hill. Benedict ARNOLD
sent $500 to Mercy SCOLLAY to help
care for the orphaned children of
Joseph & Elizabeth
WARREN. Through ARNOLD's efforts, the orphans were
also
awarded by Congress with a pension amounting to half Joseph's
army
pay until they came of age. The Green Dragon Tavern at
Union near
Hanover was often patronized by Joseph WARREN
and Paul REVERE before the
Revolution.
Children of
Joseph WARREN and Elizabeth HOOTON:
1. Elizabeth "Betsey"
WARREN m Gen. Arnold WELLES and d childless
in
1804.
Named after her mother.
2. Joseph WARREN d
unmarried, in his early 20's.
Named after his father and
paternal grandather.
3. Mary "Polly" WARREN. Name after
paternal grandmother Mary
(Stevens)
WARREN.
m/1 -
lost all her children
m/2 - NEWCOMB. They had son:
1.
Joseph WARREN NEWCOMB. He had two children:
1. WARREN
Putnam NEWCOMB (Capt.) was cadet at West Point and
resided
at Fort Sheridan, Illinois.
2. Daughter NEWCOMB
4.
Richard "Dick" WARREN, d unmarried in early 20's. Named
after
maternal
grandfather.
2. SAMUEL "SAM"
WARREN, stayed on the farm in Roxbury.
[No further info
found in book.]
3. EBENEZER "EBEN" WARREN took a liking
to law. He had a son named
Ebenezer WARREN who wrote a
pamphlet titled "The Letheon."
[No further info found in
book.]
4. JOHN "JACK" WARREN ( 27 Jul 1753 - 4 Apr
1815) (the youngest brother
of Gen. Joseph WARREN. John
"Jack" fell for Abigail COLLINS of Boston
soon after the
Battle of Bunker Hill. Abby, age 15, had been staying
in
Cambridge in the care of Col. (later Gen.) MIFLIN for
safety. A Quaker,
Abby was the daughter of the Governor of
R.I. who had an estate near
Newport. John and Abby were
married on 4 Nov 1777 in Boston. In 1785,
they were living
on School Street in Boston with: five of their
children
(two had died at birth), Joseph & Elizabeth WARREN's
four
orphans, servants, a cook, chambermaid, a little girl,
and Negroes:
Cuff, Mrs. Nickerson and Black Abram. Slavery
had ended in 1780 with
the passage of the MA state
constitution. At the time of John's death
in 1815, he was
survived by 9 children and Abby. He was buried in
the
WARREN family tomb at the foot of the Common with his
brother Gen.
Joseph WARREN; Quaco - a Negro servant who had
drowned at Mill Pond; and
10 children who had died before
him. Abby died 1832, age 72. Their
disavowed son John was
in China in 1832. Some of John and
Abby's
children:
1. John C. WARREN b 1 Aug 1778; d 4
May 1856 (Oliver Wendell HOLMES
gave the euology); m/1
Susan Powell MASON, dau/of Jonathan MASON, on 17
Nov 1803.
Susan died 3 June 1840. About 1842, John C. WARREN m/2
Anne
WINTHROP, dau/of Thomas L. WINTHROP & a descendant
of the first governor
of the Masschusetts Bay Colony. Ann d
Dec 1851. John C. was a doctor
and editor of The New
England Journal of Medicine. John C. WARREN &
Susan
Powell MASON had 5 children:
1. John WARREN b 1804; d 10
May 1806.
2. Susan Powell WARREN b 28 Jul 1806; m Charles
LYMAN.
She d age 50.
3. John WARREN who was disavowed,
sent to McLean Asylum; d 4 Dec
1875.
*4. Jonathan
"Mason" WARREN b 5 Feb 1811; d 19 Aug 1867.
Please see *
section below; it's out of sequence.
5. James "Sullivan"
WARREN b 21 Nov 1812; d 6 Feb 1867; m Elizabeth
Tilden
LINZEE, a descendant of the British Naval Officer whose
ship
fired on Bunker Hill during the Revolution.
6. Mary
Collins WARREN b 19 Jan 1816; m ___ DWIGHT. She converted
to
Catholicism.
7. Emily WARREN b 10 May 1818.
2.
Joseph WARREN d Apr 1824 insolvent. He had a daughter
by
Charlotte/Carlotta DOANE of Milton, MA and was sent to
Maine to look
after lands received by his father. He
married Charlotte/Carlotta in
1807 and their children
were:
1. Harriet WARREN b 1805
2. Joseph WARREN b
1807
3. John WARREN
4. Edward WARREN
5. Mary Ann
WARREN
6. Henry Augustus WARREN
7. Abby WARREN
8.
Frances Adelaide WARREN
3. Mary WARREN m Dr. John
GORHAM
4. Rebecca WARREN m Dr. J.B. BROWN
5. Harriett
WARREN m Henry PRICE/PRINCE, Esq.
6. William WARREN, d age
4.
7. Charles WARREN went to Steubenville, Ohio.
8.
Henry WARREN went to Maine.
9. Daughter WARREN
10.
Edward WARREN d 1878; the youngest child and family
biographer, m
Caroline Rebecca WARE, dau/of Henry WARE, a
professor at Harvard.
Edward won 3 Boylston Prizes and
practiced medicine in Boston and Newton
Lower Falls. Edward
is sometimes confused with another Edward WARREN
who was
the son of Ebenezer WARREN who wrote a pamphlet "The Letheon."
A Southern Dr. Edward WARREN can be distinguished by the
title "Bey"
which he received in Turkey.
Out of
sequence (see above child of John C. WARREN & Susan Powell
MASON:
* Jonathan "Mason" WARREN was born 5 Feb 1811; d
19 Aug 1867; m 30 Apr
1839 to "Annie Caspar" CROWNINSHIELD
who was baptized Anstiss. She was
the middle child of
eleven and d 19 Aug 1867. Her sister Elizabeth was
married
to Rev. William MOMFORD. Mason and Annie had children:
1.
Mary Crowninshield WARREN b 1841.
2. John "Collins" WARREN
b 1842; d 3 Nov 1927, age 85. Collins WARREN
served in the
Civil War as a volunteer: first, as acting medical cadet
at
a Philadelphia hospital; second, as acting assistant surgeon
with a
special group of volunteers atationed near Richmond,
VA where they
treated the wounded at the Battle of Cold
Harbor. He m Amy SHAW 27 May
1872 at Emmanuel Church,
Boston. Amy died 13 Sep 1923, age 72. Their
children
were:
1. John WARREN b 6 Sep 1874; d 17 Jul 1928 Boston. He
was
commissioned a major in the Medical Corps on 11 Apr
1917 during WWI. He
trained medical officers at Camp
Greenleaf, Georgia.
2. Joseph WARREN b 1875; went into law;
m 1905 Constance Martha
WILLIAMS, whose father was a Prof.
of Law at Harvard, and they had:
1. Daughter
2. Richard
WARREN b 1907; m 1935 Cora LYMAN/ dau/of Dr. Henry
LYMAN
& Elizabeth CABOT. Their children were:
1.
Janet WARREN
2. Constance WARREN
3. Richard Agassiz
WARREN m MOORE.
4. John Collins WARREN.
3.
Daughter
4. Daughter
3. Jonathan Mason WARREN b April
1843; d 1845.
4. Rosamond "Rossie" WARREN b 1846; m 1871
Charles Hammond GIBSON.
They lived at 137 Beacon St.,
Boston. They had a son:
1. Charles H. GIBSON, Jr.
5.
Eleanor "Nellie" WARREN m 1872 Thomas MOTLEY.
6. Anne
"Annie" WARREN never married.
7. Julia Mason WARREN
8.
Isabelle WARREN b 185 __; d infant.
On 6 May 1853,
Mason, Annie, Collins and his cousin Ben MIFFLIN took
the
train from NYC to Boston. They sat in the second car which
was
farther back than usual. At Norwalk, CT, the engineer
did not notice
that the bridge was open and plunged the
train into the water. Everyone
in the first car was killed.
Fortunataely, they survived.
***
Source: "The Doctors Warren of Boston: First Family of
Surgery" by Rhoda Truax
Published 1968 by Houghton Mifflin
Company, Boston. Copyright ©1968 by Rhoda
Truax.
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