During the afternoon of June 17, 1775, the British troops had twice marched up Breed’s Hill, part of a battle we now call Bunker Hill, and twice the Continentals had repulsed them, leaving their dead and wounded littering the ground.
Now came the third assault on the American redoubt. This time British general Sir Thomas Gage ordered his troops to take off their heavy packs and to attack the redoubt head-on with their bayonets. Short of ammunition, and lacking bayonets themselves, the Americans were forced to retreat. They gave up the ground they had fortified and defended, but the British were the real losers of the battle. Two hundred twenty-six of them fell to the Americans’ musket fire, while another 828 were wounded, the greatest losses suffered by their army for the rest of the long war. More than 100 of these casualties were commissioned officers.
In addition to their own casualties, the Americans had also suffered an additional grievous loss. Ardent patriot and long-time advocate of liberty Dr. Joseph Warren died while trying to rally the Americans during that final attack. After the battle, the British buried him in a common grave with the other colonials. Months later, when the bodies were exhumed, Paul Revere helped identify Warren’s body by the wiring he “had used to fasten Warren’s false teeth.”
The Physician and the Patriot
Portrait of Joseph Warren when he was a physician in Boston, by John Singleton Copley, circa 1765. Public Domain
Though not as well-known today as early American founders like Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams, Warren (1741–1775) was renowned in his day for his medical practice and for his fervent calls for separation from Great Britain.
A farmer’s son—his father died when Warren was still a boy. In 1759, he enrolled at Harvard University, taught for a brief time at Roxbury Latin School, and then took up the study of medicine, following in the footsteps of his maternal grandfather. In 1764, he married Elizabeth Hooten, who brought to their union both beauty and a large dowry. Together, they had four children before Elizabeth’s untimely death in 1773.
As a physician, Warren treated men like John Hancock, John Adams, and his cousin, Samuel Adams. The population of Boston was only about 16,000, which explains why he was acquainted with so many patriots known to us today. He also gave medical assistance to the poor, including slaves, and provided the newly introduced smallpox vaccination free of charge to those who sought him out for this treatment.
From 1766 to 1767, in order to help pay for the French and Indian War, the British government imposed the Townshend Acts on the American colonies, initiating taxes on goods like glass, paper, and tea. It was then that Warren became active in the more radical circles of his day, writing articles for the papers, speaking out against British policies—he gave two memorable orations on the anniversaries of the Boston Massacre—and organizing and leading other citizens in resisting the Crown.
The Warrior
Joseph Warren, 1781, by John Norman. Etching and line engraving on paper. National Portrait Gallery. Public Domain
By 1774, Warren had also taken a hand in building up the militias around Boston, helping to recruit men to the cause and urging them to train in case of war. The next year, when he received word that British forces intended to march from Boston into the countryside to search out and destroy the colonials’ stores of gunpowder and weapons, Warren dispatched Paul Revere and William Dawes on their famous midnight ride to rouse the minutemen, an action that resulted in the April 19 Battles of Lexington and Concord. Warren himself participated in the running fight against the British forces as they battled their way back to Boston, and came close to death when a bullet clipped a pin he wore in his hair.
In his article “Joseph Warren, Patriot Martyr,” John Krueger gives us an insight into Warren’s heart and way of thinking during and after these first battles with the British. “When his mother learned of his narrow escape, she begged him not to risk his life again. ‘Wherever danger is, dear mother,’ he replied, ‘there will your son be. Now is no time for one of America’s children to shrink from the most hazardous duty; I will either set my country free or shed my last drop of blood to make her so.’”
A Model of Heroism and Resolve
Three days before the Battle of Bunker Hill, Warren was appointed second in command of the American forces. Yet when he realized that the British had landed at Charlestown and were aligning for an attack on the Americans, he threw away that commission and joined the ranks of Massachusetts men as a common soldier. When British troops on that third attack drove the colonials before them with their bayonets, Warren was attempting to rally this collection of tradesmen, farmers, and day laborers before being shot through the head. By all accounts he died a hero.
Warren (R) offering to serve as a private before the Battle of Bunker Hill. Public Domain
Years later, artist John Trumbull, who had witnessed the battle from afar, painted the dramatic moment of Warren’s death. After seeing the first vivid sketches of this scene, Abigail Adams reported that her “blood shivered” at this memorial to her friend.
In his First Inaugural Address, President Ronald Reagan paid homage to this man of great character who willingly gave his life for liberty by citing these words from a speech Warren had given before war broke out: “On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question upon which rests the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.”
As we begin our celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we, too, should hold fast Joseph Warren’s injunction to his listeners: “Act worthy of yourselves.”
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Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust on Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning as I Go” and “Movies Make the Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.
