Dr. Joseph Warren (June 11, 1741 – June 17, 1775) was an American doctor and soldier, remembered for playing a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston and for his death as a volunteer private soldier while also serving as chief executive of the revolutionary Massachusetts government.

Life and career

Joseph Warren was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to Joseph Warren and Mary (Stevens) Warren. His father was a respected farmer who was killed in October 1755 when he fell off a ladder while gathering fruit in his orchard. After attending the Roxbury Latin School, Joseph went to Harvard University, graduating in 1759 and then teaching for about a year at Roxbury Latin. He studied medicine and married 18-year-old heiress Elizabeth Hooten on September 6, 1764. She died in 1772, leaving him with four children: Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, and Richard. One of his descendants was Josiah Warren.

While practicing medicine and surgery in Boston, he joined the Freemasons and eventually was appointed as a Grand Master. He also became involved in politics, associating with John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and other radical leaders of the broad movement labeled Sons of Liberty. Warren conducted an autopsy on the body of young Christopher Seider in February 1770, and was a member of the Boston committee that assembled a report on the following month's Boston Massacre. Royal officials tried to put him on trial for an incendiary newspaper essay, but no local jury would indict him.

As Boston's conflict with the royal government came to a head in 1773-75, Warren was appointed to the Boston Committee of Correspondence. He twice delivered orations in commemoration of the Massacre, the second time in March 1775 while the town was occupied by army troops. Warren drafted the Suffolk Resolves, which were endorsed by the Continental Congress, to advocate resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts. He was appointed President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, the highest position in the revolutionary government.

In mid-April 1775, Warren and Dr. Benjamin Church were the two top members of the Committee of Correspondence left in Boston. After receiving intelligence about British troop movements on April 18, Warren sent William Dawes and Paul Revere on their famous "Midnight Rides" to warn Hancock and Adams in Lexington about the approaching troops. Some historians believe that one of Warren's sources for this information was none other than Margaret Gage, the wife of General Thomas Gage .

Warren slipped out of Boston early on April 19, and during that day's Battle of Lexington and Concord, he coordinated and led militia into the fight alongside William Heath as the British Army returned to Boston. During this fighting Warren was nearly killed, a musket ball striking part of his wig. He then turned to recruiting and organizing soldiers for the Siege of Boston, promulgating the Patriots' version of events, and negotiating with Gen. Gage in his role as head of the Provincial Congress.

Warren was appointed a Major General by the Provincial Congress on June 14, 1775. His commission had not yet taken effect three days later when the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought. He served as a volunteer private against the wishes of General Israel Putnam and Colonel William Prescott, who requested that he serve as their commander. Taunting the British, Warren reportedly declared: "These fellows say we won't fight! By Heaven, I hope I shall die up to my knees in British blood!" He fought in the redoubt, remaining until the British made their third and final assault on the hill. Post-war claims that Warren made a "dying speech" are nonsense—he was killed instantly by a musket ball in the head by a British officer (possibly Lieutenant Lord Rawdon) who recognized him.

British Captain Walter Laurie, who had been defeated at Old North Bridge, later said he "stuffed the scoundrel with another rebel into one hole, and there he and his seditious principles may remain." His body was exhumed ten months after his death by his brothers and Paul Revere, who identified the remains by the artificial tooth he had placed in the jaw. This may be the first recorded instance of post-mortem identification by forensic odontology. His body was placed in Granary Burying Ground and later (in 1825) in St. Paul's Cathedral before finally being moved in 1855 to his family's vault in Forest Hills Cemetery.

Warren has two statues in Boston—one in the exhibit lodge adjacent to the Bunker Hill Monument, and the other on the grounds of the Roxbury Latin School. At the time of Warren's death, his children were staying with his fiancee, Mercy Scollay. She continued to look after them, gathering support for their education from Mercy Otis Warren, Benedict Arnold, and even the Continental Congress.

General Gage is thought to have called Warren's death of equal value to the death of 500 men, but his death strengthened the radicals' political position because it was viewed by many Americans at the time as an act of nationalist martyrdom. Fourteen states have a Warren County named after him. Additionally, Warren, Pennsylvania, Warren, Michigan, Warren, New Jersey, Warrensburg, New York, Warrenton, Virginia, Warren, Massachusetts, and 29 Warren Townships are also named in his honor. Boston's Fort Warren, started in 1833, was named in his honor. Five ships in the Continental Navy and United States Navy were named Warren in his honor.

John Warren, Joseph's younger brother, served as a surgeon during the Battle of Bunker Hill and the rest of the war and then later founded Harvard Medical School.

Footnotes

1. The book's description of "the grammar school in Roxbury" appears to indicate Roxbury Latin School.
2. Boston 1775: Sumner letter Retrieved 2008-07-19

General references

• Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson, John Fiske. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889
• "Joseph Warren."Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group

External links

• Find-A-Grave profile for Joseph Warren
• The Life and Times of Joseph Warren at Google Books