HEROES OF THE REVOLUTION: JOSEPH WARREN, by Kevin Diehl

At some point during our education most of us, hopefully, learned about Paul Revere, the man who rode into history on the night of April 18, 1775, to alert the colonial militia that the British were coming.  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow immortalized Revere in his famous poem, “Paul Revere’s Ride.”

Happy 4th of July!

Revere wasn’t the only rider that night.  There were other patriots - including William Dawes - who galloped into the darkness to warn the colonials.  But, perhaps because their names weren’t captured in verse, fame eluded them.  

There was another man who played a crucial role that night, the man who gave the order to Revere, Dawes and the others to ride out: that man was Joseph Warren.   His name has all but slipped our memory today, a fact that would astound his contemporaries because in 1775, no Bostonian was more prominent than Joseph Warren.  

Joseph Warren

Born in Massachusetts Bay in 1741, Warren was the son of a prosperous farmer.  Although his father died while Joseph was a teenager, his mother saw to it that he got an education.  Warren graduated from Harvard College in 1759, and, after teaching school for a year, he began studying medicine.

He married a young heiress named Elizabeth Hooten, and together they had four children.  Sadly, Elizabeth died in 1772, when she was just 26.  Dr. Warren was suddenly a 31-year-old widower with four young children.  Those circumstances might have broken many men, but Warren was made of sterner stuff.

He continued practicing medicine, and at one point saved a seven-year-old child’s finger from amputation.  The child?  John Quincy Adams, who would one day become our 6th president.  Warren also joined the Masonic Lodge.  He rose in the ranks to Grand Master, and along the way befriended fellow mason, Paul Revere.

Sons of Liberty

In those days, Boston was alive with revolutionary fever, and Warren was drawn to the cause.  He joined the Sons of Liberty, where he developed close ties with John Hancock and the firebrand Samuel Adams.  No mere follower, Warren - intelligent, gregarious, witty - quickly became one of the group’s leaders.  

Boston Tea Party

It didn’t sit well with locals that British troops had occupied Boston since 1768.  During those years two major events occurred that stoked the revolutionary fervor - the Boston Massacre and the Boston Tea Party.  By 1775, the simmering tension between the two sides was coming to a boil.  That spring, Warren - who by then was known throughout the region - was appointed President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, the highest position in the colony’s revolutionary government. 

Paul Revere's Ride

In mid-April, many of the other leaders - fearing arrest - left Boston.  But Warren, not one to run from danger, remained.  On the afternoon of April 18, he received reports from his intelligence network that the British were preparing a raid to destroy munitions stored in Concord, several miles outside Boston.  With that news, Warren ordered Revere, Dawes and the others to spread the word - the British are coming.  

Warren’s contribution that night went well beyond issuing orders.  While the Battle of Lexington and Concord raged, Warren went on a ride of his own to round up militia.  Warren led his men in harrassing the British on the road from Concord as they retreated to Boston.  During that fight Warren was nearly killed when a musket ball grazed his wig.

After the battle, his mother begged him to be more cautious.  His answer was something no mother wants to hear.  “Where danger is, dear mother, there must be your son.  Now is no time for any of America’s children to shrink from any hazard.  I will set her free or die.”

In June, just days before what became known as the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Provincial Congress commissioned Warren as a major general.  When Warren arrived at the scene of the impending battle, he asked General Israel Putnam where the heavy fighting would be.  Putnam pointed to neighboring Breed’s Hill.  

Warren could have stayed on Bunker Hill, in relative safety, as the commander.  That’s what Putnam and Colonel William Prescott wanted him to do.  But Warren believed that Putnam and Prescott were more experienced commanders; he felt he would be of greater inspiration fighting alongside the troops.  

That mixture of humility and self-awareness is a rare combination.  It was an element of what made him such an effective leader, and it was one of the reasons his men held him in such high regard.  

His troops knew that Warren had often said of the British, “These fellows say we won’t fight!  By Heaven, I hope I shall die up to my knees in blood!”  Warren arrived on Breed’s Hill ready to make good on his word.  Foregoing his rank, he joined the fight as a private.

As predicted, the fighting was intense and brutal.  The British had the advantage of numbers, but the Colonials occupied the high ground.  Twice the British attacked; twice they were repulsed.  By the time they made their third assault, the Colonials were out of ammunition.  Warren, and a few others, volunteered to remain to give the militia time to escape.

As the British crested the hill, Warren was killed instantly by a musket ball to the head, fired by a British officer who actually recognized him.  When the British finally gained control of the hill, they took particular pleasure in mutilating Warren’’s body before throwing him in a shallow ditch.  Two days later they came back to further abuse his corpse.

Ten months after the battle, Warren’s brothers, along with old friend Paul Revere, exhumed Joseph’s body and gave him a proper burial.  Decades later, he finally came to rest at his family’s cemetery.

Warren’s passionate leadership and unswerving loyalty to the cause made him a beloved figure; his heroic ending on Breed’s Hill made him a martyr.  British General Thomas Gage later said that Warren’s death was equal to the death of 500 soldiers.  Had he lived, it’s likely his name would have rolled off our tongues as readily as Washington, Adams and Jefferson.  

It’s no wonder, then, that his countrymen named dozens of streets, schools, forts, ships, towns and counties after him.  And so it was that when the early settlers came to Ohio, the folks who put down roots in the southwestern corner of the state - just north of Cincinnati - decided to name their new home Warren County, in honor of the man who gave his life for our liberty on Breed’s Hill. 

These are the people we should remember and celebrate as our nation turns 249 years old.  They gave us the gift of freedom; we owe them our undying gratitude.

Happy Fourth of July everyone.