Boston: On This Day in 1775...

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Dr. Joseph Warren was born June 11, 1741 to Joseph and Mary Warren in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He attended Roxbury Latin School and Harvard College, graduating in 1759. Following graduation, Warren taught at Roxbury Latin School for a year and then went on to study medicine. He completed an apprenticeship under prominent physician James Lloyd from 1761-1763. During a smallpox outbreak in 1764, he operated a smallpox inoculation clinic at Castle William (today's Castle Island). Later, Warren opened his own practice and his patients included patriot leaders such as John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, James Otis Jr., and Paul Revere.

Warren became active in politics in the mid-1760s when he spoke out against the Stamp Act and joined the Sons of Liberty. In 1768, he wrote a series of articles criticizing the Townshend Acts that were published in the Boston Gazette under the non-deplume "A True Patriot". Following the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, Warren was part of the committee that wrote an influential report on the event. He also made multiple public speeches during commemorations of the massacre in which he encouraged colonists to fight for their rights.

In 1772, Warren joined the Committee of Correspondence, which operated to coordinate patriot resistance and spread information about British movements to other colonies. He was also a member of the Committee of Safety; a governing body created by the patriots that observed British movements, organized colonial militias, acted as local government, and managed local militias, arms, and supplies.

In 1774, Warren drafted the Suffolk Resolves, which denounced and called for resistance to the Intolerable Acts. It also called for the creation of militias to defend the colonies in future war with the British. The Suffolk Resolves were adopted at the Suffolk County Convention of the Committees of Correspondence and later endorsed by the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Also in 1774, Joseph Warren took over the leadership role of Samuel Adams, while the latter was at the Continental Congress. He was in charge of raising militia, acquiring ammunition and weapons, and coordinating a spy ring.

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Through this spy ring, Warren learned the British planned to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams in Lexington and seize munitions in Concord on April 18, 1775. Warren sent Paul Revere and William Dawes on their famous midnight ride to warn Hancock, Adams, and the surrounding communities. Thanks to the warning, local militias were able to prevent the British from finding the munitions and mount an attack on the retreating troops. Warren himself joined the fighting against the retreating British troops in present day Arlington on April 19th.

After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, 20,000 provincial militia from multiple New England colonies encircled Boston to trap British soldiers and prevent them from further attacking the countryside, in what is known as the Siege of Boston. British generals Thomas Gage, William Howe, Henry Clinton, and John Burgoyne hatched a plan to break the siege by seizing unoccupied land on the Charlestown peninsula and Dorchester Heights. The Committee of Safety got word of the plan and on June 15, they ordered General Artemis Ward, the commander of the troops surrounding Boston, to defend the area. On June 16, General Ward ordered Colonel William Prescott to take and fortify Bunker Hill. Prescott and other officers decided to fortify nearby Breed's Hill instead. Overnight, they built an earthen fort, or redoubt, that measured 160 feet long and 30 feet high as well as breastworks, rail fence, and smaller defenses throughout the peninsula. The next day, the British were shocked by the fortifications, and General Gage ordered General Howe to mount an attack.

Joseph Warren learned the British forces had landed in Cambridge during a meeting of the Committee of Safety, and he raced to Charlestown to join the fight. General Israel Putnam and Colonel William Prescott both offered Warren command of a regiment of troops, but he refused. Despite being commissioned as a major general by the Massachusetts Provincial Congress on June 14, 1775, Warren chose to join the fight as a regular volunteer.

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At 3:30pm on June 17, General Howe began the attack. Some of his troops attacked the redoubt, breastwork, and rail fence. Others moved along the beach on the Mystic River in an attempt to flank colonial defenses and attack the redoubt from behind, but were met with a barricade. Howe's men attacked the redoubt twice and were beaten back both times. He then withdrew to regroup with reinforcements. By the third and final attack, the colonists had run out of ammunition and were forced to retreat over the Charlestown Neck into Cambridge. Joseph Warren was one of the last to abandon the fort and was shot and killed by the British.

Originally placed in a mass grave by the British, Warren's remains were later identified and reinterred first at Granary Burial Ground, and later at Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain. John Trumbull memorialized his death in the painting "The Death of General Warren" and many states have a town or city named after Warren.

Sources:

https://www.nps.gov/people/dr-joseph-warren.htm

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Warren

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/joseph-warren

https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/state-house-tours/did-you-know/Joseph-Warren.htm

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/bunker-hill

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/the-battle-of-bunker-hill.htm

https://www.masshist.org/revolution/bunkerhill.php

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