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 Warren,
JOSEPH, physician; born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, June 11, 1741;
killed in battle, June 17, 1775; graduated at Harvard College in
1759; studied medicine; began practice in 1764 in Boston, and by his
successful treatment of small-pox patients acquired a high
reputation among the faculty. In politics he was in advance of
public opinion in general, holding the doctrine that the British
Parliament had no right to levy a tax of any kind upon the
colonies.
When, in 1772, Samuel Adams declined
to deliver the annual oration on the anniversary of the
Boston massacre, Dr.
Warren took his place, and exhibited great ability. He again
delivered the anniversary oration in 1775 in the midst of the danger
caused by the presence of British troops and the exasperation of the
citizens. He had been made a member of the Boston committee replied
Warren, " but where's the man who does not think it glorious and
delightful to die for his country?" Just before the battle began he
went to the redoubt on Breed's Hill with a musket in his hand, and
was offered the command by Colonel Prescott and
General Putnam, but
declined, and fought as a volunteer in the ranks. He was one of the
last to leave the redoubt. As he moved away towards
Bunker Hill an
officer of the British army who knew him called out to him by name
to surrender, at the same time commanding his men to cease firing.
As Warren turned, attracted by the voice, a bullet penetrated his
brain and he fell dead. The
Continental Congress
voted him a monument, and resolved to educate his infant son at the
public expense. The monument was never erected by the government,
but the Bunker Hill monument was unveiled on the famous hill, June
17, 1857. A masonic lodge in Charlestown erected a monument in 1794
on the spot where he fell. It was composed of a brick pedestal 8
feet square, rising 10 feet from the ground, and supporting a Tuscan
column of wood 18 feet in height. This was surmounted by a gilt
cross, bearing the inscription " J. W., aged 35," entwined with
masonic emblems. Upon the pedestal was an appropriate inscription.
The monument stood thus forty years, when it gave way to the Bunker
Hill monument. A beautiful model of Warren's monument stands within
the base of the huge granite obelisk.
Joseph Warren in the Battle of
Bunker Hill, where he was killed |
