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Chapter 16 - The Closing Scene - 1775, the Seventeenth of June · Life and Times of Joseph Warren

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Chapter sixteen of Life and Times of Joseph Warrene by Richard Frothingham. This LibriVox
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recording is in the public domain. The closing scene Warren in the seventeenth of
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June, the Committee of Safety, the Continental Congress, Warren in the Bunker
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Hill Battle, his fall, the General Grief The Remains Monument Conclusion, seventeen
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seventy five. The seventeenth of June. The seventeenth of June was a marked
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anniversary in Warren's career. Seven years before on this day, in the town
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meeting, he recommended the people to vindicate their rights at the hazard of fortune
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and life. On the last anniversary, acting still more prominently as a popular
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leader. His morning hours were full of anxiety, because for the first time
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he had to meet an exigency without the guidance of Samuel Adams. But in
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the evening he was full of joy because of the success of a town meeting,
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the choice of delegates to a Continental Congress, and the signs that heralded
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American Union. Warren may be said to have lived in age during the twelve
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months upon which he then entered. There soon happened those exigencies that occur in
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the progress of great events in meeting which mediocrity too often fails, that genuine
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ability rises to the mark of rendering large public service. Warren, growing steadily
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in self reliance, discharged the duties which fell to his lot in such a
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manner that his contemporary said he filled each of the numerous departments of life that
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were assigned to him so well that he seemed born for no other, and
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that his name would live and fill the world with wonder. His words as
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he thus acted, show how his spirit linked itself with the heroic and memorable
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past of the ages, and yet how simply and tersely he could urge the
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practical duties of the hour. Though he was an enthusiast for liberty, he
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appreciated the necessity of joining to it that respect which power only came command.
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His ideal was liberty without licentiousness. He urged for its full enjoyment the formation
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of a just government based on the will and sustained by the power of the
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people, and clothed with adequate authority to cover the rights of person and property
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with the aegis of law. His last utterances, private and official, plead
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for such a crowning to the patriot cause. He urged that the Continental Congress
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should authorize the formation of a local government and transform by adoption the raw militia
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around him into a national army. On this last morning of his life,
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he did not know that Congress had given its advice to Massachusetts and appointed a
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commander in chief. He passed the night of the sixteenth of June at Watertown,
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where the provincial Congress held its sessions. But the journal of the proceedings
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of this day shows that he was not present at the meeting on the morning
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of the seventeenth, for it is recorded of the first item of business the
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report was ordered to lie on the table till the President came into Congress.
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He had declared his intention to share the peril of the day with his countrymen,
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when an intimate friend, Elbridge Jerry, who had been his room mate,
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entreated him not to expose a life so valuable with something like a presentiment.
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He replied, dull say, at the decorum es propetria, may it
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is sweet and becoming to die for the country. And hence a patriot wrote
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the ardor of dear doctor Warren could not be restrained by the entreaty of his
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brethren of the Congress. It may be sufficient as to motive to say that
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the same ardor which, for the sake of the cause, had moved him
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to go where duty was to be performed, which carried him to Lexington,
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Grape Island and Naudles Island, prompted his course on this memorable day. But
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it was also a mark of sound judgment. He had fully resolved that his
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future service should be in the military line. Confidence by an army and a
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commander is a vital element of success, and this can be acquired only on
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the field. Acting doubtless with the fixedness of aim, which characterized his whole
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life. He left Watertown early in the morning with a view of making himself
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useful, and went to Cambridge. The Committee of Safety held its sessions in
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the Hastings House on Cambridge Common, in which General Ward had his headquarters,
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and Warren met with them. The calls on this body for cannon, horses,
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powder reinforced tis, the pressing orders in its journal for the towns to
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act, and short and hurried notes attests the thrilling interest of the hour.
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The intelligence from Colonel Prescott was so decisive that the British were preparing to move
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out of Boston and assault his works. That the Committee urged General Ward to
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send forward additional force to Charlestown, and about eleven o'clock before General Howe landed
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in this town, Ward issued orders from war troops to march to the support
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of Colonel Prescott. As the armies were making preparations for a battle, letters
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arrived from Philadelphia, brought express by mister Fessenden, signed by John Hancock,
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the President, and Charles Thompson, the Secretary of the Continental Congress. They
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contained the great news, which was ordered to be kept secret, that the
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Congress had ordered purchases of saltpeter, sulfur powder, and five thousand barrels of
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flour for the use of the Continental Army, which were to be paid for
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out of the Continental funds, and also that it had recommended the people of
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Massachusetts to form a local government. It was another advance towards nationality. Warren
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probably opened these letters and forwarded them to the Provincial Congress. They were read
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in the afternoon session. Wood that Warren could also have known that a commander
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in chief had been appointed, and that, as he desired, the choice
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had fallen on Washington. Between twelve and one o'clock, a horseman rode furiously
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into Cambridge with the report that the regulars had landed at Charlestown. When the
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bells were rung, the drums beat to arms, and there were the confusion
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and hurry incident to an ill disciplined soldiery. For the camp, except where
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Putnam's and Warrant's influence had their effects, was in a confused condition. General
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Putnam had come from Bunker Hill, and he promptly ordered the reb anger of
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his regiment to Charlestown. But the course of General Ward was regarded as hesitating
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and inefficient, and elicited severe contemporary comment. He did not leave his house
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the whole day. It is not necessary, however, to relate the details
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of the events of the battle scene that ensued, but only to glance at
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a few points in order to show the circumstances under which Warren acted. It
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was a very hot summer's day with a burning sun. Warren was suffering from
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a nervous headache and threw himself on a bed, but after the alarm was
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given, he rose, and, saying that his headache was gone, started
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for the scene of action. It is said that one of his students,
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doctor Townsend, accompanied him a part of the way on foot, but that
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a short distance from the college Warren was on horseback. He overtook two friends
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who were walking to the battlefield, and exchanging with them the usual salutations.
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He passed along towards Charlestown, came within range of the British batteries at the
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low flat ground which marks the entrance to that portion of the town nearest the
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Boston, which is a peninsula, and the firing at the time he passed,
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between two and three o'clock must have been severe. He went up Bunker
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Hill, where another of his students, William Eustace, served on this day
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as a surgeon. Here Warren had a view of the whole situation. On
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his left was Mystic River, where there were no floating batteries. The line
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of fire from the British began on a point a little inclined to the left,
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where the ships of war Lively and the Falcon lay, and it continued
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round by Charles River from Copse Hill, the Somerset, the Cerebus, the
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Glasgow, the Cemetry transport, and two floating batteries. Quite to his right
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he could see on the side of Bunker Hill towards Boston, the protection which
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Captain Knowlton began to construct of the rail fences, when Colonel Prescott ordered him
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from the redoubt to oppose the enemy's right wing, in which the New Hampshire
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forces under Colonel Stark and Reid were extending directly in front of the rail fence
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on a small hill. At Molton's point, he could see the same British
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regiment which he had beheld so long in Boston, among them, doubtless the
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officers before whom he delivered his fifth of March oration, now awaiting the order
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for an assault. The furious cannonade about this time was directed upon Roxbury to
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occupy the attention of the provincials in that quarter, while the fire of three
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ships, three batteries, several field pieces and a battery on Copse Hill from
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six different directions centered on the entrenchments. Warren went to the rail fence.
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Here he was on foot he met General Putnam, who it is said,
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offered to receive orders from Warren, who replied, I am only here as
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a volunteer. I know nothing of your dispositions, nor will I interfere with
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them. Tell me where I can be most useful. Putnam directed him to
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the redoubt, with the remark there you will be covered. When Warren said,
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don't think I came to seek a place of safety, but tell me
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where the onset will be most furious, General Putnam again named the redoubt.
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Warren then went forward to Bredeshill and into the redoubt. There was a feeling
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at this time in the ranks. At this post, so manifest was the
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peril that through the oversight, presumption, or treachery of the officers, the
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men would all be slain. They needed encouragement. Warren was enthusiastically received all
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the men huzad. He said that he came to encourage a good cause,
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and that a reinforcement of two thousand men was on its way to their support.
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Colonel Prescott asked the general if he had any orders to give. Warren
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replied that he had none and exercised no command, saying the command is yours.
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This is the relation by General Heath Judge Prescott, who heard the fact
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from his father. The colonel is more circumstantial in relating the incident. General
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Warren, Judge Prescott says, came to the redoubt a short time before the
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action commenced. With a musket in his hand, Colonel Prescott went to him
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and proposed that he should take the command. Observing that he Prescott understood he
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Warren had been appointed a major general a day or two before by the Provincial
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Congress. General Warren replied, I shall take no command here. I have
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not yet received my commission. I came as a volunteer with my musket to
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serve under you, and shall be happy to learn from a soldier of your
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experience. Warren undoubtedly served as a volunteer in the battle that began soon after
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he arrived. It continued, including the two intermissions, about an hour and
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a half. The town of Charlestown was set on fire in several places by
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order of the British General, and it was one great blaze. The roofs
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of Boston and the hills round the country were covered with spectators, and these
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features, with the work of the battle, made the whole a picture and
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a complication of horror and importance. On such a field, Warren fought a
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good fight. He was applied to for orders and gave them regardless of himself.
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His whole soul seemed to be filled with the greatness of the cause he
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was engaged in, and while his friends were dropping away all around him,
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he gave his orders with a surprising coolness. His character in conduct and presence
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greatly animated and encouraged his countrymen. His heroic soul elicited a kindred fire from
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the troops. His lofty spirit gave them confidence. He performed many feats of
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bravery, and exhibited a cop wellness and conduct which did honor to the judgment
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of his country in appointing him a major general. The British general was baffled
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in his flanking design, of forcing the rail fence and of surrounding the redoubt.
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His troops met gallantly the line of fire poured upon them, but they
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were twice compelled to fall back. On the third advance, they stormed the
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redoubt and the breastwork connected with it, when the ammunition of their defenders had
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failed. As the regulars, showing a forest of bayonets, came over one
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side of the redoubt, the militia fell back to the other side, and
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there was a brief but fierce hand to hand struggle. When the butts of
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the muskets were used and Warren was now seen for the last time by Colonel
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Prescott, who was not among those who ran out of the redoubt, but
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stepped long with his sword up as he parried the thrusts that were made at
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his person. So great was the dust arising now from the dry, loose
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soil that the outlet was hardly visible. War was among the last to go
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out just outside of it. There was much mingling of the British and provincials,
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and great confusion when the firing for a few moments was checked. At
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this time, Warren endeavored to rally the militia. A contemporary account says,
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sword in hand, he was recognized by a British officer who wrested a musket
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out of a soldier's hand and shot him. He fell about sixty yards from
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the redoubt, being struck by a bullet in the back part of his head
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on the right side. Having mechanically clapped his hand to the wound, he
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dropped down dead. The retreating and the pursuing throng passed on by his body.
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The rail fence had not been forced, and its brave defenders protected their
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brethren of the redoubt as they retreated from the peninsula. The victors did not
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continue their pursuit beyond Bunker Hill. On the following Sunday morning, Doctor John
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Warren, who was in Salem on the day previous, went to Cambridge and
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received the distressing intelligence that his brother was missing. He inquired of almost every
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person he saw for information of the general. Some said that he was alive
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and well, others that he was wounded, and others that he fell on
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the field. In this manner, several days were passed, each day's information
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diminishing the probability of his safety. On Monday, the provincial Congress elected a
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president in the room of the Honorable Joseph Warren, esquire, supposed to be
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killed in the late battle meantime on Sunday morning, John Winslow of Boston.
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Subsequently, General Winslow went over the battlefield and recognized the body of Warn among
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the dead. His hand was bloody and it was under his head. Doctor
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Jeffreys also is said to have recognized it. He was buried on the field.
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It was reported in the American camp that his body was stripped, that
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it was dug up's several times to gratify the curiosity of those who came to
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see it, and that his coat was sold by a soldier in Boston.
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There are several other relations, American and British of the death of Warren.
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I select a few of them. Amos Foster says, I saw General Warren.
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His clothes were bloody when he cried out to us, I am a
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dead man. Fight on my brave fellows for the salvation of your country.
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Samuel Lawrence says, I saw General Warren shot. I saw him when the
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ball struck him, and from that time until he expired. The following are
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British accounts. The celebrated doctor Warren, who commanded in the provincial trenches at
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Charlestown, while he was bravely defending himself against several opposing regulars, was killed
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in a cowardly manner by an officer's servant, but the fellow was instantly cut
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to pieces. Six letters were found in the doctor's pocket, written from some
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gentleman in Boston, who were immediately taken into custody. At this time Warren,
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there the provincials commander fell. He was a physician, little more than
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thirty years of age. He died in his best clothes. Everybody remembered his
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fine silk fringed waistcoat, the unhappy leader in the fatal action of Charlestown,
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who from ambition only had raised himself from a bare legged milk boy to a
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major general of the army. Although the fatal ball gave him not a moment
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for reflection, yet he said in his lifetime that he was determined to mount
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over the heads of his coadjutors and get to the last round of the latter,
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or die in the attempt. Unhappy man, his fate arrested him in
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his career, and he can now tell whether pride and ambition are pillars strong
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enough to support the tottering fabric of rebellion. Warren's death cast a gloom over
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the land, whether friend or foe. The generous, the elegant, and
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the humane, all all mingled the sympathetic tear the general grief attests the hold
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which he had on the affection of his countrymen. I select a few independent
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contemporary expressions. Here fell our worthy and much lamented friend, doctor Warren,
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with as much glory as wolf on the plains of Abraham, at once admired
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and lamented in such a manner as to make it difficult to determine whether regret
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or envy predominates. The loss of doctor Warren is irreparable. His death is
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generally and greatly lamented. But duque et decorum as pro patria mori. This
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is a day of heroes. The fall of one will inspire the surviving glorious
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band to emulate his virtues and revenge his death on the foes of liberty.
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In our country we have yet about sixty or seventy killed or missing. But
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among these is what shall I say? How shall I I write the name
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of our worthy friend, the great and good doctor Warren. The tears of
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multitudes pay tribute to his memory. Not all the havoc and devastation they the
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British have made, has wounded me. Like the death of Warren. We
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want him in the Senate, We want him in his profession, We want
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him in the field. We mourn for the citizen, the senator, the
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physician, and the warrior. When he fell liberty wept. He closed a
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life of glory in a glorious death, and heaven never received the spirit of
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a purer patriot. The death, Samuel Adams wrote to his wife of our
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truly amiable and worthy friend, doctor Warren is greatly afflicting the language of our
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friendship is how shall we resign him? But it is our duty to submit
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to the dispensations of Heaven, whose ways are ever gracious, ever just.
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He fell in the glorious struggle for public liberty, and Arthur Lee, while
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abroad, in anticipating the meeting of friends, wrote would to God we could
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number worn among them, and that it had been permitted him to see the
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beauties of that fabric which he laboured with so much zeal and ability to rear
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his saltum accumulum donis et fugeri enenni munette. In just nine months after the
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Battle of Bunker Hill, the victors were compelled to yield the possession of it
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to Washington. Four days later, on the twenty first of March seventeen seventy
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six, doctor John Warren went over the field on which his brother slept in
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a soldier's grave. The hill, he wrote, commands the most affecting view
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I ever saw, the walls of magnificent buildings tottering to the earth below,
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above a great number of rude hillocks, under which were deposited the remains in
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clusters of those deathless heroes who fell in the field of battle. The scene
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was inexpressibly solemn when I considered that, perhaps, whilst I was musing on
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the objects round me, I might be standing over the remains of a dear
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brother whose blood had stained these hallowed walks. Several days passed before the body
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of Warren was found. The Rosemary and Cassia Governor Gore Says adorned and discovered
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his hallowed grave. It was identified on the fourth of April, covered with
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about three feet of ground, much disfigured, yet it was sufficiently known by
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two artificial teeth, which were set for him a short time before his glorious
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exit. On the same day, Honorable James Sullivan, by order of a
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committee of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, who had been appointed to erect a
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monument to his memory, reported that the Lodge of Freemations of which he was
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late grand master, were desirous of taking up his remains and burying them with
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the customary solemnities of the craft, and that Warren's friends consented to the proposition.
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The committee recommended that the Lodge have leave to carry out their intention in
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such manner as that the government of the colony might hereafter have an opportunity to
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erect a monument to the memory of that worthy, valiant and patriotic American.
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The remains, placed in an elegant coffin, were removed from the hill to
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the State or Townhouse at the head of State Street. On Monday, the
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eighth of April. They were re interred with as great respect, honour and
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solemnity as the state of the town would permit. The New England Chronicle says
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the procession began from the State House and consisted of a detachment of the Continental
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Forces, a numerous body of the Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons,
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of which fraternity the Dad the General was grand Master throughout North America, the
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mourners, a number of the members of the two houses of the Honorable General
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Assembly, the selectmen, and inhabitants of the town. The paul was supported
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by the Honorable General Ward, Brigadier General Frye, Doctor Morgan, Colonel Gridley,
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the Honorable Mister Gill and J. Scully Esquire. The corpse was carried
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into King's Chapel, where the Reverend Doctor Cooper made a very pertinent prayer on
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the occasion, after which Perez Morton Esquire pronounced an ingenious and spirited oration.
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This production contains a warm panegyric on Warren's private and public life. At its
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conclusion, the orator advocated independence. Shall we his words are still contend for
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a connection with those who have forfeited not only every kindred claim, but even
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their title to humanity. Forbid the spirit of the brave Montgomery forbid it,
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the spirit of the immortal Warren, forbid it, the spirits of all our
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valiant countrymen, who fought, bled and died for far different purposes. They
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contended for the establishment of peace, liberty, and safety to their country,
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and we are unworthy to be called their countrymen if we stop at any acquisition
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short of this. The remains were deposited in the tomb of George Richards Maynaut,
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a friend of the family. Nearly half a century afterwards, in eighteen
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twenty five, when those who took part in these ceremonies had died and the
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place of deposit had become unknown, the relics were discovered in the mine tomb
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in the Granary burying Ground. They were identified by the nephew of the General,
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doctor John C. Warren by the eye tooth and the mark of the
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fatal bullet behind the left ear. They were placed in a box of hardwood
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and removed to the worn tomb in Saint Paul's Church, Boston. The box
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bears a silver plate with the following inscription. In this tomb are deposited the
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earthly remains of Major General Joseph Warren, who was killed in the Battle of
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Bunker Hill on June seventeenth, seventeen seventy five. They are now in the
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Forest Hill Cemetery. I have aimed to trace faithfully the career of Joseph Warren.
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It is characterized by rare singleness of aim. He grasped, as by
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intuition, the ideas that are fundamental and vital, and he sought, by
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applying them, to promote the good of his country. He was a type
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of American nationality as it rose to grasp liberty and union. He loved this
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cause more than he loved his life, and he was ever ready to peril
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his all in its behalf. He evinced the sound judgment, had clear conceptions
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of political questions, and was animated by patriotic motives. His integrity, capacity
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for public service, talent for writing, fervid eloquence, cool courage, promptitude
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of action, large love for his countrymen, and commanding genius endowed him with
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the magic spell of influence and the power there is in a noble character.
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His utterances and his work constitute an enduring memorial of his fame. He was
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not permitted, like many copatriots, to live long and after the enjoyment of
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tokens of public confidence, to witness in coming days the greatness of the structure
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of which he did so much to lay the foundation. But he was destinied
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to fall ere. He saw the star of his country rise, and even
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in his death, to benefit the cause which it was his ruling passion to
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promote. He dwells in memory as the young, brave, blooming, generous,
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self devoted martyr, awakening the purifying emotions of admiration, tenderness, and
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love of the country. The influence of such a character is not confined to
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contemporaries. As the friends of liberty, from all countries and throughout all time
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contemplate it, they may feel their better feelings strengthened and gather from it a
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kindred virtue. End of Chapter sixteen