On June 20, 1775, after three days of trying to determine his brother’s fate, Dr. Jack Warren, in an act of seeming desperation, headed toward British occupied Boston. In a biography of his father’s life, Dr. Edward Warren wrote, “While endeavoring, on this occasion, to pass a sentinel, in his overwhelming anxiety to ascertain his brother’s fate, Dr. [Jack] Warren received a thrust from a bayonet, the sear of which he bore through life.”
Edward Warren continued, “It was several days before my father could ascertain the fact of his brother’s death. He was ever accustomed to feel more for others than for himself. The affliction of his mother, the condition of his brother’s children, now completely orphaned and destitute, the loss of so many of his countrymen, not only produced the severest grief, but excited the utmost indignation against those in the mother country who had counseled measures of violence and oppression, as well as those who were the submissive instrument of these measures.”
Edward presented his father’s journal entry, “O ye blood-thirsty wretches, who planned this dreadful scene, which you are now forcing your blood-hounds to execute, did you but feel the pangs of heartfelt pungent grief for the cruel wounds you inflicted upon the tenderest part of the public, as well as individuals, you would have execrated those diabolical measure, which by your counsels have been adopted, and precipitated us into all the horrors of civil war
“Unfeeling wretches! Reflect a moment if you have still one feature of humanity which is unobliterated from your minds, and view the helpless orphan bereft of its fond and only parent, stript of every comfort of life, driven into an inhospitable wild, and exposed to all the misery which is the result of your darling acts of cruelty, as to be capable of supporting the shocking reflection…”
Finally, the Warren family had the answer they sought – Joseph was killed in action in a sacrifical attempt to save his fellow colonists. He was buried in an unmarked grave upon Breeds Hill along with an elderly farmer in a frock coat. Joseph’s own jacket and waistcoat were stripped from his body and sold in the streets of Boston. His treasured book of Psalms was taken as well.
Also on June 20, 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress declared:
“Among the dead was Major-General Joseph Warren;
Whose memory will be endeared to his countrymen,
And to the worthy in every part and age of the world,
As long as virtue and valor shall be esteemed among Mankind.”
Are virtue and valor still esteemed among mankind in America? If so, why has Joseph Warren’s memory been debased by contemporary historians writing about him – and those who accept their accounts without question – with accusations of criminality (the rape of a thirteen-year-old by Sam Forman MD and Nathaniel Philbrick) as well as negligence, disrespect and cruelty to his children, mother, and brothers (Christian Di Spigna and Forman)? Why is Joseph Warren’s memory no longer endeared to his 21st century countrymen? Are we – the millions yet unborn that he spoke of gaining Liberty for – no longer worthy?
Next: Jack and Eben Warren – along with Paul Revere – search for Joseph’s remains .
(Picture: Dr. John (Jack) Warren)
