Many ask, “Why did Joseph Warren risk his life by participating in this battle?” His friends and colleagues implored him not to go. His commission as major general of the Massachusetts forces was not official. “You are needed in council” they protested. His response to such protests: “Dulce et decorum est pro patris mori,” (“It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country,”) Was his determination to participate …
In 1768, 1,200 British troops occupied Boston to quell the protests of the townspeople against arbitrary taxation – a standing army in time of peace was contrary to the accepted rights of Englishmen. The soldiers, seeking extra money to supplement their army pay by moonlighting, competed with the townsmen for jobs. (They also competed for the attention of Boston’s maidens.) Tension was in the air. Townspeople suffered abuse at …