Background
Joseph Warren was born at Roxbury, Massachussets. He was the eldest of the four sons of Joseph and Mary (Stevens) Warren of Roxbury and a brother of John Warren. When the boy was fourteen, his father died.
Joseph Warren was born at Roxbury, Massachussets. He was the eldest of the four sons of Joseph and Mary (Stevens) Warren of Roxbury and a brother of John Warren. When the boy was fourteen, his father died.
Having been prepared at the school in Roxbury, Joseph entered Harvard College, where he distinguished himself as a student. He graduated in 1759.
He was appointed master of the Roxbury Grammar School, where he taught for a year. He became a Free Mason in 1761, and in 1769, when his Lodge, St. Andrew's, united with two others to form a Grand Lodge, he was made provincial Grand Master. Deciding to become a physician, he studied under Dr. James Lloyd. Warren established himself in Boston, where he formed a friendship with John Adams by the somewhat unusual method of inoculating him for smallpox. He was an excellent physician with a good practice, but soon became deeply interested in politics, ardently espoused the Whig cause, and rather neglected his own affairs. After the passage of the Stamp Act he was closely associated with Samuel Adams and made a number of speeches at Faneuil Hall. He also became a frequent contributor to the press, and published an article in the Boston Gazette, Feburary 29, 1768, which caused Governor Bernard to attempt to prosecute the printers. He was also active in the political clubs of the day, being a member of the North End Caucus, and of a smaller club consisting of lawyers, clergymen, and popular leaders. At the time of the excitement caused by the seizure of Hancock's sloop Liberty, Warren played a prominent part as mediator. From this time he was continuously active in town meetings, appearing in concert with Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and James Otis. In 1770 he was one of the committee named by the town meeting after the Boston "Massacre" to inform Governor Hutchinson that the troops must be removed, and on the anniversary of the "Massacre" in 1772 he delivered an impassioned commemorative address. He continued to act on committees and was a member of the group that was practically the executive committee of the popular party from 1772 until it was superseded by the Committee of Safety, of which he was also a member. He was one of the three men chosen to draw up the report, A State of the Rights of the Colonists (1772), contributing the second part, "A List of the Infringements of Those Rights. " In 1774 he was head of the Boston delegation to the county convention, was a member of the committee charged with receiving the donations of food from other colonies, took the lead in organizing opposition to the Regulating Act, and drafted the "Suffolk Resolves, " which he forwarded to the Continental Congress. He also engaged in a multitude of other public duties. In 1775 he was active on the most important local committees and on Mar. 6 made his celebrated second oration in commemoration of the "Massacre, " an address which stirred Boston deeply. As the crisis approached he decided to abandon his profession and enter the army. For the moment he remained in Boston and on April 18 dispatched William Dawes and Paul Revere to Lexington to notify Hancock and Adams of their danger. When the fighting began there, Warren rode out to join the Patriots and took an active part. On August 23 he was chosen president pro tempore of the Provincial Congress, which office he held until his death; on May 12 he was appointed chairman of the committee to apply to the Continental Congress for recommendation to set up a new civil government in Massachusetts; on May 18 he was again chosen a member of the Committee of Safety, of which he had been a member from the beginning; on the 20th he became head of the committee to organize the army in the colony. Less than a month later, June 14, the Provincial Congress elected him a major-general; he had first been considered for the post of physician-general, but desired more hazardous service. He passed the night of June 16 attending to public business at Watertown, where the Provincial Congress was in session. It is said that, anxious as he was to drive the British out of Boston, he questioned the wisdom of Israel Putnam in projecting a battle at Bunker Hill, since the provincial forces were scantily supplied with ammunition. On the morning of June 17 he met with the Committee of Safety at Cambridge and in the afternoon of that day, on receipt of news from the front, he went to Bunker Hill, where he could look over the situation. Putnam, whom he met there, offered to take orders from him, but Warren replied that he was there as a volunteer only and asked where he could be most useful. Putnam then sent him to the redoubt on Breed's Hill, but on reaching that place he again refused to assume command, stating that he had not yet received his commission and would take part only as a volunteer. In the heavy fighting which followed, while attempting to rally the militia, he was shot dead by a British soldier.
He played a leading role in American Patriot organizations in Boston in the early days of the American Revolution, eventually serving as President of the revolutionary Massachusetts Provincial Congress. General Gage reportedly said Warren's death was equal to the death of 500 men. It encouraged the revolutionary cause because it was viewed by many Americans as an act of martyrdom.
On September 6, 1764, he married Elizabeth, only daughter of Richard Hooton of Boston, who brought him a handsome fortune; by this marriage he had two sons and two daughters.
