Skip to main content

Remembering Founding Father Dr. Joseph Warren

'The mistress we court is LIBERTY; and it is better to die than not to obtain her.' ~Joseph Warren to Samuel Adams, June 15, 1775

I recently read Dr. Joseph Warren's biography Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero written by Christian Di Spigna and was impressed with the facts presented in his book. I learned a great deal and recommend others read it as well. It's balanced and presents a thoroughly researched account of one of our leading founders few have heard about.

I also viewed the Youtube video featured below and the speaker, Vern Frykholm, does an excellent presentation of summing up the character and life of Dr. Warren, who has become one of my favorite heroes living during the events leading up to our separation from Great Britain.

However,  there is more to the story as Dr. Warren's body was mutilated by the British because they hated and feared him due to the influence he had over the colonists. But Satan always overplays his hand and the result was it raised up John and Samuel Adams to take more of a prominent leadership role. Plus, it inspired the colonists to fight even harder against the British. I recommend both the book and this video as it's a wonderful story of a unique, courageous man who was martyred at the battle on Bunker Hill with his Bible in his coat pocket.

Joseph Warren - Lexington Concord Character Study

(youtube.com)


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Father in Heaven,

Thank You for Dr. Joseph Warren's brief, but wonderful life. He truly was a man who displayed great courage and love for others. As a nation, we are blessed to have heroes like him who stood for freedom and had the courage to act on their convictions.

Dear Lord, I know our Founding Fathers had feet of clay and while they were great men, they also weren't perfect. I apologize for the Freemasonry some of them were involved with, and sadly, Dr. Warren was heavily involved in it. However, in Your grace You used him to accomplish Your purposes and I praise You for it. 

Thank You for this man and for preserving his memory.

In Lord Jesus Name, I pray. Amen

Your servant,

Mercy Adams


Joseph Warren (1741-1775)

The death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 
by John Trumbull

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The Journal of the American Revolution has an article today (April 18, 2024) written by J.L. Bell which gives an interesting account of who Dr. Warren's secret informant might have been. 

Here is an excerpt:

Warren’s crucial informant was first described by the Rev. Jeremy Belknap (1744–1798), minister of Dover, New Hampshire. Already collecting information for his History of New-Hampshire (published 1784–1792), Belknap kept notes on the events unfolding around him. In the fall of 1775 he visited the Continental Army camps surrounding Boston to check on the New Hampshire troops and observe the siege. He wrote a diary during that trip, published in 1860 by the Massachusetts Historical Society.[2]

A few days after returning to Dover, on October 25, Belknap added an entry to his travel diary:
Mr. Waters informed me, that the design of the regular troops, when they marched out of Boston the night of April 18, was discovered to Dr. Warren by a person kept in pay for that purpose. . . .
These circumstances [a long list of clues that the British army was about to march] being communicated to Dr. Warren, he applied to the person who had been retained, and got intelligence of their whole design; which was to seize [Samuel] Adams and [John] Hancock, who were at Lexington, and burn the stores at Concord. Two expresses were immediately despatched thither, who passed by the guards on the Neck just before a sergeant arrived with orders to stop passengers. Another messenger went over Charlestown Ferry; so that the alarm was given several hours before the troops arrived at Lexington.[3]
The express rider who left Boston by the Neck was William Dawes, Jr. The rider who crossed the Charles River to Charlestown was Paul Revere.[4] Gen. Thomas Gage had indeed ordered his troops to destroy “the stores at Concord.” (Those orders said nothing about Adams and Hancock in Lexington, though.)[5]

~Mercy Adams
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Patriotic Ladies: 'Republican Mothers'

James Peale , The Artist and His Family, (1795) (Source:  Republican motherhood - Wikipedia ) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ While reading biographies of Mercy Otis Warren and Abigail Adams, who were not only peers, but also close friends during the War for Independence, I often find the term "Republican Motherhood" used to describe them and other ladies of that time who cherished their role as homemakers, but also did what they could to promote liberty. These founding ladies weren't "feminists," but they were intelligent and helpful to their husbands and the other men leading the charge for our independence from Great Britain. They also believed education for both sexes would be instrumental for a free society.  Wikipedia tells us: "Republican Motherhood" is an 18th-century term for an attitude toward women's roles present in the emerging United States before, during, and after the American Revolution . It centered on the belief that the patriots' d
Post a Comment
Read more

Examining the Religious Habits of the Washington Family

 What were the religious practices of George and Martha Washington, you might ask? Let's take a look and see if their Christian faith played an important part of their lives. Sampler made by Martha Parke Custis (Martha Washington’s second granddaughter) in 1784 at age seven. Her rendering of the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments can be seen as lessons in sewing, reading, writing, and also as instruction in the Christian faith.  Image Source:  George Washington's Mount Vernon The website  George Washington's Mount Vernon   reports   that  " Martha Washington was a devout Christian, her granddaughter Eleanor 'Nelly' Parke Custis Lewis noted that she 'never omitted her private devotions, or her public duties…'" and goes on to say "Mrs. Washington regularly retired to her room between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning 'for an hour of meditation reading & prayer and that hour no one was ever allowed to interfere with.' She and Ne
Post a Comment
Read more

Patriotic Ladies: 'Women's Tea Parties'

"On October 25, 1774, women in Edenton resolved to stop buying English tea and cloth to protest taxation without representation. The event became known as the Edenton Tea Party ." Source:  Women of Edenton Resolve to Forego English Tea, 1774 | NC DNCR (ncdcr.gov) Mr. Bert Dunkerly writes this of the Tea Tax concerns and the ladies involvement in protesting it during the period before the War for Independence at the Emerging Revolutionary War Era blog : "Examples of women’s political participation in the Revolutionary movement are hard to find. Women were not permitted to be politically active in the eighteenth century, yet many got involved anyway and pushed back against prevailing social norms. There are two examples of women organizing protests within six months of each other in 1774, both in North Carolina. Unfortunately, few details exist of these happenings. Primary sources on many colonial-era events are limited, and they are even more so with these two examples. &
Post a Comment
Read more

Christian Citizenship Bible Study

Sadly, the acknowledgment of our Lord and Savior as Sovereign over our (and all) nations was omitted from our founding document, the Constitution. I plan to take a closer look at this omission and the movement for a Christian Amendment in a future post; but for now I want to share a Christian Citizenship Bible Study with you. This material was taught to me by my Reformed Presbyterian pastor approximately 20 years ago. Please be blessed as you study it with Bible in hand. Understanding Biblical Doctrine, Lesson XVI, “Christian Citizenship” Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” I. The Biblical View of Government A. Man’s need for civil government stems from the fact that God created him with the ability to live in an orderly society. (Genesis 1:28 — And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the
Post a Comment
Read more