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JOSEPH WARREN 1741-1775

Grand Master, Massachusetts Grand Lodge, 1769-1775

BIOGRAPHY

1850 REMARKS

From Moore's Freemason's Monthly, Vol. X, No. 5, March 1851, Page 160:

Dr. Ferson, at a recent festival given by Tyrian Lodge, (Gloucester,) made the following remarks, after the memory of the lamented Warren had the "grand honors."

We pay that tribute which is due to the brave defentlers of out liberties. Nations have in all ages, endeavored to perpetuate the brilliant actions of brave heroes, to inspire the living with a spirit of emulation, and to discharge the obligations they owe to those deeds of valor, by which their rights are secured. Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, is a Roman maxim - i.e., it is pleasant to die for one's country; and Americans are not less patrio^tic than the Romans. A lamented Brother, the Grand Master of Masons for the continent of America, feli in the defence of his country's cause, for liberty and independence. General Joseph Warren, who was slain on Bunker's heights, on 17th June, 1775, was a martyr io the cause of freedom. He was the first victim of rank who fell in that memorable struggle with our mother country. He is numbered with the illustrious dead. He was pre-eminent for his virtues, his talents, his patriotism, his self-devotion. The niche in the temple of fame, to his memory, will be sought and reverenced by the sons and daughters of America, so long as patriotism shall be regarded as a virtue; and our children's children through coming generations shall be taught to lisp the name of Warren.

Tyrian Lodge hold his memory in grateful remembrance. The charter of Tyrian Lodge, bearing date March 2d, 1770, was the first he signed, and the Brethren esteem that document a precious relic, to be sacredly kept in everlasting remembrance of our worshipful Grand Master. His untinrely death should embalm his memory in the heart of every Mason; and the virtues of so amiable, exemplary, and distinguished a charaiter, should live on perpetual record.

1874 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

From New England Freemason, Vol. I, No. 3, March 1874, p. 105:

General Joseph Warren, FIRST GRAND MASTER OF THE MASSACHUSETTS GRAND LODGE.

Joseph Warren is pre-eminently the New England hero. He was the first man of distinction to lay down his life in the cause of American liberty. He fell upon a field which we have all been accustomed from childhood to regard as one of the most honorable and glorious in the annals of our Revolution. He was young, handsome, energetic, patriotic and brave. In short, he was the very type of the true gentleman — gentle in his manners and manly in his actions. It is not strange, therefore, that while he lived his countrymen regarded him with peculiar respect and affection, and that after his glorious death his memory should be embalmed in their hearts. As Masons, we feel a special pride in his record, because during the few years in which he served his country so zealously in various capacities, he was laboring diligently to promote the honor and usefulness of the Fraternity, and serving it most gracefully and acceptably in the capacity of Grand Master. His Brethren were the first to search for his remains, the first to erect a monument to his memory, and they will be the last to cherish the sweet remembrance of his virtues.

He was born in Roxbury, Mass., June 11, 1741. He graduated at Harvard College in 1759. While there, an incident occurred illustrating the fearless intrepedity for which he was always noted, and which is thus described by Loring, in "The Hundred Boston Orators." Some of his classmates were engaged in a merriment which they knew Warren would not approve, and adopted a plan to prevent his attendance. They fastened the door of the apartment, which was in the upper story of a college building. Warren, finding that he could not get in at the door, and perceiving that there was an open window, determined to effect his entrance by that way, from the roof. He accordingly ascended the stairs to the top of the building, and, getting out upon the roof, let himself down to the eaves, and thence, by the aid of a spout, to a level with the open window, through which he leaped into the midst of the conspirators. The spout, which was of wood, was so much decayed by time, that it fell to the ground as Warren relaxed his hold upon it. His classmates, hearing the crash, rushed to the window, and when they perceived the cause, loudly congratulated him upon the escape. He coolly remarked that the spout had retained its position just long enough to serve his purpose; and, without further notice of the accident, proceeded to re¬ monstrate with them on the mischief they intended to perpetrate, which had tiie desired effect.

The same author relates another anecdote, illustrative of Warren's fearlessness, gathered from the traditions of the family. About the time of the Revolution, criminals were publicly executed upon a gallows erected on the Neck, near Roxbury. As Warren was one day walking in that direction, he met three British officers, one of whom muttered as they passed, " Go on, Warren; you will soon come to the gallows!" Whereupon, all three burst into a loud laugh. An insult from them was not to be borne. He, therefore, turned back immediately, and coolly demanded to know which of them had uttered the offensive words. They stood silent and crestfallen until, finding no answer could be obtained, he left them, heartily ashamed of themselves and each other, and com¬ pletely cowed by the manly bearing of this mere stripling.

This trait in his character was still more strikingly illustrated on the occasion of his delivery of the oration on the anniversary of the Boston Massacre in 1775, only three months before his death. Several distinguished citizens were invited to officiate, but declined. Warren, however, volunteered, probably stimulated by the threats of some of the British officers, that the attempt to speak on that anniversary of the event of the fifth of March, 1770, should cost the orator his life. " Warren's soul took fire at such a threat so openly made, and he wished for the honor of braving it." The day came, and the weather was remarkably fine. The Old South Meeting House was crowded at an early hour. One of the Royalists, in an abusive account published in a Tory newspaper, says, "we all sat gaping at one another, above an hour, expecting! " If this was true (which is very doubtful), the orator was probably detained by some very pressing professional engagement.' " At last," the sneerer continues, "a single horse chair stopped at the apothecary's, opposite the meeting, from which descended the orator of the day; and, entering the shop, was followed by a servant with a bundle, in which were the Ciceronian toga, etc." The scene is thus graphically described by a later and more friendly historian :

"The British officers occupied the aisles, the flight of steps to the pulpit, and several of them were within it. It was not precisely known whether this was accident or design. The orator, with the assistance of his friends, made his entrance at the pulpit window by a ladder. The officers, seeing his coolness and intrepidity, made way for him to advance and address the audience. An awful stillness preceded his exordium. Each man felt the palpitations of his own heart, and saw the pale but determined face of his neighbor. The speaker began his oration in a firm tone of voice, and proceeded with great energy and pathos. Warren and his friends were prepared to chastise contumely, prevent disgrace, and avenge an attempt at assassination.

"The scene was sublime. A patriot, in whom the flush of youth and the grace and dignity of manhood were combined, stood armed in the sanctuary of God, to animate and encourage the sons of liberty and to hurl defiance at their oppressors. The orator commenced with the early history of the country, described the tenure by which we held our liberties and property, the affection we had constantly shown the parent country, and boldly told them how, and by whom these blessings of life had been violated. ' If pacific measures are ineffectual, and it appears that the only way to safety is through fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes, but will undauntedly press forward until tyranny is trodden under foot, and you have fixed your adored goddess, Liberty, fast by Brunswick's side, on the American throne.' There was in his appeal to Britain, in his description of suffering, agony and horror, a calm and high-souled defiance which must have chilled the blood of every sen¬ sible foe. Such another hour has seldom happened in the history of man, and is not surpassed in the records of nations. The thunders of Demosthenes rolled at a distance from Phillip and his host, and Tully poured the fiercest torrent of his invective when Catiline was at a distance), and his dagger no longer to be feared; but Warren's speech was made to proud oppressors resting on their arms, whose errand it was to overawe and whose business it was to fight.

"During the delivery of the oration, a British officer, seated upon the pulpit stairs, held up one of his hands with several pistol bullets in the open palm. Warren observed the action, and quietly dropping his white handkerchief over the outstretched hand, went on with hiB discourse. The Tory reporter above quoted says, that "he was applauded by the mob, but groaned at by people of understanding." During the year 1760 he was employed as a teacher in a public school in Roxbury, and in the following year commenced the study of medicine under Dr. Lloyd, an eminent physician of that day. He began practice in 1763 and is said to have distinguished himself at once. In 1764, the small-pox prevailed extensively in Boston, and he was very successful in treating it. He thus gained the good will of the people and he never lost it. "His personal appearance, his address, his courtesy and his humanity, won the way to the hearts of all, and his knowledge and superiority of talents secured the conquest."

About this time he began to take an active part in political affairs, and his letters to public men and newspaper essays soon attracted the attention even of the government. Considering his age, many of these productions are remarkable for clearness of thought, terseness of statement and cogency of argument. He had caught the spirit and the stylo of Samuel Adams, the prime mover in the Revolution. The biographer of Adams says: "The bond of friendship and unreserved confidence was perfect between them, despite the difference in age," and Perez Morton, in his eulogy on Warren, declares that "their kindred souls were so closely twined, that both felt one joy, both one affliction." – "Warren was the closest friend that Samuel Adams ever had. No one among his younger associates in the cause, not even John Adams, ever enjoyed the confidence of Samuel Adams to such an extent as Warren, and that vacancy in his heart was never fully supplied ... In no letter of Samuel Adams can allusion be found to the death of Warren. His sorrow was probably of that nature which could find no solace in writing or commenting upon his loss."

In 1774, when Adams went to Philadelphia as a delegate to the Continental Congress from Massachusetts, Warren was chosen to represent the town of Boston in the Provincial Congress, and in the following year he was elected President of that Body. Here he manifested extraordinary powers of mind and a peculiar fitness for the guidance and government of men in times of difficulty and danger.

"Cautious in proposing measures, he was assiduous in pursuing what he thought, after mature deliberation, to be right, and never counted the probable cost of a measure, when he had decided that it was necessary to be taken." The Congress was then sitting at Watertown, and it is said to have been his custom every day upon the adjournment to mount his horse and hurry off to the camp, there to participate with the common soldiers in the exercises and drill, and to encourage and animate them by exhortation and example. He thus became well known to most of the soldiers, and wa» readily recognized and welcomed by them when he mado his appearance in their midst on the memorable seventeenth of June. The Provincial Congress offered him the appointment of Surgeon General, but he declined it and accepted a commission as Major General dated only three days before the battle. He arrived upon the field only a few moments before the first attack of the British troops. This fact is accounted for by his nephew in a different manner from that heretofore received. In a recently published memoir of Dr. John Warren (Grand Master in 1783), the author says: "I have attended a lady who was born in Dedham on the seventeenth of June, 1775. Dr. Joseph Warren was engaged to attend her mother in her confinement. It is stated that he visited her on that morning, and finding she had no immediate occasion for his services, told her that he must go to Charlestown to get a shot at the British, and he would return to her in season. On the night of the sixteenth, it is well known that he presided at the meeting of the Colonial Congress, which continued in session a great part of the night in Watertown. It is very probable that he returned to visit his mother and his children at Roxbury before the battle, and from there went to visit his patient. It is well known that he was late on the battle field. Of course he never returned to her again and she was attended by his pupil, Mr. Eustis.

Thus it appears he was in active practice almost to the moment of his death." The story of the battle is familiar and also his share in it. His repeated refusal to take the command when offered it by Putnam and Prescott, his seizing a musket and flying from place to place wherever the fight was hottest, his reluctance to obey the order to retreat, being at only a few rods distance from the redoubt when the British had obtained full possession, his instant death by a bullet in the head, and his burial on the following day in a shallow grave beside the body of a butcher, — all these facts have been often recounted. Congress passed a resolution that a monument should be erected to his memory, and even prescribed the inscription, but it was never carried into effect.

Immediately after the evacuation of Boston, his Brethren determined to go in search of the body. They repaired to the spot indicated by an eye-witness of his death. It was at the brow of the hill, and near the head of the grave was placed an acacia tree. Upon the removal of the earth, which appeared to have been recently disturb3d, they indeed found the body of their Grand Master. The remains were discovered on the sixth of April, 1776, carefully conveyed to the State House in Boston, and on the eighth of the same month were borne in solemn procession to King's Chapel, where an oration was delivered by http://masonicgenealogy.com/MediaWiki/index.php?title=GLMIPMorton Perez Morton], who was at that time Grand Marshal. His eulogy has often been compared to the oration of Mark Antony over the dead body of Caesar. The exordium was in these words:

"Illustrious relics! What tidings from the grave? Why hast thou left the peaceful mansions of the tomb, to visit again this troubled earth ? Art thou the welcome messenger of peace? Art thou risen again to exhibit thy glorious wounds, and through them pro¬ claim salvation to thy country? Or art thou come to demand that last debt of humanity to which your rank and merit have so justly entitled you, but which has been so long ungenerously withheld? And art thou angry at the barbarous usage? Be appeased, sweet ghost! for, though thy body has long laid undistinguished among the vulgar dead, scarce privileged with earth enough to hide it from the birds of prey — though not a kindred tear was dropped, though not a friendly sigh was uttered o'er thy grave — and though the execrations of an impious foe were all thy funeral knells — yet, matchless patriot! thy memory has been embalmed in the affections of thy grateful countrymen, who, in their breasts, have raised eternal monuments to thy bravery!"

In another passage the eloquent orator says:

" In the social departments of life, practising upon the strength of that doctrine he used so earnestly to inculcate himself, that nothing so much conduced to enlighten mankind and advance the great end of society at large, as the frequent interchange of sentiments in friendly meetings, we find him constantly engaged in this eligible labor. But on none did he place so high a value as on that most honorable of all detached societies, the Free and Accepted Masons. Into this Fraternity he was early initiated, and after having given re¬ peated proofs of a rapid proficiency in the art, and after having evidenced by his life the professions of his lips — finally, as the reward of his merit, he was commissioned the Most Worshipful Grand Master of all the Ancient Masons throughout North America. And you, Brethren, are living testimonies, with how much honor to himself and benefit to the Craft universal he discharged the duties of his elevated trust; with what sweetened accents he courted your attention, while, with wisdom, strength and beauty, he instructed his Lodges in the secret arts of Freemasonry; what perfect order and decorum he preserved in the government of them ; and, in all his conduct, what a bright example he set us, to live within compass and act upon the square.

"With what pleasure did he silence the wants of poor and penniless Brethren; yea, the necessitous everywhere, though ignorant of the mysteries of the Craft, from his benefactions felt the happy effects of that Institution which is founded on Faith, Hope and Charity. And the world may cease to wonder that he so readily offered up bis life on the altar of his country, when they are told that the main pillar of Masonry is the love of mankind.

" The fates, as though they would reveal in the person of our Grand Master those mysteries which have so long lain hid from the world, have suffered him, like the great master builder in the temple of old, to fall by the hands of ruffians and be again raised in honor and au¬ thority. We searched in the field for the murdered son of a widow, and we found him, by the turf and the twig, buried on the brow of a hill, though not in a decent grave. And though we must again com¬ mit his body to the tomb, yet our breasts shall be the burying spot of his Masonic virtues, and there

"An adamantine monument we'll rear,
With this inscription — Masonry lies here."

After the funeral ceremonies, the remains were deposited in a tomb in the Granary Burying Ground, where they remained for nearly fifty years, and the place of deposit was forgotten. In 1825, the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill Monument revived the memory of General Warren and prompted a long search for his ashes, which was successful. They were identified, as in the previous exhumation, by the left upper eye-tooth, which had been secured in its place by a golden wire, and by the mark of the fatal bullet behind the left ear. The sacred relics were carefully collected, deposited in a box of hard wood, designated by a silver plate, and placed in the Warren Tomb under St. Paul's Church, Boston. A few years since they were again removed, and now rest in Forest Hills Cemetery.

To King Solomon's Lodge, of Charlestown, belongs the honor of erecting the first monument to the memory of Joseph Warren. At a meeting on the eleventh of November, 1794, a committee was appointed "to erect such a monument in Mr. Russell's Pasture, provided the land can be procured, as in their opinion will do honor to the Lodge, in memory of our late Brother, the Most Worshipful Joseph Warren." In the following month, the committee reported, through their chairman, Brother Josiah Bartlett (Grand Master in 1798), that Mr. Russell had generously offered a deed of as much land as might be necessary, and they had erected, at a cost of one thousand dollars, a Tuscan pillar, eighteen feet high, resting upon a platform eight feet in height, eight feet square, and fenced around to protect it from injury. On the top of the pillar was placed a gill urn, with the initials and age of General Warren enclosed within the square and compasses. On the southwest side of the pedestal was this inscription:

Erected A. D. 1794, by King Solomon's Lodge of Freemasons, constituted at Charlestown, 1783, in memory of Major General Warren and his Associates, who were slain on this memorable spot, June 17, 1775.

"None but they who set a just value upon the blessings of Liberty are worthy to enjoy her. In vain we toiled; in vain we fought; we bled in vain, if yon, our offspring, want valor to repel the assaults of her invaders."

Charlestown Settled, 1638; Burnt, 1775; Rebuilt, 1776.
The enclosed land given by Hon. James Russell.

The committee recommended that the Monument be placed under the immediate care of the Master and Wardens for the time being, whose business it should be to visit the spot as often as occasion might require, and to keep it in complete repair at the expense of the Lodge forever. The report was unanimously accepted. It was then voted, "That the Lodge proceed this day to dedicate the Monument which, by the report of their committee, hath been erected." Accordingly, at two o'clock, p. m., a procession was formed at Warren Hall, where the Lodge then met, consisting of "the members of the Lodge and other Brethren, the Magistrates, Selectmen, Ministers and Deacons, Town Treasurer and Clerk, the Parish Officers, Officers of the Artillery Company, Militia Officers, Citizens who have borne military commissions and the Trustees and Scholars of the Public Schools." They proceeded in solemn silence to the Hill where the ceremonies of dedication were performed and a short address was delivered by the W. Master, John Soley, Jr., (Grand Master in 1827).

The Lodge kept the monument in repair until the eighth of March, 1825, when they voted to present the land and Monument to the Bunker Hill Monument Association, "upon condition that there should be placed within the walls of the Monument they were about to erect a suitable memorial of the ancient pillar, in order to perpetuate that early patriotic act of the Masonic Fraternity." In fulfilment of that condition, King Solomon's Lodge, on the twenty-fourth of June, 1845, placed within the obelisk an exact model in marble of the original Monument. The public ceremonies were conducted by the Grand Lodge, and were witnessed by a large assembly, including many distinguished Brethren from other jurisdictions. An interesting feature of the occasion was the presentation of the working tools to the Grand Master, Augustus Peabody, by Past Grand Master John Soley, who had himself fifty years before dedicated the firtt Monument.

The corner-stone of the present Monument was laid with Masonic ceremonies, on the fiftieth anniversary of the battle, under the direction of Grand Master John Abbot, assisted by our illustrious Brother, Lafayette. The completion of the Monument was celebrated on the seventeenth of June, 1843, the Masonic portion of the procession being under the direction of King Solomon's Lodge. On that occasion, Past Grand Master Benjamin Russell, a soldier of the Revolution, wore the Masonic apron of General Warren. On the seventeenth of June, 1857, M. W. John T. Heard, Grand Master, assisted by the Grand Officers and two thousand Brethren, inaugurated a statue of General Warren, in presence of about five thousand persons, seated under a mammoth tent erected on the Monument grounds, and delivered an interesting historical address.

Joseph Warren was initiated in St. Andrew's Lodge, of Boston, on the tenth of September, 1761. He received the second degree on the second of November following, but there is no record as to the third. On the fourteenth of November, 1765, the Lodge voted unanimously that Dr. Joseph Warren, be re-admitted a member of the Lodge. He was elected Master in 1769. In December of the latter year, he received from the Earl of Dalhousie, Grand Master of Masons in Scotland, a commission, bearing date the thirtieth of May previous, appointing him Grand Master of Masons in Boston, and within one hundred miles of the same. In 1773, he received another commission, dated March 3, 1772, and signed by the Earl of Dumfries, then Grand Master, extending his jurisdiction over the " Continent of America." He was installed under each of those commissions on the twenty-seventh of December of the respective years.

Grand Master Warren presided over all the forty meetings of his Grand Lodge held previous to his death save four, namely, those of Dec. 27, 1770 (the Feast of St. John the Evangelist), June 16, 1773, June 3, and Sept. 2, 1774. On the last but one of these occasions, the record recites that the Grand Lodge " adjourned to Tuesday Evening Next, 7 o'clock; by reason of the few Grand Officers present; Engaged on Consequential Public Business." On the first of June, 1774, Gen. Gage put in force the Boston Port Act, closing the harbor against all inward bound vessels, and on that day his predecessor, Ex- Governor Hutchinson, sailed for England. Great distress was caused by the sudden transformation of a busy, thriving town (whose inhabitants were mostly traders, shipwrights and sailors), into a scene of idleness and want. On the fifth of June, Joseph Warren reported to the Committee of Correspondence of the town of Boston a " Solemn League and Covenant" for the suspension of all commerce with the Island of Great Britain, until the repeal of the Port Act and the res¬ toration of the charter rights of the Colony. Verily, the Brethren had "Consequential Business" on their hands about that time, and the Grand Master gave it his particular attention. He was present, however, at the adjourned meeting of the Grand Lodge, on the seventh of that month.

When we consider his youth; the responsibilities and care of a young family devolved upon him as the surviving parent; the anxieties and labors of the large practice of a popular physician; the demands of an extensive correspondence both at home and abroad, personal as well as political; his constant attendance upon the meetings of the Committee of Correspondence, the Committee of Safety, town meetings, the Sons of Liberty, and other caucuses ; his numerous newspaper articles and State papers — when we consider all these things, we are filled with wonder at the energy and talent of the young hero, but we are at no Ioes to understand how it was that even in those troublous times Masonry flourished and prospered under his administration.

Surely the Fraternity owe him a debt of gratitude. It is fitting that we should perpetuate the remembrance of so amiable, distin¬ guished and exemplary a character. Let every Brother revere his name and imitate his virtues.

Perez Morton's address at Warren's re-interment, April 1776

Distinguished Brothers