The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories about General Warren, in relation to the fifth of March massacre, and the battle of Bunker Hill, by Rebecca Warren Brown This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: Stories about General Warren, in relation to the fifth of March massacre, and the battle of Bunker Hill Author: Rebecca Warren Brown Release Date: October 5, 2014 [EBook #47044] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORIES ABOUT GENERAL WARREN *** Produced by Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) STORIES OF GENERAL WARREN. When Gen. Warren's mother first saw him after his escape from the Battle of Lexington, she entreated him, with tears in her eyes, not again to risk a life so dear to her, and so necessary to his country. "Wherever danger is, dear mother," was his reply, "there must your son be, now is no time for one of America's children to shrink from the most hazardous duty. I will either see my country free, or shed my last drop of blood to make her so...." p. 51. STORIES ABOUT GENERAL WARREN, IN RELATION TO THE FIFTH OF MARCH MASSACRE, AND THE BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. [Pg 1] [Pg 4] [Pg 5] BY A LADY OF BOSTON. BOSTON: JAMES LORING, 132 WASHINGTON STREET. 1835. Entered according to the act of Congress, in the year 1835, BY JAMES LORING, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. PREFACE. The author of the following little sketch has often heard the question asked, "What did Gen. Warren do to deserve all that has been said about him?" "Did he do any thing more than fight bravely, and get killed on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill?" To answer these questions, and to show, that although it was much for him to sacrifice his life for his country, yet that was not all he did; that he had toiled nobly for many years in her cause, before a drop of blood had been shed to accomplish her freedom, has been the principal object in writing it. For some of the facts, she is indebted to those who have before written on the subject; but many of them have never before been published; nor does she think any but the closing one of his death is very generally known. Another object has been, to place the leading causes of the Revolution in so strong and clear a light, and in such simple language, that every child may comprehend them as soon as he can read. It has also been her design so to delineate the leading traits of Gen. Warren's character, as to show that his patriotism was not a sudden start of enthusiasm, but had long been a guiding principle of action. If the writer has succeeded in deepening in any young mind, the impression of the debt of gratitude we owe the authors of our free institutions, or if the following pages should lead any one to think and read more on the subject, she will feel amply rewarded for all the trouble bestowed on them. STORIES OF GENERAL WARREN. As Mary Montague and her mother were one morning sitting at work, by a cheerful fire, William, a boy about nine years old, ran in exclaiming, Oh dear mother! I'm so tired I don't know what to do. Mrs. Montague. Why, my son, what has tired you so much? William. I have been playing hoop more than an hour, and my hands ache so I can play no longer. Mrs. M. Then you had better come and sit down with Mary and me and rest yourself. William. Yes, mamma, I will, if you can lend me some pretty book, or tell me a story; there is no school to-day, you know. Mrs. M. I have no book which you have not read, nor can I put aside my work to amuse you, but I can tell you a story and work too. William. So do, mamma, I shall like that best. Mary. And I too, dear mother. Mrs. M. What shall I tell you about? Shall I tell you a true story, or do you wish me to make up one? William. I should rather hear a true one, if you please, about some great man. Some American, for I had rather hear about one of my own countrymen, than about a foreigner, as I think you call those who live in other countries, do you not? Mrs. M. Yes, my dear. William. You know I have had books about a great many of our celebrated men, such as Gen. Washington, Gen. Lafayette, and Franklin. Now I want you to tell me what you can of Gen. Warren. Was he not a great and good man? I should think he must [Pg 6] [Pg 7] [Pg 8] [Pg 9] [Pg 10] [Pg 11] have been, for I have heard people speak of him very often, when talking of the revolution; I know, too, that great monument on Bunker Hill is partly for him, but I do not know what he did to deserve so much praise. Mrs. M. I believe, my dear, there has never been any little books written about him, but he was both a great and a good man, though he did not live long enough to do so much for his country as those other generals of whom you have read. If you wish, I will tell you all I can of him. William. Oh, so do! I want to hear it very much. Mary. So do I. Mrs. M. You spoke just now, William, of Lafayette as though you thought him an American. Do you not know he was a Frenchman? William. Yes, mamma, I know that very well, but he did so much for us I can hardly help thinking he belonged to us. Mrs. M. I do not much wonder at that, for he could not have done more, nor even so much, if he had indeed been an American. Come, now for General Warren. Shall I begin at the time when he was a child like you, or at that in which he became a general? William and Mary, both together. Oh pray begin when he was a child like us. Mrs. M. I cannot tell you a great deal about him at that time. I only know that he was born in Roxbury, in the year 1741. Roxbury is a small town a few miles from Boston. I have no doubt you often ride by the old house in which Joseph (for that was the name of the general) and his three brothers were born. It has now almost fallen to pieces, but it was once a beautiful place, and had a great many fine fruit trees round it. The father of Joseph was quite a rich farmer; he raised the best fruit of any one near Boston. Do you remember seeing last winter an apple with a fine blush on one side, called the Warren russeting? William. Yes, mother, I think I do. Mrs. M. Joseph's father was the first person who cultivated this apple, and it received its name from him: but alas! it cost him and his family very dear. William. How, mamma? Mrs. M. I will tell you. One day, in the fall of the year, when almost all the apples were gathered, Mr. Warren, the father of Joseph, while walking round his orchard to see if every thing in it was in good order, as he was looking over the trees he perceived one apple on the top of his favorite tree, the Warren russeting; it looked so beautiful, with the sun gilding its rosy side, that he determined to get it. He was a very active man; so up he climbed until his hand was on the apple, when, just as he had pulled it off, the branch on which he was standing, gave way, he fell to the ground and was instantly killed! William. Oh dear, how long did he lay there, mamma? Mrs. M. Not long; some of his workmen, who were near, heard the noise of the fall, and directly went to see what it was. His youngest son, whose name was John, was then only four years old: dinner was ready at home, and the mother of little John told him to run into the orchard, and see why his father did not come in to dinner: away he went, and, as he was looking eagerly to see if his father was coming, he saw two men carrying something between them: he ran up to them to see what it was, and, only think of it! it was the body of that dear father whose affectionate embrace he was expecting every moment to meet! Those eyes, which had so often beamed on him with love, were closed in death, and the arms, so often held out to embrace him, hung motionless at his side! Mary. Oh, how I pity the poor boy, he must have felt dreadfully! Mrs. M. Dreadfully indeed! When he grew up to be a man I often heard him say, that, young as he then was, the feelings of that moment could never be effaced from his mind. William. I should think he never could have forgotten it. Mrs. M. I have now told you about the father of Joseph; shall I tell you any thing about his mother, or go on about him? William. If you please, I should like to hear about his mother. I always feel more interested in any one, when I am acquainted with his father and mother. Mary. And I too love dearly to hear about them, especially I want to know all I can of the mother of any one I hear of, or read about. Mrs. M. I will tell you all I can of her. Like Washington, Joseph was blessed with a most excellent mother; she, too, was like the mother of Washington, left a widow when even the oldest of her sons most required a parent's care. Her husband, you recollect, was killed when the youngest boy was only four years old. The eldest was about twelve years older. The task of a parent, though a delightful, is a very arduous one, and when that of both parents must be discharged by one, it is much more so. It often happens that a mother is left with a family of young children, and is obliged to bring them up without the controlling power of a father's care; it is therefore the duty of every female so to educate her own mind, and that of her daughters, as to enable her, if she should be placed in this responsible situation, to be able to guide aright the minds of those under her care. Indeed, a mother should always possess a cultivated mind, and a firm principle of action, to render her capable of doing such a duty faithfully. The bent which she gives to the dawning character is seldom effaced through the whole existence of an immortal being. I hope, therefore, my children, more especially you, my daughter, will constantly remember, that unless you attend most carefully to the formation of your own hearts and minds, you will never be competent to form those of others, and that you are in some measure responsible for the good or evil of the characters it may be your lot to form. I trust, too, you will feel that much of the good you may yourselves possess is owing to your parents, who have, as far as they could, guarded you from evil, and led you in the right path, [Pg 12] [Pg 13] [Pg 14] [Pg 15] [Pg 16] and to whom, therefore, you owe obedience and gratitude, and an earnest endeavor to show, by your conduct, that their labor has not been in vain. Most faithfully did the mother of Joseph discharge the double duty which had now devolved on her. Her four boys, under her watchful eye, grew up to be good, wise, and, most of them, celebrated men, and richly repaid all her care of them. But not only as a mother was she estimated, for she practised the virtue of benevolence, in the fullest sense of the word. To her neighbors she was kind and hospitable; to the poor her house was always open. Indeed, it might with truth be said of her, in the words of that beautiful poet, Goldsmith, whose works I trust you will soon learn to read and admire: "Her house was known to all the vagrant train, She chid their wanderings, but reliev'd their pain. The long remember'd beggar was her guest, And oft the traveller at her board found rest. Gentle their merits or their faults to scan, Her pity gave e'er charity began." In her old age, when her own children had left her fire-side to take their part in the active scenes of life, it was one of her dearest pleasures to gather a group of their children, and the children of others around her. She did all in her power to promote their enjoyment, and her benevolent smile was always ready to enliven and encourage them. On Thanksgiving day she depended on having all her children and grand-children with her; and until she was eighty years of age, she herself made the pies with which her table was loaded! Not satisfied with feasting them to their hearts' content, while they were with her, she always had some nice great pies for them to take home with them. Mary. What a fine old lady she must have been! How I should have admired to have gone to see her! Mrs. M. She was indeed a most excellent woman. As far as one imperfect being can judge of another, she appeared to deserve to be classed among those whom Christ, in his sermon on the Mount, pronounced blessed. She was often called to mourn, and she was comforted by his word; she was "meek" and "humble," for, much as she did for others, she thought she did nothing worthy to be mentioned. Truly did she appear to hunger and thirst after righteousness. That she was "merciful," I have already told you. She was "pure in heart," as an infant. As a "peacemaker," she was more especially known. If there was any dispute among her friends, relations, neighbors, or acquaintances, to her they carried their troubles and their complaints. Even their evil feelings towards others were not concealed from her. She soothed their troubles, pacified their complaints, and their evil feelings and jealousies she changed into kindness and good will. If she was reviled she reviled not again, and though her good was often evil spoken of, it did not make her weary in well doing. Those who knew her trust she is now reaping the reward promised to those that "faint not," and are not weary in well doing. Mary. I think she must now be happy, dear mother, or no one can expect to be. Mrs. M. We have every reason to believe that she is, my dear girl. Now let us go back to Joseph. He was her eldest son. He was educated at the public school in Roxbury. Like Washington, he displayed in childhood the qualities which afterwards rendered him so celebrated as a man. He was manly, generous, fearless and independent. If one boy oppressed another, he would always take the part of the weakest, and generally succeeded in making the little tyrant ashamed of himself. William. Did not all the boys like him, mamma? I am sure I should have liked him. Mrs. M. Yes, my dear, all the good boys liked him, and, what was still better, the masters all liked him. You may be pretty sure that a boy or girl either is deserving of love, if their instructers are attached to them. His mind was so well regulated, that, although he would not submit to tyranny, he was respectful and obedient to those who had a right to govern him. And this was his rule of conduct through his after life. At the age of fourteen, Joseph entered college. Here the same good feelings which had marked his character at school, continued to govern him. His manners were gentle, and he had the reputation of possessing fine talents, great perseverance, and an entire fearlessness of danger, when accomplishing that which he thought to be right. One day some of his classmates had determined to do something of which they knew he would not approve. They met together to arrange their plans for its execution. They did not wish Warren to be with them, for they knew his powers of persuasion were so great that he would, if present, prevail on the greatest part of them not to enter into these plans. They therefore fastened the door of the room, in which they were, so that he could not get it open. But he did not give up the matter so easily. They were assembled in an upper room; and finding he could not get in at the door, Warren went down into the college yard. As he looked up he saw their window was open. Now how do you think he managed? William. I am sure I cannot tell, mamma. Did he climb up to it? Mrs. M. No, he could not do that, it was very high, and there was not any thing to climb upon. He could see nothing near the window but an old spout, which went from the ground to the eaves, or top, of the house; this spout was so rotten it would hardly bear a touch, much less the whole weight of any one. Mary. He could not get in on that then. Do make haste, dear mother, and tell us if he did get in, and how he contrived to. Mrs. M. I will, my child, as soon as I can. He again went up stairs to the scuttle door, which was on the top of the house; out of this he got, slid down the slanting roof to the edge of the house, just where the old spout came up to it; he then seized hold of this spout, swung himself upon it, and slid down as far as the window of the room, where his classmates were, then in he sprang among them, to their great surprise, as you may well suppose. The instant he let go the decayed thing on which he had descended, it broke to pieces and fell to the ground. His companions heard the crash, rushed to the window, and while they were uttering exclamations of astonishment at the risk he had run, and congratulating him on his narrow escape, he very coolly replied, "it has stayed up just long enough to serve my purpose," he then directly entered upon the business which had brought them [Pg 17] [Pg 18] [Pg 19] [Pg 20] [Pg 21] [Pg 22] together. William. What a brave fellow he was. How glad I am it did not break while he was on it! Mary. I hardly breathed for fear it would. I hope he succeeded in preventing those young men from doing what they had intended. Mrs. M. I hope so too, and I think it probable he did. After such a proof of his determination and perseverance, they must have felt it was useless to oppose him. A gentleman who saw him at the moment he was coming from the top of the house, on the spout, related the fact, in the college yard, fifty years afterwards, pointing, at the same time, to the very spot on which he saw him. It had made so deep an impression on him, that, even at that distance of time, he could not speak of it without emotion. William. Oh how I wish I could see the place. Do you think, mamma, any body could show it to me now? Mrs. M. I do not know, my dear, if any one is now living who knows exactly the place. I mean to inquire when I have an opportunity, for I should like to see it myself. Mary. So do mamma. Mrs. M. At the end of his collegiate education, Joseph quitted college with the esteem and love of all who had known him there. He then determined to study medicine. I suppose you know he was a physician before he became a general. William. No, indeed, I did not: if I have heard it, I did not think enough about it to remember it. Was he the celebrated Dr. Warren of whom I have so often heard? Mrs. M. Do you mean the Dr. Warren now living? William. Oh no, mamma, I know it was not him, though I have heard a great deal about him too; the one I mean died a great while before I was born. Mrs. M. The one you are thinking of was the youngest brother of the general,—his name was John,—he whom I told you was the first one of the family who saw his father when he was killed by the fall from the tree. Do you not remember it? William. Yes, dear mother, I am sure I shall not forget him. Mrs. M. Joseph was an eminent physician as well as his brother. He began to practice in Boston. Soon after he commenced business the small pox spread all over the city, or town; for it was not then a city. We hardly know any thing of this dreadful disease now-a-days; inoculation has made it a very different one from what it then was. At that time people had not much faith in this mode of lessening its violence, and when it once entered a place, a great many people generally had it and died with it. This was the case at the period of which I speak. Dr. Joseph Warren was then only twenty-three years old, but he managed the disease with so much judgment and skill that he restored more people, who were attacked with it, than any other physician in Boston. William. How did the other doctors like that, dear mother? Mrs. M. They were all very glad he was so successful; and liked him the better for it. His manners were so gentle and courteous, they could not feel jealous of him. He always looked so pleasant, and was so benevolent, that every body loved him. The hearts he won at this time always remained warmly attached to him. His great talents, and the superiority of his information secured the respect as well as love of those who knew him. This was the reason he had so much influence over others. His talents alone would not have given it to him; but when to respect was added admiration and love, it gave him power to guide his countrymen almost as he pleased. When the King of England yielded to the counsels of those who told him that, as we were his subjects, he had a right to make us pay him whatever money he chose to demand, whether we chose to pay it or not, General, then Dr. Warren, was one of the first to tell the people that the king had no right to make us pay one single copper without our consent; that he had not a right even to say what we ought to pay, but ought to allow us to choose our own rulers, and let them decide what our taxes should be. Mary. What are taxes, dear mother? Mrs. M. Taxes are monies paid for the support of those who govern us. You know that every city and town makes choice of men whom they can trust, to meet together to say what and how much these taxes shall be. Now it was not possible that we should send men every year to England, to meet with the rulers there, to agree on what we ought to pay, and, unless we did, we should be taxed unjustly. Therefore the only way to be taxed fairly, was to choose people ourselves to tax us. The king would neither let us say what we ought to pay, nor would he let us say who should govern us. He insisted on our suffering men whom he sent over, to govern us; and he obliged us to pay them, even though they oppressed us. William. What a shame! I do not wonder our people determined not to submit to it. Mrs. M. The people were so much attached to the king and their mother country, as England was always called, that they would not have resisted this; at least not so early after their settlement in this country, had the king stopped here. But he chose, notwithstanding all our remonstrances and petitions, to continue to impose taxes without our consent. We could hardly buy an article which came from England, that we did not have to pay for it more than its worth, so that the king might have part of the money. As almost every thing we consumed was brought from England, this tax of course bore very heavy on a young country. But still this was not the reason it was resisted; it was because it was unjust to impose any taxes on a free people, without their consent. Gen. Warren endeavored, with all the powers of his vigorous mind, to make the people understand their rights. His arguments, and those of others who thought like him, had so far convinced them of the necessity of resisting these taxes, that, when a cargo of tea arrived at the port of Boston, on every pound of which there was a heavy duty, a number of people, [Pg 23] [Pg 24] [Pg 25] [Pg 26] [Pg 27] [Pg 28] disguised in Indian dresses, entered the vessel in the night which contained it, broke open the chests of tea, and threw all that was in them, into the water. They thus showed that they preferred to have their families go without an article which was much valued by them, rather than to pay for it by yielding, in the slightest degree, to an act that would endanger their liberties. Their wives, so far from repining at this deprivation, determined, from that moment, not to touch a drop of their favorite beverage until they could have it free from taxes. Mary. That was right. I am glad they did what they could to support those brave men. Mrs. M. After this daring act, the king determined to make us submit by force. He therefore sent over more soldiers to control us; he had always kept some here; and he sent Gen. Gage to command them, and to be our Governor. He also sent ships filled with armed men, to occupy our harbour, and to prevent any other vessels from coming to our assistance. Should you not think that the Boston people would now be tempted to give up the point? William. Yes, mamma, I should; for I do not see how they could see any prospect of gaining it with their town and their harbour filled with British soldiers. Mrs. M. So far from giving it up, they only determined more strenuously to endeavor to gain it. They would not suffer any of the British rulers or judges to meet. They closed all the court houses where these men wanted to meet, and decided all their disputes and difficulties themselves: indeed, they were so determined not to need these courts, that the utmost order and regularity reigned among them. Sometimes, indeed, the British officers or the soldiers which thronged the streets would exasperate the people so much, that they collected in mobs, determined to avenge themselves on them. At such times Gen. Warren repeatedly exposed his life in the midst of these mobs, to soothe them and restrain them from acts of violence. His persuasive eloquence seldom failed to bring them to their duty, and to make them ashamed of what they were about to do. He would tell them that it was a very bad way to show they could govern themselves, by committing acts which would let every one see they had neither justice nor humanity; that while so many good men were doing all in their power to free them from the oppression of others, it was a great injury to the cause of freedom for them to oppress in their turn; and thus to take upon themselves to both judge and punish others without giving those whom they disliked an opportunity to defend themselves. At first, the men who composed these mobs would try to drive him away, and make a noise to prevent his being heard. While they did this, he would stand calmly and look at them. His intrepidity, his commanding and animated countenance, and, above all, their knowledge that he was in reality on their side, as far as it was right to be, would soon make them as eager to hear as he was to speak, and, finally, they would disperse to their houses, with the most perfect confidence that they could not do better than to leave their cause in such hands. Although Gen. Warren thus restrained the people from revenging the insults of the British, he did not escape them himself. They took every opportunity of calling him a rebel, and telling him, as they did all those who were on his side, that he would meet the fate of a rebel, that of being hung. You know there is a piece of land which connects Boston to Roxbury, called the neck, do you not? Mary. Yes, mamma, we often ride over it when we go to R—, do we not? Mrs. M. Yes, my dear. Formerly people were hung oftener and much more publicly than at present. There was, therefore, a gallows erected on the neck, on which to hang criminals, where every body could see them. One day, Dr. Joseph Warren was going over to Roxbury, to visit his mother, whom he loved very much; when he had gone over a little way on the neck he came to a spot where three or four British officers were standing together, talking, as he passed them, one of them called out "Go on, Warren, you will soon come to the gallows." They meant he would soon come to the gallows on the neck, but it was very evident they also meant to insult him, as they burst into a loud laugh so soon as it was said. Warren was not a man to submit to an insult from any one, least of all from them. He immediately turned back, walked up to them, and calmly requested to know which of them had thus addressed him. Not one of them had the courage to avow his insolence. Finding he could obtain no answer, he at last left them, ashamed of themselves and of each other, but glad to have got off so easily. William. What a set of cowards! I wish Gen. Warren could have given them a good flogging. Mrs. M. It would have been but what they deserved, to be sure. It usually happens that those who are most ready to insult, where they think no defence can be made, are the greatest cowards when called upon to avow or defend what they have done. Gen. Warren had so much power over the feelings of those whom he addressed, that is, he was so eloquent, that he was several times chosen, by those who were in favor of the cause of liberty, to address the people from the pulpit, that a great many at a time might hear him. Do you know anything about the 5th of March massacre, in which the first American blood was shed by the British? William. Yes, mamma, we both know about it. We have read it in Parley's First Book of History. Mrs. M. I am glad of it; that is a most excellent little history, and contains a great deal you ought to remember. You know, then, that for some years after that massacre, on every 5th of March there was an oration delivered in the Old South meeting-house, to tell every body that one injury after another had been inflicted on us by the British, until the common people had become so angry that whenever they saw a British soldier they wanted to insult him. By the way, I will stop here a moment, to tell you of something which was done by one of the British officers, which will show you that the people of Boston had some reason to dislike them. The British were very much afraid that guns should be procured by the Americans from their soldiers, and whenever they knew that any American had bought a musket from one of their men, they punished him severely. Some of the officers, however, were so eager to have an excuse for punishing our men, that they would tempt them to buy guns, on purpose to make a difficulty. One in particular, a Col. Nesbit, ordered one of his men to offer an American, who had come in from the country, an old musket, very cheap. The poor man, little suspecting any trick, eagerly bought it. Col. Nesbit immediately took him up and confined him all night in the guard house. The next morning he stripped him entirely naked, covered him over with warm tar, then he put feathers over that and placed him on a cart and conducted him through Boston streets, quite up to the south end. He was guarded by thirty grenadiers, with fixed bayonets; twenty drums and fifes accompanied them, playing the "Rogues March," and the despicable [Pg 29] [Pg 30] [Pg 31] [Pg 32] [Pg 33] [Pg 34] [Pg 35] Nesbit headed the procession with his sword drawn. William. I think it was a "rogues march" indeed, dear mother, don't you? But what became of the poor man, did not our people rescue him, and do something to that wicked Colonel? Mrs. M. When they reached that part of Washington street where the liberty tree then was, the people had become so excited, that the cowardly Nesbit was glad to let his soldiers disperse, and he and they skulked to their barracks as quick as they could. The unfortunate object of their cruelty was of course liberated and taken care of. William. Oh how I wish they had caught Col. Nesbit, and tarred and feathered him as he had the man! Mrs. M. It was much better to let him go. This conduct of his served our cause better than any thing he could have done; and it would have been a pity for us to have followed his example, and thus have lessened the odium attached to him. William. I do not at all wonder, if such was the conduct of the British, that our men felt angry whenever they met any of them. Mrs. M. Nor I. But to return to the 5th of March Orations. The great subject of them was, the oppression of the British, and the quarrels which were constantly taking place between their soldiers and ours, and which it was impossible to avoid, while these oppressions were permitted. The orators did not then urge the people to throw off the government of Great Britain, they only explained their rights, and called upon them not to give them up, but one and all to petition the king to take away his soldiers and his governors from our country, and permit us to choose rulers from among ourselves, and to form our own soldiers. These petitions were accordingly repeatedly sent to the king, but the more we petitioned the more soldiers he sent. Gen. Warren delivered two of these orations. The first had so great an effect on the people, that they determined to resort to arms if their petitions were unsuccessful. Indeed, all these orations had such a powerful influence on the hearers, that the British officers determined there should be no more such. They declared it should be as much as a person's life was worth to attempt again to deliver one. Many men who would otherwise have been desirous to speak on the anniversary of the massacre, now thought it most prudent to keep quiet. Though they would have been quite willing to fight in defence of their country's liberties, yet they thought that to get up and speak, surrounded with soldiers and their bayonets, who were under the command of those who had uttered such threats, would be much worse than to face their enemies with arms in their hands. William. I should think so too. I am sure, if I saw men standing before me ready to shoot me, or stick their bayonets into me, if I said any thing they did not like, I should at least have forgotten all I had to say. Mrs. M. Gen. Warren did not think so. As the next 5th of March approached, after these threats had been made, he did not wait to be invited to speak on the occasion, but himself solicited permission to address the people. All his noble feelings were roused at the idea that men from another country should presume to say what Americans should speak, and what they should not; and he determined that his voice should be once more heard, even should it then be silenced forever. The sun shone on the 6th of March, 1775,[1] with unusual splendour. Warren saw it rise, and as he gazed upon its brilliant rays, he thought that perhaps ere those rays were again withdrawn from the earth, he might be a breathless corpse, never more to behold them, but no regret at the duty he had undertaken for a moment darkened his mind; he hailed its cheering beams as a proof that Heaven itself smiled on his exertions for his country's welfare. At an early hour the Old South meeting-house was crowded even to its porch. Many of the friends of the much loved speaker were there, determined, if he was attacked, he should not be without his defenders. The aisles of the meeting-house, the steps to the pulpit, even the pulpit itself, were occupied by the British. Warren was not to be frightened from his purpose by all this. He thought that if he attempted to go in at the door and up the pulpit stairs, the British officers might endeavor to stop him, and that, even if they did not succeed, the attempt would cause so much confusion that no one would be calm enough to listen to him afterwards. So how do you suppose he contrived to reach the pulpit? Mary. I should think he would not have attempted it, but would have put off speaking, at least, until the pulpit was clear. William. I dare say he managed in some such way as he did when his classmates undertook to keep him out of their room. Mrs. M. It was not very unlike it. He requested some of his friends to assist him, and they procured a ladder, put it up outside the pulpit window, and while all within were anxiously watching for him at the door, and his friends were trembling for fear he would not be able to make his way through the crowd, they raised their eyes, and, to the astonishment of them all, beheld him in the pulpit! The British officers were so surprised at his coolness and intrepidity, that they involuntarily fell back at his approach. He advanced to address the assembled multitude, not knowing but that, at the first word he spoke, a bayonet would be thrust into his defenceless side. Every eye was fixed upon him in almost breathless emotion. So awful and perfect was the silence that each one could hear the palpitations of his own heart. Every face was pale but his own. His animated and expressive countenance was lighted up, and glowing with all the enthusiasm that the most ardent love for the rights of his country could inspire. The officers who stood near to him, so far from making his noble spirit tremble or hesitate, only inspired him with greater animation to tell over the wrongs which they had done us, and the still greater wrongs they were about to do. He called upon the soldiers not to assist their masters in this; not to aid a parent to oppress his children and wrest from them their hard earned rights. He told them that our fathers had come to this country to avoid the very tyranny that was now bearing so heavily on their children. That they came here to worship God in the way they thought most acceptable to Him. That they had given up their homes, their friends, and all the comforts of civilized life, for freedom. That they had suffered the greatest hardships from savages, from cold, poverty, and the want of every thing worth having, except liberty. He told them that through all the cares and all the sufferings of our pilgrim fathers, they still looked back on the country from which they came with the affection of children. They had obeyed its laws, had sent it money, and had done all that was in their power to do, to prove that they were deeply interested in its welfare. But that now that we, the [Pg 36] [Pg 37] [Pg 38] [Pg 39] [Pg 40] [Pg 41] descendants of those who had undergone so much, were beginning to enjoy what they had purchased so dearly, these Britains were determined to oppress us. That their king, who ought to take a pleasure in our prosperity, judged us without hearing us, gave us rulers who took no interest in our prosperity, and insisted that we should pay money for the privilege of buying what it was for his interest to sell us. It is long since I read this eloquent address, and I cannot give you any correct idea of it; you must read it yourself to form one.[2] The scene, while Warren was speaking, was sublime and interesting beyond any thing of the kind that had ever before been witnessed in this country, or, perhaps in any other. When the orators of ancient times were urging their countrymen not to submit to tyrants, those tyrants were far away—but while Warren was making this appeal to his countrymen, it was in the presence of the very oppressors themselves, who were gazing on him with arms in their hands, arms ready to be used the moment their passions were roused! That their passions were roused, I think there can be little doubt; but there was so much determination in the looks of those around, that I suppose they were not willing to run the risk of attacking a man thus guarded by the love, almost the adoration of those whom he addressed. Besides this, there were many among the British who were so much affected by Warren's address, as to be unwilling to use any violence against the speaker. If such was its effect on his enemies, what must it have been on his friends? It was so powerful that, at that moment they might have been led on to an entire renunciation of the government of Great Britain. The time, however, had not yet quite arrived for so bold an act; the country was young and without resources, or any prospect of aid from other countries. Still, from this time, many who had not before expressed an opinion, now openly declared that we ought to be independent. Things had been gradually operating to produce an almost universal belief that there was little to be expected from the king of England. Josiah Quincy, the father of him who is now president of Cambridge College, was a warm friend of Gen. Warren's, and had aided in all his efforts to repel the encroachments of the king. About six months before this oration was delivered, he had embarked privately for England. From his letters it was evident that, although many influential men there were in our favor, yet those by whom the king was governed were against us, so that there was little prospect that any change for the better should take place. The general tenor of his letters to his countrymen, while he himself was in England, was, what he says, he had long before told them, that "they must seal their cause with their blood, that in the sight of God and all just men, that cause is a good one," and if Americans do not act up to their professions "they would be trodden into the vilest vassalage, the scorn, contempt, the spurn of their enemies, a bye-word of infamy among men." That Americans would "be true to themselves," and were ready, when called on, "to seal their cause with their blood," his friend Warren was among the most earnest to convince him. He writes to him, "It is the united voice of America, to preserve their freedom, or lose their lives in its defence." "I am convinced," he says, "that the true spirit of liberty was never so universally diffused through all orders and ranks of people, in any country on the face of the globe, as it now is through all North America." He says of the provincial Congress, of which he had been elected president: "Congress met at Concord at the time appointed. About two hundred and sixty members were present." "You would have thought yourself in an assembly of Spartans, or ancient Romans, had you been a witness to the ardour which inspired those who spoke on the important business they were transacting." The Congress of which he here speaks was composed of men chosen by the people, to provide for the safety of their fellow citizens, and to order all that was necessary to be done to enable them to resist the tyrannical laws of the king of England. The terms in which Gen. Warren speaks of this congress, were no doubt very cheering to Mr. Quincy, who must himself have ardently desired to have been present among them. He remained only six months in England, and died on his passage home, just as the vessel which he was on board entered the harbour of Cape Ann, on the 26th of April, 1775. William. Oh how sorry I am! He must have wished very much to have seen his countrymen once more. Mrs. M. He did indeed. He repeatedly said to the seamen, who were attending on him, that he had but one desire and one prayer, which was, that he might live long enough to have one interview with his friend Joseph Warren, or with Samuel Adams. His prayer was not granted, for wise purposes no doubt. Nor did he know that his predictions that blood would be shed before liberty could be attained, were accomplished, and that his countrymen had already, in the battle of Lexington, sealed their constancy in the cause of liberty "with their blood." But I must go back a little to tell you what led to that battle. The British had been for some time aware that the Americans were determined to repel their aggressions by arms, since all other means had failed. They therefore determined to take from us the means of defence. They thought if they could get possession of our powder and balls, we of course could not fire our guns or cannon. They resolved to attempt first to gain those which were at Concord, a small town about 18 miles from Boston. On the 18th of March, 1775, Gen. Gage despatched, as secretly as possible, eight or nine hundred soldiers, under the command of a Col. Smith, to destroy all the stores in that place, thinking this a safer plan than to try to keep them. This they hoped to effect before our people had time to make any resistance. But the Americans were not so easily taken by surprise. Gen. Warren had directed a number of men to keep watch on the motions of the British, and to let him know when there was any appearance of an attack upon us. These men discovered this plan of theirs, and immediately gave Warren information of it. He would not do any thing hastily, so he went himself to watch them. One evening he observed there was an unusual stir in the English camp. Unperceived by them he saw Col. Smith and his men embark on board some of their vessels, and he had no doubt they were going to Charlestown, and from thence to Concord. He, the same night, despatched messengers through the neighboring country, to give notice of the designed attack. He rode himself all night, and passed so near the enemy as to be several times in danger of becoming their prisoner, but escaped by his undaunted courage and self-possession. Col. Revere was one of his messengers; I think he was sent to Lexington. He had of course to pass through Charlestown. As he was turning a corner of one of the streets, he discovered a party of soldiers approaching, he knew them to belong to the enemy; for a moment he hesitated whether to turn back or proceed; but it was only for a moment; he recollected that probably the safety of hundreds depended on his executing the commission entrusted to him, he put his horse into a gallop, and, before the astonished men had time to ascertain if he was friend or foe, he had dashed through them and was nearly out of sight! In vain with their halloos and their whizzing balls they attempted to stop him; of the halloos he was regardless, and from their balls he was preserved by that Being who seemed in a most especial manner to smile upon our cause. William. I am glad they could not stop him. I think he was a brave man, do not you mamma? I fear I should have turned back [Pg 42] [Pg 43] [Pg 44] [Pg 45] [Pg 46] [Pg 47] [Pg 48] [Pg 49] when I saw the soldiers coming. Mrs. M. He certainly was a very brave man, and we had a great many such during the Revolution. I trust you would have been brave too, had you lived in such times, and would not have turned back from the performance of a duty, because it was dangerous to execute it. Revere executed his so faithfully, that when the British arrived at Lexington, which is six miles this side of Concord, they were met by a body of our militia, who endeavored to keep them from advancing. It was now about sunrise. Warren, although he had had no rest that night, hastened to the field of action, determined to be ready to aid and animate his countrymen, and to share every danger to which they were exposed. The small number of men which had time to assemble were not, however, able to make much opposition to the veteran soldiers of Great Britain. When the officers of these men cried out, "Disperse, you rebels, disperse, throw down your arms and disperse," many left the field. As they were doing so, some of the enemy fired on them; this brought on an engagement, in which eight of our men were killed and seven wounded. The British pursued their march to Concord, and destroyed sixty barrels of flour, and other stores deposited there. Our men had now collected in greater numbers, and opposed them so resolutely as to drive them back to Lexington in quick march, and they continued to annoy them through the whole of their retreat to Charlestown: so that, before they arrived there, they had lost many men. Some were wounded, some taken prisoners, and others slain. Gen. Warren, from his ardor in pressing on them was near being killed. A musket-ball came so close to him as to take off a lock of his hair which curled close to his head, as was the fashion of the time. You may see how his hair was dressed if you look at his picture in Faneuil Hall. Mary. How could it help wounding him, dear mother, when it came so near? Mrs. M. It seems wonderful that it should not have wounded him; but he was spared a little longer by that Being, who alone can judge what is the proper time in which a valuable life should be taken. When his mother first saw him after this escape, she entreated him, with tears in her eyes, not again to risk a life so dear to her, and so necessary to his country. "Wherever danger is, dear mother," was his reply, "there must your son be, now is no time for one of America's children to shrink from the most hazardous duty. I will either see my country free, or shed my last drop of blood to make her so." He was not permitted to see this; but he did indeed shed his life's blood, that others might be free. That blood was not shed in vain. It is probable that his death did nearly as much to animate his countrymen in the cause of liberty, as he himself could have done had he lived. After the battle of Lexington, there was an exchange of prisoners made. The British agreed to release those they had taken, in exchange for those taken by the Americans. The place appointed for this exchange to be made was Charlestown, the town so soon after destroyed by some of the very men now met for purposes of kindness and good will. Gen. Warren, as President of Congress, and the brave Gen. Putnam, (under whom Warren had previously served as a volunteer in a skirmish on one of the islands, in which the English had been defeated, and one of their vessels burnt,) were escorted by two of the finest companies of the Massachusetts soldiers, to the place of meeting. The scene was interesting and impressive. Although there had been difficulties among the English soldiers and our people, and with some of the officers also, yet most of the officers, on both sides, had been cordial to each other; some had been intimate friends. They had, previous to the difficulties between the two countries, served under the same commanders, fought the same battles, glowed with united hopes of victory, or felt disheartened together when they failed in their undertakings. These feelings could not be altogether repressed, and when they now first met, after having been arrayed against each other,—met too, to exchange offices of kindness and hospitality, with the sacred flag of truce waving over their heads, every sentiment but that of friendship was forgotten, and they rushed into each others' arms, overcome with feelings too powerful for expression. These feelings quickly spread around, and each hardy soldier was ready to extend the hand of amity to the other. After the business...