05/01/2026
Always honored here in Charlestown and by Masons everywhere Massachusetts Freemasonry 250th Commemorations
In the aftermath of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, in which he had fought courageously and narrowly avoided death, Dr. Joseph Warren sent an urgent call to arms to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress:
In Congress at Watertown, April 30th, 1775.
Gentlemen,—The barbarous murders on our innocent brethren on Wednesday the 19th instant, has made it absolutely necessary that we immediately raise an army to defend our wives and our children from the butchering hands of an inhuman soldiery, who, incensed at the obstacles they meet with in their bloody progress, and enraged at being repulsed from the field of slaughter, will, without the least doubt, take the first opportunity in their power to ravage this devoted country with fire and sword. We conjure you, therefore, that you give all assistance possible in forming an army. Our all is at stake. Death and devastation are the certain consequences of delay; every moment is infinitely precious; an hour lost may deluge your country in blood and entail perpetual slavery upon the few of your posterity who may survive the carnage. We beg and entreat you, as you will answer it to your country, to your own consciences, and, above all, as you will answer to God himself, that you will hasten and encourage, by all possible means, the enlistment of men to form the army, and send them forward to head-quarters at Cambridge, with that expedition which the vast importance and instant urgency of the affair demands.
Joseph Warren, President
According to historian James Nelson, “there was no one more responsible for guiding the colonies from organized resistance to outright war for independence than Dr. Joseph Warren.”
Warren’s call was answered by the American people, and when the British army marched from Boston on June 17, 1775 to attack the Patriots who had ringed the city, they were resisted by thousands of Patriot militiamen. Among them was Dr. Warren, who despite having been commissioned a major general, took his place in the ranks that day as a private.
After his heroic death at the Battle of Bunker Hill, Warren was lauded and revered throughout the soon-to-be new republic that he gave his life to help create. Although not widely remembered now, 14 states have Warren counties, and across America there are nearly 40 cities, towns, and townships named in his honor.
The portrait is by John Singleton Copley.
