you to make a return of your regiment, which I wish may be done without a moment's delay, as there is an absolute order of congress, that the brigadiers shall be chosen out of the colonels.

I am your most obedient, humble servant,

Jos. WARREN.1

In the evening, he was applied to on public business, and promised that it should be attended to. About nine o'clock, Colonel Prescott, at the head of a detachment of about one thousand men, marched from Cambridge to Charlestown, passed over Bunker Hill, which had been recommended to be held, and threw up a redoubt on the heights near Boston, which have since obtained the name of Breed's Hill. The committee of safety say that this hill was chosen "by mistake." It is stated that Warren passed the night in the transaction of public business.2

1 The original of this note is in the Heath Papers, in the archives of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

2 Everett's Warren, 158.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CLOSING SCENE.

WARREN AND THE SEVENTEENTH OF JUNE. THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. WARREN IN THE BUNKERHILL BATTLE. HIS FALL. -THE GENERAL GRIEF.-THE REMAINS. - MONUMENT.

CONCLUSION.

1775. THE SEVENTEENTH OF JUNE.

THE Seventeenth of June was a marked anniversary in Warren's career. Seven years before, on this day, in a town-meeting, he recommended the people to vindicate their rights at the hazard of fortune and life.1 On the last anniversary, acting still more prominently as a popular leader, his morning hours were full of anxiety, because, for the first time, he had to meet an exigency without the guidance of Samuel Adams; but, in the evening, he was full of joy because of the success of a town-meeting, the choice of delegates to a Continental Congress, and the signs that heralded American Union.2

Warren may be said to have lived an age during the twelve months upon which he then entered. There soon happened those exigencies that occur in the progress of great events, in meeting which mediocrity too often fails, but genuine ability rises to the mark of rendering large public service. Warren, growing steadily in self-reliance, discharged the du1 See page 67. 2 See pages 319–326.

was

ties which fell to his lot in such a manner that his contemporaries said "he filled each of the numerous departments of life that were assigned to him so well, that he seemed born for no other;"1 and that "his name would live, and fill the world with wonder."2 His words, as he thus acted, show how his spirit linked itself with the heroic and memorable past of the ages; and yet how simply and tersely he could urge the practical duties of the hour. Though he an enthusiast for liberty, he appreciated the necessity of joining to it that respect which power only can command. His ideal was liberty without -licentiousness. He urged for its full enjoyment the formation of a just government, based on the will, and sustained by the power, of the people, and clothed with adequate authority to cover the rights of person and property with the ægis of law. His last utterances, private and official, plead for such a crowning to the patriot cause. He urged that the Continental Congress should authorize the formation of a local government, and transform, by adoption, the raw militia around him into a national army. On this last morning of his life, he did not know that congress had given its advice to Massachusetts, and appointed a commander-in-chief.

He passed the night of the 16th of June at Watertown, where the Provincial Congress held its sessions: but the journal of the proceedings of this day shows that he was not present at the meeting on the morning of the 17th; for it is recorded of the first item of

1 Eulogy in the Pennsylvania Magazine, June, 1775.

2 Epitaph in Boston Gazette, June 29, 1775.

8 See his Letter of the 26th of May.

991

business, "The report was ordered to lie on the table till the president came into congress.' He had declared his intention to share the peril of the day with his countrymen. When an intimate friend, Elbridge Gerry, who had been his room-mate, entreated him not to expose a life so valuable, with something like a presentiment he replied, Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.2 "It is sweet and becoming to die for the country;" and hence a patriot wrote, "The ardor of dear Doctor Warren could not be restrained by the entreaty of his brethren of the congress.

It may be sufficient as to motive to say, that the same ardor which, for the sake of the cause, had moved him to go where duty was to be performed; which had carried him to Lexington, Grape Island, and Noddle's Island, - prompted his course on this memorable day. But it was also a mark of sound judgment. He had fully resolved that his future service should be in the military line. Confidence by an army in a commander is a vital element of success; and this can be acquired only on the field. Acting, doubtless, with the fixedness of aim which characterized his whole life, he left Watertown early in the morning, with a view of making himself useful, and went to Cambridge.

The committee of safety held its sessions in the Hastings House, on Cambridge Common, in which General Ward had his head-quarters; and Warren

1 Journals of the Provincial Congress, 348.

2 Life of Elbridge Gerry, i. 84.

Letter of William Williams, June 20, 1775.

This house is still standing. It passed into the hands of Judge Oliver Wendell, and is owned now by the poet, Oliver Wendell Holmes.

met with them. The calls on this body for cannon, horses, powder, re-enforcements, the pressing orders in its journal for the towns to act, and short and hurried notes,1 attest the thrilling interest of the hour. The intelligence from Colonel Prescott was so decisive, that the British were preparing to move out of Boston and assault his works, that the committee urged General Ward to send forward additional force to Charlestown; and, about eleven o'clock, before General Howe landed in this town, Ward issued orders for more troops to march to the support of Colonel Prescott.

As the armies were making preparations for a battle, letters arrived from Philadelphia, "brought express by Mr. Fessenden," signed by John Hancock, the president, and Charles Thomson, the secretary, of the Continental Congress. They contained the great news, which was ordered to be kept secret, that the congress had ordered purchases of saltpetre, sulphur, powder, and "five thousand barrels of flour for the use of the continental army," which were to be paid for "out of the continental funds;" and also that it had recommended the people of Massachusetts to form a local government. It was another advance towards nationality. Warren probably opened these letters, and forwarded them to the Provincial Congress. They were read in the afternoon session.* Would that Warren could also have known, that a commander-in-chief had been appointed, and that, as he desired, the choice had fallen on Washington! 5

1 The manuscripts are in the Massachusetts archives. Journals of Provincial Congress, 352.

8 Ib., 354.

• Ib., 352.

The two letters of the Provincial Congress, signed by Warren, were received in the Continental Congress on the 11th of May and the 2d of June; and, after