All summer long, we’ve been reflecting on some of our local Revolutionary War heroes in honor of America’s 250th birthday. Perhaps one of the most heroic was Dr. Joseph Warren, the Roxbury-born, Harvard-trained physician who treated victims of the Boston Massacre, and became President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress before being killed at the battle of Bunker Hill at the age of 34. For all that, it seems we still might undervalue Dr. Warren’s role in the American Revolution.
Janet Uhlar, author of “Liberty’s Martyr: The Story of Dr. Joseph Warren.” She joined GBH All Things Considered host Arun Rath to share new findings about Dr. Warren’s activities prior to and during the revolution. What follows is a lightly edited transcript of their conversation.
Arun Rath: Before we get into your latest discoveries, give us some context for them. Tell us a bit more detail about Dr. Warren’s activities in and around Boston in the early days of what would become the Revolution.
Janet Uhlar: He became very involved starting in 1768. He was within the inner circle of patriot leaders, which included Samuel Adams, James Otis, John Hancock. He also was an enigma of sorts, in that he alone could stay in Boston in April of 1775 when all other patriot leaders fled, fearing they might be arrested or trapped in Boston. He not only stayed, he gathered information, he sent it out to other patriot leaders in the countryside, and he alone in that situation ignited the American Revolution. And it’s been a great enigma, as I’ve said, but historians have never tried to delve into why he could do that. And that is the paper that I, with a co-author, Matthew Ahern, just recently published.
Rath: So let’s dig into that. And we’ll talk about — there was a traitor, Benjamin Church. But before we get there, could you talk a little bit about, you know, along with many other founding fathers, Dr. Warren was a member of the — maybe not so secret — secret society, the Freemasons. Tell us a bit about how those connections were at play with revolutionary leaders in Massachusetts.
Uhlar: A lot of the people within Boston were involved in Freemasonry. Of course, it was very popular in the 18th century in Europe and in the colonies, throughout the colonies. Warren entered Freemasonry in 1765 when he was 20 years old, and that’s where he first met Paul Revere. But then he dropped out rather quickly. He was involved in his medical apprenticeship, he was busy, and he didn’t attend any lodge meetings for about four years. Then suddenly in 1768, he appears again. And not only does he come into the lodge, he was part of what was the Ancient Lodge that was, through Scottish origin, the St. Andrew’s Lodge in Boston. There was also an English lodge, St. John’s Lodge. So in St. Andrew’s Lodge, he very quickly rose to the position of Grand Master of that lodge. And by the end of 1768 — now I’ll give a little history backup here— at that point in Boston, there were 1,200 British soldiers policing the streets of Boston. And that was a problem between the townspeople and the soldiers. And so, during this period, Warren rose to that point of being Grand Master of that particular lodge and then quickly requested that the Grand Lodge of Scotland give him the title of Grand Master of Boston and with 100-mile radius of Boston.
What this did is put him over the military lodges within the British Army. The troops that were there, the 1,200 troops, any of those soldiers that were lodge members now came under his authority within the lodge. And he’s also bringing St. John’s Lodge, the English lodge, so they’re closer to St. Andrew’s so they can work together, if you will, because up until that point, St. John’s would not recognize St. Andrew’s. So he’s strategically behind the scenes making these moves within Freemasonry.
Rath: We’ve been talking about the extraordinary role Joseph Warren played in the Revolution, and it’s deeper than people even realized. In addition to the British soldiers, there is a military governor. And, well, this is probably a good point to bring in our traitor, Benjamin Church, who sold out the Massachusetts patriots to the military governor. That kind of should have been it for Dr. Warren and all of his activities, but he was not arrested. What happened?
Uhlar: He was not. When, a couple years later, the British sent 4,000 troops to Boston with the military British governor, General [Thomas] Gage — and again, Warren’s over the military lodges in the British Army, and he’s also meeting with General Gage on a regular basis. Even in early April, when most all patriot leaders fled Boston and Warren remained, he was meeting with Gage on a regular basis to try to find ways to keep peace between the British soldiers and the townspeople. Now, mind you, there were only 16,000 townspeople at that time in Boston and 4,000 soldiers. So that’s a ratio of one soldier to every four citizens. And Warren’s in there. Gage actually gets instructions to arrest Warren, as well as John Hancock and John and Samuel Adams, who had fled Boston. That’s why they were in Lexington, because they were fearful of being arrested. But Warren stayed, as well as Revere. Now, Revere was Warren’s lieutenant, pretty much, in Freemasonry. And then, Warren was free to wander Boston.
Now, General Gage knew at this point that Joseph Warren was the president of the illicit Massachusetts Provincial Congress. He knew at this point that Warren had united the First Continental Congress through resolves he wrote — referred to as the Suffolk Resolves — which called for the colonies to get ready, uh, to face the British in armed conflict. He knew he was the chairman of the Committee of Committee of Safety, which was preparing the militia and minutemen units and storing munitions. Gage did not touch him. So, Warren found out where Gage was going to march the night of April 18th, and he alone — because he had no one to confer with — he alone as president of the Provincial Congress, as chairman of the Committee of Safety, made the decision to order out the militia and minutemen units to face the British the next morning in Lexington and Concord. And he alone in that moment ignited the American Revolution. It was him that sent Paul Revere and Billy Dawes out to warn the countryside. But he didn’t leave with them. He not only sent them out to begin this war, he stayed for the night, and the next morning when he received word that shots had been fired on the Lexington Green, he left Boston on a public ferry unmolested by the British.
Rath: That’s just amazing. So it’s the shot heard round the world. Dr. Warren was the man who got the militias out, and he was able to do it because of this secret connection.
Uhlar: Yeah, I mean, his title at this point was Most Worshipful Grand Master of North America. So, his name was known within Freemasonry ... throughout North America. And ... also the English lodges now recognized him as well. And there was this brotherhood between the Masons, and part of that was to ... just keep him protected and to respect him. And so even the British officers who might have been involved in Freemasonry had to recognize his position. And that is probably, from everything I can see, the documents we dug up from back in the 1770s at the Grand Lodge in Massachusetts. That is why he could do what he did. He could uniquely remain in Boston when no other patriot leader could, and accomplish what he accomplished. And he has been virtually forgotten. And not recognized as the one who actually ignited the American Revolution.
Rath: I’m curious, you were able to find this out because of getting into the records of the lodge in Boston?
Uhlar: Yes. For years I had this theory that this is what gave him the ability to stay in Boston. But I couldn’t get a librarian over at the Grand Lodge to take enough interest to delve into their records. And finally, about 18 months ago now, there’s a new librarian there, Matthew Ahern, who I did co-author the article with. And he just plunged into those records. And we were both astonished with what he was finding and how it just really substantiated the theory for sure. And not only, you know, Warren left Boston, and as president of the Provincial Congress and chairman of the Committee of Safety, he was the one with, you know, with other Congress members and whatnot, holding together the 16,000 provincial soldiers that turned up to feed them, to clothe them, to shelter them, to get them medical attention if needed. And he was imploring those in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress, to appoint a commander-in-chief. He knew that they needed that discipline and a commander. And even doing all this, he was offered amnesty along with any other American that would lay down their arms, except for John Hancock and Samuel Adams.
Even though Warren — and it was known by General Gage — had ignited the American Revolution, even though Warren was the one that was calling for armed resistance, to prepare for armed resistance, he was going to be offered amnesty by the king, and of course he just ignored that and went on with the positions he was in.
