Boston: Bunker Hill, 17 June 1775

John Adams Laments the Loss of General Warren

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Genl. Warren taking leave of his wife and child on the eve of the battle of Bunker Hill. " New York Public Library Digital Collections.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Battle of Bunker Hill & death of Gen. Warren. " New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Trumbull, John,

Trumbull, John, "The Battle of Bunker's Hill near Boston" (1808). Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.

Norman, John,

Norman, John, "Major Genl. Joseph Warren: slain at the battle of Bunker's Hill June 17 1775 " (1776). Prints, Drawings and Watercolors from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Warren tendering his services to General Putnam just before the battle of Bunker Hill. " New York Public Library Digital Collections.

John Adams, a delegate from Massachusetts in the Second Continental Congress, wrote a letter to fellow delegate James Warren which expressed great dissatisfaction with the performance of General Ward, who remained in Cambridge during the battle and appointed no senior commander to control all the colonial troops at Bunker’s Hill. Adams had nothing but praise, however, for Maj. Gen. Joseph Warren, who chose to fight as a common enlisted soldier so General Putnam, an older man with far more military experience, could supervise the battle. Warren died defending Breed’s Hill.

"“We more than once repulsed by the Bravery of our men in the Imperfect Lines hove up the Night before, who had they been supplied with Ammunition, and a Small reinforcement of Fresh men, would thus under every disadvantage have in all probability beat them to peices. Here fell our worthy, and much Lamented Friend Doctr. Warren with as much Glory as Wolf on the plains of Abraham, after performing many feats of Bravery and Exhibiting a Coolness and . . .. Had our Braven men posted on Ground Injudiciuously at first taken, had a Lee or a Washington Instead of a General destitute of all Military Ability and Spirit to Command them it is my opinion the day would have terminated with as much Glory to America as the 19th of April.”"

John Adams to James Warren, 20 June 1775
Sources
  • https://founders.archives.gov