Founding Martyr
The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero
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- $15.99
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
A rich and illuminating biography of America’s forgotten Founding Father, the patriot physician and major general who fomented rebellion and died heroically at the battle of Bunker Hill on the brink of revolution
Little has been known of one of the most important figures in early American history, Dr. Joseph Warren, an architect of the colonial rebellion, and a man who might have led the country as Washington or Jefferson did had he not been martyred at Bunker Hill in 1775. Warren was involved in almost every major insurrectionary act in the Boston area for a decade, from the Stamp Act protests to the Boston Massacre to the Boston Tea Party, and his incendiary writings included the famous Suffolk Resolves, which helped unite the colonies against Britain and inspired the Declaration of Independence. Yet after his death, his life and legend faded, leaving his contemporaries to rise to fame in his place and obscuring his essential role in bringing America to independence.
Christian Di Spigna’s definitive new biography of Warren is a loving work of historical excavation, the product of two decades of research and scores of newly unearthed primary-source documents that have given us this forgotten Founding Father anew. Following Warren from his farming childhood and years at Harvard through his professional success and political radicalization to his role in sparking the rebellion, Di Spigna’s thoughtful, judicious retelling not only restores Warren to his rightful place in the pantheon of Revolutionary greats, it deepens our understanding of the nation’s dramatic beginnings.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Di Spigna argues that, although Joseph Warren (1741 1775) remains largely unknown, he was "one of the most important figures in the movement for independence," a characterization amply supported by the evidence presented in this revealing and insightful biography. The doctor-turned-revolutionary wrote the Suffolk Resolves, "the pivotal documents that shaped the policies of the colonies on the eve of independence," ran the rebels' first spy ring, ordered Paul Revere's midnight ride, and served as a military commander before George Washington. During the decade preceding his death, starting with the Stamp Act, "Warren was at the center of almost every major conflict" in the Boston area. He died at Bunker Hill in 1775 because he remained on the battlefield until his troops had all gone, and he was regarded as so dangerous by the British that his corpse was decapitated and mutilated. Di Spigna incorporates diligent research, enhanced by analysis of primary sources only he has tracked down (such as medical records Warren maintained for his practice), into a gripping narrative that doesn't shy away from the darkness in his subject, including Warren's family's ownership of slaves. This book will give readers a fuller picture of American leadership before the active engagement of those now called the founding fathers.
