The relics of General Joseph Warren : a paper read before the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Wednesday, November 4, 1857 / by James S. Loring.
- James Spear Loring
- Date:
- [1857]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The relics of General Joseph Warren : a paper read before the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Wednesday, November 4, 1857 / by James S. Loring. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)
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![several time* had private conversations with him. I have thought him a man of honest, upright prin- ciples, and one desirous of accommodating the dif- ference between Great Britain and her colonies in a just and honorable way. He did not appear to be desirous of continuing the quarrel in order to make himself necessary, which is too often the case with persons employed with public affairs ; but a vcopy of a letter via Philadelphia said to be written by him to Lord North, gives a very different cast to his character. His answer to the Provincial Congress, which was certainly ill-judged, I suppose was the work of some of that malicious group of harpieswhose disappointments make them desirous to urge the governor to drive every thing to ex- tremes ; but in this letter, if it be genuine, he seems to court the office of a destroyer of the lib- erties, and murderer of the people of this province. But you have doubtless read the paper and thought with indignation of its contents. Warren said to Quincy of the Bostonians in 17 74, that they take an honest pride in being singled out by a tyrannical administration as the most determined enemies of arbitrary power. Having exhibited* the visible and tangible indi- cation of the devotion of General Warren to the independence of his native land, which was far dearer to himself than his own life's blood, I in- vite your attention to an indication of his devotion to his God, in the possession of the book of pure piety, now before us, which was printed within one year of three centuries ago. [Here an antique 'book was exhibited.'] Perhaps the proof that this volume was actually found in the pocket of War- ren after the Battle of Bunker Hill, is not so posi- tive as is the evidence in relation to the sword, yet we think it highly probable. A British soldier, on his return from Boston to London, exhibited a Psalm Book to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Wilton, of that city, stating that he took the volume from the pocket of General Warren, after the Battle of Bunker Hill. The title of this great rarity is as follows: The Boke of Psalmes, wherein are contained Praires, Meditations and Thanksgivings to God for his Church, translated faithfully according to the Hebrew. With brief and apt annotations in the margin. Printed at Geneva, by Rowland Hall, 1559. It is a sweet little 32mo. volume. On the inside cover of this book is written — North America. Taken at v' Battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775, out of Dr. 'Warren's pocket. On the inside cover, at the end of the volume, is written Thomas Knight, probablj the name of the regular who found the book. 1 was informed by Dr. John C. Warren, that General Warren's autograph, which was on a. blank leaf, has been abstracted. J gather further information of this relic from The Genealo-y of Warren, by Dr. John C. Warren, of Boston. In the year 1776, Dr. Gordon, the historian, then of Roxbury, of whom we have many animated reminiscences, received a curious, ancient small book of Psalms from an English clergyman. The edition, one of the ear- liest translations of any part of the Bible, was ex- ecuted during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and printed at Geneva. The typography is very fine. The binding is in a beautiful and peculiar style, being composed of goat skin, and studded over with gilt fleurs-de-lis, and is in every part still per- fect. The book is about two by three inches. It contains another inscription on the back of the title page, which informs us that it was purchased of a private engaged in the Battle of Bunker Hill, by an English clergyman, Dr. Samuel Wilton, who gave ten times its value, lest, as he says, it should be exhibited in triumph as the spoil of a Presby- terian rebel. Dr. Wilton sent it to Dr. Gordon, with the request, that it should be delivered to surviving relatives, if any there were. Dr. Wil- ton died within three months after. Dr. Gordon faithfully executed the commission, consigning the book to Dr. John Warren, from whom it passed into the hands of Dr. John C. Warren, its recent possessor. It is now transmitted to Dr. John Mason Warren, who has kindly loaned it for the inspection of our antiquaries here. I shall ever re- member my agreeably surprised sensation, when the venerated Dr. Warren, now deceased, very cautiously presented this highly antique relic to my view, when preparing the Hundred Orators, before I had heard of its existence, and his ex- treme care to prevent a copy of Dr. Wilton's in- scription from being taken. The, fourth, and last Warren relic which we have here is, the bullet that the Hon. Alexander H. Everett exhibited at Charlestown, June 17, 1836 [liere the bullet was exhibited'] on the de- livery of an anniversary oration, which, he in- formed the audience, was the identical ball that killed Gen. Warren. The cartridge paper, ex- claimed he, which still partly covers it, is stained, as you see, with the hero's blood. While I re- gard the evidence that the bullet was one of the balls that entered Warren's body as being as strong as that regarding the identity of either the Rapier or the antique Psalm Book, I see no evi- dence that it was the actual ball that occasioned his death. The blood stains upon it will ever sanc- tify the precious relic. It is important to examine the testimony of the Rev. William Montague, for- merly rector of Christ Church, in Boston, regard- in^ Arthur Savage, of London, who stated that he removed the ball from the body of Warren, after the battle, lor evidence upon this subject. I would here enter a protest against the un- controllable passion among our countrymen, and even among antiquaries, for the varied relies](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21137717_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
