The Battle of Bunker Hill, a Seismic Early Revolutionary War Conflict, and Dr. Joseph Warren

On June 23, Sons of the Revolution in the State of New York, Inc. commemorated the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill with a reception and lecture by Dr. Samuel A. Forman*, author of Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty. At the 250th anniversary of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, we recall the Battle of Bunker Hill, whose carnage and sacrifice set the stage for eight long years of war. What began as a dispute to assert British Constitutional rights within colonial North America, with New England often on the point of controversy, would eventually morph into a new country, with new forms of representative and accountable government. Joseph Warren was an outstanding personality from the early and formative Revolutionary period. A physician, Mason, editorial writer and high Son of Liberty, Warren espoused an aspirational view of what America could and should be. Warren entered the national spotlight as more visible Patriot leaders left for the Continental Congresses in 1774 and 1775. From writing the stirring Suffolk Resolves, to delivering riveting speeches, dispatching Paul Revere on that Midnight Ride, leading the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and coordinating the Siege of Boston in its earliest phase, Joseph Warren was often at the forefront. When it had become apparent that the dispute with England would be decided by force of arms, Warren became a militia organizer. Declining a medical role for that of a soldier, he fought valiantly at Bunker Hill. By 1776, following the 9-month Siege of Boston, the war would come to New York with a vengeance and with the outcome far from certain. This special 250th lecture was recorded on Tuesday, June 23, 2025. *The views of the speakers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sons of the Revolution℠ in the State of New York, Inc. or its Fraunces Tavern® Museum.