“Act Worthy of Yourselves” an Alternate Ending
I wrote the short story “Act Worthy of Yourselves” that asks the question “What if Dr. Joseph
Warren had survived Bunker Hill?” as part of the Historical Writers Forum anthology “Alternate
Endings” because frankly, Dr. Joseph Warren is the love of my American Revolution life.
This young and largely forgotten patriot is an important character in the first book of my
historical fantasy series, Angels and Patriots Book One: Sons of Liberty, Lexington and Concord,
Bunker Hill. I’ve also have published non-fiction works about Warren including a short piece
titled America’s First Martyr in the Military Writers Society of America’s 2021 anthology Untold
Stories, numerous blog posts, and three audio clips for a website called Hear About Hear that
provides audio clips for historic places. The three audio clips can be heard at Old South Meeting
House in Boston, Massachusetts, Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and
King’s Chapel in Boston where Warren delivered two Boston Massacre Orations (1772 & 1775),
was killed at age 34 at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775, and the chapel where his
funeral was held, respectively.
Dr. Joseph Warren
Warren was a Boston physician, Son of Liberty, politician, orator, masonic Grand Master,
president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and a major general. He was a member of the
Sons of Liberty, a group of political dissidents formed in Boston to protest King George III and
Parliament’s taxation and control of colonial authority. Their protests against the Mother
country’s sudden subjugation after more than a century of autonomy, proliferated in the America
colonies in the 1760s. Some of their famous members were Paul Revere, John Hancock, and
Samuel Adams. John Adams, a Massachusetts lawyer and politician was not a Son of Liberty,
but he was a sympathizer.
It was Joseph Warren who sent Paul Revere, along with William Dawes, on that ride to warn the
countryside that the British regulars were out of Boston and on the march looking for rebel
munitions on the night of April 18, 1775. He was holding the rebellion together in Massachusetts
during the spring of 1775 while Samuel Adams and John Hancock were hiding in Lexington for
fear of being hanged by the British for treason.
Through the committees of the Provincial Congress, he tirelessly wrote letters to leaders of other
colonies, rallying for the cause, asking for help, and pressing them for their responsibilities in the
rebellion against Britain. He gathered militia, supplies, and directed the provincial army who
conducted the siege of Boston on the British in that town after the first shots of the war were
fired in Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775.
His death at the Battle of Bunker Hill was widely lamented by his friends and patients such as
Abigail Adams, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, patriots who fought alongside
Warren on that fateful day and as far reaching as Philadelphia and the southern colonies. His
death, early in the war, served to leave him in obscurity. He deserves to be known for everything
he did in the infancy of the American Revolution to promote freedom and liberty. So the
questions is “what if Joseph Warren had survived Bunker Hill?” Where would he have stood
among the American Founding Fathers, many of whom were his fellows long before the rest of
the world had heard their names.
One last very important comment.
Under the tutelage and permission of the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation and their operations
director J Hart (with whom I will be doing further work), I’m thrilled to announce that the
foundation is producing a docudrama about Joseph Warren with a target release date of 2025.
This is the trailer narrated by Christian di Spigna author of the biography Founding Martyr.
You can help preserve the legacy of Joseph Warren by supporting the Foundation, giving to the
cause, and spreading the word. Huzzah!
http://www.djwf.org/the-trailer
My share of royalties will go to the Dr. Joseph Warren Foundation an organization
dedicated to educating the public about his life & contributions to the American
Revolution.
I hope you enjoy my short story “Act Worthy of Yourselves” in our anthology as much as I
enjoyed writing it! Available on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. Click the cover to get your
copy!
Authors:
Virginia Crow
Cathie Dunn
Sharon Bennett Connolly
Karen Heenan
Samantha Wilcoxson
Michael Ross
Salina B Baker
Elizabeth Corbett