HIST 701 WK 3 Historical Literacy Video

Abstract:

In this week’s video, we discuss the life of Joseph Warren, who not only served as a patriot in the American Revolution but also as Grand Master of Bostonian Freemasons. In this video, we look at the slaughter of Warren and how he was viewed immediately following in an elegiac poem. Moving forward we see how years later this patriot is remembered as someone who moved the earth before his very feet and was such a figure that he was regarded as a hero. Lastly, we look at how Warren was remembered as Grand Master and how it was not simply patriots who went looking for his corpse but Freemasons, who sought to give their deceased brother a proper Masonic funeral. In this Masonic document, Warren’s reasoning for dying that day is extracted and articulated in such extravagant terms.

Bibliography:

A Columbian. An eulogium on Major General Joseph Warren, who fell in the action at Charlestown, June XVII, MDCCLXXV. Boston: John Boyle 1781 (accessed 25 May, 2022).

An Elegiac poem, composed on the never-to-be-forgotten terrible and bloody battle fought at an intrenchment on Bunker-Hill. Salem: Ezekiel Russell, 1775 (accessed 27 May, 2022).

Webb, Thomas Smith. The Freemason’s Monitor, or Illustrations of Masonry. New York City: Southwick and Crooker, 1802. (accessed 26 May, 2022).