On the week of July 4th Independence Day, let’s pay homage to a brave early American physician and patriot. Dr Joseph Warren is probably the most famous doctor from the Revolutionary period—perhaps only equaled in fame by Dr Benjamin Rush. Born in 1741, it was his heroic efforts during the Revolution that made him an American legend. However, his medical practice shouldn’t be forgotten either. He was born into a farming family in Massachusetts, and was a studious and hard working boy, attending Roxbury Latin School. He went on to study medicine, and opened a medical practice in Boston in 1764 (his younger brother John Warren was also a physician, and the founder of Harvard medical school). Back in those days, diseases such as smallpox would ravage whole communities, and there was little anyone could do to combat them. What made Dr Warren so ahead of his time was that he advocated strongly for vaccination against the disease, which at the time was still somewhat controversial and put him at odds with many of his peers. By doing so, he helped save thousands of lives. At that time would take virus particles from an active lesion on the skin of somebody infected, and then inject it under the skin of the person he was inoculating. This would frequently give them a more mild form of the disease, which enabled them to develop antibodies. Here’s a great scene from the HBO series, John Adams, which depicts what a scene from a late 1700s vaccination administration.
His medical practice took a secondary role as he became heavily involved in the tumultuous politics of the day. He was an active Sons of Liberty member, regularly interacting with other notable revolutionaries such as John Hancock and Sam Adams (he was also the personal physician to John Adams and his family). As events rapidly proceeded, it was Dr Warren who sent Paul Revere on his famous midnight ride. After the “shot heard ’round the world” at Lexington, Dr Warren became Major General Warren, bravely volunteering to take part in the frontline Patriot effort as a regular soldier, despite being advised to serve as Commander. Fighting during the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17 1775, he died while trying to hold onto the Patriot position. Although the Patriots’ lost the battle, the loss actually did more to damage British morale than their own—thus playing a crucial role in the British withdrawing from the city of Boston shortly afterwards, never to return.
Today, there is a statue of Dr Joseph Warren standing proudly at the Bunker Hill Monument, and numerous institutions across the country are named in his honor. A brave doctor and soldier, his name should never be lost to history.
Suneel Dhand is a physician, writer, and YouTuber. He is Founder at MedStoic Lifestyle Medicine and DocsDox . Follow him on YouTube and Facebook.