Dr. Joseph Warren, who was slain at Bunker Hill, when urged by Elbridge
Gerry not to go into the fight, replied quietly, and we know sincerely:
_Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori_ (To die for one’s country is
both agreeable and fitting). He had that very day been appointed a
Major-General by Congress, but had not yet received his Commission.
When he presented himself before Colonel Prescott, the latter naturally
tendered him the command. But Warren replied with the modesty which so
often characterizes the bravest of men, _I come as a volunteer with my
musket to serve under you_.
When the British General Gage heard of Warren’s death he is said to
have remarked, _It is well; that one man was equal to five hundred
ordinary soldiers_. It was probably General Israel Putnam--“Old
Put”--commanding at the rail fence at Bunker Hill, who gave the famous
order, _Don’t fire until you can see the whites of their eyes_. This
was because the patriots’ powder was so pitifully short. Colonel
Prescott’s injunction was, _Don’t waste a grain; make every shot tell_.
* * * * *
Washington was journeying to New England to take command of the army
when the Battle of Bunker Hill was fought. On hearing of it he inquired
anxiously, _Did they stand the fire of the regulars?_ _That they did_,
was the response, and _held their own fire in reserve until the enemy
was within eight rods_. _Then_, said Washington, _the liberties of the
country are safe_.
The Bunker Hill Monument, it will be remembered, inspired one of Daniel
Webster’s greatest orations. This is its peroration: _When honored and
decrepit age shall lean against the base of this monument, and troops
of vigorous youths shall be gathered around it, and when the one shall
speak to the other of its objects, the purposes of its construction,
and the great and glorious events with which it was connected--then
shall come from every youthful breast the ejaculation--Thank God!--I
also--am an American!_