Joseph Warren of Boston, Massachusetts was a prominent medical doctor and outspoken supporter of colonial rights in the years leading up to the American War for Independence. It was Warren who dispatched his friend and fellow patriot Paul Revere on his famous "midnight ride" warning colonists of the movements of the British army on April 18, 1775, leading to the first shots of the American Revolution on the morning of April 19.

The Death of General Warren at Bunker Hill, by John Trumbull

In May 1775, Warren was appointed President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and on June 14, was commissioned a Major General in the Massachusetts provincial forces. Three days later, before receiving official instructions or a command, Warren joined the colonial forces to resist the British attack on Bunker Hill in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and offered his services as a private soldier.

On June 17, 1775, during the Battle of Bunker Hill, Warren was killed. His body was buried by the British in a mass grave outside of Boston. In early 1776, Warren’s family and friends, including Revere, sought to locate and exhume his remains for eventual reburial in an individual grave.

Years earlier, Warren had received a dental prosthetic, constructed of ivory and gold wire, from Revere, a dentist and silversmith by trade. The prosthesis replaced Warren’s upper left canine and first premolar. During the exhumation, Revere recognized the dental appliance he had created for Warren.

Revere’s confirmation of General Warren’s identity was the first instance in this country of an identification of a military service member using dental remains.

 

Dental Tools Attributed to Paul Revere Late 18th Century In one of the earliest cases of forensic evidence used to indentify a fallen American soldier, Paul Revere recognized dental work he had done on Joseph Warren thus identifying Warren’s remains and allowing the family to receive the body and give it a proper reburial.