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!_ NATHAN HALE After Washington’s retreat, following the battle of Long Island, he was most anxious to discover the intentions of the British in New York. Nathan Hale, a young Captain from Connecticut--he had formerly been a schoolmaster--volunteered to try and secure this information. He was detected, arrested, and summarily condemned by the British, however, and as he stood under the fatal noose awaiting the ignominious death of a spy, the brutal British officer, Cunningham, who was in charge of the execution shouted at him, _Give us your dying speech, you young rebel._ And Hale replied in a calm, clear voice, _I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country_. WILLIAM PITT