If Alan turned his head to the left, he'd be staring at Joseph Warren's dormitory, "Massachusetts Hall."

Last summer when I was in Boston, Sam Forman took me on a brief tour of the historic parts of Harvard Campus before dropping me off at the airport.

There were three things I really hoped to see there: the dormitories used as barracks by the Continental Army, Dr. Joseph Warren’s dormitory, and the building used by Dr. John Warren as Harvard’s first school of medicine.

Hollis Hall barracked soldiers from the Continental Army during the siege of Boston.

After Bunker Hill, the Continental Army was established. Newly instated General George Washington came to Boston and set up headquarters for this ragtag group of misfit soldiers at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Harvard Campus. Hollis Hall (above) was one such building used as barracks for the army. A plaque on the side of the building mentions this fact, rather nonchalantly, I might add. If I were a Harvard freshman I’d do whatever it took to make sure I lived here.

This plaque on Hollis Hall mentions the Continental Army's stay.

Adjacent to Hollis Hall in Harvard Yard is another historic, Revolutionary era building. This one is Massachusetts Hall. Most notably, to us Dreamers, this was the dormitory where Joseph Warren lived when he was a teenage Harvard student.

Dr. Joseph Warren lived here, but so did a few of his colleagues. Ever heard of the Adams cousins...? Mr. Hancock...?

Joseph Warren, John Hancock, John Adams, Elbridge Gerry, James Otis and Samuel Adams also lived here when they were students. It’s not really a surprise then that the president of the university has his office there now, is it?

Knock, Knock! Who's there? Dr. Warren! (And don't you dare say "Dr. Warren, who?")

There is a famous little story about Joseph Warren climbing up a rainspout to get into a locked room. No sooner had he jumped through the window, the rainspout fell away from the wall and crashed to the ground. Safely inside and back on his feet, Warren, unfazed, declared to his classmates that at least the rainspout had, “served it’s purpose.”

The tale might not be true, but if it is, Sam tells me the rainspout in question would, at that time, have been a hollowed out log. That the son of an apple farmer would be good at climbing trees doesn’t surprise me. (We also know Warren for another famous climb– into the Old South Meeting House!)

The site of Dr. Warren's famous teenage ascent?

Just because he could have doesn’t mean he did. It just means the story is plausible.

Massachusetts Hall was also converted into army barracks during the siege of Boston.

The fourth floor of Massachusetts Hall is still used as dormitories.

I love 18th century architecture before the Federalist style took over. It’s a good thing I had a flight to catch or I would have kept Sam there a lot longer that day…

Dr. John Warren taught at Holden Chapel.

Nearby was Holden Chapel. In 1783 this tiny little building was the site of new Harvard Medical School, established by none other than Dr. John Warren, Joseph Warren’s youngest brother who was also a Harvard alum.

Hurry up, you're late for class and we all know John Warren doesn't suffer fools.

The Two Nerdy History Girls just wrote a post about the ox heads carved above the doorframe here at Holden Chapel. Turns out, yup, soldiers stayed here too. I love the Nerdy History Girls, and if you haven’t been to their site yet, you should read this article then peruse the blog for more.

Our last stop at Harvard was the Wadsworth House.

George Washington slept here.

Homes large enough to house the Generals’s staffs were picked as temporary headquarters near where the army was staying. This was one that Washington used while in Boston.

The Continental Army may have stayed in dorms, but the commander-in-chief stays here.

Well, next time you’re in Boston consider making the trip out to Cambridge and check out the historic buildings at Harvard Yard. I think students even give tours once or twice a day, if you don’t have your own personal historian to show you around.

Not Nathan's finest moment, admittedly.

Remember that time Nathan put his foot his mouth and got punched in the face for it? Yeah, apparently Alan hasn’t forgotten, either.

Joseph Warren was already famous before he died but martyrdom sealed the deal.  After his death, Warren became a legend. When I visited Forrest Hills Cemetery last summer,  I found an interesting inscription on Mary Warren’s grave. It reads, “She was… an object of general interest in the town of Roxbury.” Of course she was. She was the great, fallen General Joseph Warren’s mother.

In Dr. John Warren’s biography (written by his son Edward), the following story is told. This tale is funny because apparently Dr. John was a speedster (multiple such accounts are in the bio), but more importantly, the final line reveals the regard he was held in for being the brother of Dr. Warren, even 20 years after his death at Bunker Hill.

“When [John Warren] drove in a sulky or chaise, he drove very rapidly; sometimes fearfully so. On one occasion, Dr. Danforth accompanied him to a consultation. He afterwards declared in very strong language that he would never ride with Dr. Warren again. ‘He would sooner ride with the d—l.’ The streets of Boston were not very much crowded in those days; rapid progression was easier. A military company sometimes barred the way, and on one occasion, a captain who knew him and perceived his rapid approach, gave the order to open to the right and left; either respecting the surgeon’s haste, or paying this honor to the brother of the slain general.”

Nathan’s taunt makes more sense now, right? So does this scene.

If you didn’t read the blog last week, click to read what that skull is all about in today’s update. Dr. Warren’s brothers as well as Paul Revere were present when his body was exhumed to be moved to a more appropriate burial site. He had been in the ground on Breed’s Hill for a year after a British Officer, in his own words, “stuffed the scoundrel with another rebel, into one hole, and there he, and his seditious Principles may remain.”

Well, he and his Principles remained there for only a year until the British evacuated the city and left Breed’s Hill unguarded. Paul Revere was able to positively ID the body once it was dug up as belonging to Warren.

John Warren was no stranger to corpses. In college he was a part of a secret club at Harvard called the Spunkers who would dig up bodies to dissect and study for medical purposes. Because of this, I’ve always wondered how he responded that day. He took the news of his brother’s death very, very hard. So my guess is that his response was less than clinical.  None the less, it must have been closure– there could be no more doubt.

I know the two deaths are unrelated, but I’ve often pitied the family of another of our favorite patriots who got no such closure after rumors of his death circulated unconfirmed.

But I get ahead of myself…

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"...or until I forget everything. In which case, it would be nice if you told me why I was mad."

After nearly a year long siege, the British evacuated Boston on March 17th, 1776. When this happened, the soldiers who had been camped outside of the city made a hasty return to the town. More than Boston, the Warrens were interested in what they would find over at Breed’s Hill which was once again free of Redcoat occupation.

A man claimed he knew where Dr. Joseph Warren had been buried, and led Paul Revere and some of Warren’s brothers to the spot. When they dug up the body, Revere recognized false teeth he had put in not long before the battle, wired in with a special contraption he had invented just for Dr. Warren. There was no mistake, this was him.

Lest you think the only research I do is historical, I made sure that at the time Warren was exhumed the soft tissue would have been all gone. You know that if you’re an organ and tissue donor, someone has to, uh, collect that stuff before it can be of use. Yeah, my neighbor does that. So I figured who better to ask about corpses? He did his neighborly duty and after some investigating and confirmation, got back to me with an answer: New England, in the dirt, for a year? Nothing but the bone.

Whew. Because I would not have wanted to draw it otherwise.

I'll be selling this print, and others like it!

I am at the Avengers Assemble Marathon at the Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio, near OSU campus. They’re having comic artists demonstrate in the lobby leading up to the midnight showing.

If you’re in the area, swing by. I’ll be drawing and selling commissions, books and posters from 6:30 – 8:30.

And, of course I’m sticking around for the midnight premier!

So no early Dreamer page. It’ll only be a few hours late. Assuming that Cap and Tony and the rest of them save the world and I live to see another day.

If you’re familiar with Dr. Warren’s life, you’ll know that the accounts vary as to exactly how he died at Bunker Hill. The “eyewitnesses” conflict so they can’t all possibly be true.

Luckily for those of us interested in the mystery of his death, his nephew photographed his skull when Joseph Warren’s body was exhumed to be moved to a new cemetery.

Using these photographs Dr. Forman and Derek Beck were able to reconstruct Warren’s skull using 3D software, and then, using forensics, zero in on what the evidence revealed about the cause of death. Cross referencing this new information with the eyewitness accounts of his death, they were able to narrow the stories down to just one.

Though we might finally have our definitive answer today, unfortunately, back in 1775, Joseph Warren’s fate was not known right away. He was among the last to leave the redoubt, so most of the men had already escaped by the time he was killed. And the retreat from Bunker Hill was so chaotic and frenzied that it was hard to know for sure just what had happened at all.

John Warren roamed the area for three days after the battle trying to find out what had happened to his big brother and mentor. The accounts he received varied wildly: some said he was alive and well, others said he had been killed. It took several days before everyone was sure that the great Dr. Warren was no more.

The town of Boston mourned. Black armbands were worn. Poems of lament were written.

But… there was no bringing him back.

If Anime Boston was the show for fans, C2E2 was the show for friends. When Volume 1 sold out less than a year after it had been released, it was not financially feasible for me to do comic conventions until the reprint. So I took 2011 off from traveling the convention circuit. Needless to say, it was good to be back. I missed the scene, I missed my friends and I missed my fans.

And listen to interviews I did for my podcast Paper Wings live from the show floor!

My friend Trevor Mueller was kind enough to let me stay at his place for the whole weekend. Sadly, I don’t have a pic of us from this show. Well, if you’ve been following my convention reports for awhile, he’s the bald guy in the photo comic I can’t name here. Click the link, I’ll bet he looks familiar.

Webcomic BFFs Rival Angels and The Dreamer.

I spent the weekend sharing a table in Artist Alley with Alan Evans, of course. It’s always fun to sell copies of The Dreamer short story we did together, A Providential Hello, when we’re both there to sign it. This was the first show he had his brand new Rival Angels volume 4 for sale. Which means you can now buy the entire first season of the comic. Considering it is my favorite webcomic (and *cough*I’vewrittenpartofit*cough*) I think you should pick up a box set next time you see Al at a show.

During set up Friday morning I realized that I had left the key to my money box back at Trevor’s place. All of my change and my Square Reader to accept credit card transactions was in the box. Panic moment!

"Thank goodness ONE of us is from Detroit!"

My friend Paul Storrie happened to be at our table chatting with us when the discovery of the missing key was made. He proudly announced that he wasn’t from Detroit for nothing, and proceeded to break into the money box without, well, breaking it.

Real-life Superhero moment from Storrie. Thank you!!

Sushi Dinner Birthday treat complete with candle.

That night a TON of my friends took me out to celebrate my birthday at an amazing sushi place over by the Navy Pier. I hope I don’t forget anyone but Bryan Glass (Mice Templar), Steve Sunu (CBR), Trevor Mueller (@$$hole), Alan Evans (Rival Angels), Comfort Love & Adam Withers (Rainbow in the Dark), Paul Storrie, Thom Zahler (Love & Capes), Michelle Timian (Elevator) and several brand new friends all came out for the party. I had a lovely evening, everyone. Thank you!

Comfort & Adam were disappointed that they forgot my birthday gift that night. They expressed their regret over and over again. It wasn’t until the next day that I could see why they were SO upset. They… Drew… Me… THIS:

I have no words for how amazing this birthday gift was.

In case you can’t see, that is Alan Warren rescuing Bea action hero style. He is singlehandedly firing a musket like a pistol. Amazing!! I can’t wait till they post this over on DeviantART so I can send you all there to see the wonderful details of it.

As always I drew commissions all weekend long. This one was for Amy Ratcliffe (Geek with Curves) who wanted, no joke, Alan Warren as Captain America for her Captain America themed sketchbook. There really was a Revolutionary War version of Captain America, so I drew Alan in Cap’s colonial uniform. Epic:

The Original Captain America: Alan Warren.

White Queen commission marker drawing.

One awesome dad was collecting Wonder Woman drawings in his sketchbook for his daughter.

Quite possibly my favorite cosplay from EITHER convention: Elf!

Chicago Loves me!

We went out Saturday night with my favorite canuck, Kurt Sasso who has interviewed me on his TGT Webcomics Podcast twice. And it’s not a trip to Chicago if Alan doesn’t make us go to his favorite place for ribs, Millers.

Kurt Sasso & Alan Evans

…I ordered a salad.

We were all exhausted but it was the only time of year I get to see Kurt, so it was worth it.

Adam Withers poses with his Mustache Monocle.

By Sunday everyone was a little silly. A Steampunk booth was handing out Mustache Monocles. Here, Adam Withers is posing with one. I almost didn’t recognize him…

We were selling strong all weekend long.

Sunday afternoon I was surprised when none other than our fourth president James Madison stopped by my table! I made sure to flip through Volume 2 of The Dreamer to show him that his Federalist Papers cohort Alexander Hamilton made an appearance.

Thanks for the whole Bill of Rights thing, Jimmy.

Usually at conventions I’m stuck behind my table or talking at a panel, but when I saw that Anne Rice was going to be a guest at C2E2 I pulled out my fangirl card, made Alan watch my half of the table for several hours and I set out, book in hand, to meet her.

When I was a teenager, I followed the Vampire Chronicles the way girls love Twilight today. I cut my teeth as a writer doing vampire Lestat fan fiction. Because, yes, it’s highly likely Lestat would find himself living in Pittsburgh in the 90′s, and if he did, he would most assuredly turn myself and my best friend into vampires, too.

(Of course he would. I won’t believe otherwise.)

This was the only non-blurry shot I got because my hands were shaking.

It was worth the wait.

I had intended to leave the show early and drive straight back to Columbus but I was in line to see Anne Rice longer than I’d hoped. Everyone told me to stay so that I could meet her, and my college roommate in Indiana was kind enough to let me stay with her that night. So after the show, I made the drive to her place and she had a birthday present for me:

PEZ-idents 1 through 5.

Yes. PEZ-idents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe.

I love Boston, I love road trips, I love comic conventions but it did feel good to be home.

Well, the next afternoon, after twelve days on the road, I made it back to Columbus and drove straight downtown to meet Mike for lunch. (I kind of sort of missed him, we’re gooshy like that.) And my poor car got to see a mighty fine chunk of our beautiful nation:

...I think my little Yaris was glad to be home, too!

Both shows were wonderful, and a great way to kick off the 2012 convention year!

Lest you feel bad for the Americans on the last page...

I’ve drawn a lot of battle scenes by now, but I’d never actually made myself nauseous until this page.

Some of my friends were joking with me at my birthday party at C2E2 last week about Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (because they know it’s an easy way to ruffle my feathers) and they came up with a bunch of other titles for apocraphal Hollywood historical atrocities, their favorite being “Bunker Hell.”

Which, of course, was hilarious and we all laughed. But… it’s also actually very accurate.

Early in the day of the battle, American snipers positioned themselves in the empty buildings in Charlestown. They had unobstructed aim onto the battlefield and the British lines withered under their fire. Orders were given to the Royal Navy to set fire to the town in order to flush out the snipers and alleviate that advantage of the Americans. The burning of Charlestown was already mentioned in The Dreamer, way back when Frederick Knowlton stood up to his dad on the ethics of military tactics.

On the east side of the field, a column of British Light Infantry advanced, trying to make their way up the edge of the Mystic River along the riverbank which was sunken from the rest of the field of high grass, obscuring them from view from the American’s position. If successful, they could have easily come around behind the American works and ended the whole thing very quickly. The Americans had already spotted the gap, however, and Colonel John Stark’s men put a stone wall there, which they stood behind to fire directly into the advancing column of redcoats. You can imagine the rest.

The Americans were told to hold their fire, aim low, and to aim for the officers. General Howe lead two assaults against the rail fence (where Thomas Knowlton was stationed) and was repelled both times. On the third assault, he turned and marched up the hill instead of the fence, and with Pigot’s forces advancing on the Charlestown side, they were finally able to break into the redoubt.  As it was explained to me, an eerie cease-fire happened at this point (probably so that the British entering on opposite sides of the redoubt weren’t caught in each other’s friendly fire.)  Chaotic hand to hand combat ensued, which, if you were an infantryman in His Majesty’s Army, meant bayonets.

Colonel Prescott and the Americans made haste to get out of there. But, as we saw on the last page, the fighting in the redoubt was carnage. Col. Stark and the men along the rail fence covered Prescott’s retreat best they could. But most of the 450 casualties the Americans suffered happened then and there. The death of Dr. Joseph Warren among them.

The British suffered over 1,000 casualties at Bunker Hill. That was one fifth of the number of men they had in Boston and nearly half their number on the battlefield that day. As you can imagine, they were angry by the time they made it to the breastwork atop that hill.

Dr. Forman left this description from one of the British Generals present at Bunker Hill in the comments on Wednesday. I thought it was worth posting here incase you missed it:

“And now ensued one of the greatest scenes of war that can be conceived: if we look to the height, Howe’s corps ascending the hill in the face of entrenchments, and in a very disadvantageous ground, was much engaged; and to the left the enemy pouring in fresh troops by thousands, over the land; and in the arm of the sea our ships and floating batteries cannonading them: strait before us a large and a noble town in one great blaze; the church steeples, being of timber, were great pyramids of fire above the rest; behind us the church steeples and heights of our own camp covered with spectators of the rest of our army which was not engaged; the hills round the country covered with spectators; the enemy all anxious suspence; the roar of cannon, mortars, and musquetry; the crush of churches, ships upon the stocks, and whole streets falling together in ruin, to fill the ear; the storm of the redoubts, with the objects above described, to fill the eye; and the reflection that perhaps a defeat was a final loss to the British empire in America, to fill the mind; made the whole a picture and a complication of horror and importance beyond any thing that ever came to my lot to be witness to.”

 -British General Burgoyne to Lord Stanley, from a letter of June 25, 1775.

General Howe took command of the British Armed Forces in America shortly after this battle relieving Military Governor General Gage. But Howe would not make another move with his army in Boston… until he moved them out all together nine months later. He had learned a lesson at Bunker Hill the price he had paid for it wasn’t worth repeating.

To learn more about the Battle of Bunker Hill, buy one of these books. Buy via these links and you’ll help support The Dreamer!

And read my friend Derek Beck’s article on Bunker Hill.

Expect my C2E2 post-Con write up on Monday.

Run for your lives! Literally. No, I mean it: Run, guys. Hurry. Book it. GET OUT OF THERE.

Once the British finally broke into the redoubt atop Breed’s Hill, chaotic fighting ensued. Most of the Americans casualties that day happened during the hasty retreat. Thomas Knowlton and his men were among among those covering the retreat from the bottom of the hill, enabling the last of the Americans to get out.

Thomas Knowlton wasn’t the only one to leave the battlefield late. Dr. Joseph Warren had been up in the redoubt was among the last to leave. He only made it about 30 yards outside of the redoubt before well…

June 17th, 1775. R.I.P. Joseph Warren.

Captain Walter Laurie, a British officer, wrote a letter a few days after the battle saying (now famously), “I was employed as the officer commanding the detachment to bury the dead, a most disagreeable piece of duty… Doctor Warren, President of the Provincial Congress, and Captain General, in the absence of Hancock and Adams, and next to Adams, in abilities, I found among the slain, and stuffed the scoundrel with another rebel, into one hole, and there he, and his seditious Principles may remain.”

I visited Dr. Warren at Forrest Hills Cemetery, his current resting place, last summer.

Supposedly Warren was wearing a fancy silk waistcoat when he died, and had a book of Psalms tucked into it which a British soldier stole but later returned to the family. I was able to see this book, known as the “Warren Bible,” at the Massachusetts Historical Society. It’s quite small (only a few inches across) and ancient. The pages all stick together and I felt anxious holding the binding open to take photographs. The cover is a beautiful, stamped leather– similar to this. Holding that thing in my hand, wondering if it had really been right next to Joseph Warren’s heart as it stopped beating…?

(I love that little psalter so much it has shown up in my dreams.)

Though Warren’s commission as Major General was not yet active, he would have been the senior officer present at Bunker Hill. He arrived late, however, showing up after the fighting had started, at which point he deferred command to Col. Prescott who had been in charge all morning. Warren went into the redoubt to join the others fighting there. Legend has it, he fought as a mere private. My guess, however, is that he called the shots more than a little. The guy liked to have his hands in things. And he was used to being in charge.

(I could be totally wrong. Do not write that into your history term papers…)

Well, if you visit Bunker Hill, it is Colonel Prescott’s statue which stands proudly in front of the monument, sword in hand, ready for action. Exactly where it belongs. You can find Dr. Warren in marble inside the visitors center.

There are pictures of them in my last blog post, my Anime Boston 2012 write up. If you missed it, go check it out: pictures, video clips, sketches and more!

I figure you’re all a little sad right now. So here’s something to cheer you up:

VOTE to download a Warren Brothers Wallpaper for your desktop!