Paymaster Gen. James Warren

Fourth Generation descendant of Mayflower passenger, Richard Warren.

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In 1757 he was appointed High Sheriff and held that post until the Revolution. James was a hero in the Revolution, a General. He is buried in the Warren lot in Plymouth. He was President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and Paymaster General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, among other positions. He was born, and died in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Warren graduated from Harvard in 1745, and 1754 married his second cousin Mercy Otis Warren, a historian and playwright. He was a descendant of Mayflower passengers Richard Warren and Edward Doty; his wife Mercy was also descended from Edward Doty. He and Mercy had five sons.

Warren was more active in the early days of the Revolution than in the war itself. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty, and he fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill alongside Mercy's brother James Otis, Jr. He was commisssioned a general in the Massachusetts militia, but because he refused to serve under Continental Army officers of lesser rank, he took no part in the war after the action moved away from Boston.

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Buried Family Lot- Burial Hill, Plymouth Massachusetts Plymouth Plymouth County Massachusetts, USA Loyal Friend To General George Washington for The Duration of His Life. Revolutionary War Continental Army Major General. He served in the Lower House of the Massachusetts General Court and the Provincial Congress (1766 to 1778), as President of the Provincial Congress (1778), Speaker of the House of Representatives in the General Court (1775 to 1776), and as Paymaster General of the Continental Army (1776 to 1781). The General Court appointed him a Major General in September 1776, for the campaign in Rhode Island, but he refused to serve under a junior officer, so he claimed an illness so he did not have to report for duty. Warren resigned his commission in 1777 from commanding troops in the field. He did remain the Paymaster General for the Army most of the war, having a close working relationship with General George Washington. An ancestor of Mayflower passenger (1620), Richard Warren, he graduated from Harvard in 1745, and began his political career in 1757, upon the death of his father. He assumed the duties of Plymouth County Sheriff and was elected in his own right. He married the sister of the famous Revolutionary, James Otis, Mercy Otis in 1754.