(WHITE TWP., NJ - September 10, 2025) – Dr. Joseph Warren was one of the early advocates for the American Colonies to break free from Great Britain, but over the years his reputation was overshadowed by those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and other Founding Fathers.

            As Warren County this year celebrates the bicentennial of its founding in 1825 – which was 50 years after Dr. Warren’s death in the opening days of the Revolutionary War – the County is doing its part to raise Dr. Warren’s profile.

            County Commissioners unveiled a portrait of Dr. Warren at the start of their session tonight, noting that the framed artwork hanging in their meeting room at the Wayne Dumont, Jr. Administration Building will help residents now and in the future remember the important figure the county’s name honors.

            “We are excited that as part of our county’s Bicentennial Year we are helping today’s residents and those of the future to remember this important patriot, our county’s namesake, Dr. Joseph Warren,” Commissioner Lori Ciesla said.

            Commissioner Director Jason Sarnoski noted that former Freeholder Rick Gardner was on hand for the portrait dedication, and thanked Gardner for his efforts with the county Bicentennial, Cultural and Heritage Advisory Board that helps to run the bicentennial commemoration events this year.

            The portrait is particularly timely, Commissioner James R. Kern III noted, as the county bicentennial year moves into the nation’s semiquincentennial next year marking the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

            Warren is “such an important figure not only to our county but to our country,” Kern said, adding, “There’s not a lot of discussion about him, because, I think, he died so early in the war he kind of gets overlooked by other heroes.”

            Although he never set foot in the area of northwest New Jersey that was named for him, the founders of Warren County chose to honor Joseph Warren when they split from Sussex County, as the patriot’s memory was still strong 50 years after the start of the American Revolution. The physician and patriot was born in Roxbury, Province of Massachusetts Bay, on June 11, 1741. He took a leading role in patriot organizations in Boston in the early days of the American Revolution, and it was Warren who sent Paul Revere and William Dawes on the famous ride of April 18, 1775, to spread the alarm that British troops were on the march to seize weapons and arrest rebel leaders. He participated in the Battles of Lexington and Concord the next day.

            Commissioned as a major general in the colony’s militia shortly before the June 17, 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill, Warren chose to serve on the front lines and was killed in combat when British troops stormed the Colonials’ fortification on Breed’s Hill, just six days after he turned 34. As a martyr to the Revolution, his death helped to galvanize the rebel forces.

            There are 14 states that have a Warren County, while 30 Warren Townships are also named in his honor.

            With attention growing in anticipation of the nation’s 250^th birthday, Dr. Warren’s reputation has been getting a long-overdue boost. The biograph “Founding Martyr: The Life and Death of Dr. Joseph Warren, the American Revolution's Lost Hero” by Christian Di Spigna was published in 2018, while this year saw the publication of “Liberty's Martyr: The Story of Dr. Joseph Warren” by Janet Uhlar and “Dr. Joseph Warren: The Forgotten Founding Father” by David M. Arnold.

            Warren’s portrait joins two others hanging in the Commissioners Meeting Room, one of State Senator Wayne Dumont, Jr. (1914-1992), who represented the area for many years in the Statehouse, and the other of Gov. Robert Meyner (1908-1990), a State Senator before serving two terms as governor, from 1954 to 1962. Both Dumont and Meyner lived in Phillipsburg.

            The new portrait is the work of Belvidere resident Jeff Echevarria, an artist and designer who uses charcoal, graphite powder and Panpastels to create lifework depictions of his subjects. A graduate of the Spectrum Institute for The Advertising Arts, Echevarria has been freelancing in design and illustration ever since.

            “The portrait came out amazing, and I’m so glad that we were able to get a local artist to do this,” Ciesla said.