Trumbull began the Revolutionary War series with Bunker’s Hill to commemorate the battle he considered to be the earliest important event in the war. His focus here is not on the outcome of the encounter at Bunker’s Hill but on the noble behavior of the participants. Set under a blackening smoke-filled sky and against a chaotic background of dead and dying men, he depicts the climactic moment when American Major General Joseph Warren is mortally wounded by a musket ball just as the British successfully press beyond American lines. Seizing the bayonet of a grenadier who means to avenge a fallen officer, British Major John Small saves the expiring Warren from being stabbed. The expressions on the faces of the surrounding American soldiers and the two departing figures at right, Lieutenant Thomas Grosvenor and his black servant, combine concern for the dying Warren and astonishment at the magnanimity of Small. By emphasizing this act of humanity by the enemy, Trumbull honors morality that transcends national boundaries.
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