Nathaniel Niles

Nathaniel Niles (1741–1828) was a New England preacher, lawyer, and politician who later served as a United States Congressman for Vermont. In 1775, following the Battle of Bunker Hill, he composed "The American Hero: A Sapphick Ode," which urged colonists to face the casualties of war to achieve independence. The poem achieved widespread popularity when Connecticut composer Andrew Law set the text to music. Retitled "Bunker Hill," the composition became a standard war hymn sung by New England militias throughout the Revolutionary War.