Boston’s collective outrage and opposition to the “Intolerable Acts” did not come as a surprise. In keeping with Boston’s proud tradition of resistance, indignant armed mobs quickly overthrew all royal authority not backed by British troops. But the sympathetic and supportive reaction of other colonies did astonish many observers. Rather than making an example of Boston and dividing the colonies, Britain’s final move in this escalating series of hostilities ultimately united and emboldened the Patriot resistance. Patriot leaders in many colonies formed Committees of Correspondence to share information, leaders arranged for the meeting of a Continental Congress in September 1774 to coordinate resistance activities, and many colonies sent aid to Boston to make up for its lost ocean trade.14 The Continental Congress called for enforcement of non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation actions in all colonies in order to economically injure the mother country, and sent a petition to the king, which was stubbornly ignored. England responded by ordering General Thomas Gage to suppress the rebellion with force, culminating in the British march to Lexington and Concord on the 18th of April in 1775 and the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. However, Revere’s service to the Patriot cause had long roots extending back to the earliest resistance activities.
Paul Revere took to the resistance movement with a vengeance, and Revolutionary roles soon dominated all his other activities. His ferocious opposition to British subjugation erupt from the pages of a letter he wrote to his cousin John Rivoire in 1782:
[The British] were not contented to have all the benefit of our trade, in short to have all our earnings, but they wanted to make us hewers of wood & drawers of water—their Parliaments have declared “that they have a right to tax us & Legislate for us in all cases what ever”—now certainly if they have a right to take one shilling from us with out our consent, they have a right to all we possess; for it is the birth right of an Englishman not to be taxed without the consent of himself, or Representative . . . America took every method in her power by petitioning +c to remain subject to Brittain, but Brittain (I mean the Brittish King & ministers) did not want colonies of free men they wanted colonies of Slaves, . . . I do asure you the name of an Englishman is as odious to an American as that of a Turk or a Savage. You may depend that the Americans will never submit to be under the Brittons again.15
Along with many of his fellow artisans, Revere identified with the Patriot cause from the beginning, joining the Sons of Liberty in 1765 and actively serving the cause of the resistance in various ways. For example, on March 5, 1771, the one-year anniversary of the Boston Massacre, Revere placed large illustrations in the brightly lit windows of his house, such as the ghost of Christopher Seider (an 11-year-old boy killed shortly before the massacre) as well as a depiction of the massacre itself, under the title “Foul Play.” This creative and moving memorial attracted thousands of spectators. He also took less creative actions, as when Boston merchant John Rowe recorded in his diary on May 27, 1773 that “Two commissioners were very much abused yesterday when they came out from the Publick dinner at Concert Hall . . . Paul Revere and several others were the principal Actors.”16
Mystery and innuendo shroud Revere’s involvement in Sons of Liberty activities, thanks to the organization’s concern for secrecy and anonymity. We can assume that Revere participated in many of the group’s activities, such as organized political protests, marches, and discussions over the years. He left a few records of participation in several Patriot actions, such as his name appearing on petitions and attendance lists for dinners or public meetings and his membership in a twenty-five-man volunteer watch over the Dartmouth, the ship carrying the Boston Tea Party tea. Various parties attested to Revere’s participation and possible leadership in the tea party over the years, reinforced by the text of a popular rallying song at the time:
Rally Mohawks! bring out your axes,
And tell King George we’ll pay no taxes
On his foreign tea;
His threats are vain, and vain to think
To force our girls and wives to drink
His vile Bohea!
Then rally, boys, and hasten on
To meet our chiefs at the Green Dragon.
Our Warren’s there, and bold Revere,
With hands to do, and words to cheer,
For liberty and laws;
Our country’s “braves” and firm defenders
Shall ne’er be left by true North Enders
Fighting freedom’s cause!17
All available evidence indicates that Revere both actively and passionately promoted the resistance movement from start to finish.
Revere’s societal and intellectual credentials barred him from the highest ranks of Patriot leadership and from groups such as Boston’s Committee of Correspondence, but his hard work and networking skills paid dividends and his influence grew. He joined the prominent North Caucus Club no later than 1772 and immediately served on subcommittees assigned a variety of tasks such as communicating and coordinating actions with the South End Caucus, and “to correspond with any Committee chosen in any part of the town, on this occasion; and call this body together at any time they think necessary.”18 The North Caucus Club interacted with similar clubs in other districts of Boston and sponsored policy positions and political candidates before Town Meeting votes, having a huge impact upon the outcome. One roster list for the North Caucus contained sixty members, including a number of prominent or rising merchants, doctors, lawyers, and successful artisans. Revere also received an invitation to join the Long Room Club, a secret seventeen-man society that led many resistance activities. Interestingly, Revere represented the only identifiable “mechanic” in this group of primarily lawyers, doctors, and ministers.19 Revere also joined and supervised an information-gathering organization consisting largely of artisans, with the intent of observing and reporting on the activities of British soldiers. He later described this association to the Reverend Jeremy Belknap, founder of the Massachusetts Historical Society:
In the Fall of 1774 and Winter of 1775 I was one of upwards of thirty, cheifly mechanics, who formed our selves in to a Committee for the purpose of watching the Movements of the British Soldiers, and gaining every intelegence of the movements of the Tories. We held our meetings at the Green-Dragon Tavern. We were so carefull that our meetings should be kept Secret; that every time we met, every person swore upon the Bible, that they would not discover any of our transactions, but to Messrs. HANCOCK, ADAMS, Doctors WARREN, CHURCH, and one or two more . . . In the Winter, towards the Spring, we frequently took Turns, two and two, to watch the Soldiers, by patroling the Streets all night.20
This narrative again illustrates Revere’s penchant for leadership positions among members of the artisan class, as well as his networking and organizational abilities. His responsibilities likely included coordinating different artisan lookouts, establishing chains of communication and contingency plans in case of emergency, interpreting individual observations to discern big-picture conclusions, and conveying important information to Joseph Warren and other Patriot leaders, all of whom happened to be gentlemen.21
Revere laid the groundwork for his most celebrated patriotic service between 1773 and 1775, when he made many courier trips on behalf of the Patriot cause, at least five of which took him to New York or Philadelphia to communicate with sympathetic groups in those towns. Revere began his service as a courier in December 1773, carrying news of the Boston Tea Party to New York City and returning to Boston ten days later with news of New York’s support. In the years that followed he made further trips but expanded his role, acting almost as an ambassador and interpreter of Boston’s Patriot movement rather than as a mere courier. On these visits he carried information that helped Boston, New York, and Philadelphia coordinate their actions, advise one another, and transmit the most pressing news, with the appropriate spin, of course. Revere’s loyal and intelligent service brought him into closer contact with Boston’s Patriot leadership as well a
s several members of the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia, foreshadowing his upcoming role in the most important ride of them all. By the eve of the Revolution, Revere’s Patriot activities had received notice as far away as London, with his name appearing in angry newspaper articles in 1774 and 1775 that identified him as an “Ambassador from the Committee of Correspondence of Boston to the Congress of Philadelphia.”22 This was of course an overstatement, because he lacked decision-making authority. But in the days of horse and ocean transportation, when a message could take days or weeks to reach its recipient, any organization that hoped to keep up with rapidly unfolding events needed reliable liaisons able to implement open-ended instructions and exercise judgment. Paul Revere perfectly suited this role.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, Revere’s resistance activities proved a mixed blessing to his silversmith career. His account books show major gaps that correspond to his courier rides and other periods of intensive resistance activities, but long-term benefits balanced these temporary deficits. Patriotic activities did not yield tangible economic rewards, but indirectly aided him by expanding his network of associates, improving his reputation in the eyes of his fellow rebels, exposing him to new fields and ideas, and increasing his organizational experience. Fellow affiliates of Patriot groups such as the Sons of Liberty and the North End Caucus repeatedly purchased silver from him, as did the members of other groups such as the Loyal Nine. Apart from his famous Liberty Bowl, none of Revere’s silver pieces had any particular symbolic or patriotic importance. He used his craft to more directly serve the resistance by engraving and publishing various Patriot propaganda items. Revere had a good deal of experience in the engraving field prior to the resistance movement, as he embellished many of his silver items and also produced copperplate engravings of book plates, trade or advertising cards, psalm tunes, illustrations, and other printed items. Beginning in 1765, Revere turned these talents to the Patriot cause by printing a number of political images intended to rally support against the British. Following the common practice of his day, Revere often borrowed and adapted images from other sources, in one case causing Boston painter and engraver Henry Pelham to accuse him of dishonorably mimicking and distributing Pelham’s original drawing before Pelham had a chance to do so. Many of Revere’s illustrations, and primarily the Boston Massacre engraving, achieved widespread notice at the time, often accompanying political broadsides or newspaper text describing recent events in a manner favorable to the Patriots.23
Revere undertook his Revolutionary efforts, ranging from dramatic resistance activities to politically motivated engravings, to serve what he saw as the public good. He also achieved this goal by holding positions on government committees. Many elected government jobs, such as constables or assessors, drew artisans and other members of the middle classes into public service even though they carried large workloads and minimal salaries, while more influential positions, such as selectmen and town clerks, remained within the upper class. In their public service, as in so many other ways, successful artisans served as societal intermediaries, trusted with the implementation of pragmatic policies while finding it difficult to ascend to the pinnacles of political influence. Revere’s resume of minor civil service positions supports this general trend. The Boston Town Meeting tapped Revere for important committee service on multiple occasions, including membership in a group that collected and distributed relief payments to help Bostonians impacted by the Port Act; membership in the Committee of 63, a group appointed to enforce local compliance with the Continental Congress’s non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation decrees; service on the committee that proposed members for the Ways and Means Committee; and others. His committee service increased after the war when it took the place of his Revolutionary activities, and even though he personally did not benefit from government positions or ascend to higher offices he took public service quite seriously. Revere’s patriotic duty to his country did not end when Britain exited the battlefield.24
Figure 2.1. “The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Rgt.” Engraving with watercolor by Paul Revere, 1770. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIG-ppmsca-01657. Paul Revere produced this engraving shortly after the Boston Massacre took place on March 5, 1770, closely borrowing from an original drawing by Henry Pelham. This image served as highly effective Patriot propaganda, inaccurately depicting the British as an orderly line of soldiers commanded to fire into a helpless crowd.
Figure 2.2. “A View of the Obelisk erected under Liberty-Tree in Boston on the Rejoicings for the Repeal of the Stamp Act 1666.” Engraving (etching) with watercolor by Paul Revere, 1766. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, LC-DIGppmsca-05479 (the Library’s impression is a restrike dating from 1849 or later). Paul Revere personally engraved this representation of a Sons of Liberty obelisk, erected on the Boston Common in celebration of the Stamp Act’s repeal. After a fire accidentally destroyed the obelisk, this engraving served as the only memory of the obelisk’s many patriotic messages.
Revere’s patriotic and government service mirrored the actions of many other successful artisans in large colonial towns. Capitalizing on their position as well-off workingmen with upper-class patronage and rising prospects, these artisans stayed active in town politics and played a key role in organizing independence gatherings and boycotts. These political services increased the unity, organization, and public prestige of the artisan class, leading toward a collective artisan identity and numerous prewar artisan associations. While not a Revolutionary leader, Revere proved his value to the cause by serving as the primary message courier for the Committees of Safety and Correspondence; prominently participating in groups such as the Sons of Liberty, North End Caucus, and Long Room Club; receiving mention in London newspapers; and engraving propaganda.25 Because Boston relied upon overlapping committees instead of a single centralized command structure, Paul Revere’s ability to share information and perspectives between different groups became essential. But all his complex and valuable services, so visible at the time, have faded in the eyes of history due to the vast symbolic importance of his Midnight Ride.
“Listen my children and you shall hear . . .”
On April 17, 1775, Boston became a hotbed of intrigue. Two days earlier General Gage had received orders to confiscate any military supplies held by the Patriots and to arrest anyone suspected of treason. Far from being a secret, Gage’s preparations to carry out these instructions drew the attention of the Boston resistance, including Revere’s watchful intelligence network, who “expected something serious was to be transacted.”26 Paul Revere rode to Lexington the day before his now-famous Midnight Ride to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British might soon attempt to capture them, and either he or a different courier informed the Concord militia that their military stores could be in jeopardy. On his return trip, Revere and his Charlestown contacts initiated an additional measure to ensure that he could get a message out of Boston if trouble arose. British troops could easily lock down the town by blocking both land and sea egress: a guardpost at “Boston Neck” barred anyone from traveling through the one road leading out of Boston, and the warship Somerset watched for any boats attempting to row across the Charles River. Revere had a plan to circumvent these impediments if he needed to escape from Boston, but just in case—“for we were aprehensive it would be dificult to Cross the Charles River, or git over Boston neck”—he told a group of Patriots in Charlestown to watch for signal lanterns hung on the Old North Church: one lantern meant the British troops would march through Boston Neck, and two lanterns meant they planned to cross the Charles River.
General Gage tipped his hand on the evening of April 18, when a large force of soldiers marched to the Boston Common while others prepared a number of boats, signaling a Charles River embarkation. At 10:00 p.m., Patriot leader Joseph Warren summoned Paul Revere, his Masonic brother and friend, an
d asked him to slip past the British and make sure Hancock and Adams left Lexington before the soldiers arrived. And thus it began.
This book opened with an overview of the actual Midnight Ride, starting with Revere’s successful escape from Boston by rowboat into Charleston, where he mounted “a very good horse” around 11:00 p.m. and headed to Lexington by way of Medford. In spite of the need to outmaneuver a small British patrol and alert important minutemen at many houses along the way, he made excellent time and reached Lexington around midnight to warn Hancock and Adams of the approaching soldiers, completing the first phase of his mission. Soon after that he met up with William Dawes, a tanner whom Joseph Warren had also dispatched on a midnight ride via the slightly longer “land” route out of Boston. The two men headed to Concord to complete their second task, the protection of the military supplies there. Joined by Dr. Samuel Prescott, a third Patriot rider familiar with both the roads and the residents of the Lexington–Concord area, they started on the road to Concord only to be stopped by a large British patrol that captured Revere, while Dawes and Prescott escaped. Of the three only Dr. Prescott arrived in Concord to warn the militia.
Midnight Ride, Industrial Dawn Page 10
