Paul Revere

Paul Revere (January 1, 1735 – May 10, 1818) was a North End silversmith, patriot, propagandist, and industrialist who became one of the most recognized figures of the American Revolution. Born in the North End of Boston, Revere engaged in a midnight ride in 1775 to alert nearby minutemen of the approach of British troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord, eventually becoming a prosperous and prominent Bostonian who derived his income from silversmithing and engraving. A local legend in his own lifetime, he became a national folk hero with the publication of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." Beyond his famous ride, Revere left an enduring mark on Boston as a craftsman, political organizer, and industrial entrepreneur whose copper works helped shape the physical fabric of the young republic.

Early Life and Family

Paul Revere was born January 1, 1735, in the North End of Boston, the son of Apollos Rivoire, a French Huguenot who would anglicize his name to Paul Revere, and Deborah Hitchborn of a well-known Boston family. His father, Apollos Rivoire, had come to Boston at the age of 13, been apprenticed to the silversmith John Coney, and by the time he married Deborah Hitchborn — a member of a long-standing Boston family that owned a small shipping wharf — in 1729, had anglicized his name to Paul Revere. Their son, Paul Revere, was the third of 12 children and eventually the eldest surviving son. Revere grew up in the environment of the extended Hitchborn family and never learned his father's native language. At the age of thirteen, Revere left school and became an apprentice to his father.

His father died in 1754, but Paul was not old enough to inherit master of the silver shop, so he enlisted in the provincial army in 1756. Commissioned a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment, he spent time at Fort William Henry on the southern tip of Lake George. He did not stay in the army long and returned to Boston in 1757 to assume control of the silver shop in his name.

Paul Revere fathered 16 children — eight with his first wife, Sarah Orne, and eight with his second wife, Rachel Walker. The Paul Revere House, located at 19 North Square, became home to his growing family. Of Revere's 16 children, 11 survived to adulthood and five were still alive at the time of his death at 83 years old, a remarkable age for the era.

Silversmith and Craftsman

Paul Revere was a colonial Boston silversmith, industrialist, propagandist, and patriot immortalized in the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem describing his midnight ride. His trade as a silversmith placed him at the center of Boston society, bringing him into contact with clients and colleagues from every social class. He was resourceful and dabbled in a range of work, taking on apprentices and workers who created specialty flatware, silver bowls, tea sets, and even casting the first bell in Boston in his foundry. He turned to dentistry to augment his income when the colonial economy faltered during a recession.

After the Revolution, Revere's industrial ambitions grew considerably. Revere remained in the metal industry, adding goldsmithing to his thriving silversmith trade. He opened an iron foundry in Boston's North End in 1788 and was one of the first in the industry to hire wage laborers. In the 1790s, he expanded his business to include casting church bells, cannons, and other copper products. After the war, Revere set up a rolling mill for the manufacture of sheet copper at Canton, Massachusetts. From this factory came sheathing for many U.S. ships, including the USS Constitution, and for the dome of the Massachusetts State House. The foundry survived into the 21st century as Revere Copper Products, Inc.

Patriot and Propagandist

In the 1770s Revere enthusiastically supported the patriot cause; as acknowledged leader of Boston's mechanic class, he provided an invaluable link between artisans and intellectuals. His network was also expanding to include local activists angered by British rule. In the mid-1760s, as tensions were rising between the colonists and the British, he joined the rebellious Sons of Liberty.

With British troops in Boston and a rebellion stewing, Revere became a master propagandist, using his artisan skills to craft engravings that incited the colonists to join in the rebellion. The growing unrest boiled over on March 5, 1770, when British troops and a crowd of colonists faced off on Boston's King Street near the Customs House. The tense standoff ended in the Boston Massacre, as the British used their bayonet rifles to shoot and kill five unarmed colonists. He created one of his best-known productions after the Boston Massacre in 1770 called The Bloody Massacre on King Street Boston, which showed an organized line of British regulars firing into a crowd. He reworked a Henry Pelham drawing in an engraving and widely distributed prints of the stark image of armed British troops taking aim at the colonists.

When the merchant ship Dartmouth came into Boston Harbor carrying East India Company Tea in 1773, Revere and Joseph Warren organized a watch over the ship so that it could not be unloaded. Revere himself took his turn at guard duty. During the Boston Tea Party, he was one of the ring leaders when colonists boarded the ships in the harbor to dump the tea.

During this time, Revere and a group of 30 "mechanics" began meeting in secret at his favorite haunt, the Green Dragon, to coordinate the gathering and dissemination of intelligence by "watching the Movements of British Soldiers." He was also a Freemason, eventually rising to Grand Master of Freemasons of Massachusetts.

The Midnight Ride

In April 1775, after discovering that the British planned to march inland to capture Patriot leaders, weapons, and supplies, Revere and his cohorts sprang into action to spread a warning. On the night of April 18, Robert Newman put lantern signals in Boston's Old North Church, while Revere and William Dawes rode to Lexington and Concord. Though it soon became known as Paul Revere's Midnight Ride, both men rode that night, covering different routes.

On the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott alerted colonists that British troops were on the march. Revere and Dawes traveled separately to Lexington and were able to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams to flee. Revere and Dawes, together with Samuel Prescott, then started for Concord, but they were soon stopped by a British patrol. Only Prescott got through. Because of the men's warnings, the Minutemen were ready the next morning on Lexington green for the historic battle that launched the American Revolution.

Although many have questioned the historical liberties taken in Longfellow's narrative poem "Paul Revere's Ride" (1863), the fact is that Revere served for years as the principal rider for Boston's Committee of Safety, making journeys to New York and Philadelphia in its service. On December 13, 1774, he also made a notable ride to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to warn of approaching British warships. Paul Revere did not gain immediate fame for his April 1775 "Midnight Ride." In fact, it wasn't until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem, which greatly embellished Revere's role, that he became the folk hero we think of today.

The Paul Revere House

Built around 1680, the Paul Revere House, owned by the legendary patriot from 1770 to 1800, is the oldest remaining structure in downtown Boston and also the only official Freedom Trail historic site that is a home. In 1770, Revere bought the now-landmarked Paul Revere House at 19 North Square for his growing family. The house occupies the site of the Second Church of Boston's parsonage, which had been home to notable figures like Increase and Cotton Mather before it was destroyed by fire in 1676.

Paul Revere purchased the house from a man named Erving in 1770 and moved in with his family. Revere's wife, Sarah, died in 1773 and he married his second wife, Rachel, later that same year. However, they may not have lived there for most or all of the 1780s, during which time the house was rented out to several people. Revere sold the house in 1800 and it became a tenement with the ground floor used for shops and various businesses over the years. In 1902, Revere's great-grandson purchased the property and restored it so that it could be opened to the public. In 1908, after restoration by architects and preservationists, the Paul Revere House opened to the public as one of the earliest historic house museums in Boston and the U.S.

In 1902, the house was acquired by a Revere descendant and, in 1907, the Paul Revere Memorial Association was formed. The house was restored to its 17th-century exterior appearance and opened as a museum in 1908. Today, the house remains a cornerstone of the Freedom Trail and draws visitors from around the world to the North End neighborhood where Revere lived and worked.

Legacy

Paul Revere's legacy is well known in American history, and his midnight ride has been enshrined in poetry and legend. Revere died on May 10, 1818, at the age of 83 at his home in Boston. He was buried at the Granary Burying Ground. He married twice, and each of his wives bore him eight children. When he died, he left behind more than fifty grandchildren.

While he is most remembered for his Midnight Ride, his copper engravings and other works of propaganda portrayed Boston as an oppressed and ill-treated town, occupied by a brutal army of British regulars. His industrial legacy proved equally durable: he taught himself to cast bells and sold many to churches all around New England. The brilliant copper dome of Massachusetts' State House came from Revere's factory. The Revere Copper and Brass Company still exists today, although the Revereware copper-bottomed pots that made the factory famous are now manufactured by another company.

The Paul Revere Mall in the North End, featuring the Equestrian statue of Paul Revere by sculptor Cyrus Edwin Dallin, stands as one of the most visited public memorials in Boston. Even after his military and political career ended, he continued to discuss the issues of the day, and in 1814 he circulated a petition offering the government the services of Boston's artisans in protecting Boston during the War of 1812. Revere's life bridged the world of colonial craft and the dawn of American industrialism, making him one of the most complete embodiments of Boston's founding civic character.