Paul Revere: Silversmith, Engraver, Revolutionary Rider

More of this Feature

• Part 2: The Famous Ride and Beyond

On This Site

The Revolutionary War
The 13 American Colonies
Clickable map of the 13 Colonies with descriptions of each colony
American History Glossary
Colonial Times

Part 1: Arms and Crafts

Paul Revere was one of the most famous names in colonial America. An adept silversmith, he gained fame for making a "Midnight Ride" to warn Americans of an impending British invasion.

Paul Revere

Revere was born on Dec. 21, 1734 in Boston, the third of 12 children. He attended North Writing School and, at age 12, learned the trade of silversmith from his father. As a youngster, he earned extra money by ringing the bells in the Old North Church. Revere's father died when Paul was 19, leaving the son as the family's main income source.

Two years later, Paul Revere took up arms with his fellow Englishmen in upstate New York, in the French and Indian War. He was on the British expedition that failed to take Crown Point.

In 1756, he married Sarah Orne. They had eight children.

Paul Revere silver

After the war, Revere continued his career as silversmith, crafting everything from simple spoons to full tea sets. He found other work, as a dentist and as a copper plate engraver, of business cards and bookplates and political cartoons.

Revere was an excellent horseman, and he used this skill to good effect carrying messages from town to town. He was involved with both patriot groups the Committees of Correspondence and the Sons of Liberty.

Boston Massacre Revere first became famous after the Boston Massacre, a confrontation between British troops and Boston townspeople that resulted in shots fired and a handful of deaths. He made a copper engraving, an early example of American propaganda, that illustrated the events of the day, in a manner that suggests what later events would prove to be a much more menacing intent on the part of the British soldiers. For the subsequent trial of the soldiers, Revere drew another illustration, one that was much more accurate. He later contributed regular engravings to the Patriot-leaning Royal American Magazine.

Revere's wife, Sarah, died in 1773. Not long afterward, he married again, to Rachel Walker. They had eight children as well.

Also in 1773, Revere participated in the Boston Tea Party and then rode to New York and Philadelphia with news of the event. He rode to Philadelphia the following year, with news that the British Parliament had closed Boston Harbor, as part of the Intolerable Acts.

Paul Revere's ride It was on the night of April 18, 1775, that Revere made his famous ride to warn of an advance by British troops. (He had already ridden to Concord just days before, to warn the provincial congress of British troop movements.) Dr. Joseph Warren of Boston again tasked Revere with riding to Lexington to alert Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the troops were planning to arrest them. (This later turned out to be not the case, but Revere made the ride anyway.)

Revere did not own a horse. He borrowed one, from John Larkin. Some sources say that this horse had a name, Brown Beauty.

Old North Church

The North End Christ Church played a part in this famous episode. A man was to give a signal by shining one or two lanterns in the church tower, depending on how the British troops were going to leave Boston. One lantern meant that the troops would be marching overland, out Boston Neck; two lanterns meant a sea transport across the Charles River to Cambridge.

Revere, having been told of two lanterns in the church tower, set off for Lexington about 11 p.m. He evaded British troops outside Charlestown and then rode through Medford, to alert the local militia captain, Isaac Hall. He rode on, through what is now Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, reaching Lexington and delivering his message to Hancock personally.

Paul Revere's route

Another rider, with the same intent, arrived in Lexington. This was William Dawes. He and Revere resolved to continue on to Concord, to make sure that the militiamen there had hidden their stash of weapons. Not long after they left Lexington, another rider, Dr. Samuel Prescott, caught up to them. The three rode on toward Concord.

They eventually ran into a British patrol. In the resulting confusion, Dawes and Prescott escaped but Revere did not. He faced several intense minutes of questioning but was eventually let go, without his horse. (A British sergeant claimed it in order to replace his tired mount.) Revere walked back to Lexington and arrived just in time to see the end of the battle on Lexington Green. Prescott made it to Concord, where he lived, and alerted the militia there. Dawes fell of his horse in the dark and did not make it to Concord.

Revere did fight in the war. He was in the artillery on the Penobscot Expedition to Castine, Maine, that ended in disaster. He left military service soon thereafter.

He also embarked on a mission at the behest of the Massachusetts provincial congress to study the powder mill in Philadelphia, in hopes of building one closer to home. He saw enough to have one built in Stoughton, what is now Canton.

Joseph Warren, who had tasked Revere with his famous ride and who was a good friend, died in the Battle of Bunker Hill and was buried in an unmarked grave. Revere went back later and, identifying his friend by the false tooth he had placed there in his role as a part-time dentist, enabled Warren to have a proper funeral and a marked grave.

Revere Copper Company

Revere ran a hardware store after the Revolutionary War. In 1788, he had opened a foundry to make bolts, nails, spikes, cannons, and bells for the Boston shipyards. He turned his copper skills to rolling and sheeting, opening the first copper rolling mill on the continent, in 1801. Among his contributions were copper sheeting for the hull of "Old Ironside," the famous ship the U.S.S. Constitution.

Revere retired at age 76, in 1811. He left his copper business to his sons and grandsons. He died on May 10, 1818, when he was 83.

The famous Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem "Paul Revere's Ride" was first published in 1861. Although some of the details of the poem are not accurate, the popularity of the poem made Revere into a legend.

Next page > The Famous Ride and Beyond > Page 1, 2

Search This Site

Custom Search


 

Social Studies for Kids
copyright 2002–2024
David White