Paul Revere's Ride

by David Hackett Fischer

  A pioneering terrain study is Joyce Lee Malcolm, The Scene of the Battle, 1775, Historic Grounds Report (Boston, 1985), a published examination of land use along the Battle Road, mainly from an investigation of deeds and other records. Another general project is presently under way by Brian Donahue, Brandeis University, linking deeds to topographical surveys, soil maps, and other sources in computer-generated maps of the area.

  The staff of the Minuteman National Historical Park has sponsored many specialized studies in the form of National Park Service Reports. All can be consulted at the library at the Park. Among the most useful for this project are: L.J. Abel and Cordelia T. Snow, “The Excavation of Sites 22 and 23, Minuteman National Historical Park, Massachusetts” (Concord, 1966), a study of the area where Paul Revere is thought to have been captured; Cynthia E. Kryston, “The Muster Field: Historical Data” (Concord, 1972), on the field near the Buttrick house; John F. Luzader, “Elisha Jones or ‘Bullet Hole House’” (1968), on Monument Street in Concord; idem, “Samuel Hartwell House and Ephraim Hartwell Tavern” (1968), on the Battle Road in Lincoln; David H. Snow, “Archeological Research Report, Excavation at Site 264” (1973), on the Thomas Nelson house near the Lincoln-Lexington line; Clifford A. Kaye, The Geology and Early History of the Boston Area of Massachusetts, a Bicentennial Approach U. S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1476 (Washington, D.C., 1976); Ricardo Torres-Reyes, Captain Brown’s House: Research Report (Washington, D.C., 1969).

  Biographical Works on Paul Revere

  This list is confined to works that contain primary material not available elsewhere. For secondary and tertiary interpretations of Paul Revere, see Historiography, pp. XX, above.

  [Joseph Buckingham], “Paul Revere,” New England Magazine 3 (1832): 304-14, was an early biography by an author who knew him well, and included some primary material that has not appeared in any subsequent biography before the present volume. Elbridge Henry Goss, The Life of Colonel Paul Revere. 2 vols. (Boston, 1891), is a documentary history, still very useful for the materials that it includes. Charles F. Gettemy, True Story of Paul Revere (Boston, 1905), has somewhat of a debunking flavor. Harriet E. O’Brien, Paul Revere’s Own Story; An Account of His Ride as Told in a Letter to a Friend, Together with a Brief Sketch of His Versatile Career (Boston, privately printed, 1929), is especially valuable for its rich trove of illustrative materials. Esther Forbes, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In (1942, rpt. Boston, 1969), is a lively modern biography by a New England novelist, weak on the ride and political and military events but very strong on the details of domestic life. In general, it was carefully done, but it must be approached with caution in matters of fact. Walter S. Hayward, “Paul Revere and the American Revolution, 1765-1783,” is an unpublished Harvard dissertation, 1933. Nina Zannieri, Patrick Leehey, et al., Paul Revere—Artisan, Businessman, and Patriot (Boston, Paul Revere Memorial Association, n.d. [1988]), is an important collection of scholarly essays on various aspects of Paul Revere’s career, and also the catalogue of an exhibition, sponsored by the PRMA. A review of the exhibition itself by Alfred Young appears in Journal of American History 76 (1989): 852—57. The volume includes Patrick M. Leehey, “Reconstructing Paul Revere; An Overview of His Ancestry, Life and Work.” pp. 15-40, a meticulous work by an able and very careful scholar who is head of research at the Paul Revere House.

  Paul Revere’s Family

  Elizabeth Grundy and Jayne Triber, “Paul Revere’s Children: Coming of Age in the New Nation,” unpublished essay, in the Paul Revere Memorial Association, adds biographies of Paul Revere, Jr., Joseph Warren Revere, Harriet Revere, and Maria Revere Balestier. Donald M. Nielsen, “The Revere Family,” NEHGR 145 (1991): 291-316, corrects earlier studies.

  Paul Revere: The Copley Portrait

  Robert Dubuque, “The Painter and the Patriot: John Singleton Copley’s Portrait of Paul Revere,” Revere House Gazette 17 (1989): 1-5. Paulette Marie Kaskinen, “Artists, Craftsmen and Patriots: Social Pretensions and Propaganda in John Singleton Copley’s Portraiture,” unpub. master’s thesis, Univ. of Virginia, 1992.

  Paul Revere: Huguenot Origins

  Charles W. Baird, History of the Huguenot Emigration to America, 2 vols. (New York, 1885; rpt. Baltimore, 1966); Jon Butler, The Huguenots in America: A Refugee People in New World Society (Cambridge, Mass., 1983); Patrick M. Leehey, “The Huguenot Communities in New England: Boston, New Oxford, Narragansett and Dresden, Maine,” unpublished ms., 1988, Paul Revere Memorial Association.

  Paul Revere’s Business Activities

  A Brief Sketch of the Business Life of Paul Revere (Taunton, 1928); Mark Bortman, “Paul Revere and Son and Their Jewish Correspondents,” Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society 43 (1953-54): 199—229; Clarence S. Brigham, Paul Revere’s Engravings (Worcester, 1954); Kathryn C. Buhler, “The Ledgers of Paul Revere,” Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin, June 1936, pp. 38-45; Renee Ernay, “The Revere Furnace, 1787-1800,” unpub. master’s thesis, University of Delaware, 1989; Ruth L. Friedman, “Artisan to Entrepreneur: The Business Life of Paul Revere,” unpublished research paper, Paul Revere Memorial Association Library, 1978; John J. Kebabian, “Paul Revere and His Water Dam,” CEAIA 30 (1977): 12—13; Maurer, Maurer, “Copper Bottoms for the United States Navy, 1794—1803,” The United States Naval Institute Proceedings 17 (June 1945); Edward Moreno, “Patriotism and Profit: The Copper Mills at Canton,” Zannieri. Leehey, et al, Paul Revere—Artisan, Businessman, and Patriot, 95-116; James A. Mulholland, A History of Metals in Colonial America (Birmingham, 1981); Arthur H. Nichols, “The Early Bells of Paul Revere,” NEHGR 48 (April 1904): 151-57; Arthur H. Nichols, “The Bells of Paul and Joseph W. Revere,” EIHC 47 (Oct. 1911): 293-316; Jane Ross, “Paul Revere—Patriot Engraver,” Early American Life 6 (April 1975): 36-37; Edward Stickney and Evelyn Stickney. The Bells of Paul Revere, His Sons and Grandsons (Bedford, Mass., 1976).

  Paul Revere’s Silver

  A leading authority is Kathryn C. Buhler, who has given us American Silver (Cleveland, 1950); American Silver, 1655—1825, in the Museum of Fine Arts. 2 vols. (Boston, 1972); American Silver from the Colonial Period Through the Early Republic in the Worcester Art Museum (Worcester, 1979); “Master and Apprentice: Some Relationships in New England Silversmithing,” Antiques 68 (1955): 456—60; “Paul Revere, Patriot and Silversmith,” Discovering Antiques 57 (1971): 1350-54; and Paul Revere, Goldsmith 1735—1818 (Boston, n.d.). Louisa Dresser, “American and English Silver Given in Memory of Frederick William Paine, 1866—1935,” Worcester Art Museum Annual 2 (1936—37): 89—98; Deborah A. Federhen, “From Artisan to Entrepreneur: Paul Revere’s Silver Shop in Operation,” in Zannieri, Leehey, et al., Paul Revere—Artisan, Businessman and Patriot, 65—93; Morrison H. Heckscher and Leslie Greene Bowman, American Rococo: Elegance in Ornament (New York, 1992); Janine E. Skerry, “The Revolutionary Revere: A Critical Assessment of the Silver of Paul Revere,” Zannieri, Leehey, et al., Paul Revere—Artisan, Businessman and Patriot, 41-63.

  Paul Revere’s Military Service

  Two accounts of the Penobscot Expedition are Russell Bourne, “The Penobscot Fiasco.” American Heritage, Oct. 1974, pp. 28—33, 100—101; William M. Fowler, Jr., “Disaster in Penobscot Bay,” Harvard Magazine, July-Aug. 1979, pp. 26-31. Chester B. Kevitt, General Solomon Lovell and the Penobscot Expedition, 1779 (Weymouth, 1976), reproduces many relevant documents. James S. Leamon, Revolution Downeast: The War for American Independence in Maine (Amherst, Mass., 1993), includes an excellent bibliography. Linda Webster, “The Penobscot Expedition: A Study in Military Organization,” is an unpublished senior thesis, Bates College, 1983; a copy is in the Paul Revere Memorial Association.

  Paul Revere’s Masonic Activities

  Edith J. Steblecki, Paul Revere and Freemasonry (Boston, 1985), is the best study of its subject, with much valuable data in its appendices and a good bibliography; the same author also has published “Fraternity, Philanthropy and Revolution: Paul Revere and Freemasonry,” in Zannieri, Leehey, et
al., Paul Revere—Artisan, Businessman and Patriot, 117—47. Other works in a large literature include: Harry Carr, Six Hundred Years of Craft Ritual (Grand Lodge of Missouri, 1977); and The Constitutions of the Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of Free and Accepted Masons Containing Their History, Charges, Addresses and Collected and Digested from Their Old Records, Faithful Traditions and Lodge Books. For the Use of Masons to Which Are Added the History of Masonry in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the Constitution, Laws and Regulations of Their Grand Lodge Together with a Large Collection of Songs, Epilogues, etc. (Worcester, 1792).

  Paul Revere’s Horse

  William Ensign Lincoln, Some Descendants of Stephen Lincoln, Edward Larkin, Thomas Oliver, Michael Pearce, Robert Wheaton, George Burrill, John Porter, John Ayer (New York, 1930), is the nearest thing to a primary source. Also helpful is Patrick M. Leehey, “What was the Name of Paul Revere’s Horse?” Revere House Gazette 16 (1965): 5; and idem, “A Few More Words on ‘Paul Revere’s Horse,’” ibid. 17 (1989): 6.

  Biographies of Thomas Gage

  By comparison with the vast outpouring of scholarship on Paul Revere, remarkably little has been published on General Gage. The standard biography is John R. Alden, General Gage in America (Baton Rouge, 1948), now much in need of revision. A short study by a leading historian of the British army in the Revolution is John Shy, “Thomas Gage: Weak Link of Empire,” in George A. Billias (ed.), George Washington’s Opponents: British Generals and Admirals in the American Revolution (New York, 1969), 3—38. An important study of Gage’s career is Frederick Bernays Wiener, Civilians Under Military Justice; The British Practice since 1689, Especially in British North America (Chicago, 1967). The author was a Washington lawyer with much practical experience in related fields.

  Biographies (Alphabetical by Subject)

  Some of these works belong more to the realm of memory than history. They are filiopietistic in tone and substance, and enter exaggerated claims for the acts of ancestors. But they also contain many memoirs, family stories, and personal documents. When used with care and caution they greatly enrich our knowledge of the event.

  On Samuel Adams: Ralph Volney Harlow, Samuel Adams, Promoter of the American Revolution: A Study of Psychology and Politics (New York, 1923), is occasionally useful, despite its Freudian bias; John C. Miller, Sam Adams, Pioneer in Propaganda (Boston, 1936), is still the standard work, stressing his Puritan roots. Clifford Shipton, “Samuel Adams,” Sibley’s Harvard Graduates, is a serious work of scholarship, but colored by a strong Tory bias.

  Other biographical material on April 19 appears in: Robert L. Volz, Governor Bowdoin and His Family (Brunswick, Me., 1969); George Tolman, John Jack, the Slave, and Daniel Bliss, the Tory (Concord, Mass., 1902); G. W. Brown, “Sketch of the Life of Solomon Brown,” Proceedings, LHS II (1890): 124; Charles F. Carter, “The Rev. Jonas Clarke, Minister and Patriot,” Lexington Historical Society Proceedings IV (1905—10): 82—90. Jules David Prown, John Singleton Copley. 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1966); Henry W. Holland, William Dawes and His Ride with Paul Revere (Boston, 1878); Cyrus Hamlin, My Grandfather, Colonel Francis Faulkner (Boston, 1887); George Billias, Elbridge Gerry (New York, 1976); idem, General John Glover and His Marblehead Mariners (New York, 1960); Hall Gleason, “Captain Isaac Hall,” Medford Historical Register 8 (1905): 100—103.

  On John Hancock: A large but thin literature includes: James Truslow Adams, “Portrait of an Empty Barrel,” Harper’s Magazine 161 (1930): 425—34; Oliver M. Dickinson, “John Hancock, Notorious Smuggler or Near Victim of British Revenue Racketeers?” MVHR 32 (1945-46): 517-40; Herbert Allen, John Hancock: Patriot in Purple (New York, 1948).

  Also, Josephine Hosmer, “Memoir of Joseph Hosmer,” The Centennial of the Concord Social Circle (Cambridge, Mass., 1882), 116-17; and the larger ms., “Memoir of Joseph Hosmer,” Concord Antiquarian Society Papers, CFPL; Bernard Bailyn, The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (Cambridge, Mass., 1974); Joseph Grafton Minot, A Genealogical Record of the Minot Family in America and England (Boston, 1897); Robert Newman Sheets, Robert Newman; His Life and Letters in Celebration of the Bicentennial of His Showing of Two Lanterns in Christ Church, Boston, April 18, 1775 (Denver: Newman Family Society, 1975); Andrew Oliver, comp., Faces of a Family (Boston: privately printed, 1960).

  Much has been written on James Otis: William Tudor, Life of James Otis (Boston, 1823), is still the best biography, despite its age; Alice Vering, “James Otis,” is a dissertation at the University of Nebraska, 1954; Ellen Brennan, “James Otis, Recreant and Patriot,” NEQ XII (1939): 691-725, centers on his early writings; John J. Waters, Jr., The Otis Family In Provincial and Revolutionary Massachusetts (1968; New York, 1975), is an excellent social history of the family.

  Other biographical materials include Elizabeth S. Parker, “Captain John Parker,” LHS Proceedings 1 (1866-89): 43; Theodore Parker, letter of Feb. 16, 1858, published in Lexington Townsman, April 21, 1932, copy in LHS; Denison Rogers Slade, “Henry Pelham, the Half-Brother of John Singleton Copley,” Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts 5 (1897-98): 193-211; Usher Parson, The Life of Sir William Pepperrell, Bart. (Boston, 1855); Henry Winchester Cunningham, Christian Remick: An Early Boston Artist (Boston, 1904).

  On Joseph Warren: There are many studies, and still a need for a comprehensive modern biography; still useful are: Alexander Everett, Joseph Warren, in Jared Sparks (ed.), Library of American Biography (Boston, 1838), 1st series, X, 91—183; A Bostonian [Samuel Adams Wells], Biographical Sketch of General Joseph Warren (Boston 1857); Richard Frothingham, Jr., The Life and Times of Joseph Warren (Boston, 1866); John Cary, Joseph Warren, Physician, Politician, Patriot (Urbana, 1961).

  Local Histories: Boston

  General works include: Justin Winsor (ed.), The Memorial History of Boston. 4 vols. (Boston, 1880—81); Gerald B. Warden, Boston, 1689—1776 (Boston, 1970); Annie Haven Thwing, The Crooked and Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston, 1630-1822 (Boston, 1920); Samuel Adams Drake, Old Landmarks and Historical Personages of Boston (1872; rev. ed., Boston, 1906; rpt. 1971, 1986).

  On topography and terrain: Samuel Barber, Boston Common: A Diary of Notable Events, Incidents and Neighboring Occurrences (Boston, 1916); Walter M. Whitehill, Boston: A Topographical History (Cambridge, 1959; 2nd ed., 1968, 1975); idem, “Paul Revere’s Boston, 1775—1818,” Harvard Magazine 77 (1975): 28—36; Wendy A. Cooper, “Paul Revere’s Boston,” Antiques 108 (July 1975): 80-93.

  On demographic history: John B. Blake, Public Health in the Town of Boston, 1630—1822 (Cambridge, 1959).

  On social and economic structure: Boston Board of Assessors. “Assessors ‘Taking Books’ of the Town of Boston, 1780.” The Bostonian Society Publications 9 (1912): 9—59; James Henretta, “Economic Development and Social Structure in Colonial Boston,” William and Mary Quarterly 22 (1965): 75-92.

  On politics and the Boston town meeting: A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston, Containing the Boston Town Records,1770—1777 (Boston, 1887).

  On the military occupation: Oliver M. Dickerson, Boston Under Military Rule, IJ68— 1769 (1936; rpt. Westport, Conn., 1971), is a compendium of materials culled mostly from newspapers.

  On neighborhoods: William Sumner, The History of East Boston (Boston, 1858), has primary material on April 19, 1775; Carol Ely, “North Square: A Boston Neighborhood in the Revolutionary Era,” unpublished paper, Brandeis University, 1983, PRMA, applies the methods of New England town histories to the study of Paul Revere’s urban neighborhood.

  On patterns of association: Allan Forbes, Taverns and Stagecoaches of New England. 2 vols. (Boston, 1954), 18-27; Walter K. Watkins, Old Boston Taverns and Tavern Clubs (Boston, 1917); and Samuel Adams Drake, Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex (Boston, 1873), with a quantitative appendix drawn from 18th-century tax lists.

  Massachusetts Town Histories and Town Records

  Secondary works of this genre must be approached with caution; the same local pride that inspired them often colo
red the substantive result. But they include much primary material that is no longer available. Specially valuable for primary materials on the events of April 19 are the works listed below by Josiah Adams on Acton; Ripley, Shattuck, and Wheeler on Concord; Charles Hudson and Elias Phinney on Lexington, Alfred Hudson on Sudbury, Wayland, and Marlborough, and Smith and Cutler for Arlington.

  Many town histories published in the late 19th century also included genealogical appendices which are useful for the identification of participants. The genealogical data are also useful checks for the accuracy of historical materials. Some of the more helpful works used in this inquiry are:

  Acton: Josiah Adams, Acton Centennial Address (Boston, 1835); idem, Letter to Lemuel Shattuck, Esq. (Boston, 1850); Harold R. Phalen, History of Acton (1954).

  Andover: Sarah L. Bailey, Historical Sketches of Andover, Massachusetts (Boston, 1880).

  Arlington, formerly called West Cambridge and Menotomy: Benjamin & William Cutler, The History of the Town of Arlington (Boston, 1880); Samuel A. Smith, West Cambridge on the Nineteenth of April, 1775 (Boston, 1864).

  Attleborough: John Daggett, A Sketch of the History of Attleborough (Boston, 1894).

  Bedford: Abram English Brown, The History of the Town of Bedford (Bedford, 1891).

  Beverly: Charles F. Smith, Proceedings of the Beverly Historical Society of Massachusetts on the Occasion of the Presentation of a Tablet Commemorating the Minute-Men of Beverly, 1st Ser., no. 1 (New York, 1896); E. M. Stone, The History of Beverly (Boston, 1843); Thomas A. and Jean M. Askew, Beverly, Massachusetts, and the American Revolution (Beverly, 1525).