Paul Revere's Ride (74 page)

1
. David Gergen on Senator Paul Tsongas, MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour, October 1992.

2
. See below, pp. 327—44, for a more extended discussion of historiography.

3
. Allen French,
The Day of Lexington and Concord
(1925; rpt. Boston, 1975), 1.

4
.
Such an approach to narrative history differs fundamentally from two others that have recently appeared in the academic literature. Social historians in the past generation called for a “revival of narrative” in which individual actors appear mainly as the captives of large deterministic processes. That approach to story-telling failed completely, for narrative without contingency lacks the vital tension that holds a story together.

More recently, several popular writers, and even some professional historians of a relativist bent have suggested that historians should solve the problem of narrative by adopting the methods of fiction, and (within various limits) openly fabricating their stories, their characters, and even their sources. This also will not do. An historian cannot manufacture his materials without ceasing to write history. Further, the remodeled relativism that has been offered as a rationalization for this practice is itself a fallacy.

Any true revival of serious narrative history must rest on two firm premises: first, no narrative without contingency; second, no history without a rigorous respect for fact.

5
. None of this is meant to assert his priority over other leaders. Many volumes might be written about figures of equal or greater importance. But this is a book about Paul Revere.

6
. There were at least four ideas of liberty in early America: the ordered freedom that was carried from East Anglia to Puritan New England in the great migration of 1629—40; the hegemonic freedom that went from the south and west of England to Cavalier Virginia,
ca.
1640-80; the reciprocal freedom that was brought by Quakers from the North Midlands of England and Wales to the Delaware Valley; and the natural freedom that traveled from the borderlands of North Britain and northern Ireland to the American backcountry. All were challenged in 1775 by a fifth idea of a free society in Britain’s Imperial elite. For extended discussion see D. H. Fischer,
Albion’s Seed
(New York, 1989).

1.
Paul Revere’s America

1
. Covenant of the Methuen Militia in
EIHC
7 (1870): 243; Benjamin Bangs Diary, Sept. 10, 1747, MHS; Amos Barrett, Narrative, in
Journal and Letters of Henry True
(Marion, Ohio, 1906); Thomas Boynton, Journal, April 19, 23, 1775, MHS; published in
MHSP
15 (1877): 254-55.

2
. His master was John Coney (1655-1722); the inventory of his estate, in the records of Suffolk County, included an appraisal of “Paul Rivoires time about three years and half as per. indenture, [L]30-0-0” and a note, “cash recd for Paul Rivoire’s Time, more than it was prized at … £10.” John Coney Inventory, Suffolk Probate Records, file 4641.

3
. For the growth in his reputation in the past fifty years, compare John M. Phillips, “The Huguenot Heritage in American Silver,”
Legion of Honor Magazine
11 (1940): 70, and Esther Forbes,
Paul Revere and the World He Lived In
(Boston, 1942), 10; Janine Skerry, “The Revolutionary Revere: A Critical Assessment of the Silver of Paul Revere,’ in Nina Zannieri, Patrick Leehey,
et al.t Paul Revere—Artisan, Businessman and Patriot: The Man Behind the Myth
(Boston, 1988), 44-46. Skerry writes, of the sleeve buttons in particular, “The engraved border on these sleeve buttons of overlapping leaves surrounding a stylized flower is
a
common decorative motif on New England silver in this period … the basic shape of these buttons, however, is unusual … the shape of Revere’s round sleeve buttons is not only distinctive but challenging to fabricate as well.” One might add that the aesthetics of these small pieces also show a refinement that is not merely a matter of technique. Something similar appears also in Apollos Rivoire’s larger silver pieces.

4
. Three proceedings for debt against Apollos Rivoire are in the Suffolk County Court files, 42893 (1736); 46500 (1738), and 47232 (1738); Donald M. Nielsen, “The Revere Family,”
NEHGR
145 (1991): 293.

5
. On variant spellings, see Elbridge Henry Goss,
The Life of Colonel Paul Revere,
2 vols. (New York, 1891), I, 10; “Rwoire” is in the Coney inventory; on the “bumpkins,” John Rivoire to Paul Revere, Jan. 12, 1775, RFP, MHS.

6
.
Milton Halsey Thomas (ed.),
The Diary of Samuel Sewall,
2 vols. (New York, 1973), I, 406 (Jan. 4, 1699).

7
. Of Huguenot marriages in Boston, 1700-1749, only 31 of 266 (11.7%) were endog-amous; Jon Butler,
The Huguenots in America; A Refugee People in New World Society
(Cambridge, Mass., 1983), 82.

8
. Patrick M. Leehey, “Reconstructing Paul Revere: An Overview of His Life, Ancestry and Work,” in Zannieri, Leehey,
et al., Paul Revere,
36n.

9
. See Appendix A for genealogical data, drawn mainly from Nielsen, “The Revere Family,” 291-316; and Patrick Leehey, “Reconstructing Paul Revere,” in Zannieri, Leehey,
et al., Paul Revere,
15—39; both correcting many errors in Forbes,
Revere,
469, and other works.

10
. Paul Revere to John Rivoire, May 19, 1786, RFP, MHS.

11
. Robert F. Seybolt,
The Public Schools of Colonial Boston, 1635—1775
(Cambridge, Mass., 1935), 23—25; D. C. Colesworthy,
John Tileston’s School
(Boston, 1887).

12
. Paul Revere, Engraving for North Battery Certificate, n.d.,
ca.
1762, reproduced in Clarence S. Brigham,
Paul Revere’s Engravings
(Worcester, Mass., 1954), 12; Forbes,
Revere,
29.

13
. Calvinist churches included 8 Congregationalist, 1 Anabaptist, 1 Presbyterian, and 1 French Reformed. Others were two Anglican churches and one Quaker meeting. A third Anglican church, Trinity, was founded in 1733 but its building was not open until Aug. 15, 1735; cf. Walter M. Whitehill,
Boston: A Topographical History
(2nd ed., Cambridge, Mass., 1968). For the location of Boston’s churches, see John Bonner and William Price, “A New Plan of the Great Town of Boston in New England” (n.p., 1733, 1743, 1769).

14
. John Tucker Prince, “Boston in 1813,”
Bostonian Society Publications
3 (1906): 86.

15
. Lt. Richard Williams, in Jane Van Arsdale (ed.),
Discord and Civil Wars, Being a Portion of a Journal Kept by Lieutenant Williams of His Majesty’s Twenty-Third Regiment While Stationed in British North America During the Time of the Revolution
(Buffalo, 1954), 5 (June 12, 1775).

16
. For a reconstruction of kinship in the North End, see the excellent study by Carol Ely, “North Square: A Boston Neighborhood in the Revolutionary Era,” unpublished paper, Brandeis University, 1983 (copy on file at the Paul Revere House, Boston); for the street cry, see Dirk Hoerder,
Crowd Action in Revolutionary Massachusetts, 1765—1780
(New York, 1977), 226.

17
. Ron Johnston, Graham Allsopp, John Baldwin, and Helen Turner,
An Atlas of Bells
(Oxford, 1990), 178.

18
. John Dyer, Paul Revere, Josiah Flagg, Bartholemew Flagg, Jonathan Law, Jonathan Brown junior, and Joseph Snelling, Bell Ringing Agreement, n.d.,
ca.
1750; Old North Church; facsimile in Zannieri, Leehey,
et al., Paul Revere,
149.

19
. The business appears to have remained in his mother’s name until Paul Revere reached his majority; conversation with Patrick M. Leehey, Coordinator of Research, PRMA.

20
. “Mrs. Deborah Revere, Dr. To 12 Months Board from December 12, 1761 to December 12 1762 at 6/8 per week 18.16.8.” Paul Revere Waste Book, RFP, MHS.

21
. These were the teeth of animals, secured by metal wires. Revere claimed in his advertisements that he had set “hundreds” of false teeth; see
Boston Gazette,
Sept. 19, 1768.

22
. Peter Jenkins, Oct. 9, 1763, Paul Revere Waste Book, RFP, MHS.

23
. Paul Revere Ledgers, Jan. 3, 1761, May 6, 1786, Aug. 24, 1794, RFP, MHS.

24
. Paul Revere Waste Book, Sept. 27, 1774, RFP, MHS.

25
. After many years of unqualified admiration, another generation of experts has studied Revere’s silver with a more critical eye. See Skerry, “The Revolutionary Revere,” in Zannieri, Leehey,
et al., Paul Revere,
41-64.

26
. Appendix A, below; Daniel Scott Smith, “The Long Cycle in American Illegitimacy and Prenuptial Pregnancy,” Peter Laslett,
et al.
(eds.),
Bastardy and Its Comparative History
(Cambridge, Eng., 1980), 362-78.

27
.
Forbes is mistaken in thinking that the grave marker for Sarah Revere was “a type of stone at the moment in high fashion.” More recent work shows that Revere preferred the older New England customs to the new fashions of the age. Cf. James Deetz,
In Small Things Forgotten; The Archaeology of Early American Life
(New York, 1977), 70.

28
. It is reproduced in facsimile in Goss,
Revere,
I, 110; for the children born of this union, see Appendix A. When a French cousin asked in 1786 about the number of his children, Paul Revere answered carefully that he had fifteen “born in wedlock.” Could this mean that there were others? Cf. Paul Revere to John Rivoire, May 19, 1786, RFP, MHS.

29
. Paul Revere to Rachel Revere, Aug. 1778, RFP, MHS.

30
. Rachel Revere to Paul Revere, undated, Gage Papers, WLC; published in Allen French,
General Gage’s Informers
(Ann Arbor, 1932), 170—71.

31
. For further discussion, see David Hackett Fischer,
Albion’s Seed
(New York, 1989).

32
. Rowland Ellis to E. H. Goss, July 19, 1888, Goss,
Revere,
I, 3on, II, 611.

33
. For Revere and the street lamps,
Boston Town Records, 1770—1777,
May 11, 1773, p. 136; for his service as coroner, some of the records are in the Revere Family Papers, MHS; for his tenure on the Board of Health after a yellow fever epidemic in 1799-1800, see John B. Blake,
Public Health in the Town of Boston
(Cambridge, 1959), 166; on the Charitable Mechanic Association, (Boston)
Columbian Centinel,
Dec. 31, 1794; and Joseph T. Buckingham,
Annals of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association;
on his jury service in 1806, see Justin Winsor,
Memorial History of Boston,
4 vols. (Boston, 1880-81), IV, 588.

34
. Notably Esther Forbes; see below, p. 338.

35
. Some scholars have speculated that the decision to represent Paul Revere in the dress of an artisan was made by the painter, not the subject. No primary evidence bears explicitly on this point; I think the motif was more likely to be the result of mutual agreement. It is in any case a point of no relevance here.

36
. The British officer spoke very differently to humble farmers and tradesmen. See also William Shirley, Commission to “Paul Revere, gentleman,” Feb. 18, 1755/56, RFP, MHS; and
Boston Town Records, 1770-1777,
July 19, 1774, p. 182.

37
. Paul Revere to Supply Belcher, April 9, 1810, RFP, MHS.

38
. Paul Revere to John Rivoire, May 19, 1786, RFP, MHS.

39
. Ownership appears in bills and receipts for “my horse” during his rides before 1775; evidence of a mare being sent for grazing to Groton appears, without citation, in Forbes,
Revere,
161—69.

40
. The record of the case, before Judge Richard Dana, is reprinted in Goss,
Revere,
Appendix H, II, 667-68.

41
. Paul Revere summarized his service record in a certificate dated April 27, 1816, reprinted in Goss,
Revere,
I, 22.

42
. Edith J. Steblecki, “Fraternity, Philanthropy and Revolution: Paul Revere and Freemasonry,” in Zannieri, Leehey,
et al.t Paul Revere,
117—47; Steblecki,
Paul Revere and Freemasonry
(Boston, 1985), 11—12. For a description of the Green Dragon as “the greatest celebrity among all the old Boston hostelries,” see Samuel Adams Drake,
Old Landmarks and Historic Personages of Boston
(1872, 1906; rpt. Rutland, Vt., 1971), 148.

43
. A list of sixty members of the North Caucus who attended a meeting on March 23, 1772, appears in Goss,
Revere,
II, 635—44. Its leaders were an inner group of eleven men who served on executive committees: Gibbens Sharp, Nathaniel Barber, Thomas Hichborn
[sic],
Captain John Pulling, Henry Bass, Paul Revere, John Ballard, Dr. Thomas Young, Thomas Kimball, Abiel Ruddock, and John Lowell, names that will reappear many times in our story. Other members included Samuel Adams, William Molinaux, Dr. Joseph Warren, and Dr. Benjamin Church.