Paul Revere's Ride (76 page)

37
. Gage to Haldimand, Aug. 4, 1774, Haldimand Papers, add. ms. 21665, BL.

38
. George III to Lord North, Sir John Fortescue (ed.),
The Correspondence of George the Third from 1760 to December, 1783,
6 vols. (London, 1927-28), III, 59.

39
.
Gage’s commission and instructions, and materials concerning his arrival as governor are reproduced in L. Kinvin Wroth
et al.
(eds.),
Province in Rebellion; A Documentary History of the Founding of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1774—1775
(microfiche edition and guide, Cambridge, 1975), documents 1—11, pp. 1—63. A large part of this vast and very useful collection, drawn mainly from the Massachusetts Archives but also from many other sources, deals with the developing conflict between Gage and the legislature and towns of Massachusetts (documents 12—333, pp. 64—1068).

40
. Gage to Haldimand, May 15, 1774, Haldimand Papers, add. ms. 21665, BL.

41
. John R. Galvin,
The Minute Men: A Compact History of the Defenders of the American Colonies 1645-1775
(New York, 1967), 90.

42
. Andrew Oliver Letterbook, 1767-1774, Egerton ms 2670, BL;
Gage Correspondence,
I, 1365-66.

43
. The Dyer affair has been misunderstood as an arrest by Gage himself under the new Coercive Acts (Alden,
Gage,
209). This incident happened in a different way. The true facts are laid out in a secret letter from Gage to Dartmouth, Oct. 30, 1774, CO5/92, PRO.

44
.|J. T. Buckingham], “Paul Revere,”
New England Magazine
3 (1832): 304—14.

45
. Gage to Dartmouth, May 30, 1774,
Gage Correspondence,
I, 356.

46
. Gage to Dartmouth, Sept. 2, 1774,
ibid.,
I, 371.

47
. Gage to Dartmouth, Oct. 30, 1774,
ibid.,
I, 382.

48
. Gage to Dartmouth, Aug. 27, 1774,
ibid.,
I, 367; Alden,
Gage,
212.

49
. He called it a “phrensy” and added his hope that “it’s only a fit of rage that will cool,” and his belief that all the trouble “has taken its rise from the old source at Boston” (
Gage Correspondence,
I, 367, Aug. 27, 1774). In an amiable letter to Peyton Randolph of Virginia, Gage expressed a wish that “decency and moderation here would create the same disposition at home.” He looked forward to a moment when “these asperities between the Mother Country and the Colonies have terminated like the quarrels of lovers and increased the affection they ought to bear to each other” (Gage to Peyton Randolph, Oct. 20, 1774, C05/92, PRO).

50
. Gage to Dartmouth, Aug. 27, 1774,
Gage Correspondence,
I, 365.

3. First Strokes

1
. Gage to Dartmouth, Sept. 2, 1774,
Gage Correspondence,
I, 369.

2
. Brattle to Gage, Aug. 26, 1774, Peter Force (ed.),
American Archives,
9 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1837-53), 4th series, I, 739.

3
. The site is now a park at Powder House Square, Somerville, Mass.

4
. “[Account of Col. Maddison’s Expedition],” Sept. 5, 1774,
AA4,
I, 762;
Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News-Letter,
Sept. 5, 1774; Ezra Stiles,
Literary Diary,
ed. F. B. Dexter, 3 vols. (New York, 1901), II, 479 (Sept. 25, 1774).

5
. Robert P. Richmond,
Powder Alarm, 1774
(Princeton, 1971), 1—31.

6
. Stiles,
Literary Diary,
II, 479 (Sept. 25, 1774).

7
.
Ibid.;
Benjamin Church to Samuel Adams, Sept. 4, 1774, Samuel Adams Papers, NYPL.

8
. Joseph Warren to Samuel Adams, n.d.
[ca.
Sept. 4, 1774], Samuel Adams Papers, NYPL.

9
. Thomas Oliver, statement dated Sept. 2, 1774,
AA4,
1, 763; John Rowe, Diary, Sept. 1-3, 1774, MHS; published in part in
Letters and Diary,
283-84.

10
. One of these papers survives in ADM 1/485, PRO; for the “hot, dry” weather on Sept. 1 and 2, 1774, see Jonas Clarke Diary, LHS.

11
. Revere introduced his messenger as John Marston, “a gentleman of my acquaintance, a high son of Liberty, and one that can give you a particular detail of our affairs, much better than I can write them. You will introduce him to your friends as such.” He also
thanked Isaac Sears for “his kind care of my horse and sulky.” Paul Revere to John Lamb, Sept. 4, 1774, Lamb Papers N-YHS; rpt. Goss,
Revere,
I, 150—53.

12
. Rowe, Diary, Sept. 3, 1774, MHS; published in part in
Letters and Diary,
284.

13
. Gage to Dartmouth, Oct. 30, 1774,
Gage Correspondence,
I, 383.

14
. Gage to Dartmouth, Sept. 25, 1774, and Gage to Hillsborough, Sept. 25, 1774,
Gage Correspondence,
I, 377; II, 654.

15
. David Ammerman,
In the Common Cause; American Response to the Coercive Acts of 1774
(New York, 1975), 129.

16
. Gage was one of the first to conclude that “foreign troops must be hired, for to begin with small numbers will encourage resistance.” Gage to Barrington, Nov. 2, 1774,
Gage Correspondence,
II, 659; and various dispatches in C05/92/1.

17
. Piers Mackesy,
The War for America, 1775-1783
(Cambridge, Eng., 1964), 524.

18
. Dartmouth to Gage, Jan. 27, 1775,
Gage Correspondence,
II, 181; the Marine battalion, commanded by Major John Pitcairn, began to arrive on Dec. 5, 1774, in HMS
Asia;
Barker,
Diary,
10.

19
. Revere to Jeremy Belknap [
ca.
1798], Edmund Morgan (ed.),
Paul Revere’s Three Accounts
(Boston, 1961), n.p.

20
.
Ibid.;
in Puritan Boston, Bible-swearing had been condemned as idolatry; a century later, attitudes had changed. Morgan (ed.),
Paul Revere’s Three Accounts,
introduction.

21
.
Ibid.

22
. Ibid.; in the manuscript Revere identified their place of meeting as the Masonic hall, then crossed it out and wrote in the name of the Green Dragon Tavern.

23
. The decision to warn Portsmouth appears to have been made by Revere and a rump of the committee. A “gentleman of Boston” wrote to Rivington in New York, Dec. 20, 1774, “On Monday, the 12th inst. our worthy citizen, Mr. Paul Revere, was sent express from only two or three of the Committee of Correspondence at Boston, as I am creditably informed (of whom no number under seven are empowered to act) to a like committee at Portsmouth.”
AA4,
I, 1054.

24
. Captain’s Log, HMS
Somerset,
Dec. 11-14, 1774, ADM51/906, part 6, PRO.

25
. Allen French,
The First Year of the American Revolution
(Boston, 1934), 650.

26
. For the weather in New Hampshire, see Lois K. Stabler (ed.),
Very Poor and of a Lo Make; The Journal of Abner Sanger
(published for the Historical Society of Cheshire County, Portsmouth, N. H., 1986), 15-17.

27
.
New York Journal,
Dec. 29, 1774; “A Letter from a Gentleman in New Hampshire to a Gentleman in New York,” Dec. 17, 1774, Nathaniel Bouton
et al.
(eds.),
Documents and Records Relating to the Province of New Hampshire,
40 vols. (Concord, N.H., 1867-1943), VII, 423; the major documents are collected in Charles L. Parsons, “The Capture of Fort William and Mary, December 14 and 15, 1774,” New Hampshire Historical Society
Proceedings
4 (1890-1905): 18-47. The mansion of Samuel Cutts stood on Market Street, next to what is today called the Ladd House, directly across from his wharf on the Piscataqua River. The house burned in 1802. See Cecil Hampden Cutts Howard,
Genealogy of the Cutts Family in America
(Albany, 1892), 518—19.

28
. Capt. John Cochran to Gov. John Wentworth, Dec. 14, 1774,
AA4,
I, 1042; also William Bell Clark (ed.),
Naval Documents of the American Revolution
(Washington, D.C., 1964+), I, 18-19.

29
. Capt. John Cochran to Gov. John Wentworth, Dec. 14, 1774,
AA4,
I, 1042; also
NDAR,
I, 18—19; Parsons, “Capture of Fort William and Mary,” 22.

30
. Capt. John Cochran to Governor John Wentworth, Dec. 14, 1774, ADM 1/485;
AA4,
1,1042. Capt. Andrew Barkley, R.N., to Vice Adm. Samuel Graves, Dec. 20,1774,
NDAR,
I, 38; Parsons, “Capture of Fort William and Mary,” 19—23. Lord Percy wrote home, “What is most extraordinary in this event is, that notwithstanding the Captain fired at them, both with some field pieces and small arms, nobody was either killed or wounded,” Percy to Grey Cooper, after Dec. 13, 1774,
Percy Letters,
46—47. Percy was mistaken. Cochran and at least one other soldier were wounded.

31
.
Wentworth to Gage, Dec. 16, 1774,
AA4,
I, 1042; Parsons, “Capture of Fort William and Mary,” 23—25.

32
.
New York Journal,
Dec. 29, 1774.

33
. Captain’s Log of HMS
Scarborough,
Dec. 15—19, 1774, PRO Admiralty 51/867; Captain’s Log of HMS
Canceaux,
Dec. 15-18, 1774, ADM 51/4136; Capt. Andrew Barkley to Vice Adm. Graves, Dec. 20, 1774, ADM1/485, published in part in
NDAR,
I, 35, 38.

34
.
Providence Gazette,
Dec. 23, 1774.

35
. Wentworth to Graves, Dec. 14, 1774; Graves Papers, Gay Transcripts, MHS. Percy to Grey Cooper, post Dec. 13, 1774,
Percy Letters,
46.

36
. Percy to Grey Cooper, after Dec. 13, 1774,
ibid.

37
. Percy to Duke of Northumberland, Sept. 12, 1774,
ibid.,
38.

38
. Gage to Dartmouth, March 4, 1775,
Gage Correspondence,
I, 393-94.

39
. Thomas Hutchinson, Jr., to Elisha Hutchinson, March 4, 1775, Hutchinson Papers, Egerton ms. 2659, BL; Ann Hulton to Mrs. Adam Lightbody, Nov. 25, 1773, Harold Murdock
et al.
(eds.),
Letters of a Loyalist Lady
(Cambridge, Mass., 1927), 63.

40
. The 64th Foot knew Salem well; two of its companies had been assigned there to guard General Gage during his sojourn at the nearby Hooper mansion in Danvers.

41
. Forbes,
Revere,
235-38, makes this inference. I have found no primary evidence to confirm it, but it seems a reasonable supposition. Flucker had been a conduit for other information; see Revere to Belknap, 1798; and French,
General Gage’s Informers,
164; for Gage’s suspicion of Henry Knox, and Knox’s association with Paul Revere in intelligence activities, see North Callahan,
Henry Knox; General Washington’s General
(New York, 1958), 30.

42
. The source is a letter to the Sons of Liberty in New York signed by Joshua Brackett, keeper of the Cromwell Head; Paul Revere, Benjamin Edes, printer; Joseph Ward, distiller; Thomas Crafts, painter; and Thomas Chase, distiller:

“Boston 1st March 1775
“Sir, Agreeable to what Mr. Revere wrote you by the last Monday’s Post, the subscribers have this day met and have determined to send you weekly the Earliest and most authentic intelligence of what may be transacted in this Metropolis and Province, relating to the public affairs and general concerns of America; that you may have it in your power to contradict the many infamous lies which are propagated by the Enemies of our Country. And we beg it as a particular favor that you would appoint or agree with a number of gentlemen for the above purpose in your city that we may have early information from you of whatever transpires in your city and province of a public nature. At this critical period we conceive it to be very important to our Common Cause to have weekly or frequent communications. We are Sir, Your most obedient and most humble servants, [signed] Joshua Brackett, Paul Revere, Benj. Edes, Joseph Ward, Tho. Crafts Junr., and Thomas Chase” “P.S. Enclosed you have an account of the late Expedition which terminated to the honour of Americans. In addition to the secrecy with which the maneuvre to Salem was conducted, we inform you that
three
[italics added] persons were occasionally at the castle on Saturday afternoon and were detained there till 10 o’clock on Monday lest we should send an Express to our brethren at Marblehead and Salem.”

The original letter is in the Lamb Papers, N-YHS; the transcript in Goss is inaccurate, substituting “these” for the italicized “three” in the postscript. Forbes (pp. 236-37) built an entire new interpretation on this misreading. She took “these” to refer to all of the signers of the letter and concluded mistakenly that Paul Revere himself had been imprisoned. There is no evidence that this is the case.

43
. William Gavett, “Account of the Affair at North Bridge,”
EIP
1 (1859): 126-28; Joseph Story, “Account Dictated,”
ibid.,
134—35; Charles M. Endicott, “Leslie’s Retreat or the Resistance to British Arms at the North Bridge in Salem, etc.,”
ibid.,
120; James Duncan Phillips, “Why Colonel Leslie Came to Salem,”
EIHC
90 (1953): 313; “Leslie’s Retreat,”
EIHC
17 (1880): 190-92.