Paul Revere, the torch bearer of the revolution

Foreword

It has been wisely said that Time must lay a finger on events to make them into history. The further away we stand from certain pictures, the more distinct they appear. The events we read of in today's newspaper are not history, but twenty years, or fifty, or a century hence, our descendants will pore over the musty, dusty files, and history will be born.

Paul Revere never imagined that he was living in an epoch-making period ; yet the story of his eventful life holds a fascination of its own, appealing strongly to the interest of readers, old and young. He stood for so much in the history of our country in those stirring Revolutionary times, that we cannot lightly pass over the many services he rendered to the cause of Liberty.

With the heart of a boy and the soul of a patriot, Paul Revere's watchword in those dark days was: " Prepare ! Look to your arms and your ammunition, gather your stores and provisions; set your houses in order for the enemy is upon you ! " And he mounted his big gray horse and carried the message like those swift runners in the Scottish hills — viii FOREWORD

who bore the flaming torch, that fiery call to arms, from clan to clan.

Yet this was but one side of his character. He had wit, sagacity, courage and loyalty to overbalance his rash spirit and somewhat fiery temper. Added to which he was a mechanical genius rarely to be found in those times and rare enough even in these more modern days.

Above all, he was a man of the People, that great body of men who — then as now — formed the backbone of this nation. Through his long and useful life he never forgot this fact, and though his family in past generations could show a coat-of-arms, a seal and crest and other insignia of gentle birth, Paul Revere was content to be known as a Master Mechanic, a Citizen of Boston, and a true Son of Liberty.

On, on tlie good horse galloped, his rider shouting his message as he went.

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Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I How THE Reveres Came to Boston . •• rr . 3

II A Son of Liberty • • 25

II II

ONE can easily imagine that the broad-shouldered, sturdy mechanic, for so Paul Revere was proud to call himself, was an ardent lover of liberty. Unlike most mechanics and artisans of his day, he was never chained to his bench or his workshop : he loved the open country, the blue sky, the freedom of the woods. The word " freedom " was the very breath of his nostrils and we have seen at the first hint at anything like resistance to England's mandates how quick he was to range himself on the side of his oppressed countrymen.

For some time he had been an active member of " The Sons of Liberty," a secret society formed in order to discuss freely grave and serious matters affecting the colonists. It boasted such members as Joseph Warren, John Hancock, Samuel and John Adams, Josiah Quincy and other well-known men, but by far the greater part of the Sons of Libertywas composed of traders and mechanics Hke Revere himself. This big society which soon spread its influence to New York and Philadelphia had its birth in Boston and was divided into what were called " Caucuses." The North End Caucus, to which Revere and his friends belonged, had been organized by Dr. Joseph Warren, who with another person drew up the regulations. The famous Green Dragon Tavern in Union Street was usually the scene of their meetings. It was an unpretentious, two-story brick building with a pitch roof, and from above the entrance projected an iron rod on which crouched the Green Dragon which gave the house its name. To these meetings came all the noted patriots, lending the dignity of their presence during the discussions. " We were so careful," wrote Paul Revere in his notebook, " that our meetings should be kept secret, that every time we met, every person swore upon the Bible not to disclose any of our transactions, but to Hancock, Warren or Church and one or two more leaders."

The Sons of Liberty numbered over three hundred strong, determined men among its members, each one pledged to the cause of liberty. They made a most imposing body when they appeared on public occasions. Each member wore suspended round his neck a medal, on one side of which was engraved a stalwart arm grasping in its hand a pole surmounted with a cap of liberty, and surrounded by the words, " Sons of Liberty " ; on the other side was a picture of Liberty Tree under which their first meetings were held.

There was only one man in Boston who could make those medals and that man was Paul Revere, who came td every meeting, sitting alert and silent save when some practical point demanded his advice — always with a horse saddled for whatever secret mission on which the Committee of Safety chose to send him. In the heart of this powerful organization was hatched the beginning of the Revolution. Behind the heavy doors of the Green Dragon Tavern were whispered things which might have cost many respectable gentlemen their heads. Each Son of Liberty would have staked his life upon the integrity of the others, yet even through those oaken doors crept treason, and little did these earnest patriots dream that as time went on, one of the trusted few admitted to their councils would abuse and betray their confidence, even going so far as to sell some of their secrets to the English. Indeed, it was because such whispers got abroad that they used the Green Dragon Tavern for a meeting place, forsaking the well-beloved Liberty Tree.

The traitor in the camp was no less a person than Dr. Benjamin Church, who was himself one of the organizers of the Sons of Liberty, who wrote many pamphlets and rimes attacking the British Government, and who was loud in his resentment at the King's unwise course. It was Church who told Governor Gage of the colonists' intention to seize all arms and stores at Concord, just as it was Paul Revere's watchful eye that discovered that the British troops were about to leave Boston at the dead of night on some warlike mission unknown to its inhabitants.

After all, our Mercury of the Revolution was a boy at heart. The game of hide and seek which the patriots and the soldiers were playing was wildly interesting. He was put upon every committee where alertness and vigilance were required, and it was doubtless through his many ways of gaining information that he was able to forewarn the leaders of threatening trouble. As a Son of Liberty Paul Revere was in every sense one of the Minute Men of the Revolution. Indeed, it is more than probable that he privately drilled many a raw apprentice into some semblance of a soldier. They all knew him and all loved him — this big, bluff, whole-souled patriot tradesman, who fashioned beautiful articles of gold and silver — not with his loaded gun near by like the farmers in the Middlesex towns, but with a horse always saddled — a heart ever ready and eyes and ears on the alert in his country's cause.

Nowadays we hear much talk of " preparedness " in case of war. Everywhere there is military stir. In our big cities our business men are learning army tactics. In our seaport towns our naval militiamen are being trained. We are building ships and manufacturing guns and hoarding gunpowder — doing all those things which proclaim us a powerful as well as a peaceful nation. But in the old days how different it was! All the colonists had to depend upon in time of stress was a keen ear, a quick eye, and above all an undying and patriotic spirit. This

Paul Revere showed from the very beginning. In spite of his somewhat prosaic records of expenditure in his daybook, one must read between the Hnes and thinic of what such an outlay stood for. Here was a man of business — a man of family besides, and a pretty large one at that, willing to lay aside his daily work, and at the same time to risk his life and his health in long and dangerous rides across the country on business which the patriots would trust to no other man. We know, for instance, that on December 17, the morning after the Tea Party Paul Revere was hastily dispatched to Philadelphia and New York. This meant traveling by night and by day over frozen roads — roads which we easy travelers of to-day can scarcely imagine, roads deep-rutted by the wheels of heavy wagons, full of stones and bowlders and dangerous holes, pitfalls for the unwary horse. For such a journey he needed the best providing, a horse trained for such work, provisions for many days, and arms in case of surprise. He needed money, too, to put up at the various roadhouses, to rest his tired horse, or perhaps to leave it and secure a fresh mount. It is not surprising, therefore, to see in his account books various bills presented to the Committee of Safety for riding and other expenses. Revere was but a fairly well-to-do mechanic ; he gave to the cause his courage and his loyalty ; but his time belonged to the support of his family, and the Committee of Safety was willing to pay the very moderate price he asked for the services he rendered. Our own little blue-coated messenger boys fare better to-day than did Paul Revere a hundred and forty years ago.

When, later on, on June i, 1774, as a punishment for the destruction of the tea, the King closed Boston Harbor by signing the Boston Port Bill, Paul Revere rode forth again at the risk of capture to seek support from the sister colonies of New York and Philadelphia, and to scatter broadcast copies of the act, which he had printed and ornamented with heavy black mourning lines and adorned with the picture of a crown, a skull and cross-bones, which he had engraved especially for the occasion. " Over the skull," we are told, " was a rude semblance of a crown, and beneath the bones, that of the cap of Liberty, denoting that all was death and destruction between the Crown and liberty."

For this ride he was doubtless paid, for there is a 31 careful record of expenses; but it was not until after the famous ride to Lexington that he ever presented a bill to the Committee of Safety. From April 21, 1775, until May 7 following — during which time he was scarcely out of the saddle — and for the days of riding, for expenses for himself and his horse, for the keeping of two other horses, and for certain printing that he did of a thousand impressions, he charged fii-is., reducing the cost of his labors to the sum of four shillings per day, which shows that his love of liberty far outweighed his love of money — although many have smiled over his attention to these little business details.

Paul Revere was a true Son of Liberty. He believed the highest liberty came through independence and he practiced it in his private, as well as in his public life. Money was to him a very solid and a very necessary foundation of independence and herein he differed from the great leader of his time, Samuel Adams, who never thought of money at all — whose snuff-colored suit was constantly out at elbows, whose wife and children were poorly clad and poorly fed, whose poverty and inability to earn a living were the talk of Boston.

Indeed, the more we read of these Revolutionary heroes, the more we marvel at the indomitable energy which carried them through those trying times when the uses of electricity and steam were unknown to the world, when every message or warning which in these days flashes through telegraph or wireless or long-distance telephone, was sent post-haste by a trusty messenger on a fleet horse. Yet, after all, the Middlesex people did the next best thing; they set their meeting-house bells a-ringing in times of alarm. In case of fire, an invasion of savages, or any such direful happening, from town to town the bells told the story, until the air was full of their clanging and pealing.

Paul Revere had everything for traveling that comfort could suggest, at least such comfort as men knew in those times, though the gentle art of bicycling would have saved him many a horse, to say nothing of as many precious hours.

Therefore, it seems all the more wonderful that he accomplished v^^hat he did — in the face of seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

This true Son of Liberty made the safety of the town his first thought and side by side with his city and his country he held sacred the famous Liberty Tree, which was the scene of so many patriotic gatherings. There was never a time when he could not remember it standing there on the corner of Washington and Essex streets, and as a boy he and his companions had enjoyed many a romp beneath it. One has only to remember one's childhood to understand the love of the men of Boston for this tree. It was very lofty, standing somewhat apart in royal state, and when the boys of Paul Revere' s time grew to manhood, they found that the old habit of stopping under it to discuss matters still clung to them, when events were hurrying them on to the final break with the mother country. The meetings under the tree then began to be attended with more ceremony and on great occasions lanterns hung from its branches and gay flags waved among its leaves. It was formerly called the Great Tree, but was known as Liberty Tree after the celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act. State secrets were whispered and great resolves grew under its shadow. Many of Paul Revere's cleverest drawings are scenes laid around Liberty Tree and the tree itself always stands out a majestic spectator. It was a noble elm, with spreading boughs and a gnarled and knotted trunk which told its age, and not only was it sacred to the Sons of Liberty, but all the inhabitants looked upon it with reverence and awe.

In 1775, when the British occupied Boston after the Battle of Bunker Hill, one of their crowning acts was to destroy this temple of patriotism.

Armed with axes and led by a man named Job Williams, a mob surrounded the beautiful tree and cut it down " because it bore the name of Liberty." Some idea of the size of the tree may be gained from the fact that it made fourteen cords of wood when it was chopped up. After the war a liberty pole was placed on the stump of the tree, which was hereafter known as Liberty Stump. In 1826 a second pole was placed in position. It was intended to celebrate the visit of Lafayette in 1825, but for some reason its erection was delayed, and at the time the following lines were inscribed by Judge Daws :

Of high renown here grew the Tree The Elm, so dear to Liberty; Your sires, beneath its sacred shade. To Freedom, early homage paid.

This day with filial awe surround Its roots, that sanctifies the ground,

And by your fathers' spirits swear The rights they left, you'll not impair.

To Paul Revere as well as to all the Sons of Liberty, the tree was as a living thing, and even though the presence of the British troops in Boston forced them to have their meetings behind closed doors, for them as for their children it always stood as an emblem of liberty.

The tree their own hands had to liberty reared, They lived to behold growing strong and revered ; With transport then cried, " Now our wishes we gain. For our children shall gather the fruits of our pain, In freedom we're born, and in freedom we'll live ! Our purses are ready, — Steady, friends, steady ! — Not as slaves, but as freemen, our money we'll give.

In the wall of a building, corner of Essex and Washington streets in the Boston of to-day, directly over the spot where stood the famous tree, is a stone tablet representing in bas relief, a tree with widespreading branches. On the tablet is this inscription:

LIBERTY 1776.

LAW AND ORDER.

SONS OF LIBERTY I776.

INDEPENDENCE OF THEIR COUNTRY, I776.

The best work of his graver did Paul Revere put upon this cherished tree, immortaHzing it in a dozen different pictures and drawing it with an artist's skill, showing in every delicate line how well he loved it.

For this sturdy patriot loved well and hated well. The time was coming when his vigilance would be rewarded, not by the plaudits of the world, not even by the gratitude of the Committee of Safety whose willing servant he had been, but in the trust and faith of the farmers and tradesmen, and mechanics like himself who knew that their cause was in good hands if he was their champion.

This bold Son of Liberty had his work to do. Had he blundered, his very name would have been forgotten, but what he did is recorded in history and the trumpet of fame is blown for those who succeed.

Ill

Chapter III Boston's Biggest Tea Party

WHEN the hateful tax on tea fell like a thunderbolt on Boston Town, Paul Revere was foremost among those who rose against the tyranny of Great Britain, and during the stormy resistance of the colonies our sturdy craftsman was in the thick of the fight — for he dearly loved a fight, this man of the people.

Yet he had nothing to gain and everything to lose, for in his work shop were created all the dainty belongings of the tea-table from the trap of solid beaten silver to the smallest spoon. With all the cunning of his art he made those beautiful things which found a ready sale among the well-to-do Boston ladies.

Doubtless in his own home tea was royally dispensed. Fancy Mistress Revere, at her table of old mahogany, its polished surface reflecting the beautiful bits of silver from her husband's workshop, while the hissing, bubbling water from her copper kettle steeped the dried leaves she had heaped in the fat silver teapot. The colonial ladies made a practice of " dropping in " for tea at their friends' houses, often carrying their cups and saucers and spoons along with them, and all of them took great pride in their tea-tables, set out with cups and saucers, cream bucket and sugar bowl, and always a lacquered chest filled with tea. But when the time of trial came, while Paul Revere and his brother workmen met at the Green Dragon Inn to denounce the tax on tea, the women put away their pretty tea-things and three hundred prominent colonial dames signed an agreement not to drink tea until the tax was withdrawn.

The younger women followed the example of their elders, and it was a poor creature indeed who would be coward enough to drink a cup of tea in secret. Instead, they used what was called " balsamic hyperion," made from the dried leaves of the raspberry plant, while thyme and other herbs came into use.

So Paul Revere turned his attention to making tankards for ale, and pitchers and mugs for milk, when he was not guarding the harbor with a handful of other tried and trusted men to see that no merchant ship crept in and deposited another unwelcome load of tea.

Great Britain had not looked for this sort of resistance. It was estimated, at that time, that out of the three million colonists at least one million had become accustomed to drinking tea twice a day, and Bohea was the favorite brew. It is not easy to give up a habit, and the mother country, ignorant of the strength of her New World sons and daughters, rather unwisely counted upon the tea being something which they could not do without ; so the East India Company was ordered to send its ships as usual to the American harbors. King George prided himself on being very lenient to his rebellious subjects, as well as very just. He had repealed all of the original tax save that on tea, and he wanted to show them that, as a father, he exacted the unquestioning submission of his children.

Had Boston stood alone, she might not have been able to resist so successfully, but with the other ports — New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, South Carolina — at her back, she was strong enough to send her defiance across the sea. The colonists therefore determined, one and all, to resist the tax and not to buy any of the tea brought in by the East India Company. Of course there were a few avaricious merchants who smuggled it in and sold it secretly to unscrupulous people, but as a rule they were honest about it. There was, however, one man, Theophilus Lillie, who refused to sign an agreement not to sell any tea while the people were taxed. The stand he took aroused the fury of the mob, for he stood almost alone among the small merchants, who had signed the paper rather than lose their customers. Some one planted a post in front of his shop, with a carved head and the names of tea importers on it, and a hand beneath, pointing to his shop. A neighbor named Richardson asked a bystander to break the post down. This raised a crowd of boys who jeered and shouted and chased Richardson into his own house. The furious man fired into the crowd and killed a little boy eleven years old, named Christopher Snider. Then there was an uproar. The unfortunate boy had a public funeral, when five hundred children assembled at the Liberty Tree and walked in front of the bier all the way to the burying ground, and six of his special companions held the pall.

This little tragedy produced a deep impression on the people of Boston. It was followed in a few days by what is known as the Boston Massacre, when the British regulars fired upon a crowd of citizens, killing five and wounding many others. This occurred on March 5, 1770, and Paul Revere made a vivid drawing of the scene which took place in King Street. He also prepared a chart of the whole affair, which is most interesting, showing how methodical and accurate he was in his treatment of all public events. This chart is carefully lettered and spaced, with an accompanying key, and was probably worked out as a sort of introduction to the picture which later was " Engrav'd, Printed & Sold by Paul Revere, Boston." It is a large folded plate and remarkable particularly for the artist's attention to the smallest detail. The squad of redcoats fired on the peaceful citizens in the square formed by the Town House at the head and stores and residences on either side ; and in bringing the event before the eyes of the excited public the artist employed the Japanese method,

The next window held a vivid picture of the Boston Massacre. The third window represented America sitting on the stump of a tree ; in her hand a staff surmounted by the cap of liberty; her foot was on the head of a fallen grenadier, and her fingers were pointing to the tragedies in the other two windows. In commemoration of the harrowing events, the bells tolled from twelve to one and from nine to ten in the evening. Dr. Thomas Young delivered an anniversary oration.

But it was Revere's pictures that remained in the minds of the multitude. Indeed, his eyes were always sharp to note events of moment, and wherever he happened to be he was active and prominent; so when the tea controversy became serious, his ready wit was thereto sting it with caricatures, his ready arm was there to fight for the right. Yet in spite of his patriotism, the soul of this honest trader was not above a business transaction, for we find recorded in his methodical daybook a charge of 6 shillings, " To engraving 5 Coffings for Massacre," and just below, " 5s. for printing 200 impressions of Massacre." But let us not forget that there was a big household of growing children to be fed and clothed!

There's an old saying that you can drive a horse to water but you can't make him drink, and this was the stand America took about the tea. England might send ship after ship laden with the forbidden article, but free-born citizens could not be forced to buy, and there was such a falling off in the trade of the East India Company that it appealed to the British government for permission to send tea to America free of duty. But there is no more stubborn person than a stupid king. He would show that he was master, once and forever! The East India Company might go to pieces for aught he cared !

It seemed but a small matter, this tea business, but the settling of the question meant liberty or oppression for the American people. The tea ships still continued to come into port, but the tea was stored away, as there was no one to buy it, and a strict guard was kept upon the traders. Paul Revere was a member of the vigilance committee appointed to keep watch.

It must be understood that these guards were vol- 48 unteers whose patriotism urged them thus to serve their country. There was a street patrol organized by Paul Revere and conducted with such secrecy that although the town was full of soldiers ready to pick a quarrel at a moment's notice, no one suspected that day and night every thoroughfare in Boston had its own special force of secret police. They walked the streets, two at a time, so that in case of any sudden and unlooked-for disturbance, one could engage the intruder while the other could summon help from other quarters; all were provided with whistles to use in case of urgent need.

At length the storehouse became so full of the unsold tea that there was no room for any more, and so the colonists resolved that the incoming tea ships should be sent back home with their cargoes, and in case they refused to go, they should not be allowed to land a single chest of tea.

Boston was the ringleader of the rebellion. The citizens of New York and Philadelphia resolved to stand by her and Philadelphia circulated handbills with this heading, so familiar now as the watchword of this great nation:

" By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall."

Many meetings were held, many plans discussed, but all the assemblies agreed absolutely on the tea question, declaring that the East India Company was attempting to enforce the odious tax by bringing the tea into port.

Boston at that time was a flourishing little town and the chief commercial center of the colonies. It contained about sixteen thousand inhabitants, almost all of them of English origin, industrious, frugal and enterprising.

Surrounded by water on every side, save by the narrow neck connecting with the mainland, the English vessels naturally made for this coast line, so Paul Revere and the other volunteer watchmen had a busy time of it. The colonists trusted them to see that no unwelcome cargoes came to Boston Harbor. All felt that it was to be a severe struggle for their rights and that the issue was near at hand; therefore the brave men who mounted guard were armed with muskets and bayonets and were on duty night and day. The far-famed Boston Tea Party was not a suddenly arranged entertainment. The handful of men who invited the guests and saw to the refreshments were, for the most part, honest mechanics and tradespeople, true Sons of Liberty. It was at one of their meetings, held on October 23, 1770, that the members present, including Paul Revere and the leaders with whom he associated, pledged themselves, their lives, and their fortunes, to oppose the sale of tea. They had been very patient for fully three years, but at last they were exasperated, and at another enthusiastic meeting at the Green Dragon Tavern the Sons of Liberty resolved upon the destruction of the tea.

We do not know who first suggested the idea of the Tea Party. In view of Paul Revere's cleverness as well as his enthusiasm, it would not be difficult to add this honor to the many he carried. But while a very brave man, he was also a very prudent one. He remembered that he had a wife and a houseful of children, and if such a suggestion from him reached the ears of Governor Thomas Hutchinson, the King's officers would make short work of him. Perhaps it was an idea which gradually took definite form in the minds of these determined men. However that may be, it was unanimously resolved that if the ships still continued to come into port, something must be done to show England that the colonists were in earnest.

During this time Paul Revere was a busy man and it is probable that his workbench was deserted for days at a time while he attended many secret meetings of the Sons of Liberty by day or by night in out-of-the-way corners where inquisitive redcoats could not venture. Even the bravest had to work by stealth, for Governor Hutchinson could call out the militia if the colonists opposed him openly.