"Out started six officers, seized my bridle, put their pistols to my breast, ordered me to dismount, which I did. One of them, who appeared to have the command there, and much of a gentleman, asked me where I came from; I told him. He asked what time I left . I told him, he seemed surprised, said '’Sir, may I crave your name?’' I answered ‘My name is Revere.’” – Paul Revere
A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.
Over the course of 83 years, Paul Revere was one of the most prominent citizens in Boston, heralded for his silversmith work, his participation in the Sons of Liberty, and his service in the Massachusetts militia. Bearing 16 children by two wives, 11 of whom survived to adulthood, Revere supported his large family by doing everything from dentistry to casting church bells and engraving the most popular image of the Boston Massacre. His ability to roll copper into sheets made his work even more valuable to the dry docks and naval construction in Charlestown and around Boston.
Given everything he did for Boston and his community, it would have no doubt greatly surprised Revere at the end of his life if he had known he would become an American legend for his midnight ride on the night of April 18, 1775. As a fervent and well-connected patriot who was part of Boston’s intelligence network, Revere was sent on the ride toward Lexington along with William Dawes, with the intention of warning the countryside that British troops were heading that way presumably to arrest patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. After warning Adams and Hancock, Revere, Dawes, and another messenger, Samuel Prescott were stopped and detained by British soldiers on the path toward Concord, and though Dawes and Prescott managed to escape, Revere was escorted back toward Lexington by the British that morning.
As it turned out, Revere and the patriots were wrong about the actual reason for the British march that morning, and Revere did not successfully finish his own ride. So why is he one of the most famous men of the colonial era? The legend of Paul Revere can be almost completely credited to famous American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” has shaped the legacy of the man and his ride, even though Longfellow intentionally took artistic license and fudged the historical accuracy in an effort to cast Revere as a hero. To say it worked would be a drastic understatement.
American Legends: The Life of Paul Revere chronicles the Midnight Ride that made Revere famous and includes his own account of it, but it also covers the entire life and career of the patriot leader and humanizes one of the best known Bostonians of the day. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events in his life, you will learn about Paul Revere like you never have before, in no time at all.
