Semiquincentennial

Following the action at Lexington and Concord in April the colonies were preparing for war. British reinforcements were arriving in Boston and both the nascent Continental Army and the Minutemen bolstered their numbers with volunteer patriots.  

While the British occupied Boston they were surrounded by rebellious colonists who happened to hold the high ground. Whoever controlled the hills encircling Boston could also control the harbor.  It was a matter of time before the opposing forces came to blows.

Maj. Gen. John Burgoyne of His Majesty's Army famously declared - What!  Ten thousand  peasants keep five thousand of the King's troops shut up!  Well, let us get in and we'll soon find some elbow room!  

General Thomas Gage was the Commander-in-Chief of British forces in the colonies.  While he did not lead the forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 he was the commander who gave the orders for a costly frontal assault on patriot positions on Breed's Hill.   

Gage's Council of War, including William Howe, Henry Clinton and John Burgoyne, drafted the initial plans.  Their army would land on Dorchester Neck south of Boston and sweep around the capital in a broad arc.  Nevertheless, colonial spies learned of Gage's plans and set-about to thwart them.  On June 16, several thousand militiamen converged at Charlestown and overnight constructed crude fortifications of earth and timbers atop Breed's Hill; which unlike Bunker Hill was not as high yet closer to Boston.  Fast Fact:  This last minute change persists to modern times contributing to confusion over the battle's name.  

The British generals debated their options with General Henry Clinton advocating for a flanking maneuver that would land troops to the rear of American forces thereby preventing any American retreat.  However, Gage and the other commanders overruled Clinton and  settled-upon General Howe's recommendation for a direct, frontal assault on the well-defended American positions.  

Gage ordered the attack in which Major General Howe would lead 2,400 British soldiers in three successive assaults up the hill.

As dawn broke on the 17th of June the appearance of the American earthworks surprised the British forces.  Gage was of the opinion that the Yankee rabble was no match for Britain's Finest.  Consequently, Gage's forces took their time packing for a three day campaign to take Charlestown and sweep through the countryside.  The redcoats sweated in the hot sun shouldering heavy packs with blankets, rations and kit.  By mid afternoon the colonial militia has been reinforced and firmly ensconced behind their fortifications.

As gunpowder was in short supply Colonel Prescott ordered his militia not to fire - 'til you see the whites of their eyes - orders that were decisive in the outcome of the battle. 

In close order formation the British troops advanced through the tall grass and up the hill.  Further and further they marched. Why did the militia not fire they wondered?  Were they gutless cowards?  Had they retreated?  Suddenly and without warning the command came to FIRE!

The British were decimated as row upon row were mowed-down.  Some British units suffered losses of 75 to 90 percent.  Casualties were greatest among the officers who were singled-out as targets.

Regrouping and forcing their men forward at the tip of a sword a second assault was mounted a half hour later with similar results.  An hour later, with fresh reinforcements and artillery support the third assault chased the rebels from the hill.  They had run out of gun powder and skedaddled. 

Technically, this was a British victory but at great cost.  Losses to the redcoats amounted to 1,054 dead or wounded - nearly half of those who fought.  Colonial losses were 441 of a much larger force.  Privately, General Gage admitted that: The loss we have sustained is greater than we can bear.   Brigadier General Nathaniel Greene of the Rhode Island Militia summed it up:  I wish I could sell them another hill at the same price.

In the aftermath General Howe ordered Charlestown to be burned. Gage was recalled to England and Howe was made commander of all British forces in America.

The beloved Colonial Major General Joseph Warren was killed by a musket ball through the head.  The British stripped his body of clothing, mutilated his face with bayonets, urinated on and otherwise defiled his corpse as Warren was viewed as a principal instigator of the rebellion.  He was buried in a shallow mass grave on the hill with other patriots.  Months later, and after the British had fled Boston, the colonists exhumed their dead for identification and repatriation to their kin.  Warren was identified by his dental work fashioned by patriot, silversmith and erstwhile dentist, Paul Revere.  This was likely one of the earliest examples of forensic dental identification in America.  

 

Martial law and the government of a well regulated city are so entirely different, that it has always been considered as improper to quarter troops in populous cities, as frequent disputes must necessarily arise between the citizen and the soldier, even if no previous animosities subsist.

- Joseph Warren 

Today the monument is a proper urban park and bears little resemblance to the hilly pasture of 1775.  Preservationists originally hoped to save all of the battlefield but much of the land was sold to finance the cost of the monument's obelisk.  In 1825 the cornerstone was laid by Lafayette on the 50th anniversary of the conflict and orator Daniel Webster spoke.  Webster returned more than 17 years later in 1843 to speak at the dedication following completion of the monument.  St. Francis de Sales Church stands atop the true Bunker Hill.

Semiquincentennial

On the road to independence the last chapter was about the efforts of Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott to warn patriots of British troops who had crossed over water from Boston and were preparing to advance on the countryside. Today's episode is about the events that unfolded the following day. 

The battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 marked that moment in history when tensions between Britain and their colonial subjects erupted into open conflict; marking the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War. 

Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith led the British expedition to seize rebel supplies and arms stored at Concord, Massachusetts and to arrest Patriot leaders - notably Samuel Adams and John Hancock.  Colonial militia - the Minutemen - had been organizing and stockpiling arms in anticipation of such actions.  Second in command was Major John Pitcairn who led the advance of British regulars - namely light infantry and royal marines.  It was Pitcairn in command of the soldiers who confronted colonial militia on Lexington Green.

Buckman Tavern

John Buckman, a member of Captain John Parker's colonial militia operated a tavern in Lexington.  Overnight, April 18-19, Minutemen assembled at this location to await word of advancing British troops.  Around 4:30 AM about 70 militiamen under the command of Captain John Parker gathered on Lexington Green after mustering at Buckman Tavern.  According to multiple accounts Parker went to great lengths to restrain his men from initiating hostilities.  In a sworn deposition taken on April 25, 1775 Parker had this to say:

“I … ordered our Militia to meet on the common in said Lexington … to consult what to do, and concluded not to be discovered, nor meddle or make with said Regular Troops … unless they should insult us; and upon their sudden approach, I immediately ordered our Militia to disperse and not to fire.”

About 5 AM an advance detachment of Pitcairn's troops arrive in the gathering light.

Confronting the assembled militiamen Pitcairn commands them to disperse.  A shot is fired - no one knows who fired first - the British respond with a massed volley killing 8 colonists outright and wounding an additional 10.  The minutemen scatter and the British commence their march on Concord.

Communal grave of Lexington dead

It is important to note that history mentions a shot heard 'round the world on this day. What is not known for certain which shot it was.  Was it at Lexington?  Later at Concord?  The running battle later that day? 

Arriving at Concord the British regulars begin busting down doors, rousting and abusing  the townspeople in their search for hidden weapons and supplies rumored to be there.  Naturally, the colonists had been forewarned and the troops found only a few wooden gun carriages.  The cannon had been removed and buried in a freshly-plowed field on the edge of town.    

Minutemen gathered on this overlook

The troopers decide to set fire to the carriages and some additional contraband.  The fire accidentally spreads to a nearby building and before it is extinguished Minutemen assembling on a hillside outside of town spot the thick smoke and assume that the British troops were setting Concord itself to the torch.  Thoroughly enraged, an angry militia - now numbering about 400 strong -  march upon the North Bridge to confront 96 British troops guarding it.

Facing-off, both sides fire upon one another.  Outnumbered, the British regulars guarding the bridge are routed in a disorderly withdrawal.  Regrouping at Concord, Smith and Pitcairn commence a long, bloody retreat back to Boston. 

In a running ambush, stretching from Concord all the way to the outskirts of Boston, the retreating British are assaulted by colonial militiamen now numbering in the thousands who fire-upon the redcoats from behind trees, stone walls and houses.  Attempts to outflank the Minutemen are futile.  Of an initial force numbering roughly 700; British losses are more than 270 dead, wounded or missing while militia losses are about 90 men.  Surviving British troops eventually reach the relative safety of Boston while colonial militia surround the city.  The Siege of Boston begins.

These engagements mark the beginning of the American Revolution and it proved that colonial militia could stand up to professional British soldiers.

 

Semiquincentennial

As with any other historical event the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere has morphed over time and become mythologized - mostly as a consequence of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem.  Longfellow, by the way, was a poet - not a historian.  The best description of the events of April 18, 1775 are found in Revere's own words which follow.  Misspellings too.

On this date Revere had proven himself one of the patriot's most reliable and trusted messengers having traveled thousands of miles to deliver messages throughout the colonies.  Many of these deliveries included reports of the movement of occupying British soldiers.  In the words of Revere:  Upwards of thirty, chiefly mechanics, who formed our selves in to a Committee for the purpose of watching the Movements of British Soldiers , and gaining every intelegence of the movements of the Tories.  Revere, like other patriots, was a spy.

Three days earlier, April 15, the committee observed that: The boats belonging to the Transports were all launched, and the Grenadiers & light Infantry were all taken off duty.  From these movements, we expected something serious was [to] be transacted.

Old North Church

Consequently, the very next day Revere rode to Lexington to warn that something was afoot.  Of his ride home that Sunday Revere wrote: Returned at Night thro Charlestown; there I agreed with a Col. Conant, & some other gentlemen, that if the British went out by Water, we should Shew two Lanthorns in the North Church Steeple; & if by Land, one, as a Signal; for we were aprehensive it would be dificult to Cross the Charles River, or git over Boston neck. 

We climbed the steeple of the Old North Church from where the lantern signal was relayed to Revere and Dawes about the movement of British troops to neighboring Charlestown on the opposite bank of the Charles River.

The eight bells here are the oldest set of church bells in North America.  They were cast in Gloucester, England in 1744 by Abell Rudhall and installed in the steeple in 1745. As a teenager, Paul Revere was a bell ringer at this church.   

 

View From the Steeple

On Tuesday, the 18th Revere wrote:  It is observed, that a number of Soldiers were marching towards the bottom of the Common.  About 10 o'Clock, Dr. Warren Sent in great haste for me, and beged that I would imediately Set off for Lexington, where Messrs. Hancock & Adams  were, & aquaint them of the Movement, and that it was thought they [Hancock and Adams] were the objets.

Unsure of the British troop movements the patriots initially concluded that the redcoats would attempt to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams who were staying at the parsonage in Lexington.  The truth of the matter was that the British troops were mustering  to march on Concord, seven miles beyond Lexington, to seize rebel armament and munitions.

When I got to Dr. Warren's house, I found he had sent an express by land to Lexington; a Mr. Wm. Dawes.  Dawes was back-up; a contingency in the event of a messenger being captured by the British.

Revere walked a couple of blocks to the waterfront and had to row across the Charles River passing under the guns of the British ship Somerset anchored mid-river to guard against anyone crossing.  Dawes, who went by horseback, had to pass through a British checkpoint at Boston Neck and feign innocence in order to pass.  Arriving on the shore, Revere borrowed a horse and like Dawes had to proceed across terrain teeming with British patrols.  A third rider dispatched from Charlestown never made it to Lexington.

Revere continues:  I left Dr. Warrens, called upon a friend, and desired him to make the Signals.  I then went Home, took my Boots & Surtout [overcoat], & went across the Charles River, a little to the eastward were the Somerset Man of War lay.  It was then young flood [tide], the ship; was winding, & the moon was Rising.   

The story gets better.  When Revere and his pals got to his rowboat they lacked a cloth to muffle the sound of the oars.  Afraid to return home one of his accomplices went to his lady friend's house.  After a whispered conversation a window was thrown-open and a flannel petticoat - still warm from the wearer's body - was tossed to the men. 

Arriving in Charlestown, Revere:  Got a Horse of Deacon Larkin.  It was then about 11 o'clock, & very pleasant.  Taking a direct route Revere was blocked by two Officers on Horse-back, standing under the shade of a Tree.  One of the soldiers chased Revere for about 300 Yardes until becoming mired in mud.   

Revere arrived at the parsonage after midnight.  Having left earlier, but traveling further, Dawes showed-up 30 minutes later.  Hancock and Adams were notified of British troops landing at Charlestown by boats.  Mission accomplished, Revere and Dawes set-off to warn the Minute Men at Concord.  Along the way they encountered Dr. Samuel Prescott who joined them.  Halfway to Concord they were stopped by a British patrol.  Prescott escaped and in a stroke of good fortune successfully delivered the warning.  Dawes bluffed the British soldiers but was subsequently thrown from his horse never to arrive at Concord.  Revere was arrested.    

Detained for a short while the British troops eventually released Revere; he returned to Lexington on foot.  Deacon Larkin's horse was the first permanent detainee of the imminent conflict.

Revere was not initially noted in the annals of history as a midnight courier who rowed, rode, was arrested and walked home. He was better-known as a silversmith and manufacturer.  

85 years passed before Longfellow - inspired by a visit to the Old North Church - published Paul Revere's Ride in the January 1861 issue of The Atlantic Monthly.   

That's likely the revisionist tale you know best.....

 

 

Semiquincentennial

This small wooden house located in Boston's North End is the oldest surviving structure in the city.  The home of Paul Revere, it was already 90 years old when he purchased it in 1770.  

On April 18, 1775 the middle-aged silversmith set out on a ride popularized by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow making Revere one of America's most celebrated and remembered patriots from our road to independence.  Consequently, his home survives to this day having not been demolished in the name of urban renewal.   

 

The dwelling has been remodeled over the years; a modernization added a partial third floor, subsequently removed in the early 20th century to restore the home to its original 1680 appearance.  Without the third story the structure had seven rooms and a basement.  For the Revere family in 1770 it was a cozy home for Paul, his wife Sara, five children and Paul's mother Deborah.

In all, Revere fathered sixteen children over 29 years.  Five died at a young age and at most only eight ever lived at home at any one time.  Sara died at age 37 from complications of childbirth of their eighth child.  Revere remarried within six months and his second wife - Rachel - bore him eight more children. 

 

Rachel and Paul Revere

    

Being a silversmith in colonial America was a respectable trade.  In the absence of banks families retained wealth in the form of silverware and decorative objects such as trays and teapots.  Nevertheless, under British subjugation times were difficult and Revere performed copper plate engraving for purposes of printing and fashioned false teeth for his side gig of practicing dentistry. 

 

 

Paul Revere Tea Service - Minneapolis Institute of Art

After the revolution Revere became in early industrialist inventing a method for rolling sheet copper sheathing for ship hulls and other uses.  He established a foundry to cast artillery pieces and some of the earliest bells in America.  He later founded Revere Copper and Brass eventually pioneering clad copper-bottom cookware in 1939. 

As an early patriot Revere was an organizer and his politics evolved into what he is most known-for today.  As a member of the North Caucus, the Masons and the Sons of Liberty Revere became one of the trusted few who knew how to arouse popular sentiment.  He was a talented propagandist.

Besides organizing the masses he was an express rider who couriered message to distant colonies.  His fist documented ride was for the Committee of Correspondence in 1773.  He was also one of six riders who warned other seaports not to allow tea ships to land their cargoes.  Shortly afterward Revere carried the news of the Boston Tea Party south to New York and Philadelphia.  He likely rode thousands of miles as a courier for the patriotic cause. 

Paul Revere's most famous ride carried him only 13 miles to Lexington; yet it would be nearly a year before he dared to return to Boston.  Rachel and the children joined him in the relative safety of nearby Watertown and the eldest son Paul stayed at home to protect the house and shop from plunder at the hands of British troops.

By now farmers, merchants, tradesmen and other colonists had been drilling the military arts and honing skills previously learned during the French and Indian War. They were know as the Minute Men.

Minute Man National Historic Park