Paul Revere House

In North Square sits the oldest structure in Boston, the Paul Revere House (1680).

Paul Revere was born January 1, 1735 in the North End of Boston to Apollos Rivoire, a French Huguenot who would soon anglicize his name to Paul Revere, and Deborah Hitchborn of a well-known Boston family. Paul Jr. was the third of twelve children. At the age of thirteen, Paul left school to apprentice in the silversmith trade under his father. His father died in 1754, but Paul was not old enough to inherit master of the silver shop, so he enlisted in the provincial army in 1756. Commissioned a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment, he returned to Boston in 1757 to assume control of the silver shop in his name.

In 1765, British Parliament passed the Stamp Act and Revere first began his political involvement, especially with the Sons of Liberty. Revere often produced engravings, paintings, and other depictions with an anti-British theme. He created one of his best-known productions after the Boston Massacre in 1770 called The Bloody Massacre on King Street Boston which showed an organized line of British regulars firing into a crowd. Along with producing propaganda for the Sons of Liberty and the Patriot cause, he also took a more direct approach when possible. When the merchant ship Dartmouth came into Boston Harbor carrying East India Company Tea in 1773, Revere and Joseph Warren organized a watch over the ship so that it could not be unloaded. Revere took his turn at guard duty. During the Boston Tea Party, he was one of the ring leaders when colonists boarded the ships in the harbor to dump the tea. After the tea party, Revere served as a courier for the Boston Committee of Public Safety and served as

Revere was Senior Grand Deacon to the Freemasons (and later Grandmaster). He helped set up a colonial alarm system so state militia could monitor and outmaneuver the soldiers.

In April 1775, after discovering that the British planned to march inland to capture Patriot leaders, weapons, and supplies, Revere and his cohorts sprang into action to spread a warning. On the night of April 18, Robert Newman put lantern signals in Boston’s North Church, while Revere and William Dawes rode to Lexington and Concord. Though it soon become known as Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride, both men rode that night, accompanied by about 40 other riders covering different routes. (See Paul Revere Statue for more details on that night) The war for American Independence began the next morning.

During the war years, Revere found ways to help the rebel cause. He manufactured gunpowder, which was in short supply during the early years of the war and eventually built a gunpowder mill in present day Canton, Massachusetts. Revere returned to Boston in April 1776, served as an officer in the Massachusetts militia until being transferred to artillery a month later and was stationed at Castle William defending Boston Harbor. He and his unit continued serving in numerous roles in New England during the war.

-Source Links-

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/paul-revere

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/revolutionary-war/battles/lexington-and-concord