Revere, PAUL

Revere, PAUL, famous for his midnight ride, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, 1st January 1735, the son of a goldsmith from Guernsey, whose trade he followed after serving as a lieutenant of artillery in the expedition against Crown Point (1756). He also engaged in copperplate printing, and before the Revolution constructed a gun-powder-mill. A keen patriot, he was one of the party that destroyed the tea in Boston harbour, and he was at the head of a volunteer committee, consisting of thirty young mechanics, who formed a secret society to watch the British. When it was known that the latter intended to move, Revere crossed over to Charlestown, and on April 18, 1775, the night before Lexington and Concord, at a signal rode on to Lexington and to Lincoln, rousing the minute-men as he went; at Lincoln he was stopped, but a companion succeeded in reaching Concord. During the war he rose to lieutenant-colonel of artillery; afterwards he returned to his goldsmith's work, and in 1801 founded the Revere Copper Company at Canton, Massachusetts. He died 10th May 1818. His ride is the subject of a well-known poem by Longfellow.