![]() The Midnight Ride of Paul RevereĪs Revere was settling into his Boston home in the early 1770s, he became active politically. The 1680 structure still stands today as the oldest building in downtown Boston. Revere sold the home in 1800, and it was purchased by his great-grandson roughly a century later to ensure it was preserved. After the death of his wife, Sarah, in 1773, he married Rachel Walker and they had eight additional children. Revere lived in his North End home on and off for 30 years as his family continued to evolve. In 1770, he bought the now-landmarked Paul Revere House at 19 North Square for his growing family. He reworked a Henry Pelham drawing in an engraving and widely distributed prints of the stark image of armed British troops taking aim at the colonists.īoston Massacre Sparks a Revolution Paul Revere’s HouseĪmid the growing political tensions in Boston, Revere continued to strengthen his roots in the colonial harbor city. One of Reveres’ best-known pieces of propaganda depicted the violent night. The tense standoff ended in the Boston Massacre, as the British used their bayonet rifles to shoot and kill five unarmed colonists. The growing unrest boiled over on March 5, 1770, when British troops and a crowd of colonists faced off on Boston’s King Street near the Customs house. With British troops in Boston and a rebellion stewing, Revere became a master propagandist, using his artisan skills to craft engravings that incited the colonists to join in the rebellion. Revere took part in the Stamp Act protests in 1765, which eventually led the Crown to repeal a tax that ignited the colonists’ hatred of taxation without representation.ĭid you know? Paul Revere did not gain immediate fame for his April 1775 "Midnight Ride." In fact, it wasn't until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem, which greatly embellished Revere's role, that he became the folk hero we think of today. In the mid-1760s, as tensions were rising between the colonists and the British, he joined the rebellious Sons of Liberty. Revere’s network was also expanding to include local activists angered by British rule. He turned to dentistry to augment his income when the colonial economy faltered during a recession. The silversmith was resourceful and dabbled in a range of work, taking on apprentices and workers who created specialty flatware, silver bowls, tea sets and even casting the first bell in Boston in his foundry. He wed Sarah Orne in 1765, and they had eight children before she died nearly two decades later. Revere returned to Boston after a failed military expedition and started to build his family life and business.
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