I don't know whether or not it's because most Americans are woefully ignorant of history or if it's because most of us sat through history classes in which our country's founders were painted as glowing heroes with no warts or character flaws, but we have this tendency to expect our leaders to be superhuman.
Then we get very upset when we find out that they are as vulnerable as the rest of us.
Sir George Collier
One of my favorite characters in history is Paul Revere. Most of us know him for his midnight ride on the 18th of April in '75.
How much else do we know about him? He was a silversmith of great reputation in Boston. I have a locket that is a reproduction of one of his designs.
But how many of us realize that the same Paul Revere that school children are taught was the super patriot who warned the good people of Lexington and Concord that the British were coming was also court martialed.
Paul Revere
His problems began in what is now Castine, Maine. The British had begun to build a fort there. The patriots responded by sending an impressive array of naval ships and a scraped together army, which included Lt. Col. Paul Revere, who was in charge of the artillery.
The patriots got into a dispute and never attacked. The army believed that the fort could not be taken without the help of the navy, and the navy commanders refused to bring their ships in close enough to do any good. Sound familiar? By the time the order to attack came from Massachusetts, the British had had time to get in reinforcements.
The navy grounded itself, destroyed its ships and ran. The militia was left to get home the best way it could.
Paul Revere lost track of his men and refused to skuttle the ship assigned to him. Instead he tried to look for his men.
Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, the patriot's second in command, demanded that Revere divert the ship to another purpose.
Revere refused, saying that as the expedition had failed, he was no longer required to obey orders.
He was the obvious scapegoat when an investigation was launched and was censured for misconduct, although he was neither condemned nor acquitted. Hoping to restore his reputation, he demanded a full court martial. Three years later, a court martial was convened, and Revere was acquitted. It did him little good. He was not looked upon kindly by his fellows.
How did he become a hero? In 1861, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem, portraying Paul Revere as the idea patriot answering the nation's call. His purpose was to stimulate enlistment in the Union Army.
It was fitting that he should do so. Gen. Peleg Wadsworth, who had caused Revere all that trouble, was Longfellow's grandfather.
If that ain't "poetic" justice, please tell me what is.
Linda Brown (exerpted from "A Case For Real Poetic Justice")
Additional Sources:
www.americanrevolution.org
www.mainepbs.org
www.sar.org
www.kingstreenews.com
members.tripod.com/ penobscot1779
www.nmm.ac.uk
www.history.navy.mil
www.ruf.rice.edu
www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com
www.nmm.ac.uk
