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Posted on 09/20/2003 5:27:30 AM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 December 13, 1774 First he rode to Portsmouth Months before his horseback ride into American history (April 18, 1775) made legendary by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Paul Revere was on the icy Boston Post Road to warn the citizens of New Hampshire of a potential British troop landing. Had the British been more aggressive and the weather less ferocious, Revere's "Portsmouth Alarm" may well have signaled an earlier start to the American Revolution. As it turned out, the resulting raid on Fort William and Mary by the seacoast area militia is still considered by many as the first strike of the battle for independence.  Paul Revere and his watchful "mechanics" were well known to the British who kept an eye, in turn, on them as they patrolled Boston streets alert to signs of English military movements. Revolution, pungent as wood smoke, was in the winter air. Revere had learned early in December that a new English Order in Council prohibited import of arms and ammunition into any part of North America. Portsmouth, an imperial port, had a large store of ammunition at the poorly defended Fort William and Mary on New Castle Island. The order also required that the munitions currently in the Colonies should be immediately protected.  With just a half dozen soldiers defending the armory at William and Mary, and with word of heavily manned British ships on their way from England, it was a natural leap of logic to assume they were heading toward New Hampshire. Among them was the ship of the line HMS Somerset with a large crew of British Marines. Nearing the Portsmouth latitudes, the Somerset met an almost insurmountable winter storm.  Portsmouth Alarm On December 13, Revere started toward Portsmouth in the same harsh weather. A combination of deep snow and slushy thaw had suddenly frozen into sharp icy furrows on the crude roadway. Revere's 40 mile ride up the North Shore, across the Merrimack River to Hampton Falls and to Portsmouth was made more difficult by a biting west wind.  Revere arrived the same afternoon and met immediately with the local Whigs at the waterfront home of merchant Samuel Cutts. The Portsmouth Council of Correspondence learned from Revere that two regiments of British soldiers were coming by sea to protect the stockpiled ammunition at Fort William and Mary. In fact, they were not.  The troops were assigned to more pressing duties with British General Gage in Massachusetts. But Revere and the Portsmouth leaders feared the worst. New Hampshire's British Royal Governor John Wentworth had already dismissed meetings of the local Assembly. He had railed against the "infectious & pestilential disorders" of firebrands like Revere. Would British soldiers be billeted in the Seacoast? Would the munitions blockade snuff out plans for the upcoming Contiental Congress? The men of Portsmouth decided to act quickly.  Meanwhile, Loyalists in town immediately told Gov. Wentworth that the notorious Mr. Revere was holding a secret Whig meting in town. Wentworth warned the half dozen soldiers at the fort and sent a courier immediately to Massachusetts requesting emergency British support from Generals Graves and Gage.  Wentworth Graves ordered the sloop HMS Canceaux toward Portsmouth, but it arrived too late. A day after Revere's alarm, 200-400 Portsmouth area men had stormed the garrison, hauled down the British flag and disappeared into the falling snow with 100 barrels of stolen gunpowder. The next day, roused by word of Revere's message, a thousand men assembled in Portsmouth and returned to the fort to remove muskets and cannons. These munitions would soon be dispersed throughout the seacoast and find their way to a crucial battle at Bunker Hill, where NH men would again play a key role.  The Final Straw Paul Revere was safely back in Boston before the HMS Canceaux arrived at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Adding insult to injury, a local Yankee pilot guided the warship into shallow water where it was stranded for days When the rerouted HMS Scarborough did at last arrived on December 19, there was nothing to do but stand by the pilfered garrison as a warning against more aggression to the King's property.  But the handwriting was on the wall for the British rule in Portsmouth. Gov. Wentworth complained to his British patrons that the Massachusetts influence of men like Paul Revere and Sam Adams had turned his quiet New Hampshire townsmen into a violent mob. Yet, taking the pulse of the times, Wentworth wrote sadly, "no jail would hold them long, and no jury would find them guilty."  HMS Scarborough ended its military vigil over Portsmouth Harbor on August 23, 1775, shortly after Bunker Hill and the battles at Lexington and Concord. Aboard the departing British warship was the last British Royal Governor, his possessions and his family. His Excellency John Wentworth, born in Portsmouth, educated at Harvard. had been driven from town by his own subjects. His fear of dangerous men like Paul Revere, in the end, was well deserved.  The primary goal of the British regulars was to aprehend the leaders of the opposition, Sam Adams and John Hancock. There secondary goal was, to disarm the populace along the way.  John Hancock Revere confronted 2 British regulars manning a road block as he headed north across Charlestown Neck. As he turned around, the regulars gave chase and he eluded them. He then continued on to Lexington, to the home of Jonas Clarke where Sam Adams and John Hancock were staying. There, his primary mission was fulfilled when he notified Adams and Hancock that "The Regulars are coming out!" (he never exclaimed, "The British are coming". This would have made no sense at the time since they considered themselves British).  Sam Adams Revere and Dawes then headed for Concord and came across Doctor Prescott who then joined them. They decided to alarm every house along the way. Just outside of the town of Lincoln, they were confronted by 4 Regulars at another road block. They tried unsuccessfully to run their horses through them. Prescott, who was familiar with the terrain, jumped a stone wall and escaped. Revere and Dawes tried to escape and shortly into the chase they were confronted by 6 more regulars on horseback. Revere was surrounded and taken prisoner. Dawes got away as they were taking Revere into custody.  William Dawes The British officers began to interrogate Revere, whereupon Revere astonished his captors by telling them more than they even knew about their own mission. (HA!) He also told them that he had been warning the countryside of the British plan and that their lives were at risk if they remained in the vicinity of Lexington because there would soon be 500 men there ready to fight. Revere, of course, was bluffing. The Regulars had Revere remount his horse and they headed toward Lexington Green, when suddenly, they heard a gunshot! Revere told the British officer that the shot was a signal "to alarm the country!". Now the British troops were getting very nervous (hehe).  A few minutes later, they were all startled to hear the heavy crash of an entire volley of musketry from the direction of Lexington's meeting house and then the Lexington town bell began clanging rapidly! Jonathan Loring, a Lexington resident captured earlier, turned to his captors and shouted "The bell's a' ringing! The town's alarmed, and you're all dead men!" The British officers then talked urgently among themselves and decided to release their captives so as they would not slow their retreat.      |
I learned something new today.
I think I should get a gold star for being able to teach you something. LOL!
This is a great resource for preserving these memories and also finding old shipmates, friends, family members, and others, with an organized, searchable database.
If only all the sites I use for research had that feature. Sigh
You got me, I don't know squat about sailing.
The following story was created by students in Mrs. Driskill's sixth grade class at Deer Park ES. It is a made-up story of Paul Revere and intended to make one think- what if Paul Revere had never warned the colonists of the British invasion?
In Lexington, Paul Revere and William Dawes didn't make it to all the towns to warn the people about the British. They didn't make it because the British arrested them before they got to all the people. Paul and William were sentenced to be executed the next morning. However, they escaped when it was dark by stealing Brown Beauty and White Mystic, the two oldest British horses, and rode off into the night to complete their mission.
After Paul and William escaped, the British found out they were gone, so they went out after them. The British didn't catch up with them until 10:00 P.M. Paul and William only had seven more towns to go out of the 30 towns they needed to visit. The bad thing was the British officers were getting closer. They met up at a river. Once the British Officers saw Paul and William cross the river, they shot William Dawes in the head. They met up with Paul when he only had three towns to go. The British horses were too fast and not as tired as Brown Beauty.
At his second to last town, Paul's horse was shot, so Paul had to run on foot. Twenty minutes later, Paul was shot in the back. Because of this, the colonies were not prepared for the war, and the British took over. Since then, a few men have tried to rebel against the British rule, but all attempts have failed. We still have yet to form our own nation. Until that day, we will remain under the terrible British tyranny.
Boston — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow launched an obscure Boston patriot into stardom with his 1860 poem "Paul Revere's Ride."
Longfellow exercised some poetic license when he tinkered with the famous "one if by land, two if by sea" ride of April 18, 1775. But the folks at the Paul Revere House, Boston's oldest home, are happy to set the record straight.
About 230,000 visitors come to 19 North Square in Boston's North End every year to visit the house. About 90 percent of the original wooden structure remains, dating to 1680.
Several of the Revere family's belongings remain, from the bar over the hearth to the upholstered chair in the master bedroom, which doubled as a parlor.
A full tour lasts less than an hour, but it doesn't take long for a deeper picture of the midnight rider to emerge.
Revere asked the Old North Church sexton to hang one lantern if the British were coming by land, and two if by sea, but not to ensure his escape. Revere wanted everyone else to know which way the British were coming, says Andrew J. Alexander, assistant director of the museum.
"And he didn't ride alone," Alexander adds.
After Dr. Joseph Warren sent out Revere, an experienced courier and patriot spy, he also sent William Dawes to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that the British were coming to arrest them.
How was Revere remembered and Dawes forgotten?
"Revere wrote about it," Alexander explains. "And Revere got there first. And it didn't hurt that Revere was a very well-connected, well-liked man about town."
Mettle and metal
Revere's ride is the prototypical heroic tale, which led Longfellow to pluck him from local Boston lore and transform him into a national folk hero. Revere, originally a gold- and silversmith, wasn't an aristocrat, but his political and business acumen earned the trust of leaders like Hancock and Adams.
Revere didn't stop after alerting the two leaders in Lexington, his only orders. He voluntarily rode on to Concord, going door to door to call the common patriots to arms.
As dramatic and dangerous as the midnight ride was, Revere's greatest contribution to the new country was his copper sheeting business, Alexander says. Instead of importing it from England, Revere enabled the United States to purchase American-made copper sheets to bolster the hulls of warships such as the USS Constitution.
"He was the original defense contractor," Alexander says. "Before long, half the U.S. Navy's ships used his copper."
Revere constantly thought of new ways to profit from metal, and began his copper business at 65. He also made brass bells, one of which is on display in the courtyard.
The Revere House rotates his silverworks, known as the best of his time, in a parlor room exhibit. Revere's copperplate engraved illustrations are also on display. These include The New England Psalm-Singer, one of the first American songbooks.
Preservation pioneer
A great-grandson rescued the creaky, three-story building in 1902 to thwart plans of destruction. A committee that became the Paul Revere Memorial Assn. eventually saved the house.
"In 1905 this was a very new idea," Alexander said. "There were only a handful of preserved homes then. It was very early to be thinking like this."
Now, the Revere house is believed to be the oldest home in any major American city, Alexander said.
Christelle Estrada of Salt Lake City said during a recent visit that she admires Revere because he risked his life not only to voice his opinion, but to do something about it. And Revere was prepared to deal with the consequences of his actions, she said.
"You have to decide what you're going to stand up for, whether you're a loyalist, a patriot, an anarchist, a Democrat or a Republican," Estrada said. "The labels don't really help. You need to be responsible for the decisions you make."
Ron DePasquale
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