PURSUIT AND CAPTURE OF PAUL REVERE.
He and another scout, named Dawes, was captured on the road to Lexington, April 19, 1775.
Revere took a prominent part in this tumultuous affair, and the next day he was selected as the man to take the news to New York and Philadelphia. From this time on he was the chief scout of the Boston Revolutionists. He was one of a band of thirty formed to watch the movements of the British that had been sent to Boston after the destruction of the tea. Finally the vigilance of these scouts was rewarded. It became apparent that something unusual was occurring in the British camp on the evening of April 18th, 1775, for Revere says "On Tuesday evening, the 18th, it was observed that a number of soldiers were marching towards the bottom of the Common," which meant that they were going in boats across the river to Charlestown or Cambridge, instead of making a long march around by land. About ten o'clock Dr. Warren sent in great haste for me and begged that I would immediately set off for Lexington. I found he had sent an express by land, a Mr. William Dawes." I then went home, took my boots and surtout, went to the north part of the town, where I kept a boat; two friends rowed me across Charles River. When I got into town, I met Colonel Conant and several others. They said they had seen our signals. I told them what was acting, and went to get a horse." Mounted on Deacon Larkin's horse, he said "I alarmed nearly every home till I got to Lexington. After I had been there about half an Hour, Mr. Dawes arrived, who came from Boston over the Neck. We set off for Concord." They had gone but a short distance when they were taken prisoners. Revere said "I saw four of them, who rode up to me with their pistols in their hands, said G—d d—n you, stop, if you go an inch further you are a dead Man." The result was that neither Revere nor Dawes reached Concord.
On the day following these events Revere was permanently engaged by Dr. Warren, as a scout to do outside business for the Committee of Safety. This patriotic service had a commercial value, and the Committee in auditing the bill thought he was disposed to value his labors too highly, for they reduced his charges from five shillings to four shillings a day.[279] In his financial dealings with the government he hardly ever failed to send in bills for work done which the authorities deemed extravagant charges and pruned down accordingly.
Most men like Revere, somewhat above the masses, but not possessing the elements of enduring fame, are remembered by a circle of admiring and respecting friends until they pass away, and are ultimately forgotten, finding no place upon the pages of written history. Paul Revere was rescued from this fate by an accident, a poet's imagination of things that never occurred. His famous ride remained unsung, if not unhonored for eighty-eight years, or until Longfellow, in 1863 made it the text for his Landlord's Tale in the Wayside Inn. It is to the "poetic license" of Longfellow, that most persons owe their knowledge of the fact that such a person as Revere ever existed. The poet did not mention the name of Dawes, yet he was entitled to as much credit, for what he did on the eve of the historic skirmish at Lexington, as Revere.
Poetry and history sometimes become sadly mixed, the poet and romancist, in so far as they deal with matters of verifiable records should keep closer to the truth, and make use of poetic license as little as possible. To be sure the poet's statement concerning the lantern, and that Revere reached Concord was long ago shown to have been incorrect, but its persistent virility only goes to prove that truth is not the only thing which crushed to earth, will rise again. Very little is said by historians, concerning the Penobscot Expedition despatched in the summer of 1779 by the Massachusetts Council against the British on the coast of Maine. It was an episode of the Revolution that resulted in disaster so complete, so utterly without excuse, and so thoroughly discreditable to American arms as to make its contemplation without feelings of shame and humiliation impossible. An overwhelming force of Colonial troops, through the clear cowardice of an admiral bearing the proud name of Saltonstall, allowed itself to be frightened into an ignominious and panic-stricken desertion of its post of duty by a ridiculously ill equipped enemy. The ensuing scandal besmirched reputations hitherto untarnished, and the State of Massachusetts was plunged, on account of the expedition, into a debt of eight million dollars sterling. "To attempt to give a description of this terrible Day," wrote General Lovell, "is out of my Power. It would be a fit subject for some masterly hand to describe it in its true colors, to see four ships pursuing seventeen Sail of Armed Vessels, nine of which were stout Ships, Transports on fire. Men of War blowing up every kind of Stores on Shore, throwing about, and as much confusion as can possibly be conceived."[280]
Thus did this little Garrison with three Sloops of War, by the unwearied exertions of soldiers and seamen, writes John Calef in his Journal under date of August 14, 1779, whose bravery cannot be too much extolled, succeed in an enterprise of great importance, against difficulties apparently unsurmountable, and in a manner strongly expressive of their faithful and spirited attachment to the interests of their King and Country. Calef gives the total number of American ships of war, brigs and transports as 37, of which 26 were burnt and 11 captured.[281] "The soldiers and crew took to the woods, and singly or in squads, made their way to the Kennebec, where most of them arrived after a week's suffering from hunger and exposure."[282]
Lieutenant-Colonel Paul Revere was in command of the artillery train, and this episode was a serious event in his life, and came near stripping him of the laurels he had won by his earlier exploits, he was arrested on charges of cowardice, censured after an investigation, court martialled, and was grudgingly acquitted, after three years persistent effort.
Paul Revere's Masonic Record also has its blemishes. He received his degrees in St. Andrews Lodge in 1760-1. He afterwards became Grand Master. There being too many Loyalists or "Gentry" in St. Andrews Lodge to suit the taste of Revere, the leader of the mechanics, he and his friends therefore withdrew from same, and started "Rising States Lodge," but it did not succeed. The members soon fell to quarrelling among themselves. Some twenty members came together and voted the lodge out of existence, and divided the funds of the lodge, amounting to $1,577.50 among twenty-five members of the lodge, among whom was Paul Revere and his son. This was contrary to all Masonic precedents. The funds and paraphernalia of the Lodge should have been returned to the Grand Lodge. A committee was appointed to investigate the matter. They made a very scathing report in which it said "To divide it among members of a Lodge whenever they think proper to dissolve this union, is making the funds an object of speculation, it is treating the noble example of departed donors with contempt and devoting their sacred deposit to individual emoluments, it is taking bread from the hungry, It is multiplying the tears of the widow and fatherless."
The Grand Lodge ordered that the funds of the lodge should be devoted to charity and a report of same printed and sent to each member of Rising States Lodge.[283]