Revere, Paul (1735–1818)

An engraving by Paul Revere showing British reinforcements arriving at Boston, USA. Revere carried the news of the British approach to Lexington and Concord, where the hostilities began.

American revolutionary, a Boston silversmith, who carried the news of the approach of British troops to Lexington and Concord (see American Revolution) on the night of 18 April 1775. On the next morning the first shots of the Revolution were fired at Lexington. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem ‘Paul Revere's Ride’ (1863) commemorates the event.

Revere, who took part in the Boston Tea Party, was a courier for the Continental Congress, often riding from Boston to Philadelphia. In early 1775 he alerted rebels in New Hampshire that the British, under General Thomas Gage were transporting supplies from Fort William and Mary. The New Hampshire militia captured quantities of munitions that proved decisive at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Revere was active throughout the Revolution and printed the first continental money 1775.

Revere's silver Sons of Liberty punchbowl 1768 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA) is a notable piece. He also produced propaganda prints exposing British atrocities in the war.