Secondary Source: Background Information about Paul Revere
Paul Revere (1734-1818) was a silversmith, engraver, cartoonist, copper worker, bell caster, dentist, and patriot who spend his whole life in Boston. Before and during the American Revolution he was a courier for the Massachusetts Committee of Correspondence. He is perhaps best known for his “midnight ride” of April 18, 1775, to warn colonial patriots that the British soldiers were marching towards Lexington, Massachusetts. Revere lived with his family in a house in the north end of Boston. The house, circa 1680, still stands and can be visited today.
Paul Revere’s Massacre print is the image most people associate with the event; it is often found in textbooks and encyclopedias. The Town House (Old State House), adorned with the lion and unicorn, symbols of British authority; is prominently placed at the head of King Street (now State Street). Revere’s inclusion of the Town House, as a symbol of order and control, provides a sharp contrast to the violence and chaos that occurred right outside its doors.
Many components of the image are not substantiated by eye witness accounts, most notably, the confrontation between the soldiers and the colonists. Revere has only eight soldiers (the captain and seven of his men) involved in the fracas; nine soldiers were actually in the street that night. Even though witnesses recalled Captain Preston standing in front of his men, Revere depicts him standing behind his men with a raised sword, ordering them to fire. The colonists appear defenseless and unarmed, although witnesses mentioned seeing colonists use sticks, clubs, snow, ice and clam shells as weapons that night. The five dead and dying victims are clearly shown, however, Crispus Attucks is missing from the engraving; all of the victims are white.
The sign “Butchers Hall” never adorned the Custom House; this inclusion is a clear indication of how the image was intended to make its viewers feel. A careful examination of the print reveals a firing gun in the second floor window of the Custom House. The only witness to recall seeing this was later found guilty of perjury. Revere also included a dog at the center front of his engraving, though why he did is debatable. Some historians believe he used the dog as a symbol to suggest that due to the deteriorating relationship between Britain and the colonists in Boston, everything was “going to the dogs.” Others think that Revere sought to imply the peaceful nature of the colonists by suggesting that one victims of the Massacre was out walking his dog that night.
Revere is responsible for the verses engraved in the image. His use of certain words betrays his intention that the image incite Bostonians, and American colonists in general, to rebel against Great Britain. He is not responsible for the copious amounts of blood in the scene, nor the use of the same red color for both the blood and the British soldier’s jackets. Each copy of Revere’s image was hand colored, differently, by someone else.
Paul Revere’s Massacre print is the image most people associate with the event; it is often found in textbooks and encyclopedias. The Town House (Old State House), adorned with the lion and unicorn, symbols of British authority; is prominently placed at the head of King Street (now State Street). Revere’s inclusion of the Town House, as a symbol of order and control, provides a sharp contrast to the violence and chaos that occurred right outside its doors.
Many components of the image are not substantiated by eye witness accounts, most notably, the confrontation between the soldiers and the colonists. Revere has only eight soldiers (the captain and seven of his men) involved in the fracas; nine soldiers were actually in the street that night. Even though witnesses recalled Captain Preston standing in front of his men, Revere depicts him standing behind his men with a raised sword, ordering them to fire. The colonists appear defenseless and unarmed, although witnesses mentioned seeing colonists use sticks, clubs, snow, ice and clam shells as weapons that night. The five dead and dying victims are clearly shown, however, Crispus Attucks is missing from the engraving; all of the victims are white.
The sign “Butchers Hall” never adorned the Custom House; this inclusion is a clear indication of how the image was intended to make its viewers feel. A careful examination of the print reveals a firing gun in the second floor window of the Custom House. The only witness to recall seeing this was later found guilty of perjury. Revere also included a dog at the center front of his engraving, though why he did is debatable. Some historians believe he used the dog as a symbol to suggest that due to the deteriorating relationship between Britain and the colonists in Boston, everything was “going to the dogs.” Others think that Revere sought to imply the peaceful nature of the colonists by suggesting that one victims of the Massacre was out walking his dog that night.
Revere is responsible for the verses engraved in the image. His use of certain words betrays his intention that the image incite Bostonians, and American colonists in general, to rebel against Great Britain. He is not responsible for the copious amounts of blood in the scene, nor the use of the same red color for both the blood and the British soldier’s jackets. Each copy of Revere’s image was hand colored, differently, by someone else.
