Paul Revere NOT on the Road to Concord (episode 351)

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Jake:
[0:03] Welcome to Hub History, where we go far beyond the freedom trail to share our favorite stories from the history of Boston, the Hub of the Universe.

Introduction to Paul Revere

Jake:
[0:13] This is episode 351, Paul Revere, not on the road to Concord. Hi, I’m Jake. This week, we’re going to talk about Paul Revere. This episode’s being released on Patriot’s Day, April 19th, the anniversary of the battles at Lexington and Concord that started our American Revolution. That means that last night was the 251st anniversary of Paul Revere’s ride. Last year for Patriot’s Day, in episode 324, I broke down Longfellow’s famous poem about Revere’s ride and did a line-by-line comparison to Revere’s own recollections of that famous night.

Jake:
[0:54] This time around, I’m going to dive into our back catalog to share some lesser-known aspects of Paul Revere’s involvement in the Patriot cause. First, we’ll look at Revere as a messenger. It’s only fair because he’s known for his famous ride on April 18th, 1775, but Paul Revere was chosen for that ride because he already had a reputation as a reliable express rider, carrying secret messages from the Committee of Correspondence in Boston on horseback to fellow patriots in New York, Philadelphia, New Hampshire, and even beyond. After that, we’ll turn the clock forward a bit and look at Revere’s support for the cause after his famous ride. In 1779, Paul Revere was the colonel in charge of the Massachusetts Artillery Regiment. He was tapped as one of the commanders of an expedition to try to dislodge the British from the Penobscot Bay in today’s Maine. The resulting fiasco was the worst American naval defeat prior to Pearl Harbor, and it left Revere’s soldiers half-starved and wandering through the Maine wilderness. We’ll learn how much blame Revere bore for the chaotic retreat in just a few moments.

The Role of Paul Revere as a Messenger

Jake:
[2:05] But before we talk about Paul Revere, I just want to pause and shout out the listeners who make it possible for me to make Hub History.

Jake:
[2:13] When you listen to the clips in this week’s episode from the first and second year of the show, you’ll instantly hear the difference from today, almost 10 years after we started. The research goes deeper now, and I finally figured out how to slow down and speak a little bit more clearly into a microphone. While some of that comes down to your humble hosts learning how to be better podcasters, a lot of the credit goes to our listener supporters. Your financial support, whether it’s one-time via PayPal or on a monthly basis on Patreon, is what pays for the upgraded microphones and the audio processing that makes me sound better today. And it also gets me access to more research databases and books than I could afford when the show started. So to everybody who’s already supporting the show, thank you. If you’re not yet supporting the show and you’d like to start, it’s easy. Just go to patreon.com slash hubhistory or visit hubhistory.com and click on the Support Us link. And thanks again to all our new and returning sponsors.

Paul Revere’s Involvement in the Tea Party

Jake:
[3:18] By the time of his famous ride on the night of April 18th, 1775, Paul Revere was well known as an express rider for the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Patriot Cause more generally. He’d been a busy man in the preceding year. Between the Tea Party in December 1773 and the Portsmouth Alarm in December 1774, Revere had been dispatched to New York and Philadelphia multiple times, to Connecticut and New Jersey, and up to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, always seeming to arrive just in time to be at the center of historic events. Co-host Emerita Nikki and I recap Paul Revere’s less famous rise for Patriot’s Day in 2018.

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[4:01] Henry Wadsworth Longfellow took a lot of artistic license with his poem about Paul Revere’s most famous ride, but it overlaps with reality to at least this degree. Sometime after midnight, on the evening of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere arrived in Lexington. By his own account, he had evaded a British patrol in Charlestown, then warned the captain of the Medford militia and a number of houses along the way. When he arrived outside Jonas Clark’s house where John Hancock was staying, some sources say he was briefly stopped to avoid disturbing Hancock’s beauty rest. Militia Sergeant William Monroe said, I immediately assembled a guard of eight men with their arms to guard the house. About midnight, Colonel Paul Revere rode up and requested admittance. I told him the family had just retired and had requested that they might not be disturbed by any noise about the house. Noise, says he. You’ll have noise enough before long. The regulars are coming out. We then permitted him to pass. Mr. Clark immediately opened a window and inquired who was there. Revere, without replying to the question, said he wished to see Mr. Hancock. Mr. Clark, with his usual deliberation, was going on to observe that it was a critical time, and he did not like to admit people into his house at that time of night without first knowing their business, when Hancock, who had retired to rest but not to sleep, knew Revere’s voice and cried, Come in, Revere. We’re not afraid of you.

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[5:28] Having warned Lexington that the regulars were out, Revere rode toward Concord with William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, and promptly got captured by the British. It’s pretty to imagine Revere being thrown into the revolutionary struggle that night. A silversmith and engraver suddenly finds himself hanging lanterns and riding at midnight. Ray Raphael quotes a 2009 college textbook to illustrate how thoroughly Longfellow’s legend has been accepted as fact. Alerted by signal lanterns, express riders Paul Revere and William Dawes eluded British patrols and spurred their horses toward Lexington along separate routes to warn Hancock and Adams. In reality, Paul Revere didn’t need to be alerted by signal lanterns. He had, in fact, helped to arrange the famous one-if-by-land, two-if-by-sea signal, just in case he was caught while sneaking out of Boston. By this time, Revere had been deeply immersed in the Patriot cause for at least a decade, and he had plenty of experience as an express rider for the Committee of Correspondence, making rides as recently as April 7th, less than two weeks before the British march on Lexington and Concord, and as long ago as December of 1773. After a standoff lasting several weeks, thousands of Bostonians met at Old South Meeting House on December 16th, 1773, to decide what to do with three cargoes of tea.

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[6:50] Offloading them and paying the taxes would acknowledge Parliament’s power over the province, but the governor would not permit them to be sent back. Finally, when the meeting seemed to be at an impasse, the Sons of Liberty led the citizens of Boston out of Old South to the harbor, where they dumped the tea into the sea. Revere had been standing watch over the ships in the days before to make sure nobody tried to offload the tea. And on the night of the 16th, he was among those who disguised himself as a mohawk and boarded the ships. Paul Revere’s most important role in the Tea Party, however, did not come on the evening of December 16th, but on the morning of the 17th. There were also shipments of tea on their way to Philadelphia, New York, and Charleston. Patriots in Boston wanted those cities to know what could be achieved through bold action. Revere was dispatched to New York and Philadelphia to spread the news. He rode first to New York, making the trip in five days, and priming the city’s patriotic spirit. When he arrived on December 21st, the T-ship Nancy was in the outer harbor. The Sons of Liberty had convinced the captain to return to England, but the governor had ordered a warship to prevent it from leaving.

The Boston Port Act and Its Consequences

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[8:05] A standoff followed, but after Revere’s news rallied the Patriots’ spirits that Nancy was allowed to leave.

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[8:14] On Christmas Eve, Paul Revere arrived in Philadelphia, where Boston’s news was greeted with rejoicing and the ringing of bells. The very next day, on Christmas, the tea ship Polly was sighted on its way to the city. When it landed, a mob of 8,000 met it, vowing to carry out a Philadelphia tea party if anyone attempted to unload the cargo. Two days later, the ship was headed back to England, and Revere was on his way home for a well-deserved rest. After the Tea Party, Parliament was not exactly happy with the town of Boston. To punish us, they passed a law in response to dangerous commotions and insurrections that have been fomented and razed in the town of Boston. They decreed that starting on June 1st, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever to laid put, or cause or procure to be laden or put, off or from any quay, wharf, or other place within the said town of Boston, or in or upon any part of the shore of the bay commonly called the harbor of Boston, between a certain headlander point called Nahant Point on the eastern side of the entrance into the said bay, and a certain other headlander point called Alderton Point. Since the town’s economy revolved around trade and shipping, this was not a hollow threat.

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[9:33] Acting again on behalf of the Committee of Correspondence, Paul Revere rode out of Boston on May 13th. Ray Raphael described his mission in the Journal of the American Revolution. Leaving Boston on May 13th, Revere carried a circular letter to Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and colonies to the southward of them, along with a copy of the Boston Port Act, the resolves of Boston’s emergency town meeting, and a letter, aimed primarily at merchants, calling for a suspension of Your Trade with Great Britain. The prime target was Philadelphia, the hub of transatlantic trade. Unless merchants there signed on, any boycott would not work. That city rejected the call for another round of trade warfare, but in a compromise move on May 21st, its Committee of Correspondence called for A General Congress of deputies from the different colonies clearly to state what we conceive our rights, and to make claim or petition of them to his majesty in firm but decent and dutiful terms. New York, another critical port, arrived at the same decision two days later, and other locales, upon hearing the news Revere was spreading, responded in similar terms.

The First Continental Congress is Born

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[10:45] So was born the First Continental Congress.

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[10:50] Throughout 1774, tensions rose steadily. The diary kept by Boston merchant John Rowe illustrates a moment when the conflict between the provincial government in Massachusetts and the local patriots entered a new and more dangerous phase. The entry, dated September 1, 1774, says, This morning, a letter was picked up, wrote by General Brattle to General Gage, and the general, in consequence, sent a party of 200 men under the command of Colonel Madison and took the gunpowder belonging to the province from the arsenal in Charlestown.

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[11:28] William Brattle was a leader of the provincial militia and would be seen as a Tory. On August 27th, he sent a letter to General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces and military governor of Massachusetts, warning him that the local militias had all removed their gunpowder from the powder house in Charlestown in a section that’s today Powderhouse Hill in Somerville. All that remained was the king’s powder, that portion that technically belonged to the provincial militia rather than the local town militias.

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[12:01] A few days later, General Gage sent a sheriff to meet with Brattle, who gave the sheriff the key to the powder house. The next day, September 1st, 260 elite soldiers from the 4th Regiment of Foot, the King’s own regiment, rose at 4.30 in the morning and boarded a flotilla of longboats. They rode up the Mystic River, then marched about a mile to pick up the key from the Middlesex County Sheriff. Soon after sunrise, they had removed all the remaining gunpowder from the powder house and were on their way back to Boston, where the powder and two small cannons that were taken from Cambridge would be locked up on Castle Island. In the wake of the march, rumors swirled around Massachusetts and New England. Everyone had seen the regulars marching, and now some believed that they had fired on the people of Charlestown, killing six. Others believed that they had burned Cambridge, or that the King’s Navy was shelling Boston. Almost immediately, militia companies across the province and as far away as Connecticut mobilized, and tens of thousands of men were on the march by the next morning.

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[13:08] David Hackett Fisher quotes a young traveler named McNeil who was on his way from Shrewsbury to Boston on the morning of September 2nd, who said, He never saw such a scene before. All along the road were armed men rushing forward, some on foot, some on horseback. At every house, women and children were making cartridges, running bullets, making wallets of food, baking biscuits, crying and bemoaning, and at the same time animating their husbands and sons to fight for their liberties, though not knowing whether they should ever see them again. They left scarcely half a dozen men in a town, unless old and decrepit, and in one town the landlord told him that himself was the only man left.

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[13:48] These terrible rumors of war reached the Continental Congress in Philadelphia on September 6th, as recorded by Massachusetts Delegate Robert Treat Payne. About 2 o’clock, a letter came from Israel Putnam into the town, forwarded by expresses in about 70 hours from Boston, by which we were informed that the soldiers had fired on the people in the town of Boston. This news occasioned the Congress to adjourn at 8 o’clock p.m. The city of Philadelphia, in great concern, bells muffled, rang all evening.

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[14:19] John Adams tells us how the news brought Congress together in support of Boston. When the horrid news was brought here of the bombardment of Boston, which made us completely miserable for two days, we saw proofs both of the sympathy and the resolution of the continent. War, war, war was the cry, and it was pronounced in a tone which would have done honor to the oratory of a Briton or a Roman. If it had proved true, you would have heard the thunder of an American Congress. Of course, the rumors did not prove to be true. Within a day or two, the thousands of militiamen who had converged on Cambridge dispersed back to their homes, though not before forcing a number of loyalists to take oaths of allegiance to the Patriot cause and forcing poor William Brattle to flee to Castle Island. In the aftermath of the alarm, Patriot leaders realized that they needed to get more organized. They needed better coordination between the militias within Massachusetts, as well as cooperation with the other colonies. The next time Gage marched his troops into the countryside, the militia intended to be assembled before they could seize any gunpowder or supplies, rather than after.

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[15:33] While riders would go on to the other New England colonies to begin organizing common defenses, Paul Revere was not one of them. Instead, he wrote letters to be carried to the other colonies, including this one to his friend John Lamb in New York. Dear Sir, I embrace this opportunity to inform you that we are in spirits, though in a garrison. The spirit of liberty never was higher than at present. The troops have the horrors amazingly by reason of some late movements of our friends in the country our new fangled counselors are resigning their places every day our justices of the courts who now hold their commissions during the pleasure of his majesty or the governor cannot get a jury to act with them in short the tories are giving way everywhere in our province.

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[16:28] That all sounds great, but if the next confrontation with General Gage was going to turn out better, communication was key. The Committee of Correspondence set up a system of signals that used everything from church bells to drums, and a network of express riders would form the backbone of this system. Paul Revere would act as one of these riders, a job he was ridiculously overqualified for. Imagine Steve Jobs moonlighting as an Uber driver, or something like that. But because he was a respected artisan with a wide social circle across all classes, and because he was universally known as an organizer for the Patriot cause, he was uniquely suited for the job. He’d be sent on his first ride just days later, and several more would follow. Having indirectly contributed to the creation of the First Continental Congress, Paul Revere would return to it just a few months later. That chapter of his story begins at our featured historic site, Daniel Vose’s Inn in Milton, in September of 1774.

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[17:37] The resolves that Joseph Warren had drafted were issued in response to a convention of the Committees of Correspondence from Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, and Worcester counties, held on August 26th and 27th. Held at Faneuil Hall, the committees met to strategize a response to the recent Massachusetts Government Act, which had disenfranchised citizens of Massachusetts by revoking key provisions of the Provincial Charter of 1691.

The Suffolk Resolves and Their Impact

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[18:02] As an act of resistance, the convention urged all Massachusetts counties to close their courts rather than submit to the oppressive measure. One by one, every county closed its court, with one exception.

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[18:16] The court for Suffolk County was housed in Boston, and Boston was under British military occupation. The court remained open, but patriot leaders would make it clear where their sentiments lay. As each county closed its court, it issued a set of resolves to explain its actions. Suffolk’s court remained open, yet its resolves were the most memorable. The Suffolk document denounced the Intolerable Acts, or Coercive Acts, that had recently been passed by the British Parliament, and specifically resolved to Boycott British imports, curtail exports, and refuse to use British products. Pay no obedience to the Massachusetts Government Act or the Boston Port Bill, Demand resignations from those appointed to positions under the Massachusetts Government Act, Refuse payment of taxes until the Massachusetts Government Act was repealed.

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[19:09] Support a colonial government in Massachusetts free of royal authority until the Intolerable Acts were repealed And urge the colonies to raise militia of their own people.

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[19:20] Besides the specific acts of resistance that it laid out, the resolves were notable for Warren’s caustic language. His preamble begins, Whereas the power but not the justice, the vengeance but not the wisdom of Great Britain, which of old persecuted, scourged, and exiled our fugitive parents from their native shores, now pursues us, their guiltless children, with unrelenting severity. And whereas this then savage and uncultivated desert was purchased by the toil and treasure, or acquired by the valor and blood of those our venerable progenitors who bequeathed us the dear-bought inheritance, who consigned it to our care and protection, the most sacred obligations are upon us to transmit the glorious purchase unfettered by power, unclogged with shackles, to our innocent and beloved offspring.

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[20:10] On the fortitude, on the wisdom, and on the exertions of this important day is suspended the fate of this new world, and of unborn millions. And quite honestly, it only gets more inflammatory from there. When the document was signed on September 9th, Paul Revere was selected to carry word to the First Continental Congress, which had been meeting in Philadelphia since September 5th. By September 11th, his affairs were in order, and he set out from his home in Boston on horseback. He covered the 350 miles of unimproved dirt roads in five days, which was nearly unprecedented pace. Some accounts say that he came thundering down 2nd Street in Philadelphia at a full gallop and skidded to a halt in front of the city tavern, where he ran inside with the document in hand. But we can’t find any evidence to actually support that story.

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[21:07] No matter how Revere arrived on the scene, the Suffolk Resolves were read in front of the Congress later that day. When he read Warren’s declaration, the moderate Speaker of the Pennsylvania House, Joseph Galloway, said something along the lines of, For Congress to counten in such a statement is tantamount to complete declaration of war.

Revere’s Journey to the Continental Congress

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[21:29] Nonetheless, Congress endorsed the document in its totality the next day as a show of colonial solidarity. In response, John Adams commented in his diary.

The Return to Boston and New Missions

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[21:56] The hard work for Revere was not over. After not even 48 hours in Philadelphia, he began riding back home on September 18th, carrying letters from Sam Adams, John Adams, and the rest of the Massachusetts congressional delegation. Arriving home on September 23rd, he had not even a week to catch his breath before being sent back to Philadelphia on September 29th. This time, he first carried dispatches to Patriots in New York, then onward to Philly, before again returning to Boston by October 19th. After so much time in the saddle just a few days before, Revere might have been feeling a bit sore and put out. Instead of a rousing gallop on horseback, he would make this grueling trip in a sulky, a type of light, two-wheeled carriage that would be familiar to anyone who has ever watched harness racing. As David Hackett Fisher recounts, for the next few months, Paul Revere stayed closer to home. There were other short trips in New England. These journeys were reported in the Gazettes and noticed with alarm by imperial leaders. In January 1775, when Paul Revere rode from Boston to a gathering of Whigs in Exeter, New Hampshire, Royal Governor John Wentworth wrote, Paul Revere, when expressed thither yesterday noon, it portends a storm rather than peace.

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[23:24] 1774 had already been a busy year for Paul Revere. He had ridden to Connecticut, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and around the East Coast in May to unite the colonies against the injustice of the Boston Port Act. He was involved in the response to the Somerville powder alarm in September, and later that month he rode to Philadelphia twice carrying the Suffolk Resolves and then the correspondence that followed.

Revere’s December Ride to Portsmouth

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[23:47] Before the close of the year, Paul Revere would make one more ride. And this one was, in reality, everything that our fantasies of Paul Revere’s famous ride the following April are in the imagination. A lone rider carrying a secret message penned by Joseph Warren races British troops across the countryside. Arriving just in time on his lathered, heaving horse, Revere delivers a message of warning to the patriot leaders who are able to spirit away their military supplies and mount a successful defense. Except this time, he carried the message to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, some 60 miles north of Boston.

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[24:25] On December 12th, the Boston Committee of Correspondence got intelligence that they believed meant the British were preparing to seize gunpowder and supplies stored at forts in Newport, Rhode Island and in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by sea. Joseph Warren wrote a letter that would be carried to Newport. Gentlemen, we think it our duty to inform you that one of the British Navy transports sailed from this port yesterday, in the afternoon, with several hundred sailors on board. There are various conjectures concerning her destination, but it is generally believed she is designed for Newport, and that the troops are to take possession of the fortress there. The vigilance of our enemies is well known. They doubt not the bravery of our countrymen, but, if they can get our fortresses, our arms, and ammunition to their custody, they will despise all our attempts to shake off their fetters. We are convinced that you will do what prudence directs upon this important occasion and are, with great esteem, your friends and humble servants.

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[25:34] The next morning, he sent Paul Revere off for Portsmouth, carrying the same message inside his head. This was actually a controversial move, as only Revere, Warren, and one or two other members of the committee had authorized the ride. Under their bylaws, the Committee of Correspondents required the agreement of at least seven members before taking any action. Nonetheless, Revere was headed for New Hampshire. His son Joshua had just been born six days earlier, yet Revere seems not to have hesitated before riding off at top speed toward the north, where the wind whipped and a winter storm brewed. Snow had fallen three days before, then melted before the weather turned cold again, and now the ruts in the muddy dirt roads that led to Portsmouth were frozen solid. Revere arrived in portsmouth late that afternoon and went straight to the local committee of correspondence he warned them that general gage’s troops were on the way to portsmouth by sea to confiscate the colony’s powder and he warned them that the king had issued a proclamation prohibiting the export of arms to the colonies so it would be impossible to replace the powder once it was gone.

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[26:50] The local patriots knew that the powder was stored at Fort William and Mary, a run-down old fort at the mouth of the harbor that was guarded by a skeleton crew of six measly redcoats. The local committee immediately began plotting how they would get the colony’s powder out of the fort before the ship arrived. What neither the Portsmouth Committee nor Paul Revere knew at the time was that there was no British ship on its way to seize the powder at Fort William and Mary. The Boston Committee had misinterpreted intelligence that actually indicated that the HMS Somerset was on its way to Boston. However, Paul Revere was a very well-known figure in New England by that time. His previous rides on behalf of the Boston Committee of Correspondence had not been a secret, so when he showed up in Portsmouth all out of breath on a lathered horse, people in town knew that some kind of trouble must be brewing. A Portsmouth loyalist got a message to the Royal Governor of New Hampshire saying, basically, hey, Paul Revere is here, shouldn’t we, you know, do something about that?

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[27:54] Governor Wentworth warned Captain John Cochran at the fort to be on guard, then sent a rider south to tell General Gage that Paul Revere was in town, and something bad seemed likely to happen. Gage immediately dispatched a small sloop loaded with Marines and an armed frigate to sail up to Portsmouth and secure Fort William and Mary, along with the powder. So while Paul Revere’s message that the British were coming for New Hampshire’s arms had been based on faulty information, now the Redcoats really were on their way. The next morning, the sound of fife and drums echoed through the streets of Portsmouth, calling the local militia to arms. About 200 Portsmouth men turned out, bolstered by another 200 from surrounding towns. They boarded boats and began rowing toward the fort, just as the snowstorm that had been threatening since Paul Revere left Boston finally started. The falling snow muffled their oars and concealed their approach to the fort.

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[28:51] At about 3 p.m., the militia appeared at the walls of the fort and demanded entry. Captain Cochran would later recount, I told them on their peril not to enter, and he issued orders to his tiny garrison to man the ramparts, and not to flinch on pain of death but to defend the fort to its last extremity. As the militia began climbing over the walls, Cochran ordered his men to shoot. The six men fired their muskets and at least three cannons on the oncoming crowd of 400. Yet somehow, none of the attackers were wounded.

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[29:28] Perhaps it was the hand of Providence, or maybe Cochran had the good sense to have his men aim poorly. By having his men make a show of firing on the militia, he could honestly tell Governor Wentworth, I did all in my power to defend the fort, but all my efforts could not avail against such a great number. But by making sure to miss the attackers, he did not have to subject his troops to certain death by engaging in an all-out firefight at odds of 400 to 6. The only injuries in the battle would come at the end. After ceremonially handing over his sword in surrender, it was given back to Cochran as honor dictated. However, when a Durham lawyer turned militia private began to lower the king’s flag, Cochran became enraged. He attempted to draw his sword to defend the flag, and in the scuffle that followed, he was wounded by a knife or a bayonet, and one of his soldiers was clubbed with the butt end of a pistol.

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[30:31] At the same time, riders were fanning out across New Hampshire, carrying the warning that Paul Revere had brought from Boston.

The Portsmouth Powder Alarm

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[30:38] By the time the British ships arrived in the harbor on December 17th, it was too late. A thousand militiamen from across New Hampshire paraded through the streets of Portsmouth. The Patriots had removed a hundred barrels of gunpowder, a supply of muskets, and sixteen cannons from the fort and hidden them away. Governor Wentworth laid the blame squarely at the feet of Paul Revere, saying that the violence was due to Mr. Revere and the dispatch he brought with him, before which all was perfectly quiet and peaceable in this place.

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[31:13] David Hackett Fisher explains how Paul Revere kept his liberty, despite being so well-known to royal authorities. Many British officers wondered why General Gage did not arrest a man who so openly defied him. Some would cheerfully have clapped him in irons and left him to rot in a damp dungeon at Castle William in Boston Harbor. But Thomas Gage believed strictly in the rule of law. The Whig leaders, Revere among them, were allowed to remain at liberty while frustrated British soldiers cursed their commander and their Yankee tormentors in equal measure.

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[31:48] Thanks to Thomas Gage, Paul Revere would be available as a courier for the Boston Committee of Correspondence when it seemed like the redcoats were coming for the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and their military supplies about four months later.

The Penobscot Expedition Begins

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[32:01] On April 7, 1775, General Gage ordered all British warships in Boston Harbor to launch their longboats and tie them up under the ship’s sterns. All of Boston saw this flurry of activity, and the Committee of Correspondence was worried that it might mean the British were about to march on Concord. Joseph Warren asked Paul Revere to ride to Concord with a warning, after which the Patriots began to disperse and hide their military stores. Less than two weeks later, the British would make their move on Concord, and Paul Revere would make his famous midnight ride on the night of April 18, 1775, where he was joined by William Dawes and Samuel Prescott. Ray Raphael points out how Paul Revere’s most famous ride actually shows the success of local militias in getting organized after their ineffective response to the previous year’s powder alarm.

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[32:53] Ever since the overthrow of British authority in the late summer of 1774, they had prepared for military confrontation. Anticipating just such an event as the British assault on Lexington and Concord, they had rehearsed their response. Each man within each town knew whom to contact and where to go once the time came. And now, the time had come. The true story of the Lexington Alarm is deeper and richer than Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with his emphasis on individual heroics led us to imagine.

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[33:27] Even the Lexington Alarm wouldn’t be the last time Paul Revere acted as a courier. Since the siege of Boston began immediately after the battles at Lexington and Concord, Revere was unable to return home to Boston after his famous ride. He took a room in Watertown, sometimes carrying messages for the Provincial Congress. Soon, however, he found ways to contribute to the Patriot cause that were more commensurate with his intelligence and technical skills. He put his printing press to work creating paper currency for the Provincial Congress, and soon he harnessed his experience in manufacturing to establish the first gunpowder mill in Massachusetts, which we believe was only the second working powder mill in the colonies. When the British evacuated Boston in the spring of 1776, Paul Revere returned home and hung up his spurs, no longer acting as a courier. Instead, he was appointed as a lieutenant colonel in the Massachusetts militia, commanding the artillery at Castle Island in Boston Harbor. A few years later, he would take part in the Penobscot Expedition, which ended in the worst U.S. Naval defeat prior to Pearl Harbor, with the entire fleet lost. That fiasco would earn him a court-martial, and you can learn all about it in Hub History Episode 25.

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[34:46] After the war, Paul Revere was enormously successful in the business of manufacturing. He branched out from artisanal silversmithing to create a large-scale iron foundry, before starting to cast bronze church bells and cannons. Finally, he pioneered the mass production of copper fittings and rolled copper sheeting. Revere Copper originally coated the dome of the Massachusetts State House, and was once used to protect the hull of the USS Constitution.

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[35:17] His factories eventually outgrew Boston’s North End, and he moved much of his production to the town of Stoughton, in a section that is in Canton today. Though Revere was justifiably proud of his work with the Sons of Liberty and the Committee of Correspondence during the years leading up to the War for Independence, his manufacturing efforts were what he thought of as his life’s work. Before all else, he was an artisan, and with his huge contributions to the burgeoning Industrial Revolution in and around Boston, it is likely that we would remember him in that context rather than for carrying a message on horseback if it wasn’t for Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and his famous poem.

Jake:
[36:00] After his days as an express rider for the Patriot cause were basically over, Paul Revere took on a formal military role, serving as the colonel in command of the train of artillery for the Massachusetts militia. In 1779, his third year of militia service, Colonel Revere and his artillery regiment were deployed to the Penobscot Bay, the northeastern corner of Massachusetts that we now call Maine. His unit was part of a massive fleet of ships from the Continental Navy and the Massachusetts Naval Militia, charged with driving the British away before they could consolidate their control and recolonize Maine. Unparalleled defeat followed, with Paul Revere getting fired from the militia for his role and eventually standing trial before a court-martial in 1782, charged with disobedience and cowardice. Let’s listen to a clip that Nikki and I recorded for this podcast’s first Patriots Day in 2017 and try to decide whether Colonel Revere’s role in that American defeat was worthy of the charges.

Court Martial:
[37:05] When we think of Paul Revere, we usually think of his famous ride, which had an anniversary on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in Boston, the British were preparing to march to Concord after the Patriot weapons. 1,000 soldiers had gathered on the banks of the Charles River, ready to cross the river to the road to Concord. But the Patriots had discovered the British plan. Already, Paul Revere was galloping across the countryside, spreading the news. The British are coming! The British are coming! However, it’s easy to forget that Paul Revere’s story didn’t end on April 18th, 1775. This week, we want to bring you a story about Paul Revere that’s not so wrapped in myth. In 1779, Revere commanded a military expedition in Maine that ended with the greatest U.S. Naval defeat prior to Pearl Harbor, and eventually led to his court-martial on charges of cowardice and insubordination.

Court Martial:
[37:59] After the British evacuated Boston in March 1776, Paul Revere returned to his Boston home and was commissioned as an officer in the Massachusetts militia. In November, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel of Artillery and posted at Castle William, today’s Castle Island. As one of the fort’s top commanders, he made many improvements to its defenses and armaments. In a funny turn of events, he was able to increase the fort’s firepower by taking the guns from the wreck of the Royal Navy’s HMS Somerset. The Somerset was one of the ships that had guarded the mouth of the Charles River when Paul Revere began his famous ride by rowing across the river under its guns. In the meantime, it had been wrecked near Provincetown, and 21 of its guns were taken for use by the Massachusetts artillery. Revere was intelligent and resourceful, but also gained a reputation as an abrasive personality, prompting a number of complaints against him. And despite his modern reputation as a revolutionary hero, he had no combat experience prior to the fiasco in Maine, and had little experience leading men in the field at all.

The Disastrous Penobscot Campaign

Court Martial:
[39:10] His unit had deployed once in 1777 to escort prisoners from southern Vermont back to Boston to be detained on prison ships, and once in 1778 as part of a combined French-American attack on the British in Newport. However, the battle was called off before he saw action because the French fleet was scattered by a storm.

Court Martial:
[39:33] In June of 1779, a large British fleet landed at the Penobscot Bay in Maine and claimed a crown colony called New Ireland. The name made sense as it sat between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, or New Scotland, on one side, and New England and New Hampshire on the other. About 700 soldiers, mostly Scots, began constructing a fort they called Fort George on a peninsula that’s today occupied by Castine, Maine. Their plan was to establish a military stronghold, as well as settling the area with loyalist families who’d been driven out of other parts of the colonies.

Court Martial:
[40:08] After landing, the British commander proclaimed that all who shall return to that state of good order in which the whole must end submit, and within eight days take the oaths of allegiance and fidelity to his majesty, would not be harmed. Anyone who had settled the area informally could apply for a royal land grant, and fishermen were free to ply their trade without harassment. The troops were ordered to be on their best behavior and not to undertake any pillaging against the locals. After the militia realized that they were hopelessly outmatched, the British campaign for hearts and minds seems to have met some success. In the coming weeks, 651 local residents appeared before the British general and swore allegiance to the crown.

Court Martial:
[40:48] Many more decided to stay silent and neutral. Some patriots and militia officers fled south. There was no organized resistance.

Court Martial:
[40:57] Keep in mind that Maine belonged to Massachusetts until 1820, and many people still alive in Massachusetts in 1779 could remember the series of colonial wars fought by the British and the Massachusetts militia to seize control of that territory from the French. Massachusetts officials were not thrilled by the idea of having the British seize their hard-won territory, invite loyalists to settle it, and create a new military stronghold just across the Gulf of Maine from Boston.

Court Martial:
[41:28] Clearly, the proud Massachusetts Council couldn’t bear this insult, and they couldn’t risk leaving an enemy outpost in their own backyard. As dispatches arrived in Boston describing British efforts to build a fort on the Penobscot Bay, a committee reporting to John Hancock vowed to launch a major expedition against them within six days. Speed was vital to strike before the fort was completed, but it also meant that the Massachusetts men were overconfident. In fact, they barely bothered to consult with the commanders of the Continental Forces. As Continental Surgeon James Thatcher would write, Such was their zeal and confidence of success that the general court neither consulted any experienced military character, nor desired the assistance of any continental troops on this important enterprise, thus taking on themselves the undivided responsibility, and reserving for their own heads all the laurels to be derived from the anticipated conquest.

Court Martial:
[42:30] Massachusetts may have been eager to claim credit for the expected success in Maine, but they did need Congress’s help for one thing. Ships. At that time, we still had our own Massachusetts State Navy, but in 1779 it consisted of just three armed vessels. The Continental Navy happened to have three more ships anchored in Boston Harbor at that moment, and the Council managed to convince them to join the expedition.

Court Martial:
[42:54] The council then searched up and down the Massachusetts coast, looking for any armed ships they could lay their hands on. They enlisted one ship from the New Hampshire Navy, and many privately owned vessels from Newburyport, Salem, and Boston. Some owners could be paid for their assistance, and others had to be threatened with impressment. In at least two cases, Massachusetts sheriffs seized vessels for use in the expedition, when the owners wouldn’t cooperate. Why were there so many heavily armed private vessels in Massachusetts ports? Remember that one man’s pirate is another man’s privateer. Privateers were privately owned ships authorized by the state to attack British flag vessels. Then the ship’s owners and their crews would sell off the cargo and divide the profits. Between the state navies, the continental ships, and the privateers, by July the fleet consisted of 20 armed ships with 324 guns between them. There were an additional 21 unarmed transports of various sizes, mostly schooners and sloops. This was the largest naval force the Americans managed to assemble throughout the entire war. Remember that most of our naval victories during the Revolution came thanks to the French and their powerful navy. When the fleet was ready to go, the commander of the naval force, Commodore Dudley Saltonstall, must have felt pretty good about his chances.

Court Martial:
[44:09] Intelligence said that the British only had three ships hanging around Penobscot Bay, so with 41 ships and a strong ground force, the odds seemed to be in the Americans’ favor. About 1,500 members of the Massachusetts militia were mobilized for the attack on Port George under Brigadier General Solomon Lovell. Though the militiamen were from all around the state, the city of Boston provided a disproportionate amount of officers and funding. Along with this group, about 100 were called up from the artillery, who received the following orders on June 26, 1779.

Court Martial:
[44:44] Ordered that Colonel Revere hold himself and 100 of the Matrosses under his command, including proper officers in readiness at one hour’s notice, to embark for the defense of this state and to attack the enemy at Penobscot, under the command of General Lovell. Along with the three Continental vessels, Congress provided a contingent of Continental Marines to bulk up the invasion force. I had a hard time nailing down an exact number, but it seems as though there were several hundred marines who sailed with the fleet. Paul Revere had a checkered history at best with the Continental Marines. In March of 1779, just a few months before this expedition, he had become enraged when the marines enlisted some of Revere’s colonial artillerymen. He complained first to the Massachusetts Council. I lay these matters before your honors, hoping something may be done to put an effectual stop to such proceedings, for it is in vain for us to recruit men if the marine officers may take them from us.

Court Martial:
[45:49] Weeks later, he went as far as firing on the Providence, which, to be clear, was an American warship, in order to get his artillerymen, then known as Matrosses, back. His note to the Massachusetts Council said, Castle Island, April 9, 1779. Sir, I have received out of the Providence frigate fifteen men, then sent ten of them on shore, but I was obliged to fire at and bring her two before I could get the other five.

Court Martial:
[46:22] So not only is this another example of Revere’s abrasive personality, it also probably means that there was some bad blood between the Marines and Revere’s artillery before the battle even began. There seems to have been more than enough bad blood between the officers involved in the expedition. Dudley Saltonstall, captain of the Continental ship Warren, was named Commodore of the Fleet. He would be in command of all the armed vessels, as well as the Continental Marines. Meanwhile, Simon Lovell was named general of all the militia forces in the expedition. Like Revere, he also had little or no experience leading men in combat. Lovell was saddled with a second-in-command named Peleg Wadsworth. Wadsworth, grandfather of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who would make Paul Revere famous, undermined Lovell by publicly disagreeing with many of his decisions. Paul Revere was also ordered to bring along an officer with whom he had constantly quarreled at Castle William, Major William Todd.

Court Martial:
[47:21] To cap it all off, Saltonstall reported to Congress, while Lovell reported to the Massachusetts Council. There was no overall commander of the expedition, and the highest-ranking officers did not have to listen to one another. A few nights before the battle began, the officers held a Council of War, which Paul Revere recorded for posterity. It was an epitome of the whole campaign. There was nothing proposed, and of consequence, nothing done. It was more like a meeting in the coffeehouse than a council of war. There was no president appointed, nor any minutes taken. After disputing about nothing for two hours, it was broke up. With the benefit of hindsight, it seems obvious that the expedition was headed for disaster.

Court Martial:
[48:04] On July 19th, 1779, the fleet sailed from Boston with orders to captivate, kill, or destroy the enemy force, and arrived before Fort George on July 25th. The fort was still incomplete. The earthworks were under construction, the main walls only five feet high, and only two guns were mounted. Work crews of soldiers and local residents who were pressed into service labored in the summer sun. They dug trenches, cleared trees from the fields of fire around the fort, and built abatis, a pre-barbed wire obstacle made from sharpened tree branches half buried, with the pointy end toward the enemy. As predicted, only three British ships guarded the harbor. The odds were overwhelmingly in favor of the American expedition, and the British general privately said that he expected his men to make but the pretense of resistance, expecting to be captured at once.

Court Martial:
[49:03] Lovell pressed for an immediate attack but Saltonstall was unwilling to risk his fleet against the guns of the British ships while dealing with the treacherous tides of Penobscot Bay. Nine Patriot ships exchanged fire with the three British ships for several hours with minimal damage on both sides. That night Lovell attempted to land seven boats near the fort, but had to call it off due to unfavorable tides and winds. The next morning, 150 Continental Marines landed at Nautilus Island and captured a British battery there. Revere’s artillery could then fire at the British ships, forcing them to withdraw closer to Fort George and leaving the channel undefended.

Court Martial:
[49:47] On the 27th, the decision was made to land on the peninsula and lay siege to the fort. The attack began at midnight, with Paul Revere ordered, to land with the men under my command as a quarter reserve to the general, to leave my cannon and take my muskets. The landing was uneventful, and by the evening of the next day, Revere’s matrosses were hauling cannons up the bluffs to patriot positions around the fort. They began bombarding the fort while a combined force of Massachusetts militia and Continental Marines stormed some outlying British positions.

Court Martial:
[50:23] At this moment, the Patriots managed to seize a defeat from the jaws of victory. General Lovell’s ground troops were within 100 yards of the British fort. The defenders only had a handful of functional artillery pieces and were outnumbered. However, the British ships on the harbor could still fire on the open ground around the fort to suppress any attacks on it. Lovell refused to storm the fort until Saltonstall engaged the ships. Saltonstall had little confidence in the officers and men of the militia, and didn’t want to risk his fleet for no reason, so he refused to engage the ships until Lovell’s men had seized the fort. Lovell ordered his men to begin digging approach trenches, trying to push his artillery far enough forward to batter down the half-constructed walls of Fort George. Commodore Saltonstall and General Lovell finally agreed to begin a joint assault on August 14th. Unfortunately, disaster arrived the night before the assault was to take place in the form of a British fleet. At first, Patriot forces believed that the sails they saw at sunset on August 13th were continental ships maneuvering. Then the fog lifted. There were seven heavily armed British warships coming into the harbor to augment the three that were already there.

Court Martial:
[51:40] Commodore Saltenstall had no illusions that his naval force could prevail against the British fleet. He had a numerical advantage, but the Royal Navy was the best-trained, best-armed, and most feared navy in the world at that time. The siege party was ordered to break camp quickly and fall down to the ships. With a strong British fleet in the mouth of the harbor, the only option seemed to be to try to outrun them by sailing inland up the Penobscot River. The armed boats quickly outsailed the transports, but one by one, all the American vessels fell.

Court Martial:
[52:10] Several were captured by the pursuing British, but many more were burned after running aground in the rush to sail the treacherous river. As each ship ran aground, the crew and soldiers aboard would take to the woods. The last few ships were burned near Belfast, Maine, on August 16th. The entire fleet, the strongest the Americans pulled together during the entire revolution, was lost. During the chaotic retreat, Paul Revere had the poor fortune to cross paths with both Solomon Lovell and Peleg Wadsworth. While on a barge, attempting to gather his men for the retreat, Revere ran into General Lovell. Lovell ordered him to gather his artillery and fire on the British ships to cover the retreat. Revere would try to comply, but could not rally enough matrosses to man the guns. He was later ordered by General Wadsworth to give up his boat to allow the crew of a disabled ship to be rescued. Tempers flared, and harsh words were exchanged. Revere initially refused the order, but eventually complied and handed the boat over to Wadsworth’s men. At this point, without direct orders, Colonel Revere led two officers and eight men into the main woods. They walked to Fort Western, at today’s Augusta, by August 19th. Revere’s journal says that he then after supplying them with what money i could spare i ordered them to boston by the nearest route.

Court Martial:
[53:36] Up until they fled into the woods, the Patriot Army had suffered 130 casualties, killed, captured, or taken prisoner. The march back to Boston would cause 474 more. Because of the haste and disorganization of the initial retreat, most men had little or no food. In many cases, they had no weapons or powder, and in some cases, no shoes. All their supplies had either been abandoned or burned. Our retreat, wrote one soldier, was as badly managed as the whole expedition had been. Here we were, landed in the wilderness, under no command. Those belonging to the ships, unacquainted with the woods, only knew that a west course would carry us to the Kennebec.

Court Martial:
[54:18] General Wadsworth tried to rally the troops and make a stand against the British. He gathered the men and artillery he could find along the river, but soon realized that it was a hopeless position. He didn’t know it, but General Lovell was only about five miles upriver, also fruitlessly trying to gather the scattered militia. His efforts also failed, and he was finally forced to order every man to shift for himself. With this, the Army began wandering south toward Boston. Revere also made the hike, arriving back in Boston on August 26th. He was able to send word ahead of the defeat. A dispatch from Portsmouth read, Lieutenant Colonel Revere this moment arrived from Penobscot. He informs us that the whole of our shipping is destroyed, with all the provisions, ordnance, and ammunition, and the whole army deserted and gone home. I refer you to him for particulars, who sets off for Boston this evening. So the Penobscot expedition, which many Boston sea captains and financers had expected to be a huge payday for their privateer vessels, turned into a complete loss. People in Boston were looking for a scapegoat.

Paul Revere’s Court-Martial

Court Martial:
[55:25] Ten days after he arrived back in Boston, Paul Revere was relieved of his command at Castle William and placed under house arrest pending an investigation. He immediately began pursuing a court-martial. It was common at the time for an officer who was accused of misdeeds to demand a court-martial in order to clear his name. After the Battle of Bunker Hill, there were numerous charges of cowardice and dereliction of duty. After taking command of the army at Cambridge, George Washington spent months hearing court-martials for officers who believed themselves to be falsely accused. In that spirit, Revere wrote to the Massachusetts Council, Were I conscious that I had omitted doing any one thing to reduce the enemy, either through fear or by willful opposition, I would not wish for a single advocate. I beg your honors that in a proper time there may be a strict inquiry into my conduct or I may meet my accusers face to face.

Court Martial:
[56:26] The Massachusetts Council convened a Board of Inquiry led by General Artemis Ward in September 1779. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it found that Massachusetts generals Lovell and Wadsworth bore no responsibility for the mission’s failure. Continental Commodore Saltonstall, however, was from Connecticut. The Board of Inquiry was happy to lay the failure at his feet, saying it was due to a want of proper spirit and energy on the part of the Commodore. On September 28th, he was tried at a court-martial aboard a frigate moored in Boston Harbor. He was found guilty and dismissed from service. The Board of Inquiry did not find that Paul Revere was culpable for the disaster in Maine. It didn’t clear his name, either. In fact, the Board’s report didn’t mention Paul Revere at all. He wrote another letter asking for his case to be heard, and the Board of Inquiry reconvened in November 1779, holding hearings in the East Lobby of the Statehouse. Their report had mixed results for Lieutenant Colonel Revere. Number one. Was Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere criticizable for any of his conduct during his stay at Fort George, or while he was in or upon the River Penobscot? Answer. Yes.

Court Martial:
[57:48] Number two. What part of Lieutenant Colonel Revere’s conduct was criticizable? Answer. In disputing the orders of Brigadier General Wadsworth, respecting the boat, and in saying that the brigadier had no right to command him or his boat. Number three. Was Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere’s conduct justifiable in leaving River Penobscot and repairing to Boston with his men without particular orders from his superior officer? Answer. No, not wholly justifiable.

Court Martial:
[58:23] This was not the outcome Revere was hoping for, so in January of 1780, he again wrote to the council asking for a court-martial. Twice I have petitioned, Your Honors, and once the House of Representatives, for a court-martial, but have not obtained one. I believe that neither the annals of America, nor of Old England, can furnish an instance, except in despotic reigns, where an officer was put under an arrest, and he petitioned for a trial, although the arrest was taken off, that it was not granted. The complaints upon which my arrest was founded are amongst your honor’s papers, and there will remain an everlasting monument of my disgrace if I do not prove that they are false. Is there any other legal way to prove them false than by a court-martial?

Court Martial:
[59:09] He wrote at least five more letters before finally being granted his wish in 1782. On February 19th, he was able to argue his case before a court-martial of 12 captains, presided over by General Wareham Park. There were two remaining charges.

Court Martial:
[59:25] One, for refusing to deliver a certain boat to the order of General Wadsworth when upon the retreat up Penobscot River from Fort George. Two, for his leaving Penobscot River without order from his commanding officer. After reviewing the testimony and evidence available, the court referred its findings to the president of the Massachusetts Council, John Hancock, for approval. Colonel Revere having closed his defense, the court, after maturely deliberating on the whole evidence, proceeded to make up judgment as follows. One, the court finds the first charge against Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere to be supported, to wit, his refusing to deliver a certain boat to the order of General Wadsworth when upon the retreat up Penobscot River from Fort George. But the court, taking into consideration the suddenness of the refusal, and more especially that the same boat was in fact employed by Lieutenant Colonel Revere to effect the purpose ordered by the general, as appears by the general’s deposition, are of the opinion that Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere be acquitted of this charge. Two, on the second charge, the court considering that the whole army was in great confusion and so scattered and dispersed that no regular orders were or could be given are of the opinion that Lieutenant Colonel Revere be acquitted with equal honor as the other officers in the same expedition.

Court Martial:
[1:00:45] After nearly three years, and having been dismissed from the militia, Paul Revere had finally cleared his name. His honor was restored.

Revere’s Life After Military Service

Court Martial:
[1:00:53] He never served in the military again, instead returning to his ventures as a silversmith. Paul Revere may have been a decent dispatch rider, but I don’t think he was a great militia officer. After the war, Paul Revere would expand his business empire. Branching out from being just a silversmith and engraver, he began making cast iron goods, then bronze, including bells and cannons. Eventually, he mastered a technique to make rolled copper in a factory in Canton, Massachusetts. The Statehouse Dome was originally clad in Paul Revere copper, as was the USS Constitution after an 1803 refit. Today, the town of Canton is developing a new Paul Revere Heritage Museum on the site of the Canton Mill.

Court Martial:
[1:01:40] Coincidentally, Paul Revere’s auspiciously named grandson, Joseph Warren Revere, was himself court-martialed during the Civil War. After the disastrous Union defeat at Chancellorsville in 1863, the federal government was looking for a scapegoat. When his commanding officer was killed in an advance against Confederate lines, Brigadier General Revere ordered his men to pull back three miles in order to regroup. In Washington, Prudence could be seen as cowardice, so Revere was court-martialed. He was cleared of the charges, but resigned from the army.

Conclusion and Future Stories

Court Martial:
[1:02:16] Perhaps we’ll save that parallel story for a future episode.

Jake:
[1:02:20] To learn more about Paul Revere’s less-famous rides, and about his role in the worst American naval defeat prior to 1941, check out this week’s show notes at hubhistory.com slash 351. I’ll have all the notes that we included in the original episodes, including books to check out, primary sources that you can find online, and historic maps and images for your enjoyment. Also, right at the end of the segment about the court-martial, Nikki made a joke about saving the story of Paul Revere’s grandson’s court-martial for a future episode. Well, we did end up talking about Joseph Warren Revere’s exploits before and during the Civil War in episode 301. I’ll link to that in the show notes as well. If you’d like to get in touch with us, you can email podcast at hubhistory.com. I have profiles for Hub History on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and over on Mastodon as athubhistoryatbetter.boston. I don’t spend a whole lot of time on social media these days, but when I do, it’s pretty much exclusively on Blue Sky. That’s pretty much the only place where I post somewhat regularly and where I try to make a habit of interacting with listeners.

Jake:
[1:03:35] If you want to find me on Blue Sky, just search for athubhistory.com. If you’re also spending less time on social media than you used to, just go to hubhistory.com and click on the Contact Us link. While you’re on the site, hit the subscribe link and be sure that you never miss an episode. If you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, please consider writing us a brief review. If you do, drop me a line. I’d be happy to send you a Hub History sticker as a token of appreciation. That’s all for now. Stay safe out there, listeners.