- 29
(Revere, Paul)
Description
Condition
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
Paul Revere accepts command of the Massachusetts Artillery Regiment. In the summer of 1776, the theater of the American Revolution shifted from Boston to New York, and responsibility for the defense and safety of Boston devolved on the two leading officers of the Massachusetts Artillery Regiment: Colonel Thomas Crafts (who had read the Declaration of Independence to a public assembly when a Dunlap broadside arrived in Boston) and Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere. The militia men under their command, however, chafed at the lack of action, as well as the lower pay scale that they received, compared with Continental Army Regulars. Revere and Crafts sought to remedy the latter situation through their congressional representatives Samuel Adams and John Adams, but were rebuffed.
Like his men, Revere longed for the opportunity to engage the enemy on the field, but through the beginning of 1778, he had seen no action. As a recent biographer has commented, "The cost of patriotism and virtue for Paul Revere and the officers and men of Colonel Crafts's regiment was thus far a high one. They had yet to earn any laurels for their performance in battle, and they were continually reminded of their inferior status compared to Continental troops when they received insufficient clothing allowances and wages" (Triber, A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere, 1998, p. 131). Indeed, by October 1778, a number of officers had resigned their Massachsetts militia commissions because they could not live on their wages and many enlisted men had simply deserted.
Conditions continued to deteriorate for the Regiment until on 26 February 1779, Colonel Crafts organized a petition of grievances, coupled with resignations, signed by himself and many fellow officers. One of just four officers who did not sign the petition was the patriotic Revere, as evidenced by the present official dispatch to General Horatio Gates:
"The Officers belonging to Col.o Crafts Regiment who have not resigned their Commissions are as follows viz
"Lieut Col.o Paul Revere
"Lieut Waites
"Lieut Nicholas
"Lieut Gescard."
As the highest ranking remaining officer, Revere was offered the command of the reorganized militia regiment, which he accepted. By then, Revere seemed to have abandoned his earlier hopes of military glories and to have taken the post out of a sincere sense of duty. But unhappy rivals charged that Revere took the post simply to satisfy his personal ambition. As he later wrote, "Because I accepted the command ... and did all in my power, to hinder the men from deserting; And because I would not give up my Commission, in the same way the other officers did, some of them propagated, every falsehood, Malice could invent in an underhanded way" (quoted in Triber, p. 134).