Paul Revere

The iconic statue that almost wasn't

adamg — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 18:35:26 +0000

Dallin in his later years with a model of his statue. From the BPL's Art and Artifacts photo collection.

It'd be hard to imagine the space between Hanover Street and Old North Church without Paul Revere warning the colonists the Redcoats were coming, right?

And yet, it almost wasn't there at all.

Deconstructing Palin's deconstruction of her initial comments on Paul Revere

adamg — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:51:55 +0000

Bottom line, J.L. Bell writes: She doesn't know what she's talking about.

"You are not going to beat our own well-armed persons, individual, private militia that we have."

Here Palin showed her true colors, badly misstating history as she blew a dog whistle to America's far right. The colonial militia was not an "individual, private militia." It was an arm of the government, and of society. Militia service was required and regulated by law, and militia units were organized on a provincial, county, and town basis.

Capt. John Parker was not in an "individual, private militia." Timothy McVeigh was. It's an important distinction.

Palinistas can't leave Revere alone

adamg — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 11:02:50 +0000

Seems they're now fighting a war with Wikipedia over the encyclopedia's article on Paul Revere (scroll down this attempted revision).

The Wikipedians are getting a bit fed up.

J.L. Bell, who knows something about revolutionary Boston, chimes in with a deconstruction of Palin's remarks at Old North Church:

It sounds like Palin got an accurate description of Revere, the Lexington alarm, and his adolescent bell-ringing at Old North Church during her travels, but that history got garbled in her attempt to spin it into modern right-wing talking points ("Put the government on warning!" "We need our arms!"). The result was her typical stew of folksy phrases without logical or grammatical connections.

Digital Journal link via the Outraged Liberal. See the full Revere Facepalm on Boing Boing.

Paul Revere: Patriot, silversmith, editorial cartoonist

adamg — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:18:14 +0000

J.L. Bell highlights Revere's sarcastic stylings.

Paul Revere the Shephard Fairey of his day?

adamg — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 15:03:00 +0000

J.L. Bell lays out the evidence that Revere's famous engraving of the Boston Massacre was actually based on the work of another artist.

One if by land ...

adamg — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:53:23 +0000

Faegirl spots the modern-day Paul Revere after he rowed across the Harbor to Charlestown.

Media blows it on Paul Revere

adamg — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:35:46 +0000

You may have seen the stories (Globe, WBZ) about the deployment to Iraq of a certain Massachusetts Army unit that dates to before the Revolution and that was commanded by Paul Revere at the battles of Lexington and Concord back in the day.

J.L. Bell agrees it dates back to pre-Revolution days, but writes what any school kid (but not, apparently, local editors) should know: Revere

didn't lead any troops on Lexington Green. He was busy moving a trunk of papers that John Hancock had left behind. Revere never reached Concord at all that night. And he held no military rank or command in April 1775. ...