Massachusetts

Behind the legend of Paul Revere the heroic midnight rider lies a deeper and more complicated man—one who, like many in the Revolutionary era, clashed with his peers. Paul Revere’s feud with William Burbeck, a fellow Boston artisan and military officer, was one such conflict overshadowed by his famous ride.

Who Was William Burbeck?

William Burbeck, an experienced artilleryman and craftsman, had a long career in Boston’s military circles. He became a prominent figure in Massachusetts’ artillery defenses during the mid-1700s.

He served in Boston’s local militia, eventually rising to the rank of captain in the artillery regiment.

By the time the Revolutionary War broke out, Burbeck had earned respect as an elder statesman of Boston’s artillery forces. He had served for years under the British colonial government. But he supported the patriot cause when tensions rose in the 1770s.

A cannon captured from the British at Yorktown during the American Revolution

Paul Revere’s Feud

In September 1760, 25-year-old Paul Revere took an important step in his life when he joined the local Masonic Lodge of St. Andrew in Boston. A Freemason lodge, the Grand Lodge of Scotland originally chartered it in 1756.

Revere served as an officer in the lodge and attended meetings religiously. He met patriot activists such as Joseph Warren, James Otis, and John Hancock at the lodge. Soon he got involved with the activities of the American Revolution.

George Washington was also a Mason. This print from 1870 portrays him as Master of his Lodge.

Yet, at that same lodge Revere also met his future rival, fellow artisan William Burbeck. He began a feud with Burbeck that would later haunt him and damage his military career.

The rivalry began on March 5, 1773, when Revere voted to kick Burbeck out of the lodge for refusing to hand over the lodge charter.

Burbeck had served as the first master under the charter. Though his term had ended years earlier in 1767, he defied tradition and refused to hand the charter over to the next master of the lodge.

Burbeck may have felt it was his right to hold onto the charter, the only one in existence in the United States issued by the Grand Lodge of Scotland. He may have reasoned he was the only one remaining of those to whom it was granted.

Emblem of the Grand Lodge of Scotland

Yet, some historians speculate that Burbeck, the son of an Englishman, did so because he feared that Revere, the son of a Frenchman, and possibly others in the lodge harbored anti-British sentiment. He may have thought they would use their power in the lodge to break with the Grand Lodge of Scotland and any other British association.

Burbeck Suspended

On April 22, 1773, the lodge once again demanded the charter from Burbeck during a special meeting. Burbeck again refused to comply. The lodge then requested a dispensation from the Grand Lodge to allow it to continue to operate until a copy of the charter arrived from Scotland.

Upon receiving the dispensation on May 13, 1773, the Lodge of St. Andrew suspended Burbeck “until he gives satisfactory reason for detaining the Charter.”

Revere played a central role in this charter dispute. He took charge of the efforts to retrieve it and actively communicating with the lodge members. He warned them of the potential consequences if Burbeck continued to defy the lodge’s authority.

Revere understood that without the charter, the lodge’s legitimacy and operations were at risk. So, he repeatedly emphasized the seriousness of the situation and urged swift action to resolve the conflict.

As a result, on February 10, 1774, a committee was appointed to weigh in on Burbeck’s conduct. It reviewed whether Burbeck was acting within Masonic protocol regarding the charter and if his conduct was damaging or disruptive to the lodge’s governance. The committee also determined what action, if any, should be taken to resolve the dispute and restore unity.

On Jan.y 24, 1775, the lodge offered a compromise. Members voted to reconsider Burbeck’s suspension if he at least presented the charter and laid it on the table each night during their meetings. This was not just a procedural olive branch. It was a calculated move to restore ritual propriety while still limiting Burbeck’s influence.

War Breaks Out

The dispute between Revere and Burbeck ultimately spilled over into other aspects of their lives as well.

A Continental Army artillery unit.

After the Revolutionary War broke out, Burbeck won an appointment as lieutenant colonel in Col. Richard Gridley’s Massachusetts Regiment of Artillery on May 19, 1775. Burbeck reportedly used his new position to block any military promotions Revere tried to obtain.

When Revere tried to secure a military commission as an artillery officer in the Massachusetts Artillery, Gridley refused. Revere soon discovered that the only other person in a position to help him was, unfortunately, William Burbeck.

Not surprisingly, Revere never received that commission. He did, however, have a brief military career as an officer in the Massachusetts Militia. It ended with the failed Penobscot Expedition in 1779, a massive campaign to drive the British from their fortifications in Castine, Maine.

British ships defending against the Penobscot Expedition

During the failed siege, Revere allegedly disobeyed orders. Back in Boston, he faced charges of insubordination and cowardice. Officials then  placed him under house arrest for a few days. He was also ordered to resign his command of the fortifications at Castle Island, which protected Boston Harbor.

Paul Revere’s Feud Drags On

Revere fought ferociously to restore his honor. He wrote a letter to Gen. William Heath on Oct. 24, 1779. In it, he complained that many of his fellow patriots, including his old rival William Burbeck, conspired against him. He wrote that they pressured a marine officer named Carnes to accuse him of misconduct.

The fort at Castle Island shortly after the American Revolution

There was one Carnes, who was officer of marines, was persuaded to enter a complaint to Council against me, and they arrested me. After I got home, I awaited on Council; I gave them an account of the expedition. They ordered me to take the command of the Castle again (for during my absence, the command was given to Col. Crafts).

Revere complained his enemies had a long-held scheme to remove him from Castle Island.

But the plan was too deep laid for me to stay there long. General [John] Hancock was appointed one of a committee to fortify the Castle, about the time I was order’d to Penobscot. He went to the Castle the next week after I was gone. He found fault with every thing there, Col. Burbeck urged him on, when he went to Boston he told in all companys that none but Col. Revere would have left the Castle in such a situation…

A Conspiracy Theory

Revere also told Heath that Ned Greene had spread false rumors that the troops refused to serve under him.

Ned Greene was employed by the Committee as a sort of secretary, and he to git me from the Castle propagated that the men would not go to work there, if I staid, so he perswaded this Carnes to enter a complaint against me (this Carnes said upon oath). The Council arrested me on Monday, and ordered me to my house in Boston, and on Wednesday took the arrest off and ordered me to attend the Committee of Enquirey (They gave the command to Capt. Cushing for the time being, since which Gen Handcock [sic] is appointed Captain of the Castle, and Col Burbeck Capt Lieu of the Castle, &)…

John Singleton Copley painted this portrait of John Hancock around 1771.

Revere demanded a court martial to clear his name. Eventually his case went to trial in 1782. The military tribunal acquitted him of cowardice and insubordination, but issued a  light reprimand for “unsoldierly behavior.” The debacle ended his hopes of a military career.

Burbeck, meanwhile, continued to serve in various military and civic roles. He retained the respect of Boston’s older military establishment, earning an appointment as colonel of the Massachusetts artillery (which he turned down). He also received high praise from Gen. George Washington, commander of the Continental Army.

On Nov. 10, 1784, the long-drawn-out charter debacle finally came to an end. William Burbeck handed over the charter while on his deathbed.

Legacy of Paul Revere’s Feud

Today, Paul Revere’s feud with William Burbeck is a footnote in Revolutionary War history. But it reflects larger tensions within the American struggle for independence, between old and new, tradition and innovation, experience and ambition.

Their conflict tells us that even among the heroes of the Revolution, ego, politics and personal rivalry played a very real part in shaping history.

The author, Rebecca Brooks, is a direct descendant of William Burbeck. She is a journalist, history writer and publisher of the History of Massachusetts Blog.

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Learn more Revolutionary history in this complete guide to Revolutionary War Sites in New England. Brought to you by the New England Historical Society. Click here to order your copy in paperback, here to order an ebook.
 

Images: Revolutionary cannon By Jennifer Morrow from San Francisco – Chatham Artillery’s Washington Guns, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93733738. Grand Lodge of Scotland emblem By The logo may be obtained from Grand Lodge of Scotland., Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5588043,

The date April 19, 1775 has been etched in the New England mind since it happened.

The storied events of the day started on April 18, 1775, around 9:30 p.m., when Paul Revere rode from Boston to Lexington, Mass., to warn John Hancock and Sam Adams the British were on their way to arrest them. He supposedly shouted “The British are coming,” only he didn’t, because he was British himself. Redcoats marched to Lexington, where patriot minute men lined up on the green. Someone fired a shot, setting off the American Revolution.

Then the redcoats marched to Concord, Mass., where they fought more patriots at Old North Bridge. The Lexington Alarm went out, and militia from neighboring towns shot up the retreating redcoats from behind stone walls.

Sort of.

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood

1. Paul Revere’s ride wasn’t that big a deal.

His obituary didn’t even mention it. The death notice featured his subsequent success as a businessman with many friends. The ride didn’t become famous until Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem about it many years later.

Revere, of course, had a lot of help. Not just Billy Dawes or Samuel Prescott, either. Approximately 40 riders set out that night to warn that “the regulars are out!”

The battle at the Old North Bridge in Concord

2. Concord and Lexington.

The question, “Where was the shot heard round the world fired?” surfaced in 1824. Then the Marquis de Lafayette visited all 24 states to celebrate the 50th anniversary of independence. When he arrived in Lexington, people told him he’d reached the “birthplace of American liberty.” But then he went to Concord, where people told him the patriots made the “first forcible resistance” there.

That infuriated Lexington, having been deprived of “the honour of having raised the first standard of an armed opposition to the unjust and tyrannical measures of the mother country.”

So in 1825, the Lexington Town Meeting appointed a committee to publish a statement of facts about the April 19, 1775 affair, “as may be supported by undoubted testimony.”

From that testimony, Elias Phinney compiled a book. In it, he explained the confusion. Shortly after the battles, British Gen. Thomas Gage claimed the patriots fired the first shot. To refute that claim, witnesses in Lexington said the patriots hadn’t even fired.

But in the opening days of the war, Phinney wrote, no one wanted to admit that Lexington patriots had shot at British regulars. The outcome of the war was then far from certain, and militiamen identified as shooters could wind up on the gallows.

The argument went on for years. President Ulysses S. Grant in 1875 considered not showing up to the centennial celebration of April 19, 1775 because of the animosity between the two towns.

In 1894, Lexington petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature to proclaim April 19 as “Lexington Day.” Concord countered with a petition to call it “Concord Day.” Gov. Frederic T. Greenhalge came up with a compromise to honor the shot heard round the world: Patriots’ Day.

The Minute Man

3. The “Shot Heard Round the World” wasn’t uttered until 1837.

The anonymous first shot fired in anger or fear on April 19, 1775 may be best described as the shot heard round the world, but no one described it as such for more than 60 years after it was fired.
A poet came up with that graceful turn of phrase.
In the days after the hostilities broke out in Massachusetts, the incident was just another dustup between a group of uppity Americans and the British soldiers tasked with keeping order in the North American colonies. Then, as the scale of the hostilities became more apparent, the skirmishes of Lexington and Concord were eclipsed by pitched battles that stretched from Boston and Saratoga to Trenton and Yorktown.

The news account of the Battle of Lexington and Concord reprinted in newspapers around the colonies was prosaic and perfunctory: A general battle ensued which, from what we can learn, was supported with great Spirit on both sides, and continued until the King’s Troops reversed to Charlestown, which was after sunset. Numbers are kill’d and wounded on both Sides.

The reports concerning this unhappy affair and the causes that concurred to bring on an engagement, are so various that we are not able to collect anything confident or regular, and cannot therefore with certainty give our readers any further account of this shocking introduction to all the miseries of a civil war.

The poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson considered the enormity of the day’s events. His grandfather had watched the fight at Old North Bridge from a second-story window at The Old Manse. His grandson lived in the house. That may be why he gave the world the phrase, “the shot heard round the world,” part of “The Concord Hymn.” A chorus sung the words at the official unveiling of a The Minute Man statue by Daniel Chester French on July 4, 1837 (President Grant did come after all). It was set to the tune of “The Old Hundred,” a French melody dating to the 1500s.

Emerson clearly sided with Concord as the birthplace of the American Revolution.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The British Entering Concord, by Amos Doolittle

4. The Weaponry Was So Lousy It’s Amazing Anyone Got Shot.

Some rudimentary math shows the unreliability of 18th century guns. The patriots, all told, started out with 77 men in Lexington and 400 in Concord. Then, when the Lexington Alarm sounded, their numbers swelled to 3,763, give or take. The British began with 700 regulars, but reinforcements brought their strength to 1,500.

Add in casualties: 49 patriots killed, 39 injured and five missing. The British suffered far worse casualties, mostly on the retreat: 73 killed, 174 wounded, 53 missing.

Historian Harry Schenawolf estimates the average patriot warrior fired off 18 rounds. That means, he wrote, that about 75,000 bullets were fired (making the battlefield a good spot for a metal detector). “Though weapons were fired at extremely close range, only one in fifteen patriots even nicked the shoulder of a redcoat,” wrote Schenawolf.

Jeremiah Lee, caught cold in a cornfield

5. Not all the deaths were caused by bullets.

Jeremiah Lee was one of the great lost leaders of the American Revolution. Lee, a Marblehead, Mass., shipping merchant, accumulated an enormous fortune. He owned a warehouse and wharf, a fleet of trading ships and fishing vessels, and he employed a great many sailors and tradesmen.

Lee believed British rule would soon ruin him and his fellow Marblehead merchants. So, he became a representative to the rebel Congress and began preparing for war. He imported cannons, powder and shot from Europe, and he established connections in Maryland and Virginia to buy war materiel. Lee also raised an interracial regiment of mariners and fishermen, and he would have led it had he lived. Instead, Col. John Glover took charge, and the Marbleheaders famously ferried Washington across the Delaware on Christmas Eve, 1776.

On the night of April 18, 1775, Lee met with his neighbor Elbridge Gerry, Sam Adams and John Hancock in Lexington. The men were plotting against the British. When Paul Revere warned the regulars were comng to arrest them (they weren’t), the men hid in a field overnight. New England weather being what it is, Lee developed pneumonia and died soon afterward – an early victim of the war.

Reenactors on the march to Lexington to commemorate the shot heard round the world.

6. The U.S. Army Got Started at David Brown’s Farm.

Officially, the Army recognizes June 14, 1775 as its birthday. The Continental Congress that day authorized one-year enlistments of riflemen to form the Continental Army.

However, just west of the Old North Bridge, minute men and militia gathered at David Brown’s farm.  Together, in combat formation, they marched under orders toward the battle at the bridge. Today, the Stars and Stripes flies over what is now called the Muster Field. As an FYI, Minute men were highly mobile volunteers who trained more frequently; militia men were required by law to serve.

7. The Real Battle Took Place in Menotomy.

After the little skirmishes in Concord and Lexington, thousands of men from Eastern Massachusetts flocked to Menotomy, now Arlington. From behind trees and stone walls they shot at British troops. That battle resulted in 25 patriots and 40 British captured. Historian A. Michael Ruderman called Lexington an “accident,” Concord Bridge a “skirmish,” but Menotomy the “most brutal and deadly warfare of April 19, 1775.”

It took 230 years for Massachusetts to acknowledge one of the heroes of that battle–the oldest, bravest and craziest revolutionary.

Samuel Whittemore left his field in Menotomy, gathered his old weapons and positioned himself behind his stonewall.

When the regiment passed by, 78-year-old Samuel Whittemore stood and shot point-blank at a British regular with his musket. Then he took out his dueling pistols and shot two more soldiers to death.

The old farmer then grabbed his ornamental sword to fend off the British soldiers who swarmed over him. It didn’t go so well. The British shot him in the cheek, bayoneted him and beat him with the butts of their rifles.

When his family found him, they thought he was dead. But a doctor patched up Samuel Whittemore and he lived for another 18 years.

The Massachusetts Legislature declared him the official state hero in 2005.

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Learn more Revolutionary history in this complete guide to Revolutionary War Sites in New England. Brought to you by the New England Historical Society. Click here to order your copy in paperback, here to order an ebook.

Images: Reenactors By Jrcovert – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19639046. Minute_Man_Statue_Lexington_Massachusetts.jpg: w:User:Daderot derivative work: Hohum (talk) – Minute_Man_Statue_Lexington_Massachusetts.jpg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9425447.