![REVERE, Paul (1734-1818). Partly printed document signed ("Paul Revere"), Boston, 10 March 5785 [1785]. Counter-signed by M. M. Hays and Aaron Dexter. 1 page, 4to, printed in two type-faces, a 1¼ x 3¾in. paper repair, laid down. [With:] DAWES, William (1745-1799). Autograph receipt signed ("Wm. Dawes"), as quartermaster, Worcester, Mass., 9 July 1780. 1 page, oblong (3½ x 8in.), small chip at left edge catching a portion of one letter, laid down.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2013/NYR/2013_NYR_02717_0171_000(revere_paul_partly_printed_document_signed_boston_10_march_5785_1785_c051410).jpg?w=1)
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REVERE, Paul (1734-1818). Partly printed document signed ("Paul Revere"), Boston, 10 March 5785 [1785]. Counter-signed by M. M. Hays and Aaron Dexter. 1 page, 4to, printed in two type-faces, a 1¼ x 3¾in. paper repair, laid down. [With:] DAWES, William (1745-1799). Autograph receipt signed ("Wm. Dawes"), as quartermaster, Worcester, Mass., 9 July 1780. 1 page, oblong (3½ x 8in.), small chip at left edge catching a portion of one letter, laid down.
REVERE AND DAWES: THE MEN WHO RODE TOGETHER TO RAISE THE ALARM ON 18 APRIL 1775
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE DAWES AUTOGRAPH along with a Revere masonic document. Ten years after his famous ride, Paul Revere, as a Master Mason of the Boston Lodge, transmits this printed cover note to the Vermont Lodge with a report (not included) of the Boston Lodge's proceedings and asks "that after the same being communicated to your Lodge when convened, we may be honored with their doings thereon seasonably..." Revere was an active Mason from September 1760, rising eventually to Grand Master in 1794. Dawes's wartime note--from his service as quartermaster in Massachusetts--certifies that "John Smith with eight men New Hampshire recruits on their way to join Gen. Poor's Brigade have been victualed up to & including the Eleventh instant."
Mark Boatner's short entry for Dawes in the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, succinctly expresses the injustice done to him:"A fellow courier of Paul Revere, he had no Longfellow to immortalize him." Few records of him, let alone manuscripts, exist. We know he was appointed commissary for the Continental Army in Worcester in 1777, and stayed there after the war as a shopkeeper. Both Dawes and for that matter Revere were much better served by David Hackett Fischer's scholarly masterpiece, Paul Revere's Ride (1994). Fischer showed that the ride was no individual act of heroism, and still less the anti-heroic farce that many 1960s iconoclasts tried to make of it. It was the expression of a society with deeply ingrained notions of mutual obligation and responsibility.
Joseph Warren instructed Revere and Dawes to ride to Lexington to warn Hancock and Samuel Adams to flee and avoid arrest by the oncoming British troops. Rightly sensing that the British force was heading for the arms stored at Concord, the patriot leaders sent Revere, Dawes, and a third man, Samuel Prescott, to spread the alarm to the regional militias. A British patrol arrested Revere while Dawes and Prescott escaped (Dawes was thrown from his horse in the attempt and did not continue). Revere was soon released and further spread the alarm. The three managed to set as many as 40 other riders in motion, getting the militias on the road to Concord for the historic clash of 19 April 1775. DAWES'S MANUSCRIPTS ARE EXCEPTIONALLY RARE. None have appeared at auction in the last 40 years. Together 2 items. (2)
REVERE AND DAWES: THE MEN WHO RODE TOGETHER TO RAISE THE ALARM ON 18 APRIL 1775
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE DAWES AUTOGRAPH along with a Revere masonic document. Ten years after his famous ride, Paul Revere, as a Master Mason of the Boston Lodge, transmits this printed cover note to the Vermont Lodge with a report (not included) of the Boston Lodge's proceedings and asks "that after the same being communicated to your Lodge when convened, we may be honored with their doings thereon seasonably..." Revere was an active Mason from September 1760, rising eventually to Grand Master in 1794. Dawes's wartime note--from his service as quartermaster in Massachusetts--certifies that "John Smith with eight men New Hampshire recruits on their way to join Gen. Poor's Brigade have been victualed up to & including the Eleventh instant."
Mark Boatner's short entry for Dawes in the Encyclopedia of the American Revolution, succinctly expresses the injustice done to him:"A fellow courier of Paul Revere, he had no Longfellow to immortalize him." Few records of him, let alone manuscripts, exist. We know he was appointed commissary for the Continental Army in Worcester in 1777, and stayed there after the war as a shopkeeper. Both Dawes and for that matter Revere were much better served by David Hackett Fischer's scholarly masterpiece, Paul Revere's Ride (1994). Fischer showed that the ride was no individual act of heroism, and still less the anti-heroic farce that many 1960s iconoclasts tried to make of it. It was the expression of a society with deeply ingrained notions of mutual obligation and responsibility.
Joseph Warren instructed Revere and Dawes to ride to Lexington to warn Hancock and Samuel Adams to flee and avoid arrest by the oncoming British troops. Rightly sensing that the British force was heading for the arms stored at Concord, the patriot leaders sent Revere, Dawes, and a third man, Samuel Prescott, to spread the alarm to the regional militias. A British patrol arrested Revere while Dawes and Prescott escaped (Dawes was thrown from his horse in the attempt and did not continue). Revere was soon released and further spread the alarm. The three managed to set as many as 40 other riders in motion, getting the militias on the road to Concord for the historic clash of 19 April 1775. DAWES'S MANUSCRIPTS ARE EXCEPTIONALLY RARE. None have appeared at auction in the last 40 years. Together 2 items. (2)