Paul Revere's Court Martial
Paul Revere is “revered” today as an American hero for his courageous midnight ride which sparked the first battle of the Revolution. Yet in 1779, he was arrested for disobeying orders and found himself facing a court-martial.
It all started when the Massachusetts legislature ordered a combined military and naval expedition to sail north to Maine and drive out the British army occupying it. Among the officers included in this force was Lieutenant Colonel Paul Revere, who commanded the state artillery regiment.
The American flotilla sailed into Penobscot Bay on July 25, with 45 ships loaded with militia. The army landed, and after an interval of fighting, Revere and 600 other soldiers found themselves within striking distance of a small British fort. They would have attacked, but the militia commander, Solomon Lovell, and American naval commander Dudley Saltonstall quarreled over strategy. Lovell refused to attack the fort until Saltonstall had attacked the British ships in the bay to provide the soldiers on land with cover. Saltonstall refused to do this until Lovell had taken the fort. The argument dragged on for two whole weeks. Then an enormous British fleet arrived and blocked Penobscot Bay, trapping the patriot army.
The Americans wildly retreated, burning their ships to prevent capture and fleeing south into the wilderness, heading for Boston. Many men were killed or captured. The expedition had turned into one of the greatest disasters of the American Revolution, and Lovell and Saltonstall needed someone on which to blame their humongous failure. They singled out Paul Revere.
Gathering the evidence of lesser commanders as to Revere’s conduct during the battle, the two leaders brought charges of insubordination against him. Revere asked for a court martial trial in order to clear his name. By this time he had been placed under house arrest, and Dudley Saltonstall had been court- martialed himself and dismissed from the navy for his failure, though this did not help Revere.
The court martial of Paul Revere took place in 1782, more than two years after the incident. The main charges against Revere were that he had refused an order to give up the boat his men were using in order to evacuate sailors, that he had refused orders to retrieve a cannon after its crew had been destroyed, and that he had fled Penobscot Bay without orders to do so. Revere answered that the first two charges were attempts of the other officers who had quarreled with him to settle personal scores. To the third accusation, he answered that he was thinking of the safety of his men in evacuating the area.
The court weighed the evidence, considered the circumstances, and ruled that Revere was innocent on all charges. Revere’s name was restored, and he was a hero once more.
