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Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Order Number 1SS8427 The Revere furnace, 1787—1800 Emay, Renee Lynn, M.A. University of Delaware, 1989 UMI 300N.ZeebR& Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE REVERE FURNACE, 1787-1800 by Renee Lynn Emay A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Early American Culture August 1989 © 1989 Renee Lynn Emay Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE REVERE FURNACE, 1787-1800 by Renee Lynn Emay Approved:. J. Ritchie Garrison, Ph.D. Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: V* Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved:. ($. dfJUu(Z>J 1 Curtis, Ph.D. br of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture Approved:. d o Carol E. Hoffecker, Ph.D. Acting Associate Provost foi duate Studies Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.......................................................................... iv AN OVERVIEW.............................................................................................. 1 THE EARLY YEARS: 1787-1793 ..................................................................5 DEFENSE CONTRACTOR: 1794-1800 ...................................................... 20 FOUNDER, BUSINESSMAN AND ENTREPRENEUR.............................. 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................55 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES Page Fig. 1 Revere's drawing of a stove with his recipe for "Mud for thickness of Bell” above ............................................10 Fig. 2 George Fleming's drawing of a howitzer, dated 1799.............. 25 Fig. 3 Graph of ordnance production by year of contract ...................36 Fig. 4 Plan of a tumbrel cart. .............................................................. 39 Fig. 5 Copper spikes and nails .............................................................. 42 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AN OVERVIEW Paul Revere (1734-1818) has become synonymous in American folklore with exemplary workmanship and patriotic fervor. Revere’s activities in the Revolutionary War were exaggerated and transformed into legend after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published the 1864 poem, "Paul Revere's Ride," and the centennial celebration of the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1875. Although this legendary Revere is best known to most Americans, modem collectors also venerate Revere as a fine craftsman of valuable silver goods and cast bells. Few Americans associate Revere with cast stoves, ordnance and ship fittings, and even fewer know that he once operated a foundry in the North End of Boston. Constructed in 1787, Revere's foundry produced "Cast Bells and Brass Cannon of all Sizes, and all kinds of Composition Work. Manufacture Sheets, Bolts, Spikes, Nails, &c. from Malleable Copper and Cold Rolled." 1 In addition to copper and its alloys, Revere also manufactured iron goods there prior to 1794. Scholars seldom mention this period of Revere's career. Esther Forbes' Pulitzer- prize-winning book, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In (1942) makes cursory mention of Revere’s founding activities while other studies fail to examine this aspect of Revere's life at all, focusing instead on Revere as the 1This listing appears on the trade card of Paul Revere and Son, engraved ca. 1796-1803 by Thomas Clarice. A 1944 restrike of the original line engraving is in the collections o f the Paul Revere Memorial Association, Boston, Massachusetts. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2 quintessential patriot-craftsman. An investigation into Revere's furnace sheds light on Revere's activities as a businessman and the process of social, economic and technological change that transformed American life in the late 18th and early 19 th centuries. The story of Revere's foundry provides an excellent case study of early metalworking in the United States, illustrating the role of business and social networks, the importance of technological innovation and the significance of government patronage. This study begins with the construction of the furnace in 1787 and ends at 1800, as Revere's manufacturing activities shifted from foundry work to experimentation with sheet copper. In January of 1800, Revere purchased land for a copper rolling mill at Canton, Massachusetts. Beginning in 1800, the accounts and business correspondence, the principal documents used for this study, become muddled, with Revere occasionally noting "Furnace & Mills" as a single entity in the daybooks. The foundry remained in operation no later than October 9, 1804, when it was destroyed by a hurricane. The October 11,1804 edition of the Boston Gazette reported that a hurricane caused no major damage between Charlestown Bridge and North Battery Wharf "except the blowing down of Messrs Revere’s furnace, and the loss of several pleasure boats and other small craft, lumber, &c." Revere continued to manufacture ordnance at the Canton mill after the furnace was destroyed. To understand how and why Revere built an iron furnace, we must begin with Revere's interests in metalworking and military science. Bom the son of a silversmith in Boston in 1734, Revere apprenticed with his father, becoming master Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 3 of the shop after his father's death in 1754.2 Revere practiced the silversmith's trade into the 1790's, fashioning silver goods for wealthy merchants, churches and civic organizations. Two political events, the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution, interrupted Revere's work in these years and acquainted him with ordnance and military leaders. During the Revolutionary War, Revere served in the Massachusetts State's Train of Artillery, and may have learned the methods of casting cannon at the Bridgewater Fumace.3 Following the American Revolution, Revere resumed work in his silversmith shop and also operated a hardware store in Boston, importing and retailing large quantities of hardware and general merchandise. While continuing to craft silver objects on occasion, Revere turned his attention to the construction of a foundry in 1787, and relied on his son, Paul Jr., to manage the silvershop. Revere's new venture into base metals prompted an expanded interest in metallurgy. In 1791, Revere wrote to John Coaldey Lettsom. an English physician and member of the Royal Academy of Science, requesting Lettsom to procure samples of shode, stream and mine tin from Cornwall or Devon. Revere wanted these samples to compare against the tin he had received from a mine near Boston and in return, he promised to send ore samples to Lettsom since he doubted his "abilities in chemistree."4 Others also noted Revere's interest in science. Addressing Revere 2Revere was still a minor when his father died. Bis mother probably owned the shop until he reached the age of 18 in 1756. 3Esther Forbes, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1942), 321. Forbes noted