MAGA, Revolutionary War style. This time, Make America Majabigwaduce Again.
Majabigwaduce is the place where Paul Revere met his Waterloo. He failed to do his duty, the British prevailed, and he was court-martialed for his dereliction and cowardice. To add to the troubles, his behavior when he was not exonerated on all charges, presages today.
Majabigwaduce. Think "Maja-Big-Wad-uce." To the American colonial military, Majabigwaduce became a familiar place name. Paul Revere, a lieutenant colonel in the American army, was ordered to stand ready at an hour's notice nearby to attack the British then constructing a redoubt, soon to be fort, at the Majabigwaduce peninsula in Penobscot Bay, Maine. The British were known at the time to be under-armed, out-numbered, and very vulnerable.
Revere did not even try despite orders, opportunity and means. The British, resigned to surrender, were amazed.
The charge at his arrest and court-martial were damning, disobeying General Wadsworth's orders, but some matters were resolved in his favor, but leaving the essential cowardice in place.
The charge was "... unsoldierlike behavior during the whole expedition to Penobscot, which tends to cowardice." Read The Court-Martial of Paul Revere, A Son of Liberty & America's Forgotten Military Disaster, by Michael M. Greenburg, at page xvi.
Worse than this tarnishing of his modest reputation was Revere's response. He had indeed not been exonerated by the military proceedings. But he engaged in public "finger-pointing and political haranguing." And claiming conspiracies against him. Greenburg at 212. His dismissal of his critics: that he "does not stop to reason with every puppy that barks at me in the street." The critic claimed Revere had absented himself from the regiment and busying himself elsewhere with chores suitable to noncommissioned officers to avoid risk to himself in the engagement. Revere characterized the critic as envious, disappointed and malicious, engaging in abominable falsehoods without the colour of evidence, and so on. Critics responded with accusations of scurrilous language.
Step back.
1. The Big Wad. Majabigwaduce (Ma-ja-BIG-WAD-uce?) is the Native American name for a strategically located peninsula at Penobscot Bay, Maine. The English name was Fort George.
Paul Revere's tarnished reputation was only rehabilitated when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the memorable poem of the 17755 ride in the Lexington MA area, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
2. The matters of military mediocrity preceding that ride (there were other rides, see site https://benfranklinsworld.com/episode-130-paul-reveres-ride-history/) remain only as hints in the bucket of spin. Click on the site and participate in the site's presentation. Surely we and our children can better handle areas of gray in a person's life.
3. Career: Paul Revere was an entrepreneur and silversmith who served as a second lieutenant in the French and Indian War in 1756,. He was in financial straits and the French were threats, see https://historyofmassachusetts.org/paul-revere-french-and-indian-war/
Apparently there were few openings in that experience for heroism, sand no claim made of avoidance." However, the account is not glowing: He returned to Boston in November 1756 with neither laurels on his brow now war stories that would entertain future grandchildren…” See site. Yet he did serve. That site quotes another source, stated as the book "Paul Revere: A True Republican," [by Jayne E. Triber, but it is entitled A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere].
4. The Order that was disobeyed: In 1797, Paul Revere was a Lieutenant Colonel. He had command of a Castle Island artillery train. and was ordered by General Wadsworth to "hold himself and 100 men under his command in readiness at an hour's notice to defend this State and attack the enemy at Penobscot under the command of General Lovell and return. Greenburg's book at xv.
5. Cowardice, dereliction of duty. Revere failed and refused to do so. He refused to assist, avoided exposure to danger, and left the area without direct orders to do so. Greenburg at 210.
Others who were court-martialed in the same expedition were acquitted. Not so for Revere. He, however, then claimed tfull exoneration. Matter closed, he claimed.
6. Retribution against detractors. But then he began his letter-writing, "bellicose" and "tedious and irate" and with "characteristic fury" communications wars with his detractors. Revere presented himself as victimized and abused and "lambasted" his attackers, and with scolding and "vitriolic intransigence," see Greenburg at 210-211 ff. He refused to let others have a last word, and espoused conspiracies Greenburg at 213.
7. Revere's character has been variously described: To some, a straightforward conceited and resistant to command. The dereliction of duty is laid out in detail as charged, however. The court martial process itself was then, and is now, a thorough one but different for military than civilian courts. See https://www.jordanucmjlaw.com/2020/06/understanding-the-court-martial-process/
8. The reading "public" at the time expressed other views. See a letter in the Boston Gazette, which reverted to verse: With thanks again to Greenburg for this. snippet at page 213, as to Paul Revere:
Miscellany:
a. Paul Revere's father was a French immigrant, Apollos Rivoire. He changed he family name to the English "Revere."
b. Paul Revere never completed his Lexington ride. He was captured. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/paul-revere-6745.php
c. Paul Revere failed in his ride., but a sixteen year old girl, Sybil Ludington rode all night, some 60 miles, not just 10 miles or so, and without capture, to warn of the British in New York. See https://revolutionary-war.net/sybil-ludington/.
Cancel out the Paul Revere culture? No, but balance it with the truth.
Majabigwaduce is the place where Paul Revere met his Waterloo. He failed to do his duty, the British prevailed, and he was court-martialed for his dereliction and cowardice. To add to the troubles, his behavior when he was not exonerated on all charges, presages today.
Majabigwaduce. Think "Maja-Big-Wad-uce." To the American colonial military, Majabigwaduce became a familiar place name. Paul Revere, a lieutenant colonel in the American army, was ordered to stand ready at an hour's notice nearby to attack the British then constructing a redoubt, soon to be fort, at the Majabigwaduce peninsula in Penobscot Bay, Maine. The British were known at the time to be under-armed, out-numbered, and very vulnerable.
Revere did not even try despite orders, opportunity and means. The British, resigned to surrender, were amazed.
Paul Revere refused orders to be ready, assist and take the British fort being constructed at Majabigwaduce, a peninsula in Penobscot Bay, Maine. He was court-martialed for cowardice. Not exonerated.The charge was "... unsoldierlike behavior during the whole expedition to Penobscot, which tends to cowardice." Read The Court-Martial of Paul Revere, A Son of Liberty & America's Forgotten Military Disaster, by Michael M. Greenburg, at page xvi.
Worse than this tarnishing of his modest reputation was Revere's response. He had indeed not been exonerated by the military proceedings. But he engaged in public "finger-pointing and political haranguing." And claiming conspiracies against him. Greenburg at 212. His dismissal of his critics: that he "does not stop to reason with every puppy that barks at me in the street." The critic claimed Revere had absented himself from the regiment and busying himself elsewhere with chores suitable to noncommissioned officers to avoid risk to himself in the engagement. Revere characterized the critic as envious, disappointed and malicious, engaging in abominable falsehoods without the colour of evidence, and so on. Critics responded with accusations of scurrilous language.
Step back.
1. The Big Wad. Majabigwaduce (Ma-ja-BIG-WAD-uce?) is the Native American name for a strategically located peninsula at Penobscot Bay, Maine. The English name was Fort George.
Paul Revere's tarnished reputation was only rehabilitated when Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the memorable poem of the 17755 ride in the Lexington MA area, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
2. The matters of military mediocrity preceding that ride (there were other rides, see site https://benfranklinsworld.com/episode-130-paul-reveres-ride-history/) remain only as hints in the bucket of spin. Click on the site and participate in the site's presentation. Surely we and our children can better handle areas of gray in a person's life.
3. Career: Paul Revere was an entrepreneur and silversmith who served as a second lieutenant in the French and Indian War in 1756,. He was in financial straits and the French were threats, see https://historyofmassachusetts.org/paul-revere-french-and-indian-war/
Apparently there were few openings in that experience for heroism, sand no claim made of avoidance." However, the account is not glowing: He returned to Boston in November 1756 with neither laurels on his brow now war stories that would entertain future grandchildren…” See site. Yet he did serve. That site quotes another source, stated as the book "Paul Revere: A True Republican," [by Jayne E. Triber, but it is entitled A True Republican: The Life of Paul Revere].
4. The Order that was disobeyed: In 1797, Paul Revere was a Lieutenant Colonel. He had command of a Castle Island artillery train. and was ordered by General Wadsworth to "hold himself and 100 men under his command in readiness at an hour's notice to defend this State and attack the enemy at Penobscot under the command of General Lovell and return. Greenburg's book at xv.
5. Cowardice, dereliction of duty. Revere failed and refused to do so. He refused to assist, avoided exposure to danger, and left the area without direct orders to do so. Greenburg at 210.
Others who were court-martialed in the same expedition were acquitted. Not so for Revere. He, however, then claimed tfull exoneration. Matter closed, he claimed.
6. Retribution against detractors. But then he began his letter-writing, "bellicose" and "tedious and irate" and with "characteristic fury" communications wars with his detractors. Revere presented himself as victimized and abused and "lambasted" his attackers, and with scolding and "vitriolic intransigence," see Greenburg at 210-211 ff. He refused to let others have a last word, and espoused conspiracies Greenburg at 213.
7. Revere's character has been variously described: To some, a straightforward conceited and resistant to command. The dereliction of duty is laid out in detail as charged, however. The court martial process itself was then, and is now, a thorough one but different for military than civilian courts. See https://www.jordanucmjlaw.com/2020/06/understanding-the-court-martial-process/
8. The reading "public" at the time expressed other views. See a letter in the Boston Gazette, which reverted to verse: With thanks again to Greenburg for this. snippet at page 213, as to Paul Revere:
If his deeds would but shine, as he wishes to tell,It would please us to read,
9. Anecdote by a guide. Factual? In going through the Revere House in Boston some time ago, we were told that his widowed sister (he had 11 siblings) lived in a poor dwelling next door, in ongoing poverty, unaided by Revere, who then put her out. This was an embarrassment to his reputation in modern times, so the poor little house was torn down and a tourist spot substituted. Someone find that information to corroborate. His character apparently precluded sharing.but we know the man well.
Miscellany:
a. Paul Revere's father was a French immigrant, Apollos Rivoire. He changed he family name to the English "Revere."
b. Paul Revere never completed his Lexington ride. He was captured. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/paul-revere-6745.php
c. Paul Revere failed in his ride., but a sixteen year old girl, Sybil Ludington rode all night, some 60 miles, not just 10 miles or so, and without capture, to warn of the British in New York. See https://revolutionary-war.net/sybil-ludington/.
Cancel out the Paul Revere culture? No, but balance it with the truth.
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