Paul Revere Didn’t Ride Free, His Expense Account Reveals

Paul Revere asked the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pony up 5 shillings a day to compensate for his several weeks in the saddle working to enlist recruits to fight the British.

The provisional Massachusetts government agreed to pay 4 shillings instead after such patriots as Sam Adams, John Adams and James Otis signed off on Revere’s expense account, according to documents in the state archives.

In the document, a yellowed half-slip of paper, Revere billed the commonwealth for the period from April 21, 1775, to May 7, 1775, a span that began three days after his fabled midnight journey.

Five shillings a day would be a normal working man’s salary, said Patrick Leehey, research director at the Paul Revere House.

“Even a Revolutionary horse needs to be fed, not to mention Paul Revere himself,” said Secretary of State William Galvin.

Brandeis professor David Hackett Fischer, author of “Paul Revere’s Ride,” said Revere struggled to keep his silversmith business afloat and children fed while devoting time to the American Revolution.

“There was a feeling that the entire community should share in the costs of these endeavors,” Fischer told the Boston Globe.

During the period covered by the document, Revere probably was spending his time riding from town to town to raise a Revolutionary army by carrying a letter calling for enlistment, Fischer said.