Letter shows Revere’s sharp business sense

“He was more than just a patriot,’’ said Wayne Butler, chairman of the Marblehead Historical Commission, which last week found the nearly 222-year-old note in the town hall vault. “He was a good businessman, trying to make his business grow.’’

In the letter dated Nov. 15, 1787, Revere requests permission to buy some used cannons, but for smelting, not firing at enemies of the new country.

“When I was last at Marblehead, I took notice that there were a great many old cannon at different places, which appeared to me, to be good for nothing but the old iron,’’ Revere wrote to Jonathan Glover, a town official and brother of Revolutionary War General John Glover. “As I am in want of iron, for the furnace which I have built in Boston, I should be glad to purchase them.’’

Patrick Leehey, a Revere scholar and research director at the Paul Revere House in North Square, said the author sounds like the legendary Bostonian: “Real typical Revere. . . . He always had an eye out for his own advantage.’’

In the letter, Revere attempts to get around another interested party for the cannons and asks the town to take action to sell them to him.

“Upon inquiry, I found that they mostly belonged to your town; I am informed that a person who had seen them, supposed that they belong to the State, he has petitioned the Governor and Council to sell them to him,’’ wrote Revere, requesting the town’s permission to buy the cannons. “If you will be good enough, when your Town is to be call’d together, to git an Article inserted in the Warrant, for that purpose, you will oblige.’’

Leehey said Revere was scouring the state for scrap metal at the time of the letter, in preparation for an iron foundry he was starting in the North End.

“To me, it’s like he’s looking ahead. [Revere] happened to be there and he has a sharp eye for stuff,’’ Leehey said. “He knew he was setting up a foundry and thinking, ‘Hmmm, that’d be a good source of scrap iron.’ ’’

Without many mines in the country yet, and shipping metal from Europe too expensive, Leehey said Revere was making a shrewd business move.

Jayne Triber, a Revere biographer, said the message represents a turning point for the country and Revere.

“It shows Revere entering a new phase in his life,’’ she said. “He’s got that entrepreneurial spirit, and at this point in the country - the Constitution hasn’t been passed yet, there’s pent up economic energy, people looking for new opportunities - he’s right in the middle of it all.’’

Triber said several months after the letter’s date, Revere opened his North End foundry. It became hugely successful.

The 6-by-7-inch note also supports Revere’s status as a working man, Triber said, unlike many of the Founding Fathers.

“He knew John Hancock and John Adams, but he did not socialize with them. Revere was not a statesman,’’ she said. “He’s a guy who works with his hands for a living - he ain’t going to be having dinner with John Hancock.’’

And as he closes the letter, Revere displays his working-class modesty:

“Sir your most humble servant,

Paul Revere’’