Episode Details

Paul Revere is remembered for one night — and that night did not happen the way Longfellow's poem described it. The real Revere was not primarily a horseback messenger but a master silversmith, a pioneer of copper rolling technology, a spymaster who ran Boston's principal intelligence network, and an industrialist whose copper sheeted the hull of the USS Constitution. The midnight ride was the least interesting thing about him.

This episode recovers the full Revere from the poem's shadow, tracing his career as craftsman, spy, industrial innovator, and the man whose copper literally held the young nation's warships together.

• Revere's silversmithing career and his role as Boston's most connected artisan-patriot
• The intelligence network he ran and the real story of the midnight ride versus Longfellow's myth
• His pioneering copper rolling mill and the industrial innovations that followed the Revolution
• The copper sheathing of the USS Constitution and Revere's legacy as America's first industrialist