American patriot and metalsmith (1735–1818) whose 1775 “Midnight Ride” to warn of an impending British invasion later became one of the most celebrated incidents of the Revolutionary War. ADS, signed in the text, “Paul Revere & Son,” one page, 7 x 1.75, August 25, 1803. Handwritten signed receipt to the United States Navy for a brass sea mortar. Revere writes, “United States Navy Department, Dr to Paul Revere & Son, to a Brass 10 Inch Sea Mortar” at $45 per pound for “$978.75.” Docketing on reverse, in an unknown hand, reveals the “ordnance,’ was for the Brig Argus, and was paid on August 31. In fine condition, with some mild toning, a couple light vertical folds, and small mounting remnant to reverse.
In 1784, Congress had allocated money for payment of tribute to the Barbary pirates to assure they would not attack American ships in the Mediterranean, and instructed her British and French ministers (John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, respectively) to look for opportunities to negotiate peace treaties with the Barbary nations. When Jefferson became president in 1801, the Pasha of Tripoli demanded money from the new administration. Jefferson, who had opposed previous tribute to the pirates, refused the demand. In May 1801, the Pasha declared war on the United States and the President sent a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean.
The Brig Argus was launched in Boston on August 21, 1803. With Paul Revere’s mortar installed, she set sail on September 8 with Lt. Stephen Decatur in command. Arriving at Gibraltar on November 1, Decatur relinquished command to Lt. Isaac Hull. In March 1804, the Argus received orders to join the rest of the squadron off Tripoli in blockading the port. The Argus later docked at Alexandria, Egypt. In early 1805, Gen. William Eaton, former U.S. Consul at Tunis, began organizing an attack on Tripoli. Under the command of Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon (who was serving on the Argus), Eaton, eight U.S. Marines, and about 500 Arab, Greek, and Berber mercenaries he had recruited in Alexandria with Hull’s help, marched over 600 miles west across the Sahara to attack the Tripolitan coastal city of Derna (now Libya). The force finally reached the port city of Bomba on April 35, 1805, where the Argus, Nautilus, and Hornet were docked. At Bomba, up the coast from Derna, Hull provided Eaton and his force with supplies and money to pay the mercenaries. On April 27, 1805, Hull's ships, anchored just a half-mile east of the Derna fortifications, opened fire and bombed the city’s batteries for about an hour as the Tripolitans returned fire.
By 2:45 P.M., gunfire from Argus and Nautilus had silenced all of the guns in the city. Lt. O'Bannon then led his Marines in a charge. The Tripolitan defenders fled in such haste, that they left their cannon loaded and ready to fire. O'Bannon raised the U. S. flag over the works as Eaton turned the captured batteries on the city and opened fire. By 4 P.M., the entire city had fallen. The Battle of Derna was the first recorded land battle of the United States on foreign soil and was the first time the American flag flew over a fortification in the Eastern Hemisphere. Derna’s capture by the Marines, with crucial support from Paul Revere’s 10 inch sea mortar firing on the city from Argus, is immortalized in the “Marine’s Hymn” in its opening verse: “…to the shores of Tripoli.” Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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