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And what did he have to do with the American Revolution?

"The Centenarian" Despite its title, George Robert Twelve Hewes was ninety-three when Joseph G. Cole painted this portrait in 1835. Based on Hewes's clothes and demeanor, viewers of the painting probably did not know about his artisanal background or that he was destitute.
Source: Bostonian Society, Old State House, Boston

On the eve of the American Revolution, George Robert Twelves Hewes was a poor Boston shoemaker who had been swept up by the fight for American Independence. In 1770 Hewes witnessed the bloody Boston Massacre; three years later he took part in the Boston Tea Party. During the Revolutionary War, Hewes served in the militia and as a patriot sailor. How do we know about George Hewes role in the Revolution? In 1835, when he was ninety-three years old and one of the last survivors of the Patriot cause, Hewes became a minor celebrity. Hewes was the subject of two published biographies. One of them was based on an interview conducted by gentleman lawyer Benjamin Thatcher in Boston in 1836. TEA PARTY ETIQUETTE recreates the 1836 Hewes- Thatcher interview. Sympathetic yet skeptical, Thatcher does not easily accept Hewes' claim that ordinary citizens helped win American liberty. 'Thatcher believes more traditional views of the Revolution, which emphasize the role of Patriot leaders like John Hancock and John Adams. Listening to Hewes' version of these well-known events helps Thatcher (and all of us) to see the American Revolution in a new light.

1783 engraving of the battle of Bunker Hill.
Source: Library of Congress

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