Rachel Walker

Rachel Walker Revere (1745 – June 26, 1813) was a witness to the American Revolution, and the wife and close confidant of Paul Revere (1734–1818). During the American Revolution, she supported Paul Revere by caring for their family, supplying Revere with food and equipment, and getting their family safely out of the city at the start of the Siege of Boston.

Revere is an important historical example of a wife of a patriot soldier whose life is relatively well documented, and is used by historians to discuss the role of women in the Revolutionary War effort. In 1991, she was honored by a stop on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.

Life and family Rachel Walker Revere was born in 1745 to Rachel Carlile and Richard Walker. For her entire childhood and young adult life, she lived in North Square in the North End neighborhood of Boston.

Rachel married Paul Revere in 1774, five months after the death of his first wife Sarah Orne Revere. While courting, Paul wrote her a love poem punning on her name, and the couple's letters often include affectionate terms for each other. Her husband's wartime letters to Revere often include a large level of detail about military movements and strategies – rare for wartime letters to wives to include at the time – suggesting a particularly close relationship between the two. She also attempted to send a large sum of money to Paul Revere through a mutual acquaintance, Benjamin Church, a British spy who instead turned her letter in to General Gage. The letter was later found by historians in a trunk of Gage's papers in England.

Historian Tory Atkins has argued that wives or revolutionary war combatants, such as Rachel Revere or Abigail Adams, "should be remembered not only as wives of influential men, but as important political actors in their own right."

Revere died on June 26, 1813, from "a bilious colic."

Legacy In 1945, the park across the street from the Paul Revere House was dedicated as "Rachel Revere Square".

Rachel Revere appears as a character in The Secret of Sarah Revere (1995) by Ann Rinaldi, which speculates about her life during the start of the American Revolution and her relationship with her stepchildren.

In 1991, she was honored with a stop on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.