172 THE FRENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



Council to gain a knowledge of powder making in order 

 that the colony might make its own ammunition ; and he 

 also was engaged to oversee the casting of cannon. He 

 found time, meanwhile, to engrave and print the Massa- 

 chusetts colony notes, and make dies for coins. 



NUnuflctirer After the war Revere launched out into new enter- 

 prises, the most important of which was the establishment 

 of a foundry where he undertook the casting of cannon, 

 ironware and church bells. He perfected a jjrocess of 

 preparing copper for use in bolts and spikes, etc., for 

 naval pm^poses, and furnished the sheathing and fittings 

 • for Old Ironsides, and many another gallant vessel. 

 His business prospered greatly, as his foundry was the 

 only one in the country which could turn out sheet cop- 

 per. It is interesting to note that he furnished the cop- 

 per boilers for Robert Fulton's Hudson River steamboats. 

 A lasting monument to the ruling passion of his life is 



Mechanics' the Massachusctts Charitable Mechanics Association 



Association 



1795 which, chiefly through his instrumentality, was formed in 



1795. He was its first president, and continued in that 

 office until 1799, when he declined re-election, although 

 his interest in its affairs was undiminished and his counsel 

 its main dependence. 



Death In 1818 Reverc died on May 10, 1818, at the age of eighty-three 

 years. His body was placed in the Granary Burial 

 Ground near that of his fellow Huguenot, Peter Faneuil, 

 almost under the shadow of the State House whose cor- 

 ner-stone he helped to set and whose significance he had 

 labom-ed to establish. It is pleasant to know that the last 

 years of his useful, self-sacrificing life were passed in 

 prosperity, and in the esteem and love of his countrymen. 

 He was a fine type of the highly skilled artisan class 

 which formed so large a part of the Huguenot emigration. 

 Ho was equally a true representative of the Huguenots in 

 his sturdy patriotism and devotion to the right as he saw 

 it. He was a zealous and honoured member of the Ma- 

 sonic fraternity in Boston, as appears elsewhere. 



