On this day in 1775, Paul Revere took off on his famous midnight ride to warn Sam Adams, John Hancock, and the Massachusetts countryside that the British army was on their way.
The ride has become part of American mythology, and deservingly so. It truly is epic. First, Revere has to escape occupied Boston by boat before jumping on a horse and riding swiftly in pitch-black darkness.
A popular misconception is that Revere rode while shouting “the British are coming” over and over. He likely didn’t call the occupying Redcoats the British. Author David Hackett Fischer explains,
“[Revere] did not cry, ‘The British are coming.’ Many New England express riders that night would speak of Regulars, Redcoats, the King’s men, and even the ‘Ministerial Troops,’ if they had been to college. But no messenger is known on good authority to have cried, ‘The British are coming.’ until the grandfathers’ tales began to be recorded long after American Independence.”
The epic event has been memorialized into an epic poem. “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is a great read. My favorite part is-
He said to his friend, “If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light, —
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm.”
You can read the whole poem through this link- Longfellow’s Poem – Paul Revere House
