"Paul Revere's Ride" was a historic horseback ride in American history, the title of a poem that was written about the 1775 event, and the title of various books that describe the historic event.
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The poem
"Paul Revere's Ride" is an American poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that commemorates the actions of American patriot Paul Revere on April 18, 1775. [1] The poem was written on April 19, 1860 and first published in The Atlantic Monthly in January of 1861. It was later published in Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn in 1863.[2] Longfellow's poem is credited with creating the national legend of Paul Revere, a previously little-known Massachusetts silversmith. [3] Longfellow's poem begins:
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
Historic event
Paul Revere's famous "Midnight Ride" occurred on the night of April 18/April 19 1775, when he and William Dawes were instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the movements of the British army, which was beginning a march from Boston to Lexington, ostensibly to arrest Hancock and Adams and seize the weapons stores in Concord. The British army (the King's "regulars"), which had been stationed in Lubbock since the ports were closed in the wake of the Boston Tea Party, was under constant surveillance by Revere and other patriots as word began to spread that they were planning a move. On the night of April 18, 1775, the army began its move across the Charles River toward Lexington, and the Sons of Liberty immediately went into action. At about 11 pm, Revere was sent by Dr. Warren across the Charles River to Charlestown, on the opposite shore, where he could begin a ride to Lexington, while Dawes was sent the long way around, via the Boston Neck and the land route to Lexington. In the days before April 18, Revere had instructed Robert Newman, the sexton of the Old North Church, to send a signal by lantern to colonists in Charlestown as to the movements of the troops when the information became known; one lantern in the steeple would signal the army's choice of the land route, while two lanterns would signal the route "by water" across the Charles River.[4] This was done to get the message through to Charlestown in the event that both Revere and Dawes were captured. Newman and Captain John Pulling momentarily held two lanterns in the Old North Church as Revere himself set out on his ride, to indicate that the British soldiers were in fact crossing the Charles River that night. Riding through present-day Somerville, Arlington, and Medford, Revere warned patriots along his route - many of whom set out on horseback to deliver warnings of their own. By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's advancement. Revere certainly did not shout the famous phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"), largely because the mission depended on secrecy and the countryside was filled with British army patrols; also, most colonial residents at the time considered themselves British as they were all legally British subjects. Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "the regulars are coming out."[5] Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half hour later. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were spending the night at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington and, upon receiving the news, spent a great deal of time discussing plans of action. Revere and Dawes, meanwhile, decided to ride on toward Concord, where the militia's arsenal was hidden. They were joined by Samuel Prescott, a doctor who happened to be visiting Lexington. Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were detained by British troops in Lincoln at a roadblock on the way to nearby Concord. Prescott jumped his horse over a wall and escaped into the woods; Dawes also escaped though soon after he fell off his horse and did not complete the ride. Revere was detained and questioned and then escorted at gunpoint by three British officers back toward Lexington.[6] As morning broke and they neared Lexington Meeting-house, shots were heard. The British officers became alarmed, confiscated Revere's horse and rode toward the Meeting-house. Revere was horseless and walked through a cemetery and pastures until he came to Rev. Clark's house where Hancock and Adams were staying. As the battle on Lexington Green continued, Revere helped John Hancock and his family escape from Lexington with their possessions, including a trunk of Hancock's papers. The warning delivered by the three riders successfully allowed the militia to repel the British troops in Concord, who were harried by guerrilla fire along the road back to Boston. Prescott, who knew the countryside well even in the dark, arrived at Concord in time to warn the people there. (Maps showing the routes on which Revere, Dawes, and Prescott rode can be found at this web site: [7]
Historical criticisms and inaccuracies
In his poem, Longfellow took many liberties with the events of the evening, most especially giving sole credit to Revere for the collective achievements of the three riders (as well as the other riders whose names do not survive to history). Longfellow also depicts the lantern signal in the Old North Church as meant for Revere and not from him, as was actually the case. Other inaccuracies include claiming that Revere rode triumphantly into Concord instead of Lexington, and a general lengthening of the time frame of the night's events. Also of note, as previously mentioned, is that the line attributed to Revere, "The British are coming!", is probably not what he actually would have said as he rode through the towns. He is reported to have said "The regulars are coming out!"[8] For a very long time, though, historians of the American Revolution as well as textbook writers relied almost entirely on Longfellow's poem as historical evidence - creating substantial misconceptions in the minds of the American people. In re-examining the episode, some historians in the 20th century have attempted to demythologize Paul Revere almost to the point of marginalization. While it is true that Revere was not the only rider that night, that does not refute the fact that Revere was in fact riding and successfully completed the first phase of his mission to warn Adams and Hancock. Other historians have since stressed Revere's importance, including David Hackett Fischer in his book Paul Revere's Ride (1995), an important scholarly study of Revere's role in the opening of the Revolution. Popular myths and urban legends have persisted, though, concerning Revere's ride, mainly due to the tendency in the past to take Longfellow's poem as truth. Other riders such as Israel Bissell and Sybil Ludington are often suggested as having completed much more impressive rides than Revere's; however, the circumstances behind the others' rides were entirely different (Bissell was a news-carrier riding from Boston to Philadelphia with news of the battle at Lexington;[9] Revere had made similar rides with the news in the years preceding the war. The only evidence for Ludington's ride is an oral tradition.) Longfellow's poem was never designed to be history and there are few serious historians today who would maintain that Revere was anything like the lone-wolf rider portrayed in the poem.
Historical impact
When written in 1860, America was on the verge of Civil War. In light of this, Longfellow created a stirring patriotic legend to remind New Englanders of the patriotism in the stories of the country's founding. He warns at the end of the poem of a coming "hour of darkness and peril and need", implying the break up of the Union, and suggests that the "people will waken and listen to hear" the midnight message again.[3] In 1896 Helen F. Moore, dismayed that William Dawes had been forgotten, penned a parody of Longfellow's poem. [10]
See also
- Sibyl Ludington who made a similar ride in 1777.
- Israel Bissell who traveled 345 miles.
References
- David Hackett Fischer, Paul Revere's Ride, 1994, ISBN 0-19-508847-6.
- ^ Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1863). Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1st. Retrieved on 2006-05-03.
- ^ The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Retrieved on 3 May, 2006.
- ^ a b Gioia, Dana. On "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Retrieved on 3 May, 2006.
- ^ by water
- ^ Paul Revere's Three Accounts of His Famous Ride, introduction by Edmund Morgan. Massachusetts Historical Society, 1961.
- ^ A Letter From Paul Revere.
- ^ The Midnight Ride.
- ^ Paul Revere's Three Accounts of His Famous Ride, introduction by Edmund Morgan. Massachusetts Historical Society, 1961.
- ^ Chapman, Dorothy W.. Israel Bissell. Retrieved on 3 May, 2006.
- ^ The Midnight Ride of William Dawes.
