The British Are Coming! Fact from fiction

“Listen, my children, and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.”

Revere was brave. Revere was fast. Revere was afraid America’s fight for independence wouldn’t last.

He tried to save his colony that night — (April 19, 1775 — 250 years ago Saturday). But what Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote in his poem? Well, his facts weren’t quite right.

Paul Revere. Source: Boston Museum of Fine Arts

Paul Revere: Part of a Patriot Warning System

Paul Revere was a Boston silversmith who, in the 1770s, strongly believed it was time for Britain’s American colonies to form their own country. He joined a separatist group known as the Sons of Liberty, helped organize the Boston Tea Party protest and kept careful eye on British troop movements in occupied Boston.

On the evening of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren — the last Patriot military leader remaining in Boston — informed Revere he had received notice that British troops — “regulars” — were preparing to march to Concord, Massachusetts, to seize Patriot arms that were stored there. This matched information Hancock had received that troops planned to stop in Lexington and arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock.

Warren had already sent one messenger to warn Lexington of the troop movements: William Dawes, who rode down Boston Neck, around Back Bay, through Cambridge and Harvard University. The fear was that Dawes might arrive too late.

Revere stopped by Old North Church to have an ally there hang two lanterns in the bell tower — a prearranged signal to other Patriots that troops would be taking a shorter route via boat across the Charles River.

Revere then stopped by his home to pick up a pair of boots and an overcoat. He then had two more allies row him across the Charles, passing the British warship HMS Somerset. On the other side, Revere borrowed a horse from yet another Patriot ally and set off for Lexington and Concord.

He hadn’t gone far when he ran into a British patrol just outside Charlestowne. To evade capture. Revere headed north toward Meford.

When Revere arrived at the boarding house where Adams and Hancock were staying, a Patriot sentry stepped forward and suggested Hancock not make quite so much noise.“Noise?” Revere bellowed. “You’ll have noise enough before long! The regulars are coming out!”

The Events of April, 18-19, 1775

1

Lanterns were hung at the Old North Church — “one if by land and two if by sea” — but not as a signal to Revere, but as a signal from Revere to other Patriots in the area to warn them: British regulars would be on the move that night.

2

Revere was rowed across the mouth of the Charles River, borrowed a horse and set out for points west.

He spotted British soldiers, reversed course and took a less direct route to Lexington and Concord.

3

Revere arrived in Lexington just past midnight and warned Hancock that the British were coming. Thirty minutes later, Dawes arrived.

They ate a brief meal and decided to ride on to Concord, to make sure Patriots had hidden the military supplies stored there.

4

Revere and Dawes were joined by a third Patriot: Dr. Samuel Prescott. After a couple of miles, they were stopped by British patrol.

Dawes evaded capture but as the troops questioned Prescott and Revere, Prescott yelled, “Put on!,” which meant “scatter.” Revere and Dawes bolted in opposite directions.

Revere ran into a thicket of trees but was recaptured. He was held for a while, questioned and threatened but was eventually released — although the regulars confiscated his borrowed horse.

5

Revere made his way back to Lexington on foot. He was helping to hide a trunk owned by John Hancock and containing sensitive papers when gunfire broke out.

About 700 British regulars had arrived on the town commons in Lexington. The commander of about 60 Patriot militia men decided the numbers were not in their favor. The resulting skirmish was brief.

The Battle of Concord

6

The British troops then marched on to Concord. Along the way, they found themselves under fire from behind houses, barns, trees and stone walls.

The regulars found none of the munitions they were searching for, nor did they find men of military age. Until, that is, they came across 500 militia waiting for them on the other side of North Bridge.

The redcoats marched across the bridge but then found themselves unable to return fire because they had formed into a very narrow line to cross the bridge. The British troops retreated in disarray to the center of Concord. While they tried to mount another attack, the number of militia continued to grow.

American militia handed British “redcoat” regulars defeats on April 19, 1775 at both Lexington and Concord. Source: Wikimedia Commons

“The numbers of the patriots were increasing from all parts,” wrote Lt. John Barker of the British force. “Ours were reducing by deaths, wounds and fatigue.

“We were totally surrounded with such an incessant fire as it is impossible to conceive. Our ammunition was likewise near expended.”

By the end of the day, 19 American Patriots and 73 British regulars were dead.

The Legend of Paul Revere

Why is Revere’s role in the battles of Lexington and Concord exaggerated so greatly? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, wrote “Paul Revere’s Ride” in 1861 — 40 years after Revere’s death.

Longfellow “was flexible about the historical details,” historian Debra Schmidt Bach told the New York Times. “It was not intended as a detailed examination of the ride.”

Longfellow’s aim, she said, was to glorify colonial history at a time when likely Civil War wason the horizon.