Paul Revere's Ride

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This Paul Revere Statue in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, was made by Cyrus Dallin and unveiled on September 22, 1940.
This Paul Revere Statue in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, was made by Cyrus Dallin and unveiled on September 22, 1940.

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.

Contents

[edit] 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[4] Who remembers that famous day and year.

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."

Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset, British man-of-war; A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Across the moon like a prison bar, And a huge black hulk, that was magnified By its own reflection in the tide.

Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street Wanders and watches, with eager ears, Till in the silence around him he hears The muster of men at the barrack door, The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, And the measured tread of the grenadiers, Marching down to their boats on the shore.

Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church, By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, To the belfry chamber overhead, And startled the pigeons from their perch On the sombre rafters, that round him made Masses and moving shapes of shade,-- By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, To the highest window in the wall, Where he paused to listen and look down A moment on the roofs of the town And the moonlight flowing over all.

Beneath, in the churchyard, lay the dead, In their night encampment on the hill, Wrapped in silence so deep and still That he could hear, like a sentinel's tread, The watchful night-wind, as it went Creeping along from tent to tent, And seeming to whisper, "All is well!"

A moment only he feels the spell Of the place and the hour, and the secret dread Of the lonely belfry and the dead; For suddenly all his thoughts are bent On a shadowy something far away, Where the river widens to meet the bay,-- A line of black that bends and floats On the rising tide like a bridge of boats.

Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride, Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere. Now he patted his horse's side, Now he gazed at the landscape far and near, Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, And turned and tightened his saddle girth; But mostly he watched with eager search

The belfry tower of the Old North Church, As it rose above the graves on the hill, Lonely and spectral and sombre and still. And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height A glimmer, and then a gleam of light! He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns, But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight A second lamp in the belfry burns.

A hurry of hoofs in a village street, A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet; That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, The fate of a nation was riding that night;

And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, Kindled the land into flame with its heat. He has left the village and mounted the steep, And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep, Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides; And under the alders that skirt its edge, Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge, Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

It was twelve by the village clock When he crossed the bridge into Medford town. He heard the crowing of the cock, And the barking of the farmer's dog, And felt the damp of the river fog, That rises after the sun goes down.

It was one by the village clock, When he galloped into Lexington. He saw the gilded weathercock Swim in the moonlight as he passed, And the meeting-house windows, black and bare, Gaze at him with a spectral glare, As if they already stood aghast At the bloody work they would look upon.

It was two by the village clock, When he came to the bridge in Concord town. He heard the bleating of the flock, And the twitter of birds among the trees, And felt the breath of the morning breeze Blowing over the meadow brown. And one was safe and asleep in his bed Who at the bridge would be first to fall, Who that day would be lying dead, Pierced by a British musket ball.

You know the rest. In the books you have read How the British Regulars fired and fled, How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farmyard wall, Chasing the redcoats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm, A cry of defiance, and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo for evermore! For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, Through all our history, to the last, In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

[edit] 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.[5] 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."[6] 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 in Lexington "returning from a lady friend's house at the awkward hour of 1 a.m."[7]

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.[8] 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:[9]

Paul Revere's ride.
Paul Revere's ride.

[edit] 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!"[10]

For a long time though, historians of the American Revolution as well as textbook writers relied almost entirely on Longfellow's poem as historical evidence[citation needed] - 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.[citation needed] 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.

[edit] 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.[11]

[edit] See also

[edit] References and further reading

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

[edit] Notes and citations

  1. ^ Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth (1863). Tales of a Wayside Inn, 1st. Retrieved on 2006-05-03. 
  2. ^ The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. Retrieved on 2006-05-03.
  3. ^ a b Gioia, Dana. On "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Retrieved on 2006-05-03.
  4. ^ "Hardly a man is now alive": for example, Jonathan Harrington, the young fifer for Lexington's miltia during the battles of Lexington and Concord, died in 1854 a few years before the poem was written, at the age of 96.
    Tourtellot, Arthur (2000). Lexington and Concord. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 268. ISBN 0393320561. 
  5. ^ by water across the Charles River according to Revere's letter, not by sea.
  6. ^ Paul Revere's Three Accounts of His Famous Ride, introduction by Edmund Morgan. Massachusetts Historical Society, 1961.
  7. ^ John M. Murrin, et al. Liberty Equality Power: A History of the American People, Volume I: To 1877, third edition (Florence, Kentucky: Wadsworth-Thomson Learning, 1996, 2002), 205.
  8. ^ A Letter From Paul Revere.
  9. ^ The Midnight Ride.
  10. ^ Paul Revere's Three Accounts of His Famous Ride, introduction by Edmund Morgan. Massachusetts Historical Society, 1961.
  11. ^ The Midnight Ride of William Dawes.