The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere Corrected
The Famous Poem Isn’t All True - Go There This Spring and Learn More
Feb 10, 2009
There are many local celebrations and commemorations of the Concord and Lexington Fights, as they are known locally, each April 18 and 19. Around the 19th is Patriots’ Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts.
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.
This is the start of one of the best-known and popular pieces of poetry from America. And no wonder Longfellow mentions there being few survivors: he wrote it in 1863, nearly 100 years after the start of the American Revolution it commemorates.
But another war was on the horizon when it was published – the American Civil War. Longfellow used extensive poetic license in this poem in an effort to stir up national pride and encouragement to the Union. Of course not knowing how famous it would become, he had little idea of how it would distort the historic record as it resides in the popular mind.
Setting the Record Straight
While there are many smaller inaccuracies to the tale as it has become fixed in our national memory, here follows three whoppers that need some correcting.
Paul Revere never rode into Concord in April 18th. While that was his destination, he was captured by the British in Lincoln, Massachusetts, which lies between Lexington and Concord. While he never revealed his identity under questioning, he was eventually let go without his horse. He was unable to complete his ride. Visit the capture site in Minute Man National Historical Park, and see the capture ceremony as part of the celebrations, where Park Rangers have told of the many visitors there who are shocked, outraged and disappointed to learn about Revere’s capture. Some break down in tears (readers of this piece can get through any emotional breakdowns in the comfort of their own homes).
Dr. Samuel Prescott completed the ride to Concord… and beyond. Though his name is never mentioned in Longfellow’s poem, it was Prescott, also captured with Revere, who managed to complete the ride, warning all the way to Concord and beyond. Revere, who was from Boston, didn’t know the terrain well in the area in which he was captured; the British captors also didn’t know the area. Prescott, from Concord, traveled from Concord frequently to visit his fiancée in Lexington. Knowing that he could jump his horse over a wall and ride off through the swamps safely, he did just that, thereby fulfilling Revere’s mission. Attend the “Dawn Salute” held every April 19 in the North Bridge unit of Minute Man National Historical Park, and see the re-enactment of Prescott’s arrival in Concord.
Paul Revere was not the only rider out warning “every Middlesex village and farm.” While Revere was a mastermind behind the plan to warn the Colonials as needed of British movements, he was by far not a lone rider in the night. Many men were charged with riding specific routes all around the region, some reaching as far as southern New Hampshire. Revere alone could not have covered that much territory – especially after his horse was taken from him!
There’s one other inaccuracy that needs correcting about Revere’s ride, but this time it doesn’t stem from Longfellow’s poem. There is a wide-spread belief that Revere rode about the countryside shouting “The British are coming! The British are coming!” However, this is not accurate, and given the historic context is actually nonsensical. All of the Colonists were British citizens in 1775. To shout “The British are coming!” on that occasion would be like riding through the same area today shouting instead “The Americans are coming!” – rather confusing and not very informative. Historic re-enactors instead use “The British Regulars are on the move!” and “The Regulars are out!” as the more likely versions.
Links to Further Reading and Local Patriots’ Day Events
The Forgotten Midnight Riders (more about the many riders out that night)
The Midnight Riders, April 19 1775 (a broader look at the ride)
Travel to See April Patriots' Day Commemorations
“The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere” (the poem that created all the confusion)
Patriots' Day events in and around Minute Man National Historic Park (part of the US National Park Service)
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