Did Paul Revere Really Say "The British Are Coming"?
What really happened on Paul Revere's historic ride? How much of the famous poem is true? In this episode, we learn all about Paul Revere and his midnight ride. And get ready for some American Revolution trivia!
Transcript
Tzeela: Hi I'm Tzeela and I'm 16
Rina: Hi I'm Rina and I'm 14
Dalia: Hey, I'm Dalia and I'm 11
All: And this is Things You Thought You Knew About History!
Tzeela: Where we tell you the real story behind historical misconceptions.
Dalia: The British are coming! The British are coming!
Rina: What’s going on?
Dalia: I’m telling the story of Paul Revere’s ride. The one in the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Tzeela: But that’s not the real story.
Dalia: Really? What’s the real story then?
Rina: And who even is Paul Revere?
Tzeela: Paul Revere was a silversmith and Patriot.
Rina: He probably finished school at 13 and became his father’s apprentice. When his father died, he was still too young to run the shop, so he joined the colonial artillery serving in the French and Indian War, and became Second Lieutenant.
Dalia: After returning home his business grew to be very successful.
Tzeela: He became involved with the Sons of Liberty in 1765 after the Sugar and Stamp Acts were passed. He became a messenger to them, often bringing news between the Boston Committee of Correspondence and the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Rina: Oh yeah! I think I’ve heard of him! He brought the news that the British were coming to Lexington and Concord.
Dalia: Yeah, but.. not exactly
Tzeela: So what really happened?
Rina: It was April 18, 1775, the night of Paul Revere's ride, Dr. Joseph Warren, a leader of the Sons of Liberty, thought the British were going to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington and capture military stores full of gunpowder, cannons, and ammunition in Concord.
Dalia: It turns out they weren’t planning to arrest anyone but they were on the mission through Boston.
Tzeela: Dr. Warren gave Paul Revere and William Dawes the job of riding to Lexington and Concord to warn them of the coming British troops. This was to be done quietly and secretly to avoid getting caught, so no yelling anything through the streets, especially not secret information about when the British were coming like they do in the poem
Rina: You may have heard that Paul Revere used lanterns to figure out where the British were coming from, by land or by sea. He did arrange for lanterns to be hung in the Old North Church as a signal but he already knew where the British were. These were just in case he wasn’t able to get out of town and spread the message.
Dalia: First he was rowed across the Charleston River and told local Sons of Liberty about the news. Then he borrowed a horse from a Patriot sympathizer named John Larkin at eleven o’clock and set off to Medford. There he alerted Isaac Hall the leader of the local militia, and most of the houses before continuing to Menotomy and alerting everyone there.
Tzeela: Revere arrived in Lexington a little after midnight where he warned John Hancock and Samuel Adams. William Dawes also arrived and both men rested for a bit.
Dalia: They continued toward Concord, were joined by Dr. Samuel Prescot, and were then caught by British officers. While Dawes and Prescott escaped, Paul Revere was held for questioning. He never even made it to Concord.
Rina: He was released just in time to witness the end of the battle in Lexington Green.
Tzeela: How did his midnight ride become so famous?
Dalia: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, an American poet, wrote a poem about Paul Revere’s ride. He was inspired by his trip to Boston in 1860. He worked on the poem for a few months after, then published it in the Boston Evening Transcript and Atlantic Monthly in Dec. Three years later, he published it in his book Tales of a Wayside Inn. He titled it The Landlord's Tale because it’s told by the owner of a local inn.
Rina: He definitely took a poetic license and changed some of what actually happened. In the poem, Revere used the lanterns to figure out where the British would come from, but like we said, he already knew and these lanterns were just in case.
Tzeela: Also in the poem, Paul Revere went alone when in reality William Dawes came too, and some others spread the message elsewhere. And in the poem, he reaches Concord and never gets caught.
Dalia: His poem did have a strong message. It spoke of the strength and Patriotism of America’s early heroes. It also portrays the strength of the Union, something particularly important to Longfellow, an abolitionist in the years right before the Civil War.
Rina: Yeah, it’s one of the most famous patriotic poems and has shaped our image of Paul Revere’s ride.
Tzeela: And now, for some trivia!
Dalia: Here’s how it works, we’ll ask a question and count down from ten to give you a chance to think of the answer. You can pause if you want more time to answer
Alright, let’s start!
Rina: What were the 4 acts that the colonists called the "Intolerable Acts"?
10...9...8..7...6...5...4...3...2...1
Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act
Tzeela: What was the first US currency?
10...9...8..7...6...5...4...3...2...1
Money called continentals that the Continental Congress started making in 1775
Dalia: What British general surrendered to George Washington in Yorktown?
10...9...8..7...6...5...4...3...2...1
General Charles Cornwallis
Rina: What was the name of the treaty that ended the American Revolution?
10...9...8..7...6...5...4...3...2...1
The Treaty of Paris
Tzeela: Thanks for listening! Hope you enjoyed!
BYE