(whistling)
- [Narrator] Put down your smartphones and let me,
your trusty uncorrectable narrator,
guide you through my animated chronicle
of fascinating historical facts.
Let us being with the founding of our nation,
the American Revolution.
It's the story of honest, faithful George Washington,
who lead his band of patriots to victory.
- Come, patriots, fight for liberty.
- [Audience Member] For freedom!
- [Audience Member] For liberty!
- [Audience Member] And because we hate tea for some reason.
- Actually.
- [Narrator] Patriots, like Paul Revere,
whose midnight ride saved Boston.
- The British are coming, the British are coming!
- Uh, that's not--
- [Paul Revere] The British are coming!
- [Narrator] And the brave soldiers
of the Continental Army who,
united by a desire to be free, overcame tyranny.
- [Adam] Actually everything you just said is wrong.
- [Narrator] That's it, who do you think you are,
interrupting my show?
- Hi, I'm Adam.
- [Narrator] Adam, who in the--
Ah, you must be one of the Frenchmen.
You don't come in until later.
- I'm not French.
- [Narrator] You're going to tell me you're not French
with hair and clothes like that?
- Nope, not French,
but destroying misconceptions is my raison d'etre.
Many of the stories we know about the Revolution
aren't really history, they're myths.
So I'm here to set the record straight.
- [Narrator] Stop dog earing the page, you jerk!
You're ruining it.
- Sorry, ruining is kind of my thing.
I'm Adam Conover, and this is Reanimated History.
(rapid music)
(scream)
(explosion)
- [Narrator] Now that the blond man is gone,
allow me to regale you with the story
of the midnight ride of Paul Revere.
It was April 18th, 1775.
Paul was sent to warn the militiamen of
Lexington and Concord of an impending British attack,
but first he needed to know
will they come by land or by sea?
- That's the signal.
One if by land, two if by sea.
Away to Lexington and Concord!
Ya!
The British are coming, the British are coming!
The British - Revere rode
through the night, - are coming!
- rallying militia with his cries.
Dozens of patriot lives were saved,
and it was all thanks to one man, Paul Revere.
- [Adam] What a stirring tale.
Stirringly inaccurate.
- [Narrator] (groans) Okay, where are you this time?
Are you the horse again?
- Nuh uh, up here.
First of all, Revere never said, "The British are coming."
At this point, many people in the colonies were British,
so that would have been really confusing.
- The British are coming, the British are coming!
(bang) (horse whinnies)
- I'm British and so are you!
Are you saying we're coming or you're coming?
Stop yelling in the third person and go to sleep.
- They actually called the British Army the regulars.
- Oh, uh, I meant to say the regulars are coming.
- Regulars, why didn't you say so?
Bang, bang!
- Second, Revere didn't ride around the streets yelling.
That would have gotten him captured.
This was more of a well planned intelligence mission.
- The regulars are com ...
Sorry, the regulars are coming.
- Thank you, no need to yell.
- But most importantly,
Paul Revere never even completed his midnight ride.
- [Narrator] What?
- Remember those famous signal lanterns from the beginning?
Revere didn't even see them.
They were actually for a different Son of Liberty
named Dr. Joseph Warren,
and for the historic ride, he decided to send--
- William Dawes.
- Huh?
- [Narrator] Who on earth is William Dawes?
- [Adam] He was another Son of Liberty,
and the first man to be sent on the midnight ride.
Revere didn't set out until later,
and they wound up warning the militia of Lexington together.
- The regulars are coming, the regulars are coming.
- [Adam] Then after leaving Lexington,
they were both detained by British soldiers
and thrown in jail.
Another rider named Samuel Prescott
ended up warning Concord.
In fact, by then lots of other riders had already
been dispatched to warn the local militias.
- [Narrator] But if all those riders were warning the towns,
that would mean Revere's midnight ride
wasn't special at all!
- Exactly.
In fact, in the years that followed,
most people forgot about Revere's midnight ride entirely.
It wasn't even mentioned in his obituary.
(light piano music)
(chimes)