today we're looking at paul revere's midnight ride
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the questions down in the description so in the aftermath of the boston tea party the british
passed new laws known as the intolerable acts as part of these acts the british increased the
number of troops stationed in boston which the british had declared to be an open rebellion
with nearly 4 000 british troops in boston and the sons of liberty fanning the flames of rebellion
it was really only a matter of time before armed conflict occurred general thomas gage was the
commander of the british troops and also appointed to be the colonial governor of massachusetts
gage received information that the sons of liberty were stockpiling weapons in the small
town of concord massachusetts which was about 18 miles west of boston gage began to make plans to
send a detachment of british troops on a march to concord to capture the weapons before they
could be used against the british however gage did not anticipate that the sons of liberty had
their own spies that were gathering information about the british and making plans to resist
dr joseph warren who was a member of the sons of liberty received information that on the night
of april 18th 1775 the british would begin their march to concord to take the weapons warren knew
that samuel adams and john hancock were both in lexington which was another small town on the way
to concord warren quickly sent riders paul revere and william dawes to ride toward concord and warn
patriots along the way of the british movement paul revere was very active in the sons of liberty
and of course famously made the engraving of the sons of liberty's outlook on the boston massacre
now as i noted paul revere was not the only writer that went out to warn that the british were on the
move so why is it that paul revere gets all the credit well in 1861 over 80 years later poet henry
wadsworth longfellow published his famous poem paul revere's ride which elevated paul revere's
actions on the night to legendary status and made many believe that it had been revere alone that
had warned the british were coming now although the original warning may have come from reverend
dawes once word got out dozens of riders went out into the massachusetts countryside sounding the
alarm revere and dawes agreed they would go two separate ways in case one of them got captured
revere crossed the charles river by boat and then borrowed a horse from a sons of liberty supporter
dawes rode down what was called a boston neck if you look at boston in 1775 the heart of the city
sat on a peninsula the british had two choices on how they could march to concord
either march down the peninsula and go by land or cross over the charles river and go by sea
the now famous signal was arranged that revere and dawes watched for in the steeple of the old north
church one lantern would be lit if the british were marching down the neck by land two lanterns
if the british were crossing the charles river by sea at about 10 30 pm reverend dawes began their
ride at approximately the same time 900 british troops began boarding longboats and crossing the
charles river and starting the march towards concord revere rode west through medford there
he alarmed isaac hall who was the captain of the local militia he then went riding through
the countryside raising the warning at just about every home along the way shortly after midnight
revere arrived in lexington and was able to inform samuel adams and john hancock of the approaching
british and they were persuaded that they should flee about 12 30 about half an hour after revere
got there dawes arrived there in lexington the two took a short breather and then got back
on the road to get to concord to make sure the weapons which were indeed there were moved so the
british wouldn't take them once back on the road the two riders met fellow patriot samuel prescott
who joined their ride shortly thereafter the three encountered a british patrol and paul revere was
captured prescott and dawes rode on however dawes got thrown from his horse and ended up having to
walk back to lexington only samuel prescott made it to concord at about 2am where there
the patriot militia began to form as for paul revere the british patrol ended up holding him
for several hours and questioned him about what he was doing before actually letting him go however
they did take his horse so revere ended up walking back to lexington where he arrived just in time to
see the first shots of the american revolution fired on lexington green but i'll get to that
in the next bell ringer so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you