Paul Revere made his midnight ride to warn of British troops
On this day · 18 April 1775
On the night of April 18, 1775, a Boston silversmith rode to Lexington to warn that British regulars were on the march.
On the evening of April 18, 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren summoned Paul Revere and gave him a task: ride to Lexington and warn that British soldiers were leaving Boston for the countryside. Revere was no lone hero but one node in a patriot alarm network built precisely for this night.
Robert Newman hung lanterns in the Old North Church to signal the army’s route, by sea across the Charles River. Revere slipped past the warship HMS Somerset in a rowboat, landed at Charlestown, and set off on a borrowed horse, rousing households along the road to Lexington.
There he warned John Hancock and Samuel Adams, then pressed on toward Concord with William Dawes and Samuel Prescott. A British patrol stopped them; only Prescott carried the alarm through. Contrary to legend, Revere never shouted “The British are coming” — secrecy was the point, and many colonists still thought of themselves as British. By dawn the militia were mustering.
Sources & references
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