Writing Exercise

Please respond to the writing prompt below by commenting in the form of a report about Paul Revere.

The midnight ride

Paul by John Singleton Copley, 1768

Monday, January 9, 2012

Paul and his ride

In the 1770s Revere enthusiastically supported the patriot cause; as acknowledged leader of Boston's mechanic class, he provided an invaluable link between artisans and intellectuals. In 1773 he donned Indian garb and joined 50 other patriots in the Boston Tea Party protest against parliamentary taxation without representation. Although many have questioned the historical liberties taken in Longfellow's narrative poem Paul Revere's Ride (1863), the fact is that Revere served for years as the principal rider for Boston's Committee of Safety, making journeys to New York and Philadelphia in its service. On April 16, 1775, he rode to nearby Concord to urge the patriots to move their military stores, which were endangered by pending British troop movements. At this time he arranged to signal the patriots of the British approach by having lanterns placed in Boston's Old North Church steeple: “One if by land, and two if by sea.” Two days later he set out from Boston on his most famous journey to alert his countrymen that British troops were on the march, particularly in search of Revolutionary leaders John Hancock and Samuel Adams. Both he and his compatriot William Dawes reached Lexington separately and were able to warn Hancock and Adams to flee. The two men together with Samuel Prescott then started for Concord, but they were soon stopped by a British patrol, and only Prescott got through. Revere was released by the British and returned on foot to Lexington. Because of Revere's warning, the Minutemen were ready the next morning on Lexington green for the historic battle that launched the American Revolution.
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1 comment:

  1. StaelleFebruary 13, 2012 at 7:25 AM

    The early years of Paul Revere would cement stones down that would get harder and be created into a legacy that was to be marked in American History. Paul Revere was born in the North End of Boston in December 21, 1734 if you are referring to the Old Calendar, but in January 1, of 1735 if referring to the New Calendar. Paul Revere’s father was a French Huguenot named Apollos Rivioire. Revere grew up in the environment of the extended Hitchborn family. He never learned his father’s native language. At the age of thirteen, Revere became his dad’s apprentice as a silversmith. This trade afforded Revere connections with a cross-section of Boston society that would later become beneficial when he becomes active in the American Revolution. Revere was drawn to the Church of England. Revere however started to attend the West Church where he was a witness of the services led by the “political and provocative” Jonathan Mayhew. Because his father did not approve of this, Revere left that church, but remained friends with Jonathan.
    Because of Paul Revere’s warning during his midnight ride, the Minutemen were aware of the British soldiers coming in the following morning on Lexington green for the historic battle that would launch the American Revolutionary War. Backtracking, Paul Revere, an American patrio, donned Indian garb and joined fifty other patriots in the Boston Tea Party, in 1773.

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