Paul Revere's Ride - April 18, 1775
You may know the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about Paul Revere's famous "Midnight Ride". However, that poem was written in 1863, nearly 100 years after the events on the night before the Battle of Lexington & Concord. Is it all the truth or could it include some made-up parts to entertain or make Paul Revere a hero? It's likely that it is a little bit of both.
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https://paulreverehouse.org/ride/images.html
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Actually, we do have a first-hand account from Paul Revere, highly likely to have been written in 1775 after he returned from Lexington & Concord. The document was written at the request of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, who ordered depositions from eyewitnesses in order to show that the British were the first to fire their muskets, thus starting the war! In his deposition and later letter to Jeremy Belknap, Revere summarizes his activities on the night of April 18-19 1775. Read the deposition and follow Revere's route on the modern day map below.
Click this link to view a side-by-side ( image & transcription on same page ) at the Massachusetts Historical Society web site.
Title: Paul Revere's Deposition, Draft.
Author: Paul Revere. Date: circa 1775. Massachusetts Historical Society/Collections Online. <http://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?item_id=97&img_step=1&mode=large#page1>. |
Route derived from the text, "Paul Revere's Three Accounts of His Famous Ride: Includes Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's " Paul Revere's Ride." Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston: 2000. Print.
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