Ever since we were little we’ve been told stories.  From fairy tales, to family pass alongs,
and infamous moments in history. We have been told the stories of those famous moments of
the past so many times. Most of us could recite them by heart. Details are left out or
exaggerated and we come to think of them more as a fairy tale than something that actually
happened. People often don’t know the actual story and often distort the magnitude of the
event or why or how it happened
Paul Revere’s midnight ride; a story we’ve all heard since we were in Elementary school.
We all read and memorized the poem. The story goes, a brave man, Paul Revere had gotten
word that the British soldiers were coming to a colonist town. He hopped on his black horse
that probably reared up majestically before he took off in a full speed gallop down a cobbled
road.
It’s the middle of night and he rushes through town supposedly yelling the infamous
phrase, “The red coats are coming”, successfully warning the colonists and thwarting the British
plan. What was that plan? What was he warning the colonists about? Truth is most people
probably couldn’t tell you.
Well, that’s the basic story, but the story is mostly exaggerated and key details were left
out. On the night of April 18, 1775 Paul Revere, a prominent Boston silversmith, set out on
what would become his legendary midnight ride. He was to be the alarm system in alerting
colonial militia that the British were coming to confiscate the arms they had stockpiled in
Lexington and Concord. Most don’t remember that he was not the only one to take this
dangerous ride, but he was accompanied by a man named William Dawes. Dawes managed to
escape, but Revere was caught by the British and questioned at gunpoint. Revere was
successful in the end with his goal to prepare the colonists and they were able to smuggle out
their arms and defend the cities that the British had marched into.