The Revolutionary War

or the American War of Independence

The Midnight ride of Paul Revere

On April 14th 1775, The day the Jewish people would be preparing for Passover, General Gage received instructions to disarm the rebels, who were known to have hidden weapons in Concord and imprison the leaders, especially Samuel Adams and John Hancock.  These actions would lead to the start of the Revolutionary War within the next few days.

Dr. Joseph Warren, a member of Paul Revere’s “Mechanics” had intelligence that suggested General Gage would move later the night of April 18th, 1775.

Easter was April 16th that year.

The Ride

The afternoon of the 18th of April, Revere instructed Robert Newman to send a signal at the old North Church in Boston where General Gage was currently stationed, by lantern to alert colonists in Charleston “one if by land, two if by sea”.  Later that night, at the first sign, Revere crossed the Charles River by rowboat slipping past the warship HMS Somerset.  Once on the other side, he road to activate other riders throughout Middlesex County until he met up with William Dawson outside of Lexington.  Dawson meanwhile took the southern rout out of Boston and headed directly to warned Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the pending British march.  Together with Samuel Prescott (a member of the Son’s of Liberty) who also met the two outside of Lexington, they started towards Concord.  Along the way, Dawes was thrown from his horse and returned home safely, Paul Revere was captured by British forces and later released in order to deal with the militia at Lexington, and Prescott continued on to Concord to spread the word.

Paul Revere’s ride was given little significance in history until Longfellow’s poem about Paul Revere.  What would have been the outcome of the Revolutionary war and the cause of Liberty had Samuel Adams and John Hancock been captured that night.

To every Middlesex village and farm,—

A cry of defiance, and not of fear,

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,

And a word that shall echo for evermore!

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,

Through all our history, to the last,

In the hour of darkness and peril and need,

The people will waken and listen to hear

The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,

And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

The last part of “Paul Revere’s Ride”

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The other 5

There were 5 others who rode with Revere that fateful night:

• Two rode with Paul Revere:  William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott
• Israel Bissell rode 345 miles along the “Old Post Road” warning colonists the war had started.  He started April 13th
• Sybil Ludington, the daughter of Colonel Henry Ludington, at age of 16 made a journey of 40 miles (twice that of Revere) to warn Danbury Connecticut.

The Questions for Today

Consider the words to Paul Colwell’s song “The Ride of Paul Revere”

They saw two lanterns in the North Church tower,
Ride, Ride
They knew this was to be the fateful hour
Ride, Ride

For a man to ride and to alarm
Ev’ry village and ev’ry farm
To awaken them and call to arm,
It was the ride of Paul Revere!

Chorus
Ride! Ride! Tho’ the night be cold.
Ride! Ride! Till the truth be told!
Ride! Ride! Like that man of old!
Ride like Paul Revere!

In seventy five upon an April night,
Ride! Ride!
The air was chilly and the moon shone bright.
Ride! Ride!

They rowed him past the man-of-war
Landed on the Charlestown shore,
Where the finest steed was ready for,
The ride of Paul Revere!

Chorus

I wonder if, two hundred years ahead,
Ride! Ride!
If they will ride, or if they’ll stay in bed.
Ride! Ride!

When faith and freedom within them die,
And when they hear that midnight cry
And the hoof-beats cross the moonlit sky,
Will they ride with Paul Revere?
Ride with Paul Revere!

Now ask yourself the question put forth in the final stanza: “When faith and freedom within them die, And when they hear that midnight cry And the hoof-beats cross the moonlit sky, Will they ride with Paul Revere?”

Lexington and Concord

The following morning, April 19th 1775, British forces met an armed and ready militia in Lexington and later that day in Concord.  The conflict between the American and British forces was later refereed to as the “Battles of Lexington and Concord”.  Of this event, Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his “Concord Hymn”, described the first shot fired by the Patriots at the North Bridge as the “shot heard round the world”

The events of Lexington and Concord began the Revolutionary War, one of the final culminating events that would lead to the most radical experiment in self government the world had ever seen, the Constitution of the United States of America.

1775 The Second Continental Congress

The Second Continental Congress would later assemble during the summer 1775.  During this session they authorized a committee to draft the “Articles of Confederation”.  They also authorized a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence.  In a last ditch effort to avoid full out war and Independence from Great Britain, they tried once more for a petition of grievance, known as the “Olive Branch Petition”.  They also met to managed the war that had started earlier in the year at Lexington and Concord.

Notable new arrivals included:

• Ben Franklin
• John Hancock
• Thomas Jefferson replace Randolph
• Henry Middleton
• John Hancock was elected and served as president after Henry Middleton declined to serve in this capacity

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