Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,

On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;

Who remembers that famous day and year.” (Longfellow)

Thus begins the famous poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This is the poem about Paul Revere and his legendary midnight ride. Paul Revere, one of the greatest heroes of the Revolutionary War, and possibly one of the greatest heroes of our country.

Paul Revere was born in Boston, Massachusetts in late December 1734 and was the second of twelve children born to Apollos Rivoire and Deborah Hitchborn. Apollos was a French Huguenot immigrant who came to Massachusetts in 1715 and became the apprentice of a Boston goldsmith. Deborah Hitchborn was a natural born native of Boston. (Lee, 13-16)

At the age of twelve, Paul was apprenticed to his father as a silversmith, and he earned extra money as a bell ringer at the Old North Church in Boston. At age nineteen, as the oldest son of the family he became the supporter of the family after his father died in 1753. In 1757 Revere started a family of his own when he married Sarah Orne. At this time he changed his name from Rivoire to Revere. His wife then had a son named

What happened next is still debated. A shot was fired, and neither side would claim responsibility for this first act of war. But when the shooting was over, eight militiamen were dead, and ten were injured including Captain Parker. (www.Ask.com)

As for Paul Revere, his role in calling the patriots, the minutemen, and the militia of the countryside together, will remain as imperative to the study of American history as any battle or shot that took place in the Revolutionary War. Paul Revere made himself a hero.

Once the order was given to Colonel Conant, Revere made his way back across Boston to Cambridge shores to await the signal. On the shores of Cambridge, Revere awaited his horse. (Lee, 66-68)

On the way back to Boston, Paul Revere stopped in Charlestown to seek out some of the patriots and militiamen. Revere wanted to set up a signal plan to relay the path of the British attack to Revere and other messengers. Revere found Colonel William Conant, a patriot and militiaman of the area. Revere and Conant decided on using lanterns to relay the signal to the messengers. If the British were coming by land Colonel Conant would then hang one lantern in the steeple of the North Church. And if the British were planning to invade by sea then Colonel Conant would hang two lanterns in the steeple of the North Church. This is where the famous saying of Paul Revere,” One if by land, Two if by sea,” came from. (www.Ask.com)

After the word of advancing British forces spread, the militiamen had begun to gather and American forces were coming together to reshape their future. The Lexington Militia Company had gathered on Lexington Green, this was shortly after the ride of Paul Revere. There they waited for over an hour with no sign of the British. Captain John Park, the head of the Lexington Militia, retired his men, but ordered them to be ready in moments notice. Soon the men were called back into action for the British were seen approaching Lexington Green. In just a few minutes, Captain Parker had two ranks of over seventy men lined up on Lexington Green. British Soldiers were in sight in just a few minutes dividing themselves into a battlefield formation. (www.Ask.com)

On April eighteenth, Paul Revere was awakened at his North Square home. He headed towards the north shore of Boston without a sound. The British ship, the H.M.S. Somerset, was anchored in the bay as

Some topics in this essay:
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