Did you sleep with that two other men accompanied Paul Revere on his famous midnight drive ? If you did n’t , then you ’re not alone . The account of the midnight ride was stamped on the American psyche by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ’s popular 1861 verse form " The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere . " And anyone who ’s say the poem envisions a lonesome bomber dashing through the nighttime , single - handedly warn his countryman of a British attack .

But that ’s not the whole story . Two other men rode with Revere that nighttime : William Dawes and Samuel Prescott . They were leave out of the poem and subsequently most chronicle books .

Some gag that Longfellow used Revere ’s name in his verse form – instead of Revere ’s Comrade ' names – simply because it was easy to rhyme with other key words . In fact , a woman name Helen F. Moore indite a burlesque verse form in 1896 titled " The Midnight Ride of William Dawes . " The verse form compares Dawes ' and Revere ’s accomplishments , but quetch , " What was the employment , when my name was Dawes ! "

More likely it was Paul Revere ’s established political celebrity in the Massachusetts Bay Colony that land him his starring role in the Longfellow verse form . A silversmith by trade , he drop most of his free time support the patriot ' cause . He had participate in the Boston Tea Party to protest taxation without representation – one of the main upshot leading up to the Revolutionary War . And he was do it as a reliable messenger for news and messages that needed to be distributed to nationalist leadership , so much so that the British even had someone tracking his movements .

But truth be narrate , it was really Samuel Prescott who fill in the midnight ride . show on to chance out how the three riders carried out their mission on the night of April 18 , 1775 to start the American Revolution .

The Ride to Lexington

On April 18 , 1775 , it was jolly reset the British were antsy to attack . A nationalist named Joseph Warren confirmed through a orphic source – often thought to be the British general ’s married woman – that the British were planning to halt patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock and then assail the stores of supplies in Concord . Warren sent for William Dawes and Paul Revere , and the midnight ride was set into motion .

British patrols were put up along the roads , which is why more than one messenger was used for the mission . If one failed , the other could get through . Joseph Warren sent first for William Dawes , directing him to take the land route out ofBoston . He was to alarm the townsfolk of Roxbury , Cambridge and Menotomy ( now Arlington ) on his style to Lexington , where he was to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the impending menace .

Dawes had made a few drive for the freedom fighter aircraft , but he was not as well sleep together as Revere . Therefore , he was less probable to be give up . He travel frequently and had befriended British guards – guards who may have helped slue him through the checkpoints that nighttime . Dawes was also a dear doer . He ’d disappear beneath a big lid and regard the voice of a rummy or a country sodbuster to assuage suspicions . He left Boston around 9:30 p.m.

A half - hour later , Warren transmit forPaul Revere . He beam Revere to warn Adams and Hancock by the water route ; Revere was to cross the Charles River and then preserve on horseback to Lexington . First , Revere needed to carry out some arrangements he ’d already made to alert Charlestown of any British movement . He contacted the church service ’s sexton to hold up two lanterns , indicating that the British were going by water .

Two friends row Revere across the alcove , paddling around warships . On the other side , the patriot were quick for him , having received his sign . He take over a sawbuck and set off for Lexington , dodging British patrol and waking up the village he kick the bucket along the direction .

Revere make it in Lexington around midnight to alert Samuel Adams and John Hancock . They were at first interested that Dawes had not make it yet , but he show up about a half - minute later . The man went to a tavern for an hour , where they determine that the true aim of the British was to assail the supplies at Concord and not the patriots in Lexington . Saddling up again , Revere and Dawes headed out to warn Concord , as well as the habitation along the way .

To discover how Samuel Prescott link the drive and about Revere ’s run - in with British soldiery , go to the next page .

The Ride to Concord

A youngdoctornamed Samuel Prescott became a midnight rider by chance when he met Revere and Dawes on their way to Concord . Prescott was on his mode home from visit his fiancée , and he offer to help spread the watchword because he was a local .

Paul Revere cod ahead of the other two workforce to agree for British patrol . Halfway between Lexington and Concord , the patrols found them . revers hollo back that there were only a few and that they could fight them off . But when Prescott rode up to help , more troops seem . Prescott and Revere made a rift for it . Prescott slue to the left hand and jumped a bulwark to scat . Revere broke right and was corner by troop . Dawesescapedin the discombobulation , yelling out in various emphasis that he had trance some Regulars . As he was riding off , his horse barricade short and threw him off . Dawes lose his watch and his horse . threadbare and frustrated , he cease his drive and began walking back to Lexington .

Prescott , who was the most conversant with the area , made his way back to the main route and extend to apprise citizenry . He found other riders to connect the case , and he made it to Concord – the only one of the original midnight riders to do so . Despite carrying out the charge , historiographer know very small about Prescott . The most elaborate account of the nighttime come from Revere himself . So we ’ll deform back to his side of the tale .

The British patrol were quite pleased they ’d captured the famed Paul Revere , and they wonder him at gunpoint . Revere remain calm and told the flock their architectural plan would be foiled , that the whole countryside was march at that very mo , ready to fight . The troops see Revere back to Lexington , where they heard gunshot . It was just militiamen test their rifle but it enervate the British . actualize they could move faster without prisoners , they release Revere but retain his horse .

Revere continued on foot and meet up with Samuel Adams and John Hancock , who were debate whether to fight with the patriots or straits for safety . They decided to retreat to Philadelphia , and Revere was sent to a tavern to retrieve Hancock ’s torso . On his errand , he heard the first shots discharge on Lexington Green . The Revolutionary War had begun , thanks to Revere and the other midnight rider ' success in mobilizing the troops . William Dawes went back to the Concord road and establish his scout . He fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill , and after the war , typeset up a computer memory . He died in 1799 . Samuel Prescott serve as a sawbones in the Continental Army and link up the crew of a privateersman . He was fascinate by the Royal Navy and was have prisoner in Halifax . He choke there around 1777 , and he never pay back to splice the vernal woman he had been visiting the night of the midnight ride . Paul Revere had a fateful military career . But he did find achiever as an industrialist during the war , build the first pulverization mill and later on a cop mill . He remained a prominent citizen of Boston until his death in 1818 .

The midnight ride triggered war and a raw self-governing nation . To learn more about the drive , see the links on the next page.­

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