In March, John Rowen reviewed The Ride: Paul Revere and the Night That Saved America by Kostya Kennedy for a Friends and Foundation talk. My introduction referenced “the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five.” I mentioned this to my wife at dinner that night and was surprised she didn’t recognize it instantly.
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year.
From National Park Service: “The opening lines of ‘Paul Revere’s Ride’ are perhaps the best-known words today of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The poem, with its galloping measure and steady rhyme, take the reader through Paul Revere’s urgent ride on the eve of the battle of Lexington and Concord. When it was published in Tales of a Wayside Inn (1863), the poem became ‘The Landlord’s Tale,’ with the proprietor of the old inn in Sudbury telling the local history.”
Sort of correct
It is interesting, though, that only Revere and not his compatriots caught Longfellow’s attention. “Though based on historic events, the poem should be read as a myth or tale, not as a historical account. Many historians have dissected the poem since 1860 and compared it to Revere’s account of the ride in his own words and other historic evidence. Of the several inaccuracies, three stand out:
- Revere knew the British route before he left Boston. Though two lanterns were held aloft in the Old North Church tower, Revere was not waiting on the Charlestown shore to see them. Instead, they were a fallback plan in case he could not get out of Boston.
- Revere was captured by patrolling British Regulars in Lincoln, just past Lexington, and never arrived in Concord.
- Revere did not ride alone that night. He was one of two riders to leave Boston, and one of many messengers spreading the alarm.
The Kostya Kennedy book notes that Paul Revere borrowed a horse named Brown Beauty from John Larkin, a Charlestown merchant and patriot sympathizer. Rowen believes that this new book fills in many gaps that previous tellings had not addressed. He wrote this Goodreads review, based on reading a PDF but only received a physical copy via UPS on the day of the talk!
What about Dawes?
“The omission of other riders was a particularly sore point for some. Henry Ware Holland, a descendant of William Dawes, self-published a history in 1878 titled William Dawes and His Ride with Paul Revere. He sent a copy to Longfellow, who wryly remarked that it was ‘a very handsome book… in which he convicts me of high historic crimes and misdemeanors.'”
So why not Dawes, who was as courageous as Revere? “Longfellow owned the 1832 New England Magazine featuring a biography of Paul Revere with an account of his ride, and was able to provide it as a reference to a correspondent in 1877.” Moreover, Revere wrote of the adventure multiple times and controlled the narrative.
My question: Do YOU recognize
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year
I graduated from Binghamton Central High School in 1971, but I heard at least the poem’s first part well before then.
And now?
From Weekly Sift on Reclaiming the Spirit of ’75: “Over the next 15 months, a lot of 250th anniversaries are going to roll around. I hope we use them to reclaim the true spirit of American patriotism from the fascist posers who so often usurp that legacy. Let us rededicate ‘our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor’ to the cause of the inalienable rights of all people, and resist all attempts to impose one-man rule on these hallowed shores.”
I came across some articles while contemplating Holy Week—one 
I may be slightly obsessed with the 
Here are a couple of Cub Scout pictures that my old friend Ray Lia recently sent me. I don’t think I was in the Scouts for very long because I wasn’t very good at knot-tying or whatever was required. I think I got through the Wolf level but not the Bear. 